Little Miss Left out

A.K.A - Neglected Nora

She often lets us know (and quite loudly) that this is how she feels. Because she's just as big as her brothers and can do whatever they can do - duh! Such a funny little girl. When the boys are wrestling, she's right in there. Jumping and attacking, laughing the whole time.
She's a little girl who loves shoes. Often throughout the day, she will bring me shoes to put on her saying, "shh, shh" But she also loves to play dinosaurs with her brothers. She makes this funny throat noise - like a dino stomping, I guess is the best way to describe it.
The usual words she can say - like mine, mama, no, ball and my favorite...when a camera is pointed at her she immediately says, "cheese!"

As far as her food allergies are concerned, we are finding more foods that she can tolerate. She loves potatoes, zucchini, carrots, sweet potatoes, rice pasta, and some fruit. I have found that she can handle apples, blueberries and peaches as long as she doesn't get more than one at a time as well as only a few times a week. This is really helpful in the jealousy department. Its no longer, "I know that your brothers are eating jelly beans but hey, here's a rice cake...YUM!" I can give her something colorful to eat. I like the Stretch Island fruit leathers. There is an apple one that she can have every now and then. It helps that her brothers love them so that she feels included.

She's a strong-willed, determined little girl and we sure do love her. She has an infectious laugh with the cutest gap between her two top teeth!

YUM...DIRT!


I'M SO FUNNY!


HAVING FUN

Lane's new trick - Kyle's attempt

how to spell when you're 2

While walking in a parking lot, a certain 2 year old stopped behind a car and said...
"T-O-Y-O-T-A spells car!" same car "U-A-M-R-Y spells car!" Obviously there are 2 ways to spell car...
At church looking at the doors the same 2 year old says...
"E-K-I-T spells door!" and he can even read Spanish "H-I-M-N-O-S spells book!"

Lane

Who said it was the terrible 2's. I think there are many moms who would agree with terrible 3's! Not that he's terrible. That's not the right word. Its more challenging 3's. He sure is showing more and more assertiveness in his personality. Telling me how he really feels about things. Rolling his eyes, slamming doors. All those delightful things. We're working on teaching him patience...any ideas?

So now for some fun things to say about my little Lane face. He's starting to understand more big boy things. For instance that when its your birthday you get presents. Of course he doesn't understand weeks and months so he doesn't really know when his birthday is (October) but he talks about it all the time. Earlier this week when we were out shopping, we went by the bicycle aisle. He had to sit on every bike that he could and he announced to me that he would be getting a bike for his birthday. Cause he's a big boy who's going to be four and he needs a bike now. When we were out in the "circle" today riding trikes he says to me. "See mom, I need a bike cause I'm too big. I'm pretending that this is a bike. Its a green one like we saw at the store. I need those little wheels that will help me stay up until I get lots of practice. And I'm pretending to wear my special hat that will protect my head when I fall. Etc. Tonight when we were saying prayers he wanted to say his own. I don't remember all the details but how could I not remember him saying, "Bless that it could be my birthday." If only we could ask for things like that...

I love that he is at the age where he is pretending all the time. Its so fun to see his imagination at work. But 3 is such a hard age. He wants to be so big and grown up but he still screams and yells when one of his toys gets touched or Kyle doesn't do exactly what he wants him to do. Or whatever. On a positive note - he's getting to be such a good helper. He's very curious and wants to know what I am doing in the kitchen. He's happy to sit on the counter and watch and help even when he's not supposed to - that patience thing again.

He has such a hard time when his dad is gone. Poor little guy. So he loves to sing the primary songs. I'm so glad when daddy comes home. And, My daddy is my favorite pal...

Kyle

I'm really trying to work on getting the motivation to catch up on all the blogging I have neglected. There's no excuse, really. Yes, Pat is in Spain and I am a single mom again so my days are pretty crazy but I have the night - when I sit and stare. Another time...

