Category Archives: parenting

Probably just the plague…

Okay, maybe that’s a tad over dramatic, but as of now I only feel like I’m slightly exaggerating. Okay, it’s really not that bad, I just happen to have caught the cold that is making the rounds pretty much everywhere and my head is stuffed and I’m achy and my ears are plugged and I kind of want to just sleep. I blame part of this on Daylight Savings. Phoebe was doing so good with bedtime, and now? She won’t stay in bed and is back to waking up and needing me to crawl into bed with her.

She’s lucky she’s cute. Enzo is still hit or miss at bedtime, but is having more good nights where has long as the door is ~~cracked~~ wide open and we have to tiptoe around he will stay in bed. Phoebe, on the other hand has been getting out of her bed and will try and open her door, find it closed and then start calling, “Mommy?” When that doesn’t work she starts knocking on the door. Thankfully last night she did agree to stay in her bed like Enzo if I left the door (actually) just cracked. They were finally out by 8:30.

I’m really hoping to just kick this cold soon as it’s made a mess of the week and any meal plans have been thrown out the window and we actually ate donuts and strawberries for dinner one night. I had zero energy and figured Enzo’s idea was good enough for me. The past few nights Phoebe has said she doesn’t feel good either so we’ve been hanging out in my bed watching Mickey Mouse while the boys play video games. They each get what is supposed to be about half an hour, but that’s been a bit more this week. Thankfully we’re in for a busy weekend, though, so we’ll be out and about.

Also… how is it Thursday already? At least only more day in the work week!

Happy Little Trees

We’ve decided starting sometime this weekend (either Saturday or Sunday) we’re going to have a week of no TV/Kindles/etc. and only limited smart phone usage (especially in the evenings). Since we’ve been cutting back anyway, I’m hoping the kids won’t notice it too much… except on weekends. That’s usually when games are played and the idea is to not turn it on at all. Thankfully we’ve got plenty of stuff to do, and the weather should be nice, so perhaps we’ll get out a bit.

The kids have both been on a painting and coloring kick lately, and for that I am eternally grateful to Crayola for making washable paint. While Josh and I were doing some rearranging, the kids very quietly got into the paints. Thankfully they were mostly painting paper, but the paint had also made it onto the rug and their clothes. They then moved on to stickers… which Enzo promptly started decorating the wall with.

The funny thing is that Enzo has never really been one to color or paint where he isn’t supposed to. I can usually walk away and trust that he’ll only decorate what he’s supposed to. Phoebe on the other hand? The world is her canvas. She will draw on herself, her clothes, the floor, the walls, you name it. Thank you, washable art supplies and magic eraser for the not-so-washable.

So, we’re mostly likely in for a lot of painting this upcoming week, but thankfully some warmer weather as well, which means it’ll be much easier to play outside and go on some walks. Perhaps we’ll head back to the zoo and let the kids run around some more when we aren’t tackling the many things that didn’t get done around the house this week or last weekend. Now that it’s warming up and the days are starting to get lighter, I’m feeling much more motivated!

Things They Say (and Do)

First, I’m ecstatic that tomorrow the high is supposed to be 55 degrees! I’d love to get out with the kids, but we have some stuff that needs to be done around the house and it’ll just be me in the afternoon through Sunday morning, so do I want to try and wrangle the kids by myself? I’d hate to go anywhere that needs a stroller otherwise I’ll just be chasing them around like a lunatic with a stroller and unable to keep them under control. Let’s face it… all children go nuts the first time it gets this warm after months and months of winter.

We’ve had a fairly mild winter, but the kids haven’t been outside nearly enough, which I only just discovered the other day. We also realized that this would account for some behavioral issues. We assumed they were being plenty active still and were probably allowing too much screen time.

I just found out from Enzo that there have been several days where movies have been watched and for Enzo that plus getting some screen time in the morning and evening is way too much. So, we’re cutting back and hoping his mood is better. I think even he realizes he’s had too much because he’s only argued a little bit and has been okay with more creative play. Now if we could just get Josh off his phone. 😉

Phoebe is really such a typical girl and loves playing with dolls and houses. Enzo plays with her houses and Minnie stuff as well, but the bad guys are usually destroying it and his super heroes need to catch them. They each have their own very creative ways of playing with the same toys.

Enzo is still very much wanting to read, so we need to get on that. The other day he wanted me to stop so he could try and read a sign, so we really need to work on helping him reach this next milestone. Phoebe likes to pretend to read books and when she can’t remember the words she’ll just make up words and sounds.

