Would You Like to Buy an "O"?

Before my siblings and I were even born, my dad watched Sesame Street.
He even memorized some of the songs and skits and can still act them out for you. In our house, we were destined to become Sesame Lovers.

So there is a skit where a dude says, "Would you like to buy an 'O'? It's round like a DOUGHNUT. It only costs a NICKEL."
and someone else yells, "A NICKEL?!?!?!?!?!"
and the first dude says, "SSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"
and the second dude whispers, "a nickel?"
and the first dude says, "Riiiiiiiiiiiiight."

I have never seen this skit. But my memory of it is as precise as the phone number of the first house we lived in (328-2403) or watching my mom fry chicken in Crisco in our old kitchen. That's before she got all healthy. Anyway, I couldn't stop replaying that skit today in my mind when we were at the zoo looking at the otters.

Henry won't actually walk through this tunnel and watch the otters swim over and around him. I can't blame him, really. But he loves to stand at one end and look at Svea and me at the other end.

Henry can already say "doughnut" (and asks for them regularly when we are in the car) so I think he's almost ready for me to teach him this skit...

would you like to buy an "O"...

Ball Gawggie Sauside?

Henry asks this question 9,492,053 times just in the morning. Translation: Can we go outside and throw the ball with the dog? Duh.
Every Sunday morning we get a babysitter to play with Henry while Svea and I go across the street to Chapel, or to play with Svea so Henry and I can go to Chapel. This morning, none of us went (but Brian) giving us one more day to rid the germs. But I didn't cancel the sitter. Hee hee.
So Sitter took Henry sauside to throw the ball with the gawggie (and, yes, I am sad to report that Henry has started interchanging "ball" with "ngongaa" - sad, sad day we all knew would come...) and I got to watch for a few minutes while I brewed yet another pot of coffee. My heart melted 9,492,053 times. And it was only 10:15am.

My Girl in Action

This is my newest favorite outfit for Svea...and she was awake and happy most of today. Until tonight when she decided being awake all afternoon at birthday parties and departmental chili suppers was too much stimulation and the demons must be released on both parental units. Then she fell asleep beautifully.

Caught It

The other day, Henry was still for about 1.6 minutes and I caught it in this picture. All these toys and he's just so busy with other things...like running or jumping.

His perspective on the world and the things in it has made me smile continuously the past few weeks. For instance, we were flipping through a book about shapes the other day, and for the triangle example there is a picture of a slide at a playground. He spent the next 5 minutes trying to get his bum on that picture of the slide so he could ride down it. I tried not to laugh as he was already frustrated that sitting on the book was not near as fun as his memory of sliding.

When he eats a sandwich, he gets bored after 2 bites. So I have to remind him "take a bite of your sandwich" and he'll look at it on his tray like he's never seen it before and happily pick it up to take a bite. Except instead of turning it so the edge of the bread fits in his mouth for a bite, he'll try to bite the flat side of the bread as it lays against his face. Um...

He'll try to fit all shapes and sizes of toys into holes and nooks and crannies and sometimes I just want to ask him, "Can you not TELL that the whole toy box won't fit inside your Sesame Street Playhouse??" but by the time I think of that sentence, he's in the next room sitting on a car the size of my palm and wondering why he can't ride it like he rides his pedal tractor.

As I giggle at these blunders of shape, size and perspective, he'll come around and surprise me with how clever he is. The other night, Brian watched him fit blocks into a wooden box that has holes cut out in the sides in the shapes of the blocks. He couldn't find the rectangular hole that the rectangle he was holding should fit in. After a few tries, he simply turned the rectangle long-ways and fit it in the square hole. How's THAT for perspective, Mommy?

Dansah

So we are still sick, stuck indoors and going crazy.

Therefore, Henry and I started playing baseball with a cloth block and an empty paper towel roll. He threw to me and I hit it (sometimes) and then he chased the ball. At some point in the game though, he decided to run really fast then fall down on purpose and put his legs in that position. He'd pose awhile, then get up and find the ball. Do you think he learned that on So U Think U Can Dance? Is it bad that I still watch the episodes I taped - and Henry watches them with me?
My little modern dancer...

