Phil Collins

Yes, that is an interesting title.  To quote him "I can't dance", but my girls are sure having fun trying!

I love how Hadley bobs her head to the beat of the music and throws one hand in the air as she works the turntable.  I also love how Brynne dances as she sees fit and not necessarily to the beat. 

I'll try to stop them from liking the techno beats so much, but they sure do love dancing.  In case you can't understand Hadley at the end, she is saying "We're dancing".

New words and phrases

So the past few weeks have been incredibly busy.  Not just for me, but for the girls as well.  Here is a short sample of the new stuff they've been heard uttering around the house.

When they want a drink, they can no longer just say "milk" or "water".  Now, it's "Papa, may I have more milk/water/whatever please?".  After they ask, I inform them "yes you may", which Hadley repeats.  After saying this the other night, she gave me a bit of encouragement by saying "good talk".

It was a good talk, even though I really didn't add to the conversation.

Brynne informed me the "air conditioner is making funny noises", and then asked me to "please fix now".

I won't mention any names, but one of the little ladies was going to the bathroom.  I asked if she needed to be changed.  She then replied, "still working on it".  When she was done, she let me know it was a "big load". 

They've both started talking to me on the phone when I'm not there.  Every conversation is similar.  They say "hello", tell me "Papa go work", and then to "come back soon!".

On the weekends, I typically fix breakfast for everyone.  The night before, it is not uncommon for one of them to put in a request.  On Friday, Hadley wanted "pancakes" and Saturday, Brynne asked for "donuts".  Hadley was not disappointed to get regular and chocolate chip waffles.  Brynne was very pleased that I went and got donuts for us.  She kept asking to eat them in the "backseat", as we did the week prior while on a little father/daughters picnic, but I already had them dressed for church, so I didn't want to risk getting them dirty.

If you've been following me or Mama for any period of time, you know the girls don't watch TV at all.  When Mama left for the night last week, Brynne was overly distraught.  She told me "no" when I asked if playing with trains, trucks, letters, bouncy balls, puzzles, games, books, going to the basement, going outside, or playing with the dogs would make her feel better.  After 10 minutes I gave up and just asked her what would make her feel better.  She stopped crying, appeared to be deep in thought, and then replied "watch Winnie Pooh".


Winnie the Pooh truly makes all things better.

So we did.

Go figure

Four weeks ago, Hadley starting throwing a HUGE temper tantrum every time we announced it was time to take a bath.  She would wail, cry, gnash her teeth, and even tear her sack cloth.  There was nothing new about bath.  She hadn't almost drowned or anything epic like that, and we hadn't made any changes to the routine.

The funny thing was, she was over enthusiastic to go to the pool, but bath was now out of the question.  She still didn't want to sit in the pool, even though the water was only a foot deep, all she wanted to do was play in the water and dump it out of the pool.

Two weeks ago, we went for the first time to our friend's "big girl" pool, which is about four feet deep.  To get in the pool the girls had to use floaties on their arms.  She hated them.  Obviously, she was not trusting them to keep her head above water as she clung to me like she was an extra limb. 

She does, however, like to do things bigger kids do.  She'll be almost as fearless as Brynne when it comes to doing those things.  She saw the other older children using the floaties, swimming, floating, and sitting in the floating chairs.  She immediately was fine with the floaties, but had to be in the chair. 

Once she was in the chair, she wanted to lean forward and blow bubbles in the water.  Sometimes, she dunked under just a bit, but came up smiling.

Flash forward two weeks.  Now, she can't wait to get in the tub.

She holds herself up by her hands, moving back and forth, informing us she is swimming or floating.  She slipped a bit, dunked her head under water, and came up coughing/gasping for breath.  We thought the love of bathing was now over, but we were wrong.  Once she knew she was OK, she was again all smiles and went back to swimming.

