Monkey Monkey Underpants: 2011

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

And the dogs save the day!

See this?

Yes, that is a clean floor. A clean floor! What's the big deal, you ask? The big deal is that I have a 3 year old and a 2 year old and THIS does not exist in my universe!

Earlier today the dogs ate one of their toys and they were pretty upset. I warned them that the dogs love eating toys and that if they leave them out, that's what will happen. So of course before nap time they picked up each and every single toy off the floor to make sure that the dogs wouldn't eat them while they were napping.

Thanks dogs for actually being useful for once!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Dear Rafael

Happy birthday Rafael! 2 years old already? This year you have grown so much; changing from an adorable newly-toddling baby to an independent little boy with an amazing personality. I love that you have turned into my little jokester, doing everything you can to make people smile and laugh. Your little smile and your chuckle can diffuse any tense situation, and you always seem to know when I could use a good laugh.

Of course you are as full of trouble as you are of laughter! You are like a little tornado running through my house! It takes you mere seconds to destroy a perfectly tidy room and you seem to have a knack for trying to kill yourself, like when you jump off the arms of the couch gleefully. You are becoming so independent and are starting to want to do things, like getting yourself water from the refrigerator, all by yourself.

At the same time, you are intensely dependent on your sister. She is your absolute best friend and you always want to do exactly what she's doing. You love doing "school" with her - and are constantly following her around and enjoying your playtime with her.

I am so proud to see how much you've grown this year, and I can't wait to see what another year brings!

*I found this in the unfinished posts folder and am just now publishing it several months later. Oops! Sorry kiddo!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Dejavu

A couple of years ago my then 1yr old daughter used to have THE. WORST. TANTRUMS. Like so bad that she would make herself throw up. I shudder to remember those days and am SO glad that Rafael has not hit that level of extreme tantruming (and knock on wood never will). Maybe partly because I was a new mom with Michaela and would never dream of diffusing a tantrum with bribery, whereas now that's the first resort with Rafael!

Anyways, Michaela. Tantrums. They always used to happen when there was a change in routine, however slight. Maybe I told her we were going home but forgot I needed something from the grocery store and so she would FLIP out. Or maybe I forgot to give her a 10 minute warning at playgroup and tried to just leave. Whatever it was, it made her very unhappy. Well the last few days these wonderful things seem to be re-emerging. At almost 4!!!!!!!

Like yesterday when we went to the Dollar Store and there were no carts left. She was pissed and threw herself on the ground screaming "I want a cart!" No amount of hissing that she was too old to act that way, or there's no carts left, or cut it out this second or so help me I will give you something to cry about's helped in the slightest. Rafael is still too easily distracted to walk in a parking lot so I ended up having to hold him in one arm while I literally dragged Michaela out the door and back to our car with the other arm. I drove straight home in a rage and put her in quiet time/nap time without any lunch.

Of course, I can't stay angry at her for long because she always apologizes so quickly! I heard her knocking on her little door and she told me that she was sorry that she yelled at me and that what she did was not very nice. Sigh. How could I stay mad after that? Of course, I'm sure she's playing me just to get her sentence reduced. Don't laugh, yes a 3 1/2yr old is perfectly capable of being that conniving.

I'm hoping she's off her game because she's been sick (possible allergies), because if she reverts back to that stage right now, I am just not going to make it!

Estrogen

So...the baby's a girl! We think. Because for insurance purposes we had to use the crappy in-office ultrasound machine instead of the nice fancy 3D one that people usually get. But seriously, I don't know what poor Rafael is going to do with even MORE estrogen in this house!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Update

Other than the post about my brother-in-law's wedding, I took a break off from blogging this summer. So what have we been up to? Not much! We took the summer pretty easy. In case you didn't notice the new ticker at the top of the blog, we're expecting our third baby! It's due Feb. 15th and we will have our ultrasound to find out the gender on October 5th! Philip is back at work and taking his PhD classes, and I've started up home Tot School and Preschool with the kiddos again. Here's an update on the kids:

Michaela:

She's a big girl! She does NOT stop talking and is constantly asking "why". It was cute at first. Not so much after the 50th billionth time....in an hour.

She's an absolute love. She constantly tells me that she loves me and asks for "mouth kisses". At bedtime earlier this year I taught her about "butterfly" and "eskimo" kisses (eyelash and nose) and ever since then, she must have kisses all over her face every night.

She seems to have (mostly) gotten her temper under control. She still has occasional bouts, but gone are the days of the kicking screaming tantrum. Mostly when she gets in trouble it's because she talks back to me or tells me no. Fortunately she is really quick to apologize after a quick trip to time out!

She is obsessed with ballet. Like, OBSESSED. It all started when she fell in love with Angelina Ballerina. She started ballet at the local community center a couple weeks ago and loves it.

Doing a Butterfly Dance in Ballet

Her best friend is my good friend Jen's little girl Sierra. Every time she sees her she runs to her and gives her a HUGE hug. They're in ballet together too, which is awesome.

Best friends!

She loves her little brother. She won't let me get him out of his pack n play in the morning without her. She has to be the first to say good morning and give him hugs and kisses.

She also gets super annoyed with her little brother. Most days are split between them being overly lovey together, and them fighting like cats and dogs.

She has requested that the new baby be a sister.

Rafael:

What a joker! He loooooves to hear his sister laugh so he has started going out of his way to make her laugh. His favorite methods of joking around are hitting himself in the head or putting his fingers in his mouth to make a silly face.

He's almost 2. Mommies, you know what this means. TANTRUMS! It's his way or the highway. Not fun, but all in all, less intense that Michaela was at this age. At least he hasn't made himself throw up yet!

He is a boy. As in he loves making messes, playing with rucks, making noises for everything, going a billion miles a minute. You know, all the stereotypical boy traits. But....he's also a little brother to a big sister. Which means he loves wearing tutu's, playing with barbies, etc.

Having a Tea Party with his Curious George

I was worried for a short time because he still wasn't talking about a month ago, but ever since we started doing Tot School, his language has exploded! He went from having less than 10 words a couple of weeks ago to over 30 at this point!

He's a love too. He loves to cuddle with mama (except when he's trying to play) and is constantly giving his sister kisses. On a side note, he calls her "mama" too. :)

He has a best friend too. Sierra's little sister Chloe. They fight sometimes too, but since Jen and I have already pre-arranged their marriage, it's totally expected.

He is insanely mischievous. He knows this and has developed a ridiculously adorable smile when he's either about to or in the middle of doing something he knows he's not supposed to do. It's really hard to get mad at him when he smiles like that!