Big Sister

As you saw on here, Amelia was rough last night. Tonight, she was equally as sweet. As Everett was being a bit fussy at dinner, we explained to Amelia that he had to get shots at the doctor today. Upon hearing this, Amelia turned to him and said "Oh, Evie, I'm so sorry you had to get shots today. It's okay. Big Sister will take care of you."

Best Friends

Amelia had one of those nights where, as a parent, you teeter on the balance of putting her in timeout and selling her on Craigslist. She hit, she jumped on the couch, she said no, she spit, etc. For this display, she had to go to bed on her own. As expected, that was a complete disaster. At one point, she showed up downstairs with this (while crying the whole time)....

Meggan: You need to go back to your bed.

Amelia: But, I'm scared.

Meggan: There's no need to be scared. Your room is very safe.

Amelia: But, I can't go by myself. I only feel safe with a parent.

Me: Sooo, can't go to bed because you only feel safe with a parent?

Amelia: Yeah, because I love my parents and they're my best parent friends.

Both of Us: Yeeeahh, it's time to go to bed now.

A Matter of Perception

We have been fighting the losing battle of trying to get Amelia to fall asleep in her room without either of us sitting in there with her the entire time. Additionally, we have been begging her to actually stay in her bed rather than sneak into ours like a thief in the night. I'm not sure the entire message is getting through to our little girl. Last night was a perfect example....

I sat in bed with her and scratched her back for about 20 minutes after which Meggan came in and did the same. Each time we tried to leave, she cried as though I just told her we were heading out to Disney without her and the Boogeyman was coming to babysit. Now, to all of you who say "just let her cry it out"...you probably aren't factoring in the very sleep-troubled 4 month-old lightly resting in the room next door or the chronic asthma cough she has. Anyway, eventually Meggan struck a deal to sit outside her room while she basically whimpered herself to sleep. Yay! After finally falling out, she then proceeded to come into our room multiple times throughout the night and I had to march her back to her room - the final time I actually fell asleep in her bed with her.  At roughly 5 a.m. she woke me up because she had to go potty. This was actually a great thing because she is just starting to grasp the news that her bed is indeed not a sleep-in urinal. However, after we got back to bed, we had to have a discussion as to why she couldn't sleep without her bottoms on (they were apparently uncomfortable). So, after that weird little talk, I got out of bed at 5:30, dead tired and cursing her for giving me about as much restful sleep of a meth addict.  She woke up for the final time about a half an hour later.  Thus, I made my zombie-like way up the staircase to bring her downstairs.  All I could think was "why, oh why, are we having such a hard time at this???".   She, however, had a different thought.  Any guesses on the first words out of her mouth?  No? Let me tell you. My sweet, sweet little girl looked at me, smiling ear to ear and bursting with pride and said "Daddy! I slept all by myself like a big girl and I didn't cry!!!".... Apparently, in the demented world of a 3 year-old, waking up alone is the same thing as sleeping alone.

Free Spirit

You know how you want your kids to be confident, open-minded, and comfortable in their own skin? Well, last night as I chased a completely naked Amelia while she streaked past a crowd of people at a backyard cookout - hair blowing in the wind, literally wearing nothing but a smile - I really had to reevaluate just exactly how free I want her to be.

Lesson Learned

In case any of you have or are considering having very small children, here is a list of things I have found to be true that I was not properly informed of ahead of time...

1) Without being too graphic, if you are a man of average height, right around three years-old, your child's head and flailing arms will be perfectly in line with your man parts.  If you couple this with what appears to be the accuracy of an Air Force missile lock, you can go ahead and expect a direct hit on the daily. To prove my point - I took a walking head butt to the zipper on Thursday, a swinging toy horse to the no-nos yesterday, and flying elbow drop today that made me want to curl up and pray for the sweet release of death.

2) Apparently, the fact snot is not honey that comes from within is a learned thing.  I assumed only the gross little kids would walk around licking their runny noses.  This is very, very false. I'm not sure what age we start reaching for a tissue (or even a sleeve) instead, but it isn't three. Now, before any of you claim I only think this because my daughter IS the gross little kid in class, I can tell you...I already investigated this possibility. They all do it...and they do it with vigor and zeal.

