Home again, home again

I'm taking a break from unpacking and cleaning up the inevitable disaster that results when the kids come home after a week away and reacquaint themselves with all their toys by spreading them all over the house.  I realize that my ornery little sister already posted the cream of the crop of the photos from our visit, but here are some fun ones she missed:

1.  Charlie Jo, Sonia, and Petey had countless tea parties (often lasting only a few seconds) with the new tin sock monkey tea set we gave Sonia for her birthday.  Auntie Ernie is going to LOVE hunting down all 15 pieces of it every day when she cleans up!  You're welcome.

2.  When the cousin convention got a little whiney or crazy, the kiddos took a little TV break.  Erin and I are trying to figure out how to get the kids together at Halloween so they can dress up as the Wonder Pets.  Charlotte would make a great Linny the guinea pig, Petey would of course have to be Tuck the turtle, and Sonia's blonde feathery hair makes her a dead ringer for Ming Ming the duck.

3.  There were many many hugs exchanged between the cousins.  By the time we left, Peter was getting in on the act and hugging all sorts of people.

4.  The sheer look of glee on Petey's face inspired Grandpa Spike to feed this train full of about $50 in quarters at the All Aboard Diner.

5.  Driving a train is serious business.

6.  The best part about the All Aboard Diner is when the train runs down the counter to bring you your food.  There are tables for the poor unfortunate souls who can't squeeze in a spot at the counter, but we made sure to get there right as they opened to stake out our stools.

7.  Grandpa Spike's entire job during the visit was to charge up the kids.  He is an EXPERT at making Charlotte laugh like a hyena.

8.  Meal times were wild.  The kids took turns driving their respective mothers crazy while the grandparents giggled and reminisced.

9.  There was always a big pile of shoes near the back door, and all three kids mistook them for toys.

10.  We celebrated Grandma JoJo's birthday a little early (it's today, in fact!) with a chocolate cake that sported a marshmallow top drizzled with warm icing.

11.  I was smiling in this photo despite suffering from a nasty stomach bug that knocked me for a loop and caused us to delay the second leg of our journey to Michigan.

12.  We were never successful in getting those three knuckleheads to pose for a pretty picture.

13.  Easter morning, we managed to limit the candy intake by distracting them with toys and books in their baskets.  With the stomach bug making its rounds, we feared the worst in the event of a candy binge.

That's enough for now.  I'm sure Erin and I will do competing posts about our visit to the Arboretum on Easter morning, so stay tuned for more!

Happy Easter from 3 Funny Bunnies

The dynamic trio of goofballs had a lovely Easter with beautiful weather.  Still leery of the stomach bug, my sister and I didn't allow very many Easter treats to be consumed.  We did let them play outside most of the day and gave them some fun little toys, but never fear -- we will make up for it in years to come.  Charlotte, Petey, and I leave tomorrow and will take with us some great memories!

More and more words

Petey has acquired a good little vocabulary over the past few days at Auntie Ernie's house in Illinois.  Here is his complete lexicon:

Car ("cah")
Ball ("baw")
Bo Bo (Ernie's cat's nickname)
Da Da (he sure misses his daddy!)
Choo Choo (for trains)
Shoe

We're still gathering evidence on whether "again" and "mama" are truly being said.  He also loves to make a "vroom" noise when he runs his cars along the floor, and he does a hilarious little imitation of "a-choo" because he thinks sneezing is the funniest thing in the world. He may be saying more words, but it's pretty hard to shout over his sister and cousin.  Those are two girls who like to hear themselves speak and sing.  As I type this, we're listening to Charlotte spew a stream of discipline at the trains she's playing with, and we're cracking up as we identify all of the phrases I have repeated a million times (like "No!  I said NO!").

We had to amend our plans and put off continuing on to Michigan for a couple of days when an icky stomach virus struck Charlotte and me, but we hope that we're well enough to make the drive tomorrow.  Cross your fingers and hope Peter doesn't come down with it too.

Chugging along in Illinois

We're in Illinois with my sister, Erin, and her daughter, Sonia.  Grandma JoJo and Grandpa  Spike are here from California as well, and we're having all sorts of fun.  After a visit to the All Aboard Café, the kids (resplendent in their engineer's caps) played train with Grandma JoJo as the engine.  More photos will be forthcoming, but I had to get this one posted because it was too cute.

