That's MY spoon!

There's been some interesting communication going on between the two kids. I'll give you a few examples:

Scene One
Marian: Baba gaga mmmm lala mmmm (plus other baby babble noises- you get the picture)
Ella: NO! MINE!
Marian: AHHHHH!
Ella: MINE!
Marian: EEEEEHHHH!
Me: What are you two fighting about?!
Ella: Marian says she wants my spoon but I say it's MY spoon, Marian!
Me: Why don't you get your sister her own spoon then?

Somehow giving Marian a spoon did solve their bickering. Although Marian does love spoons and simply may have been distracted from whatever she actually wanted by a shiny object.

Scene Two
Marian: Again, happily babbling away. Crawls over to the dog bed which is a big no-no in our house. 
Me: Uh-oh Marian! No dog bed!
Ella: Mama, don't say, "Ought ought ought" to Marian. She just pretending to be a dog.

Seriously, what do you even say to that kind of stuff? I went with, "Well then she can pretend to be a dog somewhere besides the dog bed." Ella told Marian to come be a dog next to her and they crawled around doing some game of their own making.

So here's my question- how much of this is my toddler making stuff up vs. the two kids having their own little mode of communication? I noticed a long while back that Marian doesn't talk as much when Ella is around. Whether that's because the poor kid can't get a word in edgewise or because she is relying on Ella to communicate for her is up for debate. Parenting experts, what say you?

11 month update

How the heck is this little baby already 11 months old?! I feel like a broken record saying this, but I am continually amazed at how fast the time flies by. I swear she was just born yesterday. Today, people are throwing around the "T" word. Am I seriously going to have two toddlers in less than a month?

Stats: Nothing much has changed here. I think we're entering the point where, like her big sister, she is too active to put on any weight.

Clothes: She can still get away with some 9 month clothes. For the most part she's moved into 12-18 month.

Teeth: Still the same four teeth. There are some new ones trying to make their way in and are causing her to be extremely crabby. And to bite. A lot. Thankfully not so much while nursing (anymore). But for whatever reason, she thinks Ella's toes are perfect for biting. Which, as you can guess, is great for sibling harmony.

Sleep: Totally jinxed myself last month. Most decidedly NOT sleeping through the night. One day, right? Right?! For the love of God, someone please tell me these kids will eventually sleep through the night.

Food: Right now she's loving tomatoes. Preferably straight off the vine. With a side of dirt or mulch. And of course still nursing.

Words: Na-na (nurse), duck, ball, Goo-gog (Dougal), Goo-gir (Crilly- think this is her saying "good girl"), and nigh-nigh (night-night) are some of her new words.

Milestones: Ummm, definitely not my favorite milestone- climbing. On everything. And then proudly standing up like she's queen of the mountain and letting out a victory shriek. Such a little daredevil. Pretty sure I will be completely grey before 30.

Miscellaneous: She's starting to demonstrate an interest in books as things to look at instead of eat. She'll sit there and point at various things and say, "Dat? Dat?"

Little baldy finally has enough hair that I can make the tiniest of ponytails or clip in a bow. Whether she keeps it in for more than five seconds is another story.

A rare moment where she's sitting down

Running around like crazy. 

What, doesn't everyone wear one bib backwards and carry another around?

Clearly I don't feed her enough. She has to chase me around with a bowl in hand.

NOT Sleeping through the night. Or, Why I look like a zombie

Neither child has slept through the night in years. Well, maybe a week. In any case, it feels like years when the hours of 2-5am are spent in a state of awful half-awakeness dealing with demands for milk and hugs and lullaby CDs and trying to explain to a toddler that you can't do anything about the fact that it is dark outside.

I'm tired of not only being tired, but of answering questions about why I look so tired from well-meaning friends and strangers and the super-chatty bag girl at the grocery store.

In response to my children's hatred of sleep, I decided to design this super awesome and totally attractive t-shirt, using my vast artistic skills and Microsoft Paint.

Told you I had vast artistic skills. Be very impressed. 

Obviously in real life the shirt won't be white. Instead, it will come in a wide variety of colors- probably all on the same shirt- to hide coffee stains, all the random stuff kids wipe on your shirt, and the fact that you haven't changed your shirt or showered in three days. 

Once you are wearing this shirt, you won't have to make mindless chatter with people or make excuses as to why you look like hell. Simply point to the shirt. Everyone will shut up and run to get you more coffee. It will also help you pinpoint other moms with kids that aren't sleeping through the night. As you are cruising the grocery store at 8am, coffee in hand and wild kids in tow, you can fist bump each other as you pass by and send twin death glares to that overly-coiffed mom from music class who clearly has kids that sleep otherwise she wouldn't be wearing heels and full-makeup- and very clearly has taken a shower already this week- so early in the morning. Solidarity, sister moms! (Except for you, overly-coiffed mom. Everyone else secretly hates you. Get with the program and wear yoga pants like the rest of us.) 

