The birthdays approach

The big birthdays are approaching. Lucius will be 5 (FIVE!) and Alice will be 2 (TWO!).

I had to give Alice her first official time-out yesterday. I caught her dumping handfuls of cat food into their water dish. I was very serious and told her "no,no" and then tapped her hand and said "ditty, ditty" which REALLY made her upset. She had to sit on the stairs for 1 minute...which she did very nicely...she just wailed the whole time. When the timer went off we "talked" about what she did and I made her say sorry ("saw-wee mama")...then we had lots of hugs and kisses and everything was OK. ;)

Lucius is maturing by leaps and bounds...the things that come out of this child's mouth are just hilarious. He keep us and his teachers entertained. The other night I asked him to get me a napkin and he said "what am I like your service or something? ha ha I'm just kidding". His teachers told me he had requested his "water service" at lunch the other day. LOL. I had to explain 1) that it's servant not service and 2) what servant even means.

What's between love and like?

Like any preschooler, Lucius asks questions all.day.long. I try my hardest not to get annoyed and answer them...but I don't always succeed. When I asked him why he asks so many questions he said it's because he doesn't know what's going on in my mind so he has to ask about things. His way of saying that he's trying to figure out how the world works.

When I was away for the weekend I talked on the phone with Lu...something I rarely do. I was shocked at this kid voice talking back...using complete sentences and words such as "actually" and "realized". Who is this kid? Where did my baby boy go?

I never know what's going to come out of his mouth. On the way to the doctor's this morning he asked "What's in between love and like?"

In other news...Tom lost Alice's last pacifier while I was out of town and so Alice is now a big girl without her nuk! She still asks for it though. She's been crying herself to sleep for the past 4 nights. Something she's never done before. She'll be fine in th car for awhile but then she'll stop chatting and just cry out "nuk!" and start pouting. We'll ask her "where is it?" and she'll say "I da know" and then we'll start talking about something else to distract her. The poor girl.

De-potty trained and talking up a storm

Somehow Alice de-potty trained her self over the last week. We're back to hardcore potty time (aka setting timer every 35 minutes). Hopefully she'll be back on track soon!

In other news...the girl is talking up a storm. She likes to say "careful, careful" when doing something dangerous like putting her pants on while standing up. If you ask her question she doesn't know the answer to she'll say "I da know". If she doesn't know what something is she asks "wha dat? wha dat? wha dat?". And when she's finished "reading" a book to herself you can hear her say "the end".

Happy Valentine's Day!

No more babies in this house????

Just a quick update on my big girl.

Alice did excellent in underwear over the weekend. She stayed dry until 6pm Saturday night and then had a couple of accidents since she didn't want to stop playing with the boys.

She had one accident on Sunday during the day, stayed dry during her 2 hour nap, and then stayed dry the whole time we were at a superbowl party! She went about 3 times there.

And then on Monday she stayed dry at daycare!!!! I think she had an accident on Tuesday but at least she's making huge progress.

I think this is all due to the candy reward she gets after going. She'll sit there and squeeze two drops out in order to get her candy.

Alice is also approaching official big girl status because we took the side off of her crib on Saturday. She has yet to climb out and visit us in the middle of the night, but I'm sure that day will come. Soon we'll be getting her a twin-sized bed which means.....NO MORE CRIBS! NO MORE PACK N PLAY! EVER!

Can you tell I'm excited?

Woohoo!

Yucky, hummy, potty

For the past two months Alice has loved to point out "yuckies". I'm not sure how or when she became so germ/dirt phobic, but she is. So, if you have a freckle, mole, piece of food, wrinkle(s) or any spec of anything that is not up to par then Alice will gladly point it out and say "yucky"...repeatedly...until you either wipe it off or or distract her (if it won't actually wipe off).

Following in her brother's footsteps, Alice loves food. I'm convinced that my kids have the Sledjeski food gene. Most of the kids we know only eat chicken fingers and maybe a piece of broccoli...yet mine are making "recipes" out of meatballs, tomato sauce, avocado, and olive juice and actually eating it. We have to hide to eat if we don't want to share with Alice. Even if she's just eaten a full meal she'll still seek you out yelling "hummy! hummy! hummy!" (hungry) and she won't stop until you give her some.

