A way with words

Our Lolo sure has a way with words. Tonight, during dinner, Lolo was having trouble keeping her bottom in her booster seat. After a stern reminder, Lolo asked if I'd still love her if she fell out of her booster and hit her head on the table. I said "Lolo, I'll love you always." She sweetly looked at me and said "I'll love Daddy always."

Growing girl

I should mention Norah has been growing! She's now 20 lbs and 29 inches!!! And all this time I didn't think she was getting any bigger.

Trip

Speaking of trips...we're heading out to Bonaire this friday evening (will be back Feb 10). We'll be meeting Ben, Susan, and Emily in Houston and taking the redeye into Bonaire. Lolo's excited about meeting her cousin and can't wait to get in the ocean to snorkel with the set she got from Santa.

Lolo new phrases

Lolo's been telling a lot of good ones lately....she loves to say she's lost her woobie. I'll say "Go look for it Lolo." She'll say "But I look all over for it and can't find it anywhere!" So, mom goes to look for it. And guess what? Her woobie is in the middle of the living room floor in plain sight. Hmmm. Or, how about this....when I pick her up from school and ask about what she learned that day, she likes to say "We didn't learn NOTHING today. I didn't get to do NOTHING." I say "Really? Nothing?" Lolo says with dramatic emphasis, "NOTHING!"
And as for Norah, the pediatrician prescribed a couple of creams for her. Her skin is supposed to clear up in a few days but we're watching out for infection. Poor kid. Seems these things always happen right before we head out on a trip.

Another early morning

Norah woke up a little before 5am this morning and refused to go back to sleep. On the bright side, at least it wasn't 4am. Jim took Lolo to school this morning on his way into work. Norah is down for her morning nap and we're headed in to see the pediatrician this morning. We're concerned that her dry skin is turning into an infection. It's starting to look bad. Ick.

Tough day

Norah woke up this morning about 4am...wouldn't go back down. She cried until she woke up Lolo. And then once Norah saw her sister, it was all over. The girls and I were downstairs for a very early breakfast. Of course, Norah goes back down for an early morning nap (around 7am) and she just went down for her afternoon nap. Lolo is now exhausted. She's currently in her room tantruming. Ugh.

Big day

It was really really cold out today and I didn't have the oomph to bundle the girls up and take them to church this morning in the subzero temps. Therefore, Lolo got to stay in her leotard and tutu all day today. I guess Lolo is right....her mom has a little lazy in her.

Willem came by to play this afternoon. It was chaos here as usual. And yes, that's chili on Lolo's leotard and tutu. And yes, I washed them both tonight. They are both hanging up to dry right now.

Jammie breakfast

We were having a "jammie breakfast" in Lolo's room this morning. Lolo fixed breakfast for Norah and myself while we were all lounging around in our jammies. Lolo fixed a bunch of food for me and when I said I was stuffed, she said "Don't you want to grow up big like Dad?" Ouch. The zingers didn't stop there. She continued a little while later with "I a good cooker. Mom you're a good cooker too...but you a little lazy." Double ouch. Where does this stuff come from?!?

Dreaded weekend

This was my dreaded weekend. We took Verbi to foster care yesterday. The girls did surprisingly well. I think it has helped that we've dropped Verbi off with dog sitters so many times...we talked about taking Verbi to his new home....Lolo wanted to go live with Verbi at his new home. I don't think she quite understands. We're waiting to see when she asks about when we're going to pick him back up. Luckily, Ashley was scheduled to come by and play with the girls that afternoon. She was a welcome diversion and really helped take our minds off of Verbs.

The girls have been in high gear lately. Norah is in constant motion. Lolo just wants to "go to dance class." I told her once Norah gives up her morning nap, we can look into dance class again. Until then, she's going to have to put up with dancing at home in her leotard, tutu, and wings. I'm so glad I've got two girls!!

All kissed up

As I tuck Lolo in to bed, I must have over done it with the bedtime kisses....Lolo starts squirming and says "Mom, I'm all kissed up. No more!"

Wagon

The girls have always been like night and day. Lolo's attention span is incredibly long...she can sit and read, work on an art project, etc. for a long long time. Norah has what seems like almost a negative attention span. She is constantly on the move and doesn't focus on anything for very long. The wagon just shows how different they are....Lolo would sit in the wagon and ask to be pushed around for a ride. Norah only wants to stand in the wagon and demands to be pushed around for a ride.

Dry girls

The girls (especially Norah) have had a rough time this winter with really dry dry skin. I'm not sure what to do. Not to be gross, but we've decided to bathe them every other day, instead of every day....but even that doesn't seem to help much. I've got the humidifier running constantly upstairs but I'm not sure that does enough. And then, we lather up the girls in baby oil twice a day. Still dry. Ideas?

