the kids still live here

• Chatter, chatter, chatter, repeat, repeat, repeat. The girl is full of not just words, but phrases and sentences. And we’re moving past the parrot stage into her forming her own thoughts and words. It’s amazing to watch her, especially with H boy. 
• The potty has little luster right now, though we love the undies and she frequently asks to put them on. We’ve moved into bribe stage, which has caught her attention. 
• The crib rail came down this week so she’s officially in the Big Girl Bed. After sleeping in one at the lake last weekend we decided Mommy and Daddy should stop being lazy and get it done. She likes it and we haven’t had any incidences of her sneaking out. She’s fallen out once, but she climbed right back up. I’m not overly excited about this because as soon as we have her out of the crib, Husband is going to want to fill it again. 
• She loves her baby dolls; every nap and bedtime she puts them to bed (they lay on their bellies, covered up) and she’ll give them a kiss…”lub you!”
• Puzzles and other activities are also fun; she likes to line things up and is getting into that engineer stage.
• She eats about anything we put in front of her and the proof is her Buddha Belly. Adorable. I tell her to go ahead and wear those leggings. Rock it, girl. 
• Speaking of rocking it… shoes. She loves her some shoes. She always has at least one of them on. 

• I can’t believe what a big girl she’s becoming. She’s sitting up by herself 90% of the time and enjoys being on the floor with the kids. 
• We started real foods last week with sweet potato; we added in banana but after a weekend of decreasing sleep and increased spit up, we discovered she was allergic/doesn’t tolerate the #1 fruit consumed by this household. 
• A sensitive girl, this one. See above about bananas. We’ve also been fighting eczema since November. Her little buns are finally cleared up, with an occasional flare up, but the rolls in her neck are just breeding grounds and I can’t seem to rid her of the ring. We finally got the right product offering from Meijer, some sort of super-sensitive, petroleum- paraben- all that other bad stuff – free lotion and a paste as thick as glue. Even her scalp is sometimes itchy. Poor girl. 
• Pat me on the back next time you see me – we’ve maintained a good use of the cloth diapers. She got 3 new ones in her stocking for Christmas and I think with one more set we’ll be able to have a good flow of clean diapers at all times. Next goal: mastering the cloth for overnight. 
• I think some teeth could be on the horizon as well. Everything is going right to the mouth and lil Sophie the Giraffe has become a BFF. 
• After just cresting the 6 month mark, we quickly moved into 9 month clothes. Granted, some of these have been through 3 girls prior, so lots of washing involved, but she’s still a hefty weight for her age. You’d think she’d be sleeping through the night a bit better…

• He’s not just a chatterbox, but an up-and-coming lawyer, the way he likes to negotiate and differ in opinion. 
• The boy is doing better with his manners; we’ve settled into the routine of asking to be excused from dinner and taking our plate to the sink to help with chores. He’s regularly saying please, thank you and sorry, which I’m thrilled is part of his habit.
• His love for his baby sister has not diminished. If anything, it’s grown. If the baby is nursing, he insists upon sitting on the arm of the chair. He’s always talking to her and using his baby voice to do so. This poor girl will never date. 
• Though we’ve always limited his time in front of the screen, he loves TV. (I’ll blame the sitter). Recently he’s become fond of Frosty the Snowman as an evening treat. M echos the request for “rosty noman” but then bails after a few minutes. 
• He’s doing a bit more picking on his sister like the typical big brother; I’ll catch him at times taking toys from M and running away. And then she does it back to him. 
• The biggest hit of Christmas was the train Grandma Cella got him. It doesn’t so much work with the track, but Daddy figured out how to make it run on the kitchen floor. 
• He’s eating about anything – not real finicky about anything in particular, it just depends on the day. If you ask him, his favorite food is lasagna, which I’m confident means my creamy chicken lasagna because I haven’t made a good meat lasagna since October 9, 2009. 
• He knows the number 7 because that is what must be on the front of his clock in order to come downstairs in the morning. When he counts, it’s usually: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11. I have no idea where 4 and 7 went.
• He knows M and W (and M mostly because it’s so similar to W). I’m not sure why the W stuck. I think there’s a few other letters in there, too, but the W is his favorite to pick out.
• He’s still a bookworm and will even read to Molly now – especially the books he knows by heart: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Hop on Pop, and even some Green Eggs and Ham.

Husband and I are started to get settled in. He’s got a few teacher friends that he’ll visit on the weekends; I have a former-student-turned-friend that goes with me for fro-yo in sub-freezing temps or coffee. I had lunch with someone from work (she lives in town but is remote as well), so chalk up another tally for leaving the house dressed. We’re trying out a new church and have thus far enjoyed it. We’re going to meet with the pastor next week to hear a bit more about what the church is doing and where it’s going. I’m curious if most pastors get random emails from people who have visited twice, asking them to come over and share about the vision of the ministry. I’m not sure I ever heard of it when I worked for one. But you’re all aware the beat of our drummer is usually leads us to clap on the one and three.

 

So, that’s it from the homefront. Who wants to jot this down in the baby books?