Things I Never Thought I'd Cheer and Clap For

Smiling

Laughing

Burping

Rolling

Creeping

Crawling

Eating

Sitting

Standing

Walking

Running

Climbing

Jumping

Clapping

Waving

Cleaning

Peeing

Pooping



And then I had kids; I love every moment I share and witness with them.

Attica! Attica!

Jack has figured out how to climb over the baby gate. I was really hoping that we'd have another six months or so before this happened but our energetic boy will not be contained! I guess I shouldn't be terribly surprised, he's outgrowing his 3T pants and beginning to wear 4Ts, he's just so long and skinny! Of course he's terribly proud of himself and I'm still amazed at how much he has learned; watching your child go from an infant to an active toddler is astonishing to witness. He's really testing his limits with us and he's quickly learning where they are; it doesn't seem stop him from testing them again. We'll get through this phase just in time for Belle's turn, I suspect that it will be easier on us after going through it with Jack.

Spice It Up!

We were very excited for Belle to turn eight months old so we could start introducing her to spices. We had done the same for Jack and to this day he prefers strongly flavored foods including garlic, raw onion and blue cheese. We don't believe in kid food or in making special meals for the children so it is very important that they develop a taste for bold food. For Belle's first taste of real spice Bruce and I decided that garlic would be a good choice. We were so wrong. She did great with the first two or three bites and then sobbed and sucked down her water. We ended up giving her some plain fruit and she glared at me the whole time. Undeterred we mixed some cinnamon into her breakfast the next morning... It was a great success! She loved it and we proceeded to work our way through the sweeter spices like nutmeg and ginger before going back to the more savory ones. We jumped into Herbes de Provence and Italian blend which were both received very well. Tonight I decided to try garlic again, I mixed in some Italian seasoning and a little garlic powder and watched Belle's reactions as I fed her her dinner... Success! Belle is developing nicely into a great little eater just like her big brother.

I'm still surprised and entertained

after 2 1/2 years by how much we discuss bodily functions now that we have kids. It's cliche but it's true. Once you have kids you are constantly talking to your spouse about the condition of their diapers; are they just wet or have they had too much fruit the last few days? I just didn't realize how important it was until we had Jack. Of course now we talk about it all the time with him as we are trying to gently encourage him to potty train. We have days of progress and days of regression, I am still hoping that he'll be trained by the time he turns three.

I can't believe that Jack is 2 1/2, I look at him sometimes and he looks so grown up to me. It's getting easier to imagine him as a teenager and an adult, it's really making me cherish this time with small fries. Belle is starting to cruise and she is beginning to figure out how to get from sitting to crawling. We're in trouble once we have two toddlers but I suppose it's worse for the cats. Belle has gotten really fast at crawling, now if I leave her on the floor in her room she'll drag herself out to see where the party moved to. She's always so proud of herself when she finds us. A couple of days ago I told Jack that he was cute and he said "I not cute, I big boy." I replied "so you can't be big and cute?" He said "no, I big." I'm just glad that my big boy still likes to snuggle in the morning or when he wakes up from his afternoon nap.