Category Archives: toddler

Toddler & Baby Talk and Other Kiddo Stuff

While Phoebe may not be saying much, she is very good at babbling and saying, “Uh oh.” She is getting closer to using Mama and Dada correctly… I think. Sometimes I think she’s getting it, only for her to turn towards some inanimate object and say “Mama” at it, so maybe not.

Have I mentioned what a great sleeper this little girl is? Well, for the most part… also she’s an odd sleeper, which is more notable. Enzo never fell asleep in weird places or in weird positions, but Phoebe has her quirks. Her favorite position? She likes to sit up and then literally just fall forward and stay where she lays. I don’t know how it’s comfortable, but I know that when I’ve tried to move her she fusses or will just get back in that position again. So… that.

As for Enzo… this boy cracks me up and also makes me realize I need to pay more attention to what I say and how I say it. 😉 Most notably, his imagination is getting bigger and bigger and I love it. In the car he got very dramatic and pointed to the sky, crying out, “Oh no! The sky! The sky is in the car! It got my head!”

He has also started telling us to have a good day (which is nice), and then he’ll often pretend to go on a trip with his rolling bag and wave good-bye telling us, “See you Monday!”

He does, however, get a little sassy at times and last night said, “Mommy! Get my milk, right now!” Hmmm… yeah, okay, so that might be my fault for earlier telling him to get in the car “right now” after major dawdling and a very long day. Sigh.

I also love that so many of his new words and phrases have to do with Phoebe.

“Where’s Phoebe?”

“Mommy go check on Phoebe?”

“Phoebe! No go down the stairs!” (He’s been very helpful when Josh is not at home since we have two steps that we can’t exactly baby gate).

There are, however, a lot of these: “No, Phoebe! No touch my (insert toy/food/whatever here).”

Either way, it’s fun and I like seeing them together. Phoebe has been a good influence on Enzo as he is now way more willing ot take baths and let us wash his hair – as long as she goes first, and Phoebe just loves looking up to her big brother. She follows him around like a puppy… literally. He says, “Come’ere, Phoebe!” and she happily crawls after him. They also have fun little games where they chase each other and yell at each other, which is not my favorite, but makes them both laugh like mad.

Oh the wonderful madness.

Munchkin Meals – 2 years old & Almost 10 Months

Linking up this week for Munchkin Meals again!

The food rut kind of continues. I keep meaning to start scheduling meals again and look up a few new recipes, but then life happens and we get busy. I’m starting to think of new things to offer the munchkins, but if they’re enjoying what they’re getting and it’s healthy then I might as well stick with it.

We aren’t doing many purees with Miss Sassy Pants anymore simply because she really has no interest in them. In a pinch (or if she’s really hungry and decided she didn’t want what was offered) she will accept a pouch, but really prefers to hold onto it so she can feed herself. She’s gotten to a point where she also prefers to attempt using a spoon for yogurt herself as well. It’s messy, but she enjoys it… mostly. We’re still dealing with some frustrations as she tries to make her hands do what she wants them to.

One thing she greatly enjoys is salmon, and you really can’t blame her. It was one of Enzo’s favorites when he was a baby as well, however, he has decided he no longer likes it. More salmon for us then?

I’m hopeful that Phoebe’s willingness to try everything will stick with her. I want to say that even as a baby, Enzo was a tad more picky about food than Phoebe is, so we’ll see what happens. I also know that picky eating seems to just be a standard toddler thing from talking to other parents.

One thing that’s funny to me is that you can generally guess what Phoebe will reach for first on her plate. If there’s meat – she’ll definitely go for that first. If there’s something like banana bread or some other tasty grain – she’ll make a grab for it. I want to say that Enzo was the same way. Now, we just patiently wait to see what Enzo will eat first because we never know.

Okay, generally he’ll go for fruit first (especially watermelon)… or his dipping sauce. We try not to give him a spoon when there is dip on his plate otherwise he’ll just eat that plain when you aren’t looking. Kids. Like I said earlier, our meals haven’t been super creative lately… mostly because we’re busy and since I know I can count on Phoebe to eat roasted carrots and green beans, we eat a lot of those. We also discovered that Enzo will gladly eat green beans, but they have to be fresh – not frozen. Guess I can’t blame him, they are far superior.

They also both love pasta and watermelon. I’ve been trying to get Enzo to enjoy some of the amazing nectarines and peaches I’ve been buying, but the boy is so picky. Occasionally I can bribe him with a candy or something and he’ll realize they’re delicious and eat everything and accept a couple measly candies, but that doesn’t always work. Oh well, we’ll keep working on it. One thing we’re pretty firm about is that dinner is his only option. No snacks if he gets hungry later, and we’re doing better when it comes to keep him from snacking before dinner.

