Reading Rainbow

Happy Memorial Day everyone! I wish I was feeling better today because this is Jalal's only day off this week and it would be wonderful to celebrate the holiday. But I started feeling crummy when I woke up yesterday and today is a little bit worse. Jalal didn't even get home until 5 o'clock this morning, so he isn't up yet (as of 10 a.m.). I'm just trying to take advantage and rest while I can. Rest--hah! Like that's possible with two kids under 3. Quinn woke up at the crack of dawn, and even though I'd cracked his door and left the TV downstairs on PBS, he still came in and bugged me, a few times. I guess the channel froze at some point, so he got bored watching a still image of "Arthur." I finally had to get up around 7 something and head downstairs, get everyone's diapers changed, and feed them breakfast. Maddie is fussing in her swing as I speak. However, there was a bright spot to my morning. Dear Quinn and I were about to read his "Finding Nemo" book when I asked him to read instead. I picked a word or two off of each page, and he sounded them out all by himself! I was so proud! Let's see if I can remember the words he read: Dad, off, in, on, but, met, back... That might be all of them. Isn't that awesome? I can't believe how smart he is. Well, I think we're actually going to get out of the house for a bit today. Later. Love, Us.

Five-Question Friday

Hi all. Joining in a little blog hop tonight because I feel like I ought to post but I'm too tired to think of what to write myself. It's called blog cheating. This one is hosted by Mama M. at My Little Life.

1. Is there something you've always wanted to try but just can't muster up the courage to actually do yet?

Hmmm...I have been trying to muster up the nerve to attempt some of Bakerella's cake pops. Maybe these? I have done a fair number of batches of the yummy chocolate cake balls, but decorating beyond simple lumps is daunting. Especially when hers are so freakin' awesome! I would love to pull these off for a friend's baby shower or Quinn's next birthday.

2. If you had $100 handed to you in cash without your significant other knowing about it, what would you spend it on?

Probably books. Or cookie dough (not all of it, obviously!). Maybe some adorable clothes for my adorable kids, though he certainly has done that often enough that I shouldn't hide it from him!

3. What was your favorite piece of playground equipment as a child?

The swings. I love the power of pumping your legs and going so high that you defy gravity for a moment and slam back down onto the swing. When my sister and I were little, we had a rickety old swingset in the backyard and the poles came up out of the sand every time you swung too high.

4. Do you prefer a sweet or hearty breakfast?

Depends on the day. I actually like to combine eggs, bacon, and french toast. That's my ideal breakfast.

5. Are you a Neat Freak or a Messy Bessy?

I admit, I'm pretty messy. But I do try. It's just overwhelming with two little kids, a job, and a hubby who works 95 hours a week. When I worked in an office, I was obsessive about organization and keeping my cubicle neat. But it was only 4 feet square, so it was manageable.

Well, that's all folks! Gotta get the baby to bed. Happy Memorial Day weekend, and God bless all the soldiers, past and present, who leave their families to protect ours. I've been loving PW's photos about coming home. Check 'em out here. Love, Us.

Manners

I have tried hard to teach my son manners. He says please, thank you, excuse me, you're welcome, I'm sorry, "are you ok?", etc. Granted, he's just 2, so sometimes he doesn't know the appropriate way to behave in some situations. So what was Mrs. Nosy's excuse? We stopped by Tuesday Morning this evening to get a birthday present for a party we're going to on Sunday. We had spent the whole afternoon with friends downtown at the Children's Fountain and feeding the ducks. So I wanted this to be a quick stop. I already knew pretty much what I wanted to get. I loaded both kids into the stroller to make it as easy as possible. I had to strap Quinn down within the first five minutes because he was swinging and hanging on the handle of the stroller. Not only was he about to flip his sister over, if he broke our expensive stroller, I would take it out of his allowance until it's paid for. Anyway, we made it to the toy aisle with only mild annoyance (mine) and him saying "I have that?" about 19 times. We stopped at the puzzles and I flipped through them, looking for the perfect birthday present. Incidentally, I was also keeping my eyes open for something Quinn might like. But I wasn't going to get him anything after he started crying about the ABC puzzle. He wanted it bad. Don't think I'm a terrible, heartless mother who doesn't want her kid to learn his ABCs. He is OBSESSED with his letters. He knows them all, knows the sounds they make, can spell a few words, including his name, etc. He can sing about three versions of the alphabet song (current fave is Alphapig's from SuperWhy), and he can sing the alphabet by the sounds the letters make as fast as by the letters themselves. He owns about 25 alphabet books. And he is great at puzzles. I buy him puzzles all the time. But he's worked his way up to doing 48-piece puzzles. I was not about to buy him a 26-piece ABC puzzle that he could put together in about 4.8 seconds. Now, there was a "sweet" older lady there who stopped us and asked how old Maddie was. We chatted about the kids and her grandkids, and she talked to Quinn about being a big brother. He asked her if he could have the ABC puzzle. Stop here. Think. What would you do? Would you:
A) Say something like, "Oh honey, I'm sure you have lots of puzzles at home. You don't need a silly old ABC puzzle."
B) Segue. Say "Do you know your ABCs? Aren't you a smart boy."
C) Bend down and find a few ABC puzzles and say, "What about this one? I bet you could put this one together. What about these number puzzles? Your mom could get you one of these, too." Hand the ABC puzzle to Quinn and say, "That looks like a great puzzle." Walk away pleased with yourself for making the little crying boy happy.

