A comedian in our midst

So one morning last week at daycare, I was helping Q go pee on the potty as is our new first-thing-we-do-when-we-get-there-because-we-wear-big-boy-underpants-now ritual. After taking care of #1 business, he tore off an exceptionally long piece of toilet paper and wiped his butt (??? Just go with it, he's an odd kid!) but the TP got stuck between his cheeks. Perplexed, he turned his head to check it out and exclaimed, "look mommy! I have a flag like Bigfoot!"

Vocab

More to add to Caroline's list:

Clock
Night night
Outside
Hat
Bag
Coat
Nice
Lilly
Ginny
Love you
Cup
Door

Sorry if there are duplicates from previous lists. I can't remember anymore!

A mind of her own

Let the battles begin. Caroline is no longer content to just go along with Quentin. She has discovered that she is entitled to her own preference.

So when Q tells me he wants to watch a video and I ask him which one, he usually replies with some monster truck based selection. She used to be cool with whatever, but now Pickle votes for "Memo" (Elmo.) Every time.

Information retention

In short, Quentin is getting too good at it.  He hears and remembers EVERYTHING.

 

A few weeks ago, Jeremy and I were watching Tosh.0 (Comedy Central show where comedian plays funny YouTube videos and we all laugh) on TV while the kids played.  There was a clip of a boxer who big-time hurled while being proclaimed the winner of a bout.  Q saw it.  Thought it was hysterical.  He could relate, having gotten sick in the driveway a few months ago.  And ever since, he been saying repeatedly, "He sick. He no go to the potty."

 

He knows his monster truck videos by heart, including the commercials that air on the ones we recorded from TV.  He also can name just about every monster truck, and is working on being able to name the drivers too.

 

And a while ago, he noticed that I have a giant scab on my elbow.  He asked me, "Mommy, how you get boo boo?"  And I stupidly told him the truth.  Mommy fell down at the airport.  (Yeah, not something I am proud of.  After deplaning in Philadelphia a few weeks ago, I was walking towards baggage claim and wiped out on the super-slippery floors.  This was not a simple stumble.  This was a big-time slo-mo, arms flailing, bags flying catastrophe.  I felt my shoe start to slip and I tried to steady myself, but I failed miserably.  I went flying forward, getting tangled in my luggage and smacked the floor.  HARD.  Like I didn't just slip and get a little squirrely.  This was full-out laying face-down on the floor.  Both my knees hurt so bad I could barely get up, the friction from thwacking the floor melted whatever synthetic material my pants were made of, and I scraped my elbow somehow.  My knees still hurt two weeks later.  And of course this is in a busy airport so there were like a million people that saw the whole calamity.  One lady did come over to make sure I was ok and help me up.  But the rest just stared, and probably laughed at me.  I bet it was funny to watch.  I totally would have laughed.  Hopefully no one happened to catch it on camera.  Note to self: check YouTube for crazy falling lady at airport.)  But anyway, so he noticed my boo boo right after it happened and we have not discussed it since.  This morning, his teacher asked him if he had a good weekend and he replied, "Yes!  Mommy fell down at the airport!"

She don't stop

Since I got her at daycare she has added the following to the list:

Mine
Me
Yucky
Door
Floor

More!

Pickle's list of words continues to grow.  She loves books and being read to, so we have been flipping through some of those "baby's first words" types of picture books and she continues to amaze with the words that she already knows:

 

Bowl

Apple

Circle

Snow

Elmo

Bear

Jessie (from Toy Story)

Phone

Choo Choo

Nemo

Cereal

Notice a lot of her words are food-related???

Underpants

Quentin is on day 6 of wearing underpants during waking hours (pull-ups for naps and overnight) with no accidents!  He is very, very good about going pee on the potty.  School even taught him to pee standing up.  We have not managed a poop yet though.  He is now in the middle of his 2^nd consecutive 3-day poop strike.  He does NOT want to go on the potty, nor does he want to go in his underpants.  So he holds it.  He held it all day Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday and finally pooped while sleeping Tuesday night.  It's now Friday, so he has got to have to go again.  But no amount of bribery or praise seems to motivate him.  We have upped the ante and said he can have 2, even 3, trucks for going poop on the potty.  Daddy even mumbles that he can have the whole darn box of trucks if he goes, but he's just not interested.  Oh well.  We will just enjoy the underpants success for now!

The list grows

I forgot several of Caroline's words.  Since I typed the list, I have remembered:

 

Milk

Cookie

Yummy

This

Here you go

Truck

The sweetness

Q is 3.  He can be a holy terror, but he has also the sweetest demeanor sometimes.  We are getting settled in the house and every time we do some sort of decorating (painting the walls, putting up curtains, etc.) he says, "Mommy!  It's Beautiful!!" like he is seeing the Mona Lisa or something.  And he hasn't learned to lie yet.  Often, I'll be in the kitchen getting dinner ready and I will hear Caroline cry in the other room.  When I go out to there to see what's going on, Quentin will say something like, "I hit sister."  And when we tell him to apologize to his sister, he takes hold of her hand and looks her right in the eye and says, "I'm so sorry sister." in the most concerned tone.  And then he gives her a big hug.  Precious.

words, words, words

Caroline is a chatterbox.  We don't remember Q being anywhere even close to this verbal at this age.  But she's nowhere near as physically active as he was.  I guess that's the difference between boys and girls.

 

Pickle knows some sign language.  Her teachers at school have taught them the basics: please, thank you, more, and all done.  She uses them all the time, and as she has gotten braver verbally she uses the sign and the word at the same time.  She regularly uses a bunch of other words too:

 

Hi

Hello

Bye

Yes

No

Mommy

Daddy

Doggy

Woof

Kitty

Meow

Puppy (her lovey – pink puppy)

Fishy

Goat

Cow

Moo

Pig

Duck

Mouse (yeah – we're totally addicted to peekaboo barn on mommy's phone)

Juice

Crackers

Chicken

Chips

Pizza

Cheese (the food and what you say when you get your picture taken)

Spoon

Shoe

Sock

Belly

Book

Car

Ball

Kiss

Baby

Uh oh

Stuck!

Poopy

Bug

Flower

 

She knows to how to nod her head to say yes and no.  She points to her diaper and tells us when she's pooped.  Heck they other day, she pointed to the polka dots on her crib bedding and exclaimed, "circle!"

 

And I know there's more I can't even remember!

Was that a tumbleweed??

We're still here.  I have a huge backlog of photos and posts to put up, but time and computer access are severely hindering my ability to do so.  I could sacrifice more of the 4-5 hours of sleep I get to post them, but that's probably not such a good idea.  I will catch up eventually.