Christmas Eve 2010

We stayed home tonight. While we were at our own home for Christmas the year Juliet was born, it wasn't quite the same. We had a 19 month old and a 4 week old...while there were presents and decorations, there was no excitement, anticipation and understand. This year, we had all of those things and it was awesome!

During naps/quiet time, Chris (after napping) put Juliet's doll house together and I got the appetizers ready for our dinner as well as the overnight cinnamon rolls we'll have in the morning.

When Aidric's quiet time was over, he and I went outside and he sprinkled his reindeer food on the front lawn. At first, he thought he was supposed to just set the bag down somewhere..he was excited to learn he actually got to throw it around =)






When Juliet woke up, I insisted on a family self-portrait in front of the tree. The picture quality is horrible...but I love it anyway! (In an attempt to keep things peaceful here, we only took two shots...I really should have included the other one as well...Juliet has discovered the joy of picking her nose and I swear she stuck her finger in there the second before the shutter clicked.)



After that, it was straight to presents. Aidric dove in to find all of his presents.


It's definitely not that cold out, but something about a fire makes it FEEL like it is =)




slippers for mommy


play-doh set for jules


thomas puzzle for aidric


I put down the camera for awhile, so this was after Jules had opened a few more...a bike helmet, a silver purse that is just outside of this picture and some books. She sat down like this and completely ignored the rest of us until we had to beg her to open some more presents!



And one video of Aidric...he tends to show a little enthusiasm when receiving gifts..his response to most gifts were something like this, as well comments such as, "this is JUST what I have been asking for!!" and "These are the books I just LOVE!"

I swear..he HAS a bed....

The night after I found Aidric on the stairs, I went up to go to bed myself and look what I found:



He was sick a few weeks ago and I let him sleep in our bed. Ever since, he's been climbing in with us EVERY night between midnight and 4 AM. I guess he figured he'd just cut to the chase and start the night where he wanted to be. And I VERY rarely make our bed, but Juliet's party was that day, so rather than take the pillows off and cover up, he just found a way to be cozy amongst them.

And then there was last night. After putting him to bed, he started calling me from the stairs. I told him to go to bed and he said he was going to wait for me. I told him I was going to be awhile and he said he was just going to wait. I find it's easier to not argue with him on stuff like this, so I just didn't answer. And this is where he chose to wait for me...on the floor at the top of the stairs.

Oh this boy...

We've had some challenging times with him lately- he's been pushing every button and I've gone as far as talking to his preschool teacher and pediatrician about his behavior. (Preschool teacher's assessment is that she'd like to clone him and have 23 more of him in the classroom b/c he is so sweet and a great listener...pediatrician commented how good he always is in the office and said that based on preschool teacher's assessment, she's not worried...he's just testing his limits at home.) Despite those challenging times, the last few days have been fantastic...now that we're not sick..we've just been having fun. We're digging into all the great gifts he and Juliet received in Indiana when we celebrated an early Christmas with my parents and brothers. I'm getting random, "I just LOVE you mommy"s on a regular basis and the snuggles are out of control wonderful =) A challenge that remains is that he never wants me to leave his room at night. It doesn't matter how many books are read and songs are sung, it's always, "just stay for one more minute". Tonight was no exception and he followed me out of his room. I told him I needed to go downstairs and finish getting things ready for the bday party tomorrow. He told me he was NOT going to go back in his room. I was in no mood to argue, so I said, "fine...I don't care..but you may NOT come downstairs."

About 2 hours later, I needed to run upstairs for something. I turned the corner, looked up and saw this:





What a stubborn, determined little boy!! I about died laughing and then grabbed my camera. I love this kid =)

A few aidricisms I've jotted down to remember.....

The other day we were outside cleaning up the garden and talking. I wish I could remember the exact conversation, but somehow we ended up talking about big girls/boys versus babies versus grown ups. Aidric wanted to be a grown up and I told him I would miss him. I explained how he wouldn't live with mommy anymore b/c he would have his own house, wife, kids, etc. He stopped digging for a minute, just looked up at me and said (exact words), "No thank you mommy. I would rather just stay here with you."

As I was getting Aidric and Jules into the bath Aidric told me to make sure Juliet did not poop. I reminded him that it had been a LONG time since she had done that and he didn't have to worry b/c she is a big girl now. He said he was a big boy and she was a big girl and that meant we didn't have any babies in our house anymore. He then said, "Mom, we NEED a baby. We just need one. Do you want to have another one just like Juliet? Can we do that mommy?"

