little sister

After dinner tonight, the kids started to play downstairs. John didn't want play, he wanted to snuggle Mommy. Once Gillian saw where John was sitting she had to climb up and join the party. They sit nicely together for about 2 minutes until one gets into the other's personal space and then all you hear is "No Gilly!" Our attempt to break them up was to have John move to the other couch or go play with the toys in another part of the room. Normally this strategy would work, but not tonight. Gillian just followed John wherever he went. Daddy and I felt bad for him. He was trying to stay out of trouble and trouble kept finding him. I had one of Gillian's baby dolls with me and was able to get her to come to me to get her baby. Gillian was rocking baby and I said "Gilly should we put baby night-night?" As I said that I saw John carrying Gillian's baby cradle across the room. "Gilly look what I have!" What a sweet little boy. As much as Gillian was driving him crazy with being a typical little sister, he was still an awesome big brother and took care of her.

Lunchbox Snob

A few weeks ago, John asked me if he could have a "warm-up" for lunch. He then proceeded to lecture me on how he gets a sandwich every day and it would be okay if he got a warm-up one day. We have found out that at the kids new school, they put all the warm-ups on a tray and carry them into the kitchen to be heated. I guess this little extra step makes lunch extra special. He constantly asks for a warm-up. We have been trying to give him at least one warm-up a week.

Last week after school I asked John how his lunch was. He replied "you know, you don't always have to give me a juice box. You could give me a cup. And then I could use the cup for snack time too." I guess I gotta find him a thermos soon.

His other new request has been about his sandwich. For awhile he has wanted one whole sandwich (no cuts). Last week he asked me to cut the sandwich. I almost fell over. It has been so long since he has wanted his sandwich cut in fours. Monday he requested "cut it in squares." Today he wanted "triangles. But only two of them."

Manic Monday

Today was a typical Monday. I found John snuggling under his Cars blanket this morning. I gave him a few kisses to wake him up. He immediately wanted to know if it was a "school day." He was a little reluctant to get dressed. Actually he didn't want to get dressed. Daddy gently reminded him about his chores and John quickly changed his attitude. We got John dressed and went to wake up Gilly. We couldn't find her. She was completely covered by her blankets. John found her and woke her up by gently tickling her feet. Thankfully we got through breakfast without any problems. I dropped the kids off at school. Gillian walked right in and found her friends. John, on the other hand, was shy. He wasn't sure about what he wanted to do. They had Legos out and I suggested to John that he should play with them. After a little coaxing I got John to the Legos. John started to put together some pieces and another little boy says "I want to play by myself." I don't normally lecture other people's kids but this little boy really irritated me. I said there are plenty of Legos and both of you can play. Really kid? I don't need your assistance. Anyway John was happily playing Legos and I headed to work.

I got the pleasure of picking up ye kids tonight. I love picking up the kids. There is nothing better than seeing their smiling faces and have them coming running towards you with open arms. Tonight I walk in the room and Gillian was sitting at a table reading a book. John was playing on the floor. He sees me walk in and says "mommy can I still play?" I told him no and that Daddy was home waiting for us. And he replies "but I wanna stay and play." What a change from this morning. I got him to clean up some of the toys and Gillian finally noticed me. She immediately put her arms up and said "mama!" John and I talked about some of the stuff he did at school in the car on our way home. Gillian starte to cry and say "mama!" I asked her what was wrong and then I realized that she wanted to talk about her day. I asked her what she did today and she just started to babble. Nothing really made sense until she said "Betta." She started to call Aunt Betty Betta this weekend. John loves trying to translate Gilly's words. He said "Betty? Aunt Betty wasn't at school today! Gilly you are so silly!"

We got home and John went right into the kitchen and started to set the kitchen table for dinner. He got everything ready (with a little help from Daddy) and then asked "do you need any more help?" I didn't have anything he could help with. So he started to color Travis the turtle's new house. I think he did a really good job on Travis' new house. And he made sure to carry Travis around in it tonight. "But he can't sleep in there. He would be too scared."

