My House Stayed Much Cleaner Today...

Actually, Scott had been begging me for weeks to get in Natalie's Pack 'n Play with her. I had always told him no...until today. After a long play session together in the confined little space, I wondered why I hadn't granted his request sooner.

The Scottster

Scott loves his car! When he gets in to drive, he tells me he's turning on the heat, air conditioner, and radio. He often has interesting destinations. The other day, he told me that he was going to look at some land.

After polishing off a granola bar this afternoon, Scott said, "Now we can have a cookie, Mom! Would that be a good decision?" While it sounded like an excellent decision to me, I had to put on my mommy hat and tell Scott that one snack was enough. He seems to sometimes mix up the words decision, question, and idea. It usually makes me laugh, and he often gets whatever his "idea, question, or decision" is because I find it to be too cute!

For the past few weeks, whenever Scott needs to go to the bathroom, he also thinks he needs privacy. Don't leave the room though. "Privacy" is some imaginary object which he runs to get from the play room. He will bring you something invisible or set it down in the bathroom and tell you that he has "privacy." Who knows what's going on in his little mind?! :)

We've downgraded from the big diaper bag to the monkey backpack. I thought this kid was going to sleep in it for awhile. He loved it and wanted to wear it nonstop!

Does he look like a little Jonathan or what?!

The Twanger

Ready

Set

TWANG!

At our old house, all of our twangers (a.k.a. door stops) were silent, stiff, and rigid. Scott was left to do all of his twanging at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Our new place, however, is filled with nice springy twangers in every room. Natalie is doing her best to make sure they all work properly, as good twangers should!


Happy 8 Month Birthday, Baby Girl! May you twang today until your heart's content (or until your mom has heard enough).

A Friendship in the Making

It's been a tiring day. I've had moments of wanting to pull my hair out, and I did not get as much accomplished as I would have liked. Now that they are both fast asleep, I can also say that my kiddos bring me much joy.



As we were driving home from another errand tonight, I said, "Scott, it's been a long day!" He replied, "Do you need a nap, Mom?" (Any sentence he ends with "Mom" still cracks me up. It's so strange hearing my little baby call me mom!) Yes...a nap for either Scott or myself would have been welcomed today!



As mentioned before, he and Natalie are starting to have so much fun together. I was giving her a bath last night and she was kicking so hard. Scott was sitting in the splash zone watching and was laughing each time he got splashed. This in turn, caused her to laugh and kick and splash all the more. It was fun to see them getting so much delight from one another. In the picture below, it was Scott's idea for them BOTH to wear animal hats and get their picture taken together.


Tonight, I found Scott (poorly) attempting to get Natalie out of her exersaucer. He had set up some baby toys in his tent and wanted Natalie to come in and play. I put her down and she immediately took off crawling toward Scott's voice. He was saying, "Come in here, honey!" She made it in the tent which caused loud squeals of delight from each of them. Then, Scott handed her the toys he had chosen for her, and commanded, "Say thank you, Natalie!" Unfortunately, she had discovered a floor vent in Scott's tent and could care less about the baby toys.



Then, right before bed, he asked me to sit on the couch next to him. I was holding Natalie and came and sat down by him. He scooted close and held Natalie's hand.



So...tomorrow...when I'm at my wit's end and am ready to pull my hair out again...I'm going to sit down and read this post and be reminded of sweetness. :)

Headache, anyone?

I got all of the items pictured below for the low price of $7.98. (Plus, I accumulated $2 in CVS Bucks to use on my next purchase.) Without coupons, this would have cost me...$57.91. What a deal!



CVS paid me to take the Exedrin, so that's the only reason I got four of them. Thankfully, I rarely get headaches, SO...if anyone uses Exedrin or would like to try it, I will hook you up. Please just let me know. My preferred headache medicine (a.k.a. the Chips Ahoy) are not up for grabs, however. :)

Here are a few Scott quotes from as of late (for the mommy record):

***Lindsey: We are going to go to Babies R Us later.
Scott: And ride in the purple carts!
L: You're right. What color are the carts at Target?
S: Red!
L: What color are the carts at Meijer?
S: Blue!
L: (Pausing...since I couldn't think of any other stores that I could verify whether or not he was telling me the correct color of carts.)
S: Ask me another one!
L: Home Depot?
S: (Long pause) I don't think Daddy uses carts when he goes to Home Depot. (Yet another correct answer!)


***I dressed Scott in 2T pants for church that were sagging a bit. He was running across the kitchen, and they started to droop. He said, "OH! I'm loosing my britches!" (Where does he come up with these things? I don't say britches!)

***When I put this shirt on Scott, he said, "I'm a bumble bee!"


***Jon: Scott, you have got to stop screaming!
Scott: I'm not screaming. I'm yelling.

***I told Scott that I talked to a lady at church who told me that when he gets fully potty trained, he can be promoted from the Little Lambs class to the Merry Monkeys class. Hours later, we were in the bathroom and he went potty. He enthusiastically said, "Now I can be a Merry Monkey!" (There's something about the name "Merry Monkey" that cracks me up.)

***Scott: Mom! Mom! I need help! I need you! (No response from me as I was busy dealing with Natalie.) Mom...OBEY! (Think he's heard me say this to him a few times??)


***And finally, a picture of Natalie in her new Purdue sweatshirt from Uncle Derek & Aunt Maggie...I think she likes it! :)

Fast Forward

Life's been on fast forward around here. My little ones have grown up a lot in this past week. Miss Natalie started crawling and two little teeth are pushing their way through her lower gum. She's also started saying, "Dada!" Now that Natalie is a woman on the move, she has two destinations. Scott's toys...particularly his new trains, and the vents.








Scott has been playing independently a lot more thanks to all of his new Christmas toys. He's becoming such a good big brother to Natalie, too. And keeps talking about things he will do with Natalie "when Natalie grows up". He took me by surprise the other day when he said, "I want some Raisin Bran and Cheese-Its, Mom." I said, "What happened to Mommy?" He matter of factly said, "You turned into a mom." Hoping it was a fluke, I didn't say much else about it. He has continued to call me "Mom" the last couple of days though...so it may be my new name. A promotion? Thank goodness I have little Natalie to still call me Mommy. I'm not ready to give up my "Mommy" title totally.

In the picture below, he's saying, "Please don't take a picture, Mom." Two or twelve???

Have a Think

As you may be able to tell from the pictures above, more holiday fun has been taking place around here. My mom was brave enough to make gingerbread cookies with Scott, and he thoroughly enjoyed this experience. I'm sure she was much more fun than I would have been as she turned him loose with the sprinkles and M&M's. Jon and Scott played in the snow, and Scott said he wanted to play outside all day. I had to laugh at the snowman's head, but I guess I cannot criticize since I was keeping warm inside with Natalie! We've been running fun errands, finishing up last minute Christmas shopping, and have enjoyed Jon's few extra days off of work.

Yesterday while playing with toys in the basement, Scott stopped, climbed into his little chair, and said, "I'm going to have a think." I then of course asked him what he was going to think about. He sweetly replied, "Bethlehem."

He repeated this same sort of behavior and conversation two more times today. Each time, he tells me he's thinking of Bethlehem.

It makes me smile, but it has also made me think. It's interesting how God is using my toddler to remind me to stop and think about the reason for our celebration. I'm so thankful to know Christ as my personal Savior, and we pray that Scott and Natalie will come to know Him also. Like Scott, I hope that you're able to stop and spend some time thinking about Bethlehem over these next few days. MERRY CHRISTMAS!