Where socks go to die

Our kids have a thing about taking their socks off and finding new places to stick them. On a regular basis we have to go fishing on the floor, behind the bed, in the toy chest, in my pots and pans drawer, etc. I just had to feel around Ethan's bed in the dark looking for them as we discussed (again!) how the neighbor's dog was barking. Some people's washers eat socks...I'm pretty sure our kids' beds eat socks. I frequently discover single socks behind their beds days after I've given up on them.

On Thursday we had painters paint our entryway. Ethan is fascinated by the fact that a man painted our walls, and he approves of the color ("It's really pretty!") Who would have that we'd all be so excited by mesa tan walls? We clearly live on the edge around here with all the shades of brown...

Last night we ate at Chipotle and Ethan ate SO much of his burrito bowl that he was complaining about his tummy hurting for the next hour. He was also in a super manic mode on the drive home. He started making up all kinds of things in the vein of "brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?" which pretty much sounded like "car, car, what do you see? I see a sign looking at me. Sign, sign what do you see? I see a bird looking at me." with giggles after each one. My favorite that he came up with was was "I see a FULL tummy looking at me!"

Ella decided that carrots are awesome this week. This means that more likely than not she will think they are disgusting next week! She's also showing more interest in wanting to "help" me with the cooking, dishwashing, laundry etc. She especially likes any chores that involve water --"wahwah!!"

Ethan has hit some highs and lows this week in his treatment of Ella. Last night in the bath when Ella started crying about something he said, "Don't cry Ella. I love you, Ella!" which absolutely melted my heart. However, he's also hit her several times this week when he was upset about something, so we've logged more time in timeout (we haven't had to use it much at all in the last couple months). I suppose the sibling love/conflict thing is only beginning!

Shhhh, what's that I hear?

I'm currently enjoying some silence. We had a friend over to play this morning, and the kids were great, but they get like little monkeys screeching gleefully at each other as they get tired and/or more silly. Ella has learned to hold her own with the big boys, and in fact several times got a little pushy with one of the boys when they had something she wanted. And did I mention I found her halfway up the stairs this week when I left her in the kitchen to go put a load of clothes in the washer? She may show no interest in walking right now, but climbing is another story.

Ethan has become our little seed connoisseur (I just had to google that to spell it correctly). Any time he's eating fruit, he tells you whether you can eat that kind of seed and then goes into a long discussion of which ones you should and should not eat (we eat kiwi and strawberry seeds, we don't eat orange and apple seeds, etc.). Every time. And every time he's very excited, as if it's a new discovery.

We enjoyed some really nice evenings earlier this week; between the increased light from the time change and the great warm temperatures, we spent a lot of time outside. Today is cold and rainy. Thank you God for the rain! Our grass is absolutely crunchy; Ella picks up her legs and wrinkles her nose if you try to sit her on the lawn.

Daylight savings time has confused Ethan and he is all over the map on when he wakes up this week. His naps have also been shorter. He is still a wonderful sleeper, but I'm sad when my good sleeper is up earlier in the morning and from his nap. Off to get him...the silence was short lived but sweet!

no pancakes for breakfast?

Ethan has a couple new sayings that make me laugh (with my back turned). One he learned from my sister at Christmas, but hasn't said much since then. Last night he was helping Brent put mulch on the new tree, and he stepped back and said, "It looks snazzy; very nazzy." He said the same thing as he barreled towards me after his bath last night, "Mommy I look snazzy!!!"

Sometimes lately he'll be playing and I hear a big , "URRRGH!! Mommy, I'm frustrated...I need some help!" (This is after a lot of time focusing on the fact that it's not okay to scream and throw things when they're not working the way you want them to work. It's still sometimes followed by throwing a toy, but we're working on it!) I tried to teach him to take a breath and relax, but this didn't sink in until he saw a Blue's clues episode where they practiced stop, breathe, and think. Side note: this felt a little bit like when I was working and a client would tell me they learned something revolutionary from Dr. Phil or Supernanny; often something that I had been working on with them with no results for quite a while. Somehow it's less frustrating when it's a 2 year old.

Ella has become quite the bookworm. Yesterday at the library I could barely keep up with her as she tried to pull book after book off the shelf. At home you have to distract her to be able to stop reading books. When I go to put her down for her nap she pleads "mo book, mo book?" in the most pitiful way possible.

While we were at the library Ethan asked me about a book that he's asked for several times (and I keep forgetting to request online). When I looked and then told him it wasn't there, he said, "some other boy borrowed it? He's gonna be SO happy." On that note, let me sign off and go put a hold request for "Pancakes for Breakfast"!

Back to school

This morning we went to the children's research lab at the university and Ella participated in a study about how much one year olds can recognize different quantities of objects. On the way there we were discussing what was going to happen. I told Ethan I had gone to school there, and he asked "You played with the kids there?" (He's pretty sure that school must be great fun since his favorite neighbor kids are always at school during the day.) Ella enjoyed a little tv time, and Ethan had a great time playing in the waiting room with all the toys. He was shy at first, but after a few minutes when I went to the back he was happily talking with the girl about the viewfinder with Toy Story on it. When I came back 5 minutes later he was entertaining three college girls; all of them were cracking up about how excited he was about this magnet table with frogs and lizards in it that you could make jump around : ) Between the frog table and all the motorcycles parked across the street, I think he's decided that maybe he's ready for college. We'll just focus on potty training for the time being....