Randomness

Okay, I know I've mentioned this before, but Mady is so random. We will be sitting at the dinner table and she'll just shout out some word that has nothing to do with anything. Blah, blah, blah, ROBOTS!

Tonight we were just sitting and eating quietly and all of a sudden Mady says "Dinosaurs! Dinosaurs are scary!"

Then this morning when Mady woke up she came into our room where I was getting ready for the day. She says "shhh! Mama! There's a crocodile in my room! He's very scary! We have to be quiet." She was very convinced that there was a crocodile in there. When we went into her room 10 minutes or so later, she still pointed to where the crocodile was supposed to be and told me not to wake him up.

Logan gets to be more and more of a ham every day. He's in that stage where he loves climbing all over me and his newest thing is to poke at my eyes and just laugh. Thanks son. That feels great. Then tonight he kept putting his sippy cup on his head and balancing it against the back of the high chair. I laughed at him once and he must have done it 10 more times. I would take the cup off his head and he would immediately put it back up. Then he would look at me with his huge, sparkly blue eyes and just giggle. He knows he's being silly and he knows he got a reaction from it the first time, so he's really hoping you'll laugh at him again. Life should be interesting if he keeps up this kind of behavior!

There were giants!

Mady started babbling away during lunch yesterday. When she gets going, like REALLY going, I can only understand every other word.

Blah, blah, blah, CHURCH, blah, blah, GIANTS! Big! Scary!

Um, huh?

I tried to get more information about how church and giants went together, but I didn't get anywhere. I thought maybe she had learned about David and Goliath, but her craft from this week says something about thanking God for water. So I'm pretty sure that's not it.

I guess I'll never get how the toddler mind works. But at least I can get a kick out of the random words that will show up at random times that catch us by surprise and make us laugh.

PS Logan started saying "wow" yesterday. Now everything is either uh-oh or wow. :)

Ostrich Festival, or how we torture Mady.

Yesterday we tried out the infamous Chandler Ostrich Festival. It was a gorgeous day and I really wanted to get us all out of the house for some family time. So what could be better?

The only other time we've taken Mady on any type of rides was last September when we went to Sea World. She seemed to like the few rides she went on then, so we thought she would really enjoy this. Walking up, she spotted the fair and got super excited. She was running and jumping and saying "I'm going to have so much fun! It's so cool!" (At this point, Luke and I predicted we would be carrying her back to the car... there was no way she could keep up that amount of energy! We were right!) We also realized in the walk to the gates that it was going to be VERY crowded inside. So we tried to do a quick safety refresher. We wanted to double check that she remembered our names in case she got separated. So I asked her what Mommy's name is. "Mommy's name is... Mommy." Um, not quite. I don't think even the friendliest of strangers would be able to help her with that info. So I asked her what daddy's name is. "Daddy's name is... Luke." Phew! She could remember one.

We finally got inside, got our tickets and went off to figure out what rides Mady could go on. We found a small ride that spun around a bit that would be a great starter. So Mady and I climbed in. She hated it. The moment it did any spinning, she panicked. It was kind of like the teacups where you can use the wheel on it to make yourself go faster. I didn't dare touch it. Every time we went past Luke he was telling me to spin it faster. Guess he couldn't see how upset she was. She kept telling me, "Mommy, I so scared! I want to go home!"

So we got done with that and went to find another one. We found a little ride that had little kangaroos that you sat in that also went around, but it just went up and down a little bit like you were hopping. That one wasn't so bad. She didn't get excited about it, but she didn't say anything bad about it either.

Then we found a train that Mady could ride with Luke. In the meantime I went to stand in line for the ferris wheel. When the rejoined me in the line, they told me that Mady actually quite enjoying the train ride. We stood in line for the ferris wheel for at least a half hour. Mady was being quite the momma's girl per usual. We had to make a mad dash for the potty at some point. As we were getting to our turn, I asked Mady if she was ready to ride with me. "No thank you." (How is it that she turns so polite when she doesn't want to do something? Not that I'm complaining.) I tried to persuade her by telling her that the ferris wheel is my favorite and it's so fun to go up high. No dice. I had to call Luke who was standing off to the side with Logan to come either try to convince her or help me decide what we wanted to do. So he offered to take both kids while I rode. I got to be that person riding the ferris wheel all by myself.

But as I started to get higher and higher I realized something. Mady would have HATED it. So if she had come with me. I would have been that mom whose kid was screaming bloody murder on the ride.

Oh well. I got a few minutes to text and take pictures in peace. ;)

Mama guilt

Today is Sunday. Sunday brings church. And for a house with small kids, that means nursery. Mady went through a stage (about the age Logan is now) where she had some separation anxiety and would cry when we dropped her off. Well, Logan has now hit that stage himself.

I dropped Logan off 2 weeks ago and he fussed briefly. I was out of town last weekend so my mom dropped Logan off and he didn't cry at all. I dropped Logan off this morning and it was the end of the world. He melted down the moment I passed him to the nursery workers arms. I thought, it's okay, he'll stop as soon as I'm gone. Ummm, no.

When I got back to his room after the service, I could hear him crying as I got to the door. The moment he heard my voice, he was out of sight as I approached, he became hysterical. The workers couldn't pass him to me fast enough and he stopped the moment his little body hit my arms. Today he didn't stop crying the entire time I was gone. Mama guilt.