Brynne, on the other hand, continues to be fearless.  She went into the big pool and wanted to be passed back and forth, free to kick her legs to move, either unaware or just not concerned with not being able to touch the bottom of the pool. 

Nearly every day she asks about Abby's pool.

Holiday Fun

While it was weird celebrating the fourth of July without having the next day off, I kind of like it.  My reason is purely self serving:  I like having Wednesdays off from work.  It splits up the week nicely.

So what did we do to celebrate?

Thanks for asking.  We gave Mama a lot of time to herself.

I got up and got the girls out of bed as I almost always do.  I then proceeded with cooking seven eggs, half a pound of potatoes, half a pound of sausage, and eight pieces of toast.  There was a little bit of sausage left, and that's it.

Mama got her breakfast in bed, but the girls and I stayed out so she could either eat in piece or stay asleep.  She ate, then went back to sleep in case you were wondering.

The girls and I then ran errands (ewands).  Since they have a ton of new words, I'll put them in italics after the actual word just to share.  The errands took up most of the morning, until it was time for lunch, and cosisted of visiting the following locations:

local produce stand (famews maket)

bank (bant)

milk store (mik sto)

veterinarian's office (vefguthsdy ahej)

grocery store (gocery sto)

park (pak)

gas station (gees staton)

When we got home, they entertained one another while I prepared lunch, which wasn't as exciting (or as much) as breakfast (befast), just some leftovers.

They then went to take a nap (nap), but they forgot they were supposed to be sleeping (seeping), so they just chatted for a few hours.

After nap, we picked tomatoes (matoes), played for a bit by rolling dumptrucks (dumptucks) back and forth, read a few of their favorite books (being sure to include this one), and then I grilled apple flavored chicken sausages for them.  In case you're wondering, they ate a combined two and a half sausages to go along with grapes (poople gapes, and not geen gapes) and sweet potato chips.

This was chased with milk (mik), water (wawter), vitamins (pills), and a chocolate chip cookie (kookie) bar Mama made.

We then took our bath (baff), read their Bible (Bible), prayed, said goodnight (nite) to the world, and went to bed.

Mama did join us for some of these activities, so she didn't have a full day off.  She did, however, get some good down time I think.

As for me, I went right to bed and fell asleep immediately for the first time in a very long time.

Julia's always been able to fall asleep quickly, but I can understand how a busy day like this (which is typical for her) can wear you out.

PS - Spell check went nuts when I ran it on this post.  I guess it doesn't translate toddler to English.

You know you're tired when...

1 - you wonder why your mouse isn't working, until you realize you've grabbed your cell phone and are trying to use that to manipulate your computer.

but my mouse is wireless

2 - the phone rings, you pick it up, nobody is on the other end, and it keeps ringing. Meaning, you picked up your cell phone when the office phone was ringing.

another way to fail using the phone

3 - you find yourself in a 30 minute conversation with the most annoying person in your office and you are okay with it because it keeps you from falling asleep at your desk.

Yes, Milton, I'm still listening

4 - you have to touch your eyeball to see if you did, in fact, remember to put in your contacts that morning.

bet he doesn't have this problem

5 - you try not to blink because reopening your eyes seems like too much work.

a much better solution

6 - you hang up a call rather than be put on hold because the elevator music they're playing might put you to sleep.

7 - you take two hours to realize you never turned on the light in your office.

I suppose that's enough light to work by

8 - you start eating lunch and then realize it's only 9 AM.

whatever

9 - the funniest thing you've heard all day is the guy in the office next to you repeating "hello" 35 times before deciding something is wrong with the caller's phone. Actually, it was 35 times over four different calls...I counted.

apparently not

10 - you count the number of times the guy in the office next to you says hello before hanging up.

11 - you catch yourself doing the sleeping head bob, while in the restroom.

at least he's not on the toilet

12 - you find yourself mentally measuring the space under your desk and wondering if you could nap there without anyone finding out.

sadly, the answer is no

13 - you've managed to finish a Mountain Dew before anyone else is even in the office.