More than anything, though, they both have huge imaginations and play really well together, and by themselves. It’s pretty fun when they ask for someone to play with, although, with Phoebe I’ve found it’s safer to just watch her. She’s very particular with how she plays and I usually do the wrong thing. My bad, Phoebe, of course the toilet goes in the kitchen and we are most definitely not playing with that Minnie, but the other Minnie, my bad.

There is always a method to their madness when it comes to play. An absolutely adorable method. They do sometimes get frustrated with each other when their ideas don’t quite mesh, but overall they’ve found a pretty good rhythm and there have only been a few Jerry Springer moments to speak of.

My favorite Enzo and Phoebe sayings lately, though?

Enzo: Did a full on “Heavens to Murgatroid!” at dinner when Phoebe did a big sneeze. It was amazing.

Phoebe: “Daddy hit me!” Yeah… she thinks it’s funny to say so-and-so (usually her friends) hit her or bit her, but then we had to have the It’s-only-funny-until-CPS-gets-called-on-daddy Talk. The fact that she has zero grace and always has cuts and bruises would not help her poor dad out. Oh, kids.

Happy Friday!

Things they say and do…

I think Enzo has gone through a growth spurt, or I’ve been turning a blind eye to the fact that he’s growing – that they both are. All of the sudden his ankles are sticking out from below pant legs and while he remains skinny as a rail, we’ll have to go up a size to account for his legs being too long. He’s growing in so many ways and it’s fascinating to watch him in this in-between stage. The stage where he wants to hold onto some of his baby/toddler-hood, but on the other hand he wants to learn how to read and figures things out so quickly. I was playing a video game with him last night and he was showing me how to do certain things. He has a very serious and inquisitive mind and that combined with his… determination, shall we say? will take him far.

Phoebe is very much a toddler, and while she has her moments, I wouldn’t say her two’s are all that terrible. Does that mean we have drama coming in her three’s? Perhaps. We’re at that stage where she changes her mind fifteen times in 5 minutes and everything seems to fall apart if we haven’t guessed correctly what she will choose. She has epic pouts and the other day she did the full-on fake crying with fists on her eyes. It was fairly hilarious. She’s also that stage where more often than not she does not wish to get dressed, or is okay about getting dressed, but not in those clothes – definitely not those socks, and let’s make a game of it. Most mornings we’re okay with it, and since I’m usually getting ready myself while Josh gets them dressed (unless one of them demands that Mommy do it) he can probably add child/alligator wrangling to his resume under Skills.

Parenting is a glorious, chaotic, exhausting and rewarding thing.

A Room of One’s Own

I’m grateful that our house has three bedrooms upstairs and all close to each other. It’s really the perfect setup to have with small children, especially our two children. While they both get along fantastically they have two very distinct personalities and I think having them share a room would be difficult. We tried briefly months ago, but it was kind of a nightmare, and even now if we all end up in the same room bedtime takes a bit longer. They feed off of each other’s energy and before you know it they’re poking at each other, tickling each other and giggling or stealing each other’s lovies and fussing – anything but sleeping. So, separate rooms it is.

It’s been a while since we got Phoebe her big girl bed, and she continues to love it. While Enzo still prefers to crawl into our bed in the middle of the night, she prefers to stay in her bed, though there are nights when she insists I lay down with her at 2:00am and then generally wake up between 4 and 5 when Vega comes in to vigorously lick my face.

Since her bed is much bigger than her crib we had to move a few things around and I brought a shelf up from my office to give her more room for toys and books. I really need to do another purging of both kids’ rooms and ideally make space in their closets for some storage in there for the larger toys that don’t seem to have a place.

Phoebe lucked out and ended up with the brightest and coziest of the bedrooms. I kind of want a set of her twinkle lights in our room – they’re magical and change colors and I’m a little jealous of the flannel unicorn sheets she has on her bed now. How could they not make them in a King size??

I really wish so many toys weren’t such awkward sizes. I confess I struggle finding places for all of them or ways to keep them organized nicely. There never seems to be the perfect bin or solution.

Anyhoo, its funny how a house seems to be a constant work in progress what with everyone’s changing moods and preferences. There is always something to rearrange or alter completely. I think once it warms up we’ll do another big purge and really narrow down the things we all like and want to hang onto, but finally get rid of the things we’ve held onto for no particular reason except for that we’ve just always had them.

Dino and Bunnies

Every day adventures