For Safety's sake

The gate by the stairs fell down yesterday and I, inexplicably, didn't put it back up right away. Then I sat down for 2.2 seconds to help Isaac with something and when I looked up I noticed that Gracie was gone. Of course I knew right away where she was. But I couldn't see her from where I was standing so I immediately thought that she must be up near the top, where the stairs turn the corner and are really really steep. The part where she always slips when I let her crawl up ahead of me (with my hands on her the whole time of course). So I sprinted for the stairs, all the while in the midst of a heart-attack. Before I could reach the top though, I heard a sound over the baby monitor. It was Gracie, playing happily in our bedroom (yes we still share). When she saw me, she gave me such a proud (and also impish) smile. I'm glad she was so happy because there goes another year off of my life!
Isaac, apparently, is trying to make up for the years he's shaved off of my life expectancy. I had taken out a bottle of cleaner and left it on the dining room table for later use. But Isaac spotted it and said to me, "Those are chemicals Mama. I don't want you to touch them."
Now that's advice that I don't mind taking!

Lights, camera, action, Wiggles!

Isaac's dear Nana got him a "Wiggles" dvd. I'm not sure that we needed to have the "Wiggles" in our lives. It was good strategy on Nana's part though, if she's wanting to spend more time with the kids. I mean, Hubby is going to need lots of help with them when the dvd drives me to the funny farm.
Ok, so having Wiggles songs stuck in my head 24/7 is annoying (Literally they are going through my head even while I'm sleeping. You know, for all of 20 minutes.) but they may actually be a good thing for Isaac. He is just so self-concious about dancing. Well, he actually doesn't really dance but he gets embarassed even when other people do (and not just his dorky parents). So that's why she got him the dvd. And yesterday he actually watched me dance along with the dvd and didn't even glower at me. And this morning I caught him nodding his head to the music for a few seconds. I'd call that progress. Worth my sanity anyway. Since I didn't have much left to begin with.
Speaking of progress, Gracie actually took a step all by herself yesterday! Go Gracie! There's good news about her sleep too! Well, not really good news... her sleep is as horrible as ever, but at least I've found someone new to blame. Early this morning, during her 648th(ish) waking, when she wouldn't go back to sleep, I finally turned toward her and peeled open my eyelids to find... the cat. She was licking Gracie or doing something equally entertaining. So I kicked the cat out of bed and I didn't even have to nurse Grace again to get her to go back to sleep. Which is good because I draw the line at 648 times per night. Usually. Unless I'm desperate.

Gracie Day!

I am aware that I don't talk about Gracie very often. That's mostly because she doesn't say anything funny yet and I know it's not very interesting to read about how cute someone looks. But I did want to have a "Gracie Day" today so I've decided to just show you how cute my baby is these days.







Alright, I can't resist just a little bit of bragging. She can draw! And since she is my very neglected independent second child, she taught herself, using Isaac's crayons, in between crayon-eating sessions. She is also quite good with a spoon. Mostly because she would rather die than let someone feed her. She doesn't actually eat much but her aim is really good! Especially when she aims at the floor... or me. Last but not least, boy can she climb stairs! I think that that little talent of hers my end up accounting for my first gray hairs.
Anyway, have a great Gracie Day!

Inside the Mind of a 2-year-old (or me)

"Mama," said Isaac as I searched for a computer game for him to play. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I don't know," I said. "What are you thinking?"
"Sesame Street!"
Right. Of course.

Funny how the mind of a small child works. I mean, I used to make fun of Lunchables. You know, those prepackaged trays of cheese and crackers and (kinda gross) lunchmeat. Who in their right mind would pay all that money for something that they probably have at home already? Then last night I needed a really quick dinner idea that Isaac would actually eat and suddenly I had this idea to get him a Lunchable. Not only did he eat some of it but he was really excited. He kept talking about it. Who knew?
So anyway, to the inventor of Lunchables, I'm sorry I doubted you. You truly are a genius.
Come to think of it, I guess that's just marketing for you. That works on me too. I bought the shampoo that I'm currently using for no other reason than that the bottle is pink. And I do enjoy using it.
Sure, it makes my hair fall out but I do like looking at that pink bottle!
Just kidding. It doesn't make my hair fall out.
That could be stress right?





ps. Don't get worried my dear ones who are reading this. My hair isn't actually falling out. Just a joke!
Happy Monday!

