A Houseful of Toys

and Ben and Maggie amuse themselves by playing in the dirt for 45 minutes on a sunny September afternoon.

The Case of the Missing Beads

As Cate climbed out of the car today she found the remnants of one of her bracelets on the floor. We were, of course, late for an appointment (see previous post) and so I was hoping to help Cate minimize her disappointment since she has 4,356 other bracelets and this one cost about $0.36.

I was unsuccessful.

Cate: MOM! My bracelet is broken!

Me (glancing at my watch): Well....

Cate: SHE broke it! Maggie broke it! She breaks everything. AND she had it in her mouth. I SAW.

Me: Cate, she's just a baby. She didn't do it on purpose.

Cate: She did Mom! I know she did.

Me (realizing that we will never make it to our appointment on time): Okay, let's just gather all of the beads and then we can make a new necklace. Or Grandma can help us fix this one.

Cate is quiet for a minute as she crouches down to look for the beads.

Cate: MOM! I can't find them!

Me: What do you mean? I see a few right there.

Cate: THERE WERE MORE! That's not all of them.

Me: Are you sure?

I look too but can only find four beads.

Me: (rhetorically, as I scan the floor of the car): Maggie, where are Cate's beads?

Maggie (opens her mouth and points): IN MINE TUMMY.

Cate: MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baby's First Haircut

In order to avoid the dreaded mullet, Maggie got her first haircut today.

She barely moved while the stylist cut her hair. Afterwards, while we waited for Cate to get done, she pushed the booster seat over to the chair, climbed back up in the seat and said, "MORE HAIRCUT! MORE HAIRCUT!"

And...

this is how Daddy entertains the kids on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Terms of Endearment

Maggie has a lot to say.

She is a forceful speaker, which is a nice way of saying that her requests often sound like demands.

For example, my baby dictator will say things like, "PUT SHOES ON RIGHT NOW!" when she wants to go outside. Or "I WANT MINE PURPLE BINK." when settling down to read stories before bed.

Or "I SIT ON MOMMY LAP!" when she is adamantly opposed to sitting in her high chair for meals. Or "I DO! I DO SELF!" whenever I try to do anything for her that she thinks she can do for herself, which happens about 17 times a day.

Certainly I hear a lot of my own words being parroted in her little baby voice. (I have been known to say, "Put your shoes on RIGHT NOW!" a time or two).

And, of course, she mimics everything that comes out of Cate and Ben's mouth. That is why she not only says things like, "I LOVE YOU SO MUCH" and "HUG YOU TIGHT" but catchy phrases like "SHAKE YOUR BUTT-BUTT" and "POOPY FACE."

We have certainly tried to discourage the potty talk, a nearly impossible task since Ben finds so much pleasure in it.

To be honest, it's hard to get upset with Maggie over the use of the phrase "POOPY FACE" since she uses it as a term of endearment.

For example, a few weeks ago Maggie woke up very early and I brought her into bed with us in a (futile) attempt to get a few more minutes of sleep.

Maggie rolled over, gently patted Chris on the cheek, and said in a sweet singsong voice, "Hi Daddy Poopy Face."

As Chris can attest, being called a Poopy Face never sounded so nice.

Naked Baby

Maggie loves to be a "naked baby."

She could not be more pleased with herself when she manages to wriggle out of her pants and tear off her diaper.

Tonight I was helping Cate get ready for bed when a naked Maggie starting calling for me.

M (from the hallway): MOMMY!

Me: What Mags? I'm in the bathroom with Cate.

M (enters the bathroom): I GO POTTY.

Me (confused): What? You need to go potty? Okay, come sit on the potty.

M (shakes her head): I GO POTTY ON FLOOR.

Now she has my full attention.

Me: What? You went potty on the floor?

M: I GO POTTY ON THE FLOOR!

Me: Um...where? Can you show me?

M: IN MINE ROOM.

Cate and I follow her down the hall and into her room. She walks over to her dresser, points to a (very obvious) puddle on the floor and triumphantly announces, "I GO POTTY ON THE FLOOR."

At which point Cate and Ben begin laughing hyseterically.

"Mom, " Cate cries. "She really did go potty on the floor!"

Maggie sees them laughing at her naked baby hijinks and also begins to laugh hysetrically.

I suspect that this positive reinforcement by her most favorite audience (Cate and Ben) pretty much guarantees that I will have even more puddles to clean up the next time our Baby Houdini manages to escape from her diaper.

Love

Me: Oh Maggie, I love you SOOO much.

Maggie (smiles sweetly): I love Bubby* SOOO much.

(* Bubby = Buddy = Ben. For the record, Ben only allows Maggie to call him "Bubby.")

Okoboji, One Week Late

We spent Labor Day weekend in Okoboji with my parents and brother, Mike.


It was a great trip. We stayed one block off the lake and, other than a trip to the grocery store, were able to walk everywhere for the entire weekend.




We took out canoes and paddle boats. We swam and played ping pong. We played miniature golf and grilled hot dogs.


We went to Arnold's Park, where Maggie demonstrated her love for the boat ride. When we walked by the park entrance the next day Maggie pointed and said, "I DRIVE BOAT! I DRIVE BOAT!"


For the kids, the best part of the weekend was "camping" in the backyard with Chris.


Some photo highlights:

Kindergarten Update

Cate loves kindergarten.

She loves seeing her buddy Grace every day at recess. She loves computer class. She has mastered the small monkey bars and is working on the larger set. She prefers cold lunch to hot lunch, and doesn't seem to mind that I pack virtually the same thing every day.

She is starting to pick out words from signs and from the pages of books---words like cat, dog, the, and, if, am, and open. She loves to write the words that she knows how to "read."

I love that every day she comes home and tells us everything about her day--who got stung by a bee, what happens if you bite someone, or why she got two "good job" tickets from her teacher.

Last week she came home and said, "Mom, today we said a prayer about families. Did you know that my teacher, Mrs. Lacina, has 5 grandchildren, 3 kids, and 1 husband? AND his name is Mr. Lacina."

I know the excitement over the "newness" of kindergarten won't last forever nor will Cate always be willing to share this information with me. And so, for now, I'm soaking it all in, both the important ("I need to memorize my number for hot lunch.") and the mundane ("Did you know that Max doesn't have any brothers or sisters? Just a dog.") information that is willingly shared at the end of the day.

Spider Baby?

Last week some friends came over to play with Cate and Ben after school.

The kids were playing in the basement when Ben ran upstairs, holding his Spiderman suit in his hand, naked except for the Spiderman mask.

Ben: Mom, can you help me put this on?

Me: Um...what are you doing buddy?

Ben: Playing house.

Me (helping him into his costume): I see. Why do you need your Spiderman costume to play house?

Ben (matter-of-factly): Well, I'm the baby.

Daddy's Helper

With all of these home improvement projects
we need all the help we can get...

How I Spent My Blogging Vacation

1. Turning 34

Please note my one-of-a-kind beaded necklace, a birthday present from Cate.

2. Converting our traditional (non-functional) hall closet into a mini-mudroom


Believe it or not, my kids actually put their shoes and bags away when they walk in the house now. Unfortunately I still spend 5 minutes every morning looking for my keys...

3. Transforming our wooden garage door into a magnetic chalkboard


A very simple project but it took almost a week to complete as I had to let each layer (four coats of magnetic paint followed by two coats of chalkboard paint) dry overnight. It is not as magnetic as I would've liked but the kids love it and it's helped me reduce the amount of paper piled on my counter...a little.

4. Vacationing in Okoboji with Chris, the kids, my parents and brother


Great trip. Great family. Great memories.