The Chore Chart

Before Christmas, one of the ladies from work gave me a few toys for the kids and two Melissa & Doug Chore Charts.   I honestly thought when she gave them to me that it was a little soon to give John a list of chores to do on a daily basis, but both Daddy and I loved the charts.  We finally put them up today.  I know we are total slackers.  Anyway Daddy hung them up with John.  They picked a handful of "chores" for him to complete.  1) get dressed, 2) brush your teeth, 3) take care of pet, 4) set the table, 5) take a bath, 6) put toys away and 7) get ready for bed.  Daddy told John that if he did his chores every week and got a minimum of 25 smiles he could earn a $5 allowance.  Daddy explained to John that he could use the money for whatever he wanted.  John went to his friend's birthday party on Saturday and really liked the super hero toys we got for his friend.  I was upstairs folding laundry while the boys were busy hanging up the charts.  I could hear John from downstairs saying "OK Daddy lets do our next chore.  We got lots of stuff to do Daddy!"  I am very glad that John is excited about helping and trying to get his chores accomplished.  I didn't earn an allowance when I was growing up, but I hope to instill in John a respect for money.  I think he is already beginning to see that it will take him a lot of work to earn those two toys he wants. 

Gillian has her own little list of "chores."  1) brush teeth, 2) take a bath, 3) pick up your toys and 4) stop whining.  As you can see from the pictures below, both kids have started the week out with a bang. 



Gillian's Chores



John's Chores

Haircut

Every five weeks, I meet my mom and sister for our haircut appointment.  It is nice to meet up with them for only a hour or so just to catch up.  Gillian's hair has gotten very long and needed to be trimmed.  Today Gillian had her first haircut.  Daddy had to work today, so I left John with Grandpa and Uncle Bob while the girls headed to the salon.  Grandma got her hair cut first and Gillian was able to have a little snack. 

Gillian & Aunt Betty

After Grandma got her haircut, it was time for Mommy to get into the chair.  Gillian got very upset when she saw me get my hair washed.  After a few minutes she realized that Mommy was not getting hurt and she stopped fusing.  While I was getting my haircut Gillian was getting more comfortable in the salon.  She was walking around and saying hi to everyone.


Gillian cleaning up one of the stations

Aunt Betty was next for her haircut and then it was Gillian's turn.  Gillian was a little nervous when we sat down.  She started to kick and squirm when Leslie put on the cape.  We did get a little cape on her and she just started to cry before Leslie even got close to her with the scissors.  Leslie cut her bangs and Gillian calmed down.  She actually giggled a little bit.  Thankfully this was not Leslie's first little girl in the chair and she was extra sweet to Gillian.  Gillian was awarded a lollipop for her bravery.  And now Gillian looks like a completely different little girl.

Before

After

Little Miss Talks A Lot

Gillian has been talking a lot lately. Last night, she asked for bread at the dinner table. We were reading a book and she pointed to a snake and said "snake. Hisssss." This morning while Daddy and I were trying to get the kids out the door and in the car. The kids had their jackets and hats on. John's doggie hat has tassels on it. He was using the tassels to tickle Gillian's cheeks. She loved it and was giggling like crazy. She came running over to Daddy and I and said "he's tickling me!" I'm so proud of my little lady. That was her first full sentence. It won't be long before she is talking as much as John.

Negotiations

Any parent of a small child can tell you that dinner is always an adventure. We are very lucky, both kids do eat most things we give them. There are always somethings that we will fight over. Our biggest issue lately is that John would rather drink then eat. Tonight all he wanted to do was drink. I said to John that he needed to eat four more bites. John looked at me and said "one." I replied back with four. He said "two." Once again I said four. He responds "five!" I immediately say deal. Daddy tried and said "John are you sure you want to eat five?" John says "yes. And I'll count backwards."

