Girly

When Rosebud was a teeny baby, I used to always (okay, frequently) put a headband with a bow on her.

Exhibit A:

There came a time, though, when she hit about eight or nine months old, that she always removed the headband, so I gradually stopped using them as much.

Exhibit B:

This morning, she saw the headbands and started reaching for them, so I got one and put it on her. I said, "Soooo pretty! You are such a pretty girl!"

She left it on her head for a few minutes, then started tugging at it. When she succeeded at pulling it off, she brought it to me and started gesturing like crazy and making urgent little baby sounds, like fix-it-fix-it-fix-it!!

So I put it back on her. Her face broke out in this huge smile and she bounced up and down excitedly. I said, "Soooo pretty!" again and she just lapped it up.

A few minutes later we repeated the whole process again.

And then again a few minutes after that.

So I had to take a picture.

Exhibit C:

(And of course Brother had to join in, too. :) I'm pretty thrilled that I got an actual picture of him smiling instead of grimacing!)



*Yes, my daughter is indeed wearing the same footy pajamas she was wearing last night. Sometimes I just let her keep wearing the same thing for a day or two longer...if it's still clean and we aren't going anywhere. Go ahead and judge me. :)

Helper

My boy is such a good helper. Tonight after dinner I needed to work on some YW stuff, so I strapped Rosebud into the high chair and gave her some Rice Krispies to snack on. I went back to my room to use the computer. A few minutes later, Jeric came in and said, "Mommy, I gave Rosebud too much Rice Krispies." This is what I found:

Just a few too many, really. She'll probably eat them all. At least the ones that she doesn't drop on the floor. Which she will then eat if I don't manage to vacuum them up before I get her down.

Also, he just asked me this question: "Mommy, why do people have bums?" Umm.... Not quite sure how to answer that one!

Funnies

One of these days I'll get around to telling you about October, November, December, and now January (the month of never-ending sickness), but for tonight I have a few funny stories to share about my kiddos.


(1) The other night I caught Rosebud in the process of "helping" put the trash in the trashcan, except the "trash" she was throwing away consisted of her shoes and a couple of toys. Hope she hasn't thrown away something without me noticing...

(2) I couldn't find my phone tonight. After a facebook SOS ("call me, please!"), I heard my phone ringing and was finally able to find my phone under a pile of towels that Rosebud generously unfolded for me while I was working on dinner. So helpful, that girl. Not only did she "help" with laundry, she hid  my phone!

(3) I read two stories to Jeric each night just before I tuck him into bed. Call me a bad mom, but if he is being especially difficult about bedtime preparations, I tell him he will lose a story. That gets him motivated! Well, he's outsmarted me, because tonight it was his turn to say family prayer and he specifically prayed that he would get two stories. (We read scriptures and say prayer before getting ready for bed.) Darn. Now I don't have any ammo.

(4) Jeric woke up from his nap today (I GOT HIM TO START TAKING NAPS AGAIN AFTER A YEAR OF ALMOST NO NAPS!!!!) requesting to make chocolate chips cookies. I was only too happy to oblige him. And  while they baked, we played an alphabet game that involved lots of running around. Not really a funny story, but a good afternoon.

(5) Yesterday Jeric said to me, "Moving your body is so good for you." Well, yes, but I have no idea where he learned that actual phrase. But we made a list of ways we can move our body and made a goal to do them every day. (Not that we don't already, but he was so excited about it...)

September 2012

Sunday, September 2 was Jeric's third birthday. My parents and sister came down on the 1st and we celebrated that night (they stayed overnight and went to the first hour of church with us the next morning, but had to be home by 4pm so didn't get to celebrate on his actual birthday). Jeric made the following demands for his birthday:

-A blue chocolate cake.
-Blue ice cream.
-Balloons.
-A robot.

I am pleased to announce that all of these expectations were met! A resounding success, I would say.

Of course, though, I only took video...I think my dad and sister might have some photos on their phones, which I will try to get from them soon. [Incidentally, I also just found a hidden folder on my computer that contains more than a few pictures that I nearly forgot about, and which belong with months that I've already posted about. So you might be getting some pictures-only posts in the next month or so.]

We took the easy route on the cake and got a small round cake (chocolate cake with blue frosting, per list of demands) from Wal-Mart. Jeric LOVED being sung to and blowing out candles. We ended up doing it four days in a row, until the cake was gone. That was a lot of fun.

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Wednesday, September 5 was Husband's birthday (27) (and also my brother Daniel's -- 23). Poor guy was at school or work all day. I really wanted to surprise him with a cake, but OF COURSE I couldn't find a recipe that included only items I already had at the house (I had no car all that week). Wife fail. I felt awful.
He actually didn't really care; he's not big on sweets and had said I didn't need to worry about baking him a cake.

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Rosebud learned to climb on things (I'm sure she'd have been climbing stairs at this point if we had any stairs):

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Some other cute pictures of the girl:

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My mom, dad, and sister came down to visit us on the 29th of September. (Mostly because my mom couldn't stand the thought of not seeing her only grandbabies until Thanksgiving...) They happened to come on the day of a local heritage festival held in a field at Husband's university, so we headed over to check it out. After we ate fried food and enjoyed some gospel bluegrass (it was awesome, truly), Jeric got to eat his very own BLUE snow cone. Behold:

Other pictures from that outing:

And finally, a funny story.