Next, we're swinging through Michigan to see Corey's parents and his sister's family.  Too bad we're making this trip sans Corey!  Anyway, I'll get the pictures posted from the whole trip once we get home.

FINALLY! HE SPEAKS!!

Petey has maintained a strict code of silence since birth.  He has made many a cute noise, but he has been much later at speaking actual words than his verbose older sister.  (As far as I can recall, she came out of the womb speaking in paragraphs and arguing about exactly why I shouldn't make her eat her dinner.  I could be wrong though.  I'm always annoyed when my mom can't remember details of my early childhood from over 30 years ago and here I am unable to recall less than 3 years ago.  I should probably stop giving Mom such a hard time about her "momnesia".)

Anyway, Petey has been saying "BUH-BUH!" whenever he picks up one of his beloved plush creatures, and he does a good "uh-oh!" after (and sometimes before) he throws a toy.  But as of yesterday morning, he has started reliably saying "CAH!" every time he sees some sort of vehicle.  We are choosing to interpret that as "car" and are declaring it his first word.  Considering his father's deep love of the automobile, I guess it's only fitting.  Petey is also going to get along swimmingly with his cousin, Quinn, whose first word was "truck".

The best part about this new word is that he often says it a dozen times or more in a row as he practices his new skill.  He also makes "vrooming" noises when he runs his cars along the ground.  Charlotte is thrilled with Petey's new word and keeps bringing him cars to get him to say it.  As I type this, they are vrooming cars together off into the sunset.  Well, off into the bonus room anyway.  Uh oh -- now I hear shrieking about Petey knocking over some of Charlotte's "aminals".  Sigh.  It was nice while it lasted.

Charlie and Lili go to the prom

Not many three-year-olds get to go to a high school prom.  Charlie Jo was very lucky that she got to hang out in the lobby outside of her buddy Faith Carol's prom tonight before Alicia and I went in to take photos of the seniors being introduced.  Isn't that a sweet tradition?

Charlie declared that all the girls looked like Cinderella in their prom dresses.  FYI -- apparently it's not cool anymore for the guys to wear dress shoes with their tuxedos, so we saw a whole array of everything from Vans to tennis shoes.  Meanwhile, their dates were teetering around in gorgeous heels, amazing dresses, professionally done nails and hair, and fancy jewelry.  Faith Carol looked absolutely gorgeous, and it seemed to kind of intimidate Charlie!  Here she is, trying to lunge back into my arms after Faithy picked her up.

After we got home, Charlie Jo wanted to dress up and go to the prom.  I have a feeling that her animals will be acting out that very scenario when she plays with them tomorrow.

A mother's biggest fear

Racing home after lunch, praying the kids will stay awake so they can take good naps in their own beds, I looked over my shoulder and saw this:

CURSES!  Foiled again.  Even one minute of a car nap completely precludes any possibility of an afternoon nap upon arrival at home.  It is so rare that the transfer to the crib/bed actually works that even attempting it is laughable.  Instead, I drove straight to the park so their inevitably cranky awakenings (wouldn't YOU be cranky when you woke up from sleeping in one of those positions?) could be nipped in the bud with the promise of swings and slides.  Worked like a charm.

First pool party of the year!

CANNONBALL!!

Giggling at Charlotte's antics.

Waterfall!

Um, we might need a bigger pool!

Proper attire

Charlotte insisted she needed a tutu to play soccer.  INSISTED.

Peter, of course, needed Bubba Bear.

Action shot!

It's Miller Time.

Whew -- working hard!

Time to hit the showers.

Feeding the animals at the zoo

When Charlotte's buddy, Madison, was over for pizza yesterday, Peter and I had no idea we would be treated to lunch AND a show.  Those two little monkeys ate all of their meals (except for Madison's carrots, which Charlotte happily finished for her), but they were awfully goofy while doing it.

First, they decided they had to swap plates because each preferred the other's pizza shape (one was cut up, one was left intact based on my experience feeding them pizza in the past).  Then, they just HAD to treat each other to reciprocal up-close-and-personal views of the pizza as it was chewed.  We all busted up when Madison suddenly realized (and then gleefully announced) that she had forgotten to put her pants back on after going potty before lunch.  Next, Charlotte requested a bib.  Of course Madison needed one too, they decided.  They couldn't go two seconds without poking at each other for some reason or another, and then they really had a field day shrieking in mock horror when Peter was let down from his high chair, because they were sure he was going to eat all of their food.  (Well, he did toddle over and steal their forks.)

