It's No Six Flags, But It's Cheaper

As June always promises to bring stifling heat and suffocating humidity here in the beloved south, I decided to invest $35.79 at Target for a Banzai Baby Sprinkles Pool.
I was looking for something that both Charlie and Anna could play in, requiring the least amount of parental involvement as possible, while maintaining the capability of warding off a heat stroke. Considering Anna makes any simple, mundane task a test in survival, I thought I had my work cut out for me.
Let's just say I hit the jack pot. As long as this thing manages to hold up for more than a week around here, it gets five fat and shiny stars from me!







The best part of it all is that while they are having a blast, I get to do this...

Hand in Hand

We were on a long drive back from a birthday party this evening and Anna was getting fussy as her bedtime was quickly approaching. Things have been a little rocky between Charlie and Anna since she became mobile, and the good moments are sometimes few and far between, but it's glimpses like these that remind me of the bond they share despite their bickering.
Anna started giggling and I peered into my rear view mirror to find my two favorite little hands holding tight to one another...

Houdini

Over the past several weeks, Anna has become very, um, agile. She crawls, fast, pulls up on everything, and loves, loves, loves to climb. The stairs have become my No. 1 enemy and I am quickly learning that, with Anna, the word "no" is simply a challenge.
She sprints-crawls for the stairs at every opportunity, periodically looking back over her shoulder to see if I am on her trail. Once she gets to the stairs, she crawls up as fast as she can, knowing her time is limited. Her whole little body shivers with anticipation and she kicks and screams as soon as I remove her death grip from the carpet.
And her love of climbing is not limited to the stairs. If it can be climbed on, she will climb it. This is her latest favorite place to become stranded...

Although I knew her abilities were growing, I was not prepared for the Houdini Act she pulled this morning. We were in a small clothing store that has the dressing rooms with curtains for doors. (When am I going to learn nothing good comes of me, my children, and dressing rooms?) The rooms are very small, and we were the only ones in the store, so I left Anna in her stroller and Charlie with babysitting duty on the other side of the curtain while I tried on a few things. You can imagine my confusion when Charlie informed me, "Mommy, Anna got out of her stroller." Assuming he just wasn't correctly describing whatever was going on out there, I finished getting my clothes on before coming out to see what he meant.
My jaw hit the floor when I exited the dressing room to find Anna's stroller empty and one happy and free little magician crawling around on the floor.
My only assumption (because I have seen her come close before) is that she arched her back until she was able to shimmy between the snack tray and seat and then just free-fell the rest of the way onto the floor. The most amazing part is that she did this without making a sound.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, we are going to have our hands full with this one...

If Money Grew on Trees

Charlie has gotten to the age where anytime we go anywhere, he wants to locate the closest toy store and buy Matchbox cars. Even an aisle at the grocery store has them, sneaky little marketers.
I've been trying to teach him a little about how the whole work-money-needs vs. wants thing, but his brain just isn't quite ready. (And let's be honest, I struggle with that myself..) I keep trying, hoping some day it will stick.

So when he asks for a car, I say: "Not today, we are here to get things we need, like food and diapers, and that is something you want."
Then he follows with something like: "But I wwwaaaannnt it." (Case in point. He just doesn't get it).

Today at the mall I tried a new technique, explaining that Daddy goes to work every day to make money so we can buy the things we need, and when we have some left over, we can buy things we want.

So he starts begging for Daddy.

Again, the brain isn't ready. Or so I thought...

This afternoon after returning from the mall, (where we saw cars in a toy store and had "the talk" once again) I was in my bedroom putting laundry away and a giddy little boy sprinted into my room, a penny clenched tightly in his fist, shouting, "Mommy, Mommy, I found money!!" Lifting the shiny penny up to my eye level he said, "Now can we go get a car?".

Sure little buddy, only 99 pennies to go...

