Warning: once you turn thirty, it is advisable to refrain from blinking. When you do so, a whole month disappears. Those months, they can be difficult to find. They like to hide under the bills on your desk, or with the  missing socks in the laundry room. Next thing you know, you have a 2 year old. So, before November completely slips by me, it’s time for another chronicling of the household.

H-Boy

  • He turned 2 (2!!) this weekend and the event was strongly celebrated. His cousins stayed the night on Saturday and then the whole fam damily came to church at 8am (yes, they do love us dearly) to see them (M as well) be dedicated. We then had a brunch birthday party with cinnamon rolls and presents. 
  • He’s a talking machine now… favorite phrases: “there you go” “oh, no!” (said with proper inflection) “bye bye bye bye bye” and “papa!” oh, how the boy loves his papas. 
  • Lately we’ve been spending our time cutting fake vegetables (thanks to aunt gigi’s present), helping cook in the kitchen (I’ve learned that if you use a bowl twice the size of what you think you need, flour doesn’t go spraying about everywhere), and jumping off the bottom step – “ready, ready, jump!” he says as he prepares. 
  • Oh! I nearly forgot. We’ve graduated to the big boy bed. He likes it a lot. He’s done a fantastic job of not getting out of bed until it’s an appropriate end to sleeping time. He falls out every once in a while, and sometimes I think he gets out of bed and lays on the floor for fun because all of his bedding, 14 blankies and the buckeye are down there with him. But he still sleeps, so it’s cool with us. 
  • We’ve introduced some big boy undies and have went a few days with them on. He pee-peed in the potty once for daddy. It’s a work in progress and we’re not really expecting overnight success. 
  • He still loves, loves, loves his sister. His excitement when she’s awake is uncontainable. When she cries and he hears through the monitor he has started a habit of trying to go into her room (even if her nap time isn’t over….). But it’s sweet he enjoys her so much, so we’ll revel in it while we can. 
  • He mastered the harmonica and has recently been paying more attention to musical fun, which is nice. 
  • We’ve worked on counting (2 is by far his favorite number; sometimes he’ll “count” things as “2… 2…. 2…”) and our ABC’s. I’ve been signing his ABCs so sometimes he just waggles his arms about as we’re singing, which I take as a term of endearment. 

Miss M

  • She’s 7 months already! I can’t hardly believe it. She started real foods – currently banana, applesauce and sweet potato. She’s not a huge fan of the applesauce, but loves the other 2. We’ll be adding in a new one this week (avocado perhaps?). 
  • The super sitter now even sits in the tub for bathtime with her brother and rarely falls over. Generally when we see her lying on the floor she was chasing down a straying toy or her brother is at fault. 
  • She’s showing some interest in climbing – I mean crawling. She’s been pulling herself around on me quite a bit and look for her to start getting a bit more mobile any time. 
  • With the expert sitting and toy chasing, she has become a very content little lady. I can put her on the floor with a basket of toys and she’ll entertain herself for a long, long time. But she’s happy to be held, too. I never thought in her first 3 weeks of her life that she would be such a happy, contented baby, but she really is. 
  • Naps are finally REAL naps! Praise my Jesus. We can, on a regular (though not every day) basis get 2 solid 2 hour naps from the girl. Everyone is grateful. However, these tend to be staggered from H’s singular nap, so I have a child napping from 10am to 4pm and thus am stranded in the house. This too shall pass, I suppose. It is a great season to get out the crochet hooks. And I’m determined to learn the knitting (I even bought needles as inspiration). 

The Parentals
JJ has received his official RIF paperwork and will be done at the academy on 1/1/11. This has added stress because we still will require some income and, once again, will be without health insurance (I’ve been calling every doctor we could need to get in by the end of the year). However, the relief mentally and emotionally from being released from his current assignment far outweighs the stresses. Besides, we’re quite the pros at managing with a fluctuating income. Practice makes perfect! He’s got his application to a part-time position at BG, he anticipates subbing and we both still have our part time roles where I work. We’re really in an okay place. I have to remind myself of that from time to time.
I have really enjoyed the freedom of staying home with the kiddos as much as I have, and though by 4pm I’m on the verge of loony, I recognize that comes with the territory. Husband has done a superior job at helping me find other ways to connect to people – the woman’s retreat, helping with youth group (and thus leading a girls retreat), and in general getting me out of the house. Which just shows how brilliant he is, because when I’m sane, the whole house seems a bit less, um, volatile.
Well, I hear the pitter patters going, which means the little man has decided that he’s had enough sleep for the night. Another day begins.