The Doodlebops

Thanks to Aunty Sharol/Uncle Lanny (my aunt/uncle) the kids have a slight addiction to the Doodlebops. If you don't know who they are, consider yourself lucky. Google them and you will see 3 kinda weird face-painted children's entertainers. They sing songs, teach lessons, the usual, but they are weird - even weirder than The Wiggles who we can tolerate. Anyway, we got a Doodlebops video from Sharol and Lanny last Christmas and it didn't make its way into the rotation for a while - it was just not anything Liana was interested in. She eventually got obsessed with watching them to the point that mama made the video disappear. It was rediscovered by the Nugget and we found out that there is a show on TV as well on Saturday mornings. Liana claims she loves them because I do but that is just good old fashioned Freudian defense mechanism of projection if you ask me :-)

Short story longer - Henry is now obsessed. I have never seen him so mellow as when he is watching the Doodlebops. He gets into a total relaxed comatose state and stares at the TV. He asks for them by name ("bops") and will climb up on the couch asking to sit if he even hears you mention them.

Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw20EhKP8tm

C is for Cookie

Just a couple of other things to note for the McNugget. Henry is a big fan of Cookie Monster - he loves his voice and is mesmerized by him when Cookie is singing or talking. We got him a little Cookie Monster plushie (from Hasbro of course) and hope that it might be a special comfy toy that helps him forget about mama's milk!

Pride and Prejudice

It's official - I think my kids are the cutest, smartest, most adorable and lovable kids in the world - no prejudice here :-) Now that we have that out of the way I need to share a moment of pride that Liana Marie had recently. She had a brand new 24 piece Dora the Explorer puzzle. She asked if she could do a puzzle (one of her favorite things along with coloring, painting and doing playdoh). I said sure and we opened it up and laid out all the pieces. With very little help from me she put the whole puzzle together and the best part was as she was almost done and had about 5 pieces left to place. She blurted out "Dada, I'm so proud of myself" and she leaped on my lap to give me a giant hug. I in turn told her how proud I was of her and was grateful not just that we had taken the time to do the puzzle but that I was able to control myself from just giving her all the clues and getting through the activity.

Gobble Gobble, a turkey, a turkey

The Nugget had her first little program at school - a Thanksgiving play. All the kids in her class (the Teddy Bears) were little turkeys and they came out every once a while to sing a song and dance in between the Thanksgiving story that the big kids (the Dinosaurs) acted out.

She was adorable as always and hammed it up just like I figured she would. We are so proud of her and can't believe that she is growing up so fast.

Catching Up ... Again

So lots to write about since I have yet again let too much time pass since the last time I updated this. I have been writing down notes to blog about but they just haven't made their way here.

A few updates from a developmental perspective - Henry's vocabulary continues to expand. He repeats everything and surprises us all the time with what he knows. He pulled the loaf of bread out of the grocery bag tonight and carried it around saying "toh" - his word for toast.

He says "kuhla" (color) and "papa" constantly. They are by far 2 of his favorite words. He pretends like he is talking to papa on the phone (see video here where he actually is talking to him) all the time and he enjoys coloring with markers and crayons (although he eats them at the same time as coloring).

The Hman is enamored with Boots the cat. He calls his name quite clearly and chases him around the house. The cat tolerates him and playfully paws at him in self defense as Henry tackles him.

Nursing is still one of Henry's favorite things and we will need to bring that to a halt at some point, especially since I was holding him last week and he clutched at my shirt, looked down it and said "Nur" (his word for "nurse"). Yeah, Daddy can't help with that!

"Mine" has become a new obsession as well. He sounds like the possessed girl in The Exorcist as he clutches something he wants, holds it tight to his chest and says "miiinnneee". It is funny and disturbing all at the same time!

The word "brah" (for brush) is said often although I am not sure why since Henry despises brushing his teeth. He will grab the stool in the bathroom, put it as close to the sink as he can (we help adjust it), climb on top and say "brah, brah". What he wants to do is stand there with the toothbrush and run it under water. He cries and fusses when the real tooth brushing commences. To be fair he has been better in the past couple of weeks.

The kid has a winning smile and we love watching him grow up and learn about the world he lives in - despite the fact that he still sucks at sleeping :-)

Here are some words - there are many others that I can't even think of right now:

Kah-Kah (cracker)
Yuh (yes)
No (while shaking his head furiously back and forth)
pease (please, while doing the sign for "please")
booh (Boots the cat)
Kuhla (color)
dada
mama
papa
"ah" (Liana)
"bah" (ball)
"bops" (wants to watch the Doodle Bops)
bruh (brush)
myyy (mine, while growling)
nur (nurse)
baba (bottle)
"mo-mo" (more, while doing the sign for "more")
eat (sign language only)
"cah" (car - he is already dropping his "r's")
"buh" (bus)
He has a word that resembles "Kristen" (the babysitter) and "Julie" for aunty Julie
"truh" (truck)
"dat" (that)
"shit" (yup, that means sit or shirt depending on the context)
"bub-oo) (bubbles)
"koh" (coat)
shoe
sock
"tee" (teeth)
hat
hah (hair)
"dah" - that is actually his word for plane. Whenever he hears one overhead he reaches his right hand straight in the air and declares "dah"

Henry knows where his eyes, ears, mouth, nose, hair and chin are and he is happy to show you his or yours on command :-)

Bye for now - and on to the next batch loaded blog post!

Like Sister, Like Brother

About a week and a half ago I get the text from mama with a picture of Henry's mouth. Yup, like his sister he has managed to cut his mouth pretty good, but he avoided stitches. If you slide your tongue up over your front teeth and past your gums you will feel a piece of skin/tissue that connects your gums and your upper lip. Henry fell in Panera bread, landed on the back of some lady's shoe and cut whatever that thing is called. Mama called Dr. Derek the oral surgeon, texted him the picture and the rest is history ... he said nothing can be done, you don't need that and Henry will be fine. Waiting to see what happens next!

Santa Claus is coming to town

Some face painting at Colony Place this weekend (weekend of 11/19) to start getting in the holiday spirit. We stood in line to see Santa with the Allely's who are visiting from Park City - very tolerable in the 60 degree weather!