surname

caroline knows the first and last names of each of her classmates (even the harder indian and polish last names!) but the funniest one of all is how she says her own name. she is care-nine poo-pon.

the art of torture

but... caroline will say, "yes! cat movie!" quentin will jump up and down, declaring victory. after letting him celebrate for a few moments, pickle will calmly declare, "i want to watch elmo" and giggle as her brother descends into madness. also, we've previously discussed that Q does not like to called "quinny" like his classmate. so sometimes we call him that to tease him. (it's an amazing distraction if he's having a tantrum because it redirects his anger and can be easily smoothed by admitting that he really is quentin.) caroline has picked up on this and frequently calls her brother quinny to drive him bonkers. my kids are hilarious.

the art of persuasion

quentin is really honing his negotiation skills. since we have a fancy DVD player in the car, i let them watch a movie on the long commute home from work/school (if they both had a good day at school.) caroline used to just go along with whatever Q wanted, but now she demands a turn to pick so we alternate days. quentin is also currently obsessed with what he calls the "cat movie" - a really bad adaptation of the richard scarry books starring a cat named huckle (who is voiced by toot of "toot and puddle" if you watch a lot of nick jr. - ugh.) whenever it's caroline's turn to pick, quentin will suddenly become all sweet, give his sister a hug, and say in the most syrupy voice possible, "sister, you want to watch the cat movie right? you love the cat movie. that's what you want to watch." but...

ugh.

another bad posting month. maybe i will have to do another blog-a-palooza in august.

yup.

really sick.

my new assistant

pickle got booted for school for runny poop today (she looks really sick, eh?)

i had a few things to wrap up so she chilled in my cube while i worked.

more QQ

as Q is bouncing around our bed, well past bed time:

me: why aren't you sleeping?
Q: i AM sleeping.

quotable quentin

yesterday when leaving school and walking to the parking garage:

"sister. you can't play in the road because the cars want to hurt you. they will make you broken and make you dead. and get your shirt dirty."

brightly-colored plastic

our two scores this evening: a sand/water table and a kitchen. i heart side-of-the-road finds!

2 year stats

last wednesday, caroline and i dropped Q off at school and then went to the pediatrician for her 2-year check-up.  here are her key stats:

 

• head circumference = 47.5 cm ( 56^th percentile)
• height = 32.75 inches ( 17^thpercentile)
• weight = 25.5 pounds ( 48^thpercentile)

 

yup, short like me. she lucked out and didn't get any shots because the office was out of the one vaccine she needed.  she did get the finger stick for a blood test for anemia and lead checks.  the trooper didn't even flinch or cry.  she's meeting and exceeding all her milestones.  caroline was quite happy to show-off her absurd jumping ability and was talking like crazy, impressing the doc.

 

i think she liked the special trip to the doctor, because every day since then as we are getting out of the car at school she asks to go to the doctor again.  she also told me she wanted another "sticker" (band-aid) for her finger.

backflip!

awesome freestyle

havoc on the harbor

yesterday we went to our 4th monster jam of 2011. it was down in baltimore and we weren't really planning on going, but after the philly show last month, Q kept asking when we were going again. we told him when he started pooping on the potty, and well, he magically started doing that a few weeks ago (and not in his pants since, not even at night!0 so we were kinda painted into a corner. his friend lilly wanted to go see what all the fuss was about so we baby-swapped caroline for lilly and headed down to b-more. - unfortunately we didn't make it for much of the pre-party so we don't have a lot of pics. it sucks too because there were some sweet trucks at this one. (monster jam is so getting a strongly-worded letter from me... if you are going to advertise the party in the pits as going until 5:30, you can't start yelling at three year-olds to get away from trucks (yes, they yelled at the kids) at 5:10. -

attempt at a superman pic for jeff. fail.

attempt at a grave digger pic (while getting yelled at.) fail. again.

monster mutt dalmatian! my favorite.

nitro circus

watching from the outside at 5:15 after we'd been booted from the event supposedly closing at 5:30. grrrr.

the field. lilly liked the fact that the seats were purple.

ironman - another first time truck for us

the mutt

three different grave diggers - driven by dennis anderson and his two sons, adam and ryan

lilly, when original grave digger won his first race

superman

lady with a newborn at monster jam (it was like that scene in "sweet home alabama" - "you have a baby! in a bar!"

nitro did not last long. oops.

crazy air from el toro loco

the newest digger - "son-uva-digger" - up close

one of several lost wheels during the evening

overall the kids did great. this thing went until 11 p.m. and they both hung in there. (i'm sure the $10 sno-cone and $15 cotton candy had something to do with it.) it was an awesome show with an unbelievable freestyle from maximum destruction (yes, Q totally has us all into this now.) i'll post a video in another post.