This is one of those entries that I feel like I can't type fast enough. SO much has happened that I haven't written down and I know that I haven't remembered it all. I cannot get the energy to write every night-even though I regret it.
Jack is confusing words like crazy. It's so cute that I can see how he is compartmentalizing all of the information he recieves throughout the day by the words that come out of his mouth. He called a raccoon, a 'coupon', a tennis racquet, a 'tennis rocket', and the neighboring street "Woodstock", "stocking".
Mallie is becoming a little conversationalist. She perched herself on the arm of the couch last night right next to Tommy. He was asking her questions and she was answering almost all them. SHe uses every word she knows, along with mumbling and flailing her hands all over the place. She is so serious about answering him and I can tell she thinks she is big stuff as she chats away.
I was giving Mallie a bath last night and rinsing her hair. She yelled to me, "Mommy! Look at me! I doing the backstroke!!"
Jack is getting great at riding the bike that Uncle Brian gave him. He rode to Bohlken Park two days ago. I was very concerned about letting him do this becuase all I could picture was myself dragging his bike home while pushing the double stroller. But he most of the time, he was ahead of us and kept up really well. Then yesterday, I let him ride to Linden Park. He, again, did really well. And that night, we rode to Auntie and Drew's! He looks like such a big kid while he rides. And I probably look like a whacko because I am constantly wincing and saying "oh god!' as he goes over bumps or comes close to the grass etc. I think I'm diong an OK job at covering up my craziness though- and he's really good at falling- hasn't gotten hurt once and always lands on his feet! :)
Jack got an eye patch at the eye doctor last week. She wants him to wear it 4 hours per day. The first day, I struggled like crazy to get him to keep it on for 1/2 hour while he watched TV. He was squirming and crying and totally frustrated and I felt awful for him. How annoying to cover up the eye you can see out of so you are left with blurry vision! I gave him a break over the weekend, and on Monday we started again. He had a rough first hour, but by the 2nd hour, he was doing great. He kept it on at Bohlken Park while we played baseball (even hit a few home runs!) He even wore it to the grocery store. (Some ignorant old lady there asked us what was wrong with his eye- which totally threw me off and seemed to throw him off too a little bit). But the 2nd day, he put it on and didn't even complain once. He got to ride in Auntie and Drew's bike trailer as a special treat for his great behavior with it. Then today- he actually went to put it on himself!!! I'm so proud of how he's adjusted and reasoned it through. He knows it's going to help him.
Annie is changing a lot lately. Her sweet little, sunny disposition is not as sunny any more. I don't know if we are working on teeth, or just frustrated about not being able to communicate (the other 2 went through that, just about 6-9 months later than Annie is now!) The girl whined and cried ALL day today though. From the moment she woke up, if she was left alone for even a second, it was an all-out sob fest. Any time I try to get her involved in a toy and walk out of the room to get something accomplished- she finds me and crawls up to the backs of my legs, stands up and rubs her face in my calves as she whines away. She's also adopted a new cry that is very throaty and whiny. It almost sounds like she's saying 'Ohhhhhh Gooooooddddd...." as she throws her head back. SHe's throwing her head back a LOT, too. She does not have any concern for what is behind her either- her crib bars, the doorway woodwork, the floor, etc. It seems as though I have a very frustrated baby on my hands.
Jack wanted to play with the neighbor, Robby this afternoon. Robby was kind of being a punk and not including JAck, but Jack, being Jack, was completely oblivious and proceeded to play a gamet of games in the kids' driveway. As we were leaving, Jack went up to Robby and gave him a high-five and said, "Bye Robby! It was good seein' ya Bud!" Then he strutted back home like he was the coolest thing on Earth.
Mallie knows the entire Frosty the Snow Man song and want to read the book every day, even though it is August. I sing each line to her and stop at the last word, and she fills in the blank. The best line is "He led them down the streets of town, right to the traffic_" And she says "COP!"
Annie is starting to make sound that sound like real words. SHe is saying "auntie' and 'yaya' and it sounded like she said "Hey dada!" when Tommy got home tonight. She says things that sound like, 'Yes', and is constantly experimenting with her new 'vocabulary'. It is so funny when she accidentally says words because Jack and Mallie praise her. "Oh! Mom! Annie said 'soccer'! GrEAT JOB ANN!!!"
Our neighbor's daughter is a softball player for Fiarview Park and their house was TP'ed a couple weeks ago. This sent Jack and Mallie into a tizzy. Why would someone do that!? WHatt happened to Robby's house!? They JUST couldn't wrap their minds around it. Mallie asked me, no joke, at least 200 times, "Why toyet papy on Robby hows?" And I just started answering the exact same answer every time: "Robby's sister has friends and they thought it was funny to put toilet paper on her house!" Then 10 seconds later: "WHy Toyet Papy on RObby hows!?" So I started asking her, "Mallie, Why is there toilet paper on RObby's house?" and she'd answer "sister have friend and it funny!!!" and then she'd laugh in a very forced way.
