Lessons from an almost 2 year old

Beau bowled me over a couple of weeks ago when he said, "Hi Mommy. How are you?" I said (trying not to laugh), "I'm good baby. How are you?"  To which he replied, "I'm goooood."

Today, he made it clear he is listening to not only what we tell him, but also his sister. I was told very clearly, with his index finger pointed for emphasis, the following during a diaper change:

"Mommy. Don't touch the poopy." Me: "That's right Beau. No touching poopy. It's icky."
"Mommy. Don't touch bugs.  They bite you."  Me: "That's right baby. Bugs bite."
"Mommy. Don't touch bees! They sting you. Give you big owies." Me: "That's right Beau."
"Mommy! Don't touch the fan."  Where he got that one, I don't know but again, I agreed with him.

He is starting to take an interest in books finally. I really think it has more to do with increasing his vocabulary than anything else because he just points to things in books and asks me what they are.  The same is true whenever we go anywhere too. The little guy is so curious about everything!

I've been bad about writing these sorts of things down and have been feeling guilty over it.  So to rid myself of a little bit of guilt, I'm going to write it on here so I don't forget.

Revenge

I've decided that when one of my precious little monkeys is especially naughty, instead of spanking or yelling, I'm going to be a little passive aggressive and post an embarrassing photo of them here.  That way, I'm not creating a circle of violence and I can get my frustration out in a not too harmful manner.  Of course this will stop when they are old enough to know better. Or will it?  After all, Lainey IS old enough to know not to climb onto the tv stand and touch the tv, yet despite numerous reassurances from her that she will not touch the tv, I still catch her up there putting monkey prints all over the screen.  So today's bit of revenge is for Little Miss Monkey Paws.

As if posting this photo wasn't bad enough, her dear mother learned a little something new in Photoshop.  Here is the before shot:

I just know she's thrilled to have helped her mother.

Have you ever seen such a sad face? This is what I get instead of an apology. She'd rather chew on her own socks than say she's sorry.  And I love her more than anything. 

Butterfly Toes

I've been absent from both blogging and my camera lately. Between getting back into school mode with Lainey, I've had some nasty migraines the last few days.  However, I did get to fulfill a longtime goal of painting a plate with both kids' footprints.  Lainey dubbed it, "Butterfly Toes."

Raccoon Hunting

In the process of moving photos from my computer to my external hard drive, I've come across quite a few I meant to blog but never got around to it.   Lainey took it upon herself to go raccoon hunting. She told us she was going to shoot them in the butt.  With her "squirter."

I have a serious weakness for that little tush

Lucky for the raccoons, they were off somewhere else. In her mind though, she scared them off. 

Snack

What's better than a snack before bedtime?

Sharing with a friend of course!

Cooper needs to learn to be picky about what the kids give him. Lainey decided he wanted some leftover salmon from the fridge and the next day the poor little guy was vomiting and had diarrhea all over the backyard.  Thankfully for me, he warned us that he needed to go outside.  Nobody else in this house warns me before they get sick so that made Coop my favorite of the day!

Old dog learning new tricks

I'm taking an online photography class right now called Finding Your Joy. It's mainly about getting yourself into more of your photos.  What really appealed to me however were the Photoshop tips.  There are quite a few tutorials in Photoshop included and I am one week into a six week class and I've already gotten my moneys worth!

You may remember this photo I posted awhile ago. It's not a great photo by any means. The lighting is bad, the side of his face is overexposed, etc.  But I love it nonetheless. Notice the bruise and the booger on his eyebrow.  

As soon as I saw this week's tutorial in Photoshop, I thought of this picture. It's always bothered me and I've been wanting to know how to remove things such as boogs.  

You can still see a little of the bruise. I have a feeling that if my ISO had been lower, I would be able to fix it a little more. Either way, I'm pretty happy with it.  Now I can go back to Lainey's baby pictures and get rid of the red mark she had on her face from where her pacifier rubbed her skin.  But not tonight. This old dog is tired and ready to call it a day.

Leapfrog

Sometimes there should be a warning about leaving kids with Daddy.  I heard loud squealing coming from the backyard last night and looked out the window and found this going on:

I know it probably wasn't the safest situation but it was darn funny! Beau thought it was the best thing ever and his facial expressions (and Daddy's) are priceless!

And speaking of priceless, these are the moments I live for:

more giggles and some baby meat

watching the airplanes fly over and blowing Mommy kisses

trying to catch Daddy

a smile reserved for her Daddy

and some boy bonding time.

First day of preschool (finally!)