That's my girl!

When we picked up Lolo from school yesterday she was a little upset....apparently, she and Maya were collecting snowballs and putting them into a wheelbarrow. A boy came over and dumped out their snowballs and took the wheelbarrow. So what does my little girl do? Why, she chases the boy and has a "big talk" with him and makes him say "please"...because you can't just take something from someone without saying the "magic word". Oh my. She makes me laugh.

Lolo's flowers

Last night Lolo brings Jim and myself each the top of a flower....it looked like the flower from a vase that I had put together the other night for company. I asked Lolo where she got it....she said, it just "popped" off. Hmmm. I let it slide because I didn't see it. This afternoon while we are reading books, I'm near the flowers and notice that quite a few of the "tops" are missing. Then Lolo shows me her Halloween pumpkin. It's got probably 10 flowers in there. I say "Lolo what happened?" She said, they just all popped off and she picked them up and put them in her pumpkin. And the scary part of all this? She said it so believingly. And I really wanted to believe her.

New links

A couple of new links to the right have been added in case you're interested....a webcam of St Paul and a link to our good friend, Patty's blog. Patty was diagnosed with breast cancer this past summer. We're praying for her and her family and hope you will join us in doing the same.

Transition

We're trying the transition into Lolo's room for Norah again this morning. She cried for almost an hour before she zonked out....just in time for me to have to get her up in about 5 minutes to pick up Lolo. We'll try again this afternoon.

Lolo update

She's got two small blister spots on her right forearm...just below the elbow. Jim says she'll be ok. Lolo's an incredible girl. This morning, I was getting her ready for school and wanted to check on her arm. She said to me, "It's ok mom. It only hurts if you push on it."

A new addition to our family

Lastly, Lolo has adopted "Kenny" into our family. Kenny is a green plastic spider (if you ask Lolo, he's real). She's got him in a plastic water bottle. Norah LOVES Kenny and wanted her own. We put a miniature Pooh Bear in a water bottle for her. Lolo says that's Norah's Kenny.

Back to the drawing board

Well, I'm scoring a big ZERO in the parenting department. The big experiment was a failure. Lolo came in to complain about Norah. Norah's back in her room (ie the guest bedroom). I'm going to try to transition her into Lolo's room over the next few weeks.

Bad Parenting

It's hard to believe how many things can be filed in the category of bad parenting in just a couple of days...tonight, I had prepared beef stew for dinner. I got the bowls of hot stew and set it on the dinner table to cool. Lolo came running to the table because she was so hungry and I absentmindly just said "be careful, it's hot." I should have left the bowls on the counter to cool. Poor Lolo. She reached across the table, got her elbow caught in the stew and burned her arm. Ouch. Thank goodness Jim was home. He carried her into the bathroom and started bathing her arm right away. It's still red and I know it still hurts. While she's crying in my lap she says "You're supposed to take good care of me but you didn't do a good job." Yep. I didn't do a good job. Poor Lolo. Bad mom.
On a lighter, bad parenting note (can there be such a thing?)....Jim's a youtube addict. The other night he watched a lego video called "Circle circle dot dot" by Jamie Kennedy. It's rude and crude (which is why I won't link to it....but you can do a quick youtube search if you're so inclined). Anyway, it's a catchy tune and he was singing it yesterday the basic gist is "Circle circle dot dot. I think that girl is hot....." Lolo, the sponge, overheard it and last night as I was putting her to bed she sang "circle circle dot dot. I think you're sweaty."

The big experiment

I just put Norah down in Lolo's room for bedtime. She's crying her little heart out from the change of scenery, but hopefully in another half an hour or so she'll calm down and fall asleep. Lolo seems to be excited and is taking everything in stride. She's been wanting Norah to sleep in her room for quite some time. We'll see what happens....though in all honesty, I'm kind of regretting it right now. I probably should have transitioned her during naps first.

Dinner party

Last night, we invited Jim's new partner and his wife (Jeff and Amy) to our home for dinner. I told Lolo that it was going to be a big night and we were going to have people over to our house (therefore she needed a good quiet time). We're all sitting down at the table, dinner is about over, and Lolo pipes up "Hey mom, I thought you said people were going to come over for dinner." I look over at Lolo and quietly say "Yes Lolo and they're sitting here at the table with us right now." Apparently, Lolo got so comfortable with Jeff and Amy that she didn't consider them to be company :-)
Later that evening, we had dessert. I had bought a cake at a bakery (since my oven is once again out of commission). I brought the cake out while Lolo excitedly jigged around the kitchen saying "Oh boy! It's not even a birthday!" She was so excited to have cake on a non-birthday that she couldn't stop jigging around. When I put her down for bed, she was still giggling about how she got to eat cake on a non-birthday and we didn't even put a candle in the cake.

