Band-aids

We were at the lending library killing time before we met Jon for lunch when Dominic scratched his finger. It was very small, but he was tired and acted like he might cry so I offered him a band-aid.

We went to the car and while I was searching for a band-aid I heard Doc and Dak talking.

Doc "What happened to your finger?"

Dak "I cut it and it hurts."

Doc "Do you want me to kiss it?"

Dak "Ok!"

Kissing sounds

Dak "Thanks. Now I can wait for my band-aid."

I had already kissed it, but I guess it just wasn't enough.

Of course I couldn't find a rainbow or character band-aid anywhere in the car so he had to settle for a plain one. He proudly showed Jon his owie and band-aid at lunch. When he was holding my hand as we left lunch he realized that I had a band-aid on my finger as well. It was all he talked about the whole way home.

Today he dropped a metal Thomas train on his foot. It was hard enough to leave a mark on his toe nail, so I knew it must have really hurt. He rarely cries unless he's tired. So if he does it must be painful. I couldn't calm him down and he kept holding his foot. So I offered to get a band-aid. Amazing what a tiny little band-aid w/ a picture will do for a child. He calmed right down and although he's now walking funny he isn't crying.

Silly boys & crying babies

Dominic was "helping" us with the laundry. He had gotten his pillow dirty and we'd washed it w/ the laundry. When he saw it in the laundry basket he crawled in and wanted us to bury him in laundry.

I made this pillow to fill the gap between his toddler bed and the wall. I'm not the world's greatest seamstress and was too lazy to get out the sewing machine or a different color of thread. But Dominic didn't notice the poor job and loves playing w/ the pillow.

Today I had put Caitlin down for her nap. She fights sleep and was crying pretty hard. Dominic was playing with the cans in the cabinet right outside the bedroom. Doc and Dak (his hands - see previous blog) started a conversation.

Doc "Caitlin is crying woud."

Dak "Yeah, babies cry awot."

Doc "Yeah man. I know. She's woud"

Dak "It's ok, she's just being a fussy girw."

Then he resumed stacking and destroying the cans.

He's always telling Jon and I what to say. "Mommy, say where's Dominic." "Daddy, say Dominic come here." "Mommy, say what are you doing?" When we say this he'll then reply and finish the conversation. Sometimes we don't reply the correct way and he'll tell us what to say again. Whole conversations will go this way.

One of his favorite games is to guess where we are going on the way to town, even though he's been told. For instance, we're going to the park.

"Mommy, where are we going?"

"We're going to Wal-mart"

"No siwwy, wiwwy (silly willy). We're going to the park"

"Mommy, where are we going?"

"We're going to the park."

"No, Mommy, say the bank."

"We're going to the bank."

"No siwwy, wiwwy, we're going to the park"

"Mommy, where are we going?"

This can continue for the 20 some minutes it takes to get there.

Invisible

Dominic must have an explanation for everything. If he doesn't understand a word he'll ask me what it means and then try and use it.

When we were eating yesterday Dominic kept touching his shoes and he was eating with his hands. I told him not to touch his shoes because he was getting germs on his hands. Of course, he asked me why and I explained that germs made him sick. He looked at his hands and said

"Mommy, I don't see any germs." So I told him that germs were invisible.

"Mommy, what does invisibo mean?"

"It means you can't see them." He thought about that for a moment and then shut his eyes.

"Wook Mommy, I'm invisibo!"

My dad heard that I was thinking of having a garden this spring for Dominic. So he sent me the hugest box of seeds. So now it's a fact. I'll be having a garden. I used to hate weeding my mom's garden when I was a kid, but I'm really looking forward to this. Dominic loves playing in the dirt in my neighbor's garden and he likes eating the vegies straight off the plants. So this should be really fun for him. My neighbor is going to come over and plow me a little patch. Then it should be fun trying to get the seeds into the ground with Dominic's help.

