She's WALKING! (And he's TALKING back)

Wow! so much has happened since my last milestone post! Here's a list of what Amelia has been up to the past few weeks:

• Crawling on all 4s (Jan 11)--as opposed to the army crawl on her knees & elbows with her little bottom wiggling up in the air (Nov 2)
  

Crawling on all 4s--she's quick!

• Waving to us in her high chair (Jan 20)--she still doesn't wave, "Bye-bye!" on command
• Standing with confidence (Feb 1st)--the day Jason returned from NYC

Playing outside in her "garden"

• Signing (Feb 14)--her first sign repeated back to us with any intent was "more"--referring to food, of course! She's a good eater like her brother, but she really loves those carbs!




• She says "Da-da" (her first word, Dec 15), "Ma-ma," and barks like a dog & giggles when she sees a dog, "uh-uh-uh" in a high-pitched squeal.
• She still has just her bottom two teeth (around 15 Oct and 8 Dec)
• Drinking from a sippy cup regularly--she'd been being lazy (we still hold it for her most of the time, just for our sanity--she likes to throw it on the floor...again and again and again); but Mommy held tough this week--no daytime nursing (morning and bedtime only)
• Eating solids--not just solids, I guess, but "real people food" (introduced the end of Jan)
  
• Gives hugs and kisses at bedtime--the kisses are more like an open-mouthed mauling, but you take what you get. And her hugs? Priceless. She wraps her arms around your neck, buries her head into your shoulder and pats your back with her little hand!
• WALKING! (Feb 15) she took her first steps in the kitchen stepping away from the dishwasher and walking towards Mommy! (Jason was rinsing the dishes while I was playing and got to see her take off as well.)

(You might want to wear earplugs, my "baby-ese" is a little shrill with these first steps!

With Nate, we're working on processing feelings--frustrated (a Sesame Street word), excited, happy, angry ("mad"), sad and afraid ("scared") are the ones that tend to surface the most. In the process, he's developed a litany of punishments for Mom & Dad when he thinks he's being treated unjustly. Some consequences are pretty macabre. We're trying to figure out how to help him process these emotions better (besides the vinegar on the tongue for his "bitter words" while sassing).

• Dec 29--"I'm going to saw you in pieces and throw you in the garbage!"
• Jan 4--"If you don't listen, I will lock chains on your feet and you will go to jail."
• Jan 14--While sulking after I didn't buy him the toy car carrier at Target (after taking him to "Stellaluna"--a play in the Children's Fine Art series here in San Antonio), sitting in his carseat, schemingly looking out the back window he announced, "I think a T-Rex will come and eat you up!" "Oh, that might hurt!" I respond. "No, he will eat you all to pieces." He emphasizes my imminent doom. "Then who will share popcorn with you at Target?" I inquire. "Daddy." "Then who will drive you to Bible Class?" "Daddy." "Then who will give you kisses?" "Daddy." "Oh, Then I guess the T-Rex can come eat me up." I surrender. "No. I said if the T-Rex accidentally sees you then he might accidentally have to eat you." He reneges. "Oh. OK." I smile.
• (Jan 15) Angry after I put his toys in timeout for not listening, he's sent to the steps for sassing. He starts to drag the gigantic box from his new carseat upstairs. "Nate, the box stays downstairs." I look down and command from the top of the steps. "But I want to just stuff you in it." He matter-of-factly responds.


Nate's new carseat--Graco Nautilus, 3-in-1 booster

(Note the box he was going to "stuff me in.")

