Lots of Love

Here's the fun thing about Valentine's Day with a three-year-old: it's all about mommy. He makes Valentines for mommy, he gives hugs to mommy and he's super excited when mommy comes to school for his Valentine's Day party!

Here's Leo loving his pizza (but not his fruit)

All the cute kids in the "star class." I didn't realize that being one of the party moms would require so much nose wiping!

The kids playing freeze dance with their monkeys. Leo loves this monkey and sleeps with it.

So Leo gave me hugs, Frank gave me flowers and Gus gave me a new tooth (on top) which means lots of drool for Valentine's Day!

Gus has been here eight months

He's on the loose! Gus is a full-fledged crawler now. The gate is up; our eyes are peeled and Leo is terrified that Gus is going to take his toys! (He should be, by the way. I let Gus play with his dump truck while he's at pre-school...shhhh.)

Gus is also into:

--Eating his shoe: He has tons of toys but his favorite thing to play with/eat is his shoe. I figure it's all right since he's never actually walked in those shoes. (Too loosey goosey?)

--Leo: He thinks Leo is the coolest person on the planet. When he sees his big brother, he breaks into a grin that usually evolves into laughter. He can no longer sleep in the car if Leo is there. I think he's going to get a crick in his neck from turning to gaze at him.

--STILL being angelic: His dislike list is short: having his diaper/clothes changed, getting in the car seat (but is fine after a few seconds) and waiting even a nano-second for food. People who meet him still say he's "content" but I'd say he's also jolly. When I go in to get him after a nap or in the morning he looks like he's posing for a picture: "CHEESE!"

--Eating: I love these pre-picky days. He'll eat anything right now. We give him a mix of finger foods (sweet potato, avocado, broccoli, bread, beans, Cheerios) and purees. I'm still making his purees and I'm really proud of this one I made called "Super Foods Puree." It contained ground turkey, spinach, sweet potatoes, shallots (!) and oatmeal. Of course, he just ate it up. Pretty sure it gave him super powers!

--Babbling: It's tough to write out what he's saying but there definitely are some "mama" sounds in there!

--Playing: We're full on into the toy stage now. He's truly delighted by His favorites are these soft bath toys that are shaped like buildings. I'm always saying, "Where's Gus' building?" Good thing we have plenty of them! He's also showing a preference for balls. Feels familiar.

Here's Gus doing one of his favorite things. You can tell he feeds himself because he has avocado in his hair.

And I like this one because you can see how progressive we are being with finger food--apples, black beans, maybe some Puffs on there.

Here's Gus saying "More" in baby sign language. I wasn't even demonstrating it. I was just holding the camera!

I LOVE this adorable thing Gus does: He poses on his side like he's doing a side plank in Yoga. He even crosses his legs for extra cuteness.

Things I wish I liked: Twitter

When I first heard about Twitter circa 2008 I thought it was right up my alley. See, my favorite thing about Facebook is how you can write short little updates. Like today, I was making something in the crock pot and I said out loud, "And then you stir all the ingredients so that they blend together." I realized that I was performing a cooking show with Gus as my audience. I then realized that I always do this when I'm cooking. So I giggled, went to my computer (which was open right there in the kitchen because I was getting a recipe off of Pinterest; I'm so tech-savvy!) and wrote on Facebook:

"Anybody else pretend they're on a cooking show when they're cooking and make their baby pretend to be in the audience? No? Just me?"

It wasn't really enough for a whole blog but I did want to say it. I often have fleeting thoughts like that that I'd like to share so Tweeting sounded like the perfect outlet for me. I even liked the name and the lingo--Tweet, Retweet, Tweeted.

I also loved the fact that there was a character limit. That totally trumps Facebook, where people can ramble on and on about politics, mundane details of their laundry or the amazingness that is their dachshund.

So I got a Twitter account. We got off to a bad start when the "handle" Writinggal was already taken. I decided to call myself "RealWritinggal." I used it mostly for my now-defunct Workout of the Week. I would Tweet about whatever topic I was covering that week and then put a link to my blog. The people who started following me were fitness people. I soon learned it was good Twitter etiquette to follow people back.

And perhaps that's why I got the feeling that Twitter was very sales-y. Seemed like everyone was pushing something (including myself). I didn't know who to follow or what to Tweet. And worse, I didn't care! I never thought to check it to see what my followers or followees were doing because I didn't know most of them.

Now, over at Facebook, I may not have seen you since high school but I still like to know what's going on in your life. But Trista Sutter of the Bachelorette? I can keep up with you in US Weekly. I don't need to read your Tweets.

So, for me, the RealWritinggal, Tweeting just wasn't fun. It was a chore. It was something I needed to put on my To Do list: Fold Laundry, Turn in Story Ideas, Make Revisions to Article, Think of Something Clever to Tweet, Blog about things I wish I liked, Cook dinner while pretending to be on a cooking show. You can see how it could get lost in the shuffle of my glamorous life.