Car Show

With a stomach virus making it's rounds in our house (two rounds for me), Memorial Day ended up being a bit of a bust. Thankfully, we got Charlie's activity in before Will and I fell victim to the bug.
Saturday afternoon, we took Charlie to a car show in Fort Mill. Not my cup of tea, but watching Charlie's sheer bliss as he sprinted from car to car, eyes wide, shouting over the roaring engines and cover band, "Whoa, look at this one! Whoa, look at this one! Whoa, look at this one!" was beyond worth it.
The highlight of the entire show for him was the little vendor selling $15-$30 die cast cars. We had to physically remove him from that area so he would take the opportunity to look at the real cars. Thankfully, his Mamun and Papa parted with a hard-earned $15 for a diamond white Cadillac Escalade, which made the departure a little easier.














(To Charlie: This photo is proof positive that your Mamun loves you so so much. She doesn't do rides of any kind, but she didn't hesitate to do this with you!)

Cruisin'

Anna loves to be a part of the chaos that takes place in our cul-de-sac every afternoon, but Charlie has become less and less thrilled about allowing the baby sister to ride around in his vehicles with him. So, I decided to get Anna an early birthday present, both for her enjoyment and my sanity.







As a side note, I have something I need to get off my chest. Today two different people called my girl a boy. What about pink crocs, a ruffle-bottomed shirt, polka-dot bloomers, and an appliqued pink flamingo says boy to you?

Ok, I feel much better.




(By the way, how adorable are these crocs? I'd make her sleep in them if I could. I love for her to wear them, she loves to gnaw on them.)

What's This?

Anna has taken to emptying out the drawers in my bathroom whenever I am taking a shower, fixing my hair, brushing my teeth, or performing any activity that requires more than 2 minutes in the bathroom. For a while, I took the time to pick everything up off the floor when she was done, but my recent illness left many unnecessary tasks undone.
This morning after putting Anna down for a nap, I went in my bathroom to pull my hair into a ponytail and was followed by a very curious little someone. I hear him ask in his most inquisitive tone, "Mommy, what is this?".

My answer (after a little deliberating): "It is something for Mommies."
Charlie: "What is it for?"
Me: "It is just something that Mommies use."
Charlie: "Does it go in your hair?"
Me (beginning to flounder): "No, it goes in a Mommy's pants."
Charlie: "Oh."

Phew.

Then we walk into my bedroom and he picks up my bra from the floor. "Mommy, what is this?"

That's the last time I give up my cleaning chores for any reason.

Sign Language

Baby sign language was all the rage when Charlie was born and we lived by it. The kid knew every sign in the book by 11 months and I don't know how we would have survived "Mr. Particular" without it. Besides, it's so darn cute.
But I had forgotten how fascinating it is until the other day. I hadn't been nearly as diligent in signing with Anna, and wasn't really even planning on doing it. That is, until she made up her own signal for being done eating, which entailed clearing her highchair tray with one forceful sweep of her munchkin arm.
In comes the sign for "all done". And apparently, I taught Charlie the wrong sign for this, but the whole point of signing is to be able to communicate, so I taught her the one I knew (the wrong one, of course...perfectionist, I am not.)
So after about a week of diligent signing at the end of each meal, the other night after dinner Anna let out one loud squawk, lifted her arm in the air to swipe at her tray, and then...the light bulb went off. Crazy thing is, I remember this being Charlie's first sign too, and you can actually see it dawn on their precious little faces.
It's like actually witnessing a brain synapse.
Not to mention how amazing it feels to communicate with a non-verbal baby. And I know it must feel amazing to her too. We are both thinking "she gets me!".

So she giddily slaps her fat little hands together and pulls them apart, signing that she is done.

Now the race is on to teach her every sign I can remember.

Intestinal Health is Underrated

Uuuuggghhh. It has been a rough several days, so the posts have been lacking. I managed to come down with a stomach bug that puts the Swine Flu to shame. Although the temptation to go on and on about how moms don't get sick days and the unfortunate accidents that can occur when chasing a preschooler and toddler around when you really should just be lying on the cold tile of the bathroom floor is overwhelming, I will restrain myself. Better to jump back in the saddle and move forward.
So before I came down with this wretched illness, we managed to get out for a birthday party to Monkey Joes (which, on second thought, is quite likely where I got it). As expected, Charlie had a wonderful time jumping and playing with his pals. What I didn't expect was how thrilled Anna would be about the enormous inflatables. I let her get in when there weren't many kids around to see what she would do, and she then pitched a fit every time I tried to take her out. It was a fun way to spend my last day of health...

