17 months

When I take Evan upstairs for a nap or to go to sleep for the night, he says "nigh-nigh" all the way up the stairs.

"Mama Nigh Nigh? Mama Nigh Nigh? Boob? Boob? Nigh Nigh?"

He'll also blow a kiss at M on the way upstairs.

His language, or attempts at language is taking off pretty well. I guess he hit the 15-18m language bump. He'll try to repeat words/sounds and is becoming interested in learning body parts. So far, he knows hair and nose.

The day after Valentine's Day, M and I dropped him and Corinne off at a church that was doing a baby sitter fundraising thing. While we weren't too thrilled about giving money to cause established for the sole purpose of going into foreign countries and trying to convert the natives' view of thinking to that of Christianity, the baby sitting deal was too good to pass up: $25 for both kids for four hours. Sold!

Corinne did fine at drop off and pick up. Evan, on the other hand, tears at drop off, and massive huge tears at pick up. They said he was fine for the most part but each time he heard the word "mama", he'd say "Mama?", look around for me, and cry because I wasn't there. Poor little dude.

His hair was looking a bit shaggy, so he got another haircut:

So while language is trucking along, walking is not. He'll hand-walk with M, but each time I try, he folds his legs and says "No no no no." I'm getting nowhere fast, literally. We went for a walk in the neighborhood today. He didn't want to be carried, he didn't want to walk; he wanted to crawl. So, he crawled.

Valentine's Day at home 2014

Corinne helped make the mailbox for the cards. She painted paper, and then once it was dry, I cut it into hearts and she glued it onto the box. 

To make it more festive, we got some balloons from the dollar store earlier that day.

I made heart shaped apple thingys for dessert.

Tapping into the kids' love of Bubble Guppies, I saw a 4 set board book at the bookstore a month prior and bought it for them. 

Corinne got some books and dress up accessories, so hopefully she'll stay out of my jewelry case now.

She wasn't too happy about the balloon getting caught in her ponytail.

A man and his truck

Hello Lady Babies...do you dig my ride?

Valentine's Day and snow

In preparation for Corinne's preschool Valentine's Day preschool party on Feb 13, in my attempt to out-Pinterest the other preschool moms in the Mommy Wars, I made 13 of these things:

But then, starting a few days before, this happened:

Due to the warm temps (which made for awesome wet snow, perfect for making snowmen), a few hours later, the world's most pathetic snowman emerged:

Then, on Wednesday, the second part of the storm came through, producing this:

After 5 minutes Corinne started freaking out and wanted to go inside rather than play in the snow outside. Is this kid related to me?

Make up drawer

There is a child lock on my make up drawer, but 4 small little hands can still snake their way in (because they are breaking the drawer) and grab stuff. 

Corinne taught Evan how to do this, and now he makes a beeline for the lipstick. And if he wasn't able to grab anything, she'll grab stuff for him and give it to him to play with. 

So, whenever there is silence, I know that they found their way into the bathroom and my drawer. 

Corinne got into the bathroom the other day, opened my drawer and got my lipstick and eyeliner. When I walked in a few minutes later, she was putting makeup on her stuffed kangaroo. She was drawing the eyeliner on the kangaroo's eyes. She looked at me, pointed at the 'roo and said "Eyes". then she went back to giving the kangaroo a nice smokey eye for formal evenings look. 

My first thought was "dang, you're a smart cookie. You figured out what eyeliner was used for." My second thought was "Hey that's the expensive eyeliner!"

Finger walking

Evan has recently started finger walking (yay! Progress!)

Tonight, Corinne started finger walking with her baby, totally unprompted. Hilarious. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbXNNW2I4O4

The day Georgia shut down

Shut.Down.

People were stranded for more than 24 hours in their cars, stuck on one of the many interstates running through the city.

But for us, Corinne got out of school at 11a, so we were safely home, warm, fed, and watered by the time the first snowflake fell around 12:30p. Luckily, M left early from work and didn't get stuck either.

I have a newfound respect for those who live in cold climates. It is damn hard to get two toddlers and an adult all decked out in snowgear. By the time kid #1 is dressed (and sweating), while you're working on kid #2, kid #1 decides to start taking those clothes off. So now with #2 dressed, you re-dress #1, only to find out the #2 started disrobing. And you're still wearing a tank top and yoga pants.

But, a few curse words later, we were out the door.

 

Evan wasn't a fan of the snow and lasted 2 minutes outside. It took 8 minutes to dress him.

 

Corinne helped me shovel the driveway. We don't have a snow shovel, so I improvised using a rake.

 

She did enjoy sledding, despite the face in the picture.

 

Once back inside, warm and cozy, it was time for a snack.