Hmmm. I'll let you figure out which version we experienced. Sweet Granny screwed me bad. I waited until she walked away and then told Quinn we were not getting the ABC puzzle. I attempted to distract him with talk of other things and began moving quickly toward the cash registers. He began shrieking at top volume. I mean, screaming hysterically at the top of his lungs. I acted on my first instinct and clamped my hand over his mouth. Let me just say, that did not help. He screamed louder and I just tried to calm him down by whispering in his ear. He got better but it was still a good idea to move ourselves quickly to the front of the store. We checked out with very little fuss and only a little whimpering. But I will never forgive sweet Granny and I ask this of each of you. Please do not take sides with a child against his mother, ESPECIALLY if you are a complete stranger. It would have been bad enough if it were Quinn's grandmother doing it, but I just wanted to say "How DARE you?" This rule applies to those of you who want to give my child candy or snacks or anything of the sort. Asking Mom's permission after you offer something to a 2-year-old doesn't count as good manners. So say "please may I offer your child something you may not want him to have" BEFORE you say "would you like [fill in the blank]?" Thank you.

When They Are 3, They Lie!

The finger-pointing has begun. For the first time, but probably not the last, Quinn blamed Maddie for something he did. We were all lying down on her play mat encouraging Maddie to reach out and grasp her hanging toys. I noticed a stinky smell and said, "Does someone need a new diaper?" Quinn said, "No." I said, "Quinn, did you go to the bathroom?" "No, that's Maddie." Well, without being too vulgar, I can tell the difference. This was not Maddie. But I had to give him some credit for shifting blame, I guess. It reminds me of a trip to the mall we took a couple months ago. I was waiting with Maddie and the stroller while Quinn and Jalal rode the "moving stairs" a few times. This sweet older lady stopped to admire the sleeping baby. She said something like "God bless you." I said, well, I also have a two-year-old on the escalator. She said, "Oh, I used to teach Sunday school to 2- and 3-year-olds. The 2-year-olds are sweet, but when they are 3, they lie!" I have to admit, I busted out laughing a little. I was sure she was right, and now I am seeing it first-hand. Below, he is not lying, but he is reading to her. He knows "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by heart, and he loves to read to Maddie.


The next picture is of Quinn giving Maddie a bottle for the first time last night. How sweet is that? He practiced on his baby doll the other day, so I thought he was ready. Doesn't he look devious in that one?




Do you ever get so caught up in the little details that you miss the big picture? I don't mean on a daily basis with big stuff like life or anything, though I do that sometimes. I mean, for instance, today I had both kids sleeping at once, the living room was vacuumed, and the dishwasher was running. I was waiting on a job to come through, so I had no work, and I was caught up on blogs and facebook and junk like that. I decided to attend to the single most overdue cleaning project in my house: my bathroom sink and countertops. The tub and toilet get cleaned fairly regularly, but there is so much junk piled up on the countertops that it is a daunting task. But I dug in. Now I should have just unloaded the stuff, wiped it down, and moved on to other things, like putting away laundry or taking out the trash. But I got involved in the minutiae (love that word). I ended up scrubbing the gap between the back of the sink and the wall with an old toothbrush, which I then used on the ring around the drain. After the whole area was clean, I wiped off the stuff like soap pump and deodorant and replaced them, putting all the non-essentials in their proper place. (How very Donna Reid of me.) Another example: Sometimes when I really need to be getting ready to leave the house, I became (just a tad) obsessed with cleaning the hair out of my hairbrush. I can't stop until it's really really clean. Don't ask me why.

