Chatterboxes

I've got a couple of little chatterboxes on my hand lately. One of them is almost 1 1/2 and the other is nearly 3...and I can't understand either one of them. Okay, okay...so maybe that's a wee bit of an exaggeration. I can understand Alex when he wants me to. Don't get all freaked out now...there are no red flags going on here. He can talk just fine. Let me elaborate.

Over the past few months, Alex has been talking more and more. He sings whole songs on his own, recites his alphabet, counts to 16 and explains the rules of the house to Abby. But in the last couple of weeks, he has developed this strange new little language. And it drives me nuts. I have no idea what the purpose of it is or what the heck he is saying when he disappears into this little imaginary world of his. Of course, I can't write down in a blog what he is saying or how he is saying it because...well...it's undecipherable. He makes up words that he uses over and over again throughout the day. When I ask him a question like, 'What kind of sandwich do you want?", he responds with some strange new word. It's very odd and he doesn't seem to be shedding the new habit. He will go off into his room and chatter on and on about things. What things? I have no idea whatsoever. He also makes up songs of his own. It's all very new and odd. I'm waiting for him and Abby to start talking in some foreign made-up language so that they can plot dangerous stunts together to freak me out.

Now Abby, on the other hand, has become the logical kind of chatterbox. She learns new words by the hour these days. She is even putting multiple words together and says partial sentences. Today she actually said, "I want cereal Mommy." It wasn't the most articulate sentence on the planet, but I understood every word of it. This is all very new to me too. Alex was not saying nearly as much at this age. She has done gone and surpassed her big brother in the verbal arena. (Yes...you read that right. I said 'done gone'. I'm showin' off my hick side) It's amazing to see how different they learn. I credit Abby's massive word index to Alex. He is always sitting with her and 'teaching' her words. It's a cute little game they play together.

Oh well, I guess if someone out there could understand the workings of children's minds, then they could become a millionaire. Until then, I suppose I'll just have to settle for wingin' it.

Mama's Little Daredevil

Abby. *sigh* This little girl has given me a run for my money...already. And she is only 16 months old! What on earth do you do with a toddler who has a fascination with the effects of adrenaline? Though I have no idea if she is aware what adrenaline really is, it can be the only explanation for her crazy antics. I remember reading things about little girls and how they are less adventurous and less likely to seek out danger than the little boys. Ha! apparently those books weren't talking about my wee little angel of a daughter. Ever since she got her legs under her, she has gone above and beyond the craziness that her big brother was capable of. I always thought that they don't get more daring than Alex is. I was always fishing him off of some high object or out of some dangerous place that he would weasel himself into. When Abby came along, I was all ready for a break from the constant obsession with danger. Apparently, she had other plans in mind. I truly believe that she has been twice as bad, if not thrice as bad, as Alex is. Just yesterday, we decided to move some furniture around so that I could have my old computer desk back to work on side projects. So the old faithful rocker/recliner that I spent so many hours rocking kids to sleep in, got moved to the living room. I didn't think that this move would create me so much worry and heartburn. From the second that blasted recliner moved, I've done nothing but peel her away from it. She will eagerly jump up on the recliner and then attempt to balance on the arm of it whilst the chair is still rocking. Now...this is actually quite impressive if you can forget that she is a baby and shouldn't be doing that. She's got crazy awesome balance for a 16 month old. This morning she was actually balancing on a two inch side of a ride on toy that should have toppled over from the awkward position she was in. But nevertheless, with every daredevil comes the inevitable slip-ups that cause the big boo-boos. And tonight, in the staple slow-motion parenting moment, she attempted her balancing act once more on the recliner. She then commenced in a very stylish back flip. I'm sure that she totally planned on landing on her feet, but due to the fact that she is not as old as she thinks she is, she landed on her head. By the time I got to her, I was ready for the trip to the ER. To my surprise, she cried for about 10 seconds and was rip-roarin' ready to go for the next daring stunt. I have watched her like a hawk all night for any sign that she might have hit her head too hard, but she was her normal self all night. She actually attempted to go back to the recliner again for a second go. So being without Josh for the week, I heaved that sucker back into my cramped bedroom by myself. *sigh* I have a bad feeling that she's gonna need her first stitches sooner than Alex did. Oh well. The recliner is gone. I now have a sore back and a sprained wrist, but at least I've removed temptation from her path...for now.

Hulk Angry!

You know who The Hulk is, right? Yes? No? Maybe? Okay, well for those who aren't geek enough to know (though I doubt anyone out there could not know), here is a picture of The Hulk:

Well, it is a little known fact that The Hulk had a little sister. I dunno, maybe she is a half-sister. It's really difficult to say. Right now she is a mere toddler and I just happened to catch an image of her with my trusty camera.


Okay, okay. She isn't really related to the hulk, but around this house, that is what I call her when she gets angry. It is really quite funny. Even though I try my best not to laugh at her when she 'hulks out'. She gets mad quite a lot these days. It is nearly always directly related to Alex of course. So when she gets mad, she either slaps (which she gets time-out for) or she 'hulks out'. She literally will put on her angry face and find the nearest object and lift it over head to throw it. She doesn't just pick up the small things though. That's why I call her The Hulk. She will pick up one of their ride-on toys, a kid chair, or whatever looks the biggest. She heaves it up over her head, and launches it as far as she can get it to go. It is so fantastically funny to watch. I know that, as a parent, you aren't supposed to laugh at moments like this. But come on! How can you see a 15 month old chuck an object as big as she is and not get a good giggle out of it? So every time I see her do this, I look at her and say "Grrr...Hulk Angry!"

I've tried to get a video. But I'm always one second too late. I guess it's harder to get The Hulk on video than I thought it would be.

