Munch and the double punch

Holden sits like this. A lot. We've come to refer to the pose as "Munch and the double punch."

The ceremonial handing down of the exersaucer

This exersaucer was Scarlett's. She loved it. Holden does too. I was so excited to put him in here and to see him actually do something...like bounce. He'd bounce. Stop and look around, incredibly proud of himself. Then back to bouncing. "I'm doing it...I'm...I'm doing it!"

Now that is some good bouncing.
(And can anyone else believe how big he's gotten? I mean come on. Big enough for an exersaucer already? Sigh.)

Present from Aunt Jane

Oh man. My Aunt Jane scored big with this present. Aunt Jane is in South Korea right now for her job. She'll be there for the next year (I think). She sent Scarlett a present which, needless to say, Scarlett loves. I don't know the technical term for the garment, but to Scarlett, it's a princess girl dress. And it's pink. Scarlett spent 20 minutes twirling in front of the mirror. (I was asked to leave the room after 2 minutes of twirling.)

Thank you Aunt Jane! (That's from Scarlett.)

A potty training don't

Up until we actually started potty training, we had two potties in the house - one for each bathroom. Well, one potty was quickly eliminated last week. Scarlett sat on it the wrong way and somehow got hurt and now it has to be gone or out of fear Scarlett will never sit on another potty for the rest of her life. This currently leaves us pottyless in the upstairs bathroom.

Before her bath last night, Joe put Scarlett on the adult toilet in the upstairs bathroom figuring it would suffice. Well...it didn't. As she started to actually fall into the toilet, as she's clambering to grab onto me, onto Joe, onto ANYTHING within reach, Scarlett yells,
"not working. This not working! AAaahhhhhhhhh! I HAVE A TINY HINEY BUTT!!!"

She's right. She does. And thus, we have encountered our first potty training don't. Scarlett's "tiny hiney butt" is, in fact, too tiny for our adult toilets. And we're all going to be okay.

OshKosh carnival

Last Saturday we went to the best little kid carnival we've ever been too. It was free and not crowded. It rocked. The clothing store, OshKosh, opened a new location in Milford and they celebrated by throwing a carnival. They also invited everyone into the store to pick out a free t-shirt. I let Scarlett pick out her own and she was in HEAVEN. (And did a good job, if I might add.) At the carnival, we bounced...and saw alpacas...and played carnival games...and won carnival games.The carnival had cute baby brothers...and face painting...and italian ice...did I say it had a bouncy castle?And coloring. (Please note the intense concentration.)Coloring is a very serious job. They also had free caricaturists so, of course, we had Scarlett and Holden's caricatures done. Yeah. I'll scan those in and post them soon. But I'm sure you can guess what Scarlett's looks like.
Yay free and awesome carnivals! You rocked!

Big girl bed: Part II. This time there's princesses.

Remember Scarlett's toddler bed? You know...this one. Well, Scarlett had a not so brief hiatus from this bed for say...oh...the past 6 months. You see, Joe and I now realize that we made a horrible mistake with the original transition. We left the crib up in her room figuring it'd be easier than taking it down and putting it back up for baby boy later. Then Scarlett had a horrific stomach bug. And then she started waking up every night at 3 am and running down the hallway screaming as if she was on fire. (Horrible way for a parent to wake up. Horrible.) It got to the point where Scarlett would point to her crib and tell us that's where she wanted to sleep. We gave up and bought a cradle for a what would soon be Holden - a cradle which he is now rapidly outgrowing. And when Scarlett actually climbed out of her crib last weekend and ran downstairs boasting about how she "climbed out of her crib like a big girl," we knew the crib had to go.
But I had a plan.
I bought special princess girl bedding. I bought some not-at-all-tacky princess girl wall stickers. I framed four princess girl prints. And I (well...Joe) took the CRIB DOWN. Scarlett and I had a mommy/daughter date. We went to Build-a-Bear and made a princess girl bear - who, appropriately, is named Princess Girl. (I'm not kidding.) We went out to dinner and got a princess girl necklace. And when we got home, Scarlett learned that Cinderella had replaced her baby crib with a new princess girl bed fully decked out with princess girl EVERYTHING. The result... Sleep.
She's slept in the bed for nights and naptimes since last Friday. Let's hope it keeps up! Cause seriously. Holden will NEED to be in a crib very, very soon. Ahh, my giant Jabba the Munch.

Baby stud muffin

New wheels...

The sit 'n' stand stroller.
It's a double stroller...only when you want it to be. Bubs can sit. Bubs can stand. Holden can chill.

Sharing the stage

After work yesterday we went to pick up the kids from daycare. We got Holden all set, and then brought him into Scarlett's room to get her. Scarlett likes when her friends get to see Holden. She likes to show him off. Upon entering the room, the kids all hovered over Holden, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at "the baby." Scarlett tickled his feet and Holden giggled a bit. Proud of her accomplishment, Scarlett boasted, "Holden's funny."

Then, in a complete and total panic, Scarlett added, "I-I-I-I-I funny too. I funny too."

Hilarious

Scarlett was watching a DVD this morning. She was also drinking juice. All of a sudden Scarlett chokes and sprays juice EVERYWHERE. Concerned, we run over to ask her if she's okay. Her answer?

