Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Bumbo!

As many of you know, those squishy infant Bumbo chairs have been recalled. It seems that quite a few overactive munchkins managed to throw the chair overbackwards and crack their skulls open. But that doesn't mean you can't still put your Bumbo to good use. Our clever household has managed to find a couple of very safe uses for this item.



"Look at me. I am a turtle" (actual quote)



"Give me your palm and I will tell your fortune." (not an actual quote)



Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Overheard

"Little Miss Muffin sat on a tuffin...."
***

"I need my light on. Somebody turn on la luz."
"Can I have agua in bed?"
***

(holding a no-longer functional mouse) "I am going to do computering."
***

Mac: "Megan look at the big luna (moon)" (yes, we are pushing Spanish)
Meg: It's a half-circle.
Mac: That's right!
Megan: Where's the other half?
***

While Liam was crying: "Is Liam frustrated?"
***
(my sister sarah spent Thanksgiving with us with her 1 y.o. daughter Brooke. Her husband is serving in Iraq)
Sarah (to Megan): Do you want to help me write a letter to Uncle Bryan.
Megan: Yah...I want to write an 'L'.



Saturday, November 24, 2007

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dawned bright and sunny (but COLD!). As Megan woke up I asked her what day it was.
"Thursday" was her reply in a very knowing voice.
Yes, I assured her, but it is also a special holiday. Do you know what holiday it is?
"Halloween!" she stated excitedly.
No, I told her. It was Thanksgiving and it was a special day where I didn't have to go to work and we were going to have a big dinner with Auntie Sarah and Cousin Brooke.

"Is there candy?" she asked hopefully. What a bummer of a holiday compared to Halloween!!


Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Thanksgiving Entertainment

Mr. Turkey (2.2 MB .avi)

Giving Thanks, two-year old style

Monday, our dinnertime conversation came around to Thanksgiving. Megan indicated that her preschool curriculum did not include an overview of this event, so I attempted to explain this holiday in terms a two year old would understand: "Megan, Thursday is a special day, where you don't go to preschool and I don't have to go to work. Instead, we stay home and have a special dinner with our family and Auntie Sarah and Cousin Brooke are going to be here, too. And then we say Thank you for all the nice things we have. I am thankful for my nice family, because our family has two great kids and a great Daddy. What nice thing do you have that you want to say thank you for?"

Meg: "My train!"
Me: "And what do we have that is really special to us?" (I thought she might just say Liam)
Meg: "Cariboo!"

Happy Thanksgiving, whatever your blessings may be!

(Side note: I see in the Amazon description of Cariboo that kids get to practice taking turns. As far as I am concerned, the best thing about the game is that Megan is happy taking all of the turns herself and so after setting it up you can pretty much zone out, read a book or watch TV, and she entertains herself for the next ten minutes. I promise I do play the game with her some, but how many times do you think I want to match colors and letters in one day?? Besides Megan has the whole board memorized, so she doesn't even use counting or reading skills anymore to play. So instead of teaching taking turns, think of it as teaching independence.)

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

First School Pics...


...Make me feel...



...OLD!


Saturday, November 17, 2007

Monday, November 12, 2007

Why ask Why?

About a month ago, "Why?" entered into Megan's vernacular. At the time we noted it as a mildly interesting development at best. But now, we're thinking it is just about the most annoying thing ever, as our nearly every statement is followed by a probing "Why?"

For instance, last night one of Megan's songs sparked an idea in Megan for dessert. The conversation might not have been all that nerve-wrenching if we hadn't had at least a dozen similar conversations earlier in the day.
M: Can I have brownies for dessert?
P: No, Meggie, we don't have any.
M: Why?
P: We didn't buy any at the grocery store.
M: Why?
P: I guess we forgot. (This seemed easier than telling her we don't want her to eat lots of sugar. She seemed to buy it because she didn't respond with a 'why').
M: Can we go to the gross-ry store and buy some?
P: No, honey, it's too late.
M: why?
In my head, I am contemplating shouting,"Because the earth's daily rotation has moved us to a point that is hidden from the sun, which causes it to be dark, and as the hours of darkness tick by, the day becomes late. NOW DON"T FRICKIN' ASK ME WHY AGAIN!" but instead I just say,"Because it is almost bedtime." For a split second I brace myself for another "why?" but Megan thankfully is ready to move on.


