THE GREEN(wald) HOUSE … (growing rosemary & raising a little wolf)

After celebrating some great holidays, Hannukah, Solstice, and Christmas - and now ringing in the new year with some friends at a kids party at 8pm, I am ready to welcome 2010. I can’t believe how fast this year has gone by - I was taking down my 2009 calendar, and looking at some dates and events written in from the beginning of the year, and they seem like they happened only a few weeks or months ago. We have been in this house almost a full year now, and we still don’t feel quite settled….
I am hoping 2010 brings us (and our families) much more financial stability and abundance, and we all continue to enjoy good health, love and happiness…

We decorated our Christmas tree on the weekend after Thanksgiving as is our new tradition. Aunt P and the kids came over and joined us for the fun and celebration and a family dinner afterwards. We also started a new tradition of having the kids take turns as Joe lifts them up and putting star on top after the tree is all decorated. This year was Rosie’s year, next year (even years) will be Sammy’s turn.

Rosie had her school holiday party, and was the epitome of cuteness as she sang the christmas songs she learned, and gave a curtsey after each song.

Then we had family dinner at Aunt P’s house for the first night of Hannukah - and Rosie lit the candles with cousin Marisa

and played dreidel with cousin Ari.

Rosie continued to be the designated candle lighter throughout Hannukah, and did a pretty great job (she liked to sing Rudolph or another Christmas song after lighting them)

until she almost lit her hair on fire on the 7th night (reaching for some ornaments she had painted that were just past the menorah). After that we were a lot more careful around the lit candles….

Gigi came and visited for 5 days- and helped us celebrate the end of Hannukah (her first time eating Latkes!) and we celebrated an early solstice and the kids were spoiled with lots of little gifts and lots of love from Gigi! And Gigi got to get her yearly dose of cold weather and snow to help her to really appreciate going home to sunny Florida…

The kids were really excited about the first few days of snow, we went outside and played, made snow angels, and pulled a sled around in the yard a bit…

but they seem to have lost the excitement for it now that we have had almost a month of snow on the ground…We haven’t really even built a proper snowman yet…

To celebrate solstice this year, I dried some orange slices that we tied ribbon to and hung in the windows, and the kids made some suns out of yellow and orange construction paper


then we ate dinner by candlelight that night and sang “mr. sun, sun, mr. golden sun, please shine down on me!”

On Christmas eve, we made lots of sugar cookies and decorated them for Santa,

then we sprinkled “reindeer food” that we got from our neighbors on the ground outside so Santa could find our house.

We went to a friend’s house after dinner for some visiting and dessert, then came home and opened our traditional christmas eve present - new jammies! Rosie added a skirt to her jammies and gave us all a beautiful ballet performance before bed.

Santa was generous this year, bringing the kids just what they asked for -

Rosie got her Barbie and The 3 Musketeers DVD and she also got the Barbie dolls to go along with it - and Sammy got a “BIG TRAIN” as requested, in the form of a Thomas pop up play tent. The presents were all opened by 9am, we had breakfast and just relaxed for a bit before Joe’s family came over for more presents and a big Christmas dinner.

Santa was nice enough to bring stockings full of goodies for Marisa, Noah, Cory and Ari and leave them at our house for them…

Sammy seemed a little grumpy that not ALL the presents under the tree were for him to open…

On to what the kids have been up to this past month….
Rosie has been on a big kick of renaming things. Pomegranates are now “christmas seeds - because they are red and look like christmas”
She also renames the games she plays on my iphone. She will ask me what a certain game is called, and then tell me “I am going to call it ‘this‘ instead” Speaking of iphone games, she has already beaten the high scores that Joe and I were once proud of on Doodle Jump. The girl has some serious gaming skills, but both her and Sammy have been too addicted the iphone games lately, wanting to play constantly. So Joe and I have been trying to limit it to when we are in the car, or in a restaurant or other place where they don’t have a lot of other means of entertainment.
One day this past month Rosie asked to go to the grocery store and buy bread and cheese and pickles to make a sandwich. I asked her “you want a pickle and cheese sandwich?” and she said “yeah, we can just try it and if we don’t like it we don’t have to eat it. You have to try things before you know if you like them or not”
She has been loving telling jokes, and has a staple of knock knocks she tells almost daily. Then she takes the jokes she knows and turns them into other jokes that make no sense. For example:
Q - what kind of apples grow on trees?
A - all apples silly!
turned into:
Q - how many apples grow on trees?
A - 100 apples, isnt that silly?

She also knows when Joe is trying to joke with her or tease her and says in a crazy voice “are you kiddin me?”
One of their favorite jokes ends with “I cant hear you - I have a banana in my ear!”

