Compassion and Distraction

Two year olds have to be the slowest creatures alive. It takes us an hour to get out the door. Ian is easily distracted and is impossible to get moving.

Me: Ian, do you have to go to the bathroom? Please go use the bathroom before we get your shoes and coat on.
Ian: Look Mommy, Emma is crawling.
Me: Yes, I know Ian. Emma is crawling. Now please go use the bathroom.
Ian: Why light not working Mommy?
Me: That light burnt out a few days ago and we haven't had time to change it yet. Now, please... we are late. To the bathroom!
Ian: What robber doing Mommy?
Me: I don't know what the robber is doing but if you don't go use the bathroom now I am going to leave you at home while Emma and I go shopping.
Ian: Will robber get me?
Me: No, I am not really going to leave you at home alone. PLEASE GO TO THE BATHROOM.

This scenario usually ends up with me picking Ian up, carrying him up the stairs to the bathroom and then doing everything for him in order to get out the door. I want him to learn to put on his shoes, coat, hat, and gloves, but the hour it takes is usually not worth it.

It also takes Ian hours to ride his bike to the park, get into the car, walk to the grocery store, etc. He is so concerned about every little thing. "Why stick on ground Mommy?" "Why man parking car Mommy?" "Why light red Mommy?" I am REALLY trying to have some patience and to realize that we are not on a schedule (sort of with Emma) so there is no rush, but boy it is annoying sometimes!

I have also started to realize that Ian has a lot of compassion for other people and other things. Either that or he is just super anxious or super nosy. It takes us hours to read one book. He wants to know why the girls in Madeline are all sad when they see the robber (hence his obsession with robbers). He gets upset when Emma is upset and he wants to know why she is crying. He got so scared by Hansel and Gretel that I will probably never read that book to him again. He gets really concerned when watching his shows. I am now extra cautious about what we read and watch.

On the flipside Emma is so happy about everything. She smiles all day and really only gets upset when you try to change her. She is pulling herself up to standing on almost everything possible and wants to get in and play with all of Ian's toys. They have sort of learned to coexist.

Below are a few pictures from the last two weeks...

Fun at the park

Emma grows up and moves to the back seat.

Ian helping out around the neighborhood

Our little touch of spring

Ian learning his colors

Valentines from Aunt Mel and Uncle Chris

Warm day at the park

Friday- Quote of the Week

“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh," he whispered.

"Yes, Piglet?"

"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw, "I just wanted to be sure of you."”

Welcome Home Matt!

Uncle Matt arrived safely home from Afghanistan where he had been serving a six month tour. YAY!!!

But seriously, how can any of the other Aunts and Uncles compete with that? Uncle Matt is Ian's new best friend!!!

Emma Six months and Four different uses for the same box

Emma is over 6.5 months old. Wow! She has grown so much in the past month. She is now up to 14.5 pounds and is 25 inches long. She rolls over both ways and is CRAWLING. Yes, we can all gasp together! GASP!!! She has even pulled herself up to standing a few times and today took two steps while holding on to something. My life is about to change and I am not sure I am ready for it. Strike that, my life has changed and I am not ready for it.

Emma continues to laugh at Ian and loves the jumpy swing thing (not sure what to call it). She is going to sleep on her own but still wakes up 2-3 times a night. Sometimes Emma decides to cry so loud it wakes up Ian and sometimes she just whimpers softly so that if I come in and feed her quickly Ian will stay asleep. Every night feels like a juggling act and there is no consistency. It would be nice to have Ian and Emma in their own bedroom but we deal with what we have. Ian still comes into our bedroom at least once a night but will quickly fall back to sleep if we carry him back to his room. However, most nights I wake up and Ian is already in our bed, squished in between me and Tim, head-toe. Maybe when Emma gets older she can take a picture of us so we can see how funny we look.



This is my first full week at home with Ian and Emma. Some thoughts...
- I am getting way LESS done than I thought
- I can't wait until the weather warms up...these cold days inside are getting old. We have changed around our living room WAY too many times
- Ian and Emma both sick, not fun
- The library has become our home away from home
- The library after story hour, insanity
- Ian still says every day, "No work today Mommy? Oh, too tee Mommy (thank you)!"
- Homemade playdough...hmmm..must find a better recipe, this one was way too gooey
- I am baking WAY too much
- I am learning to let Ian just play and not get upset about the messes he makes. Those of you who know how ridiculous I am about clutter and dust would be so proud of me.
- Ian has become a pro at playing with anything, even an old box

Happy Birthday Reagan!