3) Think very, very hard before you bring up that idea you just know they'll love. Odds are, being the great parent you are, you are right and they will love it. That's the problem. You'll introduce a silly song or fun new game because you love hearing them laugh. Unfortunately, two and a half hours later, they are just getting warmed up on their thousandth repetition of it. By this point, you have already exhausted all patience, energy, and any excuses you could come up with to stop playing it. I kid you not, last week I was about four seconds away from faking food poisoning because I couldn't stand playing Princess and Dragon (a game where Amelia - the princess, likes to lock me- the dragon, in various "castles") any longer.

4) If you get to the point where you have two children, a funny type of math occurs. Having two kids is not twice as hard as having one. It is ten times as hard. And when both kids are sick at the same time, it is approximately three-hundred times as hard.  That said, if both kids should end up with the stomach bug at the same time, there is no math to explain the relative toughness of this situation compared to the norm...just pour yourself a stiff drink and begin to reconcile with the fact that life as you know it is temporarily over.

5) Luckily, this same exponential phenomenon applies to the positive things as well. You love child one "this much". You love child two "that much" (which naturally are different, but equal). However, when you see child one positively interacting with child two, you love the sum of those parts far, far more than "this much" plus "that much". The only time this doesn't apply is if one of this children is sick and the other is healthy. At that point, you simply instruct the healthy child to treat the sick one like a 13th century leper.

6) Your child's brain is a sponge. You work long hours, donate bodily fluids, and sell your things to creepy people on Craigslist in order to afford child care. So, naturally, you already value education. That said, what you didn't count on was for every thing your child's wonderful teachers show them, they will learn seven other things from their knucklehead friends. Just when you start to burst with pride as your child counts to ten in Spanish, it comes crashing down as they call you a "poopybutt" or lick your arm, claiming to be a cat.

Having kids is the greatest thing in the world. They are smarter, funnier, and even snugglier than you can ever imagine...but, you probably already knew that.

Borrow Some

We've recently started collecting loose change for Amelia to help her understand money and spending and just generally to have fun with it. I figured she would enjoy the excitement of finding a penny on the ground or talking about the toys she could buy. However, what I didn't expect was that she'd want to take out all her money and count it every single night. This actually started to make me wonder if she was getting too money crazy. She put all that fear aside tonight with one tiny gesture...

Me (pointing to a hole I had just discovered in my shorts): A hole?? How'd that get there?

Amelia: Oh, maaaan.

Me: Oh, man is right.

Amelia: I'm sorry your pants have a hole in them, daddy. When we go to the store, I can borrow you some new ones with my money.

Me: You would spend your money on me? That's so sweet, baby girl.

Amelia: Yep. I will buy you some pink ones!

Pitiful

How do you walk away from your 3 year-old after she breaks down bawling in her bed and says "I really, really, really want you to lay with me....I'm scared...I want someone to sleep with me that is big and real."??? Apparently, her night light and stuffed animals aren't doing the trick.

See It, Eat It

Everett lives by two simple philosophies.... 1) You can sleep when you're dead. So, there is apparently no reason to do it now. 2) If you see it, eat it.

Grandma and Grandpa

I love it when anyone visits, but I get a unique joy when it is either my mom or Meggan's parents. I think the grandparent/grandchild relationship is a special one. It is also particularly special to me since I only had the pleasure of enjoying one grandparent in my lifetime. That said, I want my children to soak up every second they can with the 3 they have. This weekend was a good start.

Amelia learning about delicious fresh grown corn

Everett learning about delicious fresh grown arm

Tough Guy

Here is a picture of Everett from this weekend. Aside from the no-sleeping thing, I'd say he handles having double ear infections much better than most of us would...

Ahhhh, sleeeeeeep

With Grandma and Grandpa in town to sleep with Amelia during her coughing fits, Meggan and I were primed to finally have a good night of sleep. Unfortunately, someone must have told Everett about that plan so he decided to intervene. He's been a great sleeper recently (after his brief period of going on a sleep strike). However, last night, he thought it would be cool if he made mom and dad EACH get up FOUR times. Ahhhhh, two kids....soooo much harder than one.

How Long???

How much longer until Amelia outgrows her coughing problems??? For two years, every time she gets a cold, she ends up with Croup.  Well, we keep thinking she will get bigger and this problem will go away. I guess this wasn't the week. Everett has a little cold and Amelia sounds like Doc Holliday at the end of Tombstone.

Working

Meggan had to work until 10:30 last night and Amelia is less than happy about any attention I give Everett. Thus, as you can imagine, my night looked a lot like this...

