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

Welcome to October! Here’s what my 3 year old and 15 month old are up to….

Rosie, my demanding, headstrong firstborn child, is currently obsessed with being first. She wants to be first in and out the door, first up and down the stairs (instructing Joe and I to wait for her until she is all the way up or down before we can start on the stairs) first to get in or out of the car, etc. It can get tedious to accommodate her every time, but at least she is asking nicely now “mommy, can I please go down the stairs first” - instead of how she was screaming “Nooooooo I wanted to go FIRST!” so it makes it easier to go along with it when she asks politely.

She is still doing the hide under the blanket routine at bedtime, and now several times throughout the day she will say - “mommy, you losed me” prompting me to say “oh no, I lost Rosie, where could she be” and start the game of looking for her. She has recently added a new part of the bedtime routine. After Joe reads her a book or two, she usually requests I come in to sing her a song, it is always “rock a bye baby” but if I start singing it right off the bat - she whines “no, don’t sing that song” and then when I ask her what song she wants, she pouts and says “rock a bye baby”. She also likes to pretend to fall asleep — and makes pretend snoring sounds “just like daddy” while I am singing to her…

It is getting a little frustrating and time consuming to play along with all her little stipulations every night. She is such a creature of habit, the girl loves her routine. I have to watch what I say now, because if I say something once, like “hop in sweetie pie” when we are getting in the car, then I have to say it every time we get in the car now or she says “you forgot to say hop in sweetie pie”. She loves competition, and will bend the rules to have her way and win “first surprise” as she says. When we play “I spy” in the car now, she sometimes disputes our color, telling Joe or me “No, you need to say RED!” And sometimes she gives a little too much information - like saying “I spy, with my little eye, something pink in the car and it is what I am wearing on my legs” and when I guess, “um, is it your pants?” she says - “yes! mommy you got it, you are one smart cookie!”.

She has been doing a weird thing when I take a photo of her now, she hunches down and poses really strangely, usually with one arm out and her head upside down, and when I ask her what she is doing she makes up a name for the pose. It is pretty funny. We have been struggling a bit with having her keep her clothes on, she especially likes to take off her jammies (jams) and her pull-up at night. She used to stay dry all night, but lately has been peeing a lot, so when she takes her pull-up off, it usually means we have to change the sheets on her bed.

She is always on the move and wanting to do something active. She loves to play catch and jump off everything and show me how fast she can run. She puts her shoes on and tells me which ones are her good “running shoes”. I hear “mommy, watch me, mom, watch, mommy, watch me, watch this, mom, watch how I can jump” at least 50 times a day.

Sammy is talking a bit more, attempting to repeat a lot of words, but still not really consistent or understandable with his language. He is getting the tone and inflection correct, even if the consonants and vowels are off - he was trying to say “Go Blue!” (mimicking Rosie) the other day, and it sounded more like “ga dah!” I really need to start making more of an effort to spend some one-on-one time with him and read to him and talk to him more to try to help him learn words.

He has 12 teeth (and has had a full mouth of teeth for a while) and he is currently working on #’s 13 and 14. He is still a screamer, and gets really cranky if he doesn’t get his naps when he needs them, needing a total of at least 3 hours at some point in the day or he is unbearable. He is an awesome sleeper and is happily in bed by 7:30 every night - he starts to melt down shortly after that time if he is still awake. He loves to play chase and tackle with his sister (when she remembers to be gentle) and really loves climbing on me when I attempt to do a little yoga. He has been doing this really cute kind of laid back lounge thing lately, where he will climb up on the couch, chair, or bed and he will lean back on the pillows and spread his legs, put his hands on his belly, and smile and just relax. It is pretty damn cute.

He also likes to help out, and loves to hand me things so I say “thank you” and then he says “tee to” back to me and grins and is so pleased with himself. He also likes to do this when I am going to the bathroom, he follows me in (of course you lose all privacy when you are a mom) and he will rip off a tiny piece of toilet paper and hand it to me and he thinks he is such a big helper, he giggles and smiles. He has been waving and saying “Hi” to everyone lately, he will flirt and wave to the waitresses at restaurants, people in the grocery store, saying “Hi” over and over to the same people, I think he is really starting to realize he can communicate with people and it makes him so happy. Other words he has been saying (or attempting to say) - Tree (tee) open (op) apple (apm) down (dow) and dude (duu).

We are excited that the fall season is here, and we have already made a couple trips to Yates Cider Mill, just down the street a few miles from our house. They have a great trail right near the Clinton River, a petting zoo of sorts so the kids can feed goats and etc. and a pony ride tent. We love to go and get some fresh cider and donuts and walk along the river.


That’s pretty much it for this month - we are excited to celebrate Halloween and Joe’s 40th birthday at the end of the month!