The Words of a Two-Year Old

I think the language of a two-year old is priceless. Not only do they assume that they are saying every word correctly (even if you can't understand them), they also hear phrases and words and use them without even knowing what they mean!! For example, instead of saying "ahead", Hannah says "behead". So, we'll be driving along and she'll randomly say, "Look behead!!" It took a couple times for me to realize that she meant "ahead" and now I have to stop myself from joking around and saying "Look behead" when she's in the car, since she doesn't know what I mean.

The other night, I gave her a cup with some juice in it and she promptly asked for a "wah" (which, in Hannah-language, means "straw"). I said, "A wah?"
Hannah said, "No, a wah."
I said, "You want a wah?"
Hannah said, "NO!! I want a WAH!"
I was messing with her because it was so cute that she thought she was saying "straw" so clearly.

I also figured out where she got the "Don't freak out" statement from (mentioned in the previous post). Today, I was walking both kids, special candy treats in hand, back to the car from the party store. However, since I had my big ol' purse to carry AND two huge bags of purchases for an upcoming brunch to also carry, I asked the kids if they would hold hands with each other as we crossed the parking lot. It was a bit of a juggle, but all three of us safely got to the car without dropping anything (or getting run over, for that matter). I said to Caleb, "Sheesh! What are we going to do when we have THREE kids in this family?" Without missing a beat, Caleb said, "We're gonna freak out!!" Yes, yes, I probably will freak out, but at least I know he's semi-prepared for it.... :)

Something to Tell You

Hannah is talking more than ever these days. It's hilarious to listen to her, for the most part, but she's learning the art of excuses from watching her brother. Lately, if she wants something and I say "no", she says, "But, but, but..." and tries to plead her case. This is even the case at bedtime when it's hard for her to wind-down. The other night, she really had Chris and I laughing (although, we'd never let HER see that, now would we?).

Chris put Hannah in bed while I was at a meeting, and by the time I got home, she had already gotten out of bed twice with excuses. Hannah's standard routine is to stand at the top of the stairs and say, "Hey, guys! I have to tell you something!" and when we tell her to go back to her bed, she says, "But, but, but...I need you to put my covers on me!!" inevitably getting us upstairs to put her covers on her and tuck her in for the millionth time. Anyway, on this night, she had pulled this stunt twice with Chris, and got out of bed a third time when she heard me come home. ("Mommy! I need a kiss!") Finally, we thought she was in bed for the night so Chris and I settled down to watch a show on TV. We no more than started the show when we heard, "Guys! I need to tell you something!" from the top of the stairs. We both said in stern voices, "Hannah, you get right back into bed now." That's when Hannah surprised us by saying, "Okay, you've got two choices...." and proceeded to give Chris and I an ultimatum!! We couldn't stop the giggles upon hearing this and then Chris was able to control himself, so he went to the bottom of the stairs so he could look at Hannah. "Hannah," he said, "You get right into your room, turn your light off and get right into bed NOW." Hannah reached up to turn off her light and said to Chris, "Okay, but don't freak out!" So, here was Chris, standing at the bottom of the stairs saying to a two-year old, "I won't freak out." It was so hard to be frustrated with Hannah that evening because she was just so darn cute!

Snowy Christmas

I realized earlier that I have lots of pictures to post but since we got a new "little" camera, I don't know how to off-load the pictures yet. So....that will have to wait. Instead of pictures, I thought I'd say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to my little girl. This week is her birthday and she is really growing up so fast. It's amazing to see how much kids grow during the first two years. Every day, little parts of her language development surprise me. Even today, I said, "Okay, go sit in your chair" and she said, "Go sit in my chair?" What? Since when did she put the "your" and "my" part of the English language together?? Amazing!

As for her birthday, are we doing anything special today? Not really. She had pancakes for breakfast (as she does most days), but today I put candles in them and let her blow them out. After her nap, we're going to the grocery store to stock up on Christmas food for the Christmas meal, but also stock up on regular food since I think we'll be stuck inside for a few days. Why will we be stuck inside? There is a massive snow storm that is due to hit us over Christmas. This makes me nervous for all of my precious family members that are due to be traveling during said storm. However, if we are all well and safe, I'm looking forward to a snowy Christmas and the coziness that the snow will bring. I'm still trying to find Rock Band for the Wii (it's a new video game) so we have something to do while my extended family is over and I'm going to pull out lots of board games and cards, too. I just pray that we are all able to be safe during this holiday season. This means your family, too!!

I guess I don't have much more to say. Apparently, I'm having "blogging withdrawal" from not posting every day lately. :)

Dora Birthday

On Sunday, we had a little family birthday party to celebrate Hannah's 2nd birthday. (This is where I tear-up and say "My baby is getting so big!!") Anyhoo, she LOVES Dora the Explorer, so it was only natural that we have a Dora-themed party for her. It was a blast!

The birthday girl herself:


The Dora balloon was almost as big as she is...


....and Hannah was SO excited when she saw the balloons for the first time.