As we were headed out to the car, we passed a row of brightly-colored port-a-potties. Jeric was riding on my dad's shoulders, I was wearing Rosebud in the Ergo, Anna and my mom had stopped to look at some cute little piglets, and Husband wasn't with us because he was working at the Chemistry Club drink booth. Jeric saw the port-a-potties, and you can imagine that they were a curious sight for a three-year-old.

Jeric: Grandpa. What are those?
Grandpa: Those are potties.
Jeric: I need to go potty.
[Insert maniacal laughter here.]
Grandpa: ...Are you sure?
Jeric: Yep.

So off to the port-a-potty they went. My dad intentionally chose one of the handicap-sized ones (more room to move; besides, it also happened to be blue). A moment later, they came back out and went in a different one. Again, they exited too quickly for any business to have been completed. Jeric had this look of consternation on his little face, and my dad's expression was of mingled horror and amusement.

Apparently, when they went into the first port-a-potty, my dad told Jeric not to touch anything ("Why?") before they approached the seat. He said Jeric kind of looked in (I called my dad to refresh my memory of this story, and he couldn't stop laughing when he thought of the expression on Jeric's face at this point) and then decided it was too dirty and he wanted to try a different potty. So they did, but Jeric decided he really didn't need to go potty, after all!

Imagination, Part 2

More examples of Jeric's developing imagination -- and these are just some of the ones I've taken pictures of.

Using a dustpan and mop bucket as "paint and a paintbrush" -- He kept saying "I painting like Papa!" while wiping the dustpan on the floor.


He drew half of this picture, then came and told me it was Mommy and Jeric. I asked where Daddy and Baby Sister were, and he added them to the picture.


"Ice cream" (I have no idea).


"Cake" -- this is a game he plays frequently, often with random blocks, but this time he used little battery-operated lights.

Imagination, Part 1

This boy of mine has quite the imagination!

Here are some pictures of Jeric and his friend Jane "fixing" her shopping cart with tools. Jeric noticed that there was a broken spot on it and took off running into the other room shouting "I NEED TOOLS!!"


Using screwdrivers:


Using a C-clamp as a saw (see, he's making sound effects) and Jane copied him by using a wrench as a saw:


More work with the screwdriver:


Got his foot stuck:


This toy is actually used to launch little motorcycles across a flat surface, but he is using it as an electric screwdriver:

Picture of Grandpa

One of the gifts Jeric got for his birthday was a small magnadoodle (it is awesome for church). Last night he was playing with it. He scribbled something and brought it to me and said "picture Grandpa!" Evidently the scribble was a picture of my dad. So I had to take a picture of it, and we called Grandpa to tell him about it.

He then erased it and drew pictures of Uncle Daniel, Aunt Anna, Grandma, Uncle Bob (what he calls my brother Robert)... It was too funny!

I'm glad I turned my facebook back on because if I hadn't I wouldn't have seen this

I hope the writing is clear enough.

I am related to some weird/awesome people. Clearly, as Robert says, we have a ridiculous sister. But if Anna made me chuckle, Parley (a second cousin of ours) made me laugh out loud!

Words, signs, and pictures

I might be forgetting a few but I'll add them if I remember.



Words Jeric knows:

• Mama and Dada -- has known these for a long time.
• Boo -- he's been saying this for a couple of months, he plays boo with his granny - and once he went up to her and said it, and it was almost like he was saying, let's play!
• Hi -- usually while waving or holding a phone (sometimes a phone or toy phone, sometimes a hairbrush or other object) up to his ear.
• Nuh-nuh-nuh -- means one of three things depending on context - no, night night, or nurse.
• Yum-yum-yum -- sounds like mum-mum-mum and is SO cute.
• Vroom -- I caught him doing this yesterday while playing with a toy car.
• Choo-choo -- sounds like "dee-dee"; when I ask him what a train says, he says this while waving his arm like he's pulling the whistle.
• We're working on animal noises. I love the Brown Bear book for this.
• He is also getting good at following some simple instructions, like give me a kiss, sit down, put that back, be soft, give me a hug, come with me.

Signs Jeric uses:

• Waving -- for a long time; sometimes he waves his are back and forth, sometimes he opens and closes his fist.
• Pointing -- started this around his birthday.
• Shaking his head back and forth -- a couple of weeks ago; he does this a lot! The other day he saw the remote control and pointed at it while shaking his head and saying nuh-nuh-nuh -- he knows he isn't supposed to have it!
• All gone/where/I don't know -- hands out with palms up; he uses this appropriately in several different contexts and sometimes modifies it to just one hand.
• We're working on drink, hat, more, and food. We're also working on identifying body parts (nose, eyes, ears, tongue, belly button -- he's done it a couple of times).

Pictures of the sweet boy:


Balancing act:



He picked up one of Jane's bottle nipples and carried it around all day, chewing on it:



Trying to get the camera from Mama:


Watching the Dance-a-lot Robot, or some such nonsense:


Talking on the phone:




Attempt #2 to get the camera:


Just cute:


Brought this to me to put it on him (it's a little small but so cute!)

The apple

Husband’s grandparents have a lot of fruit trees, so for the past few weeks we have had lots of apples and pears at our house! Yum.
Jeric  likes to get a whole apple or a whole pear from the basket and carries it around eating it. (It’s funny because he doesn’t like the peel so there is a little apple- or pear-peel trail all through the house.)
Here are some pictures from the first time he did so: