My Beloved Son...

...has discovered the bathtub! I know it may sound weird, but this kid has screamed bloody murder from day one whenever he is subjected to a bath or shower. Last summer he refused to go more than ankle deep in the lake or a pool. He has just always hated water. And then it was a random Tuesday and he was upstairs playing with Rachel (who was in the tub). He stood off to the side and did his splashing, played with the toys and everything all the while staying safely on the sidelines. I went into the bedroom to fold some laundry when suddenly he walked in still fully clothed but dripping wet from head to toe.
And so it began. Now he asks to go in the tub at least once a day and many times in these past few days has gone in once in the AM and again later in the afternoon! I don't know why, I don't know how long it will last, but I am thrilled! Life is sooo much easier now!

Rebecca turns 1!

Rebecca had a great first birthday. She went willingly from person to person all day long and really enjoyed digging into her cake. After dessert, she went straight into the tub and cleaned up for round two. Among her many presents were a set of birthstone earrings from grammy and grampa, a color-changing push toy that both she and Ben have been enjoying from Grammy C and Grampie, a teddy bear, puppets and a bubble machine. The outdoor pictures are of us enjoying the bubbles that afternoon. As you see, she had a great day!

Simon Says

This is truly precious... there is no other word for it. I sat in on Rachel's Girl Scout meeting for a while tonight. As they were wrapping things up, they played Girl Scout Says. "GS Says....rub your belly" "GS says.....hop on one foot" "GS says.... tap your head" "GS says....turn around" "GS says.....tap your foot" ---no kidding, almost the entire circle of girls ages 6 and 7 lifted one foot off the ground and used their hand to tap it. ROFLOL!! The other parents and I burst out laughing. Talk about thinking outside the box! That NEVER would have occured to me! Gotta love my girl ;)

Lost treasures revealed

So. This is both funny and embarassing so I am going to share in case you need a lift. *
Ben took the cushions off the couch today. Apparently we haven't done that in quite a while. Here is what we found:

A picture of Rachel as a baby
a dollar bill (my fee for services rendered)
misc. coins (Ben's finders fee)
6 kid's socks
2 hair clips
2 scrunchies
3 ponytail holders (one mine and two Rachel's)
1 rattle (shaped like a crab)
1 ruler
1 pair of nail clippers (the nice baby ones)
Mr. Potato Head eyes (he will be so happy!)
A plastic frog
2 forks and 4 spoons
6 pieces of plastic food
My missing gold hoop earring (score!)
DH's tie clip, still in it's box
a brass fitting of some sort
Rachel's charm bracelet
a chip clip
2 dress-up necklaces (purple and orange)
2 toothbrushes (I buy them by the dozen exactly for this reason)
a spy code book (Kinda cool. I am going to write Rachel a note later)
the missing puzzle piece (yahoo!)
the back of the TV remote (already went to comcast and got a replacement)
a comb
6 pens
4 paintbrushes
7 pencils
10 colored pencils
5 crayons
2 markers

Pretty impressive, don't you think??


* The previous list in no way reflects the skills my mother tried desperately to instill in me during my formative years. While I am a cracker-jack administrator, I have always said that I needed a personal maid. Sorry mom! *wink*

Hot Pink Nail Polish

This one speaks for itself.

Interesting design

God has to be a man. Seriously. My son, the beloved boy, decided to suddenly run around for an hour or two without a diaper the other day. This from the kid who hated to be without a shirt up until January. Of course I ran with it and brought out the potty and encouraged him to sit on it and asked him every 5 minutes if he had to pee, etc., etc.
But really. God was obviously in engineering mode when he designed men. I know that it is very functional. I understand that it works well from the sensory perspective. But seriously. The little dangly looks...well...ridiculous! It is like a train wreck...you don't really want to look at it, but you can't turn away. As a female you can't help wondering what it must feel like to have it jiggling around when you run. Bizarre. There is really nothing visually appealing about it, the sad little sack.
Good thing my son has beautiful eyes!

Last Published February 11th. Ooops!

I knew it had been a while but.....
Anyhoo, a lot has been happening since the beginning of February-
Rachel turned 7 and enjoyed a fabulous visit with our pedi who had her memorize the numbers 5,2,1 and 0. 5 servings of fruits and veggies, 2 hrs. of tv, 1 hr. of play and 0 servings of soda per day. She was not impressed and has since changed them to suit her own purposes.
Rebecca is working on breaking her 1 year molars and has been surprisingly good about it with the exception of a rash from hell. It is finally cleared up, though, thank goodness!
I survived school vacation week with the extra bonus of today (Monday) as a snow day. I had spent all weekend cleaning and entertaining for Rebecca's first birthday so I boycotted cleaning for the day and instead went outside with the kids, did crafts and built a castle. I love days like this!!
Lets see, what else....Ben has decided that he prefers to be carried everywhere, thank you very much, and is starting to flop down on the floor and cry if not appeased. The kid is mucho stubborno Argh!
Funny story from this weekend-- Ben grabbed four HUGE cookies from a container on the counter and tried to sneak them into the playroom. Apparently, this was the second time he had done this, and dad saw him and said sternly, "put them back." So Ben slowly walks into the kitchen amidst his grandmothers and I, opens the top of his stool and stashes the cookies inside. He then sits on the bottom step of the stool, shoulders haunched and put his chin in his hands. Sooooooo Cute!!! LOL
We also had the nail polish incident, the joy of bathing and Rebecca's first birthday to catch up on, so tune in again soon! 'Night!