Elijah sings

Elijah has been singing along with us when we sing (but only if he feels like it, and only about one word per line) for quite a while now, but he surprised me this week by joining in for most of the words when I sang, and even singing a little bit on his own! Today I caught a little spontaneous singing. (Don't mind the angle [he tends to stop what he's doing if he sees the camera] or the laundry that I was in the middle of folding when I grabbed the camera!)



And on this farm there was a ... choo choo?
I know, he still doesn't really carry a tune, but he's doing better! He can sing Old MacDonald, the alphabet song, Jesus Loves Me, and some of Psalm 23.

And here is your Molly picture for the day:

Nice hat, girl!

Cutie pie

I took some fun pictures of our cute girl today - she's three months old! I couldn't pick just one or two, so here are several baby smiles for you to enjoy.

Howdin' Molly

Little dinosaur

We were given this cute dinosaur costume for Elijah, but I am afraid he will be too tall for it before any costume-wearing event comes, so I let him wear it this week, just for fun. He was intrigued with the tail.

Despite his look in this picture, he did have fun!

Hangin' out together

Yesterday Elijah and Molly were hangin' out together. Elijah was kind enough to entertain his sister by reading from his Cars coloring book.

Doesn't she look interested?

Elijah also wanted to "howd" Molly, and he did a very good job. I was too busy spotting him to get a picture, though!

On a side note, the t-shirt Elijah is wearing in these pictures is his favorite! It is getting too short now, so I will have to put it away (so sad!), but I am glad we have some good pictures of him wearing it.

Monday

Here are your pictures for the day.


We still don't know what color Molly's eyes are going to be. So far, they have been a really dark gray. It seems logical that they will eventually be brown, since they're so dark and brown is theoretically dominant, but there's no sign of brown yet. Looking at her eyes yesterday, I think they're heading toward dark green. Maybe they'll be brown, but they still may turn out to be hazel like Patrick's. We'll see!

Brown-eyed girl?

If there is a prize out there for most diaper rashes in one summer, surely Elijah would be a finalist. It almost makes me look forward to potty training! I am sure ready to jump on it whenever he decides he's interested. This morning he played outside for a while in the buff to give his latest rash some time to heal. At least he's having fun in the water!

That cute little bum!

Video of Molly

This is kinda long, but here's some video of Molly doing her baby thing, for you grandparents out there.

Stretching

After a nice, long, swaddled nap ...

... you've gotta give those arms a good stretch!

No ear infections, but ...

Yesterday we spent the morning at Elijah and Molly's pediatrician's office. I spent this morning at my doctor's office. Elijah and I have pink eye. Gross. He had it yesterday morning, when we were going to have Molly's ears checked anyway. Neither of the kids have ear infections (thank goodness!) but they are both in the end stages of their colds, which means some serious, thick congestion, and Molly is still opposed to napping lying down. We got some ointment for Elijah's eye (very challenging to administer!) and it seems to be getting better already. I woke up this morning with a red, yukky eye - thank you, Elijah, for sharing! Fortunately, Patrick was able to stay home with the kids, and we found a doctor close by who would take a new patient on short notice. I haven't had a primary care doc in years, but I guess I should find one so I would know who to call in these sorts of situations.
Anyway, we will be glad when everyone is no longer contagious and feeling all better so we can do something more fun than chase each other around the ottoman. Poor Elijah needs to get out and play. He was very sad that we couldn't go to the library yesterday like we planned. I don't want to keep him cooped up here forever, but I also don't want to be the thoughtless mom who drags her sick kid all over the place and gets everyone else's kids sick.
In other news, Patrick got a new phone (he's very excited) and I have a couple of decisions to make - nothing life-changing, but bigger than my usual what-to-make-for-dinner, cloth or disposable, jeans or shorts, every day sorts of choices. I am indecisive by nature, and my brain is feeling a little I-don't-talk-to-grownups sluggish, so this is a challenge. (Do you like all those phrases used as adjectives? Yep, I'm a little creative with my grammar today). So, celebrate with Patrick in his joy, and pray for me that I can find the reasonable, wise course. Don't worry, I'll stop babbling on and post some pictures soon.

More ...

So Patrick called this evening to say that some stuff came up at work and he's going to be home late. Now E is having dinner by himself. He keeps saying, "No! No thank you, Mama. No meatloaf. No veggies. No milk. No thank you, Mama." Great, thanks for being so polite about being difficult. He is also continuing his list from this morning. "I don't like doors. I don't like cabinets. I don't like chairs." Um, OK. When he runs out of steam on that, he starts telling me which of the animals he likes are at the zoo here. "Yes, zebras zoo. Giraffes zoo. No bears. No lions. No rhinonus." And on and on. I am sitting at the computer and only partially paying attention because I have been having these conversations and reading coloring books all afternoon (yes, it's weird, and kinda frustrating to be reading coloring books for extended periods) and dealing with fussy baby and I am tired and ready for some Daddy help.

Molly is swinging. She has been swinging a lot today, since she isn't happy anywhere else and doesn't even want to be held. I'm starting to be afraid that the cold that they both have had might have developed into an ear infection for her. Of course that little light bulb only went off after the Pediatrician's office closed for the day, so we'll see how she does tonight. Poor baby.

Here's some more video of Elijah - he's talking about his beach toys and playing in the baby pool.

Talking to Elijah

While he was eating a big bowl of oatmeal for breakfast this morning, Elijah announced, "I don't like oatmeals." And then he ate the whole bowl. The rest of our breakfast conversation went something like this:
"I don't like amimals [animals]."
"I don't like buses."
"I don't like farm trucks."
"Mama, can we go zoo?"
"I don't like amimals at zoo."

