Of baby foods and Advent

This blogging is not off to a good start again is it.  I can't believe just how incredibly challenging it is to carve out enough time to get on the computer anymore, let alone type up a blog post.  If I have a minute without littles there are so many other more pressing things to do!  But I constantly have ideas swirling in my head about things to write and I'm trying to keep a running note in my phone to remind me when I do get the chance.  I'm still struggling to get Maddie to consistently sleep well at night so I feel sleepy a lot and prefer to take a nap with the kids as much as possible.  I keep thinking one day she is going to sleep as good as Isaiah and then I'll have whole nap times to accomplish great things but until then, I just keep napping.

I know my last post was about baby food and I did have pictures taken and another baby food post planned, maybe I can still share it, but Maddie is beginning to really take off with a lot of table foods.  I have been so pleased to not have to try to do a lot of different things.  I can make a big bowl of oatmeal for Isaiah and feed her some as well, or macaroni, or beans and rice dishes.  She even ate little chicken nugget bites the other day.  I'm still giving her some baby foods I have already made up for some meals that don't seem as easy for her like the other night we had super yummy One Pan Garlic Ranch Chicken & Veggies and I was a little nervous about the carrots being too firm as she only has two little teeth so far, so I just gave her a few little bites of potatoes.  She is also a cheerio monster, and loves the crackers just like her big brother.

Speaking of, Isaiah has been such a finicky eater for me for the last long while.  It's been since close to his first birthday that it started, and he seemed to progressively get worse and worse about what he would and wouldn't eat.  Recently though we've had some kind of breakthrough and suddenly he's trying things!  And eating them even!!  He's like a whole new child.  It does seem to work best if he sits with me and eats off of my plate but for now I'm choosing my battles.  If he will eat the food I'm okay with that.  Maybe soon we can begin to work on eating his own food in his own chair.  It feels crazy to say it because I know I have so silently judged moms before with picky eaters that they just must not be trying hard enough because surely the kid would eat something if they were really hungry?  But I swear there were days that all he had were three muffins over the course of an entire day.  Because I made them for breakfast and then he refused to eat anything else and I would not let him have more muffin unless he tried something else.  But last night he actually wanted the chicken, and he was totally fixated on the dark skin which seemed totally out of character for him.  But I'm so very excited to have him eating again I'm not even going to question it.

It suddenly hit me though this week that Christmas!  This week is Thanksgiving which means Christmas is coming.  And oh how exciting it will be with Isaiah this year!  He will be big enough to appreciate so much more.  I've been so in love with the whole Advent thing and I really want to incorporate some traditions into our family celebrations.  But how to do Advent with a toddler?  I've seen some neat ideas but I know there's got to be more out there.  I know Advent begins very soon so I really need to get on this!  I guess I should be hitting up Pinterest but do you celebrate Advent with your little ones?  If so, how do you do it?  I would love to hear about books or calendars geared toward the smaller ones.

Conversations with Joel

The funny thing about Joel these days is 75% of his conversation consists of the following two phrases: "Huh?" and "How you know?". This can be very frustrating but also highly amusing.

Joel spots me with a box of cheezits and holds out his hand for one
me (handing him one): "They're spicy."
Joel: "How you know?"
me: "Because I ate one."
Joel: "Huh?"

Today however my favorite conversation went something like this:

Joel: "Going to the beach?"
me: "Yes."
Joel: "Can I go too?"
me: "Yup."
Joel: "What's a beach?"
me: "It's um...sand and water."
Joel misinterprets this as being sand IN water and babbles something about getting the water dirty.
Joel: "Can you swim it?"
me: "Yes, you can swim in it."
Joel: "Will you swim too?"
me: "Yes."
Joel (thinking of the pool in our backyard): "Is there a ladder at the beach?"
me: "No there's no ladder you can just walk into it."
Joel: "Huh??"

Conversations with Emma

(on our way home from VBS)
Emma: "Did you know that in Australia they call suckers 'lollies'?"
Me: "Like short for lollipop."
Emma: "Yeah."
Me: (singing) "Lollipop, lollipop, lifesaver, lollipop"
Emma: (obviously impressed) "You know a song for EVERYTHING!"

For everyone set up to receive my posts jerry-rigged into their emails if you actually click through to the site there is a video embedded in this post. :-)

Joel-isms

*The kids are all in the livingroom playing Warhawk.*
Joel: "Don't kill me! I don't want to die!"
Me: "Baby that's the point of the game. If you don't want to get killed don't play the game."
Joel: "I don't want to be the point of the game!"


*Joel is messing with the laptop Mom was working on but left for a minute unattended*
Me: "Stop messing with Mom's work."
Joel: "Why mom's working?"
Me: *mumbles something I don't remember what*
Joel: "Buys the food and water and soda?"
Me: "Yup buys the food and water and soda."
Joel: "I like soda."

Joel

Random quotes from Joel today:

"My nose is running out!"

"Oh it's the Muffits!" (Muppets)

"It's not lipskip it's makeup." (lipstick)

more kid stuff

I heard from my Mamma that she very much enjoys hearing these conversations with the kids so I figure I will keep posting them if for nothing else but her. :-) And one day I can use this as blackmail...


Josiah: "Be glad you only have to double buckle with Joel--"
Me: "Just knock it off right now!"
Emma: "I wasn't saying anything!"
Me: "But every time you have to double buckle we end up with this conversation. Do you remember how long we were crammed in a station wagon and the AC didn't work very well in the back? The missionaries in St. Lucia don't even HAVE seat belts!"
Reuben: (in a very Steve-Martin-Clouseau voice) "Good one Megan."
Me: (slightly flustered) "What did you say??"
Reuben: "Good one Megan. You know like when he kicks the guy under the table..."


Emma: "It's like an air refreshner!"


Reuben: (singing as he runs across the house) "I need to go to the bathroom really bad...I need to go to the bathroom really bad..."

kids say the darndest things

During prayer time lately Joel and Reuben have begun praying for each person by name. While cute and sweet this has sometimes been slightly annoying as they don't do any rhyme or reason to it and forget who they have prayed for and who they haven't. Tonight after Joel did his Reuben had a slightly different prayer than normal.
"Thank you God. I pray for Micah the stinkiest." Snickers went all around as we had just been giving Micah a hard time about not putting on enough deoderant.
"Luke the awesome one." Elbow jabs and more snickers.
"Megan the prettiest. Haley the not prettiest." Some of the kids were laughing by this point. "Josh the meanie head." More chuckles and Reuben is definitely feeding off the crowd. He walks around pointing to each person as he prays for them.
"Emma the lamest. Joel the coolest. Mom the prettiest. Josiah the coolest."
I was hiding my face and trying to not let him see me but he wasn't quite through. "Reuben the awesome one." At this point we all erupted in fits of laughter. I'm sure we will be in for more of the same since got a good reaction out of us. This is the kind of thing that makes me so enjoy living in a house of little kids, they just say the darndest things. :-)