Phlog V:2.5

Seeing as how there is absolutely nothing of value to be wasting perfectly good blogging space about, I shall give you the next version of Phlog. For earlier versions please see Phlog V:1.0 or Phlog V:2.0

Now we have the newly updated Phlog Version 2.5. This version of Phlog has been brought to you by two crazy monkeys and a few pets of thiers. Enjoy!

Abby smiling for the camera.

Luke...enjoying a well undeserved nap on the fresh tomatoes

Awww...look at the green lips. Mmm...Fun Dip.

Once again...mmmm...Fun Dip.

It's time to Wiggle!!

Abby's newest obsession is Leia. She always wants to go see Leia. And where is Leia?

Leia is always hiding in the laundry room. It is her self made prison. Who can understand the complicated mind of a cat?

Alex. 'Nuff Said. :-)

In A Pickle

DO YOU LIKE CUCUMBERS?

WANT SOME?

Apparently, my garden decided to produce an entire year's supply of cucumbers and...well...I'm kind of tired of cucumbers. Seriously. How many times can you make fried cucumbers in a year? Take my cucumbers...please.

RIF: Random Irrational Fear

Random irrational fears...*sigh*...what a pain in my butt. To be honest, I really can't complain too much. My kiddos have very few fears. This can be a good thing and it can be a very very bad thing. They both enjoy trying new things. Especially things that make my heart jump into my throat. They are little dare devils. I've come to believe that they truly do enjoy the adrenaline rush they get. My kids will be the ones begging to ride the upside down roller coaster in the near future. The typical things that you hear most kids/babies are afraid of, are not really a problem for them. They got the typical stranger danger where they would merely spend the majority of their time hidden behind my legs in new places. But things like water, heights, animals, vacuums, bugs, etc...they could care less about. (Alex actually walked up to me with a wiggling brown recluse spider in his fingers the other day...ugh). Sooo...when I pulled out the hair trimmer for our monthly hair cut last week, I didn't expect anything out of the ordinary. Alex has had his hair cut pretty frequently (yes by me...I'm a total pro). He never gave me much trouble...until now. Apparently hair clippers are the devil and to have one anywhere near his head is pure undiluted torture. He kept covering his head with the towel and screaming, "IT'S HURTING ME! IT'S HURTING ME!" (please keep in mind that it wasn't even touching his head yet). So now he has this lovely little irrational fear. For two days, he walked around with a nice big bald stripe up the back of his head because that was the only swipe I could take at it. In the end, it took a lot of bribing to finish the job. What does it take to get through a moment of torture for an almost three year old? A Fun-Dip candy, a Bug Juice (sugar drink), and watching A Christmas Story. I fear that Alex will soon resemble one of the Beatles if he doesn't get over this new fear.

Abby on the other hand only really has one random irrational fear. Her Uncle Aaron. Why? We truly have no idea. And honestly, she is starting to warm up to her wonderfully patient Uncle Aaron. As of recently, he had a job that had him sleeping during the day (3rd shift...poor guy), so I keep telling him that she thought he was a vampire. But he luckily got promoted to 2nd shift and now is among the day dwellers again so when she sees him, she no longer screams bloody murder in his presence. She will occasionally give him the ol' stink eye, but she's come a long way. She used to shake uncontrollably and scream like she was being tortured when he came in the room. It's nice to see she is finally warming up to the guy. He's so good with the kids when they are around him.

But these two random fears do make me wonder what is next in the fear department. I have an RIF of crocodiles in dark water and also one of june bugs. Odd, don't you think? I guess that's why they call the fears random.

It's Wiggle Time

Okay...so let us get the awkward conversation over with.

Blog followers: "What's up Jessica? Why the blogging hiatus?"
Me: "Oh, you noticed that did you?"
Blog Followers: "Uh...duh. So what's the story? Givin' up on the Little Monkey bloggin'?"
Me: "No no...not at all. I've simply been too busy to blog. But I'm back now so let's put this little week long blogging hiatus behind us, shall we? Forgive and forget...I always say."
Blog Followers: "Forgiven...now if you don't mind...start typing!"

Alrighty then...let's blog, baby!

The past week has kept me a tad on the busy side. I've been painting in every spare moment I have and the reward is a beautiful house. (well...beautiful on the outside at least) Of course, it still is far from finished, but I'm getting there. Then the weekend came and I got to drop the wee ones off with Grandma and Grandpa for a nice time out to the movies again. I am proud to say that I got to go see Transformers 2. Yes...again. It was FANTABULOUS! But I shan't bore you with the details again. And naturally this week, thus far, Josh has been out of work. So I've been painting again. Lucky for the blog, I am nearly out of paint so I had to give up on my house for the day.

Things with the kids have been a bit nutty lately. Their best bud, Wesley, got a nasty little cold and so he has been on play-date-quarantine for the last 10 days. Hopefully that will end next week. The kids need play-dates with each other to keep their sanity in check. So we have spent our time in new avenues. Alex, over the last few weeks, has taken a liking to a new thing. Ever heard of The Wiggles? Yeah...they are huge in Australia. When Alex does his breathing treatment, he watches uploaded songs from The Wiggles. So we took a trip to the library and lo and behold, they had an old VHS copy of one of their compilation music videos. He's a bit smitten with them now. Wants to watch it all the time. And, hey...it's better than Elmo, right? Actually, their songs are quite catchy and I find myself singing them a good majority of the time. And the best part of it is that it gets Alex (and Abby when she's not tired) to start dancing all over the place. Excercise! Woohoo! Due to my poor blogging, I am trying to make amends by uploading a video. He's dancing to "Hot Potato" by The Wiggles. Very catchy song, if I do say so myself. Enjoy!

(LOL...Captain Feathersword...too funny)