Dora Princess

How do you amp up the fun of playing Princess and Dragon with your dad? What's that you say...wear your princess costume? Yeah, that's a good start. But, if you really want the party to get rolling...you throw on your Dora wig to top off the look.

The Little Things

Who would have thought a $3 garage sale table and a pile of rice would provide hours and hours of entertainment?

Strawberry Patch

For a fun outing, we decided to take the kids to the strawberry patch to pick some fresh strawberries...

Ev's main mode of transportation

Amelia full of excitement

She's a good farmer

She had more fun opening and closing the bag than pick strawberries

Amelia's new favorite picture face

Her favorite part of the day...playing in the playhouse that is identical to one she has in her own backyard

Happy Mother's Day

For a more mushy take on Mother's Day, here is a post from years past ....

For Amelia's more simplistic take, here you go...

The Anatomy of a Tantrum

Step 1) Throw yourself on the ground...

Step 2) Act as though you can no longer go on....

Step 3) Have your parents completely ignore you and stop taking pictures until you finally break and profess "I will stop the drama."...

Step 4) Recover and act as if nothing happened...

Oh Well

Yeaaaaaah, the late bedtime didn't really help as Amelia showed up in our room at 5:45.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Thanks to us hanging out with friends tonight, Amelia didn't go to bed until after 10 pm....will this finally be the night she sleeps in past 6 am??? Lord, I hope so.

Perspective 2

I just posted about how long workdays can give you perspective when it comes to enjoying all the moments of being a parent. Well, sometimes you get more perspective than you need... I found out this morning that my aunt had passed away. This comes a day or so before my uncle is to be moved to hospice.  That said, I'm not particularly in the mood to blog. So, instead, let's just take a moment to be thankful for every second we ever get to spend with our loved ones....and rather than focus on death, let's enjoy the unconstrained magnificence of new life...

Perspective

Every once in a while as a parent you need a rough 14 hour day at work to remind you of how awesome it is to just simply be home in your own chaos.  After dealing with the frustrations of spreadsheets, answering "why?" 700 times for Amelia was a privilege. After fighting a tight deadline all night, taking Sophie out in a drizzling rain was refreshing. After continuing to battle a disastrous computer virus all day, missing a little sleep tonight when Amelia wakes up won't be a big deal. I love my kids to death and enjoy every day with them .But, sitting at the office and not getting to see them for an entire day and night really reminds you that "absence makes the heart grow fonder" could not be more true.

Rock and a Hard Place

How do you punish a little girl when the chain of events inevitably goes like this...being bad-> getting punished-> hysterical crying-> disastrous runny nose-> uncontrollable asthmatic coughing? As if that doesn't make it bad, she then intermittently says "I apologize", "I didn't mean to", and "I love you". Somehow, I feel like she may be the one in trouble, but Meggan and I suffer the most.

Easy E

What can I say, he's a happy man....

Everett isn't quite 4 months, but he is really starting to become a chatterbox. On another proud parenting note...the flush you hear at the 1:14 mark is Amelia wrapping up another successful trip to the potty on her own.

Thanks a Million

To the lovely human who programmed the virus I currently have on my computer, I say thank you. I'm really glad you've found such a productive way to help society. Why help kids, fight disease, or use your intelligence for any other positive means when you could sit in your parents' basement thinking up new ways to be a menace and general jackass? Seriously, if I could just get my hands on you, I'd turn you over to Everett and Amelia's grandmothers...and then you could explain to them why I can't upload the video we shot today of Everett talking...and trust me, you don't want to deal with either of them after depriving them of their daily grandchild fix.

Head of the Class

I have both kids by myself tonight as Meggan has to work late. I'm pretty worried because it is the first time I have had both of them through bath/bed time. That said, we'll get it all worked out eventually. In the meantime, I know one thing I can count on for tonight's activities....

Amelia will pretend to be one of her teachers from school and boss around me and Everett.

The Little Things

In another example of how kids get it right while us adults get it very, very wrong, Amelia was absolutely beside herself with excitement tonight when she caught her own bubble.  Most of us wish we could get excited over such a small thing... At least I know I do.... Luckily, now that I have children, I can easily find the excitement in their small feats.

Shopping Fun

So far, it doesn't appear that Everett and Amelia share the same zeal for shopping.

Here is how Amelia shops...

 And here is how Everett likes to enjoy the mall...