Annie is eating finger foods now. She will eat anything that is set in front of her. This is a great thing, for the future. Right now, however, it is posing several problems. First of all, she is a complete DISASTER after eating. I am talking, strip-down, hose-off disasterous mess. I'd be able to better deal with this if it was once a day, at dinner time, when Tommy's here to help. But she needs to learn to eat 3 meals a day and to try to wipe the child down 3 times while the other 2 are wreaking havoc on the house or neighborhood is a nightmare. It takes me an extra 10 minutes of clean-up time at each meal. WHich leads to problem #2, which is that it tkakes her foREVER to eat now! SHe really enjoys savoring every morsel and ends up taking a good 25 minutes per meal (when it woudl be only 10 or 15 at most with being spoon-fed). On top of the baby clean-up, there is the highchair clean-up (by the way- we have the most annoying highchair on Earth when it comes to convenience for cleaning- I'm disgusted by what is under the cushion on this thing and would die if anyone ever looked). There is also the surrounding floor clean up. SO, what used to take me 15 minutes at most from start to finish, is now topping out around 25 or 30. THat's just 10-15 extra minutes I don't have in my day. All of these are more annoyance-type issues, but the one issue that is harping on me is the fact that I have NO idea how much the child is actually eating. If I have a plate of food for her, and it is gone at the end of 30 minutes, that does not necessarily mena that it is in her stomach. Fractions of it end up on the floor, the said highchair cushions, her face, hair, cheeks, arms, fingers, legs, in her diaper, on her clothes, in her fat rolls, you get the picture. So I am in constant worry that she is not 'full'. (This is laughable, as you'd know if you saw a picture of Annie right now- she is anything and everything but Hungry!!) But, as a mom I don't want her tummy rumbling...so I have been feeding her baby food meals, after she eats her finger foods. THis is the most ridiculous thing ever because she's definately eating a lot of her finger foods- but then I am stuffing her with baby food. You'd think this was the first time I've ever done this. Such a Rookie move. But I can't help it. Let the issues with food begin!!! Sorry Ann!!!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
Monday, August 10th, 2009
I feel like there's lots to catch up on:
FIrst of all, Annie has sprouted her first tooth. I admit to being unimpressed with Jack's first tooth at 6 months and not even remembering Mallie's first tooth..... But Annie's has surprised me and taken me aback. At 9 1/2 months, I don't know if I had stopped expecting it and starting thinking that she would just be a cute little 'gummy' 16 year old....but feeling her tooth popping through yesterday shocked me!
I took Annie and Mallie to the doctor for their check-ups today. On the way home, I called Tommy and told him, 'The girls difference in weight is only 5 lbs.!" To which he asked, "well, which one is heavier?" This may not seem funny, but if you could see Annie, you'd realize that she is so big that the question was legitimate. Annie is in the 90th %ile for both height and weight. Mallie is in the 50th for weight and 25th for height. The doctor reminded me that this isn't any type of forshadowing for the future, as Jack was in the 90th %ile for weight at 9 months too and now resembles a string bean.
Jack and Mallie have been performing both fiddle and piano concerts featuring Jimmy Buffet's "Volcano" several times a day (i.e. if you miss the 9 a.m. performance, you can catch the 9:05 a.m. performance). Piano duets are performed (loudly) in the living room by banging the keyboard in synchrony and yelling "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know wha I ma gonna go when I don't know!!!!!!!!!!" Fiddle concerts are less loud, but equally hilarious. THey are performed in the outdoor arena with plastic golf clubs. One is held under the chin, the other acts as a bow. This takes so much concentration by the musicians that the lyrics are sung more softly and slowly.
WHen we got home from our Columbus adventure this Sunday (an overnight in Columbus to visit the COlumbus zoo- which was awesome...and the Dublin Irish Fest).... Jack promptly got out of the car and started scrounging around in the garage. He emerged with a diaper bag over his chest and shoulder with two wooden spoons protruding from it. It was his bagpipe. He used his elbow to squeeze air from it and the spoon to manipulate with his fingers to get the proper notes. When he finished with that, he stood on top of the cooler and played the wooden spoon as a flute, telling everyone in his audience, "this one is about someone that goed to heaven'- which was taken directly from a band we had watched early that day.