One other new Rosie thing is that she now kicks me out of the bathroom when she has to go, telling me “a girl needs her private-cy”…

Sammy has had a really hard time lately being 2 1/2. He is constantly whiny and grumpy, throwing tantrums, getting frustrated when he can’t do something (either he physically has trouble doing a task like putting his shoes on by himself, or because I tell him “no” to something). He still mumbles and whines mostly when he talks, and it drives me crazy. His big new thing he whines about is “That’s not fair!” and I know he doesn’t even really know the concept of “fair” - but he heard Rosie say it and now that is the big new complaint. Both he and Rosie also need to know the name of the episode of whatever TV program they are watching - yelling “what’s it called???” and complaining and whining until I rewind the show a few seconds and can read to them the name of the Peep or Curious George episode (or whatever they are watching).
I pulled out some hand me down underwear that cousin Ari had given to Sammy, to try to give him an incentive to go on the potty more. Telling him he could wear the big boy underwear with Diego and Elmo and Thomas on them when he went to the bathroom on the potty. He decided he wanted to wear the underwear OVER his diaper, and sometimes OVER his pants as well. It is a really ridiculous look, but I am not willing to fight his tantrum to have him take them off, so he frequently looks like this:

He is still crawling into bed with us 5-6 nights a week around midnight or so, but I don’t mind so much, he’s a pretty good cuddler…One night this past month I think I ended up dreaming same dream as Sammy. We were sharing my pillow, with his head right next to mine, and I heard a dog bark in my dream and it woke me up, as I thought for a second that it was our dog barking downstairs, I listened for a minute, and realized that our dog was not barking, and during the quiet, a few seconds later sammy called out in his sleep “no doggie no!” It was pretty cool knowing how closely we were connected…

Another thing that I noticed recently is that both Rosie and Sammy love surprises. Their favorite thing when being given something is closing their eyes and picking a hand. Even when I am giving them something that is not a surprise, they ask to close their eyes and make it a surprise. I hope they continue to keep this joy and excitement for life throughout the new year (though with less whining).
I wish everyone nothing but good in 2010.
Thanks for reading!
xo

Happy Thanksgiving!

Rosie’s new obsession this month is “last one down is a rotten egg” when going down the stairs. Then she changes her mind frequently and decides that “last is best”.
She has been singing the thanksgiving songs she learned at school, and she performed them with her class when we had a potluck thanksgiving dinner with her school. We made scalloped potatoes, that Rosie called “skeleton” potatoes.

She has been playing a lot with her brother - playing hide and seek, tag, duck duck goose, house, and doggie (with Sammy as the doggie of course). This morning they were pretending their bowls of oatmeal were birthday cakes and sticking the spoons straight up like candles and singing Happy Birthday to each other.
She is so excited to be learning to read and spell. She is always trying to read words and signs and asking what things say or how things are spelled. She is reading stop signs, no parking signs, the open signs on buildings, telling Sammy how to spell his name, how to spell MOM, telling Sammy he needs to take an N-A-P. She loves school, though sometimes she comes home on her full day exhausted and tells me “I had a hard day”….

We had our first parent-teacher conference at Rosie’s school at the beginning of the month and it was everything a parent could hope to hear. The teachers love her and say she is a joy to have in the classroom. The other kids look up to her, they said she is the leader of the other kids. They are impressed with her reading skills and can tell she loves to learn. Joe and I were both in tears during the conference hearing the glowing praises of our little girl. Now the big decision is whether to continue with the Montessori way of learning. Rosie really seems to be able to be self-directed and thrive in this learning environment where she gets to choose what she is interested in, and I would hate to squash her love of learning in a more controlled environment. There is a public Montessori school in the area (ie - FREE) - but it would be a 30-45 minute drive each way. It is definitely something we will be seriously researching in the next few months. I just took a few books out of the library on the Montessori philosophy and how it works in grade school to see if it is something we want to commit to for Rosie.

Sammy still worships his big sister (most of the time) and tries to copy whatever she is doing. He can easily count to 10 when they are playing tag - and he knows the way to play games, saying “ready or not here I come” and chasing her around the house. He also loves playing chase with the doggie. He has a lot of cute sayings he took from Rosie:
“oh my gosh!” “it’s my favorite” “he’s so adorable!” (said when watching Aristocats) - and my new favorite, at dinnertime - telling me about the dinner I made “it’s delicious!”
He is still mumbling quite a bit, especially when he is tired, and sometimes even I can’t understand him. He is such an active boy, always jumping on the trampoline, running through the house, kicking a ball or throwing a ball, making mountains of pillows and jumping or climbing on them. This morning he was playing basketball and saying “oh man” when he missed and “all right!” or “high five” when he makes it.

We had a great thanksgiving at Uncle Jack and Aunt Arlene’s house today. We are all home in bed now with full bellies and are thankful for spending time with family. We plan on decorating the house for the holidays and getting a Christmas tree this weekend.

Good night from the Greenwalds

Happy Fall!

We had a lot of fun in October! We went apple picking at a local farm/orchard near us. The kids had a great time picking and eating apples.

And we had a super fun Halloween and celebrated Joe’s birthday too! Rosie decided what we would all be this year. She wanted to be a strawberry, and she decided I would be a banana, Joe would be a pear, and Sammy would be an orange. It was a fun and challenging craft project for me and I think they all turned out pretty good!

After the kids went through their candy stash, they got to choose 3 things to keep, and then the rest of the candy they left outside their rooms, and the Halloween Fairy came in the middle of the night and took their candy and left new toys for them instead!