And some news on the potty front...Alice has definitely made some progress especially since we started positive reinforcement with sour patch kids. She's gone #2 in the potty for the past 3 days and #1's almost every time she sits down. Of course, she's also leaving many pee trails in her wake...I think we went through 6 pairs of underwear today. On the bright side, it's starting to click that pee and poo go in the potty. If she pees in her pants she'll now let us know ("uh oh pee pee potty). She actually told Tom "potty!" and then she went in the potty. Woohoo! Tada! Fingers crossed that she'll have this down by the summer.

Potty Time

Alice pooped on the potty! I've been putting her on it before bathtime and lo and behold she actually used it. I was so excited. Lucius was so excited. Tom was so excited. And of course, Alice was so excited (clapping and saying "yay!").

Do you think I could potty train her before she's two?

Worth a shot, I guess.

Lucius is a growing boy

Tom took Lu to the docs due to some vague symptoms he's been having. Nothing major...asthma/allergies...anyway, he was weighed again. He's gained another 1lb since his last check-up 2 months ago. Man, I guess that kid is not going to stop growing anytime soon. ;)

The teachers at daycare comment on how well he eats and how he eats such a variety of food. I guess he told them how he's even eaten octopus tentacles. They seemed shocked. I was not. In fact, Lucius informed me that my cooking is boring. Hmmmm....maybe I should get him to start cooking. He's always making up his own "recipes" when he eats.

One last Lucius tidbit. He's been extra sweet the past few days. Giving me hugs and a kiss (he's too old for kisses now) and telling me that he loves me and that I'm the best Mom. Very sweet and I'm loving every minute of it. I'm smart enough to know that it won't last for long.

Speaking of kisses, Alice gave me a real kiss on the lips today. She normally doesn't like hugging and kissing either. Alice has also been sitting on the potty before bathtime. I'm pretty sure that she hasn't actually done anything in it yet, but she sure is proud of herself for sitting there! I started singing a potty song to get her excited and she tried to snap along with the music. Too cute.

Help Peas

I heard Alice say "help" today, clear as a bell. With the p on the end and everything. Oh, that girl is growing up too quick. She copies Lucius move-for-move now too. It cracks me up. Although she's a lot shyer than Lucius ever was, she does have a quick temper like he does. She hates hearing the word "no". I've seen her lay down on the ground to throw a tantrum twice. I just give her a puzzled look and ask what she's doing. I'm blaming the kids at daycare for teaching her that maneuver.

All by himself

Lucius took a shower all by himself last night. Washed his hair and everything. I thought that warranted a blogpost. We've been working on his independence (or should I say dependence). He's still scared of the dark and being in an upstairs room by himself, but he's getting better.

Some Luisms

Lu to Jagee: "Why are you so old?"

Lu to Tom: "You're driving me crazy old man."

Lu to Alice when she was 9 months and got into her first baby fight: "You beat those babies Alice. You be the winner and not the loser."

Mommy

FYI, Alice has been calling me Mommy for about 1 week. She can't just say it nicely though. She has to scream it. "MOMMY!!! MOMMY!!!" and then she laughs.

She also got her first time out at daycare this week. She hit her little friend Gabe. She's had a couple of time outs at home too. What a turkey.

Lucius can swim!

Lu can swim (kind of)!

He's a quick video from his last swim lesson. He's come a looooooooong way since last spring. His teacher has been very impressed.
I should also mention that this took place in the deep end (10ft). Lu is "very nervous" about being in the deep end, so this was a big deal!

Alice's 18-month check-up

Alice had her 18-month checkup. She's lookin' good.

Here are her stats:

Height: (32 1/4 inches, 50th-75th%tile)
Weight: 22 lbs. (10th-25th%tile)
Head: (45.5 chic pea %tile; well at least her head is now proportionate to her weight)
Teeth: 14 (I think)
Hair: Baby Mullet

And yes, she too has jumped in percentiles...much like her brother. Mission "Cut back on Special Treats" must really begin!