Yesterday, we were talking about what he wanted for his snack and he asked for goldfish. I told him we didn't have any. I knew we did, but I was saving them for Juliet's birthday party, so I figured it was easiest to say we didn't have any. He walks over to the pantry, opens it, points at the goldfish and says, "We DO have some mommy, right here." As I was caught, I just said, "Oh, you're right honey, we do have some." I admitted that he was right. Was that enough for him?? Oh no..he had to go on with, "Yes mommy, I WAS right..and you were WRONG. But oh well mommy, maybe next time you will be right. Maybe tomorrow you will be right." Hmm, well, we all know that if I'm not, he'll definitely let me know!

Hide and seek is huge in this house right now. When it's our (mine or Chris's) turn to hide, he says, "OK, I will count...now, where are you going to hide?" And then he gets mad if we won't tell him!

The other day, he told me he had a secret and could not tell me what it was because it was a secret. I said something about how that was fine...and then he went on to say, "So mommy, I can not tell you that I am going to hide in my tent now, b/c that is my secret." I love 3 year old secrets.

Monkey See...Monkey Do

Santa came to our street!

Every year, the Torrance Fire Department sends Santa out to visit neighborhoods..I have no idea if it's EVERY neighborhood or certain ones, but I know he comes to our street every year. And for about 15 years the neighbors on our street have been organizing a Christmas "block party" for the evening he comes! So fun!

We ventured 5 houses down on Monday night for some neighborly mingling and a quick visit with Santa. The kids loved it- they were SO excited when Santa pulled up. Aidric and I did have to have a LONG talk that night about why he didn't fly. My explanation? "He flies to CA from the North Pole, but once he's here, his sleigh gets wheels so he can drive around." This sounds reasonable, no??

Happy 2nd Birthday Juliet!!

Oh how to even DESCRIBE her?? I've been using the word sassy for awhile...and it's still accurate, but I'm wondering if there is a more extreme version of sassy that I could switch to? Complete terror? No...too harsh. Something between sassy and terror...let me know if you have the word for that.

Like tonight, Chris told her to say goodnight to Aidric and me so the two of them could go into her room to read stories. She answered with a defiant, "NO! I NOT going to do that!" And then, 20 seconds later, she ran towards me to fling herself on me for a hug. She just wants it to be HER idea. Lord HELP us.

Things we adore about our sassy teenager two year old:

1. When someone gets hurt (usually Aidric) she's the first one there to give a hug, rub his back or head in comfort.

2. The way she sings Tinkle Tinkle Ittle Ar at the top of her lungs...we need to get that on video.

3. The hugs that start from her standing and go to a free fall onto the person she is hugging.

4. Her ridiculously coy little smile when she knows she's done something she shouldn't but is "talking" her way out of it.

5. Her independence- everything is met with an "I do it SELF".

6. When she is playing with something and Aidric asks for a turn, the IMMEDIATE response is "2 minutes"...telling him how long before he can have it. I think we started this by forcing turn taking, but allowing the current "holder" of the toy to determine WHEN the other could play with it. Unfortunately, she now uses it on us...example:
Mommy: "Juliet, you need to come here."
Juliet: "2 minutes"

7. Her run/waddle...she gets going with her arms kind of bent up like a chicken, and she just GOES. Also need a video of this.

8. When we say, "Juliet, do you want to have a timeout?" and she answers "yeh" and then runs to time out to stand there for about 5 seconds before yelling, "I ready mommy". Real effective.

9. When we put ANYTHING in her crib besides the beloved lovies and 2 specific blankets, we are met with an "I no NEED that" as she throws it out. No luck trying to sneak an extra blanket in in the middle of the night..she'll have it on the floor before morning.

10. How lately, the minute she starts to get scolded, she holds her arms out and asks sweetly, "hug?" This is especially common when she's in a shopping cart and she wants us to walk through the store in an embrace.

11. The way she passionately rambles about any random topic. She actually has decent verbal skills when she knows what she wants to say. The rambling is more when she's really excited and she has all the attention and wants to keep it. She can talk jibberish for a good 30-60 seconds NONSTOP throwing only a random REAL word in every now and then. This morning, it was about her puppy. So, it went something like this.

joopudubye.menomesibadu.PUPPY.appamiabu.balamatobebuh.