Rosie has been really enjoying drawing and coloring lately. She has now started to put bodies on her people, and really long legs and long fingers. She still loves school and is really starting to write and spell a lot. She is constantly sounding things out and reading words, or telling me how something is spelled. I wanted Sammy to take a nap in the car one day, but if he hears the word “nap” he protests, so I asked Rosie to be quiet so Sammy could take a N-A-P and she sounded it out and told me it spelled nap! She drew a picture of me and wrote “Mom” all by herself too! She taught herself how to whistle and is very proud of her new skills!

She has been talking and worrying a lot about death and dying, I think it is normal for this age, and especially with my Grandma Billie recently dying. Rosie has been wishing (with dandelion flowers) that I would never die and she told me she didn’t want to be a grandma, because then grandmas would die. I try to be lighthearted and just say that everybody is born and everybody dies, it is a normal part of life and it’s nothing to be scared or worried about.

She is always talking about the future, and planning for her birthday and every commercial she sees on TV is the new thing she wants for her birthday. She has also been telling Sammy that when they are 7 they will lose their teeth and the toothfairy will come and leave them a whole QUARTER!

Sammy has been a cutie lately, and a cranky nightmare too as he is not really napping unless we are in the car around 2-3pm. He still imitates Rosie, and his new phrase he learned from her is “Oh My GOSH!” He has been wanting to play soccer and is kicking balls around the house constantly, and he is really good at it too! His new favorite song (learned from his dad) is “Blitzkrieg Bop” and he requests it at bedtime and then sings it himself too. He loves music and loves trying to play Joe’s guitars and LOVES to bang on the drums!

He has been mumbling a lot lately, it drives me crazy and I am trying to teach him to enunciate. He will say “Mommy? Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa water pease?” He is counting and trying to learn the alphabet. He recognizes some letters and knows the value of numbers up to 3. He also knows his colors, because anytime I dress him in anything blue/yellow he says “”Go Blue” or “Michigan Daddy”(maize and blue)!

He is still waking up at night quite a bit and wanting me to come sleep with him in his room. I hope this doesn’t last long. Though it is hard to complain because he is such a cuddler, always giving me kisses and wanting to cuddle and telling me “I love you mommy”.

Short and sweet update this month - bye for now from the Greenwald kids! Next month’s update will probably have some photos of SNOW - yikes!

OK - so technically it is already October, but I was so busy in September, and then we spent a week in Florida near the end of the month - and I just realized I never finished last month’s update… so here it is….

AAH, the cool fall air is starting here in Michigan, I love these days…..clear blue skies, with bright sunshine, and colorful fall leaves starting to turn..

Rosie started Preschool again at English Oaks Montessori school, and she loves it! This year she is going 2 half days and one full day (to prepare for her full-day kindergarden next year). She was very excited to stay at school for the whole long day and eat lunch with her friends. We bought her a small rug for at home so she can play “school” and get out her mat and her work and have space to do her own thing, and then she is getting very good about cleaning up afterwards. I am going to try to clear out the clutter in the playroom and put toys and activities on the shelves so they are easier to get out and clean up. This past week, Rosie’s school had a field trip to a local farm, and Sammy and I went along and it was a great time! We went on a hayride, and the kids got to ride horses, feed pigs and sheep and goats, and bottle feed some baby pigs and goats, and then the coolest thing was that they got to milk a cow!

It brought back memories of my own childhood on a farm and I am so glad that my kids got to interact with the animals so much.

We have been having a few issues with Rosie’s neighborhood friends that started over the past month. Rosie, being the youngest of the group, unfortunately has been the target of some bullying, leaving out of playing, name-calling, and a lot of things that I didn’t expect to have to deal with until junior high. It has resulted in a lot of tears and hurt feelings and conversations with the neighbors. On the positive side, Rosie is learning the golden rule (how to treat people as you want to be treated) and how to stand up for herself, and we have had lots of conversations about jealousy, and knowing right from wrong and not doing something just because your friend tells you to. Since school started and everyone is busy with school and other activities, there is not so much interaction with the neighbors and it seems to have cooled off a bit….

Rosie has been reading a lot more, she is getting pretty good and can read some books on her own (mostly because she memorized them I think). She has been practicing writing her whole full name and numbers too. She still loves to color and draw and is getting a bit neater with her coloring, staying mostly within the lines now… Her vocabulary is amazing, she knows so many words and expressions and she is constantly amazing me with the things she says and knows. She has been very good about cleaning up after meals, and she clears her dishes and Sammy’s too and she helps me wipe off the table. We are going to start experimenting with an allowance for her, probably just getting a quarter for every time she helps me with something around the house.

Sammy - OH MY is 2 a challenging age. I must have forgotten how Rosie was at this age, because I just do not have the patience to deal with him like I want to. He is hot or cold, either screaming NO and being extremely whiny and difficult, or he is giggling and cuddling and being the cutest boy ever. He drives me crazy most days, but his cuteness more than makes up for it. We are still working on his transition to the “big bed” in his room. He has not been very agreeable about staying in bed or in his room at bedtime, so I put a baby gate up outside his door and he is now climbing over the gate as well… Bedtime has been taking forever to finally get him down, and then he has been waking up in the middle of the night and I have been going and sleeping in his room, or bringing him in bed with us, as he wants to cuddle or “cull” as it sounds when he says it. He also requests “Mommy seep me” or ” mommy seep my bed”.
I am not getting nearly enough sleep, but it is almost worth it when he keeps me up climbing over me and lying on top of me and saying “I love you mommy” every 20 min.