As soon as I was holding him, he wrapped his chubby arms around my neck as tight as he could and wouldn't let go. He didn't move from the position the whole time we were walking to the car. He was holding me so tight I couldn't even move to reach my purse and get the keys to unlock the car. More mama guilt.

I went to put Logan in the car and he started screaming again. Luke was even in the back seat with him since my dad road with us this morning. He stopped after a minute but his little leftover sobs kept up the entire 15 minute ride home even though he fell asleep in less than 5 minutes. Sigh. Mama guilt.

I hate doing anything that causes my kids such pain. :(

She knows who she likes...

While we were eating dinner, we had the TV on with Top Gun in the background. It was getting to the end where Iceman (Val Kilmer) tells Maverick (Tom Cruise) that "You! You can be my wing man any time!" We were discussing the stellar acting skills of both Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer and how they should have won Oscars (::snort::). As we're talking about Tom Cruise in particular, Mady pipes up and tells us "That's my boy!"

Who knew she liked Tom Cruise that much?

Lately, Mady has been such a mommy's girl. She won't let any one help her with anything. Grandpa watched the kids this morning so that I could run to the gym. I got back and Mady was crying. She had to go potty and only wanted mommy to help her. She only wants mommy to put her to bed. She tells me every night that daddy is too tired to put her to bed. (How much did he pay to get her to say that?!) Such a mommy's girl.

Watch her want NOTHING to do with me when she's 16.

Building Towers

Logan wants to walk with someone constantly. There are times when this can be mildly annoying and I just want to sit and play with him. I've finally found something to catch his interest enough to get him to play on the floor. Doesn't he look happy about it?

Talking...

Logan has been adding to his vocabulary quite steadily recently. He's been saying Mama, Dada, and Bubba for a while which is funny because those were Mady's first words also. About a week or two ago, he added ball and balloon. They started out as the same word but now balloon has a "woo" thrown in there to distinguish it from ball. He can say please (dee) and uh-oh. These go together quite often when he throws things from his high chair and decides he wants them back. Then yesterday he started yelling "Dee!" whenever Mady would go by. So we're pretty sure that's how he's saying her name.

Apparently yesterday Mady also took away his balloon and tried to walk into our 2-story entry way (where balloons are not allowed because we can't reach to get them down). Grandma scolded Mady and told her to come back and Logan decided to help by walking (assisted) over to Mady, yelling her name, this time with an mmm on the front of dee and then yelled "no, no, no!" This is the only time he's said the word. I'm so glad he used it to yell at his sister. :)

Today Mady woke up with a fever of 101. I thought I heard her grunting when she was breathing like she did when she had pneumonia back in November. I haven't heard it any more, but fever +grunting does not equal good things in this house. We're hoping it's just a mild bug and she's feeling better quickly!

Puddle of mush...

Today I was working in our kitchen making a dessert for dinner with friends tonight. Logan was holding hands with my mom walking around the house. He was being kind of a mama's boy today so he kept wandering over by me, trying to get my attention. I would talk to him for a minute but had to go back to what I was doing. After several minutes of this back and forth, Logan ran at my legs, wrapped his arms around my leg, and shouted "mama!" It was clearer than he's ever said it before. This mama was an instant puddle of mush. I think I'll keep him. :)

Mady, however, climbed on my lap today, put one hand over each of my boobs and just sat there. After a minute of this, I asked her what she was doing. "I just holdin' your boobs, Mama." Um, thanks?

Yeah, she was promptly tickled and removed from my lap.

One more development from today: Logan, in his quest to keep getting Mommy, voluntarily let go of my mom's hand and took two or three steps by himself to get to where I was sitting on the floor. Then, he turned around and took four or five steps by himself (again voluntarily) to walk over to his Mickey Mouse airplane. I really thought we had more time before he was going to make any decisions to walk alone without being forced. Makes me a little nervous to go to Vegas this weekend! I don't want to miss anything!

Every time!

I guess it's pay back. I remember when I was little, my parents would get so mad at me because every where we went I would decide I needed to use the bathroom.

Guess who's little girl decides she needs to go potty the moment we're out in public?

The other day we ran to Walmart, just the kids and me. I picked up the items that I needed and was almost ready to check out. Mady decided she needed to go potty. Of course, I can't take the shopping cart into the bathroom and Mady has to be held on the seat because she: a. can't get on the toilet by herself because she's too short and b. her butt is too small for her to sit o the seat without falling in. And I have to figure out how to do all this while holding Logan also.

Thank God the boy can stand up. I managed to prop him up between my legs and was trying to hold him with my knees while he was wildly trying to grab anything and everything that was somewhat in reach. Hello, toilet paper. What a balancing act!

Today I ran to Costco and Walmart with Mady. (I swear I don't go there as much as it sounds like!) We get to Costco... Mady has to go potty. We wander around Walmart and find our things. We're walking towards the checkout lanes... Mady has to go potty.

I asked my mom if I had started the going potty everywhere we went thing this early. She just laughed. I'll take that as a yes.

In other news, Logan took his first few steps between Luke and me on Friday. He'll take about 4 or 5 steps at most and will only do it a couple of times before his legs go all jello on us and he decides that he won't try it any more. He's also standing much more steady. In fact, he was standing up holding my hands yesterday and I realized that he had his balance. So I slid my hands away and he stood by himself without wavering for almost 10 seconds. It might have gone longer but he was standing on the tile and I didn't want him to fall on it. It will still be a little while before he's walking fully on his own, but he's getting there!