Lainey's preschool started a week later than most schools. I don't blame the teachers for starting late as they have kids they need to get ready for school.  But believe me, Lainey was more than ready to go back to school.   She loves going to school, says hi to the school when we drive by it and misses it when it's not in session.  This year wasn't nearly as emotional as last year.  It didn't feel like I was abandoning my baby with strangers in the least and she didn't have any separation anxiety whatsoever.  Beau drew the attention of the teachers with his crying and carrying on. They came rushing out, thinking some poor child was having trouble separating from their parents and nope, it's just a 19 month old who desperately wants to go to preschool! Once I got him out of there we had a fun two hours of running errands, just the two of us. And he was so excited to go get Lainey. All he said on the way there was, "get Lainey!" over and over. Lainey came running out and greeted me like she hadn't seen me in a month.  I love that part!  And in true Laineybug fashion, she told me nothing about her first day.  I know she had a snack, she says she had juice but not apple juice, "just juice."  

If it's September it must be.....

time for football!  

Usually I'm pretty excited about the start of football season. I love going to the games. This year however, I am just not into it.  I blame the Vikes last game against the Saints.  The one before the Super Bowl last year.  That loss broke my heart into a million pieces and even though Favre came back, I am just not into it.  Add to that the low expectations for the Seahawks, and it's just downright depressing.  So imagine my surprise when the Hawks won today against the predicted winner of our crap division!  It was a great game: the sun came out AND the Hawks won?! I left in a very good mood and excited for the next game.

One of my favorite parts of the game is when the 12th Man Flag is raised. I'm always curious as to who is going to do it and like to guess who it will be. Today it was Chad Brown, a former Seahawk that I know nothing about. 

The sun coming out during a game is a welcome sight!

As for the Vikes, I'm still scared. I think I have PTSD. People don't believe me but I know other Vikings fans know my pain.

Mommy's Winter Survival Kit

Yesterday at the park I was told that my kids were "adventurous." I think this person meant it as a compliment but in my head I heard, "crazy little monkeys." Beau was hanging from everything he could grab a hold of and Lainey apparently went deaf and couldn't hear a single word I said. 

I'm hoping they will bounce their little brains out on those soon to be rain filled days.

Beau was the first one to wake up and check it out.  

Daddy had to show him how it was done.

And of course he decided that getting out by climbing over the top was way more fun than through the boring old tunnel.

Lainey skipped breakfast and instead wanted to bounce and play Ring Around The Rosey with her brother.

I love how static-y (sp?) her hair got. You know you're having fun when your hair is full of static!

During a break from the jumping, Beau and Daddy were reading a book. At least I think it was the two of them. All I could see of Beau were his little feet. I could just chew on those little toes of his.

Labor Day Weekend

We started the holiday weekend off with a visit from Grammy and Grandpa.  Friday was forecasted to be the nicest day so we decided to go to the beach at Discovery Park. This time, to Lainey's great delight, we packed her swimsuit and swim ring and let her get in the frigid water.  I swear she's part polar bear!  She was freezing but having way too much fun to get out.  Daddy in the meantime, couldn't feel his legs after just 2 minutes in the water.

After he dragged her out of the water, she shivered for about an hour but smiled the rest of the day.  

She still asks me every once in awhile, "Mommy do you remember when we went to the beach?" 

Beau spent his time finding cool rocks to throw into the water or give to one of us. 

He found a great piece of seaglass and rather than give it to Grandpa, he chucked it into the water and handed him yet another dirty rock. Boys!

The other thing we did while Robert's parents were here was change out the light fixtures.  We went from this:

to this:

And this:

to this:

Sunday we decided to fulfill Lainey's longtime wish of going up into the Space Needle. I wanted it to be a halfway decent day weather-wise and we were running out of time.   Before we left the house she was over the moon excited but once we got there and up into the thing, she kind of lost interest. I don't think she realized where she was!

I forgot about Robert's fear of heights until he reminded me so I have to give him props  for conquering his fear for the day.  

The rest of the weekend we were pretty much slugs.

Conversation at 19 months

This is probably only cute to me and Robert but I am amazed at Beau's communication skills. Our conversation this morning over breakfast went something like this:

Beau: "Mommy. Mommy!"
Me: "Yes, Beau."
Beau: "More banana Mommy."
Me: "We don't have any more bananas sweetpea. You ate the last one."
Beau: "Banana! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!"
Me: "They are all gone. Eat your oatmeal Beau."
Beau: "Dadda at work."
Me: "Yep, Daddy's at work."
Beau: "That's riiiiight."
Beau: "MOMMMMMY!"
Me: "Yes Beau?"
Beau: "Pooping."
Me: "Thanks for the heads up baby."

Beau in his new big boy booster seat.  It's so weird to look over and see both kids sitting at the table.