Kid talk

I love when Max and Ellie start sharing their ideas. When I was putting them to bed tonight I walked in on the discussion around whether mommy should have another baby or not.

Ellie's view is she has mixed opinions because mommy would have to go to the hospital and would have a hard time recovering but there would be another cute baby in the family to love. Max wants me to have another baby fair and square.

I told them that was very sweet, but that I was too old to have anymore babies. It was pretty much left at that. But then, Max started talking about when he has his babies. That's when it got funny.

Max says "when I grew up and I have my babies they will call you and daddy grandma and grandpa." I told him I liked that.

Next he says, "I will get a good wife and we will have cute little babies. "

Mommy asks, "what is a good wife like?"

Without skipping a beat he smiles at me and says, "just like you mommy!"

I have the sweetest boy!

Stomach bugs

So we've gotten it twice so far this winter season. Right before Christmas Mommy, Ellie and Clair all enjoyed it. Max missed out. 

Tonight, Max seems to have gotten it. Poor boy and poor family. I pray it doesn't make it's rounds again. 

Ellie quickly got on bed, said many prayers for protection and turned over towards the wall to fall asleep. She is a smart girl and knows to avoid this if she can!

Verdicts out. . . 

As Hazel said after spooning up Maxs lovely pile of regurgitated lentils and tomatoes, "the joys of parenting!"

One if Clair's favorite activities

Has been riding in this little walker cart for nearly a year. 

It was broken and in the shop for the past couple months. When David brought it out yesterday it was like a brand new best toy all over again. 

I snapped this photo of her riding position, hands folded in lap to keep them safe from being squashed, in between several laps back and forth. 

She's so cute!

She even got up, collected a favorite book and proceeded to read it to herself while asking me to push her up and down.  

Max and Ellie created a Museum on their snow day

Today was the second snow day of the year. Full of excitement for the time home to play, Max and Ellie got very creative. They worked together all morning preparing something in there room. We didn't even hear any fighting. It wasn't until the afternoon when I learned they had created a museum exhibit for us all to visit after dinner. 

This museum came equiped with signage and artifacts they have collected such as the jewels, rocks, fossils, Lego builds and many more items. It was pretty cool of them!

After dinner we all enjoyed the museums opening. Clair enjoyed handling the rocks and we were impressed with they order and organization of it all. 

Nicely done kiddos!

Grown up Daddy

Tonight getting ready for bath, Max unbuttoned his shirt himself for the first time and it was a very momentous occasion. I cheered on his independent accomplishment quite proudly.  He too was very proud. 

H pronounced, "Now I can button my own pants and become a grown up Daddy!" With innocence and excitement. I smiled and said, "yes you can button yor pants, but maybe you can hold up on becoming a full grown man so quickly. "

He didn't skip a best with his animated response, "yes, first I need to meant how to wash people and drill things and fix things, and then I can be a full grown man!"

He is hallarious, especially when he's serious!

The way he watches David is truly amazing. And the things he picks up on as what it takes to be a 'full grown man' well, we will keep working on this one in he years ahead. Hopefully the standards increase a tad !

Love you Maxers!

To my sleeping children

I just checked on each of you asleep in your bed before I go to my own bed. I do this every night before I get in bed. I kiss your heads or I apply a kiss to your heads with my hand if I can't get to you based on the bed you're in. I love seeing you peacefully sleeping. You are so precious, you're so innocent, and you are the most important things to me in this world!  

I hope you know this and are one day reading the stories I've written and will smile the way I do each night when I tuck you in. I love you!

Manga Tiles are a big hit

At Christmas Grampa got the kids a second set of the amazing MagnaTiles! This has doubles the opportunities for creativity and shared play between the kids. 

It's been amazing to watch their creations grow. Ellie and Max built this one together and were so proud of it. Out compromise around not keeping them around forever is that mommy is asked to take a photo of their building! 

Clair has also really taken to building with these. At 20 months she can build a few level tower. It's amazing to watch her focus at this age. She rarely sits still except to build. I love it!

Clair's speech is blossoming

Despite too cold already in three weeks in the new year, Clair's speech is really blossoming. She regularly tries to use words to talk to me. I think she tries to use them to talk to others as well, though I must admit they are not the clearest and thus maybe not most effective yet. But she sure is trying.

As I was putting her to bed tonight she made it clear she was ready to talk. She looked at me and she said play? I told her it was time for bed we were not going to play. Then she asked for story? Told her daddy had already read stories to her. She preceded tell me that she's had said bye-bye to daddy as he went away. And she pointed to the humidifier and said humidifier. Just in case I didn't know what it was called. She is proud of using words. And it is great watching all the thoughts that are clearly in her head and have been for a long time start to come out.

She is 21 months old this week. She is really turnings into a todler and being less of my baby. Growing up is of course wonderful, and as she grows, I feel a little sadness for the baby years leaving but most excitement as I watch my kids grow as people. 

Innocence

Tonight Max asked me to give him a sponge bath again. Now, Max's sponge baths are more of a washcloth rinsed down outside the tub but nonetheless you feel special the two times he's gotten one now.  During this I noticed he needed some cream on his Hiney as he must've been trying to do the wiping himself and had a horrible rash. He's at that lovely phase where we need to allow him to make these mistakes so he learns, but he still just my baby who can't handle the pain and wants mommy to fix it immediately.

We had into his bedroom so I can put some cream on his Hiney and he takes the position with all four on the floor, then he happily looks back at me from underneath his legs and begins to have a conversation with me.