I can't wait for the sugar high to wear off, maybe then I'll sleep

All of this happened to me the other morning so I thought I'd share it - and because I haven't had a good list post in quite some time. 

Go ahead, laugh at me.  I'm not sure I'll even know what's going on if this keeps up.

Jealous much?

It's 3 AM. I haven't been able to fall asleep yet. Tossing and turning in bed, I listen to the noises around me. The air conditioner cycles on and off for the millionth time. When it goes off, I imagine it is actually going to sleep. The dogs, comfortably asleep in their houses - at our home we call their cages houses to sound more animal friendly - turn over. There are some crickets outside my window, but everything else is asleep. Julia rolls over, still sound asleep. I can tell Brynne just rolled over by the squeak in her crib. Since she made no other sound, I know she is sacked out.  

Can I get an AMEN!

Then I hear it.

All done sleeping. 
All done sleeping. 
All done sleeping. 
All done sleeping. 
All done sleeping. 
ALL DONE SLEEPING!

It's not the voices in my head, this time.  Apparently, Hadley is all done sleeping. 

I go into her room and she is standing in her crib.  When she sees me in the low light, she throws her hands in the air and then whispers (so as not to wake her sister)

All done sleeping.

I pick her up and take her back to our room, explaining to her it is too early to be done sleeping.  When I ask why she is all done, she informs me

I'm cold.

I lay her in our bed and go to switch their air conditioner to a warmer setting.  When I return, she is laying with her head on my pillow, under the covers, fast asleep.  It took all of 13 seconds.

I crawl into bed next to her and just watch her (and Julia) sleep.  So peaceful.  So sweet.  So out of it. 

Why can't I sleep like this?  Why can't I be asleep before my head hits the pillow?

I try to wake her up to take her back to her room, but she won't stir.  Finally, she opens her eyes and smiles at me and says 

Hadley sleepy.

I scoop her up, give her a little kiss on the forehead, and carry her back to bed.  When I go to lay her down she once again tells me

All done sleeping.

Since she's yawning as she says this I don't believe her.  Once again, she's out immediately.

I, meanwhile, go back to lay in my bed, still wide awake.  When the clock hits 4:30 AM I get up and go work out.

Perhaps I should move to Brooklyn.

Just another day with no sleep for Papa.  YAY!  At least everyone else got to rest.  I'll just have to catch up on my sleep at the office.  I know I'll get tired right as my day starts.

Wardrobe malfunction

It was a bit hot this weekend, so we took the opportunity to fill up the "funny ginaffe" (as the girls call it) pool.  When we were done, we went inside to eat, and then on to the bath.

"Funny Ginaffe" gets a lot of laughs at our house from the girls.

I was still a bit warm, so I left my shirt off.

As the girls were playing in the tub, Brynne stopped, pointed at my chest, and asked

What's that?

Yes, Robert DeNiro has nipples too.  But Brynne didn't ask about milking any of them.

I was getting ready to say my chest, when Mama piped in with

Papa's nipple. 

 And then we were off.

Papa's nipple.  Brynne's nipple.  Hadley's nipple.  Mama's nipple?

Every time she said it, she pointed to or touched the person's nipple.  Mama had her shirt on, so Brynne just pointed in the general direction.

Grandma nipple?  Grandpa nipple?  Winnie nipple?  Fiona nipple? Massi nipple?  Massa nipple?  Noodle nipple?  Chloe nipple?

 

Each of these questions Mama replied to with,

Yes, _____ has nipples. 

I just throw this out there in case she comes up to you, points toward (and hopefully doesn't touch) your nipples, and lets you know what they are.  She's not hungry. She's not a perv.  She's not trying to be rude.  She's just showing you she knows what they are.

I asked Mama when we get to the other parts of the anatomy.  Fortunately, she said those can wait.

My potential reaction when they inform me "boys have a penis and girls have a vagina".