Photo Dump

A 'photo dump' to document how busy these sweet children are....

Playing "Marching Band"...guess who was our director? 

Much-needed "team building" 

This mess tormented my organized, systematic oldest child.

"If Cameron wants to play with me, he has to wear these ears." Poor buddy...

Robot Family!

morning hair....doesn't seem fair that my son has perfect hair and my daughter has frizz, curls, two cowlics...

donut date with her future husband, Quinn, followed by a trip to Seattle Children's Theatre

Friday family date to the aquarium and the Spaghetti Factory

curly, post-bath hair....had to document how pretty it can be, too!

Germ Invasion

The winter germs have taken advantage of this family.  I've never been hit as hard as I have this winter--starting on the 26th of December with a 5 day flu, followed by a brief reprieve of 1 1/2 weeks, and then knocking me over again.  The poor kiddos have been wiped out with wave after wave of flu, cold, cough, ear infections, and then REPEAT.... Sophie missed a week of preschool, and I have never seen her so sick.  And my sweet, sweet boy can still manage a smile here or there despite a double ear infection.  I think Sophie and Cam are just passing the germs back and forth between one another; at least Sophie is sharing something with her brother. Doug has managed to escape the germs... so, I guess working full time does have its advantages.... :)

Sophie's vampire look...gross but funny at the same time

The past few weeks have been full--and not just full of sickness. In the midst of dates with the doctors, cancelled plans with friends, humidifiers, many middle of the night wake up calls, and much reliance on the healing powers of Caillou, we have had several grandparent visits.  My mom spent a long weekend with us, and her help was incredible since she came at the height of Sophie's illness.  Doug's dad visited for a couple days as well, and my dad spent an afternoon/evening with us before he departed on an international mission trip. On a sad and serious note, Doug's "Little Gran" passed away this week, so he travelled to New Zealand to join the rest of his family in celebrating her.

"Mommy, it's taking so long to not be sick anymore."

 Despite feeling and looking pretty rough, Sophie did manage to maintain her sassy attitude and sense of humor.  She has begun to pick up on the different accents and intonations that mommy and daddy have.  When she imitates her daddy's Australian accent, it sounds like she is mispronouncing words though.  For example, Doug told Sophie that mommy and daddy were going on a date to eat sushi which was "raw fish." Sophie heard what Doug said and perfectly imitated it so the word "raw" sounds like "roar." Also, she is obsessed with all marine life and thanks to some lessons from Daddy, Sophie prefers the "orcer whale" (allegedly, that's Australian for "orca"!).

Looks like we have enough eggs for the rest of the sick season...

Just looking at this photo makes me want to snuggle him...

In an uncomfortable turn of events, Sophie now requests "open mouthed kisses."  On one hand, I guess it is good that she observes affection between her parents...but on the other hand, it isn't right when she asks her Daddy for an open mouthed kiss--which he quickly refuses...or when she goes in for an open mouthed kiss from her brother--which he mimics by opening his wide and slobbery mouth...

Sophie's latest obsession is making up words and saying "Do you know what that means? It means ______ in Spanish." For example "Lingen-don means rug in Spanish."

And now, I must take some more cold medicine, calm my very upset 8-month old baby, and bring more kleenex into my toddler's room who can't sleep if there is any trace of snot near her nostrils. And then, I will dream about everything sweet and thoughtful that Doug is going to do as a thank you to me for tending to our children during this sick, sick month.... I hope he still reads this blog...

Hilarity

She built that Lincoln Log house all by herself!  

Look at that hair!

I cannot keep up with my children.  Sophie's imagination and wit baffle me.  Cameron's quick development and curiosity surprise me. This week, I have done a good job of documenting Sophie's hilarious comments.  I have done a terrible job of documenting the kiddos with photographs, so cell phone images will have to do!  Quite honestly, in the time it would take me to track down the camera, Cameron would have found some sharp object or wedged himself behind the piano.  I am fairly confident that he understands the following sentences: "Cameron, no.  Cameron, you can't go in there.  Cameron, you need to let go of that. Nope, Cam, I'm sorry but you're not allowed to do that."