This semester I decided to come at 4pm instead of 5:30pm so that I can have a little extra time to make dinner. Alice now insists on "helping" me. Here's her seat.

4.5 year check up

The numbers are in.

Height: 43 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 44 lbs (90th percentile).....wha wha what?! It appears that Lu had a little weight spurt over the past year. He gained 8lbs. 8lbs! No wonder I threw my back out trying to lift him up. I guess those "special treats" are adding up. He's typically 75th percentile for weight. So....I'm slowly cutting down on the sugar.

Other than that he did OK at the doc's. He absolutely refused to take his pants off so who knows what's goin on down there, but everything else looked ok! He actually loved getting shots. "I love shots." Weird.

Say "mommy, MOMMY!"

Snowhite waiting for her dwarves


Lu calls this her "lady scientist" look

Just like her brother, Alice has gotten into playing dress-up. She loves those Mr. Potato Head glasses. Cracks me up when she comes walking in with those things on.

Alice's language as exploded over the past month. She went from not understanding a single word to understanding pretty much everything I say overnight! One day I said "Alice, go throw this is the trash" and by golly, she did. That's when I realized she can understand way more than I was giving her credit for. Of course, she still won't call me "mommy" or address me as anything for that matter. She will say "daddy" to Tom...but she also calls Lucius "daddy". I guess he does boss her around a lot. ;)

Other things she says:

"meow" for cat
"woof'" for dog, also says doggie (she loves animals)
UP
thank you (only when prompted)
daddy
belly (while lifting her shirt and touching her belly)
eye (while poking you in the eye)
hi
bye
owie (while hitting the body part that hurts)
ditty ditty (while hitting whatever has hurt her; Sitty will appreciate that one)
Daniel (yes, she can say Daniel but she can't say Mommy)
elmo
apple

She can sign:
milk
sleep
more
eat
hot
cookie. Of course she can sign cookie. She only had to watch me do it once. I have to be very careful when I say any word that remotely sounds like cookie (e.g. cook, cooking) because she'll get very excited and start signing/asking for a cookie.
She can answer 'yes' and 'no' by shaking her head in the appropriate direction.

One other thing to note....she only wants to drink chocolate milk and she now knows how to ask for it (my pointing to the chocolate powder). Sometimes I try to trick her with just enough to color the milk a little AND she can tell if I haven't put enough chocolate in. She'll give it back to me to put more chocolate in. God, she's such her mother's child. My Mom gave me chocolate milk in my bottle because she claimed I wouldn't drink plain milk. I was appalled. How could a mother give their child chocolate milk! Well....look who's turned into her mother...

Beach day 3

After an awful thunderstorm in which we lost power, we took the kids and William to Jockey's Ridge for some kite flying and sand rolling.

Here's the storm rolling in.


It was a beautiful night to climb some sand dunes!

The pictures don't do these sand dunes justice. It's a hike up to the top (almost straight up) and a lot of fun to run down. Or roll down as Lu was doing in the picture (that's him in the red shirt with the leg in the air).


Or back flip down, like William is doing.


Even Miss Alice made it to the top!







Alice being cute.

A visit to Cousin Allyson's House (Croatan Ridge)

We spent Tuesday (that's last Tuesday, when we were on the outer banks!) hanging out with some relatives at their beach house. And what a beautiful house it is!



This is the pool house.


The guys fished all day.


While the ladies gabbed. You can tell that Alice is ready for a nap by the way she's twisting her hair and sucking on her nuk. The telltale signs of a tired child.


Love the outdoor fireplace.


The bar


Lu absolutely loved the pool. Especially when his cousins (3rd cousins once removed or some odd thing) threw him up into the air.


It was so nice to spend the afternoon with relatives that we never get to see!

