Translation Game

Here's a fun thing to do. Translate these words, as Caleb says them. Post your entries in a comment so I can laugh at your guesses! The prize: the winner gets to spend the day with Caleb trying to figure out what he is saying!!

Hints: these are all nouns. It helps if you say them out loud and think like a two-year-old. Be sure your co-workers get you on video talking out loud with a puzzled look on your face!

Heepo
Seeba
Roar
Appa Doos
Murk
ooo-ooo-aah-ahh
gockie
buppy
pudduhs
bana
boors

Bonus:
Gorshes

These are all words that Caleb says a lot (another hint: most are animals and food/drink)

Say it Ain't so!!

Surely it's not time for Caleb to drop naps completely. He is inconsistent at best about sleeping when it's nap time. I have to make him get back in bed three or four times, and then I have to threaten with the sad spoon, and then I have to actually use the sad spoon two or even three times!! I know it's not becuase he isn't tired. He is tired! He ASKS to go night-night. He just keeps getting up a hundred times to see what he's missing. I hate to spank him before bed but it's the only thing that works. Unfortunately, he has to cry a little before he'll fall asleep. This is not every time, but on those days when he just won't lay still. Life with a two-year-old. It gets better.... it gets better.... it gets better...

Carly is getting professional pictures taken tomorrow for the first time ever. She is seriously getting shafted at home in the picture frame department. In our living room alone there are six framed pictures of Caleb. Three of them will soon be replaced with pictures of Carly so it won't look so lopsided. I made her a dress for the occasion, as well as added some cuteness to a pair of shorts. She is also going to wear her cute-as-can-be diaper cover with her name on it. Three outfits... I hope we can get some good shots!

What are the kiddos up to lately?

Caleb is talking up a storm. Every single day he says at least five things we have never heard him say before. My quiet stone-faced child is turning into a excitable and cheerful little intelectual. This morning he opened his door and stood at the gate and said, "Goo Mornin, goo mornin, goo morning, hello." He said them all in different tones of voice, so it sounded a bit like a song. I was in Carly's room next door feeding her and listening and just smiled to myself. I love hearing him when he doesn't know I am listening. This afternoon I watched from the doorway as he held a one-sided conversation with his sister. She was playing in the exersaucer and her face was riveted to his. He was telling her something, and calling her "Baby." That's why I know he was talking to her, and not just talking. I love this kid! He is learning his letters and numbers, not in any order, but he is soaking it in like a sponge. His favorite book this week is the cheerios play book where he counts the missing cheerios. His counding sequence goes like this, "one, two, four, five, nine, TEN!" No matter how hard I try, three is not going to happen. I think he's doing pretty good though. His alphabet puzzle is hilarious too. His favorite letters are the ones that end in -eee, like B, C, D, E, P, and T, and his favorite right now is K. I am simply amazed at how he has learned these, because we have not intentionally taught them to him. We just say the letter or sound when he does the puzzle. The highlight of my week was when he turned around and told me, "I wanna watch my fish show." I was floored. Six words??? In a row??? How? When? Okay!! Let's watch the fish show! (It's Finding Nemo, BTW.)

Carly is getting big, but staying little at the same time. She seems so tiny, but she is sitting up with help, and rolling around in the floor. Sometimes we can let go of her for about 10-15 seconds while she sits by herself. She is grabbing at things with her hands. Toys, shirts, hair, mom's cereal bowl, whatever is within her reach. It amazes me. The look she gets on her face when she is concentrating on putting that something in her mouth is priceless. She has recently decided that she hates naps, so today she cried herself to sleep for a good 20 minutes, then slept two hours and woke up happy. Silly baby. She laughs and smiles and sucks her fingers. She tries to get out of her carseat by straining as hard as she can to lift her head and body out, only to get mad that she is strapped in. Yesterday was a major milestone: she had baby food for the first time. Rice cereal, actually. I'm not sure if you can call that food, but it was something other than mommy milk. She ate it up yesterday, but today wasn't to excited about it. I got maybe 5 little spoonfuls in her mouth today. I guess that's good considering the weirdness of it to her. She smacked, gagged a couple of times, made spit bubbles with it, drooled it out onto her bib, and swallowed a little bit. I took pictures, which I will try to post tomorrow or so.

Growing up! I hate it. But I love it too. Oh the days when I can drop them both off at the grandparents all day and not have to worry about the little one. I know it is coming soon, and I'll miss these days, so I am cherishing them as much as I can.

The Much-Asked-For Photo Post

My life is almost constantly covered in poo

This is becoming a daily occurence. Sometimes twice daily! The girl is a fantasmagoric pooper! I talkin, out the diaper, down the leg, pooling in the sock, OR out the diaper, up the back, smeared all over the upper back. Sometimes both! I promise you, there is always a bucket of soaking poop clothes at my house. Well, currently the bucket it being used to catch water from our leaky ceiling, but when the rain goes away, it'll be back to poop-soaking. The poop stains are piling up on the washer now, waiting for the return of the poop-soaker. I remember Caleb doing this, but I don't remember it being EVERY STINKIN' POOPIN' DAY!!

