It seems like I'm always behind. I was looking through my recent blog posts & realized I hadn't devoted one to the kids lately. So all of you out there who enjoy reading about their antics are about to get a thrill!
So Christmas was awesome for both Simon & Rachel. Simon of course has reached that magic age where he can anticipate, but he doesn't fully understand the concept yet. His presents from us were high $$: a John Deere pedal combine complete with corn header & a 20 piece set of Pixar/Disney Cars (all the main characters from the movie except Mac). We tricked him with the combine. Andrew wrapped only the header & left the rest of it in the building until Christmas morning. Simon knew he was getting the combine (thanks to Andrew), so when he saw the size of the box he was puzzled to say the least. Then when he opened it & saw this two feet of corn header & nothing to put it one, he was flabbergasted. He was running around checking under the tree to make 'Santa' hadn't forgotten the rest of it. Then Andrew wheeled the big thing in the living room. I thought Simon was going to fly across the room! Its a bit to big for him to pedal right now, both weight & pedal length, but that's great because it'll last him longer. The other day he spontaneously burst into singing "In excelsis Deo" only it sounded more like "In Chelsea's day-o". It was absoultely precious!
We're playing again at potty training. This time we've made a chart w/ characters from Disney/Pixar Cars on it. Each potty activity has a line where he can collect stickers. We've told him that when he fills up a line he'll get a new car. He's gotten better than he was, he doesn't scream & cry when I try to make him sit or stand by the potty. The other day he stood in front of the potty on command & peed! We were already on our way to town, so we took him to the tractor store in the mall to get a new tractor. The catch is that he doesn't get the tractor if he pees in his pants/pull-up. We've also been letting him just wear his pants w/o a pull-up or underwear in the afternoons after nap. The goal is to get him to be self-aware again. I think he's been in the pull-ups for so long he's forgotten the consequence of peeing on himself. So I'm hoping his neat-freak ideas will help potty-train him!
Rachel's home Christmas probably wasn't as wonderful for her as her grandmother Christmases. She loves the noise and activity of everyone gathered together. She loves the other kids and wrestling around with them. She's walking very well now, so she teetered along after the big kids trying to get into trouble. Of course, since she's the little diva, she had at least 2 ward-robe changes per celebration. If I do say so myself, she looked fab in everything! Her most favorite present right now has got to be her Violet the puppy LeapFrog stuffed animal. We've 'taught' it her name, favorite color, food, & animal. We've also 'taught' it some of her favorite songs. Otherwise, she's more into the people around her than her toys, so the gifts didn't make a huge impression on her.
She's got to be the most engaging baby I've ever seen. At this point in her life she sounds like one of those Indian singing girls or a yodeler when she 'talks'. She runs through the house yodelling at the top of her lungs. She's got good lungs too! More and more of her personality keeps coming through. I thought she was quite laid-back as a baby, but now as a toddler she's developed a distinct 'want-it-right-now' attitude. She'll pick up her empty sippy cup & scream/grunt at you until you get up to refill it. Now, I'm sure the grandma's would disagree & say she's just a perfect angel (I get that a lot), but that's what she does at home. She's also been showing me she's ready for bed lately by wandering into her room. She comes back out & looks at me, then toddles right back in there. She must be growing too because she's eating *everything* in sight & sleeping quite a bit. I have not found a food yet that she doesn't like. We laugh & say we probably don't even need to cook it (something like oatmeal) because she can put away so much food with gusto!
Together they are at times exasperating and entertaining. They love each other so much, yet already display some of the famed sibling rivalry. They compete for Andrew's devotion. If one is in his lap, the other starts whining for his attention too. Sometimes we can set their sibling rivalry against them, for instance, Simon will eat better if he thinks I'm going to give Rachel his left-overs. At this point, Simon is showing his instigation skills while Rachel is showing her tattle-taling skills. Simon will lead her somewhere they both know we don't want them & Rachel will grunt &/or cry until we come get them both. She'll also spontaneously burst into tears even when Simon's well away from her (& didn't have anything to do with her falling down). I'm so glad I've been blessed with such individuals!
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