Please note that he had started pulling out wine bottles....in 3 years, Sophie hasn't tried that even one time...

Causing trouble by "eating" Sophie's felt lamb for her felt board

 Cameron has become much more vocal this week. I'm hearing a lot of "Mum mum mum mum" which is clearly a tribute to me.  He also has been saying "oooooo" and purses his lips in this adorable way.  I honestly think that it's the beginning of saying his sister's name...we will see.  Either way, he is learning and growing so quickly.

He is so proud of himself every time he pulls himself up to stand!

They're taking over every room of our home. 

 Sophie, in her own words:

"I didn't want to ride the bikes at school today because I didn't want to wear a helmet.  Helmets don't make me feel free."

"Mommy! You bought tulips!  Thank you for buying tulips.  I have been wondering for so long when they would show up again."

"I can't stop screaming cuz I'm practicing for my screaming career."

(when asked nicely to stop playing the piano because Cam was trying to nap) "No, I have to play the piano right now cuz it's soothing my brain."

"No, I didn't hit Louie (the cat).  I wasn't hitting. I was just bouncing my hand on him."

"Do you want to know a funny phrase? 'It's a sunny day in Paris.' That's a funny phrase" (obviously, she meant "it's a sunny day in paradise"....)

Again, he caused trouble because those books were in a pile and he knocked them over.

 Barnes and Noble is one of Sophie's favorite field trips.  I usually have to bribe her to leave the store; she looks and touches everything, pulling out books, sitting on the floor, and "reading" them to herself.  But, Sophie is very intentional about putting the books back in the exact same spot in the shelves.  Sophie is a bookseller's dream child, because she doesn't like chaos or disorder.  She even spots books that are in the wrong sections, and she will remedy that problem.  Cameron's curiosity often conflicts with Sophie's organization, structure, and control. Now that baby brother is on the move, he "screws up" everything at our house...but this week, Cameron crossed the line when he entered Barnes and Noble, her turf. I allowed Cam to crawl around and pull out books, but I was diligent about ensuring two things: 1. that he didn't put any books in his mouth and 2. that I reshelved the books once he had moved on.  All of a sudden, Sophie came up to me and said, "Let's get out of here."  When I asked why she was ready to leave so soon, she replied, "Because Cameron is embarassing me.  Look what he is doing."  Sister was mortified about his behavior at the bookstore.  Hilarious.

Love these two!

1. After this photo, Cam stood up and with two swoops of the hand, he terrorized the dollhouse.
2.  That is chocolate above Sophie's lips, not a beauty mark.

Sophie doesn't need any toys.  All she needs is a scenario and a willing participant to pretend with her.  Hours and hours are spent as she tells detailed and complex stories. And they all start the same way..."Let's pretend...."

"Let's pretend Frosty is in my heart and you're Frosty and it's cold inside my heart so you hear my teeth chattering."

"Let's pretend that Pegasus got old wings from a pterodactyl that is sharing. The wings got sucked into his bones.  And I'm Pegasus and I got born at the North Pole in snow so now I'm magic.  And I eat glitter to make me fly."

"Let's pretend that I'm the chef and you're at my restaurant and it's called 'Fork' cuz there's lots of forks in here.  Haha, that's funny.  And let's pretend that next door is my other restaurant called spoons.  Do you need me to tell you why it's called spoons, mommy?"  

He couldn't understand why sister needed privacy in there. 

"Get me away from this crazy girl! She isn't as sweet as you think!!"

Other items of note this week:  Doug was in Atlanta for work and he was able to attend the Seahawks-Ravens game.  Sophie and I watched the game from our house, and obviously saw the Seahawks lose.  Afterward, Sophie told Doug on the phone, "Our Seahawks lost daddy. Did they win where you were?"

Sophie visited the dentist this week.  To bribe her, I told her that we could get a chocolate cupcake afterward.  She was overjoyed.  But then, I added that we could only get the sugary cupcake if she didn't tell her dentist that I was taking her there.  Mother of the Year.




 

Confessions

Confession #1: I secretly love when Sophie gets mad at Cameron.