We celebrated Mallie's second birthday on Tuesday. She embraced her day, unlike Jack's 2nd b-day, where his fear of the song 'Happy Birhtday to You" ruined his time. SHe woke up asking about her cake. When it was time for cake, the smile on her face was from ear to ear. While everyone sang to her, her little shoulders shrugged up to her ears with joy and she wiggled around with excitment. She has been obsessed with all of her birhtday gifts, including her new shopping cart, dolly, purse, lip smackers, and dress-ups. Her dress-up trunk includes dangle earrings and high heels which are 12 sizes too big for her. SHe has been persistant about wearing and walking in them. And by the end of her party, she was suffling around in them, pushing her shopping cart as though she'd been born in heels.
At the end of Mallie's party, Jack, being the eternally gracious host that he is, ushered everyone to the door, saying, "Bye everyone! Thanks for coming to my sister's birhtday party!"....an Mallie being the myna bird, repeated, "Bye! Thanks for coming to my sister's birthday!!"
At a picnic this wekend with all the Gilbride cousins, Jack was WAY too busy to eat his dinner. At one point, he ran by me and Grandpa Gilbride and stopped to ask if he could have a brownie. I asked him if he had eaten his dinner. He said, "Yes." I asked him if that was the truth or if it was a lie. He said, "That is a lie." And ran away to continue playing with his cousins. I thought GRandpa Gilbride was going to bust open trying not to laugh in front of him.
Mallie got a shot today at the doctor's office. She was not happy about it and didn't do much to mask that from the sweet nurse who had the unfortunate duty of administering it. The nurse was full of apologies and gave her a cool band-aid. Mallie was so beside herself that she tore the band-aid off and yelled at me to 'Throw it away!" Then the nurse offered her a pretty princess sticker for being such a big girl. Mallie, still in hysterics wound up to whip the sticker back at the nurse, who kindly excused herself from the examining room at that point.
Annie is being a HUGE handful!!! SHe is learning that she is not supposed to do things and find that experience funny (which presents a problem in discipline!!) When she picks something up that she is not allowed to have, she gets on all 4's (really all 3's, while holding the thing in question in her hand), waiting for us to say something. When we say , "No Annie!", she throws it down and crawls away as fast as she can, laughing. The girl is only 9 months old and already finding her old lady and old man hilarious when we (lamely) try to excert any type of authority. It's going to be a long 18 years at this rate!!!
Annie has also learned a new trick from her Auntie DI. They were sitting out on a blanket for an hour or so a couple of weeks a ago and Di taught her, "How big is Annie?" SOOOOO Big!!" Annie, being the chubby little thing she is, struggles to raise her rolly little arms above her head and instead shrinks her head down to prove how big she really is. She is also clapping when someone says 'yeaaaaah!" and waving when someone says 'bye or 'hi'. I also told the doctor today about my crazy belief that she is saying 'ba ba', 'mama' and 'dada' intentionally and braced myself for a weird look from her. She said it's certainly early for that, but it's not unheard of and if she's doing it and I'm hearing it, it's certainly plausible!
Mallie and Jack learned about the man in the moon a few days ago from their Yaya. Ever since, they have been asking me about 'him'. "Why is there a man in the moon?' 'Is he real?" Etc. I have been explaining it, repeatedly that there are mountains on the moon. And when the sun shines on them they make it look like there's a face on the moon that we call the man in the moon. Mallie has no clue what is going on and is only asking about the man in the moon because Jack is. However, she is asking about it every time he does and I wanted to see, if by any chance in the world, she is picking up on any of this. So she asked me while we were driving, "Why there a man in the moon Mama?" and I asked her, "I don't know Mal, you tell me, why is there a man in the moon?". SHe relied in the most flip way, shrugging her shoulders, " I dunno..... mountains... moon..... sun shining....."
FIrst of all, Annie has sprouted her first tooth. I admit to being unimpressed with Jack's first tooth at 6 months and not even remembering Mallie's first tooth..... But Annie's has surprised me and taken me aback. At 9 1/2 months, I don't know if I had stopped expecting it and starting thinking that she would just be a cute little 'gummy' 16 year old....but feeling her tooth popping through yesterday shocked me!
I took Annie and Mallie to the doctor for their check-ups today. On the way home, I called Tommy and told him, 'The girls difference in weight is only 5 lbs.!" To which he asked, "well, which one is heavier?" This may not seem funny, but if you could see Annie, you'd realize that she is so big that the question was legitimate. Annie is in the 90th %ile for both height and weight. Mallie is in the 50th for weight and 25th for height. The doctor reminded me that this isn't any type of forshadowing for the future, as Jack was in the 90th %ile for weight at 9 months too and now resembles a string bean.