Well, I'm going to sign off now because I should have started dinner a half hour ago. And it's bath night, which HAS to be done by 8 p.m. because I am NOT missing the live finale of Biggest Loser. I have my priorities. I will close with a couple of Maddie pics because I owe you from her 3-month birthday. Love, Us.

"You Make My Heart Super Happy"

For those of you who don't get the reference, the title of today's post is from Ni-Hao, Kai-lan," a Nick Jr. show about a little Chinese girl and her animal friends. Quinn has spent the last 30 minutes pointedly NOT finishing his milk or dinner but instead singing "Jesus Loves Me" at the top of his lungs and asking for more "Jesus songs." It made me think about all the things in my life right now that make my heart happy, even when so many things don't. I could complain about my husband having to work six long days a week and not being around much. I could complain about how hard it is to get all of my work done while taking care of two small kids. I could complain about the fact that Quinn has absolutely no interest whatsoever in potty training but insists on showing me his backside every time he goes to the bathroom. But you know what? When Maddie gives me a big silly grin for no reason at all or Quinn pats my hair and tells me he loves me, all of that fades away. The fact is Maddie is a great baby. She sleeps through the night already and is a pretty calm baby whenever we're out in public. Quinn is a great kid, too, despite his temper tantrums. He still takes a nap (about 2 hours) most days of the week. He goes to bed without a fight almost every single night. He usually eats his vegetables before anything else. He says things like "That's the rules!" and loves on his baby sister. Tonight he was "helping" me cut coupons when I came across an ad for Baskin Robbins. He said, "Ooh, cake! I love cake. Mama, you say, 'Me, too'." I laughed so hard! Because, really, I love cake more than probably any other person on earth. Especially ice cream cake. I wish I had some right now. There is some really good ice cream in the freezer, but it's Jalal's and I can't eat it. He would say it was okay, but really I would never hear the end of it. As a matter of fact, it's pretty much a lose-lose situation for me. If ice cream lasts more than a week or so without me eating it, he says, "I can't believe we still have ice cream." Anyway, my point is that my kids make my heart super happy. Anyone who meets them falls in love with them. Well, I'm going to try really hard to get to bed early tonight. I've been up long past midnight every night this week, and catching some show last night on the History Channel about aliens being responsible for inseminating Noah's mother and then wiping out the "inferior" humans with the flood made me realize that it's not worth staying up late! Weird. So, goodnight. Love, Us.

Maddie's 3 Months Old!

Good morning! I woke up today with a few different things: a sore throat, for which I am drinking hot tea and hoping is not a sign of worse things to come; a prayer in my mind for my cousin (well, cousin's wife), Mary, who even at this moment is supposed to be in surgery; a plan to blow through some overdue housework first thing in the morning to catch up while I have no editing work to do; and a reminder to myself that Maddie is 3 months old today. I will have to take some special pictures today. I tried to find a recent one on the camera but after 10 minutes of deleting pictures of knees, fingers, foreheads, the ceiling, etc. (guess who got a hold of the camera?), I gave up. If anyone doesn't read my sister's blog, you should link over to it here and see the pics and video she posted of the kids while she and Wade were here a few weeks ago. Maddie is starting to put on some weight--slowly. She was only 9 lbs., 11 oz. at her 2-month appointment, in the 17th percentile. So we were having a tough time with clothes. She's long enough that she's almost too big for 3-month clothes, but her waist is so tiny that pants and shorts and even diaper covers fall off her. My mom sent us a couple of boxes of hand-me-downs from a friend of hers, and it was a jackpot! Tons of rompers in her size! Cute stuff, too. Rompers are perfect because there are no waistbands and most are shorts, so the length isn't an issue either. That makes it a lot easier to dress her. She is smiling a lot and cooing, but she's so vain. She will look at you like she's a little pissed off until you tell her she's pretty, and then her face lights up in a huge smile. Then you can see her one dimple and she'll start to talk. This morning, she was hanging out in her swing while I was making breakfast. I kept hearing this high-pitched shriek, which I thought was Quinn, but it was actually her. She also kept trying to roll over in her swing, but she just ended up slumped over. Going to have to watch that one! I'll put her at one end of her crib to sleep and in the morning she's at the other end with her feet sticking out of the slats. She's still a great sleeper, usually going for 8 hours at night without a peep! I don't know what we ever did to deserve two adorable children who are great sleepers. On the other hand, Quinn is trying to give up his afternoon nap. Guess who is not ready for that? Uh, me, in case you were wondering. I've had many different kinds of afternoons this week. One day, he took a 2 1/2 hour nap without a fuss. One day, he screamed and cried and pulled my hair and fought his nap so bad that he didn't get any rest at all. One day, he took a "rest" lying on our bed watching "Finding Nemo." That's the day he fell asleep sitting up in a cart at Babies 'R Us. He woke up after 15 minutes screaming and hysterical for a while. That shows me he is not quite ready for that either. I guess we'll keep working on it. We have a big playdate today with some other moms and kids, and I hope I can get him down for a little while so that will go better. Not only is he in a better mood when he naps, but he is safer. He gets really clumsy when he's tired. And he's such a boy that he doesn't need any more bruises and bumps and scrapes.