Growing Her Halo

Svea is officially growing her halo.

We are all a bit snotty and under the weather here today, so I have decided that videos are okay. ALL DAY LONG they are okay. Parenting award # 168 coming right up...

Cakes, Apples and Ernie

During Svea's evening nap yesterday, Henry and I decided to make a cake. A big, fat chocolate cake for me and all the other women that come over to watch Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy on Sundays. Though Henry would have no part in our soiree, he generously gave of his time to sit on the counter with me and eat the chocolate chips I was trying to add to the batter. Then he lovingly warned me about how hot the oven was and would gingerly wave his hand in front of the door. Then, as if possessed, he stared at the rising cake through the oven door and start flicking his tongue like a snake. !!??!?!?!?!?! He slowly approached the door as if to lick it. What a weirdo.

During Svea's nap this morning, Henry once again wanted to get up on the kitchen counter. This time he wanted to share an apple. As I had just finished a cup of peppermint tea, there is just nothing better than a red apple to follow. Especially with a child. So we cut it up in little pieces and he would grab one and stuff it in his mouth, hand me a piece, and with juice and other bits coming down his chin he would point to my piece and yell "Mommy's APPPUUUULLLLLLL." I thought I would explode with love.

Typically after his post-lunch siesta, Henry has a snack and watches a Sesame Street video while emerging from his nap coma. He doesn't really want me to sit with him or squeeze him, so I just had to take a picture instead.

Visiting with Nee-Nee

We just spent a few days with my mom, my sister and her daughter Lydia. Henry lovingly refers to Lydia as Nee-Nee which, phonetically, makes perfect sense.

Since they left on Saturday, he has been walking around looking for her and telling stories at various spots in the house about Nee-Nee. When we pass by the couch, he pats the cushions and says "Nee-Nee" and then points to the floor and says "fall downTTTTT" to make sure I remember about Lydia falling off the couch. He loves the letter "T" I guess and finds that a good place for it is at the end of any word that ends in "n." Hence, "fall downTTTTT."

They really played together and shared for the first time: goldfish crackers, Wallace & Gromit, various ngongaas (balls), books, puzzles, sippy cups, the green slinky, the whole shabang. Nee-Nee and Henry have very different temperaments at this point in their lives. Nee-Nee, for example, will sit on the floor and unpack a toy box for up to 30 MINUTES. Henry will play with a toy for, say, 30 MILLISECONDS before throwing it or eating it. Nee-Nee will open a book and turn the pages - EVERY page. Henry will use the book to step on to reach something, or maybe as a flat ngongaa. So to watch them actually interact was not only a joy, but a victory I think.

Lydia loved Svea this trip and wanted to bring her toys and pat her and read her stories. It's the beginning of a long friendship we hope. I can't imagine - nor can I bear - the idea of my life without a sister, but at this point, I'm thinking that Svea and Henry best love each other good because that's all the sibling I can provide. Who knows what the future holds, but if I have any say then THIS IS IT. So anyway, I hope Lydia and Svea began their "sisterhood" this past weekend.

It's been about 24 hours now since they've been gone, so I guess we'll keep walking around the house re-living moments, missing our Nee-Nee.

Idolizing the Idol

Last night I was so excited that I was going to get to ROT MY BRAIN for two whole hours watching the season premier of American Idol's fifth season. No lie - I looked forward to it all day and it's not even to the good part yet. Brian enjoys watching it with me just to "join me on my ride" he says. I get so worked up that I can't even watch when someone terrible is up and I just about cry over my goose bumps when someone is good and gets invited to Hollywood.

So, in thinking about how our culture idolizes the famous, I am confused at my obsession. How can I watch a show that pretty much is making fun of people just like me? I would NEVER audition for American Idol or So U Think U Can Dance or any show like that, but I sit in my living room and experience the emotions of the judges and the contestants to the point of sweating, crying and yelling at the TV. It's just as bad as auditioning. I am obsessed with fame and talent.

I think that Randy, Paula and Simon KNOW that America is full of people like me (in addition to the thousands that actually audition) and are off secretly giggling in the corner over their millions of bucks. I think they want to see how ridiculous they can make all of us look - all of us who would do anything for fame. Thankfully, I'm just rearranging my schedule and checking the clock all day and am not practicing various ballads by Elton John and Kelly Clarkson. But Henry is...

