A fun discovery...

Mmm...spaghetti

Lincoln loved his first taste of spaghetti.  If you click to zoom in you can even see it hanging out of his nose. :o)

How does she do it?

It is 2:30pm and so far the only thing Emily has eaten today is this partial cinnamon roll (basically only the parts touching frosting), four bites of banana and a small glass of juice.  Meanwhile, I have had breakfast, second breakfast, lunch and am now contemplating the first snack of the afternoon.  (When you eat lunch at 11:30am and don't have dinner until at least 6:30pm it often takes two snacks to make it through the afternoon.)  She is now negotiating for either candy or "jellybean raisins" (i.e. yogurt-covered raisins).  I think I'll make her really mad by eating puppy chow in front of her and limiting her choices to either leftover pizza of PBJ. ;o)

Monkey business

This is what happens when a 40+ lbs. 3-year-old decides to pretend to be a monkey in the the jungle and "swing" on the towel ring hanging in the bathroom.  I heard the crash when I was changing Lincoln into his pajamas last night.  In the words of my Grandpa Vander Kooi, "What a little rascal!"

The pajama experiment

As noted in the last post, Emily's latest craze is experimenting with all the clothes in her closet.  This is probably a direct result of the disappearance of the Christmas dresses.  Emily changes her outfit at least 3 times a day--sometimes 5 or 6.  I think the selection depends mostly on what she is able to pull off the hangers.  I'll often go upstairs and find her closet floor littered with clothes.   Those that remain on the hangers are hanging cock-eyed because she tried to pull them off from the bottom and they got caught.  Anyway, this experimentation continues after bed time.  She gets put to bed with real, matching pajamas, but those are apparently too boring.  Here is how she fell asleep the last two nights...

This was a hooded flower dress with brown pants and a pink & navy Adidas hooded sweatshirt. It should also be noted that we usually have her sort of pick up her room before going to bed.  During the day she had piled up her bed completely full of stuff.  So we just sent her to her room and waited to see what she would do since she couldn't even climb in her bed.  Most of the stuff eventually got moved off.  There was still a basket of Easter eggs and several books at the foot of the bed.  We often hear crashes after she falls asleep at night and just figure it's stuff falling off her bed.

This outfit consisted of a blue sleeveless cotton dress from Old Navy that she had previously refused to put on.  The tags are still attached.  She also has navy slick pants and her obvious favorite shirt--the Adidas hooded sweatshirt.  George is sporting a very frilly (the picture doesn't do it justice) pink gingham dress from my childhood and the requisite pink headband. 

On laundry days it's hard to decide what to wash and what to hang back up as I try to remember how long she wore each article of clothing and whether or not it got spilled on or she had an accident in it.  She is a big reason why I had to do 8 loads of laundry today!

A day in the life of Emily...

Here's what a typical day in the life of Emily looks like...

7:05am  Bound down the stairs dressed in solid purple from head to toe with black Mary Jane shoes looking for "breast-beck".  Go to Mommy's side of the bed and announce, "Mommy, it's time for you to get out of bed!"

7:15am  While Mommy is taking care of Lincoln get out a chair and climb up on the counter to reach the brand new box of Chocolate Cheerios out of the cereal cupboard.  Proceed to murder the box trying to get it open.  Mommy comes in and has to use 3 pieces of packing tape to put the box back together.  She's not impressed.

8:30am  Ask Mommy for candy for a snack.  Wasn't really that interested in candy until Aunt Courtney sent a big box for Valentine's Day.  Mommy says no.

8:35am  Play some LeapFrog Fridge Magnetic WordBuilder 

9:30am  Agree to take off the mismatched solid purple outfit and switch to a totally different purple outfit, but one that actually matches.

9:35am  Decorate the new purple outfit with the stickers from Lincoln's Valentine card from G&G Lorenzen that she was specifically told not to touch--several times.

9:40am  Remove all the stickers and place them back onto the sticker sheet in the correct spot.  Except for one flower sticker that got caught in her hair and remained there until bath time when Mommy had to rip it out.

9:45am  Redecorate outfit with remaining princess stickers from Grandpa Lorenzen's weekly letter.

9:50am  Buckle up in the van to head to the doctor to have Lincoln's fever checked out.

10:15am  Blow through both the granola bar and box of raisins snacks in the waiting room of the doctor's office.
 
11:15am  After asking if she could have a sticker yet for the last 30 minutes, pick out the "Bob the Tomato" VeggieTales sticker she remembered was in the drawer by the nurses' station to go with the "Larry the Cucumber" one she picked out the week before at Lincoln's 9-month check-up.

11:50am  Play some LeapFrog Fridge Magnetic WordBuilder while Mommy gets lunch ready.

12:05pm  After three bites of leftover pizza (preferred cold straight from the fridge) hop off chair and head towards the living room.  When Mommy says, "Come back and finish your lunch," reply with, "No.  I have lots of work to do.  I have to make a snowman.  And watch a bideo.  And feed the fish.  And do some computer work."  Unfortunately, the attempt at feeding the fish by herself the day before resulted in Mommy having to get out the fish net and skimming a week's worth of food off the surface of the water.  Mommy makes mental note to revisit "A Fish Out of Water"  by Helen Palmer.