Country living

One of the "joys" of living in the country is no leash laws. Most of my neighbors keep their pets contained by regular or invisible fences. But there is a pack of dogs that roams around tearing up trash and destroying property. A couple of months ago they charged a family member and have tried to pull my cat out of his kitty door. So we called animal control to find out what we could do and they came out this morning to set traps (large cages). She said to call if we caught anything before 4pm otherwise it would be the next morning when she came to check the traps.

Wouldn't you know that at 4:32 we caught a puppy. The trap is large enough to catch a small bear, but this dog has been howling ever since he got caught. So now we have to spend the night listening to a puppy whine and howl. Sigh! This isn't even one of the regular pack members. They have been sitting beside the cage from time to time either comforting or taunting him. I haven't figured out which. Dominic has a clear view from the window and has been enjoying the show. So I guess that's something. =)

pictures

Didn't really have anything to write w/ these pictures. But I thought they were cute.

This picture is so cute. She was smiling and talking away. So I thought I'd try to capture it.

I was also taking a picture of her in her jeans. She is my child after all. Couldn't have her get too old w/out wearing some jeans.

Dum Dums

At my MOPS group (Mothers of Preschoolers) last week we were all given M&Ms or dum dums. We then had to tell a Mom Moment or a dum dum moment. I had M&Ms and told a cute moment w/ Dominic. But last night I sure had a dum dum moment. Caitlin was crying, as usual, and Jon was holding her. She will cry and there isn't really much that can be done, so we've gotten to where we can semi ignore it. After about 15 minutes it dawned on me that it was time for her to eat about 30 minutes ago. Talk about feeling bad. The poor girl was trying to tell us something and because she's so fussy in the evenings I blew her off. Poor little baby!

My cute kids

Friday we were at Walmart and I had put Dominic in the cart w/ a book because I was in a hurry. I usually let him run around the cart and "help" me shop. Caitlin was in her car seat which was resting on the cart. It actually locks onto the shopping cart which is convenient.

An elderly lady came up behind me and said "Oh, how beautiful. It must be a girl because no boy baby could be that beautiful."

Pause

"It is a girl, isn't it." I laughed and assured her that Caitlin was a girl. Then she walked around the side of the cart and saw Dominic sitting there.

"Oh, I'm wrong! He's gorgeous too."

Dominic looked up at her and said "No, I'm not. I'm handsome!"

Whenever Dominic is tired and is crying I'll ask him why he's so sad. His answer when he doesn't really know is "It's because I lost my friends."

Caitlin was crying on the way home and I asked Dominic if she was crying because the sun was in her eyes. He said "No Mommy, she's crying because she lost her little tiny friends."

Jon is playing the guitar while I type. He was driving by a yard sale this week and saw the guitar laying there. He'd been wanting to get another one so he stopped.(He'd had one years ago and sold it to my mom.) The guy sold it to him for $45. We felt like this was a great deal, but didn't realize how good until Jon went to the music store to pick up a tuner. They had the same ones there for $400. We looked online for a used one and the cheapest was $200. So I guess he got a better deal then we'd first thought. It's a nice guitar and I've enjoyed listening to Jon play it this week.

Silly mommy!

This morning I asked Dominic which pair of shoes he wanted. Not sure why I even bothered. He ALWAYS wears the same pair. I guess Dominic had the same thought. "What a silly question mommy. I want my blinky shoes."

I was reflecting on how different my life is now that I have children. I wasn't the type of child that ever dreamed of having children. So when Jon informed me at 15 yrs old that he wasn't ever having children I wasn't too upset. I decided I'd rather have him than children and didn't really change my mind until 26 yrs old. It took Jon another 2 yrs. =) I'm not domestic and don't enjoy crafts, cooking, etc. Even when we planned to have kids I assumed that I'd go back to work after they were old enough for day care.

So today while I laminated the place mats we'd made the other day and thought about making banana bread for supper tonight with Dominic I realized that I'm happier now than when I was working. I LOVED my job, or so I thought. But I wouldn't go back to work if given the perfect job, because I have the perfect job now. My kids are such a blessing and I actually enjoy spending time with them. If I wasn't with them I'd miss Dominic singing at the top of his lungs and Caitlin smiling at me and "talking".

