Hiding

The other day, I ran downstairs to put a load of laundry in the washer. When I came back up, the kids were nowhere in sight. And then the giggling started...

Postscript

Yesterday I noticed that Noah was no longer napping, but since he seemed content to play with his blankies I waited a bit before going in the room. Here is our conversation when I did go in.

Noah: Uh oh momma.

Nicole: Noah, what's uh oh?

Noah: Momma, diaper! Excitedly shows me the diaper in his hand.

Nicole: Inquisitively looking at her bare bottomed son.

Noah: Poo poo!

Nicole (very seriously): Noah did you go poo poo in your bed? Show momma the poo poo.

Noah (silly): No! Pee pee!

Nicole (still serious): Noah where is the pee pee?

Noah: Walks over to the end of the crib and points at the puddle on the floor. Pee pee!

Nicole: Noah, did you stand at the end on your crib and go pee pee?

Noah (silly again but looking quite guilty): No!

I then commenced a toddler-appropriate talk about not taking diaper off so that he could pee on the floor. I also took the pack n' play outside and gave it a good scrub down. I'm thinking that this may become a pattern and that we may need to think more about potty training.

Start Your Engines

Each time the kids go to a well visit with the doctor, we leave with a few 'parent education' handouts. Sometimes I read them, sometimes they just find their way to the recycling bin. At the 18 month appointment, we received a little sheet on potty training. I didn't read it all, but I did catch the idea that the potty chair was supposed to sit out and that I was supposed to hype it as a really awesome, super duper, best thing ever kind of chair. So I promptly brought the potty seat upstairs and proceeded to show the kids that it was like the big potty.

E & N were not too impressed with it at first. I noticed that it was being used as a stool more than it was being used as a chair. I'd come in the kitchen and find the potty pushed up to the counter so that they could reach something. Whatever. I've had it in my head that the kids will use the potty whenever they are ready and there is no need to push the whole thing.

In the last couple of weeks though, the potty chair has gained a few popularity points in the mind of E & N. I'll find someone in the corner and ask if they want to use the potty...the answer is usually a resounding 'yes!' They want their pants off and then the trot off to the potty. Inevitably though, the little one that was not in the corner also wants to try to use the potty and so it is really common for me to find one kid on the potty and the other one, bare bottomed, backing up, trying to sit on their twin who is sitting on the potty. That is what is happening in the picture above. Noah was pretty ticked.

The kids still don't know how to get their pants and diapers off (which I read was another 'potty training readiness' item) so I was feeling pretty safe. That is, until yesterday. Matt was home with the kids during nap time and he heard Noah rustling around in his bed. Much to Matt's displeasure, he smelled something terrible as he approached the room. When he opened the door, Noah was standing in his pack 'n play with pants in one hand and his dirty diaper in the other, both arms above his head. He was exclaiming 'poo poo!' like he just won a medal.

Sweet. Let the potty training games begin?

Little Ella's Bloomers

This is from Church last sunday. Little Ella's bloomers were very uncooperative. She didn't seem to notice (neither did Dad) until everyone started chuckling.




Thanks for the picture Barb!

The serious business of a two year old

The kids and I came up with a new game this morning. Here is how it goes: take the animals out of the ark (thanks for letting us borrow it M & C!) and put them on the floor. Then scoop them up with the digger and dump them in the dump truck. Once all the animals are in the dump truck, the entire load is deposited back into the ark. It is pretty serious business as evidence by the pictures below.

Noah was still going strong with transferring animals, but Ella wandered off to find some stickers which were carefully chosen and then stuck on heads, noses and toes.

Figures

I realized that I was 'due' for another post so I started to go thought the recent pictures of the kids. The problem is that, for whatever reason, the kids are stark naked in most all of the shots. Ella naked and wearing my red heels...Noah in the buff playing trains... One of these days, I'll take some pictures of my kids with clothes on. Until then...

Hot un mits

I asked Ella to sit on the couch so I could take a picture of how she dressed herself for the day.

Noah thought that he should show off his half dressed look as well.

As she sat, she explored the way that she could manipulate her toes with her hands in mittens.

...and then proceeded to tickle her brother. So many activities end in this manner.

That is about it for now. We are taking it very slow this morning thanks to the snowstorm.

Miss Annika

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Baby its cold outside

With the exception of a wagon ride in the snow yesterday (more below on that one), we've been spending most of our time inside. Thanks to Aunt Liz & Uncle Stephan, we are now finger painting. I love that the kids' attention spans are increasing so we can actually sit and do a project.

This is Ella directing me on her next color choice: 'geen peas'.

Noah was totally serious about his painting.

And my other go-to activity when I think that we all might lose it: playdoh. Both kids love squishing, rolling, piecing, etc. I love seeing their creativity come out...

And this one just made me laugh.

And now about the wagon ride. I'm writing it because I don't want to forget it. Around Christmas we attempted to get the kids in all their snow gear so that we could all play in the snow. Noah struggled so much over the snow bibs, hat, mittens, etc that he worked himself into a rotten mood. Matt and Ella went outside and played in the snow. Once Noah saw what they were doing he agreed to go out. He liked it for all of one minute until he face planted in the snow and hated feeling the cold on his face. Play time was over.