Samba Master

We watched the movie "Rio" a couple of times this weekend with the kids. John loves the movie. Anytime he watches a movie he likes to repeat lines from it for a couple of days. Tonight after dinner he was running around saying "sumbamasa." He said it probably ten times before I decided to ask him what it meant. He explained "sumbamasa means that the parents get the mustard and the kids get the ketchup. Sumbamasa!"

iPlay America

There is a new indoor amusement park that opened up in Freehold called iPlay America.  We took John and Gillian there on Sunday.  We met up with Poppie, Mimi, Uncle T and Aunt Missy.  We told John that we were going to do something fun.  When we arrived he was a little nervous and jumped into my arms.  As we went through the line and got our wristbands, he calmed down a little bit and started to look around.  He was very excited to see everything.  The inside of the building looks like a street with buildings and cafes.  As we following the path, we moved to the boardwalk.  On the boardwalk there were rides, games and concession stands.  John got extremely excited when he saw the rides.  Daddy and John got closer to the rides while the rest of us walked through and looked at the rest of the attractions.  I turned around and noticed that John and Daddy were in line for a ride. 

The first ride was called "Kite Flier."  They had to lay down and they would go up and down.  Daddy said that at first John was a little nervous, but by the end he was giving Mommy a little wave.  This picture is from the end of the ride.  I know he loved it, because as soon as he was done, he was ready for the next ride. 

After the "Kite Flier," he went on the "Jump Around" boats.  This ride he went all by himself.  He got in the boat and I think was expecting a boring ride around in circles.  Well these boats went up and down.  The first time it went up, we heard him go "whoa!"  And every time it went down he would giggle and laugh.  He loved it. 

After the "Jump Around" boats, he and Aunt Missy went on the "Happy Swing."  They had to wait on line a long time for the swing.  But John entertained Aunt Missy by talking about the swing and the boats and all the other things he wanted to do after they did the swing.  He decided while waiting on line that he was going to do the "Dizzy Dragons" with Uncle T.  They finally got on the swing and according to Aunt Missy, John said "oh, its just like a seat belt."

I love the picture of John on the right (I know it's a better picture of the kids next to him).  I just love his face.  You can see that he is really enjoying the ride.  After the swing, John already knew what he was going to do next.  He was going on the "Dizzy Dragons" with Uncle T.  We all went to the dragons, and the boys quickly found their dragon.  Of course, John picked a green dragon to ride in. 

While John and Uncle T were on the dragons, Gillian got to go a little ride.  She went on a helicopter and a fire engine.  She was a little leery at first, but loved it in the end.  She is snuggling a dolphin that Uncle T won for her.  We named the dolphin "Phin."  I did get to watch the dragons go around, and most of the time, we saw John in the dragon smiling and laughing.  A couple of times, all i saw was John's feet in the air.  As the dragons were slowing down, I saw one green dragon still spinning and spinning.  Of course, that was Uncle T and Johnny. 

After the "Dizzy Dragons," we all played a water game.  Aunt Missy won, but let John pick out the prize.  He picked a green crocodile that he has named "Crockie."  I think Uncle T was a little disappointed that he didn't pick the Giant's bear, but John was very excited to get his new friend. 

Next we went to play in the arcade, and John got to climb in the "Just iKidz" play zone.  It had cargo nets and tubes and slides for the little kids.  John loved it, but Mommy did not.  There were tons of kids in there and with all the cargo nets, it was hard to find him in the middle of all those kids. Plus, we dressed him in a blue shirt and jeans.  He played in there for awhile.  He had red cheeks by the time Daddy got him out.  After the iKidz zone, we went to get something to eat.  There was a little wait for a table, but Mimi distracted John by treating him to a snack in the candy store.  Mimi and Poppie said goodbye to us, as we ate our dinner.  We met up with Uncle T and Aunt Missy again, and the big boys got to play in the arcade.  John and Daddy did get to go on one more ride.  They picked the Go Karts for their last adventure. 