He is really trying to be a big boy, insisting on climbing into the car and into his car seat by himself, and buckle top buckle of car seat by himself - things that add an extra 10 min into our leaving the house routine. He started doing a front roll, learning all by himself by watching Rosie. He is constantly repeating every word and action and move his sister says/does, and driving her crazy.
Our conversation from the other day:
Rosie: Mommy, is it still fall?
Me: yep, it’s still fall
Sammy: mama, still fall?
Me: yes Sammy, it’s still fall
Rosie: When will it be winter?
Me: After fall, in December, around Christmastime is when it will turn to winter
Sammy: Mama, when winter?
Me: In December it will be winter, at Christmastime
Sammy: oh, in ‘cember, kimas time
Rosie: Then it is Spring? After Winter?
Me: Yep, spring is after winter
Sammy: Mama, sping after winter?
Me: (sigh) Yes Sammy, spring is after winter
Sammy - oh, sping after winter.

And that is pretty much how every conversation goes, all day long… You can see how that can wear on your patience pretty quickly…

He is starting to show more interest in the potty and actually pooped on the potty the other day for the first time. He will start to go poop and tell me we will go and he will go in and finish on the potty. He loves to flush and is good about washing hands, etc.

Along with repeating everything, he just generally talks non-stop and needs 100% of my attention all the time or he will incessantly repeat
Mommy? Mom? Mommy? Mom? MOMMY! MAMA! MOM! MOM!
and I finally give in and say (in an irritated voice) YES! WHAT? WHAT DO YOU WANT? - and he sighs and says “I love you too” and he knows those are magic words that take my anger and frustration away…

He also always says:
Why mom? but why?
Daddy - you’re a goofball!
Excuse me mommy, I need to tell you something
Whispering, telling secrets at dinner (copying his sister)
Whew (wiping the back of his hand on his forehead) that was a close one! (when almost spilling/dropping something)
No MY do it!
Mmmm - it’s delicious!

and he really loves to love things - he tells us he loves us several times a day. He is so enthusiastic about everything:
I love it! I love daddy car! I love your shoes!

We spent a lovely end of summer week in FL.

I got to spend some quality time with my mom and sisters and the kids had a great time getting spoiled by Gigi and playing with cousins Ella and Stephen and Bailey. We also had a memorial ceremony for Grandma on the beach.

We got balloons and wrote little messages to Grandma on them, and read some of her poetry (really quite amazing stuff from when she was 17 and a new mother). Some dolphins came and were frolicking in the water as we were remembering Grandma. Then as soon as we released the balloons, a storm rolled in and it was pouring down rain, as if the universe was crying with us, it was amazing.

Joe and I took our first kid-free vacation for our 5th anniversary present to ourselves, we left the kids with GiGi and took the Ferry down to Key West for 2 days. We slept in and took naps and drank a lot of alcohol in the day and watched some gorgeous sunsets.


It was such a nice break for me to not have to be worrying about naptimes, and meals, and generally managing every detail of our family life for a couple days. I definitely missed the kids, and they actually did great without me. I kind of expected them to miss me a little more, since it was the first time I was ever away from them for more than a couple hours at a time - but the fact that they weren’t whining and missing me made me enjoy my time away a little more too… I am looking forward to some more vacation time for me in the future, now that Sammy is finally weaned and I know they will be OK.

So, goodbye to the summer, and goodbye for now - I’ll have more next month…

My beloved, crazy Grandma Billie recently made her transition into pure positive energy and left this earthly plane on Monday August 31.

I know she is missed by everyone who met her, though she was more than ready to move on to the next phase. She has been wanting to join Grandpa since he passed over 2 years ago, I think her spirit had started to leave at that point, but it just took her body another couple years to catch up…

I have so many fond memories of her throughout my life. She was the sweetest, most generous and loving person. She was constantly telling us grandkids how special and loved we were and she showed it by always making us embroidered pillows, blankets, and her famous homemade popsicles! The majority of family birthdays and dinners revolved around her homemade cakes and food - pickled tomatoes and onions, macaroni and tomatoes, and my favorite - sticky fries!

So many of her sayings will live in infamy in the memories of many…

“Sing at the table, cry before night”
“If you’re not bread and butter hungry, then you’re not hungry”
Boldly owning up to her craziness, and upon meeting my friends “Did Chelsea tell you about her crazy grandma?”
Always professing “I’m ______ years old and I’m not gonna change now!”

Yard sales on the front lawn; Harvey Girls; winning Queen for a Day; being the Colton Canary - not just a wait-ur-uss…..

I know the love and kindness she bestowed upon everyone she met is still felt by us all….

Love you and miss you Grandma and Grandpa!

