Pink Cheeks and a Little Ink

I'm ready for SUMMER! This cold-warm-cold-warm weather and crazy wind does a number on Nolan's little face. That and the spit rash he is starting to get from excessive pacifier use. We have to stop this soon, but the sheer fact that he gathers 5-6 of them at night and sleeps with them tucked underneath him makes me think it's not going to be an easy task....but I digress.


Look at this cute face! I had a recent day off and took the kids to a Positive Hip-Hop performance at a local library. We met Bailey's friend Kate and her grandma. The girls had a good time but the performance wasn't long enough for Nolan to get into it. We thought he'd be dancing all over the place, but he hung back with me and took pictures of the girls (as in I let him hold the camera and he thought he was taking pictures....it wasn't on).

Note Bailey in the background. She's trying to pick Kate up. It's just what she likes to do, we don't understand it. :-)

Here's Bailey trying to "sweet-talk" him into dancing with a sisterly back rub.

We also went to the park on one of our few nice days thus far. This is Nolan showing his exhaustion after sliding down the slide 472 times.

Nolan received a temporary tattoo at Bailey's school carnival. Jason put it on him last week and he's been very proud and protective of it. (It's R2D2 if you're wondering!)

And, finally, here's Nolan getting a good nap in the car a few weeks ago. He was really out. Note that we were in Jason's office parking lot waiting to go to dinner lest you criticize his insufficient car seat buckling. LOL!

SOCCER!!

So, as I said previously, Bailey had her first soccer game. I think I also mentioned that most of the girls on her team played last season. Bailey didn't really know what to expect and was VERY nervous about the game. Jason had to give her a few pep talks and Saturday morning was excruciatingly long with her asking, "Is it time for my game yet?" every 5 minutes.


As far as first games go, I think she did pretty well. While she wasn't aggressive enough to score any goals (here comes another Jason pep talk!), she was content to run up and down the field with the pack. Her team won 10-0 (if they had been keeping score), so she was a happy girl.

Nolan enjoyed cheering during the game. He enjoyed it so much that he cheered for her to "Go, Bailey, run, run, run!" even when she wasn't on the field!

Oh, and it was freezing.....just like I like it (or NOT)!

Peace...

Puppy Dog Eyes

Nolan has been getting hurt quite a bit lately. Sometimes he falls when he starts running too fast, and other times his sister pushes him and then denies it. Either way, we have lots of minor boo boos at our house. And EVERY time, Nolan makes a big production of it. He'll tell his grandma 6 hours later that he got a boo boo, even after the mark has faded, and usually his account is complete with the saddest voice you can imagine and a matching pout.

This is Nolan after he insisted I document his latest injury. I dare you to find the mark! But, he was very concerned about his belly. Hee, hee!

Anything you can do, I can do better! (I can do anything better than you!)

Yes I can (no you can't)! Yes I can! (no you can't)! If you don't understand what's going on here, you're clearly not the fan of musicals that I am! :-)

Well, the kids are officially "into" arguing over who can do what better, faster, sweeter, bigger, longer, etc. Even when they are sharing nicely or taking turns, Bailey sets ridiculous time limits for Nolan. Unfortunately, the poor kid doesn't realize that holding a ball for 8 seconds isn't really enough time to do anything productive. Especially when she counts really fast for his 8 seconds, and REALLY slow when it's her turn. Nolan doesn't notice.

Jason put up one of his Christmas presents (yes, we are a little slow around here.....but we did finally take DOWN the lights on the house!!) and the kids enjoyed it immensely. Jason didn't realize that you can't take video longways like you can pictures, so this may be impossible to watch. The key is that Nolan comes SO close to making a few baskets. He actually did make a few a bit later, but we'd already put the camera back up. Note Nolan trying to do a one-handed shot right after Bailey did.....and him saying "Nolan do it!"







Bailey has now started playing soccer. We've had one practice and the games will begin mid March sometime. All the other girls on the team played last season, so Bailey has a little more ground to cover before that time. Needless to say, Jason has been practicing with her! Here are some pics of the first practice. Doesn't she look cute?!

Three funny things about Nolan before I sign off:

1. He is LOVING to sing these days. At Mother's Day Out, they said he stands in the front row during song time and just goes at it with the hand motions and everything. Anytime he "freestyles it" for us, though, he still begins every song with "A-way, A-way." We think this is spillover from Bailey's constant singing of "Away in a Manger" at Christmas. Here he is serenading us Billy Joel style.

2. I think you can always tell which kids are 2nd or subsequent children by what they pick up from their older siblings. For example, one of Nolan's first two-word phrases was "my turn." He learned to fight for his turn pretty early! Now, he has begun saying, "Ahh, man" when he falls, or when his blocks fall, or whatever is a minor irritation to him. It is SOOO funny, especially since he still doesn't talk in long sentences just yet. Actually, let me rephrase. He speaks in very long sentences, we only understand the first and last words of them!!

3. He has been using the potty periodically....nothing consistent. But, I bought some pull-up training pants for a presentation at work (don't ask!), so I didn't want them to go to waste so I showed them to Nolan and he seemed very excited. Pull-ups aren't that different from a regular diaper in all reality. But, this morning, when I tried to put them on him, he acted afraid of them. I was so surprised....what could be scary about something that looks just like your regular diaper?! So, I bribed him with a lifesaver. Yep, I'm THAT mom! :-)

Peace....