4 months and a head case

Carly's four month checkup went well with our new pediatrician. She weighs 12 pounds exactly, and is 24 inches long. That's 35% and 45%, respectively. She got her shots, and a nice loooooooong visit with the doctor. He is nothing if not thorough! He was my pediatrician when I was a kid, but I never knew any different. Just a genuinely nice guy, and it seems like he actually cares about his patients.

Caleb's dry scalp has been officially diagnosed seborrheic dermatitis. Some T-gel should do the trick. No big deal, so yay for that.

Today we took a quick trip to Walmart, and were going to pick up Sonic and dog food on the way back, but Caleb started wailing while I was in Walmart (Greg circled the parking lot because it was pouring rain) and screamed so badly that we decided to go home. The way he was carrying on we thought something was terribly wrong with him, sick, injured, something. He had his fingers stuffed in his open screaming mouth and his other hand clutching his stomach through the car seat belt, so I thought it must have been his teeth or he had a stomach ache. So we hurried home so we could get in the garage and check on him, and as soon as we pulled in he stopped crying. Little booger! Still sniffling, so we still wondered. Greg went through all the body parts asking him if it hurt, and he said "no" every time. Asked him if he needed to go poopoo and he said "no." Asked him if he wanted to play cars, and he went right over to them and started playing. Couple minutes later he started pulling on his shirt again and lifting it up to show his stomach.. so we asked him again if his stomach hurt. He said, "no." So Greg says, "Do you want to change your shirt?" "uh huh," and he turned and ran to his closet. I came to the conclusion that the fit in the car was all about him not wanting to wear that shirt anymore - the shirt he picked out first thing this morning. This kid is obsessed with clothes! The way he was carrying on made us think he was broken, but it won't work next time. Our new car is much smaller, and I can reach his thigh from the front seat to give him a good hard pop. If he tries that again, he'll get it.

Carly's ready for bed, I can tell from the screaming!

Poop! and a new outlook

Yesterday I was wrapping ribbon around sticks while Caleb was playing and Carly was hanging out in her exersaucer when I heard the poop explosion. I tried to ignore it, pretending that maybe it wasn't really happening. Unfortunately, you can't ignore explosive poop for long before it begins to ooze, drip and generally soak into everything around.. by the time I looked, her entire right leg was mustard yellow, the seat of the saucer was wet and the pajamas were thought to be ruined. Tag team with Greg, and we had her in the bathtub in no time, for a nice warm bath. No screaming this time (first time ever!). Maybe she knew how much better it would be to not be covered in poop. About 4 hours of soaking her clothes, blanket, exersaucer seat in Oxiclean and ALL of the mustard yellow yuck came out! That stuff is like magic!! Now I have to figure out how to get that seat put back on the saucer.

Carly likes her new bumbo seat. We are borrowing it from our new neighbor for a while. It's amazing to me that a less-than-four-month old can sit up like this! I just love it.

Here are few new pics of Caleb too. All of these were taken over my shoulder in a moving vehicle. Don't worry my eyes were on the road, hence the way offcenter pics.

And then there's this: Two cute kids!!!

Update to the Carly falling story

Apparently, EVERYONE has done this at least once per kid, but no one talks about it until someone else admits it first. When I started telling people about my little mishap, almost every person who has children said, "Oh, I've done that x times." I wonder if there are any accurate statistics of how many babies have fallen off of things and not been injured. I'm guessing about 9 out of 10, at least. Are we a society full of non-attention-paying parents or what!? haha

Worst Mom Moment Ever.

I can finally join the "moms of babies who have rolled off bed/sofa/changing table" club... yesterday Carly kicked herself off her changing table head first. I left her there for just a minunte while I visited the potty, and when I came back she was screaming but out of my sight.. I thought maybe Greg had transferred her to her bed but before I could look, I saw her wedged between the changing table and her pop up mesh hamper. I think that hamper really broke her fall because all she had was a couple of skin scrapes on her head and one small bump. We called the doctor and the nurse just told us to watch for signs of concussion. Luckily she had none and today her little bump is even gone. Close call that more moms have had than care to mention it I'm sure!!

Caleb's Un-chicken pox

Friday before we moved Caleb broke out in a rash on his lower belly that looked suspiciously like Chicken Pox. He got the vaccine a year ago at his 1 year old appointment, so I would have been surprised and pretty upset if he had them. We somehow got him in to the doctor that same day (good thing since we moved the very next day!!) and Doc said she didn't think they were CP, but she wasn't sure what it was. Gave us a broad spetrum antibiotic, which we were not able to get filled until Sunday, and it has helped clear up the spots. Still not sure what it is/was, but at least it is going away. Can you imagine Chicken Pox and moving to a new city at the same time? Simply horrid.

Carly sleeps! She is falling into a great routine! In fact she is sleeping right now, and I should probably go wake her so she will sleep tonight. That is muy importante right now as we are all pooped from unpacking!