Funny Henry-isms

Henry is literally obsessed with television and I have to limit him or he would watch all day. However, much of his conversations are peppered with things he has learned on TV. He thinks it is very funny to ask to watch "Dodo" (aka Dora The Explorer) and when I say "No" to continue to ask for every character on the show. He goes through the whole roster: "Dodo?" No. "Boots?" No. "Map?" No. "Swiper?" No. And on and on. Once he gets to the end he bursts into a fit of giggles.

Another of his big jokes is about Swiper. On the show, Swiper steals things from Dora. He is constantly going around telling me that Swiper has swiped certain things in the apartment.

Last week, I asked him who had made a mess in his room. He blamed it on Mason and Maya, his 1 yo cousins who were over a few days earlier.

When he doesn't want to go outside to play, he puts on a very pained expression and tells me it is "too cold. "

He likes to pretend that cardboard boxes are a fly-boat, which is a vehicle from The Wonder Pets. He makes up all sorts of games and it is currently his favorite toy. Today he wanted to use the vacuum cleaner and I told him we couldn't until he picked up his toys. He ran over, threw the fly-boat into the hallway and exclaimed with glee "Byebye Fly-Boat!"

How lucky am I?

Henry is taking a nap after a super-fun playdate this morning at his friend's house. The place is clean and Adam is away for the evening so I don't plan on cooking. I fed Molly, changed her little diaper and put a blanket over her while she was sitting on my lap. She was so cozy, and immediately fell asleep. I have to wait for the groceries to be delivered so I have nothing to do but sit here and let her snooze on my lap. Bliss!

How is it...

That we can put a man on the moon but can't manufacture socks that will stay on a two month old? Molly can remove her socks in under three seconds. By the time I replace one sock she has kicked off the other. Our apartment is littered with tiny stray socks.

What a little nut

Henry is at such a great age now. He now has enough verbal skills to express himself more fully and a great imagination. He can make up little games on his own and play indepenently. I love listening to him talk to himself.

He found two rectangular pieces of cardboard recently and decided they were ice skates. Adam put double stick tape on them and he skates around the apartment. Recently he added a little straw hat and a flash light to the mix and he skates with the whole ensemble. Sometimes he adds his backpack to the costume.

I went looking for him yesterday and found him face first on his belly in Adam's closet, his skates dangling out the door. He was just looking around with his flashlight like a junior archeologist. Crazy kid.

Someone please send some wine!

Egads, I think Molly has colic.

Henry did and it was a horrific experience. We learned many things from that and thought we had the tools to avoid it this time. Making sure she sleeps at least every two hours, very loud white noise, swaddling her, using the techniques from Happiest Baby on the Block...

The past few days she has been winding up around 5:30pm. This would be bearable if Adam had a 9-5 job and was home to help with Henry. Most normal days he is not home until at least 6:30 or 7pm. It is a busy time of year for him now and he has evening events three nights this week. Which take him out of the rotation entirely.

Last night she screamed off and on from 5:30 until 9:30pm. Which makes it very difficult to do normal things like feed Henry dinner, give him a bath, put him to bed or even just give him some attention...Who can sleep when your sister is screaming like she needs an exorcism? Around 9pm I finally remembered the hair dryer trick which got her to stop. The general problem with colic is that once you stop doing whatever it was that got them to stop crying they start again. You can't put them in a bouncy seat, swing, turn off the hair dryer without them screaming again.

I am a fairly patient person, but after 13+ hours with two kids and not having a full nights sleep in eight weeks, four hours of crying gets to you a bit. Our house looks like a tornado hit. I try to take Henry out in the morning somewhere and Molly sleeps on the go. I come home, feed him lunch and put him down for a nap. As soon as he is down, she is awake again for almost two hours. I play with her a bit, eat lunch with her on my lap (she will not be ignored) and then get her back down to sleep. I hop in the shower and Henry is awake as soon as I get out. The past two days I have taken him out of his crib while I am still dripping wet.

We have about 15 minutes before she wakes again. Add in some nursing sessions and it is lather, rinse, repeat ALL day long. Until the screaming starts of course...

It is 10:30pm and I am off to put the lunch and dinner dishes in the dishwasher and clean this disaster that we call home. Adam is quickly learning that the way to ensure that I am almost homicidal is to say he is going to be late!

Send some booze please.

New Molly Pictures

He melted my heart.

Like any nice mother, I lavish Henry with sympathy when he gets hurt. Too much according to my hard-hearted husband, but pish-posh to him.

Today Henry hurt his hand and came up to me crying. He held it out and asked me to kiss it. Even though I cover him with hugs and kisses when he gets hurt, I never "kiss the boo-boo." Which means my sweet boy came up with this on his own.

A Dream Fulfilled...

I always loved seeing little girls in smocked dresses. The white ones with the little rosebuds are my personal favorite. I have always secretly harbored a desire to dress a child in one. I never thought I would have a girl, so I thought my dream was dead :)

Well, along came Miss Molly. And Aunt Heather with her giant boxes of girl clothes. I was sorting through them last week and found the most darling little smocked jumper. Could it be? Would it fit? Yes it did! Woo hoo!

It was as fun as I thought it would be.

Fun Facts About Molly

• She has thick, dark brown hair that defies styling. Her eyes are still a grey blue.
• She has rolls of fat on her thighs, and when she lays down her belly extends over her sides. So adorable. She has already outgrown her newborn diapers.
• She hates having her arms swaddled down.
• She is a great eater, and eats much more than Henry ever did.
• She snoozes most of the day, but she insists on being held. If you put her in a crib, her bed, her chair or her swing, she wakes about 10 minutes later. I carry her much of the day in something called a Moby Wrap. In this, she will sleep for HOURS.
• She loves bathtime. She gets completely silent and sucks on her thumb. Just like she was doing in her ultrasound pictures.
• Her feet are very long and skinny. She will soon outgrow her newborn outfits that are footed just because her feet are so long.
• She has already started to smile and laugh a little, I think she did it first around two weeks old.
• Her most alert periods of the day are during Henry's nap and when everyone has gone to bed at night. I am soooo tired!

Reporting for Duty!

Henry, Molly and I were all catching some extra zzz's this morning in the big bed. Molly woke and was a little stuffy. Henry woke and wanted to know what was going on. I said "Molly has something up her nose." Groggily, he reached over and shoved his finger up her nose. Ahh, brotherly love...