Nakey Nakey and the Tall Old Lady

Jolie pooped tonight. No news there; she's a bit of a poop machine. But it got up on her shirt. So I stripped her of her clothes, changed her diaper, cleaned her off, then ran the dirty diaper outside to the trash. My hands were gross, so I left her on her changing pad (on the floor- fyi) and washed up. When I came back- literally seconds later, this is what I found!

She had crawled her little naked self all the way out of her room and into the hall. Silly girl! (And the cutest little nudist I've ever seen, don't you agree? Mmm... those darling little fat rolls!) :)

Also tonight...

James found Derek's old clipboard and some printer paper and told me that he wanted to color- with a pen. I tried to convince him that crayons would be better, as there were more colors to choose from. But he was insistent about the pen. So I let him.

He's done this before. Pens- since they are generally reserved for mommies and daddies- are totally cool, and he loves being able to color with them. But this was a first time for something...

Look at the below picture and tell me what you see.**

I walked by James as he was coloring, and he told me the following: "Momma, I'm trying to draw a tall lady."

??!

He's never tried to draw ANYTHING- just a bunch of lines and scribbles and such. I've not pushed him about the "What's that a picture of?" sort of thing, as I'd heard it is too pressure-filled and they do not draw pictures, really, at this age. But apparently he does now. And I'm so excited for him!

Look at the picture again (click on it to blow it up if you want... and please disregard my awesome paint skills).

Here is how James explained it to me:

[1] is the head (Can you see it?)

[2] the hand (There is only one.)

[3] the body ("The swirly 'hings are the body, a course.")

[4] a foot

[5] another foot ("It's like a crunchy shark tooth 'hing... but it's not reawy (really) a shark 'hing... it's jussa foot.") lol.

He then proceeded to tell me that it wasn't me, but a different lady. One he's "ne'er seen afore." An old lady, "a course." :) Of course.

Can you see it? Or her, rather? Fun, right?? :)

Very cool. I tell you, I am totally entranced by these two. My children are ingenious. Or, you know, nudists at the very least. ;)

** (I didn't see it, either. Shh!) :)

What I Saw Last Night

{Quick tangent: So my title reminds me of a fantastic book I recently read- "What I Saw and How I Lied" by Judy Blundell. It's really very good. You should read it. You won't regret it. Okay, on with the post...}

Last night Derek put Jolie to bed, and I put James to bed. Afterward, Derek played World of Warcraft in our bedroom/office, and I read Moonraker's Bride {by Madeleine Brent -- this is my third time reading this book. THIRD! I rarely re-read books, but this one is Just.That.Good. Mmm... Thank you, Bonnie!} on the couch, by the light(s) of our Christmas tree.

Anyway, I heard Jolie start to fuss. I ignored her, hoping she'd get herself back to sleep... and if not, that Derek would get her. Then I heard her cry escalate a bit. Dang. I thought about going to get her, but then I heard it stop. I assumed Derek had gone in with her. But soon after the silence, I heard her giggling hysterically. What? I got up to see what the heck they were up to. As I peered into her room, this is what I saw...

James had gotten up, gone out of his room, opened her door and turned on the light... and gotten into her crib! :) Her giggles were a result of either his silliness or just the silliness of the situation- the fact that instead of sleeping, she was playing with her brother. :) Naughty children.

I must admit, it was about the cutest thing I've ever seen. It's the reason I want them to share a room someday... so they can giggle and whisper and conspire against us... you know - bond as siblings. Apparently they don't need to share a room to do that.

I sure love these kiddos. And I quite adore how much they love one another!

Ghost-ez

I've been meaning to journal about a bunch of things lately but just can't get the time or motivation to do it. (I tend to write way too much, too slowly, and go off on a bazillion tangents when I write. Surprising, I know.) So instead of journaling, I'll blog about it. Ultimately, my goal is to print all these online ramblings off and bind them up in journal fashion. So hopefully it all counts as equal in the end.

One day (a couple of weeks ago?), the kids and I were sitting at the table eating lunch. Jolie was in her high chair; I was sitting at the table next to her, and James was next to me. Jolie was busy eating, but James (as is usual) was jibber-jabbering away instead. On this particular day, I had a post-it note and a pencil on the table as well. And it's a good thing I did, because James was spouting off all sorts of funny stuff, and for once- I wrote it down so I could document it. Here are a few conversations he and I had. It's fascinating to me the way his little brain works...

James: Mom, where do ghost-ez (plural of ghosts) sleep?

Me: In haunted houses, I guess. In beds. Or maybe on the ceiling!

James: When it's Christmastime, what do ghost-ez hang up?

Me: (Confused... then catching on.) I don't know. Do you think they put up a Christmas tree?

James: YEAH!

A few minutes later... after asking him if he wanted some of my almond milk (which, PS. is super duper yummy... buy the Silk brand, vanilla almond milk. Mmm... you won't regret it) and telling him that it tastes like ice cream.

James: This smells like ice cream!

Me: Yeah, it smells yummy, huh?

James: Yeah. And your toes FEEL like ice cream!

(He was touching my feet with his; my feet were cold.)

And again, a few minutes later...

James: Mommy, can you help me eat more?

Me: Sure, just a sec.

James: You're a good mommy. You help erry-hing I want.

:) Aw... so cute. He is (generally) a super sweet boy. And apparently I'm a good mommy because I help him with everything he wants. lol. Well, whatever it takes, I suppose.

