Fishing Trip

School is keeping me all kinds of busy this semester, but we were able to spend some quality time together last weekend.

The Doodle has been begging us to take him fishing lately. I don't know what put it into his head, but he has been obsessed with it. Finally the weather was warm enough that we were able to go.



Of course, he was only patient for about the first five minutes. And I'm not sure that he entirely understood that they were trying to catch actual fish. We did have fun sitting outside and watching the ducks and geese, though.



Silly Ladybug. She had her 15 month appointment today and all was well. She is such a goofball and so sweet and precious and ornery all at the same time. It is so much fun to watch her and Atticus playing together and laughing at each other.

Her favorite new words is BUBBLES!! She doesn't just say it, she exclaims it, every time. There is a hand motion that goes with it too that she made up herself. We are thrilled about BUBBLES around here. She also exclaims it when she sees balloons (and strangely enough, grated Parmesan cheese. I think because she loves both bubbles and Parmesan so much.)

Other new words: She loves saying Bye! and waving goodbye to people. She goes to the door and begs to go play "'side." She says milk, off, yes, no-no-no, Bubba, Dada, Momma, and "Atts!" (for Atticus).

Weekend fun

The Doodlebug's first snowman:



The weather was so beautiful today that we couldn't resist playing outside. And amazingly, there was still plenty of snow on the ground. It was like playing with snow in the middle of spring! We also went for a walk and fed the ducks.

Here is my precious Franny-bug:



She loves to fasten the seat beat on her toy stroller. She will work at it as long as it takes to get it. (She does the same thing with her high chair.)



Yay!! I did it!



Franny is becoming quite the little talker. She went from not really using any words just a week or two ago to using quite a few. We took her out today and she waved at everyone, saying "hi! hi! hi!" (To all dogs and cats as well.)

Words she is really using are:
up: for "pick me up"
help: for anything she wants
hi: of course
eyes: driving in the car with the sun in her eyes, she kept pointing to them and saying pitifully "eyes! eyes!"
cold: when playing in the snow today
clock: she just really likes clocks
shoes: ditto

She has just decided she wants to talk and has started trying to repeat pretty much everything. She also has really started loving on her babies and stuffed animals. Too cute.

Snow Day!

Needless to say, we all stayed home today. The Doodle has been waiting ALL WINTER to make snowalls. Here are the kids preparing to go outside:



It was, of course, freezing outside, so we didn't stay long. Atticus still wanted to play in the snow, though, so here's what we decided to do:



Snowballs inside! We filled bowls with snow and let the kids play in them to their hearts' content. They are young enough to think this was really fun instead of incredibly lame. :)

A few more random pictures from last week:

I threatened to post this one with a "Daddy combed our hair" caption, but Craig insists both kids just woke up from their naps when this picture was taken, and that they are normally well-groomed. (They are.)



The kids enjoying the awesome weather last week at the zoo with their friend Jasmine. Is the Doodle roaring like a lion?



Oh, almost forgot to mention that Atticus put his hand on the hot stove last night as we were fixing dinner! We got it under cold water right away, but two fingers blistered up and he was pretty tearful for about an hour. Poor kid. Everything seems much better today. One finger is still blistered but it doesn't seem to be bothering him. He told me this morning, "I'm not crying some more."

Three Cheers for the Public Library

I just have to take a moment to praise the amazing institution that is the public library. Public libraries have to be one of the greatest resources that exist for parents of young children. Ours offers various storytimes, music classes, crafts, summer programs, and books and music to check out, as well as parent resource books and interactive materials. Plus a great place to hang out and interact with other kids while playing with blocks, trains, or the puppet theater. And it's all FREE and available to everyone. Our children's librarians are amazing and clearly love their work.

I don't know how much time people spend appreciating what a great resource this is, but they should! We love it. Support your library! :)

Here is Atticus doing "storytime." He holds up the books the way the librarians do and reads them out loud. (He also walks up to random kids at the library like this and insists on "reading" to them.)



The book he is reading is "Bailey Goes Camping," ordered from the Weekly Reader Book Club in 1987. We just got it out two days ago and it immediately displaced "The Cat in the Hat" to take the top spot on the Doodlebug Favorite Book of the Moment list. He has it memorized already.



Inspiring us to build the tent below.



I told Atticus we could build a tent like Bailey's, which was initially met with enthusiasm. However, when I pulled out the sheet I got a scornful look and a "Mom, that's not a tent. That's a blanket." Once we got it together, though, he was delighted (and so was the Ladybug).

