I don't easily get on to post lately...

Finn has lately taken to adding the word "easily" to a lot of sentences, and in a couple of different ways. It can mean that the thing really is difficult to do--"It doesn't easily come off." (about one's pants, say)--or it's really just not a thing I want to do--"I don't easily do that, Mommy" (about eating dinner, using the potty, etc.). It's quite endearing. Makes it a bit more difficult to say "Sit down and eat your dinner, kiddo!"

By the way, a week or so ago, miracle of miracles...A couple of peas passed through those lips, through those most sealed of gates when it comes to all things vegetable and fruit (excluding juice). And I mean voluntarily! I'm not saying it's happened again since then, but perhaps things are looking up!


I recently looked back at old pics of Finn and noticed that, relative to what Kate looks like, he seemed much further developed at 6 months. I don't just mean bigger... he was certainly that, but I look at how much longer his hair was and even his face seemed less little-babyish. My friends say it's just a second-baby perceptual thing, but I don't know. I'll have to get a very recent pic of Kate onto my work computer and then I'll post them side by side for comparison. Maybe I'll get to that later today.

Keeping it equal

Here are some pics of Finn. I wouldn't want to look back and find that I had posted Kate's pics and then not found the time to put up a few for Finn, so here are a couple; the frontal view pic is fairly recent (3 years, 4 months).

On that subject--how to keep it equal--Christmas is coming up, and while this year it won't be such a big concern, it is in the back of my mind that somehow I want to find a way to keep Christmas (presents and such) fairly equal for my two kids without (and this is the key and the point of difficulty) making myself insane at the same time. I'm certainly not planning to worry about the actual dollars and cents of it, but on some level I do feel that fairness should come in here somewhere. On the other hand, I don't want to feel compelled to run out on Christmas eve some years in order to find that last little thing that will make the two sides even. An interesting quandary...

My first blog pics, and Kate's first rice cereal

So here's the first (well, actually the second, but the result was largely the same) foray into solids for Kate! Rice cereal went down nicely. No particularly funny reactions, but then again, this stuff is about the most tastelest thing on the planet. She liked playing with it in her mouth and pushing some of it back out. As you can see, she also decided she wants to be a "big girl" and do it herself.

Sorry the pics are little blurry... we're having camera troubles. But yay me, I figured out how to add pictures (yes, even I can eventually figure out what the little picture-icon button at the top of the screen means). Next step... figure out how to get everything laid out nicely on the page. A task for another night.

Finn told me about a dream he had the other night that apparently involved pirates and falling into the sky. The funniest part was the end. This was apparently a "bad" dream, not a "good" dream, and I was trying to figure out when it happened, so I asked him "Was this why you were crying when you woke up from nap today?" His response--"Yes...(pause, clearly changing his mind)...no, I wouldn't cry from that dream, Mommy." Ah, the inner workings of the 3-year-old mind.

Kind of going along with the above, one of Finn's favorite things to do these days is to tell stories. His favorite topic is Mario. Yes, I know... my 3-year-old does play Mario games... he's catching one of his parents' main vices. I spend a lot of time feeling ashamed and/or apologetic about this, but I'm not feeling up to that right now...so sue me. While there are a lot of things I don't like about his playing these games, let me tell you what I do like. His memory and/or his communication about his memory has been developing amazingly through this. He likes to go over the story line and tell you all about the little things that Mario did in great, great detail. A lot of the time this will include the person playing the game (e.g., "Mommy tried to climb the roof, but she couldn't do it." or "Daddy swam through the tunnel and he went on the blocks and he got the star."). Other times he just talk about Mario as the main character. He's so eager to tell his stories that he's started trying to get the attention of other kids his age. It's the first completely self-initiated non-parallel kind of play that I've really seen in him.

The other thing I like about it is that it emphasizes the importance of sequencing. You've got to break the block, then raise the water level, then swim down into the hole. You can't do those things in a different order. A lot of life has this kind of sequencing in it (e.g., you have to put your arms into the sleeves and then button the shirt), and I think it's really neat to see him picking that up. See, now, don't you feel better about all this game playing. I know I do. For now.

We have started using a chart system with stickers to try and limit the TV/computer time for Finn. He gets a certain amount of time per day (broken up into half-hour blocks) and he puts a star sticker into the grid when he uses up one of the blocks. Then, once he's filled them all in for the day, he doesn't get any more (no, I'm not going to say how much time it is total; it hits too close to my shame/guilt button). We're trying to use stickers to reward potty behavior, too. So far, not much progress on that end (haha) and I think, lately, a little regression away from the ultimate goal. Sigh.


On the Kate front, things are well. She's still super vocal, chatting all the time with whoever will sit with her, or with her blue froggy (seems to be the forerunner in the favorite-toy race), or just by herself. Once she starts talking, we are definitely in trouble. She's just about exactly 6 months now, so we should be starting some solids (rice cereal, etc.) very soon. Stay tuned!