Girl Gone Wild

Anna no longer allows herself to be "fed". You could serve the child ice cream and cake on a spoon and she would turn up her nose. But she wolfs down balls of dryer lint like it's going out of style. I suppose it is some kind of control thing, and I don't care. If she is willing to eat anything other than Chick-Fil-A chicken nuggets and McAlister's Deli turkey sandwiches (unlike another certain someone) then she can have all the dust bunnies her little stomach can contain.
The only problem is that now every meal ends up like this...


Which means I now usually feed her naked. Again, I don't care, except that being in just a diaper all evening led to her learning to do this...

Let's just hope this isn't a predictor of future behavior. Don't even think about it Joe Francis...

Extraordinarily Ordinary

Today was one of those days during which I thought to myself that if I had known 10 years ago how my life would be 10 years down the road, I wouldn't have believed it. Too good to be true.
The kids and I had nothing on the agenda and spent the day doing nothing in particular at all.
While Anna took her morning nap, Charlie and I played "store" (during which he insisted to be the "buyer man", a.k.a cashier, the entire time and I let the lesson of taking turns pass us by) and he helped me fold laundry. We laughed a lot. The day was off to a great start.
When Anna got up, we had lunch and then headed to Target. On the way into the parking lot, we passed a car wash at a gas station. And this was one of those car washes that fascinated Charlie, because the people stay in the car (I'm an AutoBell fan). After a long discussion on how the seats, radio, and riders do not get wet, I promised him we would go through on the way out. So I kept my promise and payed $5.99 to have a high-powered garden hose squirt my car for a few minutes. But it was totally worth it. Both kids were in awe for 3 minutes and 27 seconds, which turns out to be a pretty cheap thrill.
After the car wash, we headed to Stone Cold Creamery where Charlie generously shared his electric blue cotton candy flavored ice cream with sprinkles with Anna. Yuck.
After ice cream, we headed out to the fountains to roam around for awhile. Anna can walk now holding just one hand and greatly enjoys practicing, and Charlie loves jumping from fountain to fountain. Around the time Charlie's hands were beginning to numb from repeated dips in the fountain, I announced it was time to head home.
We didn't go anywhere special or do anything particularly different, it was just one of those days.
One of those days when I love everything about being a mom.

Chef for Hire

Let's face it, times are tough. Blasted child labor laws...

Too Fast

"Time is the most undefinable yet paradoxical of things; the past is gone, the future is not come, and the present becomes the past even while we attempt to define it, and, like the flash of lightning, at once exists and expires." ~Charles Caleb Colton

Anna turned 11 months old today.

And, honestly, it scares the heck out of me that my baby girl will turn a year old in one short month. Last night as I was drifting off to sleep, the electric blue light from the alarm clock by my bed shown through a half-empty bottle left over from her bedtime. And it hit me. In four short weeks, there will no longer be bottles by my bed. No more nipples filling the dishwasher. No more formula towering in the pantry.
I would love to have (ok, receive) enough babies to fill my house ten times over. But, somehow, I know this is it for us. Our family is complete. For as much as I love babies, I love the ones I have enough to know that I don't have enough to give. Mentally, emotionally, physically, or financially. The limit is different for every parent, but we have reached ours.
I have my son. I have my daughter. My baby days will soon be over.
And, honestly, it hurts. But what I ache for isn't more babies. I ache for the ones I have. Every goodnight kiss is another day that's passed us by. These kids are my life. My world. My everything. The speed at which their lives flash before me is dumbfounding. The love I feel for them is all-encompassing, fierce, wild, instinctual, unwavering, and unending. It's beautiful, wonderful, exciting, and awe-inspiring. And it's scary. Scary to love something so deeply. Scary to be at the mercy of this almighty love.

But I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Walk On!

Charlie's Mimi sent us an adorable book a few years ago when Charlie was beginning to walk called Walk On! A Guide For Babies of All Ages by Marla Frazee. It is really meant more for the adult reader, but Charlie has always loved to read it.
It's basically a spoof of a how-to book, teaching babies how to walk. Take a look at the last two pages...