Somehow they ended up with a green go kart.  I thought that John would have picked it.  Anyways, I don't think the go karts were a huge success, mainly because of the other riders during their turn.  There was one girl that really couldn't control the vehicle well and they had to stop the karts a few times.  John didn't seem to mind, but I know that Daddy was frustrated.  Luckily that was our last ride of the night.  The boys did do a couple more games in the arcade with little success.  Although, John (with Uncle T's help) did beat Daddy in the motorcycle game. 

The final review of the night came from the little man.  He said "this place was really cool." 

Presidents

John brings home a lot of projects and worksheets.  I don't always get to review them on a daily basis.  As I cleaned out his book bag today, I found the picture to the left of George Washington.  I asked John if he knew who he was.  John replied, "George Washington."  I asked him if he knew why George Washington was so famous.  He said, "because he is on a coin."  Yes, John he is on a coin, but that's not what makes him so special.  He gave me a blank stare.  I said, well I know why he is so special.  He said, "mommy, tell me."  I said, George Washington was the first president of the United States.  John quickly replied "yeah, I know that!"

Big Talker

While John was in the preschool class at DreamBuilder's Academy, they learned about Native Americans. Each student was given an Indian name. John was dubbed "big talker." If you follow my blog, you know that John always has something witty to say or and opinion about any subject. Tonight we let John pick dinner. He wanted pizza "at the mall." We went to the mall and sat down and started eating our pizza. Some boys sat down at the table next to us. As the boys got to the table, one of them dropped their fork on the ground. John leans over and says "you can't use that. You dropped it on the floor." The boy ignored John and went and got another fork. We continued to eat and both Daddy and I realized that John was not eating. When we questioned him, he responded "I need to help them" motioning to the table next to us. We told John to concentrate on his dinner and that the boys would be fine without his help. He started eating and he again stopped and said "but I need to help them." I explained to him that they did not need his help and that their mommy was there to help them. One of the boys got up to go get a drink. As he was coming back to the table John starts waving to him and pointing the boy to the table full of his brothers. He truly has a good heart. He felt he needed to help those boys from the second they dropped the fork. I am a little worried. I think my little man has inherited his Grandma and his Mimi's talking gene. He has this desire to make small talk with anyone he meets in his travels. Thankfully, he mainly talks to other kids and he is still a little shy around adults.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

We were watching "The Big Bang Theory" tonight and the characters were playing Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock. John thought that was the silliest thing. He kept going "Spock?" He then told me that Spock is not in Rock, Paper, Scissors. I was very surprised that he even knew the game. I had him explain to me the rules. He said "first you say Rock, Paper, Scissors shoot. Then you do a rock or scissors or paper. Rock breaks scissors and paper covers rock. Oh and scissors cut paper." He understood the rules so I figured I would play a few games with him. First time we both had rock. The next game he totally cheated. He waited until I put out my scissors and then he played rock. After that I carried him to bed and we talked a little more. "mommy I taught Eva how to play Rock, Paper, Scissors." I said oh really? Is Eva your girlfriend. And he stuck his head under the covers and said "no!" I asked if she was pretty and he said "yes!" It sounds like true love was found over a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Typical Wednesday

I got stuck at the office a little late tonight. I called Daddy on my way home. As soon as I said hello, I heard a small voice say "mama?" Daddy and Gillian answered the phone together. I let them know that I was running late and was on my way home. I got home and quickly threw dinner together. I called for my helper. John came running up the steps "I'm here." I love that he likes helping me. He got out the forks and put all the plates on the table.

During dinner, John told us all about his day at school. Today they had Mad Science visit. The kids got to learn about dinosaurs today. They even got to dig for dinosaur bones. They also learned about triceratops and t-Rex's. I jokingly said to him the t-Rex's have long necks. He said "no mommy, they have little arms!"