Beach Week 2010

We took a week-long family vacay to the Outer Banks. I love the beach and would love to make it a family tradition and go every year. The kids love the sand and swimming. Especially, the swimming. Lucius learned how to swim without his life vest in the pool. Such a huge accomplishment. Especially considering that 4 months ago he was scared to get into a pool. He's so proud of himself and we're super proud of him too!

Alice kept trying to run into the ocean squealing with delight. It was all we could do to keep her safe!

Here are some pictures.

Soon after arriving on the Outer Banks.




Yes, I'm THAT old lady. The one with the big hat and rolled up pants at the beach.



I hate to say it, but this is the only family shot that we got. It looks circa 1955.


The 'rents. This summer it was me (and family), my parents, and my sister and her family. My brother Darren and two of his kids came for Friday and Saturday.


Rik (my brother-in-law) caught this fish. I believe it was the only one caught shore fishing. They did catch a few on the pier, but not enough for an all out fish fry.


Fishin' and flyin'. This was Lu's first time flying a kite. He enjoyed it...as long as it didn't crash into the ground. That was cause for major drama.

Flying a kite takes lots of concentration.



Miss Alice loved the beach too.


She loved washing the shells in the bucket.

My Mom posing on the deck of our house. The house was really nice. Oceanfront, private pool/hot tub, 6 bedrooms with 6.5 baths.

Ahhhhh, the beach.

So relaxing. Makes me want to be there all the time.


In fact, I've decided that my next life goal is to buy a beach house. A few days before we left I came up with THE perfect name for a beach house. It was the name of my paternal grandfather's restaurant...The Shell Chateau. How perfect would that be????!!!!! The name is the most important part of a beach house, right? So, I spent the whole week thinking about the type of beach house I wanted (oceanfront with private pool/hot tub, 6 bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms etc...), window shopping for possible decorating ideas and spending some time on zillow looking up the current asking prices of nearby homes. And then I realized that I need to change professions QUICK in order to have my Shell Chateau someday...the going price of the house next door was 2.5 million.
Someday...someday...must start rolling my pennies ASAP.

15 month check-up

"The Cream Cheese Monster"


Alice had her 15 month check-up on Friday. Seems like she's doing well! Not that we're surprised.

Here are her stats:

Height: 30.5 inches (50th %tile)
Weight: 20.3 lbs. (10th %tile)
Head: 441/4 (I didn't even ask what %tile that was).

It's hard to believe that she's only 10th for weight considering how much food this girl eats. She's our garbage disposal. Once she's done she goes around to everyone elses plate for seconds, thirds, fourths....she especially loves when her little friends don't finish their food so she can help her self to their leftovers.

Preschool Pictures

How cute are these?

Look at that hair!



The kids were allowed to pose with a favorite toy. Was there ever any question as to who would get the honor?



Oh, my Lucius is a boy. A big boy. No baby left in him. I feel like it happened overnight. We've only been in NJ for 2 years, but when we moved here Lucius was barely talking and still in diapers. Now he's a big boy. And he won't let you forget it.

For the past couple of months he's been into stories. As in, Tom or I (mostly Tom) has to make up 3 different stories everyday. Everyday! These stories typically involve some combination of Batman, Superman, Sportacus, or any number of Nick Jr. characters plus a villain or two (Penguin, Joker, etc...). That's a lot of creativity and thinking that we just don't have after working in academia all day. A couple nights ago Tom was driving home and telling the requisite "driving home from daycare" story when he wasn't paying attention and (barely) ran a red light. Unfortunately, it was the one light in town that has the red-light camera attached to it. So, no more stories while Daddy is driving since he got a ticket. I guess that's a win-lose for us?

In other news, Lu's been writing his name really well. We're impressed whenever he does anything remotely educational. For the most part he's content playing with his action figures and that's about it.

He's finally getting to the really fun age. The age where he's easy to take places and gets excited about things that I have fun doing too. ;) We're headed to the beach in a few days and I'm so excited to spend the day in the surf and sand with him. I don't have to worry about him pooping in those god awful swim diapers, or him having to take two naps or day, or waking us up at 5am. Four year olds are much easier than 1 year olds...in some ways. The whole attitude and fighting I could do without!