We love Madison and I'm hoping we will be able to have her over lots when she joins Charlotte in the ranks of big sister in a few months.  She loves taking care of baby dolls, but I wonder what she's going to think a real baby living in her house!

Hopscotch, soccer, & pizza

When NanaB, Granny Great,  and Grandpa Great swung through town last weekend, they brought the kids some sidewalk chalk.  I thought there was no way it would work with our bumpy aggregate sidewalks, but it actually looked good!  As soon as Granny busted out the chalk, Charlotte started asking her for "some hopscotch".  Little did we know that Charlotte has some mad hopscotching skills!  She doesn't hop very well on one leg yet, but she does a good three-year-old's approximation of what hopscotch is.

Go, Charlie, go!

After that, we got out Charlie Jo's soccer goal.  Peter did not quite get the concept of keeping his hands off the ball.

Connie played goalie.  She was fierce and intimidating.

But Flash Gordon zipped right by her.  Don't you love how only about 2.5 inches of leg is exposed when Petey wears "shorts"?

The only way to finish off a night with such beautiful weather was to make personal pizzas and eat outside on the back deck.  It's a whole lot less stressful watching Petey fling food on the ground outside, so we plan to dine al fresco as much as possible this spring!

Soothing the savage beast

Peter has finally followed in his sister's footsteps.  Or thumbs.  Something like that.  Most kids develop a security habit like thumb-sucking early on in their first year.  Petey decided to wait until after his first birthday to develop his.  Does he such his thumb like a normal child?  Of course not.  He has decided his right index finger is the way to go, almost always coupled with some sort of plush animal (which he calls a "buh-buh", no matter what animal it is) clutched in his left arm.

What I've learned so far this weekend

1. How to make a Kix breakfast sandwich. Take two pieces of honey wheat bread and toast them. Liberally spread Land O' Lakes Whipped Butter on each slice. Take the Kix cereal (dry) off your 3-year old's plate after she starts throwing them around the kitchen, put them between the pieces of toast and enjoy. It turns out to be a crunchy, sweet breakfast sandwich!

2. If you leave a 15-month year old alone long enough with a hose twist nozzle, your 15-month old will figure out how to turn it on. YIKES!

Rip Van Charlotte

Both kids have been sick since Tuesday, but it hit Charlotte a little harder than Petey.  She ran a fever for a few days, and it peaked on Thursday.  That day, she was super cranky -- especially when I pinned her down and attempted to force her to take some ibuprofen.  After an abbreviated afternoon nap, she was being a total pill.  Even Peter was looking at me like, c'mon Mom, you gotta do something about my whiny sister!  Charlotte told me that she thought she wanted to go back down for a nap, so I carried her into her room and tucked her in.

That was at 4:45 pm.  I heard her stirring and whimpering a little at 5:30, but she didn't want to get up.  Corey came home and we had dinner without her.  At about 7:15, she whimpered again but fell right back asleep even though Corey went in to try to rouse her.  We didn't hear from her again until 4:15 am when she woke up bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and ready to party.  All traces of a fever were gone and she downed two sippy cups within an hour.  I asked her if she wanted to watch some TV so Mommy could snooze a little, but she actually refused to watch her beloved Huckle Cat, Diego, or Dora.  She said she just wanted to play with me.  Aww . . .

It would have been a lot more fun had it not been before the butt crack of dawn, but I played with her happily.  It was kind of freaky to be without her for the evening.  Petey had a great time being an only child, but I suspect even he missed her a little.

Here is Charlie Jo on day one of the fever.  I was getting the clue that she was sick from her lack of interest in anything -- even her beloved art projects.  I can tell by looking at the picture that she was a little droopy and not quite the little spitfire she normally is.  Thank goodness she and Petey are better now -- I am a wreck when the kids are sick.  It kills me that when I am most in need of a field trip to get out of the house for a break, we need to stay home.  I wish someone would market his/her services as a baby-sitter for sick kids.  Parents would pay a serious premium for such a service.