Plus, it's all complicated with its @ symbols and #hash tagging. I really don't think it's for people born before 1980.

Then somewhere along the way I lost my Twitter password. So I must apologize to my hundreds (dozens?) of Twitter followers. I've been MIA on Twitter for months. It sounded like a great idea. I hear that people love it, can't live without it. But for me, all I can say is:

Twitter, I wish I liked you, but I don't.

Swinging and Silliness

Frank commented, "This was a big week of firsts for Gus." I asked, "What firsts?" He said, "Swinging and riding in the wagon."

Oops. Gus has been in the wagon before. Guess I forgot to tell Frank. I told everyone else, right?

But anyway, he was right on the swinging. Here he is, having a rootin' tootin' good time!

Leo loves that "bucket" swing at our neighborhood playlet but he let his baby brother use it while he practiced leg pumping on the big boy swing:

Prior to swinging, Leo made a chair train in the kitchen:
Here are the boys on Gus' second wagon ride. Sorry again, Frank!

Here you can see Gus swinging and hear his sweet giggles!

Christmas Slackers

Perhaps you're tired of my rants--via verbal communication as well as social networking--about people who keep their Christmas decorations up past the pointof polite. But I feel a blog on the topic is necessary. Here's why:

I notice that the feedback I get is sometimes favorable towards the accused. I hear things like, "Well, sometimes people leave their decorations up until after MLK Day because that's when the college kids go back after Christmas break" or "Maybe they really love Christmas!" or "What's the big deal?"

I would like to address each of these counterpoints to illustrate why they are all (pardon my bluntness) wrong.

1. People leave their decorations up until after...I've heard it all--Three Kings Day, Epiphany (okay, just learned those are the same), the first full weekend in January, Valentine's Day, etc.

So how long is too long? Personally, I like mine down on New Year's Day. However, I don't expect everyone to have theirs down by then: between December 26th and January 6th (Epiphany) is an acceptable window. (But I would like to add that I did not start ranting until January 14th so the Epiphany argument at that point was still wrong as Epiphany had passed.)

2. So is it possible they just love Christmas? No. It IS possible that they choose to leave their lights up and try to say they are festive. And some lights really do qualify as "party lights," like these:

These, however, are only festive for about 40 days.

The people I'm complaining about don't even have lights. They have wreaths. A wreathe on every window--four--and then a giant wreath hanging on the front of their house. Then they've got some yard decor plus a little mailbox panache. Oh, and some ribbons on a potted plant. They put it up about two weeks before Thanksgiving (early birds are annoying but not as bad as slackers) and somehow, they found the time, energy and equipment with which to display their Christmas spirit. Now why can they not seem to find that same gumption when it comes time to take them down? How do they not just rip that big red bow off the mailbox every time they go retrieve their letters? And what about the stuff in the potted plant? Can't untie it on your way in once? Sure, the wreaths are tough but that one on the top of the house is now tattered and tilted. Just one trip up the ladder and it would be gone.

But no, as I write this, that giant wreathe is STILL there! It is February 3rd!! These people don't like Christmas. They don't have a plan. They are just plain lazy. Lazy lazy lazy lazy lazy.

3. What's the big deal? It's kind of like when I went to that doctor's office and they had the August calendar up and it was, like, November. What does it say about them? How tuned out of life are they? If these people aren't taking down their Christmas decorations, what else aren't they doing? What does the inside of their home look like? Is the tree still up? Is it a mess? And what about their own personal hygiene? Are they bathing? Or do they just forget to bathe? Oh, I know: "some people only bathe after six days..." or "maybe they just love to stink" or "what's the big deal?"

If my ranting doesn't work then I have a new plan. I am going to keep all my Groundhog Day decorations up for as many days as they have kept their Christmas decorations. And I LOVE me some Puxatony Phil...even if I have to look at him in May!

Finger Lickin' Good

I'm all about finger food with Gus. I was clueless about this with Leo. I thought if he had to chew anything (no matter how soft), he could choke. Now I know that chewing is important, even if you're toothless! Leo does finally like to chew things but he won't dare eat anything crunchy.

The other nice thing about finger food is that the kid can do it himself. (Although Leo liked soft food so much it seems like he's always been spoon-savvy.) I don't have time to sit there and shovel food into Gus' mouth but then again, he's only seven months old so it's not so easy for him to pick it up either.

A friend told me about putting wheat germ on stuff to make it easier for babies to pick up food themselves. It totally works! The only downside: it's a big 'ol mess.

But Gus doesn't mind! Here he is picking up and chewing bananas!

Gus also likes Happy Baby puffs, steamed apples, steamed sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli and avocado! He can pretty much pick it all up himself. And if he can't, well that's what that trough in the bib is for.

