Mama's Boy

Adam is becoming more and more of a boy and less of a baby every day.  He continues to throw the grandest fits when he doesn't get his way, in spite of being able to communicate perfectly well when he wants to.  He can communicate yes, no, more, please, and all done either through words or signs, but we haven't taught him the sign for "Go away, Daddy!  I want Mama to read me stories tonight!" yet.  So instead of a kind request to leave, Jason got an ear full of high-pitched screeching until I came into his room, at which point he climbed into my lap, waved, and said, "Buh-bye!" to Jason.  He knows what he wants.  It's just up to us to figure it out.

The top pictures are of our Thanksgiving thankful turkeys.  Adam and Leah each have their own, and love putting their thankful feathers on them each night.  I'm equally impressed that Adam is sticking his own feathers on his turkey and that Leah's feathers follow a turkey-like pattern.  

Pets

Leah is really interested in pets.  She asks for all kinds of pets- dogs, fish, hamsters, tigers, seals- and loves to make up stories about them.  Her favorite story (the one that she shared with the dental hygienist last week) is about her pet hamster that got out of it's cage and pooped all over the house.  She recently told me all about how she would care for a dog- offer him food and a drink, give him a cage to sleep in, and send him outside when he needed to go potty, or just vacuum up and poopies that he left in his cage.  And this week she found a pet that she decided to keep for her own.

Meet Sugar Cup.

"It's okay, Mom.  I know he's dead.  But can I still keep him?"

 She made him a little bed to sleep in.  It was cute, but the funniest part was finding Adam blowing his nose into Sugar Cup's "blanket" later the same day.

Leah was not amused.

Her Eyes- How They Twinkled

On a recent trip to the mall, we discovered that Santa Claus has taken up his holiday home among the stores.  Ever since this episode, Leah has been completely terrified of costumed-characters.  She is drawn to them but whole-heartedly refuses to touch, talk or even make eye-contact with them.  Needless to say, Disney World is out of the question at this point.

Until today.

This is the year- Leah "gets" Santa Claus and all of the magic that comes along with him.  She decided months ago that she wanted a scooter for Christmas, and knows that she needs to ask Santa for it.  She recently told me she wanted a bow and arrow and I told her she could ask Santa for it.  "But Mom," she replied worriedly.  "I already asked for a scooter and I can only ask Santa for one thing."  I just agreed with her on that one. 

Last week we got a toy catalog, and she took a crayon and circled every item she wanted, as well as every item she thought Adam might want.  I checked, and every picture in the ENTIRE catalog is circled.

So when she saw Santa in his plush green armchair, she told me she wanted to say hi.  We've tried this in years past, only to fall silent in his actual presence, but we marched up to him anyway (politely declining the $24.95 portrait package along the way). 

And she did it!  She climbed right up on his lap and very very quietly told him her name, her age, and that she would please like a scooter and a new helmet for Christmas.  When Santa asked what her brother wanted for Christmas, she said cars, then later lamented that she should have said "cars and trucks."

And my heart was literally bursting with pride.  I don't know why- Santa Claus is another confusing childhood concept that I'm not sure why I promote- right along with trick-or-treating and the Easter Bunny.  But I was so proud of Leah for finally- FINALLY- working up the courage to talk to a character that she had admired from afar for so long. 

It may not even be Thanksgiving yet, but there is definitely holiday magic in the air.

A-D-A-M

Moments like this make me think that babies really are geniuses.

Pictures that make me smile

Leah had her first trip to the dentist.  She has a beautiful smile, and the dentist said her teeth look great.  She went back to the chair by herself and was very brave and chatty- she told the hygienist all about her pet hamster (no we don't have a pet hamster, she is just FULL of tall tales lately) and was very excited to brush her teeth with her new toothbrush as soon as we got home.

Mr. Man has been trying my patience lately, as he's decided that he only needs to nap every other day or so.  I love my kids, and I love them even more after they've napped!  I swear he weighs 5 pounds less after a good long nap- at least that's the way it feels to my refreshed muscles. 

 Once I remember that my self-worth is not directly related to his sleep decisions, we generally have a much better day.  Plus, it helps that Adam is just the most handsome little fellow I've ever seen!

Fruit soup!

Leah and Adam are generally quite happy playing with each other- Leah is bossy and Adam is compliant, so they make a good pair.  Adam loves to watch Leah and then tries to imitate whatever she's done, whether it's joyfully sharing a toy, folding his arms to pray, or chucking something across the room because she can't get it to do what she wants.  We are starting  to remind her frequently about the importance of being a good example to her little brother.

One of the pleasures of having a girly older sister- being made pretty!

In Which We Are Officially The World's Worst Parents

We don't have a ton of traditions in our little family that I feel a slave to, but one thing that I really enjoy doing is taking a family trip to the pumpkin patch every year.  We scouted out the perfect one last year, and I was excited to take the kids back this year.  Although we had a rocky start, I was confident that the kids would get into the spirit of the patch once they saw the straw maze, pony rides and adorable little train. 

I was wrong.

It was cold and windy, and I was having a true parenting moment ("I just spent all this money on tickets so you could go on the rides.  You're going to go on the rides and you're going to like it!").  We didn't realize it yet, but Leah was getting sick.  We put her in the warmed up car where she promptly fell asleep.  Then the rest of us headed back across the yard- yes, yard, we take what we can get here in Indiana- to enjoy the rest of the patch. 

We didn't get our yearly pictures by the pumpkins, but that's okay.  I'm slowly learning that as a parent, there are some things that you just have to let go of. 

The Halloween That Wasn't

I am so glad October is over.  We pulled out the Halloween decorations on October 1st, spent then entire month singing Halloween songs, planning out and tracking down Halloween costumes, and talking about the nonsensical joy that is trick-or-treating.  ("Sure!  Just go knock on a stranger's door and accept whatever they give you!  Mommy is fine with that!")

Leah wanted to be a Barbie ballerina, and although I originally had no idea what she was talking about, we managed to track down the perfect costume for just $8!  She was a beautiful ballerina- I love this girly girl costume.  I have a feeling next year she will be something like a cheetah or a hummingbird (her most recent requests).

Adam didn't get much say in his costume, but I think he was quite pleased with his dragon outfit.  He liked wearing it, and even kept the hat part on whenever he wore the costume. 

We did a little trick-or-treating with friends on our street on Friday, but I never bothered to tell Leah that we wouldn't be officially trick-or-treating this year because Halloween was on a Sunday.  And in the end it didn't matter because she was too sick to even think about anything but sleeping all weekend long. 

But when we took down the Halloween decorations today to make room for the cornucopia and turkeys, she finally asked, "When are we going to do the real trick-or-treating?  Where we go to all of the doors?"  Then I had to explain the details of it all, which were completely lost on her.  All she got from it is that the month was a whole lot of build up for nothing.  At least we got some cute costumes from it!