City Mouse, Country Mouse

We were at my brother's house last weekend to celebrate my niece Sydney's Eighth Grade Graduation. We were having fun in the back yard, playing with the cousins and swimming in their pool. The cousins went down to the playroom in the basement. I asked Henry, "Do you want to go play with the other kids in the basement?"

My poor little apartment-dwelling son looked at me with confusion and shock and said "They have an elevator here?"

Fresh Girl

Having an older brother has taught Molly lots of things, both good and bad. Here is a sampling of the not so positive lessons.

When she falls and gets hurt now and I ask "Molly, are you OK?" She screams "Noooo!" in her snottiest, sassiest voice.

Yesterday when I told her to sit down in the bathtub she looked at me, kicked some water with her foot and said "Funny!"

Today at lunch she wanted to get out of her seat. I asked her if she was done and told her if she was it was naptime. She looked at me and said "No. TV."

When I was filling up the bathtub recently she wanted to get past me. She pushed on my legs and screamed "Mooooove!"

Whenever I go to change her diaper now she says "Ewwww!"

Henry also goads her on to throw her food and spit food on the floor. Charming.

Henry Funnies

Henry is quite the character these days and has a great sense of humor. Here are some recent quotes. I ahem think he got a few of them from me.

He wanted me to do something for him and of course Molly was being a crazy loon in need of supervision. He instructed me to just take care of it and he said "I will deal with Molly."

Molly has taken to throwing quite the epic temper tantrum. Man, can that girl scream! He sighed very loudly, kind of grunted in frustration and hollered at her "Molly stop that screaming, I can't take it anymore!"

He asked me when it was going to be Halloween again. I asked him why and he said he wanted to know when he was going to get "that basket of junk again." I said, "Oh no, you must mean Easter. Did you like getting the junk?" He replied that he indeed did like the junk; it seems like Daddy's feelings on my Easter basket selection have inadvertently colored his vocabulary. I guess I need to educate him on the real meaning of the word "junk". I should put Mr Know it All in charge of the baskets next year and see how the baskets of nuts, fruit and positive messages go over with the kids.

I attended a Baby Shower this weekend for a friend from Connecticut. He wanted to know who it was for so I explained that it was the people who had the bounce house at their last party. I had on a fancy sleeveless shirt with a kind of ruffling on the front. He inquired why I had "butterflies" on my shirt. When I got home, he kept asking me how the baby shower was. I was a bit confused when he kept using hand gestures, asking about the size. Was it a little baby shower or a big baby shower? I finally figured out that he didn't understand that it was a party and that he thought we were literally giving a baby a shower. He also wanted to know if I liked jumping in the bounce house.

This morning I was resting in bed reading. Adam came down the hallway to holler at Henry for some repeated transgression. I heard Henry say "Hey, don't you look at me like that. Mommy, Daddy is giving me that dirty look again!"

Happy Half Birthday Molly!

My little baby turned 18 months old today! Molly is our little miracle and marvel and the joy in our life.

She speaks really well, I'd guess she has a few hundred words. She is an incredible mimic and is always repeating things that I say. She surprised me by counting to eleven yesterday, I have never taught her that. She can also sing a little song where we insert people's names, asking where they are.

She runs around with the most adorable drunken sailor gait. She refuses to sit in the stroller, be carried or hold hands. She tries to jump but her feet never leave the ground. When I give her a little lift with her jumps she yells "Higher!" When she wants to get Henry in trouble, she screeches and then says "Henry!" while swinging her arms back and forth, indicating (not always honestly) that he has hit her.

To this day, she has only slept through the night three or four times. She loves her Mama and will scream and scream until I go to get her. If I don't get there fast enough she wakes Henry up (and then laughs about it) and all four of us are jammed into a queen sized bed. She is the first one to wake every day and it is before the rooster crows. She woke me recently by stroking my lower back and saying "Tushie" over and over. She has been impossible to wean from nursing and still was going strong until I cut her off cold turkey yesterday. The only way I could get her to nap today was to send her to bed with a Twizzler. (Can-deee!)

She writes on the walls and jumps on the couch at any opportunity. As much as Henry was a rule follower, Molly is a rule breaker. She dumps her drinks and throws her food and shimmies herself out of the seat belt of her high chair pulling herself to a stand. She cannot be left alone for a second. If I do squeeze a few minutes away to perhaps cook dinner she finds me and literally hangs from my legs. She shoves her head between my knees and I walk dragging her behind me. Otherwise she screams "Up!" until I relent and let her help me cook. "Taste!" is one of her favorite words; she tried to jam a clove of raw garlic into her mouth today. I cannot leave a stick of butter in her reach or else she will start gnawing on it.

She loves her brother and Daddy with abandon and will not be left out from their adventures. Earlier this week we tried to keep her home during the nightly trip to the ice cream truck but she had other plans. Despite the fact that she was just wearing a diaper she went to get her sandals and her purse and ran into the kitchen yelling "Ready!" and "Dollar" clutching some money she had stolen from my wallet.

She gives the best hugs and kisses but she always tells you no if you ask. She will only relent if you beg. She has a big toothy grin that she shares with you and everyone we see all day. She loves to read and be read to, dance and sing her favorite songs. She makes the funniest animal noises and loves to pretend to scare you. Her best friends are Roen and Finn; she will hold hands and hug Roen but she won't give Finn the time of day and is always growling and yelling at him.

Molly and Henry are the best of friends. They run around with capes around their necks, pretend to camp in their tent, color and paint together and hang together on the couch watching their favorite shows.

She is just the sweetest little baby and we love her so much.