Jack and Mallie have been performing both fiddle and piano concerts featuring Jimmy Buffet's "Volcano" several times a day (i.e. if you miss the 9 a.m. performance, you can catch the 9:05 a.m. performance). Piano duets are performed (loudly) in the living room by banging the keyboard in synchrony and yelling "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know wha I ma gonna go when I don't know!!!!!!!!!!" Fiddle concerts are less loud, but equally hilarious. THey are performed in the outdoor arena with plastic golf clubs. One is held under the chin, the other acts as a bow. This takes so much concentration by the musicians that the lyrics are sung more softly and slowly.
WHen we got home from our Columbus adventure this Sunday (an overnight in Columbus to visit the COlumbus zoo- which was awesome...and the Dublin Irish Fest).... Jack promptly got out of the car and started scrounging around in the garage. He emerged with a diaper bag over his chest and shoulder with two wooden spoons protruding from it. It was his bagpipe. He used his elbow to squeeze air from it and the spoon to manipulate with his fingers to get the proper notes. When he finished with that, he stood on top of the cooler and played the wooden spoon as a flute, telling everyone in his audience, "this one is about someone that goed to heaven'- which was taken directly from a band we had watched early that day.
We celebrated Mallie's second birthday on Tuesday. She embraced her day, unlike Jack's 2nd b-day, where his fear of the song 'Happy Birhtday to You" ruined his time. SHe woke up asking about her cake. When it was time for cake, the smile on her face was from ear to ear. While everyone sang to her, her little shoulders shrugged up to her ears with joy and she wiggled around with excitment. She has been obsessed with all of her birhtday gifts, including her new shopping cart, dolly, purse, lip smackers, and dress-ups. Her dress-up trunk includes dangle earrings and high heels which are 12 sizes too big for her. SHe has been persistant about wearing and walking in them. And by the end of her party, she was suffling around in them, pushing her shopping cart as though she'd been born in heels.
At the end of Mallie's party, Jack, being the eternally gracious host that he is, ushered everyone to the door, saying, "Bye everyone! Thanks for coming to my sister's birhtday party!"....an Mallie being the myna bird, repeated, "Bye! Thanks for coming to my sister's birthday!!"
At a picnic this wekend with all the Gilbride cousins, Jack was WAY too busy to eat his dinner. At one point, he ran by me and Grandpa Gilbride and stopped to ask if he could have a brownie. I asked him if he had eaten his dinner. He said, "Yes." I asked him if that was the truth or if it was a lie. He said, "That is a lie." And ran away to continue playing with his cousins. I thought GRandpa Gilbride was going to bust open trying not to laugh in front of him.
Mallie got a shot today at the doctor's office. She was not happy about it and didn't do much to mask that from the sweet nurse who had the unfortunate duty of administering it. The nurse was full of apologies and gave her a cool band-aid. Mallie was so beside herself that she tore the band-aid off and yelled at me to 'Throw it away!" Then the nurse offered her a pretty princess sticker for being such a big girl. Mallie, still in hysterics wound up to whip the sticker back at the nurse, who kindly excused herself from the examining room at that point.
Annie is being a HUGE handful!!! SHe is learning that she is not supposed to do things and find that experience funny (which presents a problem in discipline!!) When she picks something up that she is not allowed to have, she gets on all 4's (really all 3's, while holding the thing in question in her hand), waiting for us to say something. When we say , "No Annie!", she throws it down and crawls away as fast as she can, laughing. The girl is only 9 months old and already finding her old lady and old man hilarious when we (lamely) try to excert any type of authority. It's going to be a long 18 years at this rate!!!
Annie has also learned a new trick from her Auntie DI. They were sitting out on a blanket for an hour or so a couple of weeks a ago and Di taught her, "How big is Annie?" SOOOOO Big!!" Annie, being the chubby little thing she is, struggles to raise her rolly little arms above her head and instead shrinks her head down to prove how big she really is. She is also clapping when someone says 'yeaaaaah!" and waving when someone says 'bye or 'hi'. I also told the doctor today about my crazy belief that she is saying 'ba ba', 'mama' and 'dada' intentionally and braced myself for a weird look from her. She said it's certainly early for that, but it's not unheard of and if she's doing it and I'm hearing it, it's certainly plausible!
Mallie and Jack learned about the man in the moon a few days ago from their Yaya. Ever since, they have been asking me about 'him'. "Why is there a man in the moon?' 'Is he real?" Etc. I have been explaining it, repeatedly that there are mountains on the moon. And when the sun shines on them they make it look like there's a face on the moon that we call the man in the moon. Mallie has no clue what is going on and is only asking about the man in the moon because Jack is. However, she is asking about it every time he does and I wanted to see, if by any chance in the world, she is picking up on any of this. So she asked me while we were driving, "Why there a man in the moon Mama?" and I asked her, "I don't know Mal, you tell me, why is there a man in the moon?". SHe relied in the most flip way, shrugging her shoulders, " I dunno..... mountains... moon..... sun shining....."
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