We had not tried playing in the snow since that day in December and yesterday was much the same. Ella thought that it was cool to get dressed in all the layers but Noah, not so much. With each item of clothing that I put on he he protested. 'No socks, no pats, no beeb (snow bib), no cot (coat), no mits (mittens), no hot (hat)'. Once we were outside he was still whining but I asked him if he wanted to dig in the snow. He stopped whining and said in a really quiet voice 'dig'. I guess he remembered digging from the summer and he promptly took up his little shovel and pail and moved snow around the yard.
Once they tired of digging, we took a wagon ride around the neighborhood. It is probably not the most typical item for traveling in the snow, but I have to say that it worked far better than a sled for the one inch of snow that was down. It moved over shoveled sidewalks and just glided over the unshoveled stuff. They loved it.

Because one spoon is simply inefficient...

Pure joy

I adore this little girl...her big smile and sweet giggle melt me. Thank you Lord for such a gift.

So proud

Admiring his tower...he did it all on his own.

My favorite part is the arched block balancing on the triangle.

Heard around the house

Noah: 'On, too, bee'
Translation 'One, two three.' This is often followed by him jumping off of something or him dropping an object.

Ella: 'Catcakes'
Translation: I thought that it was 'cupcakes' because we had cupcakes for the first time in the last week. She says it when we are playing play-doh so I perfected the art of making tiny cupcakes with itsy bitsy sprinkles. But, as we were eating breakfast the other morning, I realized that the real translation is 'pancakes.' Silly mommy.

Both: 'Naw-naw, beety, gee-gee'
Translation: pacifier, blankey and froggy. All very important items.

Noah: 'snock' --rhymes with sock
Translation: Snack. This is generally followed by 'stix' which means that he wants Veggie Sticks. They are not nearly as healthy as they sound.

Noah: 'Mas.'
Translation: More. Contrary to what you might think, we are not trying to teach him Spanish. Apparently it just comes to him naturally.

Ella standing by the sink saying 'huns.'
Translation: please wash my hands.

Noah: 'Dada.'
Translation: The phone is ringing. Hopefully it is dad.

Noah: 'Dada choo choo.'
Translation: Daddy went away.

Ella: 'No, no, no, no!'
Translation: None needed.

Before bed...

Where, oh where

So, what have we been up to? I realize that for the most part, I've been MIA for the past month. So here is the update...

Matt took a full two weeks off around Christmas and I have to say that it was blissful. Actually, that is mostly why I have not posted anything...I didn't want to miss out on just being with him and the kids. Seriously, I can't remember the last time that we have had that much down time together in the last few years (but then again my memory is terrible these days so maybe we did the same thing last year...).

For Christmas, my folks make the journey west and stayed with us. This is especially notable because we have a finished basement that should be able to house guests, but up until now, we've found other places for guests to sleep. Not this time! We made a cozy nest for them and it worked out really well. Anyone else want to come visit?

Back to Christmas...even though the kids were here last Christmas, Pish and I really felt like we were parents preparing for Christmas morning this year. It was great. We had so much fun getting their stockings ready (juice boxes in the very bottom because, of course, as that is one of their favorite things) and wrapping the presents in ways that we thought they'd enjoy.

Favorite moments from the Advent season and Christmas morning 2009...
* gathering with our church family on Christmas Eve to sing the familiar songs of Christmas and hear again the story of the incarnation once again. It never ceases to amaze.

* the kids asking for 'baby' which is actually a Russian nesting doll santa ornament with a little santa stuck inside. Both of them insisted on taking the little santa 'baby' out, giving it a kiss and then putting it back on the tree. Then they put their index finger up to their mouths and say 'shhh' indicating that 'baby' has gone back to sleep.

* watching Noah grasp onto the whole idea of Christmas morning. He immediately understood that his stocking belonged to him and toted it around the house until we told him that he could open it. He carefully took each item out and identified it. Unlike her brother, Ella had no interest in opening her stocking. We kind of helped her along but she wanted to only look at one thing at a time. She did however get very excited to see so many juice boxes at the end of her stocking.

* seeing my folks enjoy one another. They are so sweet together.

* seeing Ella really engage with a toy. I was really into my dollhouse as a kid. I loved 'miniatures', as we called them. When I saw Ella take notice of a dollhouse at a store, I took notice. She ordinarily desires social interaction over toys. Anyhow, I was thinking that I'd try to find a little dollhouse for her but stumbled upon an awesome one on craigslist. Thankfully, she loves the dollhouse. Favorite dollhouse activity? Finding the two tiny toy cars (really small since they are toys for the dolls), putting them in a cabinet and then taking them out and putting them in another cabinet, or the dollhouse potty. This can go on forever.

* Ella snuggling in the hooded bath towel that my sister make for her. These towels have since inspired a new post bath tradition of the bundled munchkins sitting together on the chair in their room playing peek a boo with their toes in their towels.

* Watching the cousins chase bubbles together

* Being together with both sets of parents, Matt's sisters, their families and Uncle Roy for a Christmas feast that evening.

* Lots of late night cuddling with Noah. With all the clamor of the holidays, Noah had a bit of trouble making it though the night on his own and he spent many a night in bed with us. While I could have put him back in his bed once he settled, I loved having that little man with us. In the morning he'd wake me up to tell me 'Ya Ya ake' (translation: Ella's awake).

Since then, my parents left town and we have celebrated three birthdays...more on that to come. In the mean time, we've been recalibrating and getting back to our weekly routine. This means that we've spent lots of time playing with trains/cars/construction trucks, babies, play dough, tools. We've read lots of books (Babar is a new favorite) and made huge messes while letting the kids 'help' in the kitchen.

I've been thinking about how much of life is fleeting. There is much uncertainty and messiness and I have so much less control that I think that I do. I'm ever learning to depend on the one that hold us in his hands. These are good, sweet times. We are resting.