a little early morning excitement

This morning, in a matter of about 2 minutes--with me right there in the room mind you!--Caleb managed to get ahold of the tub of diaper cream, unscrew the lid, and smear cream all over his clothes, the floor, his face, and was happily sucking it off his fingers when I realized what he had done! I called poison control, as it said to on the cream, and fortunately the woman who answered said to not be alarmed. She said the worst that would happen would be that he might vomit or have a loose stool later in the day. Fortunately, it was just a minor occasion of the latter.

a few pics

Caleb is always watching what's going on. This is his "checking it out" look. Here's Maddie in a classic 2-year-old outfit sweeping the deck.
Caleb having fun with Daddy.

Maddie being her normal goofy self! :)

Outside Time

Here are some pictures of Maddie and Caleb outside the other day. Maddie was wearing her pretty dress-up princess dress complete with red socks and her black Sunday shoes.

Giving Daddy a kiss when he came home from work.
Riding her firetruck. Despite what you might think, this is not an artsy photo idea gone bad! This is called "containment." Caleb is all over the place these days, so we saw the baby tub in the garage, we grabbed it, we stuck him inside, and he played away quite happily.

Maddie decided it looked like fun, so she joined Caleb in the tub. :)

Joah

It's official. Maddie has an imaginary friend. His name is Joah (as in rhymes with 'Noah'). Joah appeared this week and is now her near constant companion. He plays with her, he goes potty when she does, he gets dressed when she does, he eats breakfast when she does. In fact yesterday she got a bowl of cheerios for Joah. She placed the bowl beside her at the table and never touched "Joah's cheerios." Maddie talks to Joah, pretends to do things with him, and tells us about him. It's quite funny, and we actually play along with it a little and ask questions about Joah. Maddie's always got an answer!

As if Joah wasn't enough, yesterday in the car Maddie gave Caleb his own imaginary friend, Kackie (as in 'Khaki'). Kackie is a girl, according to Maddie and "Kackie is Cayeb's fwend." So now sometimes Kackie hangs out with Maddie and Joah, but sometimes just with Caleb, too.

Caleb & Maddie news

Caleb had his 9mos Dr.'s appointment this morning. His growth is slowing down some, he's much closer to average than he's been. He now weighs 20lbs and 10oz, which is just above 50th percentile, and he's 28.5 inches tall, which is between the 50-75th percentiles. Just to give a comparison, Maddie didn't even hit 20lbs until she was about 15 mos!

Maddie told her friend Rylie today that her favorite color is red.

My mom is currently in CA visiting Jess. Of course the day my mom left I had told Maddie that Nonna was going to visit Jess and that she was flying in an airplane to get there. Well, Maddie was talking to Nonna and Jess this morning on the phone and Jess said,
"Maddie, do you know where Nonna is?"
"Yep."
"She's visiting me. She's at my house!"
"Nope. Nonna is not at you house. Nonna is in a airplane."

qotd

As we were leaving the dinner table tonight, Maddie was bustling on by Braden and me to go put her bib away in her bib basket. On her way past us she said, "Scoo me, guys! Scoo me, guys!"

an ailing laptop

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Today I was planning to post some pictures from our St. Patrick's Day dinner. Braden's family and my family got together last weekend for a good, Irish St. Paddy's dinner. We've done this each year for a few years now, and it's always a lot of good food and fun! However, I cannot post pics today because my laptop is very sick--we are just hoping it's not dead. Braden was working on it last night and was not having any success. If posts are scarce these days, that's why. I'll see what I can do on Braden's laptop when he's home from work in the evenings.

a pic and a quote

Here's a picture--I realized I hadn't posted one in a few days. We've been enjoying some gorgeous weather lately!

