Some randomly funny stuff that I simply didn't want to forget about...
Yesterday we were in the yard playing. With the 100+ degree heat, we were all sweating. Ian proceeded to remove his baseball cap and fan himself as he said, "Mom, I'm sweating like a sweater." I rolled in laughter.
Anna walked days after she turned one. Within days of that she was no longer crawling at all. And within the past week and a half, she has started to all out run (mostly in an attempt to chase Ian). Watching her little chubby body run is one of the cutest things I've seen in a while.
I'm not sure exactly where this phrase came from but it cracks me up each time I hear it. You have to know Ian to know how funny he is when he uses his very dramatic tones, along with a single raised eyebrow, strange accents he hears on television, and the occasional made-up words. After seeing the massive python at the Houston aquarium, he started randomly saying, "And you better be brave about this big snake!" It's funny on its own but makes Mark and I laugh so hard when our three year old says it with a southern drawl, as if he was the bad guy in an old western film, as he props one hand up on his hip.I swear this kid could be a highly successful actor some day.
Anna hoots like a baby owl and points when she's really excited about things - seeing the leaves on the trees move, an airplane fly over, and any animal but especially dogs.
The circle dance Anna does when she is excited, hears music she likes, or a tv show comes on that she enjoys (like Blue's Clues or Jack's Big Music Show). She extends her arms straight up over her head as if she's reaching for the sky and walks quickly in a big circle around our living room as she squeals or hoots in delight.
When Coal attempts to take a nap in plain view, Anna will go up to him and set her monkey blanket down across his legs or at his face, leans over and puts her forehead on his body (this is her way of hugging him), and then pats him as if she's telling him good-night.
During the last hour of our car trip back from Houston Mark and I were mentally exhausted. Ian had literally talked the entire seven hours prior. So Daddy attempted to play the "let's see how long we can go without making a sound game". He counted down and the game began. It was seriously less than fifteen seconds when we heard Ian start laughing from the back seat and then he said, "I won". Which made us both laugh, too. We explained the game again and had high hopes for the next round. Same reaction - this time it was about five seconds, though. We must have played that game a dozen times in a row and each time Ian would make some sort of noise in less than a minute, he'd start laughing, we'd laugh, and then Anna would start laughing and squealing. It didn't give us any moments of peace but that game did give us a few moments of really hearty laughter and yet another funny memory to reminisce about during our next car trip.
I'm sure there will be more to post as they come to mind....
Thursday, June 24, 2010
The Clampetts visit Houston
It's hard to believe it's been nearly one month since I logged on and posted. Since my laptop crashed in April I have simply not been online for any length of time in order to write. I'm still taking tons of pictures (imagine that) but have yet to upload them in weeks. I'm slacking! Ha!
We just returned from a week-long trip to Houston where, as my Dad so accurately put it, we looked like the Clampetts from the Beverly Hillbillies as our loaded down, tarp-covered F-150 pickup rolled into the driveway.. Mark had business so we packed up the kids and headed south for an extended stay at the Hotel Papa Rod. The kids traveled much better than we'd anticipated so we were quite pleased to get there without a major meltdown. On the trip down Anna decided to reach out and grab the cheeseburger from my hands at lunch. She proceeded to take a big bite out of it and seemed to enjoy the taste. {Great, the Golden Arches have now sucked both my kids in.) She's getting the hang of table food and pretty open to trying new things; especially if Mama is eating it - then she really wants to have it.
During the week Ian enjoyed lots of time swimming in Papa Rod's pool, spinning Papa's recliner around in circles with Papa in it (much to my Dad's chagrin), and riding his bike on the flat driveway and around the cul-de-sac. Meanwhile, Anna enjoyed doing laps around the pool (the pool itself scared her), pushing her stroller or anything else on wheels around the cul-de-sac, exploring Papa's house, and playing "chase" and "peek-a-boo" in the hallway to the guest rooms. And Uncle Mike (aka Mohawk Mike) and Auntie Anh came over often to visit.
The kids love playing with their Aunt and Uncle and Anna was quite taken with Mohawk Mike 9as she has been since she was a baby). She loved playing peek-a-boo with him! Mike was sweet enough to take tons of time to try and 'revive' my laptop while we were there, too. And Anh probably took one thousand pictures during the week - of which I'm SO grateful and SO excited to see them.
While Mark worked, Papa Rod took me and the kids to the downtown Aquarium (or "Quarium" as Ian calls it) one day and it was a huge hit! Anna hooted like a little barn owl the entire time as she pointed to each fish and animal she saw. Ian was fascinated by all the animals but a few really stood out. He still can not stop talking about the Poisonous Blue Dart frog, the python, or the black and white striped tiger. After a tour of the aquarium the four of us had a fantastic lunch in the aquarium's restaurant. It boasts a 150,000 gallon salt water tank in the center of it. So cool! Some of the fish seriously looked like something created for a Pixar film. I'd never seen some of these before and they were so unique! The kids were thoroughly entertained and the food was excellent.
The trip was quite memorable and we look forward to our return in November. We'll be flying so hopefully I can tone down the packing a bit so we don't take up half the belly of the plane. Is it possible to travel light with two toddlers in tow? We'll see.
We just returned from a week-long trip to Houston where, as my Dad so accurately put it, we looked like the Clampetts from the Beverly Hillbillies as our loaded down, tarp-covered F-150 pickup rolled into the driveway.. Mark had business so we packed up the kids and headed south for an extended stay at the Hotel Papa Rod. The kids traveled much better than we'd anticipated so we were quite pleased to get there without a major meltdown. On the trip down Anna decided to reach out and grab the cheeseburger from my hands at lunch. She proceeded to take a big bite out of it and seemed to enjoy the taste. {Great, the Golden Arches have now sucked both my kids in.) She's getting the hang of table food and pretty open to trying new things; especially if Mama is eating it - then she really wants to have it.
