She Speaks.

anna started saying sentences recently. 

'I POOP' which is actually kind of amazing since it's accurate a large amount of the time to a diaper full of turd or at least heavy urine.

and this morning at 6am when she had dropped a spider ring she found while pillaging, 'WHERE IS IT? WHERE IS IT?'

and a variation on that, always looking for her brother, 'WHERE HE GO? WHERE HE GO?'

there's a person in that baby!! it's so exciting. firey little ginger baby can now scream words at us instead of just sounds. 

two videos i took tonight that demonstrate her speech and comprehension and mastery of menace.

1. 'I POOP'

http://youtu.be/RzJRLNd1q5I

2. (and number 2...) 'I POOPED BUT YOU CAN'T CATCH ME')

http://youtu.be/SyH9gMExAOw

ANNAmal is 17 months

anna continues to be a wonderful raging lunatic. she is absolutely afraid of nothing and she gives deep hugs. she likes to read books and backs herself into a cozy hole next to you when you offer to read one to her. she climbs everything and falls off of most of it. if someone dares to take something from her, she tea kettle screams and shakes and her head spins entirely around on her neck. she does not like to be screwed with at all. 

her language is really showing up lately and it's so fun. she had new words every day this week, it seemed. tonight she said "POPCORN." she won't say henry's name yet, but if you say "say Henry" she laughs and starts puckering her lips for a kiss and scrambles to run and find him wherever he is to plant one on him. he's very indulgant and seems to like her a lot. thank God. 

she sounds a lot like christopher walken when she talks. "you want to watch a show, anna?" "SHAH-OH." i'll get her to say champagne next. 

DO I HAVE TO GET POKES?

henry was a war hero today getting his four year old vaccines.

on the way there, we talked at length about how pokes are valuable because they give us a little germ that teaches our bodies how to build army cells to kill that germ if it ever shows up again, so the germ can't make us sick.

he did a great job processing it and came to terms w/ it and gave the nurse permission to administer them, even watched the needle. she was great, informative and also very straight with him. he sat on his own and got through it like a champ.

i'm so thankful. i want him to be the one who owns his body and has knowledge about it & grants or denies access to it. i'm so glad he's who he is- this stuff getting easier the older he gets. i have nightmares of holding kids down for shots in my peds rotation in PA school.

he told robb when he got home that he USE-D THE FORCE TO BE BRAVE.

that's some jedi peace of mind right there.

Henry's 4th It Was, It Was

henry is 4 years old now. 

the other day, i picked him up and put him on his little stool he uses to reach the sink when brushing his teeth and he said something like MOM, YOU HAVE TO STOP PICKING ME UP. I'M A BIG GUY NOW.

i am not typically sentimental about the children emerging from the babies that were, but this birthday has me a little moist around the eyeballs. 

he's such a real person now. with such a huge, sassy head. i'm crazy for him and this is the best he's ever been in all his years of best-ness-es. he's clever and funny and sweet, so achingly sweet. he's always learning and growing the brain and you can see him set up and realign his position on the world constantly as he inputs new data. it's so cool. he's imaginative and goofy and good. so good. 

he's also a little schmo sometimes, but that's his duty. 

anyway. he had a really great birthday party. actual friends from preschool came, which blew his little mind. i had my reservations at first about having stranger parents to my house and having to be social with them (since i feel so awkward in these kinds of exchanges) and i totes mailed it in with last-second invites scribbled on note paper and copied and shoved in their kids' preschool boxes....but they came and it wasn't weird at all and henry was in his bliss. (ok, it was a little weird. i was a little weird. at some point i completely introduced one set of parents to their own son because i'd forgotten who belonged to who, but.....well....)

the other reason i might be a bit moist around the eyeballs is my hormonal imbalance related to the menstruations. i won't contaminate henry's birthday post with talk of my vaginal goings-on, but prepare yourselves, because much talk of lady parts are on their way to an upcoming post. 

toodles!

The Following Childrens Books Will Not Make You Adults Want to Poke Your Eyes Out

if you're looking for gifts or for your own kids' use, these books are adult friendly and can be read 1,000 times and still make you laugh or smile. 

any to add?

(i missed Goodnight Moon, The Napping House, King Bidgood's in the Bathtub, some other Sandra Boynton books, Shel Silverstein poetry books which we all love ALL the time, some Seuss, and probably others. the moose one is H's current favorite. mine, too.)