“Kaelin, can you say the Pledge of Allegiance for Grandmommy?”

“I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of … (falls off chair) Oops!  That’s something you don’t see every day!”

“Oh my GOODNESS!”
“What?”
“Nothing, I’m just going potty.”

“Mama, why did you dress Koren up like a woman?”  (Just for the record, he was wearing shorts and a T-shirt)

“Oh my goodness, he’s fussing already???”

“Koren, if you’re sleepy then go to sleep.  Just suck on your hand, and if you don’t like it then spit it out.  SHHHHHH SHHHH SHHHHH!!!”

“Mama, this soup is really not good.  I don’t think I can even eat it.”

“Kaelin, why did you do that?”
“Because that’s the POINT, Daddo.”

“I’m going to put some water here for you so you don’t have to worry about it.”

(having a conversation with her toy) “Thank you for inviting me to your party.  What?  Thank you for inviting me to your party of the United States of America.  And to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”

On Sunday, Kaelin got more birthday fun with a second party, this time with the family. 

Among the great gifts, she received a retro-style tricycle which she couldn’t wait to break in.  The next day, we took it for a spin (ok, several spins) and she had a great time zooming up and down the bike trail, stopping occasionally to chase butterflies.

For her birthday, we gave Kaelin some roller skates.  She loves them and is quickly becoming very good.  By the time we went down the street and back, she could already maneuver around by herself.

She has also found them very useful for running over ants.  However, when she’s rolling along, she finds it difficult to pick up every snail and every doodle bug she passes, so she calls out apologies to them before swinging back around to pick them up.  I tried to convince her that the snails don’t really mind if you pass them… but clearly I don’t know what I’m talking about.

On her birthday, Kaelin had a party with her friends at the Nature Preserve.  It was basically a glorified play date, complete with cake and ice cream, and she had a blast.  The motto for the day:  Eat Cake, Play Hard.

I want to send out a special Thank You to my dear husband, without which none of it would have been possible.  He loaded everything into, out of, into and out of both cars, picked up the ice cream, and even took over “baby duty” and stood guard over our tables while everyone else went to the playground.  He totally rocked and if he hadn’t been there I probably would have lost my mind trying to figure out how to carry a 10-lb cake in one hand and a baby in the other.  Thank God for great husbands!

Cake and juice – who could ask for anything more?

The little ones had it made in the shade.

Even Koren had a great time.

Off to the park

Friendly hugs

Jenna & Blake

Off to the playground!

More Hugs

Where do they learn how to do this?

Swinging

More swinging

Fun on the slides

Monkey bars

Caught!

The big red swing

Kaelin played hard – even in the bark.

At the end of the day, we had a very tired girl:

Friday was Kaelin’s birthday.  The day before, I made her cake according to her requested “puppy” theme:

Kaelin is always eager to “help” when I do baking and/or decorating projects, so she got to do her own “cake decorating.”  It was a well-intentioned project that, predictably, deteriorated into a mess and a sugar high:

Her finished masterpiece:

Dear Button Pie,

Today you turn 3 years old.  And I must admit that the thought of trying to summarize all the changes you’ve made over the last year in a single newsletter is rather daunting.

You’re huge.  You’ve grown at least 3 feet in the last 6 months.  You’re tall and lanky and fast and coordinated and I can promise you didn’t get any of that from me.

You still talk 90 miles an hour.  All the time.  Your vocabulary has increased even more over the last year and we now hear you using colloquialisms and phrases common among adults.  Yesterday morning you were getting out of your bath and talking to me about I don’t even know what, but you ended the statement with, “So how d’ya like THAT, Mama?”

Despite your ability to understand concepts seemingly beyond your age, you are completely incapable of grasping the meaning of “Stop talking.”  They need to start making phones that include a “Mute” button for the nearest toddler, because having a phone conversation amid your never ending “urgent” questions can be very difficult. 

Efforts at communicating to you that you need to be quiet have proved futile.  Your response to “Kaelin, shhhhhhhh” is to ignore it.  Your response to “Kaelin, you have to be quiet right now” is to ask the same question louder.  Your response to, “KAELIN.  STOP TALKING” is to tell me how much you like to talk, and then explain to me why you need to talk.  This has become a problem over the past few months because, on occasion, your brother sleeps and when you prance into our room in the morning my only course of action is to jump out of bed, pick you up and carry your babbling self out of the room to keep from waking him up.