Skills

Our sweet baby girl has some amazing skills....here's her double pacifier move. And yes, I know, it's about time to break her of the pacifier habit.

More on phonics

As you know, we've been working on letter sounds. I'll say "Lolo, C is for cat." What sound does the c make? ca-ca-ca- cat" And so on. This morning, Lolo is drawing at the kitchen table. She says "Guess what I'm drawing?" Jim doesn't know. She gives him a hint, "It's a p-p-p- Animal!" That's his girl!

Verbi

Verbi has been weighing heavily on my mind and in my heart lately. I'm just having a really hard time understanding why he is so aggressive towards Norah. He's always been as gentle as can be with Lolo. She picks him up; attaches a leash on his collar and drags him around the house; basically, treat him like he's her personal plaything (although she calls Verbi her brother). Today, Norah walks by him. Doesn't touch him. Doesn't antagonize him. Just walks by him. And he snaps at her. I'm standing right there watching the whole thing! Geez.
In any event, I've come to realize that things are getting increasingly unworkable between Norah and Verbi (although the "why" part is a complete mystery to me). How can a dog be so gentle to one kid and so aggressive towards another?!
Unless we find a good childless family to take him in the next couple of weeks, Verbi is scheduled to go into foster care. I have no idea how I'm going to explain this to Lolo.

Back to our old schedule

We've reverted back into our old schedule. Norah's back to 2 naps. Every now and then we can push her to just take one, but I pay for it the next day. Lolo's back in school...the letter of the week is "L"....she's really excited about that because as she says "L is for ME!" We've been working on the letters and phonics but I've about decided that teaching Lolo phonics is kind of like potty-training. She'll get it when she's good and ready....until then, we should just treat it as quality "mom&Lo" time because she doesn't really seem to get it.....so, we ended up fingerpainting this afternoon during Norah's nap instead.
Norah is consistently eating more than Lolo these days. She ate 6 shrimp tonight. Lolo managed to eat 3. I don't know where all the food goes....it's not like she's getting any taller or heavier. It's simply baffling.

Cold snap

It's really cold here. When we took Lolo to school this morning, the thermometer said -8. Yikes! Yesterday I took the girls out on the sled, but poor Norah got cold....even with a bunch of layers on. We ended up going inside to Willem and Michael's house to play.
Speaking of playing, I don't know why this is....we've got hundreds of toys at home....but what does Norah love to do best? Climb up and down the stairs. Climb in and out of Lolo's rocking chair. Climb in and out of the booster seat. Basically, she is into climbing. Sometimes I don't know why we bother with toys at all.

Bowling and more

Lolo, Julia, and their dads went bowling yesterday. It was Lolo's first time bowling and she had a great time. She came home with their score card and I asked her who won. Lolo proudly answered, "I did!" Jim smiled and said "Healthy ego."

Later that evening, we went to Christina and Dave's home for dinner. The girls played with Ben and Nick. Had so much fun that they were just exhausted. Plus, it SNOWED! Hooray. Lolo was giddy with excitement. Big day for the girls. When I tucked Lolo in last night, I said, "Lolo, have sweet dreams. You can dream about snow because we can go out to play tomorrow." She sweetly replied, "I'd like to just dream about today."

My supervisor

This morning, while Norah was napping, Lolo wanted to play playdoh. I don't know how this happened exactly, but after a while, I noticed that I was the only one making our playdoh creations. I asked Lolo why she wasn't making anything. She looked at me and said very matter-of-factly, "I supervising." Ohhhh. And then, to top it all off, I hear Norah crying because she woke up. I got up to go get her and Lolo says "Mama, you need to focus!" Boy, how the things I say to her come back to haunt me!

Songbird in action

Here's our songbird in action....singing a Lolo-original. You may decide for yourself if she really sings better than her dad ;-) Another added benefit of this video is Norah's new dance. You have to watch carefully at the beginning of the video (before she falls down and gets distracted with babydoll Rico's inability to get back up...and then she starts joining in the singing with Lolo). Norah just started doing her up and down dance a couple of days ago.

Norah and her packpack

Norah can't get enough of her packpack these days. She was pushing Lolo's babydoll around in the stroller tonight....it just makes me smile.

Marketing to kids

We're "under the influence" of those blasted marketers. Last night, while giving Lolo a bath, she declared "Mom, we have to go to pbskids dot org." Yikes!

Playdate

The girls went over to Willem and Michael's house for a playdate this afternoon....their long lost friends just got back from a trip to Taiwan and they haven't played together for almost a month. Apparently, in that time, Willem forgot that he was married to Lolo, but our girl set him straight. She was very forceful and insistent "No, I married to you!" The two bickered back and forth over whether they were married.....like an old married couple. LOL!

