Ooh Wow Yites!

"Ooh Wow Yites!" Is what we hear an awful lot of these days when driving around at night. Never mind that we're purposely going the long way home each night so that Bubba can see the "yites." As I type this the current temperature is -3 Fahrenheit with a wind chill of-36. Brr! We only went out once today and that was just to drop the kids off at Nana's house so we could do a little stocking stuffer shopping at Target sans kiddos. Let me tell you how hard it is to find Crayola Spin toothbrushes in green & purple. Anyway, we found them. Apparently we received a phone call at the house from Gram to see if we were foolish enough to brave the cold. At the time, no. Me & the kiddos were snuggled in here at the house for nap time while Robert went out for a haircut & errand running. Charlotte got a lovely and restful 2.5 hour nap while Ian took only 45 minutes. Boy is he a stinker when those days hit.

Ian is absolutely being a toddler. One minute he's happy as a clam and dancing around the house and the next minute he tries to scratch your face. There were two time outs today for scratching. He can't stand time outs because we ignore him during that whole minute (one minute for each year) and surely that one minute where he's not the center of attention is very devastating. We know that he and another little girl at daycare got into a scuffle and ended up scratching each other's faces. Ah, the fun things kids learn. Guess he has to learn how to defend himself somewhere. I just wish he wouldn't use us to practice his skills. Today we caught him pulling Charlotte around by her ear. Oh, don't you worry...she was definitely protesting!

Today was a particularly good picture day for Charlotte. She was just so adorable this morning and very amenable to me having the lens in her face, so this week's installment is very Charlotte-centric. The ones of Ian are funny though. We bought him a new fleece hat because his hats from last year don't even cover his ears and we've already lost the one that did fit him - somewhere. Probably stashed in his cubby at daycare. We knew the temps were going to plummet this weekend though, so we got him a new one Saturday. He's got a big noggin so we had to shop the little boys department rather than the toddlers. This morning, Ian was quite insistent on wearing that hat and it's on his head exactly as he put it there and would not allow any adjustments for the sake of photographer editorial rights or any other reason for that matter! Enjoy the pics.

This one was taken in November. I had the infant seat out because I was cleaning it up for a friend and the kids decided to play in it. They really do love each other even though they don't always show it.

My little hat guy.

He looks like a little beatnik, huh?

Or Dr. Seuss-ish?

Pardon breakfast visible on the front of his shirt.

Not looking very happy, but she looks so much like her Aunt Elaine in this shot.

Snuggle bug.

Laughing and running.

Her back is up against the cold front storm door. Not quite sure why she loved that, but it entertained her for a good 30 minutes.

She's learning the sign for "cold" and she thinks its funny. This is typically her reaction.

Her tongue has always been out. From the very first day.

Sending only good wishes,

Laura & crew

Happy Birthday Charlotte!

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY CHARLOTTE!

There was lots to do to prepare for celebrating Charlotte's 1st birthday. As she's been very interested in penguins lately we went for a penguin theme. She about comes unglued when Happy Feet is on the television. The pics to the left are the t-shirts I appliqued for the event. Ian's is a tie and Charlotte's is a 'C' with felt flowers. A kid has to be well dressed for a party!

Friday we took the little miss in for her 12-month well baby visit. She received 3 shots and did pretty darn good considering. She's now 19# 1oz and measures 30" long which puts her in the 25% for weight and the 75% for height. She's long & lean. She's squarely fitting into 12 month clothes and wearing a toddler size 3 shoes. The docs can make predictions about their adult sizes and all we typically hear from Dr. Jen is that she'll be long & lean. Guess Gram's prediction on that was right.

Charlotte is now completely off formula and drinking whole milk. She get one bottle a day and the rest of the time takes sippy cups. She drowns herself in them for now, but you have to start somewhere. She eats mostly table food and is very much into feeding herself. If we try to feed her she bats our hands out of the way. She's very fast about it too and food ends up on the floor a lot. We now understand the virtues of having a family dog. Not that we're about to go get one but we wonder if the neighbors would mind if we just let their dog in our house after meals. Something to consider.

Of course, no 1st birthday party is complete without a free-for-all on birthday cake. Charlotte did not disappoint us. She got cake up her nose, in her hair, on the floor, and smooshed into the crevices of her neck. Both kids were both pretty oblivious to what was going on and had a good time. It's not like either of them had no one to play with them.

So to update on other stuff - Thursday we spent Thanksgiving at my sister's house. There was a ton of food! I think they'll have leftovers for weeks and their kids will revolt soon. Ian had a good time playing with everyone and as long as Charlotte could walk around with her stuffed penguin and her paci she was perfectly content. Friday, we all went down to Cherry Creek Mall for the Christmas Tree lighting. Ian really enjoyed hearing the Christmas Carols and just about came unglued when some big guy in a red & white fuzzy suit came out with a real live reindeer! I'm pretty sure he was more excited about the reindeer. He says, "Tanta" for Santa. Pretty darn close for a kid that's not even two yet. Charlotte was still oblivious to all of the holiday hub-bub. She does however enjoy the lights. Especially when Ian gets all excited and yells "Yites" as he points to the holiday lights. The yelling is usually so loud that is surprises even us! ;)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Now, onto Christmas.

Love,

Laura