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

Well, it’s been busy around here, what with all the birthdays and weddings and travel and all, but things have finally settled down and I can’t believe we are halfway done with a new month already! Here are some photos from the birthday celebration - and some news on what’s up with my 13 month old and my 37 month old.

We had a mellow get-together at the house for their birthdays - just some family and close friends, we rented a bouncey house for the backyard and had a pinata filled with dollar store goodies and fruit leather that seemed to be a big hit (pun intended). I made homemade cupcakes (with the help of organic cake mixes) and a small individual bundt cake/cupcake for each kid . Rosie’s was strawberry with strawberry cream cheese icing (as requested) and Sammy got chocolate with vanilla icing.

They got a TON of presents and I have actually hidden some away, to dole out at a later date.

Rosie has been quite a handful, alternating between being super sweet and smart and helpful and funny, and then bursting into tears and being bratty and whiny and defiant. The things she has been saying a lot lately are “I just need a little attention”, “I just need to cry a little”, “I just don’t want you to talk”, “I just don’t want you to smile”, “I just don’t want Sammy to look at me”, “I just don’t want to go to sleep”. Her imagination has been on overdrive - she likes to pretend to be a kitty, she loves making up games and songs and dances. She wants to control EVERYTHING, I have been calling her Mary, Mary quite contrary as she always wants to do the opposite of what we say or suggest.

Sam has started to talk a lot more, saying mama and dada, along with: up, all done (uhn), dropping things and saying uh-oh (said in a really deep grunting way), waving and saying hi (in a high sing-songy way), signing and saying nurse “nuh-nuh” (not sure this really means nurse or night-night or both), pointing to diaper and saying something like “dida” or “umpa”. He has started to throw a mild kind of tantrum when he is cranky and tired. He will be whining and crying over something (usually when I take something from him like Rosie’s scissors or take a crayon or pennies out of his mouth) and he will scream and cry and lie down on his side on the floor and give me a look like “see how sad you made me”. I don’t know if the lying down part is because of his being tired, or if that is just to demonstrate how distraught he is - but it is pretty cute.

He is attempting to eat a lot more, but still chews and spits out most of what goes in his mouth (making mealtimes a HUGE mess). He has been practicing and is getting really good at using a fork and spoon. He loves giving kisses- if I purse my lips and make a kissing noise, he comes up and plants his open mouth right on top of mine. He has been climbing EVERYTHING. He climbs up on Rosie’s chair and then onto the kitchen table, he climbs every toy, he climbs up on the back of the couch, he climbs the playstructure in the backyard and knows how to go down the slide (on his belly), he climbs up and down the stairs (he knows to turn around and climb backwards). He is fearless and would climb right off the edge of the big playstructures at the park if I didn’t re-direct him.

The sleeping situations have changed yet again. Rosie is back to wanting nothing to do with sleep, protesting both naptime and bedtime. Sammy seems like he is getting ready to lose his morning nap, as it is increasingly harder to get him down in the morning, even when he is obviously tired. Though he is sleeping much longer and better at night, going down around 7:30-8pm and waking to nurse usually only once, anytime between midnight and 4am.

Rosie and Sam are playing together much more now. Rosie still gets irritated with her little brother and goes through periods where she doesn’t want to share, but for the most part - they get along pretty well. I love hearing them chase each other and play and laugh. It makes all the chaos and stress so worthwhile.

We will be making one more trip at the end of this month, down to Florida to visit GiGi (and for Joe and I to celebrate our anniversary). Then, hopefully we can be homebodies for a while and just relax as we head into the fall.