*****

I have to add: The Doodle did some watercolor paintings of dinosaurs this afternoon. After they dried, he had them lying in a stack on the floor. I picked them up and said, "Wow, let's hang these on the refrigerator."

Atticus: "No! That's important stuff. Not to hang on the refrigerator. Important stuff, about songs."

He turns to them, furrows his brow, and mutters to himself, "Now let's see what these say..."

Outdoor Adventures

Just a few pictures from playing outside today. We took advantage of the nice-for-January weather and got out of the house for a little while this afternoon.

Frances is now at the age where she does NOT want to stand still and have her picture taken. She thought it was a fun game to run away from me every time she saw the camera.



I did catch her checking out a bug.



The Doodle found a feather. He actually did have a much bigger one he wanted me to take a picture of, but it blew away. Luckily, we found this one.



I should mention that this is the outfit Franny-bug picked out for herself this morning, jacket included.



Atticus found some dirt to play in, and he is excited about it:



Besides that, we haven't been doing much. The library programs started back up this week, and Atticus was thrilled to see all the librarians again. (Have I mentioned that he knows all the children's librarians by name?)

Also, Nana and Papa got us PAINT for Christmas. We broke it out a few days ago. Here is our little artiste at work:



We didn't get any good pictures of the Doodle painting, but he loved it as well. That's all for now...

P.S. Our sweet little Franny has already figured out exactly how to drive her big brother crazy, and does it with devious glee.

Merry Christmas, and Happy Potty Training!

Franny-bug says Merry Christmas:



The kids have been having a great time, and I am having so much fun on my break with them. My family came to our house on Christmas Eve, and we had a nice Christmas dinner and opened presents.

I have to show off the homemade play kitchen that my amazing husband built for the kids:



It is so cute! The Doodlebug/Ladybug love to pretend-cook (and real-cook, for that matter), so I know they will have a blast with this. "Santa" brought it on Christmas Eve.

Here is the Doodle with his present from Uncle Andy: a real ukulele. He has been running around pretending everything he owns is a guitar for months now, so he was thrilled with this!



On Christmas morning, we got up and went to Nana and Papas house to celebrate Christmas with Craig's family. We opened Christmas presents in the afternoon and the kids had fun seeing their cousins.

Also, can I mention that potty training is going awesomely? The Doodle is wearing "underwear" (cloth training pants) all day long with almost no accidents, and even though he is sleeping in diapers at night, he has stayed dry for four nights in a row. He is very into it and tells me "I'm SO BIG!" :)

We have had a potty chair and training pants available to him for a long time now, but we didn't pressure him at all. He knew they were there to use when he wanted them, which he did every now and then. Then when he decided he was ready, it was almost like he trained himself. (Daddy did tell him he could have a chocolate chip each time he used the potty, as an extra incentive...) Anyway, I'm very proud of the Doodle and hope this post doesn't jinx us!

Return to "Normal"

Finals are over, and I am over finals! One semester down. I actually have really, really enjoyed classes, and even studying for and taking finals. But I am now ready for a much-needed month to catch up on my real life! Because while I walked out of a test on Friday feeling pretty good about how I did, I was even more giddy about the fact that on Thursday, the Doodlebug had pooed in the potty for the first time. Yes, this is my life. :)

I finished up on Friday morning, and on Friday afternoon the kids and I went to the dinosaur museum (giving Daddy a much-deserved break). Here's the Doodle standing next to a mastodon. (It was too big to get them both in the picture, so I went with my handsome boy.)



When I came home Thursday night, someone had made some "muffins" and left them baking in the "oven" (under the rocking chair). They were delicious!



Franny-bug rocking her shades at Grandma's today.



She looked so funny in her little outfit I had to take pictures! Here she is using the oven door as a mirror to make crazy faces at herself.



So how are we? Pretty great. I remember panicking a little when the Doodle was only 7 months old and we found out he was getting a sibling. In the early months of two-under-two we kept telling each other, "It gets easier." Of course, we had no reason to know that but we had to say it to keep our sanity.

Turns out, it does get easier and easier is now! We don't have to hold their bottles, spoon-feed them, or swaddle them and trick them into sleeping. For the most part, when they find small objects on the floor, Atticus ignores them and Franny conscientiously delivers them to me.

Although, truth be told, Craig went into Atticus room the other day to find Franny balanced on the foot-board of Atticus' bed, heel-to-toe, like it was a balance beam. (We have to admit, the girl does have an uncanny sense of balance.) And when we try to sing along to the ABC song from their CD, Atticus witheringly says, "Mom, don't sing!"

What's not to love? :)