Some recent Ella-isms

Toddlers say some pretty hilarious things. Must be some evolutionary adaptation because otherwise the near-constant whining and tantrums would ensure their demise. Here are a few funnies from our house.

-When Ella was being incredibly cranky, I told her, "Ella, you must have put on your cranky pants this morning." She vehemently insisted that she did not- along with the accompanying foot stamp. "I do not have on my cranky pants! I only has on my undies today!"

-She knows she has two different feet. One is the right foot. Naturally, the other is the wrong foot.

-She's very into categorizing anything and everything. Often on our car rides she will start naming everyone she knows and whether they are a big or little boy, big or little girl, or a baby. When I asked her what Mommy was. "You are NOT a girl." Oh really? "You are just a grownup." Apparently all adults are androgynous.

-On a similar note, she will list off all her friends and their siblings. "Haggy* has a baby brudder named Grant, Eeef has a baby brudder named Liam, James is getting a baby sister..." I'll ask her what she has. She will dramatically sigh and say, "I just has a Marian."

-One night at dinner Jim told me I looked very pretty. Ella piped up, "I'm not pretty." Of course my heart sank and I asked her what she was then, praying at two she wouldn't be saying ugly. Nope. She responded, "I'm just pretty whiny." Can't argue with that.

-Her bedtime prayer is, in my humble opinion, pretty hilarious. Jim and I have a hard time keeping ourselves from laughing. "In the name of the Father-Son-Shoulder Shoulder Not Chin Not Knees. Dear God, please bless Mommy, Daddy, Marian, Ella, my boys**, and my baby dolls. Help us to grow up to be good and kind and strong and smart. Please bless Grandma, Grampy, my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and our great cousins. Keep us all safe and well. Amen."


*Even though we have met some kids with strange names, we don't have friends named Haggy or Eeef- that's just how she pronounces them.

**Her imaginary friends, The Boys. According to Ella they are the size of her thumb. They get into a lot of mischief and like to hide in strange places, like my mouth, bra, or "arm-tits."

Ways in which my children are like dogs

Long before we even thought of having children, we had dogs. After lots of careful consideration, I realize that having dogs totally prepared us for dealing with two wee little beasties of the human variety. I present to you the similarities between my children and my dogs:

1. Dougal and Crilly LOVE playing fetch. As do Ella and Marian. Sometimes they even throw the ball for themselves.

2. They bring me random things that I can't quite identify and I'm not entirely sure I want in my hand, yet they look up at me with those big eyes and I take the mystery object and praise them. "Thank you for bringing me this lovely...SQUIRREL TAIL?! Is this seriously part of an animal?!" (For the record, this was one of my dogs. But the kids have brought me other equally gross things and expect me to be happy about it.)

3. Whether it's a child or dog, you spend a ton of time dealing with poop. And a lot of time hoping it's in the proper location- i.e., please for the love of God not on the floor or walls or some lovely surprise for me to find when I pull back the sheets to tuck you into bed.

4. Both canines and children have this lovely quirk where when they are outside, they complain and want to go in. And when they are inside, they whine to go out. Every.single.time.

5. They give me four very good reasons why my house is a wreck.

10 month update

Super duper late and more like 10.5 months. Here's what the crazy baby has been up to in the past month:

Stats: Somewhere around 18lbs and 28 inches. Hey, you try measuring a moving target and see how precise you are.

Teeth: Still 4

Diapers: I'm very happy to report that she pooped on the potty. Total fluke situation where Jim caught her about to go and placed her on there to avoid having to clean a diaper. One small step toward potty training. By my estimate we have at least 3000 more diaper changes until that magical day.

Sleep: Even though I know I'm going to jinx it I'm saying it- she now has slept through the night a few times. Meaning she is entirely capable of it and doesn't really need to nurse in the middle of the night. She gets until October 6 to be up partying at all hours and then the harsh reality of sleep training is going to set in.

Food: Still an eating machine, although the nursing has dropped down a bit to maybe 10 times a day. Three solid meals a day. Pretty sure she eats way more than her big sister.

Words: New words include naners (banana), ah (yeah), mo (more), all-da (all done), and my absolute favorite, NO! Always said quite emphatically. Because it's way more fun if both kids are screaming, "NO NO NO!" at the top of their lungs.

