Everyday stuff.

I love this picture --to me a captures our normal life right now, completely full of energy and spunk. Now that the kids are talking more, we have very sweet toddler conversations, especially when we are in the car. I'll give a few snippets of our conversation on the way home from Bible study this morning. I write this so that I don't forget it.

Noah: Momma, Bites! (translation: Mighty Bites, his favorite cereal)
Mom: Noah we don't have any Bites in the car. You ate them all.
Noah: Momma Bites!!
Mom: Noah, I don't know what to tell you. Bites all gone.
Noah: Bites!
Ella: Gee Gee, Gee Gee, Gee GEE! (translation: her beloved Froggy)

I look back and see that Noah has stolen Gee Gee from Ella's clutches, probably out of frustration that there are no Bites to be eaten.

Mom: Noah, that is not kind. Gee Gee is Ella's.
Ella: Aya Gee Gee. (translation: Ella's Gee Gee)
Noah: Noah Gee Gee.
Mom: How about you share? I'll count to ten while Noah holds Gee Gee and then it will go back to Ella.

I give Gee Gee to Noah.

Mom: One, two, three.
Noah: Four, five, sax, seben, eight, nine, ten!
Nicole: Okay Noah, time to give Gee Gee back to Ella.

Amazingly, he gives it back to her without a fuss. Noah continues to count. Ella mutters about Gee Gee. I deal with the construction traffic that has sprouted up on Roosevelt Road by heading into the neighborhoods. We drive by a park.

Ella: Momma ark!
Mom: Yes, Ella, a park!
Ella: Aya ting! (translation: Ella swing!)
Mom: Not right now Ella. Ella swing later.
Ella: Momma ark! Aya ting!
Noah: Noah ide! (translation: Noah slide!)
Mom: Yep Noah, you like to slide. Did you go to the park with Aunt Debby this week?
Ella: Aunt Deaddy! Aunt Deaddy ting!
Mom: What else did you do at the park?
Noah: Ide!
Ella: Ducks! Quack, quack, quack.
Mom: I heard that you saw ducks.

Noah starts in with quacking noises followed by snoring/oinking noises (to them, it is the same noise). Ella imitates Noah. The car approaches a train track.

Ella: Choo, choo!
Noah: Freight train!
Mom: Yep, that is where the train goes...

Ella and Noah make train noises for a few minutes and then go back to quacking and oink/snorting. And that is it --I love the simplicity of these conversations.

He is risen

I'm a bit late for an Easter post, but that is okay, right? As the liturgist at church asked: if the resurrection is as significant as Christians believe it to be, then why don't we celebrate Easter for longer than just one day? Me? I need to ponder the cross again and again --to see that Jesus entered our messy world and willingly took the wrath of God so that we might know God.

After the service we attempted another family shot with about the same success rate as last year.

And then Noah smothered me with tickles. (I know, I need to cut his mullet. I'm getting there. In my defense, it was extra poufy that day.)

Following church, we headed over to Nana and Boppa (his new name) Potoshnick's home for a celebration dinner and egg hunt. Noah was all about finding eggs and depositing them in the basket. Ella was more of a delegator--she'd spot and egg and then tell Noah to go and get it.

Discovering that the eggs actually have stuff inside.

Following dinner, the kids devoured candy and then insisted the Aunt Liz and Uncle Stephan lift them high in the air over and over and over again.

Matt and I got such a kick out of watching them approach their baskets once we were home. Ella opened each egg and dumped the treasures in her basket. Noah made neat piles of each item.

So there you have it --Easter greetings from the Potoshnick clan.

Best Part of the Day

Welcoming Daddy home from the train --you can't see it, but they are running to him.

As some of you know, Matt has a new job. Same company, different role and different schedule (that would be code for travel.) We've been trying to figure out ways to bridge the gap when Matt is 1000 miles away and we had success last night with video chatting. The kids were so thrilled to see his face on the computer and to hear his voice. Ella smiled, chatted and told about the day while Noah attempted to engage Matt in a game of hide and seek.

How to spend a Saturday morning

We, along with the Orrs, recently rediscovered a great Saturday morning activity. The train! We bundled the kids up last Saturday morning and hopped on in Glen Ellyn and off in Oak Park. Given the fact that trains are big business in our house, this was a huge hit. Favorite parts of the morning:

1. The general excitement over getting on the 'choo-choo' and holding the tickets.

2. Eating at our old favorite, Prairie Bread Kitchen. When we lived in Oak Park, this place received a large portion of our 'dining out' budget. The pecan rolls and scones are amazing.

3. Trying not to stare at the horrified expressions of the young couple sitting across from us as they watched 4 adults trying to have a conversation while watching 4 kids under age two. The kids were kind of like snakes slithering all over each other and their parents. I don't think that they'll be having kids for awhile.

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...