Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Falltastic

These little people are incredibly fun (almost) all the time. We've been enjoying our "occasionally you can wear long sleeves" kind of weather. Then again, today we broke a sweat walking (and Milo bike riding) back from the park. I'm not complaining. Just casually observing... Let's just get back to how adorably fun my little nuggets are.
"Hooray! Mommy put me down on the trampoline all by myself!"

I've never known such a good-natured big brother as Milo.

That is some intense jumping right there.

Poor Lucy Jane inherited my hair's propensity for static.

Monday, October 27, 2014

The beginning of the Lego era

Have you ever spent $6 and felt completely gratified for an entire week? Because I bought Milo his very first little regular Lego building set last week and he was so busy, so enthralled, that it was probably the best $6 I've ever spent. He and I sat down with the little instruction book that showed how to build the car, and as I pointed at the pictures, he put the entire thing together all by himself. I was so impressed with him! And then he played with it, pulled it apart, put it back together in different ways... I understand now why little boys have gobs of Legos and am fully supportive of Milo having as many as possible. Plus, can I be honest? While I don't just love playing army men or driving toy cars around (unless we've built an amazing ramp or something), I could sit and build with Legos all day long. Win win here, people.

Look at these baby hands. Are they even old enough for this?

INTENSE. And look at the duplo blocks on the floor - those were Lucy's. She loves to build as well!

SO serious about these Legos. They're a big deal.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Show and Tell

I can't remember exactly how these came to be. Milo does like Mickey Mouse, and Nate is a pretty big Disney fan, but my choice is never a Disney character first. Somehow I ended up crocheting these, though, and they've become quite the hit around here.




Monday, October 20, 2014

Happy Monday photo blast

Geez Louise, I have some pretty little people. And Milo has been delighted lately because Lucy loves playing dress-up as much as he. In fact, if she even spots Milo's hat or boots, she marches around saying, "boooooots" as pitifully as possible until someone has mercy on her and digs out her boots (me). Plus she wears around the big black hat and just hangs out in it pretty often.
This was the "cowboy parade." Milo demanded it. What you don't see is me in my big floppy beach hat because Milo was out of cowboy hats and that was the closest thing I had. It was Milo's request, so how could I say no?
Oh, beautiful cowgirl.
 The weather has also been gorgeous. Normally I gripe this time of year because I want REAL fall. I just gave in and am enjoying the 70s and 80s instead of chilly and crisp. What else can you do? Well, besides gripe and complain, but this is much more satisfying. Besides, look at these happy campers.



And Nate spent some time the other day trying to get both of our little people to be still for a photo at the same time (it's a job, people). I'd say he came up with a pretty fabulous picture that completely captures these huge personalities.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

A Lego airplane and an hour of quiet

When Milo stopped napping (sooooooo long ago), we instituted something new around here, and we like to call it "feet off the floor time." Don't give me any credit for this. It was all Jen's idea. You know this is true because if I had developed this concept it would have been called "leave me the h*** alone time" and you just can't have that when little people are involved. But I digress...

Milo spends a while in his bed every afternoon with a few designated toys, books, whatever. He can, of course, lie down and take a nap (this has happened maybe two times ever, but I still cling to the possibility), but most often he just gets some down time (and by default, and only in theory, so do I). He's been super into regular-sized legos lately, and he has a little airplane set with a pilot that someone gave him. I have never put this airplane together - Nate has done it until today when Milo figured it out. He was thrilled with it and decided that it was the only thing he wanted to take for feet off the floor time.

Nate and I were catching up on a tv show in the living room, and after about 30 minutes I heard, "Mommy! Mommy," growing in volume until I finally went in to check out what Milo was doing. Well, he had broken apart his plane and couldn't remember how he put it together in the first place. I decided that this was the perfect teaching moment and geared up for an encouraging pep talk.

"Milo, it doesn't matter how you put that plane together. What matters is that you never give up, you keep trying. And what you end up with will be just right because it will be exactly what you imagined. I can't wait to see what it is, and I am so proud of you for doing this building all by yourself! Just remember - it won't be wrong no matter how you do it because it will be your creativity..." That's the gist of it. If you're a parent, I'm sure you've done this one before...

Milo looked at me with the hugest, most sincere eyes and a bright smile, shook his head, and answered, "Sure, Mommy." I hugged him and felt incredibly successful for one brief second. And then, as I walked out the door...

"Oh, could you send Daddy in here?'

At least I tried, right?

Monday, October 13, 2014

Monsoon Monday

Yesterday I was puked on twice, once by each child, before 10 am. And when I say I was puked on, I mean covered in fluids, standing in a puddle, frozen for a moment trying to figure out what to do. And the weird thing is that I didn't gag. I didn't cry. I didn't even do anything but hold a handful of puke and tell Milo, "It's okay, baby, get it all out."

It's weird when you find yourself at that place, where the mommy instinct takes over and you just care about these sad little people who are crying and losing the contents of their tummies... Just as long as they're MY little people. Anybody else and I'd be puking along with them.

Anyway, I'm raising a glass of almond tea to a much better day, which I will also refer to as "Monsoon Monday." Here's to you!

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Little sprout in a big hat

Here's what happens when a little sprout finds her brother's big old hat.
 

Just checking things out.

Is there the slightest possibility she looks like me here?

Open-mouth smile = party

Monday, October 6, 2014

A Lucy grin

Do you ever end up with a picture that is so blurry but you have to keep it because it's otherwise perfect? Here you go. A genuine Lucy grin in action...


And an in focus picture to balance it out.


Happy Monday from the most beautiful little girl in the world!

Friday, October 3, 2014

MORE of the hat

Hello, sweet blue-eyed girl. I added some long strings and puffs to Lucy's hat, and it's like I gave her a gallon of ice cream and told her to let loose. She loves it! So, here are some more pics of the girly hat, which she now chooses over Milo's hat collection.
These sparkly eyes. WHEW!

The prettiest girl in the world.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Photos and such

I love love love these little people. Someday I'll have a photo of the three of us where we are all looking... At the camera, at the same thing, whatever... For now I'll take what I can get.
 

And just so you don't forget how adorable Lucy is when she's turning on the charm, here's a little something that only a daddy could capture.

In character

Milo could hands-down, 100% be an actor (not that I would EVER condone this). My child can pretend like nobody's business, and he does not break character. We've been the Penguins of Madagascar a lot lately... Milo assigned parts for each of us. He, of course, is the boss - Skipper. Nate is Kowalski because he's the tallest, I'm Rico because I'm the next tallest (and if you've ever seen the show, this means I get to vomit up random items - Milo expects me to deliver), and Lucy is Private because she's the littlest.

I could tell something was really on Milo's mind this morning when he came out of his room. Completely naked. Puzzled face. "Mommy, penguins do not wear any clothes."

"That's true, Milo."

"No clothes. No shorts, no shirt, no socks. Not even undies."

"You're right, Milo. But I think now is the time to talk about the difference between a real live penguin, and a little man pretending to be a penguin. Because you are actually a person, you have to wear at least undies."

He thought about this for a while, and really seemed to get it. So, deal. Undies in the house, clothes in public. Good to go. And it's nice to know that he's both an actor and a scholar - I can at least reason with him.