This moment is so humorous and innocent to me. There is such a small period of one's life where they would feel comfortable having a conversation with anyone in this position. As I look at Max and try to keep a straight face answering his questions, I stare through the figure of a growing boy at the innocence in his words and on his face. It's an image that I can't decide if I want to forget or remember forever. 

He is such a sweet boy. I love that he is still innocent and trusting and curious. I don't want to send him off to th big bad world of kindergarden. Things will be so different in a year. 

Clair's in charge

Little miss Clair is at the stage where she understands nearly everything, way more then one thinks, since she barely speaks. Clair is especially big on routine.

We've had the humidifier running in her room for about a week now due to a cold. She is quite used to the routine around setting it up at night and taking it down first thing in the morning. I do this to try to avoid spills, which have been plentiful in our child rearing days. After about 2 days of this, she starting nearly yelling at me as to what should happen next.

When I go in to her in the morning, she requires me to deal with the humidifier before snuggling her. She tells me "Off." Then I turn if off. She yells for me to take it out of her room and waits for me to return, when she promptly points to where the stool goes and yells something. Then, as soon as the stool is put away, she tells me to pick up the towels and points to where they need to hang up.

This evening, I asked her to go brush her teeth with Daddy while I got the humidifier out. She instantly kicks into excitement gear. She runs to pull out the stool for the humidifier stool and sets it in the right place. Then she runs down the hall to where the humidifier is in the bathroom and tells me to fill it up with a few yells and grunts! Finally, she runs back to her room, watching me plug it in and tells me to get the towels from the back of her door. She doesn't relax until I finally have everything set up and turn it on. She looks at it points and says something in baby talk. I say, "On." She clearly proclaims, "On." So I comply.

This girl is one mess. She's my mess! I love her to bits!!!

A great family day

This Sunday we only left the house for church. The rest of the day we just hung out; and David did some work on a new house project. It was really a great day. These are the days that bring joy to my heart.

I had a chance to play a board game with the big kids while Clair napped. The kids have enjoyed playing music, doing art, and max watching daddy work. 

Clair is at such a curios and wonderful age. She just copied her sister who crawled across the floor awkwardly with her ahoes in the air. So Clair did too, wondering.

Ellie is retrieving the mess of stuff she left for the fairies yesterday from outside. It's amazing this fairy fascination. She clas she sees them everywhere. 

The 12th day of Christmas

This year Ellie was really into counting down the 12 days after Christmas. The first day of Christmas was for all the presents and going to Aunt Katie's. The second day of Christmas was for opening stockings. The third day of Christmas was for Grammas. The fifth day of Christmas was for opening presents from Connie. I can no longer remember 6 through 11, but I guarantee she labeled them something special based on what she thought was the best thing we did each day - such as going to visit people or play something special. It was really meticulous and cute at the same time.

It just so happened that we also figured out we are taking the kids to Disney this winter. They didn't know yet. So we decided we would tell them on the 12th day of Christmas.

I put together a last present where I wrapped 3 of their toys in tissue papers. I let each of them pick out an item and told them they needed to guess what their BIG Christmas present was. Ellie went first and picked out the big dolphin. Max went second and picked a Mickey Mouse. Clair went last and got a model airplane.

Let the guessing begin....

Ellie's first guess was close. She asked if we were going to Swim with the dolphins. I have to say this was an exciting guess and is surely something she has remembered since she was very young and will not let go of. I will need to take her before she goes to college.

Max said something about going on a plane and I said yes! I told them it was a vacation.

Clair was clueless and just stood there watching, and nearly backing into the Christmas tree.

Ellie's second guess was pretty right on - The Marine Animal hospital to see Winter and Hope! She announces screaming. She was so excited.

Max yells - "Tomorrow??!!!??"

When I proclaim it's 33 days off, he nearly breaks down in tears in a pile on the floor, likely for the 50th time during the day. Max can't see too far in advance.

Anyway, this was a fun way to tell them and to end our Christmas holiday. We are all looking forward to the trip and counting down the days. Max has stopped throwing a fit each time we talk about how far off it is. Clair still has no clue what she is in for during this trip. It's going to be interesting.

Ringing in 2015

We hung out at the Latimer's last night for a low-key New Year's eve celebration. We had a very nice evening. Clair did have some trouble getting to sleep there, but otherwise all went smoothly. 

I was amazed to find Max and Elly both awake at midnight to ring in the new year. They had a lot of fun watching movies and playing in the playroom all night. I thought for sure once we talked them in around 1230 everyone would settle In. I even checked on the girls and thought they were almost asleep.

In the morning, come to find out, Ellie claims she fell asleep at 5 AM and woke up at 7:30. This is insane to me. I hope she is wrong, but I am not sure as she claims her stomach is very upset and she is in a total days. I Put her down for nap and hope that she feels better when she wakes up. She was feeling so bad that we were unable to go out for a movie with Vicky and the cousins as we had planned. I feel bad about that.

Max Music Station

Upon arriving home from latimer's overnight stay for New Year's, David took Max and clean up for a bath. Claire got a nice long bath well Max sat on the toilet for at least 20 minutes going potty and singing nonstop. He was loud and proud with a variety of songs to choose from. At first I thought it was funny to hear him singing a few songs, but as time ticks just kept singing I became quite amused.

I poked my head in to the bathroom and told David Max is clearly a Tigger :-)

I was referencing a scenario described by famous professor that in life you can either be the Tigger or an Eyore, and I would prefer to be a Tigger if I could. Glad to see that Max had so much fun just sitting on the pot going to the bathroom.