Our songbird

Every day, Lolo will break out into spontaneous song....she got that gene from Jim. The other day she was singing at the kitchen table and Jim tried to join in. Lolo quickly put an end to the duet by saying "No, no daddy. I sing better than you."

More on skiing

The girls are really quite outstanding. We took them skiing again yesterday. Norah did so great on her second day at the hill. She skiied for about an hour before we had to take a snack break. And, after her snack break, I got her dressed up again and we went for another run down the hill. Hooray!
Just like the other day, there was a school group on the hill and kids were cheering for our girls as they snowplowed their way down the hill. People just can't get over our girls skiing down the hill. Of course, our primadonna, Lolo would wave to her adoring public as she made her way down. Norah just liked skiing after Lolo and "chasing" her down the hill. These girls are really going to be outstanding next season.
I wish I had photos or a video to show you....but it's kind of hard taking pictures while hanging onto Norah between my legs in a snowplow. It's the best workout I've had in a while.

Growing up

Lolo's baby doll, Sarah, came with a backpack. Norah loves wearing the backpack around the house. Seems like my baby wants to grow up and go to school already.

Busy times

It's been rather hectic around here. PoPo came in for a quick weekend visit. The girls were excited beyond belief. Lolo loves having her PoPo come over to play and their slumber parties. Jim's off for part of this week, so we're trying to make the best of a snowless Minnesota. We took the girls out skiing at a local hill this morning. It was Norah's first time on a chair lift (second time at a ski hill - but the first time, she just slept most of the day in the lodge). Norah and Lolo both did great. Both girls skiied under the lifts and people were cheering for our girls all the way down. It was really heart-warming. Girls were coming up to Lolo and giving her high-fives. Norah did a couple of runs (we held her between our legs) and then called it a day.

In other news, our Norah seems to be transitioning to one nap. It's plus/minus. It will be nice to be able to get out and do more, but I'm sure going to miss that quiet time I have in the mornings when Lolo is at school and Norah's napping.

Hooray for Norah!

Norah learned how to clap for the first time yesterday....actually, she started doing it consistently for the first time yesterday. She cracks us up. See video below.

Verbi Troubles

We had an unfortunate incident yesterday afternoon. Verbi went after Norah. Pushed her down, got on top of her, and growled.....not a full-out-ferocious-teeth-baring-growl that he typically reserves for the vet when he's getting shots, but a low growl nevertheless. Yikes. Seems kind of crazy and uncharacteristic of Verbs, since he's been so sweet and tolerant of both girls until this happened. I think he's feeling a bit remorseful this morning because he was really trying to snuggle up to me after we dropped off Lolo at school. Jim and I were guessing that he's feeling jealous of Norah....after all, he's gone from only child to one of three. But it's still strange to have this pop up all of a sudden.
I'm not sure what instigated the whole event, but unfortunately, we've got a zero tolerance policy when it comes to the girls. We're now looking for a home for Verbi. That said, if you know of anyone (without young kids) who would be willing to adopt an 8 year old miniature/toy poodle, let us know.

The whole truth about skiing

So we were talking to Aunt Vicki today who asked Lolo if Norah had a great time skiing. Lolo replied, "No, she cried." Oops. Busted. If you want to get to the bottom of things at our house, just ask Lolo.
Seriously, Norah only cried when she fell off the ski bar....and not because she got hurt....more because it was unexpected and we didn't prep her properly for the whole ski experience. In hindsight, we should have put Lolo on the ski bar first. Let Norah see what fun it was. And then, put Norah on the bar. We kind of got things backwards. Oh well. Live and learn.

Norah Skis....Take 3

Here's the third video take of Norah on skis.....she's probably one of the few people you'll ever see skiing with a pacifier. Lolo got bored by this run and was itching to get on skis herself. Actually, once we got Lolo on her skis, Norah started doing much better. I think she just needed to see her sister ski. Plus, we took her off the ski bar and just skiied her between our legs (which is harder on our back but easier on Norah).

Norah skis.....kind of

We got Norah on skis for the first time today after Jim came home from work. Norah's a little small for the ski bar. She couldn't really hold tight.....you'll see in the following video.

First real snow

We went to a neighbor's home last night for a "new year's eve party"....of course, we were back home by 7:30pm....a late night for the girls to be certain! When we left the house, it was starting the snow, by the time we walked back home, there was about an inch on the ground...and it was tough going with the stroller....wish we had brought the sled.

So, today, we pulled out the sled for the first time this season. Norah was a little dubious when we started the ride, but she soon got into the spirit of things. Lolo just enjoyed being out in the snow...tasting a bit of fresh snow as we went along the neighborhood. By the time we were ready to head back towards the house, Lolo was ready to pull Norah on the sled.

Happy New Year

Blessings for a new year filled with peace, happiness, and health....

With love from our angels