Hollywood Heavy Weight

I have two things about Leo that I want to report and I'm very pleased with the title I've come up with to cover the dual topics.

1. Leo is eating more and it's showing! It's not just the horizontal stripes either. He's gained about two pounds and to me, his face looks fuller. His teacher even commented that he's eating his lunch now. Woo hoo!

2. In other news, Leo is taking his "stories" to a new level. He's now making up movies. He wants to know all about movie making. "What's a set?" "What does the director do?' He then explained to me how it all works: "The director makes the movie and then he puts the movie on the truck and the truck takes it to the movie theater and they show the movie."

In these videos Leo is an actor, not a director (although he still bosses me around plenty by telling me exactly which lines to say). He's playing the part of the conductor on the Dinosaur Train:

Now that you know the two topics, isn't my title pretty awesome?

Griddle me this, Writinggal

As a minimalist, I normally shun kitchen non-essentials. For instance, we have a sandwich maker and if it were up to me, we wouldn't. I mean, a sandwich maker? I am the sandwich maker. I don't need a machine for that. What's next? A cereal maker?

But about two weeks ago I decided we need a griddle. I like to make pancakes and I could only make two at a time in the pan. And when you make pancakes two at a time, everybody eats separately. Kinda puts a damper on fun family breakfast.

When I told Frank my griddle idea he was surprised: "Where are you going to put it?" he asked. (My minimalism has infected him!) But then he said, "You've got three boys living in the house. That's A LOT of pancakes. You need a griddle."

So I am so stoked about our new griddle that we found at Walmart!

I've already made pancakes on it (as you can see) and they turned out great. The griddle has a tilt feature so we can make burgers and then let the grease drain.

We did have to do some rearranging to make it fit in the cabinets. Usually when I buy something new--anything at all--I get rid of something. Haven't done that yet.

I've got my eye on you, sandwich maker.

Sibling Slumber Party

Over Christmas Leo and Gus did a good job sleeping in the same room while visiting family. I don't think, however, that they are ready to share a bed yet. Here they are practicing!

The Wine Goblet and The Washcloth

I was just ordering a wedding present online and pickins' were slim. The things that were left on the registry weren't quite enough for a whole gift so I needed to buy two things. I ended up pulling a Frank and buying two totally unrelated items:

--a scale and water filter replacements

I saw Frank do this at one of the first weddings we attended together. We went to Macy's on the day of the wedding (who does that anymore?) and printed out the registry. He saw that the couple needed wine goblets. Now, he didn't want to purchase the desired amount of wine goblets (four?) nor did he even care to invest in TWO wine goblets. He did, however, think it would be in poor taste to buy simply ONE wine goblet. He wanted to spend about $5-$10 more so he ventured over to the bath section with his list and grabbed a washcloth. ONE washcloth.

I'm pretty sure when he had them wrap it he told them to put the wash cloth in the wine goblet. How puzzled the newlyweds must have been to receive such a gift.

"Did Frank think we might need a wash cloth in case we spill the wine?"

"Maybe he figured after drinking wine, surely one of us would need to take a shower?"

"It probably wasn't even his idea. Bet it was that new girlfriend of his. She looked a little ditsy. Is she the one who started the macarena at the reception?"

Frank didn't understand that gifts should be themed. Like if you buy a toaster you can also buy a bread box. (Although that's a silly example because neither of us would ever spend that much on a wedding gift!) How about if you buy them a mixing bowl you can also buy a rolling pin? Or if you buy a toothbrush holder you could purchase a matching soap dispenser? Or here's an idea: If you buy them a wine goblet, get them another wine goblet!

I wonder what this couple will think of my scale/water filter replacement gift:

"Maybe she thought we work out a lot so we'll need to drink lots of water and weigh ourselves."

"Is she saying we're fat so we need to drink more water and check our weights daily?"

"It was probably Frank's idea. He's totally judgmental about weight and water and especially water weight."

Darn. Now we've insulted them. I knew I should have gone with the bath mat and the spatula.

Gus has been here seven months

Grandpa Ron says Gus is "Easy Money." I've got a few days left of that because Gus is about to be on the move! And I predict that once our sweet boy is mobile, he is going to be into everything. He's showing small signs of mischievousness already. For instance, if I give him a toy to play with but there's a non-toy item near by like a shoe, he'll go straight for the shoe.

"Who me? Mischievous?"

I also predict that he is going to be a climber and one of those kids who gets into cabinets. I say this because a). he's very squirmy and is already difficult to diaper (lots of rolling around) and b). Leo was not a climber nor a cabinet looter so I figure this one will be.

Gus is doing the military scoot so he does a combination of that and rolling and boy, that kid can get around the room! In fact, as I write this he is all over the playroom/guest room/office...most likely trying to get into non-toy things!

