Child A vs. Child B

As I wrote in my last post, the children appear to be total opposites.

Pictured below is "Child A" eating his sandwich with a fork, so he won't get peanut butter on his fingers. Sticky peanut butter on the fingers is an automatic meal stopper.


"Child B" on the other hand refuses to be spoon fed. She is pictured below going to town on her second serving of spaghetti.

Observations

I'm not going to compare. I'm just going to state some differences that we notice. Okay...so maybe this is a comparison of my two kiddos. What's so bad about that anyway?

*The other day I was vacuuming, and I kept having to stop the vacuum because Natalie was trying to attack it and climb up the machine while it was running. Scott sat on the couch with his feet up, lest the vacuum would get too close.

*This past summer when we got out the kiddie pool, we had to teach Scott how to splash and encourage him to do so. Each time I bathe Natalie however, the entire bathroom gets a shower. She goes wild! She starts splashing as soon as I put her in and keeps it up until only about an inch of water remains in her whale tub.

*Natalie will dig into new food and shovel it in, if allowed. She doesn't mind if it gets on her hands, face, or hair. Scott has always been a pretty neat eater. We've often had to stop mid-meal to clean him off if he thought he had too much food on his lips or hands. He was quite reserved when it came to diving into his first birthday cake. I'm already bracing myself for the mess that Natalie will enjoy making with her cake.

Jon and I (both firstborns) tend to be more like Scott. Natalie is in a league of her own in our house. I have a feeling Jon, Scott, and myself will marvel at the tricks this little girl has up her sleeve.

And...in case making comparisons is a bad thing to do, I will finish this post by saying that we love both of our kiddos immensely and are thankful for their unique personalities.

Natalie is 10 months old today. That big birthday celebration will be here before we know it!

Pass the Peas, Please!

So, I admit...we've gotten ourselves into a bit of a pickle when it comes to Scott and his eating. He's become extremely picky. One picky dad + one picky mom= one very picky two year old.

This past week, we've tried to crack down and really force him to try and eat new foods. Eat or starve kind of approach.

On Monday morning, we began the experiment with oatmeal. (He would eat baby oatmeal, but not adult oatmeal.) He helped me make the normal/big kid kind and was very excited about it. He then took his first bite, gagged, and said, "You turn on that garbage disposal and put this down the drain!"

I didn't even know the word "garbage disposal" was part of his vocabulary! Wow...

So then came lasagna for lunch. We had to cut Natalie off from eating too much of hers, but Scott spent his lunch time in his bed since he refused to even try it.

By, dinner, the kid was starved. I made him a grilled cheese sandwich. He had eaten half of a grilled cheese several months ago, but then suddenly stopped after asking me how I made it. I made the mistake of telling him there was "cheese" between the two slices of bread. So...this time we referred to it as a toasted sandwich...no mention of the word cheese. Scott gobbled it down and said, "This is the BEST toasted sandwich EVER!" :)

We've continued to have our share of battles this week, but we've had some victories too. For instance, during one meal he was protesting about his chicken and angrily said, "I only want to eat my peas!" (Peas were a huge turn off before this, so it was interesting to see him eat them during the chicken stand-off.)

Last night, he kept saying, "More apple, please!" This is HUGE!

Hopefully we will look back on all of this and laugh someday. It's not been fun for any of us. I'm open to any tips or advice, and Scott is open to any pizza or chicken nuggets you have to send our way.

Remember this?!
Scott remembers this book all too well.

How to Ruin a Pizza

Today in Scott's Merry Monkeys class, they were taught that God made food. As a reinforcement of this concept, they used construction paper to create pizzas. When we picked Scott up, his teacher told us that he was the only child who refused to put all of the toppings on his pizza. He adamantly told them that he did not want black olives or green pepper on his creation. Jon and I were so proud of our little pizza connoisseur. We've trained him well. Ha! :)
When it snows or rains, sometimes Scott pulls up a chair to look out the window. I told him that it was sunny outside the other day and he asked if he could pull up a chair to "watch."

We had several boxes of diapers delivered this week. Scott had a great time playing in them, and he melted my heart when he started singing "God is so good" while sitting in his cardboard box.


A few days ago Scott said, "This shirt is getting too small for me. Maybe we will have to give it to my baby brother." He later said, "Where is my baby brother? Is he in your belly?" Before I gave myself too much of a complex, I remembered that we had recently been talking about his friend Luke's new baby brother who is soon to be born. I am hoping that this is where he got this idea from!

Hodge Podge

We've been enjoying listening to Scott's pretend scenarios. He took me for a ride in his car the other day and told me he was dropping me off at Grandma & Grandpa's house. He then came over to me and very seriously instructed that I needed to obey Grandma & Grandpa and to do what they tell me to do. Later, he drove me to "Daddy's wedding." He told me that "Daddy's wedding is a little different." Not sure what that meant, but I was happy to be in attendance...I guess.


First attempt at pigtails...I thought it made her look like a toddler. My baby! A toddler?!?!

Scott would NOT agree, but Jon and I are hoping this is the last snowman of the season!


Tonight I found Scott right in Natalie's face saying, "Hey Natalie! You're my friend! You're my friend!" Oh how I hope this continues!


Natalie is having fun at Grandpa & Grandma's house.



The best barber in town with the most exceptional rates! :)


Natalie LOVES the drill press on Scott's workbench and makes an excited grunt whenever she pulls the lever to turn it on. She has one very proud papa!

Cousin Coming!

When we told Natalie that she would no longer be the baby in the family, she wasn't sure what to think.


We then broke the news to her that she was going to have a baby cousin! She would have to share Grandpa and Grandma, but would gain a new little playmate.


Congratulations, Derek & Maggie! Your little one has one very excited aunt, and Natalie will come around one of these days.


You are sure to make wonderful parents!

On a Roll

I was excited to win a free package of diapers from the Huggies website on Monday. I tried again on Tuesday and won again! Then, on Wednesday I was delighted to find a survey from Nielsen TV Research attached to $30 cash. What a nice surprise! The survey will be a breeze to complete too since we rarely watch any shows on TV. (Before you nominate me for a great mother award, I must admit that we do watch our share of kid DVDs.)


To top it off, the wonderful blessings continued today. Scott came to me around noon and asked to take a nap. WHAT?! This kid never sleeps during the day anymore. I kindly obliged, and immediately started to work on getting Natalie to sleep. Within five minutes, both kids were napping. I could not believe it! I didn't know what to do with myself and sat outside their bedrooms twiddling my thumbs. Only kidding! I instead was able to get ahead on some things and loved the hour of solitude.


I'm bracing myself for what might happen tomorrow. Win a cruise? Another 60+ degree day in February? Natalie asking if she can start changing her own diapers? Regardless, I'm know it will be good! :)

It seemed like a better idea when we started. Despite the warm temps, the backside of the trail was still pretty sloppy. The kids (and husband) didn't seem to mind too much though!