Diaper Free? Could it be?

Molly is basically a nudist and refuses to wear a diaper at home. Even if I can wrestle one onto her, she has it off within minutes and stuffs it into the hamper. Since she is treating our house as one giant litter box, I have decided to potty train her.

Since she is so small, I had to buy her the Elmo Singing Potty. We are having some success, she actually peed on it yesterday. I ordered her some tiny underwear and am going to see where she takes us. I wouldn't be surprised if she is fully trained within a month or two.

Temper Temper!

Molly has a nasty temper. If she does not get what she wants, she will hit you, pinch you, whatever. She can scream non-stop for an hour if you let her. No bribing, punishing, soothing, cajoling will stop her when she is on a tear. I don't know if I mentioned this earlier, but she once screamed for ninety straight minutes on an airplane. We thought she had a stomach ache but now my best guess is that she was just pissed off. You should hear her in the car.

We were driving home from the pool this afternoon and she was in a foul mood. Adam called on the cell phone and I passed the phone back to Henry. He spoke to him for a minute and then gave the phone to Molly. She didn't want to talk but she didn't want to give the phone back either. Mind you that Adam was still hanging on the line. I was shouting in the car "Just hang up! Molly has the phone!" She is as stubborn as a mule and as strong as an ox. Henry couldn't wrench the phone from her hands. I actually had to pull over and wrestle the phone from her. She then proceeded to scream "Daddy! Phone! Phone!" for the next fifteen minutes. Egads, I am it for it with this little girl.

My Little Swimmer!

Henry loves the water. We joined a pool club in New Jersey and have been going swimming almost every day. They don't allow swim arms or swim diapers in the big pool, so during the week we are mostly confined to the kiddie pool. Despite these constraints, Henry has made huge progress with his swimming.

Adam missed his calling as a kiddie swim instructor. Just based on his weekend instruction, Henry now jumps from the side of the pool unassisted and goes under the water. He can tread water to the surface and swim a short distance to the side of the pool. He can also move himself along the edge of the pool, stand on his tip toes and he was attempting to swim underwater in the kiddie pool today.

On Sunday, we went out on the boat. Wearing a life jacket, he jumped off the swim platform and was swimming around. Even his big baby mother doesn't like to do that yet.

My Little Goat

Molly sticks many things in her mouth. Things she finds on the floor, old food, half chewed pieces of candy. She has also swallowed 2 cherry pits. Yesterday she and Henry were peeling hard boiled eggs and eating them. I turned my back for one second and heard a crunching noise. She chipped a tiny hole in the egg and then proceeded to take a big bite. Eating egg white mixed with a healthy dose of shell. I asked her if it was good and she said yes. It didn't stop her from eating more eggs either.

I thought they just made this stuff up

I am continually surprised at the differences between having a boy and having a girl. At such a young age, I really thought all of this gender difference stuff was a load of baloney. Molly does things that just shock me coming from such a young child.

This morning, Adam got Molly dressed for the pool in some shorts and a ruffle necked tee shirt. He said "Oh Molly, you look so pretty. That is such a nice shirt. Show Mommy how pretty you look." She turned around, cocked her head to the side with a big smile and was just posing for me. It was just such a girlish gesture that I was shocked.

Then this evening, she and Henry were doing their tag team campaign to get an italian ice despite the fact that neither of them ate their dinner. I told them no a million times and then they would just run into the kitchen and ask Adam.

Molly then marched back into the living room. She looked at me with her saddest face and said "Mommy...hungry." I said "Oh Molly, would you like to eat your dinner?" She made a funny face and said "Noooooooo." I said "Oh no? Would you like a yogurt?" She made her little look again and said "Nooooo." She then put one foot in front of the other, jutted her little hips out, cocked her head and gave me her most winning smile. Without saying a word, she was saying "You know and I know that you know what I want." I said "Oh Molly, did you want an Italian ice?" She got a huge smile on her face and yelled "Yes! Cherry!" and ran into the kitchen.

It is just shocking than an 18 month old could be so manipulative already.

So Sweet.

When I was a kid, my mom played this game where she would bounce us on her knees. It started off really slowly "And this is how the ladies ride." It got a little faster "And this is how the gentleman ride." And then you got bounced like crazy with "And this is how the cowboys ride!"

My mom taught it to the kids and they both love it. Of course because she doesn't live in our apartment I am the primary knee bouncer. Molly is always asking me to do it. She climbs on my legs and shouts "Cowboy!" and if I pretend not to understand her she yells "Bounce Bounce" while jumping wildly on my kneecaps.

Molly was screaming about something or another last night so my little peacemaker Henry offered to bounce her to cheer her up. Now normally, Molly refuses to do anything that Henry asks her just to bust his chops. "Molly, can you give me a kiss?" "NO!!!" But for some reason, she was feeling nice and agreed.

He sat down on the floor with his legs straight out (so this is never going to work) and she sat on his lap facing him. She wrapped her chubby little arms around his neck and I could see his face light up. He bounced her about a millimeter up in the air and they were both happy. I overheard him saying "Oh Molly, I just love you so much."

He walked over to me and was so proud. He said "Oh Mommy, did you see? She wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me!" It was just so cute I damn near welled up with tears. As much as I want to strangle him half the day for all of the naughty things he does, he is just so incredibly sweet and loves Molly so much.

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.