After dinner, Gillian and I go into our Jammie's and snuggled on the couch. Gillian got one of those Hallmark bears that respond when you read a book. So we read the book and when you say "Cooper, I love you!" the bear says I love you back. Whenever he said I love you, Gillian would say "love you" and give him a hug. What a sweetie pie.

We put the kids down. Gillian normally goes right down for us, but not tonight. I sat and rocked her for a little bit. While I was in there, I heard John get out of his bed and run to talk to Daddy. I don't know what he wanted but Daddy sent him back to bed. After I rocked Gilly and put her down, I went in to see John. He was sitting on his bed. "Daddy said you can't snuggle me every night!" He was so sad. I got him to lay down and I climbed into bed with him. I told him that I would snuggle him anytime he wanted. After about 30 seconds he says "mommy, you know you can't stay in here forever."

Hallmark Holiday

Daddy and I do not believe it is necessary to celebrate Valentine's Day. We celebrate our love and relationship everyday. However we do not stop our kids from enjoying all the fun. We made Valentine's cookies for John's class. John signed all of his Avenger Valentine's cards. Daddy wrote out Gillian's Tinkerbell cards. We also got some candy for the kids teachers. John was super excited to go to school this morning. He insisted on carrying the bag with the cookies and Valentine's. I picked the kids up from school and they both had big bags of valentines. As I was talking to the kids about their day and all their treats, John asked me "Mommy where's your bag?" What a sweetie pie. I then had to explain to him that Daddy is my Valentine and we don't need to give each other cards to show much we love each other. He responded with "can I look in Gilly's bag?"

Fudgy for a pudgy



Caught

Gillian loves to eat.  And she will try anything.  Even when I was pregnant with her, she had an interesting palate.  She loved spicey food.  I was actually having contractions while eating hot wings (and no I never had heartburn). 

Occassionally, I pack Gillian a jelly sandwich for lunch.  Tonight on our way home, she grabbed her lunch bag.  She does this offen, mainly to grab the sippy cup out of it.  Tonight, she had a quarter of her sandwich leftover.  My little piggy ate it in the car.



John thought it was so funny and laughed and laughed at her.  Anytime you laugh at Gilly or around Gilly she just laughs and laughs.   They were all giggles and both ended up with hiccups.  As soon as we got home, John told Daddy!



Any normal child would be full from their little snack in the car, but not my Gillian.  She was ready for dinner tonight.  Tonight we had grilled cheese sandwiches. Gillian got her sandwich and immediately pulled it apart.  I guess she likes an open faced grilled cheese.  



Gilly and her grilled cheese


She ate about half of her sandwich and then dropped a quarter of it on the ground.  Duncan hangs out under the kitchen table and waits for Gillian to drop food.  She dropped a quarter of her sandwich and Duncan pounced on it.  She screamed and cried "NO!!!"  Both Daddy and I said, well you shouldn't have dropped it.  You would think that she would have learned her lesson after Duncan ate her sandwich.  No.  Of course not.  She dropped another crust and again Duncan didn't hesitate.  And again she cried and yelled "NOOO!!!"  She was so mad at him for getting the food that she dropped. 

She somehow found room for some of Mommy's chips, a cookies (or coo-coo as she calls them) and a lollipop.  Mommy's little piggy.

 

Forts

I got a few boxes in the mail today. When the kids got home they didn't even notice the boxes in the living room. I quickly emptied the biggest one and let John and Gillian climb in. If you read my blog daily I am sure you already know of my children's love of boxes. It is one of their favorite things to play. They were content to climb in and out. I emptied the other big box and made a "mom fort." Basically the two boxes were on their sides and I had a blanket on top. Daddy got home and saw my fort. He immediately told John that he would make a new fort after dinner. Daddy cut the boxes and made the fort tall with windows and lighting done with glow sticks. After dinner Gillian and John loved playing in the fort. And Daddy is already discussing additions and improvements to the fort. This is why girls don't build forts.