Speaking of your brother, you’re becoming a very good Big Sister.  You have Pacifier Duty in the double stroller, which consists of finding the paci he has just spit out and putting it back in his mouth when he’s fussy.  You like to coo at him and coax him into smiling with your “Haaaaaaaaapy Boyyyyyyyyyy” routine.  You look forward to helping me drop him off and pick him up from “school” on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  You love taking baths with him and think he’s hilarious when he kicks and splashes water on you.  You’re not such a fan when he grabs hold of your hair.

You’re really enjoying “school” this year.  You go Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00am to 2:00pm and you LOVE your teachers.  You truly look forward to going each time and don’t cry anymore when I drop you off, which was something we dealt with through most of last year.  You’re also making friends on your own, which I really love to see because for so long you were a little stand-offish to other kids.  But now as we walk through the hallways, you say, “Hey look!  It’s Riley with her dad!  Hi Riley!”  “Hi Kaelin!”  To hear those little exchanges just reminds me how much you’re growing up.  My little girl is very quickly morphing into a Big Girl.  I love it when you introduce me to your friends at school.  “Mama, this is Landry.  Say hi to Landry.”

Apparently you leave quite an impression at school.  All the staff members know your name and they call out their hellos to you when we pass through the doors.  You get high praise on your singing.  In every group of kids, it seems like there is always that one child who stands in the front row and shouts every word of every song at the top of their lungs.  Little One, you are that child.  And I love that about you.

You still love to learn, and that warms my heart.  You’ve known your ABC’s for what seems like eternity, but now you’re becoming interested in how to spell things.  You can read your name and a few other words like Mama and Red.  I often hear you spelling out random words you see and asking, “Mama, what does D-O-O-R spell?”  When I tell you, you then try to relate it to words you know so you can fully grasp the meaning.  And then you very quickly memorize the answer, which I hear repeated back to me every time you see the word thereafter.  “D-O-O-R spells DOOR, like when you open the door or you let Hastings out the door, but NOT like Dora because that’s different.  O-N spells ON like when you turn the TV on or when you sit on something but not like Aunt Iris because that’s AUNT not ON.”

Over the past few weeks, you have certainly turned 3.  You’re testing us daily and showing a lot of attitude that wasn’t part of your repertoire before.  Some of your more memorable gems include, “No, YOU pick it up,” “You don’t get to tell me what to do,” “I can play on the computer if I WANT TO,” and the ever-popular, “NO!” followed by the Total System Meltdown.  Your dad and I have found it very challenging and we constantly debate about whether it’s more effective to ignore your tantrums or tackle them head-on. 

There was a time recently when you were having a melt-down daily and spending a lot of time screaming in your room.  We tried Time Out, incentives, earning/losing privileges, spanking, but ultimately I think it was just something you had to get out of your system.  Over the past week or so, it’s been getting better.  We’re at least going a few days between meltdowns, which is good because being in constant “Enforcer” mode can really put a damper on parenting.  On the bright side, after a screaming fit in solitary confinement, you quickly return to your normal bubbly, sweet self. 

I’m hearing from other parents that we’re not the only ones going through this change in attitude, which is some comfort, because when it starts happening your first thought is to begin questioning your parental skills, followed quickly by, “Please God, don’t put us through an entire year of this WE WON’T LAST.”

But over the past few days, you’ve been making unprompted comments that make it evident that you’re really trying to be good.  Things like, “And TODAY, I’m not EVEN going to throw a FIT!”  “I’m going to mind you every time!”  and “We always say ‘Yes ma’am’ and ‘Yes sir!’”  And the fact that you’re making a conscious effort at improving your behavior makes me so proud of you.  It makes me realize how grown up you are.

Munchkin Pie, I’ve always been so very proud of you and I try to tell you that daily.  I know that I have my shortcomings as a parent and I’m still trying to figure out the secret to balancing myself between 2 kids.  But you’re remarkably adaptable and I can’t wait to see what you’ll conquer over the next year.

Love,
Mama

This has been a busy week so there hasn’t been as much posting around here.  Jens was out of town for a few days, which I spent cleaning up pee and poop because apparently everyone in this house decided that when Daddo’s gone they should take the opportunity to relieve themselves anywhere BUT the designated toileting areas.

Anyone want a couple of pets?  Anyone wanna borrow my kids?