Today is Ronald Reagan's 100th Birthday. Tim just recently got back from a trip to the Reagan library in California. Here are some pictures of the library and the beautiful surrounding scenery.

There is a lost Thomas train in my office. Ian came into work with me last Saturday. I had a lot to finish up as this was my last week. Next week I will officially become a full time mom. Well sort of. I will still do consulting on the side, but only four times a year so yes, I am now technically a full time mom.

Some funny Ianisms...

Ian has a nightly prayer list. It includes Mommy, Daddy, Pippin, Santa, Andrew (Becky's boyfriend), pictures, lights, and his bedroom door. However, the other night Andrew got dropped off the list. Tyrone our exterminator now obviously has issues that we need to pray for. So we pray for Mommy, Daddy, Pippin, Santa, Tyrone, Ian's pictures, lights, and closet door. Emma is so sweet and harmless that she does not need prayer at this time and Ian is obviously expecting big presents from Santa next year.

The next day Ian says, "Mommy, I love Tyrone." As long as the mice and roaches stay away I do to!

Ian is so into Caillou these days. It is really the only thing we let him watch. Other than fighter planes of course. He wants Caillou to come over and play.

Ian hangs on our every word these days. You can't say much around him without him becoming completely concerned. Last night some animal chewed through our trash can to get at our trash and I was telling Tim and Ian started asking, "Mommy, why raccoon eat our trash? Mommy, why rat eat our trash?" He would not let it go.

The other day, Tim told Ian that when he was younger his shoulder popped out of its socket and Grandpa had to pop it back in. That night it took Ian quite a long time to fall asleep. He was so concerned about Tim's arm, and very interested in how Grandpa actually popped it back in.

I would just love to be a two year old for a couple of minutes again to see how their mind works. Sometimes I think Ian is so witty! We were talking about summer vacation and I asked him where mice went on vacation (not sure why I asked this but I am sure it had to do with something we were talking about) and he said, "Dunkin Donuts!." I was laughing so hard.

We had a little bit of snow here a few days ago and Ian and I went outside after Emma fell asleep to build a snowman. All New Englanders will laugh at our snow "gear". We did make a great snowman though!

So my friend just had triplets and I think of her everyday...several times a day actually, especially during those moments when life just seems too much and you want to catch the first plane to Bora Bora. Like those days when Emma decides to poop six different times all over the house including on the toilet (I was trying to be uber Mom like my friend Katie who had her kids using the toilet at seven months...but note how I said ON the toilet and not IN the toilet), on and in the rug, on Ian's potty (another mistake), in the sink (because I was holding her over the sink to try to clean her), all over Ian's bed (while I was cleaning the changing table), and all over the wall (while I was changing her). While I was boraxing the heck out of our house I am pretty sure that Jill popped in to my mind and I thought...wow, imagine if I had triplets!

And so Jill totally earns the mother of the year award in my eyes. She is so calm and is always smiling. And that is why Jill deserves much more than a dinner made by me, but that is what she got. I have the easiest meal to take someone who just had a baby...or triplets...it is what I call chicken pulled pork. Really it is just pulled pork but you can use either chicken or pork. Whatever you happen to have in your freezer at the time. The best part about this recipe is that it makes your house smell amazing, and you can get everything ready the night before and just press "start" whenever is convenient.

Liz's Chicken Pulled Pork in the crock pot:

- throw one diced onion (any kind will do), a few sliced stalks of celery, and 3 diced carrots into the bottom of a crock pot.

- place either chicken breasts (I usually do around 5 or 6 so I have some leftovers) or a pork roast on top of the veggies

- pour in some barbecue sauce. I prefer the sweet and spicy ones.

- let sit on high for 7-9 hours

- shred the chicken or pork using two forks, stir with the veggies, and add more barbecue sauce if needed

- then turn to warm until ready to serve

The chicken pulled pork is great on a sandwich with a side salad I am sure, but we just eat it with biscuits.

Gingerbread squares wrapped in parchment with fortunes and famous quotations for dessert. Yum!