We need Barney on repeat mode

I love Barney. Other people really dislike the show, but Julia has loved it from the time she was little and it teaches great principles and is pretty fun. It also teaches me a lot of fun games and songs to play with Julia, we usually enjoy watching Barney together. Yesterday, Julia was watching Barney while Liam napped. The show was about families and had a little boy who was talking about his baby brother and they all talked about how to be a good big brother. When the show was over, Julia so endearingly called for her little brother. (she doesn't usually call Liam little brother, or brother at all, but this time she did.) She wanted to know where he was so she could take care of him. It was super sweet.
We need more Barney -
Towards the afternoon Barney wore off. I was in the office while the kids played in their bedroom. I heard Liam crying, crawling towards the office and looked out and the bedroom door was shut. Liam had been kicked out and had two scratches on his head. That was sad.

So, this week we have enjoyed watching Julia developing her imaginative play. While I was driving to pick up mark, I heard her talking in the back. Most of it was understandable, I could tell she was having a conversation so I turned around and saw that she was making her hands talk to each other. She even used different voices. It was very cute, and very sweet. One of her hands said "I'm sad" the other said "Don't be sad, be happy!"
-Em

Tonight I peeled an orange and placed all the sections out for Julia. We noticed her playing with some orange slices. One was Grandpa, one was Julia, and one was mommy. "Please please orange granpa?" "Ooohkay Julia." She later asked if Grandpa wanted to watch a "Moobie," The grandpa slice agreed, so she turned him towards the stack of DVDs on the desk. Later she brought the whole citrus family to sit on (real) daddy's lap. And eventually we ate them all.
-M

We outsmarted our toilet

It may have bested us physically, but it was no match for us mentally.

It probably won't surprise anyone with kids that when the toilet didn't flush right tonight a few plunger maneuvers produced some toys. In this case some plastic toy foods: banana, pickle and chocolate bar.

Unfortunately that apparently wasn't all and no combination of splashes, plungers, unbent hangars, growls and borderline disasterous flushes was going to convince the ceramic beast to reveal its secret.

I know a little about plumbing and figured that my best bet was to unbolt the silly thing and try to get to the bottom of the mystery by getting to the bottom of the toilet. But its such a messy, awkward, no fun job. I figured that I would probably need to replace that gross wax ring thing, so i went to Home Depot dreading the rest of the evening.

I got back and slumped into the couch, energetically NOT working on the toilet, and thought that if the blockage was the same kind of thin flimsy plastic as the recovered toys, then maybe hot water would soften it enough to let it move on through. A few hot buckets of water from the tub faucett, a pot of boiling water, and a 'plunge' or two won us a girgle. A little more pushing and pulling and we were flushing like new.

Guess we just hope it wasn't anything important.

Liam

So, I started grabbing a bunch of pictures of the boy for my mom. It ended up being a pretty big list, so I'll throw it in as a slide show. there are some good pictures.

(julia is too cute to skip all of the time, so there are a few of her)
(since it was for my mom, it favors a little the Waint side of the fam)

.....sigh..........

Does anybody want a kid? I've got two extra. One girl, one boy. Very cute. Your choice.

bedtime

Bedtime isn't a routine or a ritual, it'a a battle. And we fight it every night. Its kind of like taking a hill, just to retreat and take it again tomorrow.

We loose almost every night. Technically I guess we eventually win, but its more of a seige...we surround her, cut off the escapes, block the communications, and cut off her supply lines. She makes a few sorties against us, eventually her resources and ammunition run low. She makes a valiant last stand, until eventually she surrenders.

I just can't figure out why we let her out.

Singing

Here's Julia singing Rock-a-bye (may take a minute to load) It's not her best version, but it's the best we could get recorded.

Just when you think you've got it...

***sighhhhhhhhhh*****
I was starting to finally get the swing of things, again. The problem with children, is that they grow very rapidly - physically, emotionally, mentally, destructively. Yes, their powers for destruction grow with them. I've finally trained Julia not to randomly throw things out of cupboards and off of shelves (most specifically the dvds) and now Liam is doing it. He is always busy pulling things apart or taking things down from or out of where they should be. Luckily, the frustration is cut a little by the fact that I find it kind of cute that he is following in Julia's footsteps. =)

Sometimes she is sweet

Every once in a while when I ask Julia something she'll say, "yes, Mommy." Its so sweet and sincere, and I love it.