Over halfway through August, and once again I feel the time slipping by so quickly, I can’t keep track of the days…

We had a great July and celebrated the kids’ birthdays all month long, with one big combined party where we had a bounce house and crafts and a pinata and all that fun birthday party stuff….

Rosie’s big present was a “big girl bike” - specifically a princess bike, one that won’t fall down (i.e. training wheels). Sammy got a small basketball hoop and stand, and they both got tons of other great new presents. Our house is overflowing with toys and games and other fun stuff.


Oh, another big present for both of them (and Joe) was our new puppy! She is a shepherd mix that we adopted from a rescue agency, Rosie named her Daisy.

Since every other July for the last few years we had a baby - this year we got a dog instead. It’s almost the same thing, getting used to a new routine of waking up early, cleaning up pee and poop, keeping things put away that you don’t want broken or chewed on - all that other fun stuff that comes with a new dog or baby.

This past month, Rosie decided she was changing my name and is now calling me “mother”. She says “yes mother” when I call her or ask for something - and she is also calling Joe “father” and decided her name is now “Rose Rose”.
She is still playing pretend all the time, inventing new games like flutterfly, but also sticking with the standard stuff like house, doctor, and the various princesses - little mermaid, snow white, sleeping beauty, etc.

In my old school shirt….

She loves playing and running and giggling with her brother, teaching him jokes and games and such.
She is still stalling at bedtime, frequently coming into our room at 10:30 with some complaint or excuse. She once said her room was too itchy and she couldn’t sleep because she was scratchy all over. She crawls into our room with her lady bug blanket over her and when we say “Rosie go back to your room” she says “how did you know it was me?”

After a week of “Princess Camp” with her neighbor friends this past week…

I think she will be a lawyer, since she is so good at arguing and rationalizing. Another bedtime stall is saying she is not tired. One night I told her she could lie in bed and read books or play quietly, but she could not get out of bed. She asked “how can I get a book if I can’t get out of bed?” (got me on that one)
So I said, -”OK you can get out of bed really quickly to get a book or toy, but you cannot leave your room”. After I left the room, she started whining about wanting her big elephant in bed with her. After about 15 minutes of listening to her whine, I went into her room to tell her that if she wants her elephant, to get out of bed and get it then! She said, “well, actually mother, since you are already in my room, you can get it for me”.

She is so funny - she is always talking about her friends and what she said or did with her friends. She wants to play with her friends in the neighborhood all the time, anxious to go play as soon as she wakes up in the morning. She says such amusing things like telling me her hair was “shining like a star” or telling a story and then saying “isn’t that crazy?”
She has started watching “big girl” movies like Bambi, Charlotte’s Web, Alice in Wonderland, Horton Hears a Who, and Babe and loving them. I thought she might be freaked out by Bambi, but she was fine, and all talk of the killing of animals in Charlotte’s Web and Babe was not an issue with her either. She sometimes likes to cover her eyes, but also tells me that she is brave.
Another new phrase of hers is “give it to me straightaway” or “let’s do it straightaway when we get home”
She has been learning the value of money and she has been using the money in her piggybank to buy treats for her and Sammy. She was very proud to place a handfull of coins on the counter at Starbucks to buy a “special milk drink” for her and her brother.

She had me cracking up a few weeks ago when I had to take her to use a public restroom. I was hurrying her along as she was going to the bathroom with me in the room:
“are you almost done?”
“not yet, there is one little poopie left that doesn’t want to come out. I think it’s scared.”
(talking to poo) “Come on out little poopie, don’t be shy, it’s just my mommy”

She has also been saying
“It’s the exciting day of my life!” (said several times about different things, always omitting the “most” part)

We have been working on her having more responsibilities around the house and got a “good habits chart” for her room, where she gets to mark off the various things she should be doing every day. She gets to turn a little wheel when she tidies her room, or puts dirty clothes in the laundry, if she used good manners all day, ate healthy food, spent time with a book, brushed her teeth, and most importantly - going to bed on time. I told her I would give her a quarter to put in her piggy bank each day she could accomplish everything on the chart - I think she has done that once in the month we have had it (usually the bedtime cancels out all the other good stuff).

Sammy - has been super cute and sweet - and alternately super whiny and screamy and tantrumy. He has started singing a lot and loves to sing the ABC’s blended with twinkle twinkle, so it sound like “abdbqwq how i wonder what you are”.
He has been asking “what are you doing?” or more acurately - “mama, whadoing?” He loves playing games with Rosie like duck duck goose and tag, and will frequently be running around the coffee table, tapping us and saying “dut” or “tag, your’e it!”

He also loves singing all the songs on a Dora CD we have, his favorites being the boots song “I love my Boots!” and also “Isa turn the wheel” (from Dora’s pirate adventure) - he loves them both as his songs at bedtime and requests that we sing them over and over…
“Itsa turn the weel ‘gain mommy”
We also have a new bedtime tickle routine - he loves to be tickled and when I put him in bed and get ready to leave the room he calls out - “wait mom - tickle ‘gain!”