After everyone arrived, we had spaghetti for dinner (since Hannah loves it). Then we sat around and watched her---or should we say, her BROTHER---open all of her gifts. (Caleb was a tadbit excited, himself.)



Although Hannah would have been delighted to sit and play with her new toys all evening, we made her sit up by her awesome Dora cake so we could sing "Happy Birthday".




It was a very low-key evening but so much fun. Not too overwhelming is better for a two-year old, I think! She had a such a great time at her party. Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate!! :)

Slumber Party

For the past couple of weeks, Caleb has been hooked on the idea of having a slumber party. Every night, he asks if Hannah can "sleep over" in his room, or vice versa. Tonight, Chris and I decided to let it happen. However, we figured the easiest way to do it would be to have Hannah in her crib with her crib tent zipped, of course, and Caleb on his mattress on the floor next to the crib. Both kids were excited about the "sleep over" idea but we didn't realize that Hannah would be so jealous of her brother getting to sleep on the floor. For the first few minutes, she cried and cried because she was so mad. We left the kids in the room anyways (just to see how they would handle it) and suggested to Caleb that he sing to his sister. After a few minutes of the kids being in Hannah's room with no crying, Chris and I decided to spy on them. We sat on the stairs and listened to them for quite a while---and the whole time, our hearts were melting. Caleb was being so sweet to Hannah. He said, "Hannah, you know I take care of you. I'm your big brother. It's okay, sweetie pie. Here, you can sleep with Big Blue until morning." (Big Blue is Caleb's favorite blanket that he cannot sleep without.) Chris and I thought that was so adorable!! It was also cute to listen to Caleb tell Hannah to go to sleep and her start fake-snoring. So funny! The slumber party is still going, complete with Hannah belting out her version of "Twinkle twinkle little star". I'll let you know if they end up falling asleep or if we have to separate them later! :)

Our Little Mimic

Hannah loves to do everything her brother does. By looking at this picture, can you tell what her brother is doing?


That's right! Caleb is having a time-out in one corner and Hannah decided that she would take a time-out in the next corner. Now do you believe that she mimics EVERYTHING that Caleb does?? :)

I Love You

Tonight after dinner, I'm pretty sure that my heart melted. As I was cleaning Hannah up after her nightly show of throwing broccoli and chicken from her tray to the floor, she looked up at me and said "I love you." It sounded something like "I ya-you" but it was definitely "I love you". Previously, she's repeated it, but never said it unprompted before today. It was SO ADORABLE!! It knocked our socks off and I practically teared up. She even ran over to Chris and said it a minute later and repeated it several times before her bedtime. What a doll! I don't remember how old Caleb was when he said that for the first time, but it certainly surprised me when Hannah said it at 18-months. Mommy-life is so much fun!! :)

Ice Cream

Caleb loves chocolate ice cream from Dairy Queen. So, he was more than excited on Thursday when I asked him if he wanted to take a DQ break. We had been playing outside for most of the afternoon, so I figured, we deserved a treat for all the energy we burned in the sun. He got a chocolate cone (of course), Hannah got a vanilla one to eat at home and I got chocolate-dipped. As we pulled out of the parking lot, Caleb said, "Mom, is that a diet one that you got?" Geez...you indulge yourself just once and your three-year old scolds you!

Once at home, Caleb already had chocolate all over his face and was dribbling down the front of his shirt. It was obvious that he was enjoying his ice cream, and honestly, what child doesn't like ice cream? Hannah---that's who!


Not sure if you can tell, but in this picture she is looking at the ice cream cone like "No way do you expect me to eat this." She's tasted ice cream before but has never been a big fan. I figured that she'd like it better if she could hold the cone herself, but she wouldn't even try it. Oh, well!

Ready For School??

It's been a low-key couple of days since I've been back in town, hence, not too much to blog about. I slept for 12 hours straight on Monday night---who knew that traveling could take so much out of you? Laundry was high on my priority list for Tuesday and errands were my goal on Wednesday. Exciting, I know. (Enter sarcastic icon here! j/k) Yesterday, my mom stopped by to give Hannah something cute that she bought for her.


It's a backpack! Hannah will be attending a "Kids' Day Out" program for 5 hours every Friday starting in September, so this adorable backpack will come in handy. Hannah felt so proud as she strolled around the house with this pack on her back and she kept saying "Pack Pack!" over and over. (Thanks to "Dora", she already knew how to say "backpack".)

On a side note, with the 4th of July coming up this weekend, I feel like the summer is practically over! Our weekends are always so jam-packed (that's how I justify my relaxation during the summer weekdays) and it really makes the summer move quickly!

And the Laundry Continues...

