No Christmas Cards This Year

And this is why....

The Demise of Childproofing

Today I tried to look at my parenting through fresh eyes, instead of bleary blood shot eyes that are exhausted from the physical and emotional strain of being a Mama Bear, constantly protecting, loving, kissing, adoring, and caring for my little ones. For the most part, I gave myself a passing grade. I do my best and look to others and experts for advice when needed, which is almost always.

I did notice one thing. Maybe you more seasoned parents can attest to this too. With Philip, I was so proud of the hundreds of dollars we spent on the latest and greatest safety devices in and around our home. No electrical outlet was left uncovered. Computer cords were neatly tied up in fancy zip ties. Door knobs had safety covers on them preventing an escape. Every right angle that sat at four feet or below had padded covers. We even bought a toilet lock, which gave our dear friend Sarah, who was Little Philip's caregiver for his first year, fits. Granted, she was pregnant so unlocking the toilet was probably akin to torture for her each day. Still, there was no way I was going to let my infant son take too good a look into the toilet bowl.

Which brings me to the demise of my child proofing efforts. I guess the bleary-eyed bloodshot parenting has become a bit lax with Helen. We have allowed her four year old brother to do the childproofing in the house. This is the result of our under sink cabinet child lock. We think it works pretty well. If she tries to undo it, she gets a pretty good rubber band snap on the arm. Classic conditioning.

Our Newest Artist

Little Philip loves to paint, color, do "find it" puzzles, and anything else that involves sitting at his white table for crafts and activities. Helen wanted to join in the fun today so after her brother finished watercolor painting, she climbed up into his chair to paint.

We have yet to show Helen how to paint. Her brother has always been such a careful child so we were a little more daring when it came to introducing finger paint, water colors, markers, etc. and Helen is anything but careful. Recently, she colored the walls in the dining room and living room, as well as doors with sidewalk chalk. She will do so regularly unless we put it all up. Thank goodness it is just chalk. So when Helen finally positioned herself in the chair and lifted the paintbrush, I was curious to see what she would do.

Here is an example of her artwork from school.
Which means that the only paint experience we have allowed her so far has been for an adult to firmly grip her hand, paint the palm, and firmly place the palm onto paper. Is it any wonder this is how she chose to paint today? It is fascinating to see what creatures of habit little ones are at this age!

Overheard at the Moss House

Mommy: Philip, Helen loves her baby doll and I think we need to give the baby doll a name.

Little Philip: Yes, we need to give Helen's baby a name.

Mommy: Since Helen can't really talk well yet, why don't you name the baby?

Little Philip: I don't know what to name the baby.

Mommy: What is the most beautiful girl name in the world?

Little Philip with a smile: Emory

Friday Night

We held off as long as we could, the veil of ignorance being a blissful thing. TV commercials were lost on him, producing a glazed look of knowing nothingness. And then we started attending Mountaintots Day School. You have to pass it on your way to the church. Little friends started talking and finally, he knew what he was missing and begged to go. We broke down and took him. The rest is history. There are about 25 request to go to Chuck E. Cheese each week and we give in about 2% of the time. Friday night was an example of our blessing our son with the Chuck E. Cheese experience. We dragged Aunt Ellen along just for the sheer torture factor. It is a lot of fun watching a young twenty-something happening gal like Aunt Ellen look like a deer in headlights the entire time we were there. She mainly stuck to the salad bar instead of Whack-a-Mole with the rest of us. But we did manage to get a picture of the evening. Aunt Ellen's forehead is the centerpiece but the smiles on both children's faces lets you know that fun was had by almost all!

Just in Case Child Protection Pays a Visit

Helen is always hungry. Helen is always eating. We had her 18 month check up yesterday and Dr. Simpson asked if she had a 7-12 word vocabulary. I said yes. He asked what words she was saying. I said "cookie", "cracker", "cup", "more", "mama", "dada", "baba"(brother), "Ra Ra" (Riley the dog), and "kitty." Her first words have always had something to do with food. The words she is trying to form now remain in the food category as well. Her teachers are amazed at the amount of food Helen ingests, yet she remains one of the tiniest and daintiest little ones in the Bunny room. At her check up she weighed about 22.5 pounds and was 31.5 inches tall. That puts her in the 25-50% for height and only the 10-25% for weight. Have no fear, her honker 19.5 inch head is well within the 95% for her age. Love those Moss genes.

Just in case anyone ever accuses me of not feeding my children, I post the following videos as evidence. When Helen wakes up in the morning, she lunges for her high chair. When she wakes up from her nap she lunges for her high chair. She will sit in the high chair for an hour tapping the table as she waits for food preparation to end. She will fly into a rage if you take something out of the oven, stir it, and then put it back. For the eighteen minutes it took the cookies to bake in the video below she stood in front of the oven, pressing her face against the glass, signing "please" over and over and over. For my Vandy friends, Helen is OHB - One Hungry Baby.

Meanwhile, Little Philip ate three bites of chicken and rice for dinner and called it quits in favor of going to his room to dance to the Letter People songs.

Dressing Little Girls

This morning it is raining, again. It has rained for 40 days and 40 nights so we are headed to Lowe's this morning to buy some wood, nails, and some tar to seal the ark we surely must build if this rain is to continue.

But that has nothing to do with this post. This morning we are taking it easy, trying to decide something to do as a family in the rain, that is free, or relatively free. While I was in the shower, Big Philip graciously started to dress the kids. It has not gone well so far. Little Philip insists on wearing his spider man pajama top for the day. I pulled out a one piece romper for Helen that has a sailor collar on it. When I got out of the shower, this is what I saw.




Another flashback story. It is second grade at Our Lady of Sorrows School. My sister, Ellen, has just entered the world. My Daddy is dressing me for the school day. This should not be difficult considering it is the basic Catholic school uniform pictured here:Pretty easy to figure out, right? Nope. Daddy put my jumper on backwards so that the V yoke was straight down my back. I believe it was my former first grade teacher, Ms. Campisi, that caught me in the hallway and corrected it before I entered the classroom. I just didn't want to hurt my Daddy's feelings.

So my sweet husband let me sleep until 8:00 am this morning and I am eternally grateful. But clearly, I need to give some more basic instructions on dressing a little girl. The sailor collar goes in back, Daddy!