He is such a lover - still wanting to cuddle (or “cull” as he says) and hugging and saying “I love you”

He is always asking for (or usually- demanding) things and when I say no he asks “why mom?”

He recently started climbing out of his crib - so we are experimenting with a”big boy bed” - just a futon mattress on the floor. We have been back and forth because he keeps getting up and leaving his room when he is in his big bed, so sometimes he has to go back in his crib and then he usually will stay put and finally go to sleep.

He is repeating everything - if I say “let’s go upstairs” he says, “ok - less go upstairs”. If I say “go play with Rosie” he runs out of the room and says “Ok- go play Rosie”
He is so enthusiastic about everything - usually saying “Yep mom!” in response when I ask him something…
He usually wakes up before his sister and spends an hour or so asking “where rosie go?” and then he gets so excited when Rosie wakes up and says “Rosie wakey up!” and runs to her and hugs her and says “I love you Rosie”.

“how ’bout……” with a long pause - when asked what he wants to eat, or choosing anything…”dat one!”
He really wants to be big and to do all the big things his sister does, like when we get ready to go someplace, he needs to open his car door, and then close it, and climb into his seat by himself, and then buckle the top buckle in his carseat, all the things that add another 5 minutes to the “get out the door” routine…

We had a little family getaway to Chicago a couple weekends ago - we went on a boat cruise around the river, we went to Navy Pier and rode the carousel,

we went to millennium park and visited “the bean” and played in the fountain (it was HOT outside),


and we stopped by Lollapalooza and hung out mostly at the kidsapalooza area and watched the kids get punk rock hairdos and do some coloring and painting and other fun stuff.

The kids traveled pretty great and love being in a new place, especially sleeping in a new big fluffy hotel bed.

Lots more trips coming up in the next few months, Canada at the end of this month, and Florida in September.

I just read an excellent post about the “controversial” doll that breastfeeds - Bebe Gloton…

I am too lazy to put together such a well-thought out post right now - so please read THIS - courtesy of Crunchy Domestic Goddess…

Enjoy!

How can my little girl be 4 years old already? The baby who presented me with the gift of motherhood.

The quick and (dare I say) easy labor and delivery - 4.5 hours of “what the hell is happening oh my god I think I’m in labor” to “hi baby” (the first words I uttered as I looked into my little girl’s eyes).

The last few months her personality can be summed up as: me first, that’s mine, I get the bigger one, I get to pick, I get the first one.
She is head strong, independent, wanting to do things herself, and her own way - the quintessential first born attitude. She is demanding, frustrating, defiant - frequently crossing her arms and scowling “NO - I don’t want to!” when I ask her to do something. It has been a true test of patience for me and I am not proud to admit there has been a lot of yelling on my part lately. She fights bedtime every night - she just doesn’t want to go to sleep. We have found her kneeling under her open window, talking to her neighbor friends at 10 at night when she was supposed to be sleeping. The other night she told me that she was going to stay awake all night, she was never going to close her eyes. She said her room was boring. Then she took all her clothes out of her closet, and threw them in a pile in the middle of her room and said she was going to sleep on the pile of clothes. She has been REALLY difficult lately, but she does still have her cute and sweet moments too….

90% of the time, she is really good at sharing and being a good helper and big sister to Sammy. In fact, he is the one who refuses her attempts at “help” more often than not, and that is what makes her upset and angry. She loves speed, and excitement and action. She loves to go for walks in the stroller and have me run down the hills so she can feel like she is on a roller coaster. She loves to be pushed on the swing, and always wants to go higher and faster. The other day she said she wanted to go “two zero two fast” She also loves when Joe or I give her an “underdog” push, though she has adopted Joe’s backwards/opposite way of talking and calls it an “over cat”. She still loves learning and doing new things and knows when she is doing something new or saying something smart and she will comment - “isn’t that clever of me?” She loves dressing up as a princess, and playing house, playing with dolls and barbies, and playing pretend. She was playing “doctor” with her cousin Ari the other day, using the stethoscope I bought when I was pregnant with Sammy. Joe walked in the playroom and Rosie told him he had to leave, because they were playing doctor and “having a moment” as she put it. Yikes! I don’t think I am ready to deal with that yet…

She is such a smartie and always amazes me with the things she says. Just today she said that something would “certainly be a whole lot of fun”. She is still practicing reading and loves to spell and sound out words. She is working on adding and subtracting and can do pretty much any number plus or minus one…

She has been eating a ton lately, I think she is going through a growth spurt. She has been snacking all day long, luckily they are usually healthy snacks, fruit, craisins, carrots and hommous, granola bars, dry cereal, and her favorite foods are still beans and rice and mac and cheese. I was so tickled to see her picking up the individual macaroni pieces and threading them onto the tines of the fork before eating them, just like I remember doing in my youth (and up until not too long ago, to be honest).