"Yeah (cough, giggle, cough). I okay (regains composure). My movie is funny."

Seriously people. The kid hears a bad knock-knock joke on "Blue's Clues" and proceeds to shoot juice out of her nose in hysterics. We're going to have "that" kid at the lunch table, aren't we?

Holden turns 3 months

Oh man. 1/4 of a year already.About Holden. Holden pretty much rocks. Everyone at daycare loves him. I went to pick him up a couple of weeks ago and the assistant director of the daycare was in his room holding him. Apparantly, she went into his room just to say hi to him. She admitted that she's not the only one who does that. I guess a lot of the teachers are popping into Holden's room to say goodbye to him before they leave for the day. With a face like this, can you blame them? What a flirt. Holden's size continually surprises me. I know he's big, but when I put him next to Scarlett I'm always shocked at HOW big he is. Look at this...His shoulder span and torso are almost the exact same size as hers. And, as this post is informing you, he's only 3 months old.
I know another mother who has children very similar ages. She was very concerned when her older child would try to pick up the younger child. We don't have that problem. Scarlett couldn't pick up Holden if she tried. She knows that. She doesn't try.
And man...do these kids look alike or what?
Happy 3-monther Munchie-moo. You're a big lug and we love you...even if you're still not sleeping through the night.

My girl likes to potty all the time...

We've introduced underwear. We've done it.

Scarlett is getting moved to the potty training room in daycare a month earlier than anticipated. (This is due to her being "developmentally ready." Woo-hoo Bubsy! I'm very proud of you!) We've had a potty in our house for about 6 months now, but would only put Scarlett on it if she asked. She peed in it a couple of times - she pooped in it once - but we were waiting for her to get moved into this particular daycare room before we decided to really work on potty training. In this room they have official "potty time" built into the daily schedule. Every hour, they line up and walk down the hall to the cutest set of miniature toilets you'll ever see.

So, come next Monday, the potty training wheels will be in FULL motion. Because of this, we purchased some fun new underwear for Bubs. Observe...

Apparently, diapers must weigh Scarlett down or something. We took her diaper off and put her in underwear - and she took off. I have about a dozen pictures of Scarlett sprinting around the house in her new Cinderella underwear.

And what better way to potty train than to sit on your potty watching Cinderella...with your new Cinderella underwear around your ankles? Scarlett sat on the potty for the whole movie. And she peed! Woo-hoo Bubs. I know we have a long way to go. Scarlett will have to remain in diapers at daycare until she can prove to be potty trained - but when she gets home, the diapers will come off and the new underwear goes on.

But that is not to suggest that the underwear will stay on...



Oh Bubs.

Blueberry picking

Princess girl towel

I found a princess girl hooded towel at Wal-Mart. Seriously people. How could I not buy this towel?! It came with a crown for crying out loud.Scarlett stared at herself in the mirror for at least 10 minutes.Maybe even 15. She twirled and spinned...And decided she wanted to show Holden.Initially, Holden wasn't impressed.But then...He changed his mind.

I mean come on. It has a crown people!

Oh...and P.S. - Her royal cheekiness slept in the towel.

Scarlett's "tickets"

As you all know, Scarlett is in daycare. For 9.5 hours, M-F, I am relatively unaware of what my daughter is doing. Oh...she does stuff. 9.5 hours worth of stuff even. And this 9.5 hours worth of stuff is casually written down on a 5"x7" piece of paper which is then handed to me on a daily basis. We've come to refer to this piece of paper as Scarlett's "ticket."
Once we've picked her up from school, the drive home is spent reviewing Scarlett's ticket with her...scrutinizing it to get an idea of how she spent her day. We talk about the activities she did. We talk about her behavior. And we laugh. Below are some of the things I've found on Scarlett's tickets, and some of the discussions that followed.

“Scarlett is doing great at circle time. She is doing very well with her shapes and colors.”

Mommy – What color is that?
Scarlett – Green.
Mommy – Good! And what color is this?
Scarlett – Black.
Mommy – Good! And this?
Scarlett – Pink…That’s purple.
Mommy – No. That’s blue.
Scarlett – No. It’s purple. IT’S PURPLE MOM. (It was blue.)

“Scarlett and Paige were pretending that they were going to the beach today. It was cute.”

“Scarlett was very cute today. She was holding hands with Amanda and calling Amanda her best friend.”

Mommy – Scarlett, who is your best friend?
Scarlett – Amanda!

VERY NEXT DAY

“Scarlett had a good day, until Amanda punched her in the nose over a toy.”

Mommy – Scarlett, is Amanda your best friend?
Scarlett – No. I no like her.

“Scarlett had fun in the sprinklers today. She was chasing her friends around with a bucket of water.”

VERY NEXT DAY

We witness Scarlett dump a bucket of water over the head of a little girl. The little girl did not enjoy it. I repeat. Did not enjoy it.

“Scarlett did not listen today. She climbed up to the top of the slide when we told her it was time to go inside. No one could reach her.”

“Scarlett was funny today. She was dancing up front at the concert, until she decided she was scared of the guy playing guitar.”

Mommy – Scarlett, you didn't like music today?
Scarlett – No. He scare me.