Milestones: Full on walking. While we were on vacation she would take up to a dozen steps at a time but didn't seem inclined to do much more. Now that we're home, with the dogs to chase around, she toddles after them as fast as her little legs can go. Poor, long suffering dogs! She also thinks it is absolutely hilarious to stand up in the middle of a diaper change and run off with the (thankfully) clean diaper- usually with Ella chasing after her yelling, "Bare bottomed girl! Bare bottomed girl!"

Another milestone that's not quite as exciting as walking but cute nonetheless- clapping her hands. She'll sit there and clap her hands along to music or when she's feeling particularly pleased with herself.

Miscellaneous: She has started in on the Big Emotions of the toddler years. On the down side, this means throwing herself down on the floor shrieking when she doesn't get her way. On the bright side, this means toddling over to give us hugs and slobbery baby kisses. Heart melted.

The "I'm doing something I know I'm not supposed to be doing" look

Cruising around the back yard

We start them young. No reprieve on chores even for the baby. 

Lost in thought. Or, more accurately, wondering how much grass she can eat without me noticing.

Playing with one of her best buddies

Being a holy terror and ripping things off the shelves

The amazing adventures of Hiney-nor and Ivy-nor*

*Recently I have been informed by my toddler that she and her sister are no longer named Eleanor and Marian. They now go by Hiney-nor and Ivy-nor. Although Stinky-nor, Poopy-nor, Stinky-roo, and Silly Goose are also acceptable names. Ah, the two year old sense of humor.  

Argh

While we haven't quite been sailing the seven seas, we have been on a whirlwind of traveling over the past few weeks. Thus the radio silence (although is it still called radio silence for a blog?). 

I did have awesome intentions of doing a series of blog posts detailing our travels. However, the combination of travel PTSD, a crazy two year old, a baby who still refuses to sleep through the night, a massively overgrown garden, and you know, life, have sapped all my energy. 

Here is a much-abbreviated version of what I was originally intending to write.

We drove from Oklahoma up to Chicago. Saw lots of friends, ate tons of yummy food, and visited some of our old stomping grounds. Went to a wedding, drank some awesome homebrew.

Relaxing in the Shakespeare garden at Northwestern

Running around near a freaky statue

Ella thought The Rock was the coolest thing

Chilling in the dinosaur footprint at the Field Museum

Next up: Flew to Big Sky, Montana for a conference. Went to the Museum of the Rockies to see dinosaurs, per Ella's request. Played around at the resort. Took the kids hiking one morning. Had some kid-free time while we ventured to the top of Lone Mountain (or the Lonely Mountain, as Ella called it- think there are dwarves?) which involved a ski lift, tram, then a gondola. Oh, and Jim did lots of science-y stuff.

Mini golf at the resort

Riding the bull. We had to stop and play with this thing multiple times a day. 

Mommy/Marian selfie at the Museum of the Rockies

Hiking along the Moose Tracks path. Did see moose tracks. Sadly did not find any Moose Tracks ice cream. 

Jim and the kiddos, plus a walking stick

At the top of Lone Peak

View from the top

From there, we had a whirlwind three days in Yellowstone. Despite having such a short trip we packed a lot in- hot springs, geysers, canyons, waterfalls, bison (or hippos, if you are talking to the toddler), elk, antelope, moose, a grizzly bear, a black bear, and wolves.

Playing by the water

Hot springs

Clearly not impressed with Old Faithful

Afternoon nap in the Ergo amid the hot spring

Middle Geyser Basin

Hot springs

View from Grand Prismatic Spring

Grand Prismatic Spring

Early morning waterfall view

Yes, Ella is still in her pajamas. We got the kids up at the crack of dawn

Looking at bison through the binoculars

Family picture during one of our picnic lunches

Mommy and baby moose. Supposedly there are only 6 in Yellowstone so we were super lucky to see two

Hiking around the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

At the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River

Tuckered out after a long day

Mom, Dad, and two tired kiddos

Grizzly bear. In case you were wondering, this is very zoomed in on my camera- no desire to get close to a grizzly

Our intrepid navigator

Our lunch companions 

Super grumpy bison. It was mating season and all the males were feisty

Playing around in the lake

Hot springs by Lake Yellowstone

Doesn't do justice to the amazing colors of the hot springs

More hot springs

Herd of elk running through the water

Antelope

Traffic jam

Another traffic jam- everyone stopped for the baby bison that needed to nurse in the middle of the road

Mammoth Hot Springs on our last morning

Yellowstone was absolutely amazing and I wish we had had more time to spend there. We're already talking about doing another trip out there. Along with the Grand Tetons, Glacier, Rocky Mountain National Park...

Then to top it all off, we had to fly back to Chicago and drive back down to Oklahoma. Phew! No wonder I am tired!

I'm putting a moratorium on family travel for, oh, at least two weeks.