Breakfast Conversation

(After Trip has finished his waffle with peanut butter)

Me: Are you all done with your breakfast Trip?

Trip: (sweetly) No

Me: What else would you like?

Trip: Um, Popsicle?

Me: No Trip, you can't have a Popsicle for breakfast.

Trip: Um, BIG Popsicle?

Me: No Trip.

Trip: Um, little Popsicle?

Trip

A few things I want to remember about my almost 2 and 1/2 year old...

• Musical interests include: Dave Mathews, "Stay" and Dispatch, "Out Loud". Both of these songs are on a CD in my car. One day J and I noticed Trip singing along with some of the words. He has an amazing ability to remember songs. He heard the song "Give me everything tonight" by Pitbull one time (thanks to my husband), and still remembers the chorus. I think it's time we start putting this talent to better use and teach him the state song or the presidents song.
• Loves popsicles, or anything sweet. He will ask me for a popsicle at any time of the day from dawn to dusk. He knows he only gets them as a special treat, so he gets this huge grin on his face and sheepishly says, "Um, Mama, I have a Popsittle? Please?"
• Loves, loves, loves his "Sissy", "Anna Tatie", "Sissy Girl", "Baby Girl". He must also take after his dad this way... he has made up a variety of nicknames for his little sister.
• Things Trip says that make my heart melt: "I wanna hold her" (referring to AK), "I wanna hold you", "Mama, play toys?" "Um, Yes", "I dun know", "What you doin'?", "What's dat?", "Who's dat?", "I'm not sure", "I love you very much", "I wanna give you kisses and hugs"
• Trip is now sleeping in his big boy bed. He has transitioned to the big bed so easily and I get a little sad every night seeing his little body in his big bed when we go to check on him before turning in for the night.
• The number of bumps and bruises in Trip's life have quadrupled! He is a fairly cautious child, but is still all boy and has the scrapes to prove it. In one weekend, he was hit in the face (on accident by a friend) with a plastic baseball bat and he jumped off of his big bed onto his new big blocks twice and got a gash across his ribs and one across his thigh.
• One hot day (as they all seem to be) we let Trip run around the back yard naked with only his Keens on. We thought we'd see if being naked would help in our potty training efforts. Well, it didn't! He pooped all over himself not once, but twice. Then I accidentally stepped in his poo, and we both ended up getting a good spray down with the water hose.
• Trip loves animals, especially dogs. He has a love/hate relationship with our dog Jack. He loves Jack, but I'm pretty sure Jack hates him. He can be a little unintentionally rough. He now refers to Jack as "my doggie" and wants Jack to sleep in his bed every night.
• On Wednesday mornings, we go to library story time. While most of the kids either follow the crowd or cling to their parents when we sing and dance, Trip is typically in the middle of the circle dancing and jumping. He is definitely not afraid to be the center of attention! That's not to say he isn't well behaved or good at following directions, because he is. He just seems to be much more outgoing than other kids his age. I take no credit for this. This must come from his dad too.
• It is so much fun to see his budding sense of humor. The other day we were at the store and there was an advertisement with a picture of a woman who was in her 60's with gray hair and heavy set. He pointed to the picture and started laughing and asked, "Is that you Mama?" I did not laugh. He will also chuckle and point to his sister and say funny things like, "I wanna drink her" or "I wanna hit her." He hasn't actually tried anything mean, but he definitely knows how to get a rise out of me.
• Knows everyone's name after hearing it only one time! Everyone. Including last names. He also seems to think that "and" is someones title, like Mr. or Mrs. He'll say to me, "I want to go see And Zachary" or "I want to play with And Cooper." I think this is because I usually ask if he wants to go see Mattie and Zachary, or Lincoln and Cooper.
• Favorite outdoor activity - swinging
• The hair! If you've noticed in pictures, Trip has quite the hair. It is really out of control. It feels soft like cotton and no matter what we do seems to stick straight up! We hardly ever shampoo it. We've used every product, conditioner and technique. It just has a mind of its own. My favorite thing is that people have commented on several occasions that he has his dad's hair. J's not really sure how to take this.

5 month comparisson

Similarities - To me, these two continue to look like they should have been born twins. They have similar ears, eyes, smile and nose.

Differences - Anna Kate is much daintier, her skin and hair are a lot lighter. She is not as chubby as Trip was and I think is longer than he was at the same age. Their eye color is a little different - his are a royal blue and hers a lighter gray blue.

I am obviously biased, but I think J and I have some pretty darn cute kids!