Speaking of Quinn, I realized that if I don't start logging some of this stuff, I'll forget. He's such a great kid most of the time. He's wicked smart and very funny. Here are some of the funny things he says:
Peaner jeller (peanut butter and jelly, though he's starting to say this correctly, which actually makes me sad, because this is really cute)
Leave Quinn alone! (this is said in anger when he's in a bad mood or being disciplined, when it is really inappropriate to laugh at him. But the first time he said it [yelled it, actually], I had to walk outside so he wouldn't see me laughing my head off.).
Me too. Me three. Me one. Etc. (often he'll say "me too" and then tell me to say "me three" and so on.)
I go to Mickey's House!! (we're discussing a trip to Disney World this year, so this is a favorite, but it comes out of nowhere like when he wakes up from a nap.)
We're having a birthday party tomorrow! (One time, we had a party for Jalal and Uncle Wade. This is now said almost every day. He also tells me "Happy Mother's Day" about every few days. So sweet and not right.)
(Counting) One through twelve, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, nineteen, twenty! He thinks 13 and 14 sound the same, so he only says 14. We always just thought he was superstitious.)
Watch out! Grandma's coming! (I swear I don't know where he gets this, but sometimes if someone is walking down the stairs, he says this.)
Hi Monica. (This just started. He's calling Maddie "Monica" sometimes, watching me to see my reaction. Monica is a little girl at our church, but she's a year old. Weirdo.)
Aw, so cute! Look at those ears! (He says this about Maddie mostly, but once to Jalal, which was really funny. It's from "The Tale of Despereaux.")
That's all I can think of right now. And Maddie's crying, so I better go. Hope you all have enjoyed this little glimpse into our life. Love, Us.

Frustration

I want to say in advance that I know I'm being irrational here. I just need to vent. I put Quinn down for a nap an hour and a half ago. He refuses to sleep. I have tried everything I can think of. We are supposed to meet some new people at the playground at 3:30 today, but at this rate, I don't see how we can go. He is upstairs screaming right now. I feel like he's doing this to me on purpose. (See first sentence.) I really really need to make some more friends, and I was really excited about today. We had a great morning, a good lunch, and I thought he would go down for his nap just fine--the same way he does EVERY SINGLE DAY!! But no, the one day that I really need to do work (I'm about 40 pages behind on my current job) and get out, and he refuses to cooperate. I tried letting him sleep downstairs on the couch where I was working. I told him we are going out to play as soon as he takes a nap. I tried begging, pleading, threatening, and ignoring him, hoping he would eventually get so tired he'd fall asleep. Nothing. The last time I went upstairs, it was because he was yelling and banging on stuff. The child has dark circles under his eyes, for crying out loud. I crouched down next to him to talk and when I dropped my head in frustration, he reached over and ripped out a chunk of my hair! WTH?!? I am so angry right now that I cannot go back upstairs no matter what or I will say or do something I'll regret. God help me, I need a day (or week) away from that child.

Show Us Your Life

Today I am doing a brief post to link to Kelly's Korner, who is doing a "Show Us Your Life" on baby names.

My darling son, born in August 2007, is named Quinn Jalal. My husband picked out Quinn from a name book (not a baby name book), and we knew it was perfect. Jalal is my husband's first name, so we followed the Lebanese tradition of using the dad's first name for the first-born son's middle name.


Just 2 and a half months ago, my darling girl was born. She is such a little skinny minnie. We had a much harder time picking out names this time, but we ended up with Madigan Ruth. Again, Maddie's first name is from a name book, but her middle name is the middle name of her grandmother, Louella, my mother-in-law, who passed away a year before we found out we were pregnant with her. I think she would be proud of her namesake.


So it seems we have an Irish thing ending in "N" going on for first names and a family thing for middle names. We like names that are unique but still easy to say and spell. We have a name picked out for another boy, should that happen someday, but of course we could change our minds before then. If we don't, it will fit the mold: Gryphon Lang. Lang is for Langston, my maiden name, after my dad, Red, who passed away when Quinn turned two. So there you go. Our kids' names. Love, Us.