James has also been really into Hide and Seek lately. He's wanted Derek and I to play with him, and since that sort of play is actually enjoyable, we've been doing it. And let me tell you, it's been TONS of fun! My very favorite part is when James hides with me (when Derek seeks). It's awesome because James will giggle and giggle and be SO excited. Not surprisingly, we are easily found. But really, it's worth it to see him so happy.

Once recently, I was seeking... and Derek, Jolie and James were hiding. James was in his room (behind his rocking chair, probably; it's a favorite spot for him), but I was trying to find Derek and Jolie first. I was walking around the house calling, "Daddy!" when I heard a teeny voice say, "Daddy!" in return. :) It was soooo cute! It was Jolie! So I kept calling, "Daddy!" and hearing "Daddy!" in return, sort of in Marco Polo style. Finally I found them... in the hall closet! Derek says I cheated, but really- with a little voice that cute calling back, how could I resist? :) It was lots of fun.

More on Jolie's talking... she now says "ha" (hi), "ba" (bye), "dad," "daddy" and "mama" (though mostly when she's whining, go figure). Once I was getting her out of her bed in the morning, and James came into the room. She got all excited and started bouncing up and down (she seriously adores that boy) and said, "ha jay!" (Hi, James!) It was adorable, and I really think she meant it. So yes, our little girl is growing up way too fast. And talking. And screaming (who taught her how to protest?), too, unfortunately. She's still a very good, pretty chill little girl. She's just not okay being ignored anymore. It's probably better. You know, self survival and all.

Jolie's eating tons of real foods (among them: gingerbread cookies and banana bread... tell no one) nowadays. She especially likes diced up bananas, diced yams and diced apples. She especially hates most vegetable purees and acts like she's being mercilessly tortured when we try to feed them to her. (Don't worry. When it comes to power struggles, I always win. lol)

She's also been getting tons of new teeth. And by "tons" I really mean tons. James was very by-the-book with his teething. He got the bottom two middles, then the top two middles, then the sides... Jolie got the bottom two in one day, then a third bottom tooth. Now she's getting FOUR top teeth - all at once. It's awful. For her and, in turn, for all of us. But I think she's past the worst part (hooray) because - minus the veggie puree incidents - we've got our sweet little girl back. :)

Oh! And she crawls. Like for realz, yo. Up off the tummy and all that jazz. I'm so proud of her. She is pretty proud of her, too. :)

It's crazy up in here... but really, quite fun.

Halloween 2010

Happy {belated} Halloween! :) It seems that I never post about Halloween until mid-November. Hm. I guess we're always busy (or recovering from our candy comas) until then. Er, now. Whichever... you get the idea.

This year for Halloween, we were Goldilocks and the Three Bears! :) It was fun. Jolie was Goldilocks- though due to her general lack of locks, she wore a wig. lol. And James, Derek and I were the Three Bears. I made all of our costumes (Jolie's skirt and shirt, even)- from scratch! I'm pretty proud of myself. In part due to my fear of patterns and in part to my pride of figuring things out on my own, I didn't use any patterns and decided to "wing" it. I think they turned out alright. We do look like bears, don't we? Hope so.

I didn't get any decent pictures of Halloween night, but my friend Li took some (thank you, Li!). Here are a few for your festive delight...

(Please disregard my funky stance. I swear I'm not (I hope!) as squatty and deranged as I appear in this photo. Holding Goldilocks and squatting down were not the best combination, apparently. lol)

James with his buddies Evan and Asher.

So silly already! And they hadn't even

gorged themselves on candy yet! ;)

Family Photo

Take 1

Take 2

Take 3

Fun, right? :)

A little back story: We generally go trick-or-treating with our cousins in Smithfield and have a blast doing so. There is a family in their neighborhood (whom we now know and love but admired even before that) that totally grills up hot dogs for everyone and anyone who walks by- complete with hot cocoa and FULL-SIZED candy bars! (I know; they're awesome!) Derek and I have been totally impressed with this and swore that "someday" we were totally going to do this.

Well, this year, we decided to give it a go- on a mini scale, anyway. So we decked out (minimally, but still) our garage and bought some Styrofoam cups and warmed some hot cocoa in our CrockPot... and voila! Instant coolness! :) Mostly we wanted to do it because it is just so NICE and neighborly. It's not something you see anymore, and it makes you feel so special as a recipient. It was especially good this year as it was cold and raining; it was a good chance to let people step out of the rain and warm up a bit.

I think it went well. Thank you, Derek, for pulling it all off. It was my idea, but (go figure) I got stressed and overbooked doing other things- and Derek (again, go figure) saved the day. Night. Whatever. ;) Also, thanks to the Packs for stepping up and playing host/hostess when we were too lazy/busy to get off our duffs and help people. (We love you guys!!!)

It was a fun night. Our house is finally beginning to recover from it all. And I'm seriously considering boycotting junk food from now until December 23rd. :) I do love me some chocolate chip cookies, though, so we'll see how that goes...

Happy Halloween! We hope it was as spooktacular for you and yours as it was for us and ours!

xo

Oh, and James really didn't wear flip flops with his costume. After the photo op, I made him change into real shoes with socks. It was freezing and wet that night (and spooky... definitely spooky). And as much as I try to convince myself otherwise, I really am a better mom than that! :)