Anything You Can Do...

Yesterday, I took the kids to a Halloween party during the day.  As was the case with the preschool party, Sam's Rapunzel wig lasted approximately 1.5 minutes before she yanked it off her head with the angry announcement that "hair gets in your face!!!"  This is an entirely new sensation for her, although those of us with hair know the pain of daily living with hair in your face.  Somehow we all soldier on, apparently oblivious to our plight until it is pointed out by someone lucky enough to have very limited hair. 
Anyway, Sam was having fun at the party when another Rapunzel arrived (and in my mind the crazy thing is that there was only one other, what with that being the big Disney movie this year and all).  This little girl, who was younger than Sam, arrived with wig solidly in place.  This wig even included glitter strands to illustrate the magical golden glowing of the hair.
As soon as Sam saw her, she snuck over to me in the corner and whisper-announced, "Mom, there's another Rapunzel here!"
I said "Yes, she looks very pretty too." Then I figured I'd take a shot "Would you like to put your wig back on?"
Sam's eyes narrowed a little, she stared across the room at the fabulous glitter wig, and then she said slowly "Put it on."

She gets that from her father!

Turnabout is Fair Play

Peyton has now reached the age where he can crawl, pull up and cruise, and he does not appreciate being confined.  We try to let him be free range as much as possible.  He is using that power to pull up on Samantha's little white table and steal bits of her lunch and/or snack, whenever she sits there.  He steals her crayons, and rips her papers when she leaves them out.  If she's not at the little table, he pulls up on her chair at the big table and drools on her leg.  When she's not sitting, he's following her around and looking for her books (which are always left out where I asked her not to leave them).
It's driving her crazy.
He's never looked happier. 
Maybe she should have thought twice all those months that she's run off with whatever he was playing with.
Insert evil Halloween laugh here. 

Brainwashing

I just realized that Peyton's "Mommy loves me" bib was protecting his "Mommy loves me" onesie during lunch.
Maybe I'm trying way too hard to prove a point here.
Just maybe.

Feeling it

At utterly random intervals, with no apparent provocation whatsoever, Sam will bust out and sing:
"Everyday I'm shuff-il-in!"

I think that's kind of awesome.

Today, while eating her snack I heard her singing quietly to herself "Party rock is in the house tonight! Everybody just have a good time!"

This kid can absorb music like a sponge! A sponge I tell you!

Everyday she's shufflin'.

Wired and Ready

Maybe it's the gorgeous weather today, but Sam woke up in a fabulous mood.  Someone lit a fire under her and she's a feisty one today.
It started when she burst in my room at 6:45am and announced "Good Morning! I had a PRINCESS dream!!!"  She has been asking me for a princess dream every night for a month.  I don't know how to give her one, but I'm so relieved she finally had one.  If she asks, I'll probably take credit.
We went in Peyton's room to get him dressed for the day and she greeted him with a song: "Boola boola boo!  You smell like stinky poo!  You are a monkey too!  My Peyton-peyton boo!" That set the tone for him to have a hilarious day as well.  He loves her songs.  He does not yet realize that lyrics are a little insulting.
Later, even though we're all still a little bit stuffy (I'm the worst, Peyton is middling, Sam is nearly fully recovered), we decided to go for a walk.  Sam insisted on wearing a sweatshirt ("because it's not hot today!") and shorts  ("because it's not cold either").  It's a classy and impressive combo.  She talked my ears off for the hour we walked.  She wanted to know how bees make honey, why birds fly away from her (no real mystery with all the shouting), and why the neighbors cat was alone on the porch without any cat friends.   She found a stick in someone's yard that was nice and long for poking things while she walked, and "finding sticks on the ground is one of my favorite things ever!"  She saw a stop sign "just like we learned about in school!"  If she saw a house with a cactus in the front yard, she asked if it was her cousin Karianna's house.  Then she said that a saguaro's arms were "the funniest thing ever I sawed!"
When her legs got tired, she hopped on the front of the stroller and rode on the foot rest.  This put her right in her little brother's personal space bubble.  Once, she hopped on and took him by surprise.  He responded "mama! Mama!" which seemed more about making me aware that she was there and needed an eye kept on her than anything, but Sam looked back at him and said "Hey, kid.  I'm not your mama!"
Then she cracked up that Peyton thought she was mom.
So, someone dropped a quarter in this kid.  She came home and decided to watch "Princess and the Frog."  She interrupted it long enough to come tell me "I had so much fun on my walk, and this is a great day!"  We are sniffly, but we are goofy and happy.  The windows are open, and the birds are singing...at least until Sam gets anywhere near the back door and they scatter in abject fear.
Have a great day, everybody!