Ok, Koren technically did NOT poop or pee on the floor, but only because he didn’t have the choice, and since I still had to wipe his butt all day I think it counts.

Also, Kaelin’s birthday is tomorrow, so I’m busily preparing.  It’s a pretty low-key thing on my end but there are always things to do – cake, favors, balloons, decorations.

So in lieu of an actual post, I’m presenting you with an opportunity to help some animals.

My friend Melissa does some volunteer work with NorCal Boxer Rescue, and the shelter has the opportunity to win $10,000 toward helping their dogs.  But in order to get it, they have to have the most votes.

So please take 5 seconds and click on the link below, fill out the yellow box on the right, and click “VOTE.”  You can even remain anonymous if you choose.

http://www.care2.com/animalsheltercontest/69408/?refer=22427.12.1222105356.6921

You won’t get any spam, requests for money, advertisements or anything else.  You’ll just be helping some dogs who need it.  Some dogs who are cute and sweet and undoubtedly better behaved than mine.

…And I bet you thought this was going to be another political post.

Dear Smiley Joe,

We’ve seen more changes in the past month – it still amazes me how much you can grown and change in such a short period of time.  Even your teachers at “school” tell me each week that they can see changes in you.

You love school.  They have “music time” and “buggy time” and with a teacher:student ratio of 1:1, you get spoiled for all of the 10 hours per week that you’re there.  Each time I pick you up or drop you off, I run into some staff member who tells me what a happy kid you are.  I get notes from your teachers on how much they love interacting with you and making you smile.  This last Thursday, we brought home a picture of you holding hands with one of the other babies in the buggy.  It said, “We make friends at [school name].”

Despite the fact that you’re pretty easy to coax into smiles (and sometimes giggles), it is surprisingly difficult to catch these expressions on film.  For some reason you don’t think I’m nearly as funny when I have a camera in front of my face.

You are rolling over now, though not regularly.  You seem to have more difficulty with it at night, and consequently we’ve entered the dreaded FOUR MONTH SLEEP REGRESSION.  You often spend a good portion of the night squirming and twisting around, while I spend a good portion of the night alternating between repositioning you and beating my head against the wall.

You do spend the entire night in the mini-crib now though, because the motion glider is too restrictive for all your thrashing about.  Also, you are becoming much less dependent upon the swaddle in order to sleep.  I was beginning to think that day would never come.  Now the only time I have to swaddle you is when you can’t seem to calm yourself down enough to sleep in the middle of the night.

You have also started wanting to stay awake when you wake up for a bottle around 5:00am.  THIS IS NOT OK.  Although, it might be negotiable based on prior nightly performance (reference this post).

You adore your sister.  When you hear or see her, you follow her around with your eyes.  She can get a smile out of you better than anyone else and you have been known to cry when she walks out the door.

You’ve also really started to enjoy bath time.  I think you are going to be quite the swimmer.  Every time we give you a bath, we are guaranteed a nap immediately afterward, because you just kick and splash yourself into exhaustion.  Tonight you dad bathed you and after half an hour of solid flailing, you were basically asleep by the time you had your jammies on.

You’re finally getting some hair on top!  This makes me happy, and it helps ease some of my guilt that every time I combed your head to treat your cradle cap, your hair would fall out.

Speaking of hair, please stop yanking on mine.  It hurts and you have a ridiculously strong grip.  Kaelin thinks it’s absolutely hilarious to watch, but I have a feeling she’ll change her mind the first time you try it on her.

You are all boy.  You love watching football in the media room with dad, which I know makes him really proud.  Your favorite TV shows are Football, CNN news and the Video Professor Commercials.  I know that last one isn’t an actual show, but you get a real kick out of that guy and start smiling every time he comes on TV.

You talk.  A LOT.  You babble and bubble and moan and gripe and gaga and squeal.  You talk to us, to your fish mobile, to the TV, and to anyone or anything else that will listen.  If you have a complaint, you have no qualms about telling us ALL ABOUT IT.  When you start using words and can converse with your sister, our house is going to be one nonstop stream of chatter.  I’m not going to get a word in edgewise.

You’re turning into such a fun kid and we’re really enjoying seeing your personality bloom a little more each day.  There are countless times that you do something and your father and I turn to each other and ask, “Could he be any cuter?”

And the answer is no.  You couldn’t.  Although if you want to try, there’s still this.  I’m just saying.