Megan is also liberally using, "usually," "belongs," and "nevermind" these days. And by liberally, I mean way too much. The former two Megan uses in a really parental way, which I don't really like, because I am the parent!
"We usually don't stand on chairs." and "We usually don't stand on the bed." Megan informed me, when I just so happened to be standing in said places. "Liam usually likes peas," she told me, as I was trying to get Liam to eat squash. "Shoes don't belong on the desk" she said, as she saw my shoes right at her eye level.

"Nevermind" Megan has decided is a perfect synonym for 'no' and so is still a bit awkward from her.
P: Do you want some more milk?
M: Nevermind.

P: Do you want to kiss Liam goodnight?
M: No. Nevermind.

I guess I should ask her Why?



Sunday, November 11, 2007

Blind-sighted

After a rousing rendition of "Three blind mice" I decided to take a learning opportunity and explain to Megan about blindness. "Megan, blind means you can't see. These three mice can't see where they are going and so they are blind mice." Time to expand the point into an anotomy lesson. "Megan, what do you use to see with?" (yeah, it wasn't a grammar lesson).

Megan answered without hesitation: "Binoc-lars" (binnoculars).

"And also your eyes." I tell her as we laugh. The lesson is obviously over and she is ready to be silly. "Can you sing two blind mice?" she asks. And so I go through the song again, only this time with one less ocularly-impaired rodent. As I finish Megan gets very serious,"What happened to the other one??"

Friday, November 9, 2007

The boys

Even though people keep saying Liam looks like Mac, I had a hard time seeing it. But not in this photo. I can make out all the similar head features. Fortunately, Liam doesn't have the same dorky expression!




Tuesday, November 6, 2007

He Crawls

Sort of. (4.7 MB .avi)

Bad Hair Life

I thought Megan had it bad when she inherited my grows-straight-forward-always-in-your-face hair. But it is nothing compared to Liam, who seems to be destined for a bad hair life. Liam has bilateral cowlicks which spin in opposite directions resulting in an upright mohawk ridge in the center.






Rock on, Dudes!

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Megan's Family picture

Inspired by Lisa's great posts of Albert's latest works, I decided to post Megan's masterpiece. I realize this isn't anywhere near as good without a scanner, but you get the idea. For the last two months Megan has actually been drawing, usually "happy babies" and "sad babies" or rainbows. But this one, she informed me, is "Liam, Mommy and Megan." The anatomy could use some help, but she's got great use of scale!






Friday, November 2, 2007

Kids photo op

Megan wanted to sit with Liam on the couch today - a perfect opportunity to get a photo of the kids together. Yeah, right!









I got two more pictures, both of which were at least partly blurry, before Liam threatening to fling himself off the couch and Megan got bored of sitting next to Mr. Squimsalot.


Thursday, November 1, 2007

Halloween

By the time Halloween rolled around, Mac and I were both suffering from some serious inadequate parent guilt. I had been telling Megan we'd carve pumpkins for three days, but we still hadn't gotten around to it. And Mac forgot to send Megan to school in a costume for the Halloween party the day before.

So by Halloween, we were ready to put forth some serious Halloween-is-going-to-rock effort. In the afternoon, Mac dressed Megan up and took her to a local park Halloween fest, where Megan pretty much shied away from all the activities. When I got home from work, dammit, you better believe we were carving a pumpkin. Megan spent te entire time waiting to get out the paint to make a face. My "Ta-da! it's a Jack-o-lantern!" was met with a completely non-plussed stare and another inquiry about the paint. In the end, I let Megan paint two of the birdhouse gourds from our garden. She did get a bit more enthusiastic over Jack when she learned she got to blow out the candle.



Later we drove to a small neighborhood and hit about ten houses. I was surprised that Megan was more excited about ringing doorbells than getting candy. The activity was a good social exercise for Megan, who did a great job answering questions about her name, costume, age, etc. and with dispensing the niceties such as thank you and happy Halloween (with a few cues). Plus Megan was very impressed by all the new construction houses. At every stop, Megan would comment,"This is a nice house." or "This is a nice plant" or the ultimate compliment,"This is a nice doorbell."



Our parenting guilt was assuaged by our high blood sugar levels at the end of the night!