Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Thomas is 3, Sophia is 22 1/4 months

Aftermath of a tantrum

Going walkies in the rain




Trying to give Sophia a "huggle"

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Thomas is 3, Sophia is 22 months


Sophia's "Crazy Hair"
Sophia is really communicating with her words these days. Matthew said to her, "We're going to go to Barnes and Noble now. We're going to sit down and read magazines and have a bagel!" Sophia brightened up immediately and said, "And a cookie!" What a bright little girl. She remembers our routine very well! Later, I was changing Sophia's diaper and singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider song. Sophia shook her finger at me. "Spider no no nooo! ABC song!" she demanded. Sometimes when I'm too late putting her down for a nap or bedtime, she'll wander around with a book in her hand saying, "so tired....rub eye" while rubbing her eyes. And then a couple of days ago, I was trying to lure her out of the chiropractor's office so I said, "Sophia! Would you like to go to the park?" She got a huge smile on her face and said, "Park?!" She bent over as if electrified with excitement, clutching her hands to her stomach, and said, "SOOO HAPPY!!" And I said, "say bye-bye!" And she turned to the doctor and said, "bye-bye, Doctor!" She knew the word doctor, and how to use it! Her favorite phrase that we hear constantly is "go Baba Jiji old hoooooouuuuse" which is how we refer to their place in Wisconsin. She says it so often that whenever Thomas pretends to be a baby, that is what he says in a baby voice along with all of his nonsense words.


Thomas is getting tall enough to wash his hands without standing on a stool, and to pee standing up, too! Boy, does that make things easier, especially when we're doing last drops before a car ride, or bed, because he used to have to take off his underwear and pants all the way, then climb up and sit facing the tank. It made him feel very comfortable up there, but he still had to watch where he aimed (sometimes a problem when sleepy) and then climb down and laboriously put them on again (by himself, on a good day!). He would frequently come out either half-naked or wanting me to put them on for him. Boy, did that get old when I wasn't in the mood. He's much better these days about putting his clothes on by himself, in general! Especially if it's after breakfast and he's pretending to be a responsible engine like Edward or Diesel 10, he'll reply to my request to get dressed: "no problem!" and dash off, coming out a few minutes later all dressed! WOW that makes the morning easier!



Love those little legs
One day I threatened to leave Thomas at home if he didn't hurry up and get in the car. He said a little anxiously, "Do you really leave me at home?" And I admitted that I wouldn't. Then he had a little think, and said, "If you leave me at home, I would do all the things you wouldn't want me to do. I would put lots of stickers on my potty chart, and I would ..." I couldn't hear the rest because I was trying too hard not to laugh! Ooh! I wonder what else would have been on his "forbidden fruit" list. What do almost-4-year-olds like the most? Probably having lots of cereal, candy and TV. And stickers on their potty chart, apparently.


Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Thomas is 3, Sophia is 21 3/4 months

A duet with Dominic
Reading with Baba

Reading past updates with Jiji

Eating at Michelle's house with Dominic


Floating down the indoor lazy river

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Thomas is 3, Sophia is 21 1/2 months - WI!

Picking apples off Mom and Dad's apple tree
We had 10 days in Wisconsin! It was heavenly. Mom and Dad made us three delicious meals a day, and Thomas and Sophia couldn't get enough of outside. They played with the old wagon, pushed the wheelbarrow, ate things out of the garden, walked in the "secret path" hidden by bushes, visited the neighbor's miniature horses, and every day, every few hours, picked and ate apples off the tree. It seems as though every picture we have of Sophia outside, she is holding a half-eaten apple! Of course we visited our favorite places like Legacy Chocolate, the farmer's market, Acoustic CafĂ©, Old Country Buffet, and we even went to a couple of parks this time that I seem to remember from my childhood. The slides are a lot more scary as an adult, somehow, so high and ... no platform, just perched up there with everywhere to fall! 

Chase-chase with Dominic
We had a night out at Michelle's house, where Thomas and Dominic got along very well (after Thomas ignored Dominic for a couple of hours to play with all his toys, poor Dominic trying to interest Thomas in activities without success), and Michelle made the most delicious lobster macaroni and cheese, and apple pie, made with apples from Mom and Dad's tree. Sophia was a big fan of the lobster mac and cheese too. No sooner would I scoop some for myself then Sophia would start eating it off my plate with lots of humming! 
Our old wagon
One night, Mom and Dad treated us to a night at a B&B and babysat the kids for our anniversary! Nine years now already! I couldn't stomach going anywhere with people, or noise, or city, so we chose a place on the Red Cedar Trail in Menomonie. It was so quiet and peaceful, and they gave us a beautiful, delicious breakfast and Legacy Chocolates on our pillow at night. I think I spent the whole time just listening to the quiet. It's quite a different quiet, somehow, from the kind of quiet in our house in Orlando, even at midnight. So peaceful and healing. It was fantastic. 
Loooooooves those apples!
Then another morning we went to an indoor waterpark in Eau Claire, but even though it was so warm outside, the water inside was freezing! Apparently there had been a problem with one of the furnaces used to heat the water the night before. The cold water was a shock for us Floridians, used to a swimming pool as warm as a bath! Because of this, the kids couldn't take full advantage of the kiddie section, but we floated down the lazy river in floating tubes several times (the water was much warmer, due to being heated separately by a different furnace) and Matthew and I got to go down a couple of the adult slides -- lots of fun! I made Matthew go first to test how scary they were. I ended up going down 4 or 5 times, I think, just to make sure I got my money's worth! On the way back home, Baba and Thomas sat in the backseat and had a pretend snowball fight and rolled up pretend snowmen. What a wonderful picture that was! I couldn't stop smiling at their fun. 

The sweet taste of success(ful apple picking)
Dad and Matthew spent a lot of time trying to get the digital TV antenna up and running, but it was quite the battle, and in the end, I think they decided that they needed a more powerful antenna since they're just too far away from the transmission source, and in a valley. But now they have a little bit of TV, instead of no TV!