We have been talking about her birthday non-stop, counting down the days, and basically celebrating it all month long already. She got presents at the beginning of the month from Aunt Judy and Aunt Elaine, she got presents on Sammy’s birthday, she got a ton of presents at the party we had with friends and neighbors over the weekend, and her big present she asked for from mommy and daddy is “a princess bike, one that won’t fall down”. As luck would have it, one of our awesome neighbors was cleaning out their garage a few weeks ago, and gave us a princess bike with training wheels that their daughter had outgrown - score! I spruced it up, touched up the paint, ordered a basket for the front and some new streamers for the handlebars and I am sure Rosie will love it! This birthday isn’t even over yet, and she is already planning her “five birthday” and has told me the cake she wants and started to come up with presents she wants already for the next year…

Oh my sweet baby girl. I don’t even have the words for the love I feel for you, nor do I have the words for the frustrations and anger I feel some days. I know she is still testing her boundaries and exploring her independence, but MAN I wish she would just go back to the sweet girl who would actually listen to me on occasion.

WOW - I can’t believe it was 2 years ago that my little boy was born.

The last 2 years have gone by in the blink of an eye. Sammy has grown so quickly from the chubby, cooing, smiling, sleeping all the time baby into a walking, talking, laughing, running, jumping, cuddling boy, who actually still sleeps pretty great (aside from a few off nights)!

I can still vividly recall the late night/early morning birth adventure that brought my sweet boy to this world. Sam’s birth was truly a lesson in trust. Trust in my body. Trust in the universe. Trust in my awesome midwife. Trust in my baby. The knowledge that he was stuck and needed some additional maneuvering to fully enter this world could have and probably should have brought panic into my mind and thoughts, yet I was strangely calm throughout. I somehow just knew that everything would be alright. Moving out of the bathtub, getting on my hands and knees, putting my head down on the cold tile floor and PUSHING and GRUNTING with all my might, and still needing the midwife to grab onto his torso and pull him from my womb. He didn’t seem to want to leave my body, and he still is such a mama’s boy, needing me to hold him, carry him, cuddle him, and lately, wanting to sit on my lap at mealtimes.

We are becoming accustomed to dealing with the fierce independent streak he is showing. He is still a great (and loud) tantrum thrower, lying on the ground, kicking and screaming, throwing things, the usual tantrum stuff. Tantrums that crop up at the mere mention of “no” - he HATES being told that he can’t do or have something. He is such a sensitive little man, as I can usually thwart the tantrum by asking “do you want to cuddle with mommy?” and he will say “yeah, cull mommy” and climb up on my lap, bury his head in my shoulder, and dry his tears and calm down. He has also been fighting sleep at naptime and bedtime a bit lately, maybe because I am limiting nursing, trying to move to just rocking before bed.

In the last month, he has had a true language explosion, he repeats everything, he speaks in 4-5 word sentences, he tries to sing. He loves pointing out things, I think just to prove to me (and himself) that he knows the words. He says things like “mama, excuse me, open please”. He tries to do everything his sister does. He will get a cup out of the lower cabinet where we keep all the kids cups and plates and etc. and he tries to get water out of the dispenser on the front of the fridge. He can’t quite reach the water lever, but he can reach the ice one, so several times a day we have ice cubes melting on the kitchen floor from his attempts. He loves cars, and trains, and trucks, typical boy stuff. When we are driving in the car, he loves to point out every truck we pass - “mama, big truck”. Even when eating watermelon the other day, he took a rectangular chunk of watermelon, took a bite out, and he decided it looked like a train engine - and so he said “choo choo” and pushed his watermelon chunk around on the table.

He tries to count, but it usually sounds like “1, 2, 3, 10!” He tries to sing the ABC’s and it usually sounds like “ABD, FD, H, KOP, Q, S, T, W, Y, Z”. He loves to jump in the pool, and can spend hours saying “1, 2, 3 jump” and jumping into my arms and then kicking over (with my help) to the stairs and climbing up and doing it all over again. He loves playing in the play kitchen, and pretending to make food and eat it or give it to me to eat. He is getting good at doing a few puzzles we have, putting the letters in place where they go on top of the pictures, he knows W goes on the whale, and etc. and he is starting to know his shapes and colors. He still loves to imitate his big sister, and will do or say anything she does or says.

He is such a joy, his laugh can light up a room. He loves to tickle and be tickled. Every night after his bath he runs away, naked and wet and climbs up on my bed and waits to be tickled. He is silly, and smart, and sweet, and stubborn all at the same time. He is my boy, and he is two years old, and I am so lucky.

and today…

Happy Birthday (Birth Month) to me! It has been a great month, the weather is beautiful, and summer is just around the corner!

The kids have been enjoying popsicles and playing with the neighbor kids on their playstructures.

Sammy has become a real talker in the last month. He repeats EVERYTHING, and though it is not always perfectly understandable, he definitely communicates and speaks in short sentences now. When we are driving in the car or reading books, he is constantly interrupting to point things out - “MAMA - Air-pane” “Mama - truck” - “MAMA - cloud” etc.
He asks for things politely “mama, mo buberry peese” (he still signs “more” with a kind of clapping motion) and when I give him something he says “taynk ooo”. He is also becoming bi-lingual thanks to Dora and Diego, he says “abre” when he wants me to open a door or something for him. He is always saying “I do it!” or “I did it!” When he jumps or climbs or does something. He has been liking doing puzzles lately, and I am working on getting him to help clean up. Whenever he spills something (which is several times a day), he immediately runs to grab a towel or the broom and dustpan, saying “keen, keen”. He is starting to sing the “clean up, clean up, everybody clean up” song with me and he is trying to sing along whenever Rosie sings lately too…

He is so friendly, he says Hi and Bye Bye to everyone. A few days ago, we were taking a walk through the neighborhood, and Sammy was sitting in the stroller like the grand marshall of a parade, constantly waving and saying “Hello” to everyone we passed. He loves to be silly, and make people laugh - his latest thing is putting his food or fork on his head when he is eating - he thinks it is hilarious!

