Epi...Curious!

Here's what Natasha REFUSES to eat so far:

- Any baby food that comes in a jar
- Graham crackers
- Biter biscuits
- Cream of Wheat
- Things from a bottle
- Yogurt
- Cheese
- Bread
- Any fruit
- Any vegetable

Here's what Natasha would eat if only I wouldn't take it away from her:
- Lint
- Toe nail shrapnel
- Pieces of paper
- Hair that has fallen from my head in this lovely post-partum stage of hair loss
- Old food that she has tossed off her high chair onto the floor that I haven't found yet
- Things that have fallen off the bottom of our shoes tracked in from outside
- *Dog barf

*Let me explain this last one. No, I do not leave puddles of dog barf laying around. I was in the kitchen a few weeks ago. Desi was laying on the couch. Adam and Natasha were in the living room. Within a minute or so of being in the kitchen I hear Adam say "What Tasha eating?" Not a good sign. So I ran into the living room to find Desi licking up his puddle he had silently thrown up. Natasha was chewing on something and had a chunk in her hand ready to shovel in more. She actually cried in protest when I tried to dig the chunk out of her mouth.

But yet, applesauce just will not do.

Someone suggested letting Desi eat it first...

The funny thing is, now every time Adam sees some schmutz on something he says "that Desi barf?"

Sibling Love

The day Adam visited me in the hospital when I had Natasha...he cried. I expected him to not be thrilled, but I don't know if it was seeing me in a hospital bed with tubes hooked into me, or me holding another baby that made him cry.

The next day we met in a neutral territory. The lactation classroom. Our tactic was different this day. Instead of focussing on introducing him to Nat, the focus was on minimizing her existence and paying attention to him. It went much better, even though he hid in a locker.



By the time we brought Nat home we realized the goal would be, again, to minimize her existence. She slept in her car seat for a few hours in our bedroom. When she woke up we went in to visit her and Adam immediately fell in love with her. To our surprise, he was dying to shower her with kisses and hi-fives whenever she put her hand out.



He was a terribly sweet big brother for the longest time. Treating her sweetly. Showering her with kisses.



Always wanting to hold her (despite the fact that he was actually choking her)


But lately...he is getting mean. He gives her the ol' three stooges eye gouge. Steals her toys. But he's still a big ol' sweety. In the morning he can't wait to greet her in the morning (even though she desperately acts like she needs more coffee before she can handle his hyperactivity).




And he hugs her all the time and says "I yuvs you, Tasha". He's mean to her about 50% of the time...for a 2 1/2 year old, I think that's much better than you can expect. When she freaks out in the car he tries to take care of her and settle her down...they even hold hands sometimes...



Oh my God, I love my babies. I hope they are best friends throughout their lives. Even if it means uniting against a common enemy, which I pray is not mom and dad....

Bag Lady

The other night the laundry basket was out. Unlike normal circumstances, the basket was actually empty.

So Adam decided it would make a good boat. We play that game often. But Natasha wanted to inspect it. Of course, he wanted her to have nothing to do with his new boat, so he ran away with it in tow. She's used to that. So she crawled over to the giant soft cube with zippers on it and started investigating it. Adam decided she shouldn't have that, either. So, into the boat it went.

Being the good natured little gal she is, she crawled over to her little purple car and started investigating it. Quickly, into the boat it went.

Same, is true for my school binder, the zipper of which she innocently, cautiously inspected...

And the food processor that Adam drug out earlier (it's small and I keep the blade out so they don't get hurt).

And the walk-behind popcorn car.

After Adam had all the toys in his boat there was nothing left for Natasha. So she had to go for the boat again. Of course, Adam had to carry it away. But he couldn't forget the car, either. So there he was. Dragging his car in one hand and a boat full of toys in the other. I just pictured him, if he had more words, "back off! this is my cart!"

She might get to play with something one of these days.

It's been so long

I miss coming here and writing about what my monkeys are up to. In fact, I miss my monkeys. Especially Adam Monkey.

Since Natasha sleeps the whole time she spent at daycare, I decided to pull her out and save a few bucks. Because it ain't easy hauling two kids in and out of the ol' Excursion, and having only a few hours before I have to haul Nat back out into the 3 degree temps to go pick Adam up from daycare, I decided to have Adam go 3 full days instead of 4 half days.

We are adjusting, but I miss my little guy so much. I only get to see him for about one hour on Mondays and Tuesdays. It doesn't sound like much, but it really is taking its toll on me. I deeply resent being in class when people are chiming on making class run longer than it ought to. I have a family to get home to...can't everyone just stick to the agenda?

The bright side is I get all day Thursday and Friday to spend with both kiddos. That's mostly a good thing. Although I do long for a break every now and then. Miraculously, they both decide to not sleep at all on Thursdays. I think this routine is just hard on everyone.

Speaking of routine, we desperately need a new one. The old one was to plop both kiddos into the bath after dinner. We have a handy bathtub seat for Natasha so she could sit upright in the tub with Adam and not get knocked over and/or drowned. But it doesn't stop him from pouring water over her head and stuffing her face full of bubbles or gouging her eyes out. So, they don't get to bathe together anymore.

After bathtime, Adam used to settle down nicely in front of the tube watching Little Einsteins or Dora. Then you could read him a book and he'd be out. Not anymore. Now getting him to sleep requires lots of bargaining, battling, crying, consoling, etc. It's like we've taken a step backward.

Natasha...well, she's a great napper, but when it comes to sleeping at night, she refuses to sleep anywhere other than our bed. This wasn't a problem the first few months when she was relatively immobile, but she has, I am afraid to admit, fallen off the bed more than once now. That wasn't a problem when I was in bed with her, but now that she's getting bigger, she just tosses and turns all night long keeping me awake. I cannot remember the last night of good sleep I've had.

Neither DH nor I have a backbone when it comes to "training" our kids to learn to sleep on their own. It is most definitely taking its toll on us. But how do I not give in when I am at school and miss them so much? I feel guilty for being gone at all!

God I am a wimp. I am afraid my kids have already figured this out, too!