Peyton's big day

Monday was a big day for Peyton.  It wasn't a great day all around--I woke up with something seriously wrong with my neck, and any movement at all caused intense pain.  Very intense.  The last time I was in that much pain I was in labor and at a hospital.  It totally sucked.  Daniel had gone to work at 5am and ridden in a carpool so he couldn't come home to help since he didn't have a car.  I couldn't go to the doctor because I couldn't drive, couldn't even fathom wrestling both kids at the drs office, or take them to a sitter, because didn't I mention, they were both sick with colds?  Sam missed school, which makes her cranky, as if we didn't have enough reasons to be cranky already.
So, you know, super fun day.

But despite the all around suckfest, Peyton was having a good day.  He spent a lot of it snorting like a chainsaw while playing on the floor, since picking him up was very painful for me and I tried to avoid it when possible.  Then, in the late afternoon, when my pain had gone from a 9 to about a 6 (yea! a six!), he learned to clap!  I was very excited to see this new trick, and he looked so proud!
That would have been a fun day for him anyway, but it was only a few hours later that he was in his exersaucer in the kitchen and I turned my back on him.  He yelled "Mama! Mama!" until I turned around, and then he grinned like he had just put two and two together.  He said his first "real" word!
Anytime I walked out of his sight for the rest of the day, he'd yell "mama!" for me.  When I picked him up, he'd stop.  It was so stinking cute.  He did it on the phone for all the grandparents, and he is very proud of his new-found ability to talk to me.  When Daniel came home, he asked him to say "Dada" and Peyton laughed out loud like "yeah, right, dad."

Then I was miraculously healed, the clouds lifted, a rainbow dropped Skittles on us, and our money tree burst into bloom.  Okay, that's not true, I was still in pain and the evening was rough going, but Peyton's skills were a very bright spot in an otherwise dismal day.  I am so proud of that little guy!  It is so cute to hear him in his crib calling "mama, mama!" instead of, you know, screaming like a banshee.


I guess the strangest thing of all, is that one of my worst days in a long time, was actually one of the best.  Life is funny that way.

All About P-dog

Okay, so I realize that most of my blog posts are about Sam, and poor Peyton must be feeling overlooked.
Here's the problem with Peyton...there is no problem with Peyton.
He is the happiest child alive.  All he does is smile, laugh, or sit and watch his sister wreak havoc on me.  Occasionally, but only very occasionally, he cries.  It's absolutely fabulous parenting this guy, but when you set up a scenario, and the punch line is just "and then he smiled and rolled with it" how funny is that really?  Crazy is funnier than chill.  It just is.
So here's a little bit about my little boy, even if it's not as funny as Sam.  Maybe when he's three, he'll whip out all sorts of gems too, but for now, he's just my little bright spot. 
He loves to watch Sam, and now that he can crawl, he follows her around when he can.  He loves to shove aside the pillows we use to block off end tables, and crawl through the "tunnels" into the kitchen.  Sam thinks this is funny, so he thinks it's super awesome and does it as often as possible.
I have discovered in having P-dog around (a nickname Sam came up for him), that Daniel has completely blocked Sam's infancy from his memory.  Either that, or he was replaced by a body snatcher sometime after her first birthday.  Going with probability...he just forgot what she was like as a baby.  Judging from his questions, he remembers her as a perfect child that hit all her milestones freakishly early, and never made a mess.  Hmm, maybe the body snatcher thing is right on, because it's not like him to forget messes, and Sam made some doozies in her day.
He's asked me "Didn't she sleep through the night at three months?"  No, and I nearly busted a gut laughing at that one.
He has no memory of Sam making elephant noises and spitting everywhere like Peyton does.  She did it so much, we made a video of it. She used to do it with a mouthfull of water or formula, in fact.  Lovely.
He asked me if Peyton drools excessively.  Uhhh, Sam had 7 teeth by the time she was 8 months old, and she drooled up a flood from 2 months on.  She had all her teeth excluding 2 year old molars by 13 months.  Peyton's current teeth count: zero.  Not even on the verge of cutting #1.  Hardly any drool.  Daniel must have forgotten what toting around the puddle that was Sam was like.
He thought she started solids earlier than he did--it was nearly two months later.
In short--Daniel just didn't commit all the minor details of Sam's babyhood to memory like I did.  I am mighty Mama, keeper of the memories!  I know all!
Or so I thought.

Peyton started crawling at 6.5 months--about a month later than Sam did.  About a week after he started really motoring at a good clip, he started pulling himself to standing on the furniture.  I totally freaked out.  I absolutely remember Sam being content with crawling around on the floor for a few months before she started the standing thing.  I am not ready for this!  Not just emotionally, but baby-proofing wise.  I've convinced myself this means he'll be walking by 8 months and I just can't handle my baby growing up so fast!
Then I remembered Sam was walking at 9 months, so if she did pull up first, she would have started doing it at around 7.5 to 8 months.  Going back to check the blog, and there's a picture of her standing in October...about the same time as Peyton, if not a little earlier.  So now who is suffering from fuzzy first time around memories?  I can't really mock Daniel any more, I guess.  How embarrassing.