Animals, buses and farm trucks are some of his favorite things. Maybe he's confused about what "I don't like" means.

While he was playing this morning, Elijah kept saying "wovel jungle bum" [lovable jungle bum] to himself. This is what happens when you have a kid who loves to read anything - he likes to have me read the back of The Jungle Book video box to him as if it were a real story.

Elijah got a set of 12 little dinosaurs for his birthday. They are realistic (rather than cartoony) looking and have the name of the dinosaur printed on the belly of each one (very helpful for parents). He has learned to say all of them, and knows which dinosaur is which. I think it's kind of amazing - some of them are hard for me to say!

Of course, he still talks like he's two - he can't say his Ls or Rs very well, and he makes phrases into words - "owdmacdonawd," "uhsidown," and things like that. Here are some of his funny two-year-old pronunciations:

peacater = computer
rhinonus/rhinosususus = rhinosorus
baby Molly grill = baby Molly girl
pway = pray and play (this is very confusing for all of us)

Elijah likes to show things to Molly - here's a video of him showing her his farm animals.

Just more pictures

Just some thoughts and random pictures

Today, while eating lunch with Elijah, I learned that "a macachee" is the singular form (for one noodle) of mac and cheese. Why not? Toddler grammar makes a lot more sense, when you think about it, than proper English. Wouldn't it be easier if you always just added an -s to make words plural?

The word 'sheep,' for example, is very confusing. Why isn't the plural 'sheeps'?

Maybe I'm a big nerd, but I think observing language acquisition is fascinating.


I hate trimming Molly's nails. I remember that it was horrible when Elijah was little, too. She can't hold still, she hates having her hands held open, and the nails are soooooo tiny! I know you're supposed to do it when they're sleeping, but neither of my kids have ever slept soundly enough when they aren't swaddled - they just wake right up if you mess with them like that.


I've learned that if you take your kids to the fabric store and they don't scream, everyone will be amazed. If you take your son to the fabric store and he isn't throwing a huge tantrum, everyone is baffled. Does everyone else leave their toddlers home alone when they go somewhere too feminine? Is it OK that I haven't told Elijah yet that fabric stores are girly? (They have fire truck fabric and John Deere tractor fabric and cowboy fabric and all sorts of sports and animal fabrics - how would he know he's supposed to hate it?)

"Cheese!"

This is the best windowsill in the world.

Yesterday Molly was stylin' in her first pair of jeans. What a grown-up girl!

Hey, cute stuff!

Tagged again!

Hey, Wizzy tagged me again! =)
So here's another list of random Julie-info for your amusement.

Four, Four, Four, Four

A) Four places that I go over and over:
1. the empty apartment across the hall (where I am doing our laundry - because it's summer and running the washer & dryer heats up our apartment so much)
2. church
3. my 3 grocery stores
4. Walmart

B) Four people who e-mail me regularly:
1. um, Patrick?

C) Four of my favorite places to eat:
1. Noodles & Co. (not in RI)
2. The Spicy Pickle (not in RI)
3. Chili's
4. Olive Garden

D) Four places I would rather be right now:
1. In Colorado, visiting family and friends and the mountains
2. In Texas with Kristi, maybe talking a walk around some random neighborhood (well, maybe in a month or two when it cools off more there!)
3. In Pittsburgh, visiting everyone there
4. In Ireland or Scotland with Patrick

E) Four TV shows I watch all the time:
1. Gray's Anatomy
2. The Office
3. What Not to Wear
4. Jon & Kate plus Eight

F) Four things I love to do:
1. Read
2. Spend time with friends
3. Hang out with Patrick - watching movies or playing games
4. Creative projects - designing quilts, interior decorating, photo albums

More Labor Day pictures

Here are some more pictures of our weekend.

Elijah and his corn - yummy!

He ate the whole thing!

Molly loves to watch Elijah

Patrick set up the baby pool for Elijah on the back deck, since we couldn't go to the beach. Elijah had a great time!

Last night we made sandwiches and went to a nearby green space for a picnic. Elijah took his ball and the little bike Noah & Lily gave him. He also made friends with a neighbor and her dog - Elijah had a great time running back and forth while the dog played catch.

He didn't actually ride the bike much, but he sure had fun!

Molly relaxing on the blanket at her first picnic.

Labor Day weekend

We have been enjoying a (mostly) relaxing long weekend - Patrick was off Friday to make it a four-day weekend. After more than a month of long days and no weekends, we are all excited to have him home for a few days. Elijah came down with a cold on Wednesday night, and Molly caught it yesterday, so it has really been nice to have Patrick here to help. We have mostly been at home this weekend (going to the beach or playground or church is not such a good plan with sick, germy kids!) but we've had a really nice time. I got to go out and shop/run some errands all by myself, the bathroom is clean, the laundry and the diapers are done - does life get any better? We even got to watch some football - we watched the Navy game online and were excited to see my brother Cameron playing, and then last night we were shocked to find the Rocky Mountain Showdown (Colorado vs. Colorado State) on TV! Who knew we would get to see CU football in Rhode Island!? Go Navy! Go CU! Hooray for football season!

Last night we had a great end-of-summer dinner of steak (in Patrick's special marinade), corn on the cob and salad. It was yummy! Elijah loves corn on the cob. Too bad we didn't have any Colorado peaches this year for dessert. This is my favorite time of year for produce. =)

Here are some pictures of our homebody holiday weekend.

More of Elijah's tunnels & bridges - yes, he had help building these big ones.

Cutie pie!

Can Elijah fit through the tunnel?

Happy girl