Making Company Feel Really Welcome

My friend from high school, Kate, and her husband Mark and twins Charlie and Maddie (17 months) were in town this weekend visiting Mark's family. (How awesome is it that a Chicago friend married an Ankeny guy?) They came over this afternoon to hang out for a bit and my kids were intent on making everyone feel as welcome as can be.

exhibit #1- Catie immediately hugged Kate and asked Kate to hold her. She also felt so comfortable with Kate that she dipped her chip in Kate's drink.

exhibit #2- Catie wasted no time hugging Maddie and lifting Maddie's shirt so she could look at her belly.

exhibit #3- Catie gave Charlie a little kiss when prompted. Charlie though he could probably get more than that, so he went in for several more very open-mouthed smackers.

exhibit #4- Catie shared her toothbrush with both Maddie and Charlie.

exhibit #5- As Kate and Mark and kids were heading out, Will told Mark he sure wished they could live with us.

Mr. Telephone Man

(the phone rings)

Will- I'll get it!
Dave- OK, but don't talk for long.
(pause)
Will- It's for you, Dad. It's John McCain.

One Down, One to Go?

While Will has been daytime potty trained for almost a year now, we were still struggling with naps and nighttime. Finally, about 4 months ago, he stopped wetting his Pull-up at naps and just in the past week he's been willing to take a nap with just underpants on.

And just in the past couple weeks he's been keeping his nighttime Pull-up dry! We still get him up to go to the bathroom before we go to bed, but I'd be fine with that forever! I think we'll keep him in a Pull-up for a bit longer, just until I'm really convinced that we won't have lots of accidents.

But YAY for an extra $20 in my pocket each month!

Explain This!

I apologize to my mom and sisters who reportedly check this blog several times a day for updates on the kids. I know I'm slacking. The lack of camera is killing me! It's so hard to write about the funny things the kids say without being able to capture intonation or facial expressions. Like this, for example:

Catie's taken to saying "uh-huh" and "uh-uh" with this sweet little inflection. "Catie, do you want to go see Daddy at work?" "Uh-huh!" (emphasis on "uh" and and tone raised)

Or this...

Catie has seen Will playing Playhouse Disney games on the computer. So now when she walks into the computer room she starts immediately shouting "MOUF!" and pulling the chair around so whomever is sitting there can pick her up and load up Mickey Mouse.

See? It would be so much better if I could post a little video of these things!

Introducing Skunky

(A little background- Will likes to talk to inanimate objects as though they are animate. Blanket (his blanket if things aren't clicking for you today) is one of his favorite things to have talk- but WE have to do the voice for him. (Oh yeah...Blanket is a he.) He also talks to Dave's hand monsters (I fear I'm painting us as very strange here...), Poly, Tony, Ricky, and Wawa (bears), and his various cars.)

I was awakened this morning by the sounds from the monitor of Will talking to himself in his bedroom. I heard something about spraying, then something about Skunky, then something about he and Skunky being in bed. Curious, I headed to his bedroom to find out what was going on.

Skunky is Will's imaginary skunk friend.

The difference between Skunky and all his other "friends" is that Skunky is not to be seen and Will does Skunky's voice. He still likes me to talk to Skunky, but if I try to be Skunky I get reminded that Will is his voice.

I forsee many fun future blog posts.

If Only...

...I had a working camera, I could post a picture of my first-ever knitting project. It's a little purple hat for Catie. No, it's not perfect. No, I wouldn't buy it if I saw it in a store (I'd probably say something like, "Did a blind monkey knit this?"). But yes, it fits her! And yes, she'll be wearing it with pride this winter.

On to my next project, which is a hat knit from camo yarn for Will. It'll be from the same beginner instructions as Catie's hat. THEN I'll move on to something more fancy, like a hat on circular needles which I scored at a sweet 40% off sale at Hobby Lobby yesterday.

At first Dave laughed at me for wanting to knit. Then he saw Catie's hat come together. Now he thinks it's hot- like "hot librarian" hot. Hey, whatever I can do to get his blessing for more "me" time.

Do you wonder what you're going to get for Christmas this year? Wonder no more.

Picky, Picky!

Catie won't eat good cheese, anything Chinese, beans or tacos. So why is it that we can't keep sand, rocks, chalk, pennies, or dried pasta out of her mouth?

A Visit to the Doctor

*** my camera is totally shot, so it might be a while before we get new pictures up here! ***

Catie had her 18-month appointment today. She's right on track developmentally and she's still a shrimp. The doctor sees no cause for concern because she IS growing and gaining weight, albeit slowly.

Stats:
30.75 inches
23.25 pounds

She's just about exactly where Will was at 7 months. No joke.

Both kids love going to the doctor! Catie even spontaneously hugged Dr. Uthe after she was done getting checked out. Will wore his rainboots and told everyone about his new shirt he was wearing. The pediatric resident who was also in on the appointment said she'd like to take my kids home and that she's sure Will is going to be a favorite in his preschool class. :) I like it when people gush about my kids.

Talk About Stylish!

(I'm on a roll today, aren't I?)

A Little Cough

Will has a cough. I suggested some water and he said, "Or maybe some chamomile tea?"

?!?!? Where does he get this stuff?

Stuff

A couple updates on Willy B-

1) He's reading!

2) He's been telling us how handsome he is and that girls are not handsome, they're pretty. And the other day he put some water on his hair to make himself handsome and he declared himself "stylish".

3) One of his favorite phrases is "I know that." Example:
Angie- Will, you're a great big brother!
Will- I know that.

And on Catie Cat-

1) She's talking more and more, and her favorite thing to say right now is "noooo" with a vigorous head shake. Yesterday Dave was singing this little "Catie Cat" song and as soon as he would start, Catie would shout out "noooo!" I tried to get it on video to no avail.

2) I think she wants to pee on the toilet? She's been hanging out in the bathroom and is very interested whenever anyone needs to go. She's pounded on the toilet seat a couple times while saying "up!"- so I put her up there the other day. While nothing came out while she was on the toilet, she did pee on the floor as soon as I took her off. Close, right?

Diagnose It

What's the deal with the black stuff in the middle at the top of the tomato (upper right corner of the picture) and the dark seeds? Should I eat the tomato except for the black part at the top? What is it? Help quickly...the juicy redness of it is calling my name!

ETA- I ate it and it was heavenly.

Photo Friday

I was scolded for not putting up more photos, so here are a couple from this week. You might call them craptastic. I'll be better next week, I promise.

Catie has been obsessed with my flip flops this week!

Seriously- check out her belly. That's a big 'un.

We went to Indianola for the National Balloon Classic on Monday- and we only got to see about 8 balloons. The rest cancelled because the ground was too soggy to land. Will and Catie enjoyed themselves anyway! (right- it's not a picture of Will and Catie at the Classic. It's just a balloon.)