Speaking of singing - there is a song that says "Shall we go for a walk today to see what God has given us." Dominic sings it "Shall we go for a run today. . ." It sums up his life pretty well. Constant motion while into everything.

Yipppeee!!!

Last night was going to be the 1st night that Jon got up with Caitlin and gave her a bottle of water instead of me feeding her. Our little girl must have figured out what was going to happen because she slept through the night last night. I put her down at 10:30pm and she slept until 6am. Normally she wakes up at 7am, but I'm not going to complain if I don't have to get up at 4:30 since we have the alarm set for 6:30 am and Dominic usually wakes up then as well. It was wonderful to have those few extra minutes of sleep.

I'm so excited. Now if she can just keep it up I'll be able to move her into the kid's bedroom. I've been waiting since I don't want her waking up Dominic. But it looks like it won't be long now. Yea! We get our bedroom back again.

Daddy did my hair! And other things!

I LOVE this shirt. My neighbor gave it to me and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to do something w/ her hair. It would have been cute if she and Jon were both bald. =) But since they both have a ton of hair I put some gel in her hair and spiked it. So technically, mommy did her hair. =)

Dominic, of course, had to get in on the action. He's in need of a hair cut so this worked well. This was Friday night right before bath and he wanted gel in his hair the next morning for church. We let him, but he kept feeling it to see if it was still sticking up. So by the time we got to church it just looked like we'd forgotten to brush his hair after getting out of bed. Poor neglected little boy.

Jon asked Dominic to make a "mean" face because he (Jon) thought his hair made him look like a little kid w/ an attitude. Here are the results.

This look doesn't bode well for my future when he's a teenager.

The funny thing is, he doesn't look like this when he's truly mad.

Just a side note:

Today at Taco Bell, Dominic saw a huge group of firemen come in to order. In a really loud voice he announced "Mommy, there's some firetruck mans."

Caitlin - 2 months old

Caitlin went to the doctor on Thursday. She weighs 12 1/2 lbs. Quite a little chunk. She's cooing and "talking" up a storm. She'll smile at almost everyone and seems to really love her Daddy and little brother.

When the doctor heard that she's only waking me up once a night to eat he gave some suggestions on getting her to sleep through the night. They involve turning on the light while she eats for the 1st few nights and then having Jon feed her a bottle w/ water for a few nights. Dominic was sleeping though the night by now. Since she's only waking up out of habit and not really eating anything I decided to try it. Poor Jon was awoken this morning at 3:30am when the lights went on. I've been following the same book I used for Dominic. But my little girl doesn't like sleep and LOVES to eat. She's rather wake up and talk to me in between eating than just lay in bed and perhaps miss something.

While I'm tired I'm also really enjoying these moments with her. She's my last baby and I'm treasuring every second. It's so interesting to see how my two children differ in patterns and personality.

Hurry to have fun.

I'm the type of person that thrives on dead lines. It's sometimes the only way that I get things done. I have lists and goals and everything has it's place. Just ask my poor family. Sometimes I get so caught up in rushing to have fun that I forget that to a 2 yr old life is all about the journey and not about the end result. This morning I was so proud of myself because we were going to be on time getting out the door to go to story time at the library. I hadn't had to rush even one time. As we were going down the stairs - coats and shoes on, Dominic announces that he has to go poop. So back up the stairs we go. And if you have a child you will know that you can't rush pooping. Fifteen minutes later he was still talking to himself and playing w/ the toilet paper. Needless to say we missed story time. But since Dominic didn't know what today was, he was very unconcerned. We went to the lending library instead and he had a wonderful time playing w/ the Thomas the Train. In fact, I was able to sit in a comfortable chair and feed Caitlin while I watched him and he was able to run around instead of sit and be quiet while someone read to him. It really got me to thinking about how much of my rushing is for me and how much is for Dominic. He had a wonderful day and told me so in detail on the way home, as if I hadn't been right there playing w/ him while Caitlin slept. =)

Dominic is learning that the English language is full of adjectives. There are lots of names for things that all mean the same. A couple of days ago he was spitting all over my nice clean sink and I muttered about how he was getting ready to frustrate his mother. He turned to me and asked in an awed voice "Mommy, are you my mother?" When I told him yes, he said "Oh wow, that's clever."