But imagine that for at least 100 more lines.

I wish I had a super amazing picture to go with this post, but I'll put taking pictures of Juliet on the "things I do not love right now" list. I put her in her "2" shirt this morning and tried to get just ONE decent shot, but we only lasted about 30 seconds before I realized it wasn't going to happen. Poor thing...you can see in her eyes that she's starting to get whatever Aidric and I have had.

Sick Day

Aidric and I are both sick and Juliet is getting there. We spent as much of the day as we could in jammies and (new from Grandma and Papa) slippers. Hot chocolate was an important part of our day as well.






Being sick sucks. Being sick and taking care of a sick child sounds like it would be even worse, but it's actually working out to our advantage. Neither of us have ANY energy and we've spent a LOT of time cuddling..no tv on or computer or leapster game..just cuddling. I have to admit, while being sick sucks, the side benefits of us being sick together are kind of awesome.

Happy Birthday Grandma!!

Wish we could be there to sing in person! (And Aidric really wishes we could be there b/c "Happy Birthday" equals cake to him!)

Trick or Treat!

This was the first year Aidric chose his own costume. Last year, he had no idea what he even was (a devil to Juliet's angel). This year, he was looking through a PBK catalog and saw their shark costume and knew what he wanted to be. This was early September, but he didn't waiver once. Unfortunately for him, mommy was not willing to pay $60 for a 3 year old's costume, so he didn't get EXACTLY what he wanted, but I think the Old Navy $19.50 shark was just as cute =)

He got really upset whenever anyone said, "oooh, it's a shark, he looks mean" or "ooh, scary shark" or anything like that. It made him really sad and he said he wanted to be a NICE shark. How cute is he??

Juliet did not choose her costume, but she loooooooooves Minnie Mouse (Mee Mow, in her own words). She fell in love when we went to Disney World and the love was solidified when grandma and papa bought her a Minnie Mouse doll.

I took a few pics before we left the house. Most of the those can be found over on my photography blog but I had to share these two here. After I had taken a few of them separately, I said I wanted one of them together and Aidric automatically took that to me they were to hug. (He may be a tiny bit "picture trained"). He threw out his arms and said, "come here Juls". Sooo sweet.





We kicked off our trick or treating at Riviera Village, where they block off the streets and the shop owners all hand out candy. I have to admit, Chris and I weren't super impressed. It was soooo crowded and I just wasn't feeling the "spirit" of Halloween...going door to door, ringing the bell and waiting for some nice homeowner to tell you how cute your kids are. This was like a factory assembly line. Shuffle through the crowd, stand in line, mumble trick or treat and get your candy.

Anyway, we didn't stay long and then we ventured out in our neighborhood (where I took the liberty of leaving the camera at home), hitting a few houses on the way to Chris's cousin's house. We stopped in there for some yummy appetizers, soup and beverages before working our way up and down their street. That was definitely more our style! The kids had a blast and Aidric woke up this morning asking me if we could go trick or treating again today =)

Pumpkin Patch 2010

celebrating "fall"

I miss fall. I loooove the first crisp days of fall and pulling sweaters out from the back of the closet. And boots. I love boots. But, we'll get our "fall" in December or so, if it's anything like last year. And I shouldn't complain too much since we spent last weekend at the beach. That was nice =)

But anyway, we're pretending and we're celebrating the season anyway. I bought Aidric and Juliet these candy corn suckers last week, but our photo shoot was delayed due to sickness. We got them out tonight and they loved them. Aidric understood he was allowed to have it for awhile, but then needed to set it aside for after dinner. He did such a great job and even initiated giving it back to me. Juliet was NOT so understanding. Screamed her poor little head off while I pried it out of her sticky little fingers.






After that fun, we came in and made pumpkin muffins. Thanks to my friend Kate for sharing the recipe! Yum!

I'd love to say this was all 100% fun and smiles..but I'm not going to lie. It ended with Juliet pulling on my pant legs crying "mommy, mommy, mommy" while I divided batter into the pan and Aidric asked, "Mommy, why are you not happy?" We really did have fun...but baking with an almost 2 year old and almost 3.5 year old?? It requires a higher patience level than I actually have.