During the week Ian enjoyed lots of time swimming in Papa Rod's pool, spinning Papa's recliner around in circles with Papa in it (much to my Dad's chagrin), and riding his bike on the flat driveway and around the cul-de-sac. Meanwhile, Anna enjoyed doing laps around the pool (the pool itself scared her), pushing her stroller or anything else on wheels around the cul-de-sac, exploring Papa's house, and playing "chase" and "peek-a-boo" in the hallway to the guest rooms. And Uncle Mike (aka Mohawk Mike) and Auntie Anh came over often to visit.
The kids love playing with their Aunt and Uncle and Anna was quite taken with Mohawk Mike 9as she has been since she was a baby). She loved playing peek-a-boo with him! Mike was sweet enough to take tons of time to try and 'revive' my laptop while we were there, too. And Anh probably took one thousand pictures during the week - of which I'm SO grateful and SO excited to see them.
While Mark worked, Papa Rod took me and the kids to the downtown Aquarium (or "Quarium" as Ian calls it) one day and it was a huge hit! Anna hooted like a little barn owl the entire time as she pointed to each fish and animal she saw. Ian was fascinated by all the animals but a few really stood out. He still can not stop talking about the Poisonous Blue Dart frog, the python, or the black and white striped tiger. After a tour of the aquarium the four of us had a fantastic lunch in the aquarium's restaurant. It boasts a 150,000 gallon salt water tank in the center of it. So cool! Some of the fish seriously looked like something created for a Pixar film. I'd never seen some of these before and they were so unique! The kids were thoroughly entertained and the food was excellent.
The trip was quite memorable and we look forward to our return in November. We'll be flying so hopefully I can tone down the packing a bit so we don't take up half the belly of the plane. Is it possible to travel light with two toddlers in tow? We'll see.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Week one of being One
Anna's stats at age one...31 inches tall and 23 lbs. 4 oz.
Anna's stats at birth.....21 inches tall and 8 lbs. 4oz.
I find myself reflecting alot this week on both kids turning one. It's a special time. I remember my absolute favorite age of "babyhood" with Ian was age 15-18 months. He was so expressive, curious and mobile. He loved to play and was really starting to display his unique personality. I'm so excited to embark on that time of Anna's life, too. And I think it's already upon us. I'll write about her birthday party in a separate post because there's a lot of fun photos and stuff to share.
But, over the past week Anna has, for lack of a better term, blossomed. She is just such a happy girl. She smiles, blinks and waves to people - from family members to the cashier at the grocery store. She not only took her first steps this week but is literally racing around the house and yard as of today in her little 'waddle' of a walk that all toddlers have in the learning-to-walk stage. She can walk from one end of a room to the other and sometimes from one room to the other end of the house if she's focused enough. Her gag reflex has calmed a bit, too, so she's been able to try new table foods like pieces of bread, bites of cheese, and crackers. Just shy of one week after her first birthday, she's making it clear that she's not a baby anymore!
Since I never did get around to posting about Anna's actual birthday party, I thought I'd include a few photos from her party in this post.Broadening our musical horizons
It might just be my own desire for some nostalgia but I've recently pulled out some cds I haven't heard in months or years, to enjoy in the car. I like exposing the kids to various types of (appropriate) music and I was so surprised to learn that both kids enjoy the music from the 60's and 70s. - much like I do. I had the Forrest Gump movie soundtrack on a few days ago and Anna was kicking her legs and smiling - almost dancing in her car seat. Ian asked what the title of the song was and said he liked it. It was For What It's Worth by Buffalo Springfield - I love the guitar in that song. Ian now calls it his favorite song. He's too cute.
Ian doesn't like all of my music, though. There have been a few times where he will either ask me to turn it down because it hurts his ears (the song, not the volume) or he will just honestly say that he simply doesn't like that song and would I please put on one of his songs. If it were up to him we'd listen to Pop Goes The Weasel over and over from the moment the car leaves the driveway until we reach our destination. In fact, there were many mornings in which that was the only way I could snap him out of a grumpy mood on the way to school. As soon as he heared that song start, he'd smile and say, "Thanks Mama. I love this song." And as soon as it was over his soft, sweet voice would say, "Can I hear it again?" And because I love to see him smile, I would gladly hit the repeat button over and over until we pulled into preschool.
Both kids have enjoyed music since they were newborn (and probably from the womb) and it's neat to see how they appreciate all types of music. But we'll let Daddy get the joy of introducing them to some other favorites....Billy Idol and Rush....when they're a little bit older. Ha!
Ian doesn't like all of my music, though. There have been a few times where he will either ask me to turn it down because it hurts his ears (the song, not the volume) or he will just honestly say that he simply doesn't like that song and would I please put on one of his songs. If it were up to him we'd listen to Pop Goes The Weasel over and over from the moment the car leaves the driveway until we reach our destination. In fact, there were many mornings in which that was the only way I could snap him out of a grumpy mood on the way to school. As soon as he heared that song start, he'd smile and say, "Thanks Mama. I love this song." And as soon as it was over his soft, sweet voice would say, "Can I hear it again?" And because I love to see him smile, I would gladly hit the repeat button over and over until we pulled into preschool.
Both kids have enjoyed music since they were newborn (and probably from the womb) and it's neat to see how they appreciate all types of music. But we'll let Daddy get the joy of introducing them to some other favorites....Billy Idol and Rush....when they're a little bit older. Ha!
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