Clues to Isaac's Future

My retired-kindergarten-teacher MIL likes to tell the story of how, when he was a little boy, my Hubby would take care of the classroom doll when she brought it home for the summer. Which really alarmed my FIL. But, she always adds, it worked out just fine because look at what a wonderful father Hubby has grown up to be. And she's right; he really is an amazing Dad.
Still, we've never given Isaac any dolls. He has definitely NOT been interested. But Gracie got a doll as an early Christmas present and we were playing and I pretended that the doll had gotten hurt. And Isaac decided to hug and comfort her. I started to get warm fuzzies. Until he took her by the hand and swung her around SMASHING her into his block tower while simultaneously hollering, "Don't do that!". Then he did it again. And again.
Sigh... I'm still hoping to be a Grandmother someday. Hopefully not one of those Grandmothers who has full custody because her child is an unfit parent.
On the bright side, he's a smartie. We were eating at the Grandparents house on Christmas Eve. Isaac was drinking some water when, out of the blue he said, "Water starts with W."! What timing! The Grandparents were, of course, quite impressed. And I'm dreaming that my son might be a writer someday. If not Father of the Year.
It's not looking like it's in the cards for him to be a doctor either. Hubby was drying him off after his bath the other night when Isaac suddenly made a wild grab at his own private parts, yelling proudly,
"THAT'S MY PEANUT!"
Clearly anatomy is not his best subject so far.
If all else fails, I guess there will always be a place for him on the back of the trash truck. ;)

Thomasmania

The following is an excerpt from an actual conversation between Isaac and Little Thomas (we have Thomas toys in 3 sizes) who was being played by Isaac.

"Thomas, you're coming?"
"No. I'm not."
"Why not?"
"Because... I'm not."

Once again, a master of logic, that Isaac. Er... I guess that was Thomas, but still. Lately Little Thomas has been Isaac's constant companion. He even takes him to bed at night and at naptime. Which makes for interesting conversations about how Thomas can't settle down and go to sleep because he has work to do.
Then, during the day, it's all
'"Bust my buffers," Thomas cried' and '"Oh no!" Thomas gasped.'
That's right, our 2 year old narrates his playtime with verbs like "cried" and "gasped". Strange, I know. And he sounds exactly like a Thomas story. Or movie. We probably just read to him too much though. I mean, we only watch "Thomas and the Magic Railroad" (Thomas' first full length feature film, FYI) once or twice a day. No biggie right?
At least he's still using his imagination. Since Thomas is the only engine he has, his matchbox cars have been filling in for the other engines. Which gets a little confusing for me. It's hard to remember who the mixer truck is supposed to be and who the station wagon is. So I have to keep asking and Isaac lists them over and over for me.
"This one is Edward, this is Mavis, Henry, James, and James, and oh yeah this one is James."
In case you hadn't guessed, James is his favorite after Thomas right now. We're getting him James for Christmas. Not because he needs it, but because my poor tired brain is not what it used to be.
At least the "Thomas" stories are teaching him all kinds of good values, like how important it is to be "responsible", "reliable", "really useful", and "right on time"! But the question is, do I really want my child to become one of those punctual people? I mean, I'm not sure that being on time really is a virtue. At the very least, it's overrated. I mean, what's up with those people that are naturally on time EVERYWHERE they go? Without even the blood, sweat, and tears that it takes to get us NORMAL people out the door less than 20 minutes late! I mean, isn't it soo much worse when people show up too early than when they show up late? Isn't it???
By the way, if you're one of those FREAKISHLY PUNCTUAL people, you're still welcome to comment (because I'm really open-minded like that) but please be careful what you say. My self-esteem is even more fragile than my memory these days. ;)
Merry Christmas if I don't post again before then!

Never a dull moment

The other night at the dinner table we were discussing Isaac's lips. This was only partly because we're soo interesting and partly because when they're dry he picks them until they bleed. So we were saying how awful they looked and I mentioned that I'd put Vaseline on them that day. The very mention of Vaseline must have panicked Isaac (who HATES having anything on his lips) and he started complaining, "No! Don't want that! That goes on my bum!"
It's hard to argue with logic like that.
Especially when you're laughing to hard to explain that that's a different tube.
We went to story-time again yesterday. Very exciting you know. We made a paper-cup turkey and everything. Then a little boy sneezed all over Grace and me. I woke up this morning with a sore throat. Ugh! I do get sore throats when I'm tired though and Gracie was up about twenty-kazillion times last night so there is still hope that the kids won't get sick. I guess. I probably just sealed my fate by even typing that.
So it's just the same old stuff going on around here. Nothing new or interesting. Woops... I take that back. Isaac is dipping his cars in his applesauce and then driving them on the carpet! That's definitely new. I gotta go...