He's still very good-natured and smiles and laughs all the time. He loves to cuddle!

Lots has happened on the food front too: In just a little over one month of eating Gus has tried sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, bananas, apples, oatmeal and those puff things that babies eat. And not all of these are pureed! The other night we went to Bahama Breeze and I forgot to bring food for Gus (which is really more for distraction). I saw that they had a banana milkshake on the menu so I ordered it for him...just kidding, you can't give milkshakes to babies! No, I asked the waitress for a banana and she gave me one. Little Gus ate almost the whole thing! I didn't mush it up or anything. This is actually a big step for me since I was so scared to have Leo chew anything. That kid still doesn't like to chew!

Gus is also very vocal, despite his generally quiet demeanor. He pretty much yells the whole time he's in the high chair, demanding more food. I've been showing him the sign for "more" and "food" and I can just tell he's going to do it any day now. He also says "ma-ma-ma" and "da-da-da" but just in a babbling way, not addressing us. But if I really wanted to stretch it, I could say that he's saying Mama and Dada already :)

Okay, just a few more things to note since Gus is about to make his way under the couch...sleeps well, spits up a lot...

This pic was taken right before Gus sucked on Leo's shoulder to which Leo was greatly offended.

A bare-bottomed Leo trying to crash our photo shoot!

Playtime with Leo and Gus

It's just starting and it's so fun to watch: Leo and Gus are playing together! This involves Leo rough housing with Gus while I scream, "Gentle! Gentle!" and Gus giggles uncontrollably. I think Leo would have to break one of his bones before he'd cry. This is what Gus is thinking:

"Yes! Roll right on top of me. That would be so cool!"

"I'm not sure what we're doing but if Leo's doing it then it must be good."

"Squeeze harder!"

"Sure! Twist my head. Maybe it can spin around!"

Identical Cousins

I used to love the Patty Duke Show: "But they're cousins, identical cousins all the way, one pair of matching bookends, different as night and day..."

Now we've got our own set of identical cousins! Okay, they're not identical but sometimes, in pictures, I can't tell the babies apart (and I am the mother of one of them)!

This year Leo went from having one cousin to having two more cousins and a brother. So the cousins as a group are five. This Christmas marked the first time they were all together.

Leo: 3 years, 8 months

Gus, 6 and 1/2 months

Charlie, 3 months

Franklin 9 months

Ellie, 2 years, 2 months

The 2011 babies are all bald, blue-eyed and chubby!

Leo and Ellie may not be identical but they are both super cute
Here they are putting out cookies for Santa
Christmas tummy time with Gus and Charlie
"Leo, hug your cousin!"
Ah, the traditional reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas...on the iPad

Leo and Ellie riding on her really cool dump truck
Santa's little helpers...Charlie and Gus (Seriously, who's who? Only a mother can tell!)

The three little old men! Even their names are old-men-esque--Gus, Charlie and Franklin!
We can't wait for more fun times with the cousin crew!

It's okay to be fascinated with the Kardashians

Here are the definitions of fascinate, according to Dictionary.com:

Adjective:

1. To attract and hold attentively by a unique power, personal charm and unusual nature, or some other special characteristic.

2.

to arouse the interest or curiosity of; allure.

3.

to transfix or deprive of the power of resistance, asthrough terror: The sight of the snake fascinated the rabbit.

Verb:

to capture the interest or hold the attention.

Don't Kim, Kourtney, Khole and the gang meet these criteria? Then it's OKAY that Barbara Walters put them on her "Most Fascinating People" list. People--like Bill O'Reilly--got all bent out of shape that Babs included the K's on her list.

He said, "They have no talent. They can't sing, they can't act. They just sit around and whine."

She came back with, "You cannot totally disregard pop culture because you know nothing about it."

Then he said, "I don't think they set a good example to young American women."

It's really all about semantics, people. "Fascinating" to Bill O'Reilly means that you must have done something great. You must have worked really hard and achieved something. But to B.W. it means you captured everyone's attention, which, if you look above at my trusty definition, is exactly what fascinating means.

I'll admit it, every now and then if I happen to be flipping around, I have sometimes been inclined to keep up with the Kardashians. I do find them fascinating.

What does Kourtney see in Scott?

How does Kim have such a prominent rear while the rest of her body is so petite?

Is Bruce Jenner thinking, "What have I gotten myself into?"

How can Khloe and Lamar seem like soul mates when they only dated like, a month, before getting married?

What's the deal with Rob?

Besides, they are always on the cover of my US Weekly so I can't get away from them. In fact, in December, there was a K sis on the cover three weeks in a row. I used to call it Jess Weekly (since Jessica Simpson was always on the cover) but now I think I'll call it Kardashian Weekly.

Now, if there really was a magazine called that, I would not buy it. I'm not that fascinated by them. (Although I may be fascinated enough to read the cover of it in the checkout line).