Little boys get the greatest pleasure out of the grossest things. Dominic knows he's not supposed to spit in the house. So today while he's peeing he asked if he could spit in the toilet.

"Yes, I suppose, Dominic"

"Oh, wow! Thanks, Mom. That be fun"

He then proceeded to have the time of his life spitting in the toilet and giggling.

Snow again

We woke up to snow again this morning. It was a very wet snow and began to melt about 9am when the sun poked through the clouds.

Andy came over to play and we bundled them up and I took them outside. Jill stayed inside w/ the girls. I think she had the easier job. =) The day before had been warmer and so the snow was really only sticking to the grass and cold surfaces.

Dominic left his toys out the day before and so they were covered w/ snow.

The boys decided to gang up on me and covered me w/ snowballs. They had pretty good aim for such little guys. They also enjoyed playing on the slide which was covered w/ snow. It was pretty muddy at the bottom, but that certainly didn't stop them.

My baby is growing up

My little boy is growing up and seems a bit obsessed w/ it. He's always talking about "when I growed up" When he's all growed up he's going to work at Weyerhauser and make paper like Mr. Al (our neighbor). When he's all growed up he's going to open the oven just like Mommy. When he's all growed up and 16 he's going to drive a car. When he's all growed up he's going to use lots and lots of knives.

He knows that Jon "makes washing machines" (We weren't sure how to explain an engineer to him.) so a few days ago he was talking about Daddy and asked if we were going to drive by Bocsh. He said when he was all growed up he was going to work at Bosch. So I asked him what he was going to do at work and he informed me that when he's all growed up he's going to be a Daddy and go to work and make a swingset for his little Dominic. I guess I'm going to have a grandson. =)

Dominic has a "cheese" smile that he always puts on for the camera. If I want a normal shot I have to keep taking pictures after he thinks I'm finished. This is the cheese shot.

These next two pictures are the "normal" ones. My son is wide-open, full steam ahead. He's rarely still and is so full of life. I love watching him figure life out. Although sometimes he's moving so fast that it takes a few minutes to sink in.

Every once in a while he'll slow down. We were in a hurry to go yesterday and I was rushing trying to put his shoes on. He said "Mommy lets not hurry this morning. I want to go slow." Since this is so rare, I took my time putting his shoes on and we tried to be VERY slow. I opened the door and the moment was lost as he flew into the garage. Sigh! At least it was for a few minutes.I've been a little lost as to how to make Friday nights special so that Dominic knows it is Sabbath. He could care less about food. He has favorites, but will go w/out food if something more interesting is happening. So a special supper was out. I decided to make "story time" (worship) really long. He LOVES to read books and so we'll get a huge pile of books and read for ever. He usually only gets one story before bed so this makes the evening special.

Last Friday we found some old blankets and made a tent over the chairs and read under the blankets. Jon and I had to take turns since the space was small and we were getting leg cramps. He loved it so much that the tent is a semi-permanent thing in our living room now.

Aww! Sibling love!

I got out Dominic's play mat and explained to him while I was setting it up that it used to be his when he was a baby. He didn't remember it at all, but when I put Caitlin down he crawled onto it and started "showing" and telling her all about it. He'd move the different parts and tell her how they worked.

I love this picture because he's holding her hand. They weren't paying attention to me so I was able to get a good shot w/out Dominic acting goofy for the camera.

This next picture was taken this morning when Dominic first woke up. He came into the bedroom w/ papis and blanket and climbed up onto the bed to talk to Caitlin while I made breakfast. She had been crying because I wasn't holding her and he was making funny noises to keep her amused. I have such precious children.

Dominic will copy the things that I say to Caitlin to calm her down. We call her Caitie girl sometimes and Dominic will say in this high pitch voice "It's ok Caitie girl, don't cry." And this works better for him than it does for me. As you can see in the picture she's looking at him and smiling.