More and more frequently now, I hear "Noooooooo, Cameron!" or "Mommy, Cameron took my ________" or "No! No babies allowed" or "Zero persons are allowed in my room right now" or my favorite "Stop, Cameron, you're distracting me!"

Now that Cameron cruises around our house on a mission and now that he purposely "plays" with toys, sibling arguments are starting, and I love it!  I think it's so stinking cute that my 3 year old gets frustrated that her nearly 8-month old brother is interacting more with her.  In many instances, Sophie claims that Cameron is chewing "my favorite toy" that she is "in love with." In reality, she hasn't played with that toy in months, but seeing her baby bro find enjoyment with it reignites this supposed love affair. And Cameron isn't just a cute, little baby who is teaching his sister valuable lessons about sharing.  He knows what he is doing.  98 toys will be dumped out on the carpet, but that boy crawls over and grabs the 1 toy that Sophie has been coveting all afternoon.

Cleverly, in one instance, Sophie realized she needed to switch up her game to get a different response from me.  In a desperate attempt to take back a horse that Cam commandeered, Sophie rushed downstairs to get her doctor's kit.  She came up with a serious look on her face ("this is my thinking face, mommy").  She then informed us that an ambulance was on its way because the horse had an appointment.  The horse's appointment would take 2 weeks because the drool on him had given him a temperature of 45.  I hesitated while I formulated how I would respond, so Sophie capitalized on my indecision to add "Mommy, if the horse doesn't go to his appointment now, he will die.  Then nobody can play with him." How do you argue with that?  Cam lost the horse on that rationale...

Confession #2: I say I'm sorry too often.

As Doug and I observe our children learning and developing, it is obvious to us what skills, abilities, and habits they form because of what we, their parents, do.  This has become the most clear with Sophie's language acquisition.  Certain sentence patterns, phrases, and reactions that she hysterically and regularly uses can be traced back to things Doug and I say--and most of them are words/phrases that we never knew how often we use.  Case and point: I'm sorry.

I use that sentence a lot, but (as Doug would confirm), I don't often use it in an apology format.  For example, "I"m sorry, Sophie, but you look adorable today." Or "I'm sorry, Cam, but that is the most drool I have ever seen!" Or "I'm sorry, but you are just my favorite boy in the whole world!"

First, that use of "I'm sorry" is ridiculous and nonsensical.  As an English major and English teacher, I'm embarrassed to admit that I say that ALL THE TIME.  I'm sorry.

Second, when a daughter who is experimenting with language imitates her mother's excessive misuse of a sentence, it's funny.   At one point I was gushing compliments, telling Sophie that I was sorry, but I think she is just the most beautiful girl in the world.  She grabbed my hands and said "It's ok, mommy.  You don't have to be sorry." From then on, we have noticed that she uses the same sentence, saying comical things like "I'm sorry but this is the best dinner" or "I'm sorry but I ate all my apple" or "I'm sorry but this marker is green."

Confession #3: Although I think of myself as organized and cleanly, my curious baby boy has proven otherwise.

Cam is a full-on boy.  Once he figured out how to crawl, he didn't just crawl around on a contained carpet like his sister.  He was off.  And crawling wasn't good enough; he now kneels unassisted and pulls himself up to a standing position when holding items. Sophie explored the house when she started crawling, but she was polite and observed things around her.  Cameron finds every last nook and cranny and devours it--dust bunnies under the buffet in the far right corner? Found those, mommy.  Electrical cord from the lamp behind the dresser past the chair? Trying to chew that, mommy.  Plastic wrapping from the stickers in the box in Sophie's art drawer? Somehow pulled those out, mommy.

I wrote out a list, classifying different rooms in my house into different zones. I assigned a cleaning schedule to each zone.  I gave Doug strict instructions about what he needed to do in certain zones. It doesn't matter.  By the time I've cleaned each zone over the course of a week, Cam will have figured out my plan and I'll follow his trail of drool to the spots that are dirty. Forget the zones.  I'm now playing man to man coverage.  I just follow him around nonstop and as he picks up the popcorn kernel from the carpet, I immediately snag it and feel successful at my cleaning routine.


3 major confessions in one blog entry? Fairly scandalous life I lead, eh?