On Monday evening, my mom baby-sat for a couple of hours while Chris and I went out to dinner with friends. When we came home, my mom informed me that she put Hannah down for a nap (this is a good thing!) but Hannah mysteriously got her whole bed wet (this is a bad thing...) so my mom washed Hannah's bedsheets while we were gone. (Thanks, Mom!) Hmmm....mysteriously got her bed wet but she wasn't wet herself. How did she manage this? On Tuesday, I found out. I went up to her room when she woke up from her afternoon nap and found the same scene: soaking bed, dry Hannah. This time, Hannah showed me what she did. She discovered that if she tips her sippy cup of milk upside-down, it will slowly drip, drip drip. I don't know how long it took her, but she "dripped" all of her milk out onto her bed-sheet and was pretty darn proud of herself! (Yes, I sometimes give her a sippy cup with a little bit of milk in it to help her fall asleep. This phase might be the end of that!)

Last night (Tuesday night), I went to check on her around 10pm, like I always do. By this time of night, she is always fast alseep and she always looks so darn cute. What I found in her bed this night wasn't necessarily so cute, however. I found a sleeping Hannah with a bare-butt, PJ pants and diaper thrown on the floor and once again, a completely soaking-wet bed. This time, it wasn't milk that made the bed wet. I suppose we could say that this is the first time Hannnah has actually wet the bed---and she wasn't even potty training. So, like clock-work, I woke her up, put a new diaper and a onesie on her (so she couldn't take her diaper off) and changed her sheets AGAIN. Her bed sheets and mattress pad have been washed THREE TIMES in the past 36 hours. Let's hope I'm not doing MORE laundry today because of a wet bed because it's driving me nuts!!

More Experiments....

These days, Hannah tries new things just to see what kind of reaction we'll give her. In the past couple days, she's been experimenting with the word "no", as is typical for any one-and-a-half-year old. It started with her saying "nonononono" if I would sing a song she didn't want to hear. Our rides in the car sound something like this lately:

Me: "Twinkle, twinkle little star! How I wonder..."
H: "Nononononononono!"
Me: "Okay. Let's try this one: Row, row, row your boat, gently down the..."
H: "Nononononononono!"

This goes on until either I get sick of trying to remember every children's song that I've ever heard or Hannah decides she likes one of the songs I'm singing. It's a little bit exhausting but I'm just glad she isn't screaming and throwing many tantrums as I would expect from her at this age. At least she's taken this new "no" word and is putting it towards useful things: today she walked up to a light-socket, pointed to it and said, "Nononononono!" That's one smart cookie I have!

Another thing she's experiment with is her diaper. (Oh, Lord, please let this phase end quickly!!) I usually put a onesie or a pair of pants on her, so she doesn't really have the option to take her diaper off unless she takes all of her clothes off, too. However, today, I forgot to put pants on her and let her run around in her diaper and a t-shirt. I walked into the sun room where she had been playing and this is what I found:


She had taken her diaper off and was trying to put it back on by putting her legs through it, like a pair of pants. When I asked her what she was doing, she started squealing and running around the house for me to chase her and put a new diaper on her. The only two up-sides that I could see from this situation are that she didn't pee on the floor (as far as I could see) and I got a really cute "naked tushy" picture that I didn't think would be appropriate to post. (You'll have to see that one in person next time you see me!)

Well, I have to go---a new stage is starting as I type this. Caleb grabbed something and said "Mine!" Hannah heard him and is now running around behind him shouting "Mine! Mine! Mine!" Grrrrreat....

Chuckles

Hannah and Caleb have been keeping me on my toes as usual and they've been keep me laughing while I go about my day.

Some of Hannah's latest:

*She is testing her voice in all different ways these days. Her most favorite "test" (and my least favorite) is the blood-curling scream. I swear, if you couldn't see her smiling face as she screams you'd think there was something really bad happening. She tried it for the first time in the car last night and it knocked the socks off Chris and myself. Then, in her boredom at the grocery store today, she did it again. She must like the acoustics in the dairy aisle because I tried everything to get her to stop screaming and she kept right on doing it!! Luckily, I only got polite smiles from the strangers around us but I'll bet people on the other end of the store were wondering what the heck was going on!

*If you ask Hannah what she wants (what to drink, what to eat, what to wear, etc.), she actually pauses and says "Ummm...." like she's thinking of the answer. (I've been asking her pointless questions lately just to hear her say it because it's so cute!)

Caleb has been exercising his imagination these days and it's going full-speed! This afternoon, he said, "Bye, Mom! I'm moving!" He had packed up a bunch of toys in a toy-shopping cart and also in a bunch of baskets. I walked over, quite amused at what he had come up with and saw that he had stuck a fragile candle holder (that is part of our bathroom decor) in the corner of one of the baskets. Not only that, but he had his sippy cup wedged inside of the candle holder! When I pulled it out, Caleb instantly started to argue with me about it. "But, Mom! It's the cup holder on my boat!!" Apparently he was making a boat to take him to his "destination" and I thought it was pretty clever of him to create a cup holder. He is currently up in his bedroom with most of the toys he "packed". He said that he moved to a "different state" which is apparently his bedroom and he's waiting for me to come up there and "visit". I hope it's Hawaii because I've always want to go there!!