Singing Scooby

For your viewing pleasure, I would like to introduce our American Idol, Olivia!

Backyard Fun

George spent most of the weekend assembling a small swingset for the kids. He got lots of help from Nate. They were bonding.

Olivia has been swinging like a madwoman. Her favorite thing to do is swing on her belly. (Sorry for the sideways video. I still can't figure out how to rotate a video.)



When she swings the regular way, she always wants an underdog. Nate likes to climb up to the slide platform and then climb back down.

Mostly he wants to run around the yard chasing Charlie with a stick or try to ride the tricycle through the pine needles.

I think we need a big vacuum for the back yard. No way am I raking all of that. I know there must be grass under there somewhere though. Next thing on the list is to get some sand and fill the sandbox. Spring is on it's way. Forecast is 62 on Wednesday!

Scooby Doo

Olivia's new favorite show is Scooby Doo. She always wants to watch the episodes via "on demand" which she calls "on command." We also recently found a few cheap Scooby DVDs that she's always watching. She claims they are too scary for her "aliens, gobble-ins, and scary clowns" but continues to insist on watching them. The other night while we were watching the movie for the first time, she said something really funny. At some point, Fred and Daphne become protoplasmic heads that float around. I asked Livy what happened to them and she giggled and said, "they turned into jellyfish!" Here's a picture. I thought that was a very insightful description.

She loves to sing the Scooby song in the car, and asks George to "play Scooby Doo" all the time. She asks him questions and he has to respond in either Scooby's or Shaggy's voice. He tires of that pretty quickly but plays along to appease her. Next thing you know, she'll be calling our car the Mystery Machine. She's funny. That's no mystery to those of us who know and love her!

Kiddos

It's been awhile since I've written a standard entry about how the kids are growing. I feel bad that often it seems that I'm writing about all the things Olivia is doing, when in reality, Nathan is changing and developing as rapidly. His vocabulary is really expanding. Now he can say "bye bye" and wave, "ni night," and "I love you" sounds more like Dory speaking whale "ahh oooh." All done sounds like "da don," apple is "app," and waffle is "wafffff" with plenty of emphasis on the f. He's so strong too. He's walking up the stairs just holding our hand, not crawling up them anymore. He likes to hop (or try to), dance, and clap. He has a really good throwing arm and loves to play with any ball he can get ahold of. At the park, his favorite things to do are swing and slide. He's fearless. Like his daddy, he has a big heart. What a sweetie. Kisses and hugs are the best. When he hugs, you can feel him patting you with his hand. He loves his puppies and can often be found laying on Charlie or resting his head on Riley. He refuses to leave the dogs' water bowl alone and also sometimes sneaks a piece or two of dog food. It's not unusual for him to spend quite awhile transferring dog food from the bag to the bowl piece by piece. He's very patient in that regard. He's also entering the dreaded tantrum phase. Definitely dramatic, if he doesn't get his way, he throws himself face first upon the floor. If he's hungry and I'm not putting lunch together fast enough, he gets between me and the cabinets and tries to push me around. He's great with a spoon and fork, actually, just as proficient with his utensils as his big sister. He's about 18 months old now. It's hard to believe how big he's getting. Time flies.

Olivia. What can I say about Miss Olivia? She's smart as a whip. I don't know where she learns everything she knows. I wish I could take credit. Tonite, she's eating a tangerine and spitting out the seeds. George asks her what would happen if she planted the seed. She said, "it would grow a flower." When he asks her if the plant grew really tall, what would happen, she replies, "it would grow fruit." She's very expressive when it comes to her emotions. A bit bossy and demanding. She's often telling me that she's frustrated or angry, or telling Nate what to do. A funny thing she started doing a few days ago is sticking her butt out and saying, "say hello to the butt."

Potty training has taken a turn for the worse. She was doing really well with her #1 and all of a sudden, she started peeing in her pants again. I haven't pressed the issue. She's back in Pull Ups until she decides to start going in the potty again. Nate, on the other hand, is starting to show an interest in the potty. It usually starts with him running around without a diaper. It's just a matter of time before he starts to pee, at which point, I shriek and run him into the bathroom. The first time he sat on the potty but didn't produce. The second time, he actually started to pee after a minute or so and even pushed my hand away so he could point his own little weiner into the potty. Because he sees sissy wipe, he wanted to use toilet paper too. At this rate he might be potty trained before Olivia!


As far as Olivia's binky, I thought we were really making progress a week or so ago. I've been talking to her about the binky fairy for the last year. The story is that she would hang her binkies in a bag out in the tree and the binky fairy comes and gets the binkies for new babies and leaves a present. Up until a few weeks ago, if I mentioned this, she would get really mad and yell that the fairy couldn't have her binkies. All of a sudden, she seemed open to the idea of babies needing her binkies and getting a present in return. We even picked out a bag at Target to hang in the tree. She's backsliding a little now though. Today when I mentioned it, she suggested we BUY the babies some binkies instead. She's clever and is usually working every angle to get what she wants.

We've been keeping busy doing fun things so keep checking back for new posts!