Dancing Queen

In previous posts, I have discussed Gillian's love of music.  This morning I gave her my phone to listen to music again.  She refused to give it back to me until we got to school.  I finally got my phone back and she went to play with her friends.  Tonight when Daddy got home, they snuggled and watched some Elmo videoes on YouTube.

Elmo's Song...

Katy Perry & Elmo

Meditation

I found John sitting on the arm of the couch sitting criss-cross applesauce with his arms out and going "hmmmmm." He refuses to tell me who taught him how to meditate. I'm not sure if someone taught him or if he saw it on "Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness." I know that Crane meditates in the movie so maybe thats where it came from Either way, I love that he enjoys a few moments of quiet time (mommy does).

Super Bowl (Mom) Weekend

First of all let me apologize for not blogging since Thursday night. I have two full time jobs: 1) mother to two wonderful kids and 2) controller at Mortgage Success Source. Both jobs take a little bit of juggling and making quick decisions. Since I do have a day job I have tend to have a messy house. I am not good at keeping up with the housework, but my kids have full bellies and clean clothes. Two out of three ain't bad. Anyway Friday night we went out to dinner for Daddy's cousin's 21st birthday. Saturday, Daddy and I split errands. He took John and went to the dealership, Dick's, Bob's, Staples and Petsmart. Gillian and I went food shopping. I hate food shopping. It is just exhausting. We lucked out. The story was pretty empty for the Saturday before the Super Bowl. A few blocks from the house Gillian fell asleep in the car. Perfect. I left her in the car while I carried in all the bags. Got her out and put her down for a nap. She takes long naps, so I knew I would get 2 hours to myself. I decided to make a couple of zitis. I made two zitis and then decided to make chili. I always make chili for Super Bowl. Plus I put all the groceries away, emptied the dishwasher and did two loads of laundry. Daddy and John came home just as I was getting comfortable on the couch. The boys were not as successful with their errands. They did get some double sided tape and three fish. But they did not find a Giants shirt that could fit John. While I was food shopping I found blue and white sprinkles. I thought it would be cute to make John some football cookies. I asked my mom and of course she had one. And a jersey cookie cutter too.

Sunday I was just as busy without all the errands. Today I finished all the laundry (and actually folded some too). I also made the boys homemade pigs in a blanket. Daddy found a Giants shirt for John. At first he was a little disappointed that it wasn't a 10 on his shirt. I guess a couple of the kids at school had Manning shirts. We taught him about Cruz along with his TD dance. After that he ran around the house saying he was part of the team. Aunt Betty dropped off the cookie cutters and I got started on the cookies. I think they came out pretty well.

Overall a very busy and exhausting weekend.

Toys will be toys

We encourage the kids to play with all types of toys. Gillian prefers her baby dolls but every once in awhile we find her babies in trucks or cars. Or we find Gillian pushing a dinosaur or a turtle in her shipping cart. She loves John's dump truck. She had used it for a baby bed and a chair. Tonight we found a baby driving spiderman's car. I love that she isn't afraid to play with John's toys. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Gillian's adventures with John's toys.

Pandora Princess

Gillian loves music. I can remember being pregnant with her and she would always kick and move around when I had the radio on. About two weeks before she was born Daddy and I went to a Jack Johnson concert and she loved it. I knew then that she would be my music baby. When she was an infant she loved white noise. If she was fussy I could turn on the hair dryer and she would calm down. She doesn't like the hair dryer now but she loves music. I have discovered that I can just start the Pandora app on my phone and give it to her and she is content. She will dance and walk around with the phone. She loves it when Mommy turns the music on. We also got confirmation of Gillian's love of music during our parent/teacher conference. Her teacher told us that Gillian loves when they put music on and will be the only one dancing and tapping her feet.