Mommy loves you BOTH the SAME... Do you hear me, Katie?!

Jake and Katie.

These kids can be the worst of enemies at times (these times are not fun... there's usually some hair pulling, loud screeching, yelling for mommy, pushing and shoving... not to mention the resulting tears from pushes and shoves) and then, as if a switch has been flipped, they're the best of friends. 

Running around the house together, laughing, doing silly things to entertain each other, sharing... SHARING!  I wish I could find that switch, turn it to "friends"... and break it so it can never be flipped again.

Want to know why?

Here's why...

The other day, Jake was playing in the bathroom sink when Katie ran down the hall past the door yelling, "I'm going to wear THIS!" and waving her jammies around.  Jake saw her, we ALL heard her, and he laughed. 

He laughed harder and harder each time she did it (and she did it about 20 times). 

Eventually he left the bathroom to follow her down the hall and she would gently walk him back to the bathroom and say, "Jakey, you stay here." (so she wouldn't run him over) and she would continue running and yelling, and he would continue to laugh.  Eventually this lead to them running around our house in circles with one or two "accidental" pushes when Jake got into Katie's way.  But they were getting along.

No bribes or threats could have accomplished this.

(Not that I've tried, or anything... Really.)

It was just nice to see them getting along and happy.  And it was especially nice after I overheard this comment from Katie to Jake...

"She loves me better than you." where "she" = mommy. 

Um, yeah.  Usually I let them get through whatever they're doing without my intervention (unless Jake has his hand in her hair and is in the process of pulling hair out, or they're about to come to fisticuffs, then I intervene)  but in this case, I had to tell her (in my most serious mommy tone with my most serious mommy face) that I love them both the same and that Jake is my favorite boy* in the whole world and Katie is my favorite girl*... but I could swear that when she smiled at me, her smile was saying, "Suuuuure mommy.  I know you have to say that... he's your kid too of course.  But I know the truth!"  Something tells me she won't be convinced.

*So lucky to have one of each. How do you parents of two girls/two boys handle this?

Here's also why...






And some oldies I couldn't resist posting again...

Jake's 18 month well check went... well. And he had lots of fun playing with the stirrups.

Jake had his 18 month baby well check this week.  He's healthy and growing well which we kind of suspected... the kid is crazy busy and not tiny.

As a matter of fact, he weighs in at 27 lbs and his head circumference is 19 inches and a bit.  The nurse took his height measurement when he was standing up... usually they lay him down on the paper.  I think the paper might be a better way to go because when she compared this measurement to his previous measurement, something wasn't quite right. Unless Jake really did shrink two inches since his last doctor visit... Anything is possible.


So weight and measurement was the easy part.  Trying to entertain a toddler while waiting in the room was not so easy.  Luckily they baby-proofed pretty well.  My only complaint?  There were two chairs in the room.  I sat in one and Jake?  Well, he enjoyed climbing up onto the other chair over and over.  But, aside from the chair, and the stirrups that swung out from the table (he thought those were pretty fun AND they made a satisfying CLANG as he pushed them from side to side), the room was pretty much baby-proofed.


Katie came with us too (it was easier to let her come with than to spend precious time explaining *why* she couldn't go and running out of the house while hoping that this time the doorknob guard that is supposed to prevent little hands from opening the door would actually work).  It turned out to be a good thing because after Jake tired of the stirrups and forgot about the chair, the kids played together nicely while we waited for what seemed like an hour (but was really probably only 20 minute) between the doctor and the nurse. So the appointment was a success. 


Shots? Check. 


Tired baby who needed a long nap when we got home? Check.  


Oh, and one last thing...


Pee pee trouble because of some adhesions the nice doctor had to "break"? Check. 


Oh, yeah.  I won't go into more detail because it's a little lot gross AND something that is more common than I thought in infants.  And it's something the doctor didn't warn us about when Jake was circumcised*.  


Sorry Jake.  I'm sure that if this blog is still around when you're a teen and some of my more personal posts, like this one, get into the wrong hands, there may be a little potential for embarrassment but hopefully I've written enough stuff about your sister so it will be in her best interest not to mention some of this to anyone.


My poor baby.  It's sad (but a little bit cute)... the way he's been holding his diaper, looking at me with a scrunched up face, and saying "Ouch." when he "goes".


And based on that potty time routine (hold, scrunched up face, ouch), I'm going to assume that separating the adhesion area at every diaper change, and the resulting discomfort, is just minorly less fun for Jake than for me.  

If I had a million dollars... I would probably spend it all on preschool, shoes, and diapers

Preschool.  Katie loves it.  Mommy loves it.  Our budget?  Does not love it.  We've decided not to send Katie back for the *actual* school year that starts next week, but I still hope that we'll be able to send her next summer (the summer before kindergarten starts).

Oh, something EXCITING that happened last Saturday...

John was getting ready to go to a powwow up north and I saw a red car pull into our driveway.  Now, we do have friends... just not many of them.  And none of them drive a red car.

And Katie, being the smarty she is, remembered that it was a red car that crashed into the back of her Grandpa's car the week before and thought that whoever it was had come back.  She was worried that they were going to hit one of our other cars.  We reassured her that they probably would not return to our house and park in our driveway just to hit another one of our cars.

Turns out that I was right.  (Katie was relieved.)

It was actually one of our old neighbors (who used to live kittycorner across the street from us when I was a kid) who had seen our car parked next to the garage for awhile and wondered if we were looking to sell it. 

Our answer? 

Yes, yes, YES!  (That car has been sitting there for probably 6 months, if not longer, because we need to put a tire on it and the tires for our car are very spendy.)

How did he happen to spot our car and wonder about its availability?  Well, apparently he drives through the area every once in awhile (I kind of think it's to check out his lawn*) and spotted it just sitting there.

*I wonder if there was a condition written into the house sale that the new owner must maintain the lawn to the standards of the previous owner!  If so, he doesn't have anything to worry about.  The new owner edges, eliminates weeds, spray paints the grass so it's always a vibrant green (Just kidding.  I've never actually seen him do this.  I just wouldn't be too surprised if he did), and he takes out any leaves that dare to land on his yard.  In the fall.  When there are bucketfuls of leaves yet to drop off of the trees, this guy is out there ready to defend his lawn from the invasion.)


So now I've got to figure out which payment is for which car.  This normally wouldn't be a problem.  Just pull out the statement and check it out, right!  Oh, if only.  But no.  We bought two cars on that fateful day; two cars of the same make, model, and year.  So, I've got to track down the payment invoice, pull out the title (that has the matching bank name), and search for the teeny tiny color description, and THEN call to see what the payoff total is.  Ugh.  Which is why I haven't done it yet.

But I will.  This week for sure.

Because I saw Frank drive by our house again on Sunday and I have a feeling he's a persistent guy.  And an early* riser. 

*Early = before 11:00 a.m..  I mean, we're up and everything but we're still in cozy jammy mode.

And if he stops by early (like he did the last time), I don't want to have to make a mad dash to the bedroom to change out of my jammies and into real clothes...
(again).