You see, when Enzo gets picked up from day care usually the first thing he asks for is a snack, so he we’d give him one. We realized that his snacks were filling him up just enough that he’d decide not to eat most of his dinner. We’ve been a little more firm lately about giving him only a tiny snack on the car ride home if he really wants one (some raisins or something) and he’s been doing much better about eating his meal.

Also, we finally bought a drop cloth for baby girl… bet you can’t guess why. 😉

Siblings.

It was a lovely long weekend with a bit more rain than I would have liked, but we still managed to be productive and have fun. That being said, I have photos and other things to sort through and organize, so no time to really write a lot. One thing, has become quite clear, though. Having two kiddos close in age has gotten easier and easier. I know they won’t always get along as well as they do now (Enzo gets a little irritated at how grabby his baby sister is), but I can dream, right?

Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of our personal stories to the inevitable dusk. – Susan Scarf Merrell

To the outside world, we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other’s hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time. – Clara Ortega

If you want to do really important things in life and big things in life, you can’t do anything by yourself. And your best teams are your friends and your siblings.

Deepak Chopra

Elmo, Thomas, and Mickey

It’s amazing how much quickly a toddler’s interests can change, and also funny how some things they will never tire of. I’m trying to think of what his first real “obsession” was, and I think it was Elmo. We got him a plush (non-talking version – I’m not crazy), shoes, shirts, books and other paraphernalia and he was happy as a clam. But then along came Thomas.

All we heard about was Thomas and how he wanted to watch Thomas, so we gave in and watched so much Thomas. His next pair of shoes were Thomas and he got a blanket that he still loves as well as plenty of shirts. After some time he got his beloved train table and finally some track and trains, which we’ve slowly added onto. And what little boy doesn’t love hot wheels? Or grown boy for that matter.

Then came various Disney movies (right now happens to be Tangled) as well as his new obsession – Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I had to break down and buy him a couple of DVDs so we didn’t have to keep re-watching the only MMC movie available on Netflix. We also got him a plush Mickey that he happily carries around with him. The first day he insisted on bringing him to day care, which was pretty cute.

We also have a new obsession with bubbles, which has made bath time even more fun. Phoebe doesn’t really care one way or the other; she finds Enzo’s antics more amusing or just splashing everything in sight.

And then you have the ridiculously random things that toddlers and babies like such as boxes, bags, balloons, and shoes. I catch Enzo in my shoes fairly often. He thinks it’s hilarious to clomp around in them. It’ll be interesting to see how long Phoebe’s interests stay the same as her brothers. Obviously right now we have a house full of gender-neutral toys as well as toys geared towards boys or girls, so I wonder if/when she’ll decided she watns to dress like a princess or play with dolls and houses rather than trains and cars. Maybe she’ll do both like her mama. 😉

Sidewalk Chalk & Landscaping

We’ve been tearing up some of the landscaping in our front yard, so it’s been a good reason to get the kiddos outside now that the sun hasn’t been blistering hot. I’m making a note that our next house has to have an entrance that doesn’t have full afternoon sun, or at the very least it has to have some kind of porch or overhang so that you don’t have to wear a glove to open the front door.

Anyhoo. We’ve just always been more play on the deck types because the deck is right off the kitchen and provides an enclosed area where we don’t have to keep a close eye on the toddler. However, since we’re trying to move a ton of rocks from the front landscaping to replace with mulch, it’s a slow process (mostly for Josh), but it was a nice day so I took the kids outside to watch him and to play with sidewalk chalk.

Enzo obviously loves sidewalk chalk, and Phoebe would love to just stick it in her mouth… like my shoe. Whoops. (Don’t worry, I immediately moved my foot when I realized she was really going to go to town if I let her).

She also insisted on tasting the driveway as well.

Thankfully Enzo is past the stage of putting everything in his mouth so coloring with crayons and chalk is a lot more fun. He had me write their names and draw different shapes, which is thankfully all he asked for because that’s really the extent of my drawing capabilities.

Now that we’ve finally reached that time of year where the air is going to start feeling more and more like Fall, we should probably take advantage of these nice weekends we have left. At the very least we have to get all of the shrubs with invasive roots pulled and areas prepped for bulb planting (which I’ve never done, so let’s hope that goes better than the rest of my failed gardening this year).

Dino and Bunnies

Every day adventures