I just had to post for memory a little funny about Kyle. This is coming from a boy who just 12 days ago turned 2 1/2! We're sitting at the table for lunch and I SO wish I could remember the conversation but I can't. All I remember is little Kyle saying, "that's fascinating!" Too funny. He said it at least 4 other times throughout the day.

Such a stinker about eating. But what 2 year old (or 3 year old) isn't? The only way he is motivated to eat is if he can talk about his food missing their mom and dad (or friends) and needing to find them in his tummy. He was yelling, "mommy! mommy!' over and over. I say - "what is it Kyle?" for the last time and he says - "not you mommy, the noodles' mommy. He must find her in my mouth so that he won't be sad. But he's afraid of the dark. My mouth is dark so he must take his flashlight. He's so glad to have his flashlight so he can find his mommy."

Oh Kyle! The stories he comes up with. Such a funny kid. I am amazed every day at what comes out of his mouth! He is such a sweet and loving little boy. He's often asking if he can hug the baby in my tummy. He'll then put his arms around me and squeeze tight. But then in a second, he clobbering Lane or Nora. How can such a sweet little boy be so aggressive, too? I really don't know how to get him to stop hitting. Love and Logic, Time outs and taking away things don't matter him. Its sad to me. Not that its bad to be aggressive. Its just the hitting all the time. Its totally impulse. You can tell he doesn't think about it before. Oh well. We'll work on it somehow.

Cute Kyle...

Buying a House

Its a crazy thing, buying a house. I've never been through it before.  Even more crazy? Doing it all while Pat is in Germany.  Its been going like this:

Realtor emails or faxes Pat the papers he needs to sign and then Pat scans and sends them to me. I print, sign, scan and send back to realtor or lender or inspection people or...

At least I've learned how to scan to PDF's and email. For that I am so grateful. What a chore it would be to drag all my kids around to just go sign my name a few times...multiple times a day!

But its getting done. We should close July 17th. We'll stay here in this cozy Townhouse for at least another month while we do some fix-ups around the new (to us) house. Although I wish it were now. This townhouse is no treat. Sure its has more square footage than our Phoenix house. But its all divided up in small spaces. Absolutely no room at all for any running around - or skipping - or even "big steps!" There's also no front or backyard at all. Luckily, we live near the end of a "circle" as the boys call it. So we can walk a few houses down and the kids can ride their tricycles around and around...in the street! Awesome! I can hear it now, "But you said we could play in the street!" Also it echoes quite a bit. Its so loud. Sad for the older couple that we share a wall with. They do not like us one bit. In fact a couple of days ago, we all went out through the garage to go to "the circle" and spent a little time in the garage gathering things to play with. Well, this older couple were in their garage doing whatever and when they heard/saw us in the garage - they shut their door immediately. I would like to think that I'm just being paranoid. But when the man is walking his dogs - that miraculously we never hear - probably cause our kids are too loud - he never returns a smile or hello. Good thing this is only temporary or I feel their would be a fight to have us evicted! For real!  Pat hasn't had to work from here yet. When he gets back from his traveling...good luck to him on getting anything done since he spends a majority of his time on conference calls. Cheers.

Thats the townhouse. More to come on the real house...

Only 3 1/2!

This post is purely for my memory's sake...but you can read if you like.

How old is this sass of mine? He's three and a half. At this tender young age, my Lane Donovan is turning into quite a character.

Mom to Lane, "Lane love, could you please____ (fill in the blank.)"
Lane to Mom, "But Kyle does such a good job!"

Mom to Lane, "I'm sorry you chose to hit Kyle with that puzzle. You'll need to bring it to me and come sit with me for a little while."
Lane to Mom, "You just need to leave me alone. I'm very busy right now."

One more. Mom to Lane, "I need you to come and eat your dinner now."

Lane to Mom, "Calm down!"

Nice...

What?! Already?!

And what's worse? My sweet little Kyle Garrett is often referred to around here as Kyle Parrot. It won't be long before I start hearing these *sweet* things come out of his mouth, too.
SIGH!