So, this evening, Charlie and I are sitting on the couch as Anna practices her new skill of walking across the living room pushing her baby stroller. This was the first time Charlie had seen her do it and he shouted, "Mom, look! Anna is walking pushing her stroller!". Then, in his best "narrator" voice he shouts, "Baby, you are walking! Beautiful."

Shameless Plea

As I continue to obsess over my blog, I am learning more and more about the little details. Today I realized that I had it set so only other bloggers or registered users could post comments.
Perhaps it is the co-dependent people-pleaser in me, or maybe I am just severely deprived of adult conversation, but I would love to hear your comments! So, I have changed the setting so anyone can comment. Throw this poor mommy-in-need-of-interaction a bone and talk to me, folks!

I Heart Angela Pace Photography

I had the kids' pictures done on Saturday and, as usual with Angela, they turned out beautiful. She is so talented and so patient with the wild ones. Charlie fell asleep on the way and I had to wake him up when we got there, so the fact that we got even one shot with a smile on his face is nothing short of a miracle. We haven't gotten all the pictures yet, but here are a few from Angela's blog that she posted as a "sneak peak".

Practice Cake

I have been doing a little research on cake decorating (I adore being a stay-at-home mom, but I have to find things to put my energy into other than diaper changing and bottle-making) for Anna's birthday. I tried one out at Easter and made my second one today.

I am throwing a Birthday Party/The Divorce is Final Party for a girlfriend and decided to use the occasion to get a little more practice before Anna's Big Day.







The icing under the fondant needs a little work, but I'd say not too bad for my second shot!

Muffins For Moms

Thursday the Moms were invited to have muffins in the classrooms and the kids gave us our Mother's Day gifts they made. I was waiting for Charlie at the bottom of the stairs that morning and as soon as he saw me, his face lit up with a gigantic grin and he said "Mommy! You look beautiful!"
Never mind the fact that the shock in his voice when he made the statement led me to think that perhaps I should take the time to shower and put on make-up a little more often.
I love that boy.

Boo Boo Update

So, here's the update on Charlie's "booboo" from when he oh-so-barely nicked his knee on the pavement, causing a pinhead sized droplet of blood to form on the surface of his skin... It is healed. (For those of you wondering, this was the booboo that contributed to my hysteria at Stein Mart last week.)

And you wouldn't believe the drama it continues to produce.

Flash back nearly a year to our family beach trip. Charlie got a pretty nasty scrape on his knee from repeated falls in his crocs. This booboo actually was worthy of a little strife. The real problem was in the fact that he was adamantly opposed to Band-Aids (just another Charlie-ism) and therefore continued to break open the scab. Somewhere along the way, he decided that actually seeing the booboo caused unbearable pain, so he required that we keep it covered at all times (sans Band-aid, of course). So here he is in the tub at the beach...



Back to the present "situation". After scraping his knee last week, I convinced him that this handy-dandy little invention below was called a "Booboo Cover" after he insisted upon wearing jeans in the 85 degree weather to keep it covered.



Great! I tricked him into wearing a band-aid, he doesn't have to look at the booboo, and I don't have to worry about him ripping open the scab. Everybody wins, right? Wrong.

Today Charlie screamed for me from the bathroom to "Help!!" as if he were giving birth. Frantically, I ran to the bathroom to find the "booboo cover" (the third replacement by the way) hanging from his knee. After accessing the situation and finding not even a remnant of a scab, I cheerfully informed Charlie that his booboo was healed and pulled off the band-aid.

Pandemonium ensued. I begged him to look and see that there was no longer a booboo to cover, but he shrieked, screamed, and basically wigged out until I gave in and got another band-aid.

Now it's only a matter of time before the "booboo cover" actually heals to his leg.

Maybe I should tell him it's really called a Band-aid.

Summer Preview

Last week, we got our first glimpse of summer. The heat drove us to the pool...







(Blackmail!!)

and sprinkler...

My Little Author

Last week we attended an "Author Tea" at Charlie's school. The kids had "written" and illustrated their own books and we got to sit outside and listen as they read them to us. It was cute!