Love,
Mama

PS: Mom, you’re now going to have to retract your statement that I don’t have many pictures of Koren on the website.

A while ago I whittled down my list of blogs because I was having a hard time keeping up.  But now I find myself looking at my feed reader and seeing “Your reading list has no unread items” too frequently.  I NEED MORE BLOGS TO READ!

This is where you come in.

Those of you who read blogs other than this one, could you please take a minute to comment with links to a couple of your favorites?  Particularly writers who you find funny, entertaining, inspiring, etc – and who you don’t have to know personally to be interested in their lives.  Also, writers who post more than once a month.

I could start going through everybody’s blogroll to find the good ones but talk about time consuming.  I’d much rather hear your recommendations.

Thanks!

Last night we joined some friends at GattiTown, a place Jens and I had never been before.  It’s sort of like Chuck E. Cheese (or Showbiz Pizza for all you 80’s kids), except it’s bigger and there are no scary robotic characters lurching back and forth.

We all had a great time – even Koren, who was completely overstimulated beyond belief.  When we walked into the game room with all the flashing lights and bright colors and loud noises and kids running around, his eyes just about jumped out of his head.  He was already really tired so I was trying to get him to go to sleep, but he kept craning his head back to see all the excitement. 

Finally, he ran out of steam and crashed in total exhaustion.  He woke up after about 20 minutes, at which point it was totally past his bedtime, but he managed to stay awake for the whole ride home and a bottle once we got there.

And then he slept for over 8 hours.  Straight.

Did you see that?  Did you fully absorb the magnitude of that sentence?  Go back and read it again.  My kid slept from 8:30pm to 5:00am.

Of course, at 5:00am, he was exceedingly AWAKE, but I find it much easier to watch him sit in my lap and blow raspberries at me for an hour when I’ve just gotten 7 hours of sleep.  In fact, I find that my baby’s Cute Quotient corresponds proportionately to how well rested I am:

And now, I totally want to go to Gattitown every night.

Well after 2+ weeks, I think I finally figured out what was causing my eye to swell up every day.  I’ve boycotted makeup for the past 2 days and while I’m not so good at rocking the “au naturale” look, the swelling has gone down completely. 

I’m guessing that it was something on the makeup brushes. See, while I’m doing Kaelin’s hair every morning, she plays with my brushes.  And since she’s TWO, I have to admit the possibility that she’s probably, I dunno, rubbed them on her foot or something at least once.

Anyway, YAY for no longer looking like Quasimodo.

But DUDE.  I have one of those really painful under-the-skin irritated pores on my nose and I keep accidentally bumping it and it hurts like a Mother Butler Pie and is making me that kind of irrational angry you get when you trip over the same shoe 5 times because you’re too lazy to pick it up.

Also, Koren has officially entered the “4 Month Sleep Regression.”  He spends much of the night trying to roll over and getting really frustrated when he can’t.  It wouldn’t matter if he could because, as I’ve found out, he doesn’t actually want to BE rolled over.  He wants to be ROLLING over.  Also, he’s recently decided that 5:00am is an appropriate time to start the day, which is SO. SO. WRONG.  In this house, Morning does not start until at least 7:00am.

One thing that has been helpful though, is this monitor.  It goes under the mattress and monitors the baby’s motion so if you put them on their tummies to sleep you don’t have to check every 10 minutes to make sure they’re still breathing.  It totally works.  Which is good because Koren will not sleep an entire night on his back.  He has to be flipped half-way through.

The only thing is, if the monitor can’t sense the breathing motion, it sounds this REALLY EAR PIERCING ALARM, which, I know, that’s what it’s supposed to do, but if the baby sleeps in your room at night and you get him out of bed for that mid-night bottle, and forget to TURN IT OFF, a few seconds later the whole household gets blasted out of bed by the BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPING!!!with-multiple-exclamation-points!!!111ONEONE!!!11ELEVENTYONE!!! 

For the record, the husband?  That one that can’t go back to sleep if he has to get up in the middle of the night?  Yeah, he doesn’t really appreciate that.  Especially if it happens multiple times.  In the same night.

So in light of my painful face and all the non-sleeping going on around here, I think I’m going to call it quits even though it’s only 9:30 on a Friday night.  I’m beat.

PS:  Guess what!!!  I took PICTURES of Koren today!!!  But you can’t see them.  Yet.  So I don’t know why I said that.  Goodnight.