1:30pm  With Lincoln down for his afternoon nap, haul out all the jigsaw puzzles and a cookie sheet.  Pretend the puzzle pieces are cookies and announce, "I'm going to make some cookies with my daddy tonight!"  Mommy laughs.  Continue a monologue about pretend cookies while Mommy tries to get some computer work done.
 
2:00pm  Play some more LeapFrog Fridge Magnetic WordBuilder 

2:30pm  After disappearing upstairs for awhile, reappear downstairs dressed from head to toe in pink.  Set out all the play dishes for a "picnic" in the living room.

3:00pm  Turn on the "Jesus Storybook" CD's in the kitchen and crank up the volume.

4:00pm  After noticing that Mommy had turned the volume back to down to a tolerable level, the "Tippy Boat" CD was over and the 3-disc player was moving on to the next CD, restart "Tippy Boat" CD.
 
5:30pm  Come downstairs again dressed in full doctor's gear and give Lincoln another exam--this time being sure to include the shots she was disappointed he didn't receive in the morning.

6:15pm  Play some LeapFrog Fridge Magnetic WordBuilder while Mommy gets supper ready.

6:30pm  Sit down for dinner with the whole family.  Answer the exact opposite of the truth for every question Daddy asks.  (e.g. "Did you go to the library today" "Yes"; "Did you go to the doctor's office today?" "No")

6:45pm  Strike a deal that after 3 more bites of soup she can have another roll or some more crackers.

6:50pm  Ask if she can listen to the "Tippy Boat" CD even though Mommy & Daddy are listening to and discussing an interesting radio broadcast.

7:15pm  Get in the bathtub.  Play games with Lincoln while he stands along the edge on the outside of the tub.
 
7:30pm  Get out of the bathtub.  Make sure squirty fish are lined up and ready for the next bath.

7:35pm  Head for bed.  Mommy reads two books, turns off the reading lamp and turns on the "puppy dog music" (i.e. kids' songs CD).

7:50pm As soon as Mommy goes back downstairs, get out step stool and turn on closet light.  Dig through closet for something more fun to wear.  Play with dollhouse.  Read some books to stuffed animals.

8:30pm  Fall asleep and rest up for another day!

A glorious walk

Today I opted to take a nap myself during Lincoln's afternoon nap and take both kids outside afterward.  It was sunny and 35 degrees. We all bundled up (a 10 minute process).  Then I broke out the double stroller and reconfigured it so Lincoln could sit in the front.  We live across the street from the Waverly Health Center (hospital) and they have very nice, wide, clear sidewalks going around the entire campus.  It's a great place to do "laps" on a smooth surface that never takes you too far from home.  We did five laps today.  One lap is roughly 8 blocks, which is approximately 1/2 mile and takes about 10 minutes pushing both kids.  Emily & I once took 45 min. to complete a lap last fall when she insisted on walking (i.e. dawdling) the whole time.  It's quite the workout pushing 60 lbs. worth of kids around for almost an hour when you aren't used to it!  Plus the hospital is on a large hill, so one side is straight up and the other side is straight down (that's part of the hospital on top of the hill in the upper right of the picture).

Emily loved it.  I think Lincoln enjoyed it.  He didn't move the whole time, although I don't think he had much choice considering the fact he was stuck in a marshmallow coat with fingerless mittens, a 5-point harness and a snack tray that I now see was set way too high.  He didn't make a peep until the end when Emily accidentally conked him on the head with her plastic golf club (the club was only along for the last lap).  Unfortunately, I don't think he was feeling very well.  He ran a low-grade fever and slept a lot, albeit restlessly, today and is only content being held or cuddled.  Poor little guy!  Hopefully some fresh air will help.

More snow fun

Today's snow activities: a snowman, snow angels and trying to dig out the once nicely shaped Japanese yew bushes that are tragically sagging under the weight of the snow.

Changing seasons

It's March 1st and although there is still a LOT of snow on the ground, it's time to put away all the winter/snowman decorations.  I still have to pack away the snowflake dishes, but all the decorations are gone and the Easter/spring decorations are up.  This includes the bench on the back porch.  Here's to hoping spring will be here soon!

Sun & Snow

The past few days of sunshine and 30+ degree temps have been therapy for the soul.  I'm always glad when it says "March" on the calendar but always disappointed it isn't instantly spring.  As much as I'm yearning for green grass and trees and flowers again, spring has to come slowly now that flooding is a valid concern.  So for now I'm just content with the hint of warmth on my face and the drip, drip, drip of slow and steady melting snow. 

To take advantage of the nicer weather, Emily & I have spent at least 30 minutes playing outside for the last three days.  I'm pretty proud of the snow tunnel I dug through the tall bank along the driveway.  Emily can crawl through it.  I call this photo "Light at the End of the Tunnel" :o)

Emily has had a blast climbing up and sliding down the "mountains" along the side of the driveway and hauling the stuffed snowman around in the sled.  She also threw ice chunks in pool of water along the curb and putzed in the snow and water until she was soaked from the knees and elbows down (another letting-go).  She continually begs to build a snowman.  I think tomorrow might be perfect conditions.  I guess we'll find out how deep the snow really is in the yard!

So what do you do after a fun outing in the snow?  You enjoy the perfect snack--a microwave s'more made with chocolate chips and a large strawberry marshmallow accompanied by a steaming cup of mocha cappuccino. :o)