He is obsessed with pushing in chairs at the table. He will climb up in his chair and say “mama, puuuuush” until I push him in - and if I sit next to him and don’t scoot my chair up to the table, he will make a pushing motion with his arm toward me and say “mama, puuuush” until I push my chair up to the table as well.

He is still throwing tantrums when he doesn’t get his way, but he is a little more gentle about it now, instead of throwing himself on the floor, he will gently lie down on his belly and put his head in his hands and whine for a few minutes, then he gets up and is usually fine. He will also do his pouty face, where he looks down, sticks his lips out, breathes heavily through his nose, and looks up at me with just his eyes. It is so cute, I want to capture it on video. He has been throwing things lately when he is upset too, food or toys or whatever, so I have been really trying to stop that behavior before it gets worse.

He idolizes his big sister and wants to do whatever she does (even wanting to put barrettes in his hair too). He still sits on the potty occasionally (with his pants and diaper on), usually whenever Rosie goes to the bathroom. Sometimes I will take his pants and diaper off and let him sit for a little bit. He hasn’t actually gone on the potty yet, but he likes to pretend to wipe, flush and then wash his hands after, so at least he is getting used to the routine. Just in the last few days, he has started a funny thing copying his sister. When Rosie goes poop, she usually needs help wiping, so she will yell out to me “MOM - I’m ready to wipe!”. I think Sammy just thinks this is what you say when you are sitting on the toilet, because he has gone and sat on the potty (in his clothes) and yelled out “MAMA - RAY WY!” a few times this week.
He tends to run all his words together - so “carry me please mommy” sounds like “cayemepesemommy”

He is still a great sleeper and I can pretty much count on 3 hour naps in the afternoon, and 12 hours at night. He is down to nursing only at naptime and bedtime and I am hoping to make the transition to weaning as smooth as possible.

Rosie is in full-on princess world now. I don’t know how it happened, but all of a sudden - she wants to read princess books, watch princess movies from the library, wear princess clothes - etc. She even knows the Disney logo - so if we see something in the store, she says “look mommy, its from DISNEY!”. I think we are going to have to give in and make our first trip to take her to Disney World next time we go down to visit Gigi in Florida. I got a “Birthday Express” catalog in the mail of kids “themed” birthday supplies (matching cups, plates, napkins, gift bags, favors, cake toppers, etc.) and she has been going through to pick out what she wanted for her party and she of course picked out the Princess theme and is set on getting a Princess cake for her birthday. She talks about her birthday every day and asks me how many more days until her birthday.

She is so smart and inquisitive, always asking questions and wanting to learn new things. She has been playing a lot of games on her dad’s iphone and choosing the missing letter in words, she has been sounding out everything, and just for fun, I wanted to see if she could read a couple nights ago. I took a notebook and wrote “MOM” on it and showed it to her and asked her if she could read what it said - she sounded out “mmmmah - aaaaah - mah” and then said ” MOM!” I told her - “you did it - you can read!” and she was so excited - she said “do another one” so I wrote a few more words, she read Dad, Cat, Bat, Hat, and a few others before she got bored of it…

She also loves to play games. Her latest is learning how to play games like Rock, Paper, Scissors. She thinks it is so fun - she learned it from the older kids at her school, along with something called “who didn’t come from the barnyard” which I guess is kind of like an “eeny meeny miny moe” kind of thing…

She is always making cute, smart, funny and really thought-provoking observations. Some recent ones:

Driving through 2 traffic circles back-to-back near our house “Hey, mommy - those traffic circles are like an 8!”

Driving past a convertible on the road “Hey mommy, that car doesn’t have a lid on it!”

Noticing her name “Rosemary” on her school bag - her teacher told me she started spelling it “R, O, S, E, M - hey - that doesn’t say Rosie?” and the teacher explained that it says “Rosemary” and Rosie said - “Yeah - that’s my name, and Rosie’s my half-name”.

She is a big nature lover, and we have been spending a lot of time outdoors, collecting ladybugs, caterpillars, and worms for the garden. She brought her little ladybug friend, named Lilac, to school the last week of school to show her teacher and classmates, as they were studying caterpillars and tadpoles and other little creatures. Then we had to let the ladybug go, I told her that 4 days was the rule, then the ladybug had to go home to her family.

Rosie has been really good about sharing with her brother, teaching him to share, helping, pushing his chair in, holding his hand when crossing the street, etc. It is so cute and I can see how they are going to protect each other as they get older. I can’t believe next month they will be 2 and 4!