5 months

Anna Kate turned 5 months the day before we left for Colorado, so I am a tad behind on writing this post. I have also failed miserably at taking consistent "growth" pictures, but I am determined to keep up with the monthly updates!

One way you could describe AK at 5 months is as "the pincher"! She has the strongest little hands and is constantly grabbing faces, arms, mouths, and gouging out eyes! I remember Trip being fascinated by faces, but I don't remember it hurting so bad!

Development - Anna Kate seems to be a pretty "typical" baby. She tracks right along with all of the milestones. She recognizes me, J and Trip. She gets easily distracted while nursing. She is very loud when she wants to be, but most of the time just quietly watches Trip in awe and is such an observer. She rolls from front to back and back to front, grabs and chews on her feet. She can scoot her knees up under her and wiggle toward a toy.

Sleeping - I posted around 2 or 3 months that she was sleeping through the night. Well, that didn't last long. She has not been sleeping through the night for a while now. She wakes up when she comes un-swaddled or when her pacifier falls out. I was waking up 5 - 10 times a night with her for a while, but now it is down to 1 or 2 times, usually in the early morning between 4 and 6. If I re-swaddle her and plug the paci back in, she will go back to sleep until around 8. I would like to let her cry it out and self-soothe, but I am too paranoid that she will wake Trip up and then I will never get back to sleep. Hopefully she is growing out of this phase!

Likes - Trip is her favorite person these days. He loves doing anything he can to entertain her, and I love seeing this interaction. She LOVES her jumperoo! I will put her in it in the living room, and Trip will run wildly around her "teaching" her what all of the different toys do and dancing to the music it makes when AK jumps.

Hates - Anna Kate's least favorite thing in the entire world is a bottle. She still will not take a bottle, and I think I have run out of ideas and will power and will give up trying. She also still hates to be tired, but I think I finally have her on a pretty consistent schedule and we rarely get to the point where she is overtired anymore. The schedule is our friend!

Favorite memories - I guess as the second child, most of our memories of Anna Kate will involve her big brother. In general, it has been fun to watch the relationship between brother and sister develop each month.

Steamboat, Colorado 2011

Last week we took our annual family trip to Colorado. We were missing two - Trett in China, Matt in California - but we gained one cute baby girl, so it was still a good group. This is a slideshow from the week.

In summary - lots of good quality time, good food (J's pulled pork sandwiches were a big hit!), and fun outdoor activities. Of course, we were somewhat limited by our kiddos' nap and bed time schedule, but we tried to make the most of it.

Anna Kate and Trip woke up around 6/6:30, and my still-in-college brother woke up about 6 hours later. This created a little bit of an issue, but overall we managed to have a great time.

Thanks, as always, to Mom and Kent for the awesome vacation. Anna, Whitney, and Timmy - thanks for your patience with our little family. You all are the best aunts, uncles, and grandparents!

Trip continues to ask about all of you. He has been playing with his toy airplane and asked me today if Gigi was on the airplane eating a chocolate chip cookie. (They serve chocolate chip cookies on Frontier, the airline we took to Colorado). He also still excitedly wears his camelback backpack around, "like Aunt Anna does."

We love you all, and we can't wait to see you at Christmas!

Tikatok

Thought I'd share this neat website. Your kids can make their very own books!

Mine are a little too young, but I look forward to using it in the future.

www.tikatok.com

My Heart

This little girl has my heart.

And, of course, she has her big brother's heart too.

... Most of the time.

Life is Messy

[I helped him with the glasses]

[Here he's on the phone with Aunt Anna telling her about playing with markers]

I am learning a lot from Trip.

Learning to play.

To listen carefully to understand his little 2-year-old vocabulary.

I am learning to turn messes into memories.

Every Day is a Party

Trip can turn just about anything into a birthday cake with candles to blow out. Here, for example, the carrot sticks are the candles and the tortilla is the cake.

Every day is someone's birthday around here and he is sure to sing "Happy Birthday" at the top of his lungs!

[Jack waiting anxiously for the food to drop.]

... and, just because she's so darn cute

Amazon Happy

There is something so great about getting a box from Amazon on your front porch! That big Amazon logo smiling at you.

I also appreciate that Trip gets as much enjoyment out of the box :)

Tough Life

Trip had a couple of late nights and early mornings in a row. I missed capturing it on camera, but when I first found him he was passed out positioned with the top half of his body on the couch and the bottom half hanging off. When I ran to grab the camera, he scooted up on to the couch.

It's tough being a 2 year old.