Links on the Side

As I am learning how to update and manage this site, I wanted to put some links on the right hand side of some other blogs and web sites that I have been reading. These sites are funny, irreverent at times. involve parenting and the arts. Some are crafty with paper and sewing and paint and others are...crafty in other ways.
I'll changes these from time to time, but these are the ones I'm currently hooked on.
Enjoy...

Forking

Henry is learning to use a fork.
This afternoon at lunch he began by slowing stabbing individual elbow macaroni.
Then he began screaming for someone to stab the macaroni for him.
Then he just held the fork high in the air with his right hand, and scooped macaroni into his mouth with his left hand.

Then we noticed that he wasn't really chewing the macaroni before swallowing it, there was more of a sucking action going on. He tends to do this while eating so he'll end up with a wad of bagel stuck to the roof of his mouth for like an hour.

Brian and I just watched him suck elbows down for a minute, then Brian said, "Buddy, why don't you just stick 'em right in your diaper? Cut out the middle man."

The Beauty

When I have a day full of whines and cries, bumping my head and elbows on everything, throwing small objects because I can't remember the last time that I slept soundly, and when all I can smell is poopy diapers, I need to remember this picture.

It was unseasonably warm today in southern Indiana so we all spent some time outdoors trying to soak up our required 40 minutes of sunshine. Henry ran around like the toddler who has been cooped up for 30 hours that he is; every time he fell he would lift a leg as if to say "TAA-DAAAAAH I really MEANT to do that."

There's a Dog in our House

and Henry loves this dog.
So much that when she is wet from going out in the rain, he will find a kitchen towel to go dry her off.
So much that he will lick her back when she licks him.
So much that he will climb on her back and try to ride her.
So much that he laughs hysterically and tries to cuddle with her on her bed.

I just don't get it.

Staging Words

This may be my favorite stage with Henry.
He is very verbal and these new words - correct and incorrect - are such a delight. My favorite today was "SAU - SIDE." Now he says his S's real juicy and the D was hardly there and sounds more like a Y in this indication that he is sick and tired of being indoors. Sau-side is usually said while he throws his entire body against the door. So I get the hint already.

Other faves:
ngongaaaaa = any athletic ball
ra-ra = yogurt
gark = dark (or no sun which he then walks around with his arms in the air saying "sun? sun? sun?")
Teeah = Svea
goggie = doggie
haweey = Harry (the Monster or Potter)
LLLL-LLL-LL (moving the tongue over the top lip) = Elmo
too = any number
munh-munk = chipmunk
wy-dees = Wyatt (a friend down the street)

PLEASE TAKE THE MARACAS OUT OF YOUR MOUTH.

Is one of the many things I never thought I would say.

Henry got a musical instrument set for Christmas because we went into the store and he ran straight to the package and opened it so I had to buy it. The only other time that has happened was when I was checking out at a maternity clothing store and those smart marketers put these stuffed animals on the low shelves by the cash register so any child in a stroller could reach over and grab one and quickly stuff the entire head of whatever animal in their mouth. Which my son did. With a yellow duck. Which we then bought.

He also loves getting the cans out of the food pantry one at a time and starting a tower in the middle of the kitchen. After adding each can, he'll point at it and shout "stack! stack!"
I will affirm that yes, indeed, he has created a STACK of cans. Then I will try not to trip over them as I make a snack or dinner or something. The maracas-as-drumsticks has only happened once.

Getting Started

After trying to keep up with several journals, email listservs, photo libraries and the rising cost of stamps, I am officially entering the blogging world. My interesting subjects will be Henry's most recent 21-month-old antic or Svea's newest milestone as she approaches 5 months. The parts of my life that still exist beyond the small creatures in my house are not as interesting, but still hold potential, so I may blog about those too. We'll see.
Mostly I want to share pictures and funny stories...beginning with Henry's modeling of Daddy's new safety goggles. Svea bouced mere feet away from her goggled brother...and seemed quite disinterested. Just another day in our living room I guess.