• (Jan 22) After not allowing him a cover and a straw for his cup at breakfast, "Mom, you're fired!" Hah! I wish it were that easy!
• "I'm going to choke you!"
• "I'm going to put you in jail."
  (Interesting side note: He's also in this uber-competitive phase where he wants to be the first at everything, win every game and in general be #1--beat Mia buckling into their carseats, beat me finishing our oatmeal at breakfast, get the most pairs in "Go Fish!," get to Candy Castle first, beat Daddy by getting his shoes on first, beat me to the toy box, etc. The other night at dinner, Jason and I finished our chili before his bowl was empty. "Did you beat me mom and Dad?" "Yes, Nate. It appears we did. We finished our supper first." "No!" [Enter crocodile tears on cue.] "Mom! You are going to jail for beating me and Dad YOU are going to jail for beating me!" Huh. I wonder how many people he's told THAT to? "Mom and Dad beat me last night."?! :0 )
• (Feb 11) "Mom, you're being un-useful! I'm throwing you outside under the car!" (a twist on "Thomas the Tank Engine," a very useful engine.)
• (Feb 12) Upset because Amelia "beat" him into her carseat after preschool (with Mom doing the buckling obviously) he shouts, "No! Mom, you are doing bad things! I am going to put you in jail in a cave!"
• (Feb 14) While sitting on the steps muttering during a time-out, he blurts,"I'm in charge!" "Watch it, Nate." I intercede. "Oh, I'm just saying I'm in charge of my potty and cleaning up my dishes and you're in charge of...of...BEING NOT USEFUL!"
• (Feb 20) After Jason told him to clean up the bath toys and pulled the drain in the tub, Nate screams, "I'm going to put you on sale!" "Oh, on sale, huh?" Jason replies. "Yes! You are doing bad things so I am going to put you in the garage sale the next day." "Really? How much are you going to sell me for?" Jason asks. "For 93 cents! If somebody has 93 cents, they can buy you!" (We had a garage sale the first Saturday in February--a very successful sale I might add. We moved a lot of merchandise! We only brought one carload of leftovers to the donation station--and nothing came back into the house! But apparently Nate's take on the whole decluttering process is that you get rid of something in the garage sale when it's bad or you don't like it!)

So, we have our hands full with this kid's mouth right now--if he's not sassing, he's sticking his tongue out. "No, Mom, I wasn't sticking it out to be mean...I was being a frog...like this...see?"

Joy.

This entry aside, Nate still brings lots of smiles to our faces and joy to our lives! :)

(Here he's torn up Parker's play mat to make letters to spell his name--he loves letters and words!)

In more mundane journaling, it's been cloudy and drizzly here for the past 3 or 4 days. Enough to make the days dreary, but not enough precipitation to qualify as a proper rain. (I'm like a barometer--when it's cloudy & rainy, I'm slow and cloudy...OK, and crabby.) I'll tolerate the clouds in exchange for rain, but if it's not going to soak the earth...give me my sunshine! :) Last night we went over to the Holly & David's for a burger burn and gathering of the med school crew. The burgers were delicious--straight from "The Family Farm." Jason brought the red velvet cupcakes and chipotle brownies he made for V-day. The little babies--Amelia, Parker & Luke (all born within 2 months of each other)--had fun socializing (well, as the big girl on campus Mia was certainly the group bully and had the most fun tormenting the boys). Nate did a super job of entertaining himself with Holly's coloring books, activity pads and being the "cool big boy" with the babies.

The med crew babies (and their Mommies)--Parker, Amelia & Luke

Bathtime with Parker--he was quite territorial with his bath toys!

Today was MOPS Bible Study --we're doing a Beth Moore study on the Psalms of Ascent. Wow! She just has this was of delivering the Bible so it is very approachable. She takes you on this winding path through many chapters and stories, parallels and symbology; then brings you right back to the beginning so you come full circle. I always end up saying, "Huh! Now I get it!" after a lesson. The kids are actually both napping at the same time right now (thanks to our late night out last night and the fact that Nate's cough is back). I'm getting computer time for the first time in 2 weeks! Jason is cooking up a Japanese dinner--inspired by some tofu I picked up at the commissary and his field trip to Tim's Oriental Market down the street. It's always a fun surprise when he gets into one of his creative cooking modes!