Here's my Maddie quote for today: She picked up a receipt off the table and said, "Oh Mommy, this is my list." She held it up in her hand and used her finger to "follow" as she read her list, "Dear God, please help me to obey, and bread and flowers!"

qotd

Maddie was sitting on the potty before bed, contemplating the greater questions of life, when she looked up at her daddy and pronounced: "Daddy...you're Daddy. You're not Garrick, you're Daddy."

maddie says

Maddie said another one this morning! She had finished going potty and was apparently having a little trouble flushing when she called to me from the bathroom, "I can't fwush it! Mom, I can't fwush it. I fink it needs new batt'ries."

a classic

Maddie made a classic 2 year old comment yesterday. I was putting away laundry and she was listening to her music. "The B-I-B-L-E" song came on and I said, "Maddie, where's your B-I-B-L-E?" thinking of her toddler bible which happened to be right there. She lifted her shirt up, pointed to her belly ("...B-L-E")and said, "Right here!"

a maddie-ism

One of my current favorites is "like me does," as in "Oh! Caleb has food too, like me does!"

Maddie Vignettes

Here's Maddie with a plate of peanut butter balls she made with Nonna. She does like to cook!

Maddie was eating some nut bread at dinner tonight, and in her typical Maddie-way she said, "Oh I've got my nut here in my bread."

Some of Maddie's favorite books right now are Da Shepherd Is My Lawd (The Lord Is My Shepherd), Da Twain (The Little Engine That Could), Thouss (Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand), Da Maddie Book (Where Did The Baby Go?, the girl in the story looks like Maddie), Codwoy (Corduroy), and of course ALL her Dick and Jane books.

Yesterday Maddie was eating lunch and she said to me, "Mom, I want some cawchick." We went back and forth several times, me asking her what? and she responding with the same, cawchick. Finally she said, pointing, "That, Mom! I want some cake." There on the counter was some CHOCOLATE cake. Ah ha! Cute.

animal crackers in my soup

This morning we were reviewing with Maddie that she does not eat flowers, nor does she try to feed Caleb flowers (as she had almost done yesterday). She replied, "We don' eat fowers. Ony food. I don' eat fowers. I eat ony food and animal crackers...in my soup." (That's a Shirley Temple song, for those of you who might not recognize it.)

Tarrah's 18th

Tom & Susie planned a surprise party for Tarrah's 18th birthday. Postponed because of the icey snow a week and a half ago, it went off last Sunday without a hitch. Tarrah was completely surprised, and the party was a great success. Here are just a few pictures. Yes, Maddie hit the dance floor, dancing for a record 2 hours straight! :) Tarrah enjoys swing dancing, and so much of the party was spent doing just that.


Tarrah's friends.

Tarrah and John.Juli heading up the conga line.
Even the parents joined in on the fun.
Some of the younger siblings that were there jumped in as well.
Here's Maddie on the move!
Marjorie and her Dad.
Tarrah and Marjorie.
Many of Tarrah's friends (here's Rebecca) spent a few minutes during the party writing encouragement notes to her.
The birthday girl and Amy.
Tom and Susie.
Maddie teaching Caleb some moves.


Maddie trying to do the electric slide.
John and his mom.
Granny showing off some moves! :)
Maddie and Me.
Braden and me...we're just trying to look like we know what we're doing on the dance floor.
Caleb had fun in his little play corner.

playing together

quotes of the day

Maddie and I were leaving the house today, walking out of the garage. She told me something she's evidently heard a lot lately, but just didn't really apply at all today. As she got to the driveway, she said:

"Oh Mommy! You need to be VEWY careful. It's slippwy outside."

Here's one more...
We took Maddie over to the house today. She hasn't been inside in a long time, so we showed her her room, which has just been painted light green. When we were leaving the house, she piped up:

"I like my room. It's really green."

Imitation

This morning I realized how often I must ask Braden to give me a massage when Maddie sat down behind Caleb, who was sitting on the floor, and proceeded to "massage" his shoulders for the next 5 minutes.

my back hurts

Yesterday I asked Maddie to pick her books up off the floor and put them on the chair. She responded with, "I can't do it. My back hurts," as she placed her hand on her back. "Maddie, you need to pick your books up and put them on the chair." She bent down to pick up a book and froze with her hand still on her back--"Oh no! I can't do it. It hurts my back!"