No Filter...

Walked into Chick Fil A tonight with the boys. Simon says, loud enough for everyone in the entire place to hear:

"Why does the playground here always make me barf?"

I quietly explained that it's just kind of germy and that a few times when they played in there, he got sick a few days later... and that the playground itself does NOT, in fact, make him barf.

"WELL, why is it so dirty and germy? Why do they not CLEAN it ever?!"

Face palm.

(I am not a germaphobe, it's just that a few times, we were in there, and there were actually PEE puddles in the tunnels... gag... and yes, at least twice my kids DEFINITELY caught a stomach thing from that place. So they are NOT allowed in there now.) LOL!

Funny Conversation....

From Simon's room last night....

The conversation that just went down in Simon's room that still has me laughing. 

Me: Simon, daddy is leaving really early for work tomorrow so he won't be here to see you open your birthday presents when you wake up. Do you want to open them tonight?

Simon: Oh! Yes!

Me: Okay... but when you wake up, you won't have any presents to open.

Simon: Okay then. I will only open ONE.

Me: Are you sure? Because you can open all of them.

Simon: No. I will pick just ONE.

Me: Seriously?

Tom: Well, he is clearly not YOUR child.

Me: I know! Sheesh. Simon, who ARE you?

Simon: I'm SIMON!

Ben (from the bathroom): She meant that metaphorically, Simon.

Spring Break...

Nothing spectacular going on for spring break over here. The boys are mostly just enjoying not having anywhere to be.

Yesterday we went to a cool secondhand bookstore with Aunt Sarah and Audim and the two older boys picked out way too many books. The big boys were about to play checkers with Aunt Sarah at the store when Jonathan decided that enough was enough, so we had to go. :(

After that though, things improved and we had a picnic in the yard, followed by Lego playing while Jonathan took a nap. We watched a particularly tenacious (and very large) bee stake out some territory on our deck for awhile... then we headed to the playground at the preschool, where Simon played Ninja, Ben dug for rocks and Jonathan played in the sandbox. Eventually Simon got in on the rock digging too though. I think we need to go find somewhere to dig today because this would have kept them busy for HOURS if we hadn't had to go home for dinner...

Funny story from today: At the bookstore, Simon picked out this random book about Martin Luther King. It was one of those paperback leveled easy reader ones... the ones that come in every topic under the sun, including Star Wars, which we have a ton of. Anyway, so he got it home and was paging through it, when he looked up with a furrowed brow. "There is NOTHING about Star Wars in here!!!" he exclaimed!!! I replied, "No buddy... that's a book about Martin Luther King. I'm not sure why you thought it was Star Wars?" Ben chimed in, "Ohhhhh.... you thought that was a picture of Lando Calrissian, didn't you?" (Star Wars character, for those who don't know) "Yes!" yelled Simon. Oops. LOL!

Anyway, some pictures from the playground....

Cooking with Simon....

Simon remains my eager assistant chef. We haven't cooked much together this summer but that hasn't stopped him from asking to make something every other day. On Sunday, we made some cinnamon chocolate chip muffins though. He was busy stirring the dry ingredients on one end of the counter, and I was reading the next steps outloud.

"Next it says to add the eggs, milk, butter and vanilla and then stir."

He looked up from his work and without missing a beat said:

"And then after that, does the next step say to enjoy?"

LOL!!!

I guess we've read one too many recipes that throw that in as the last step. TOO funny.

He was very anxious to "enjoy!" them. And enjoy them he did... times three! ;)

Tips from Simon

"You never brush your hair with a toothbrush!" (said while brushing his hair with a toothbrush)

Conversation Starters...

So I took the boys to Panera for lunch this afternoon after their doctor appointment. While eating, Ben was yammering on about football this and football that. (his latest and greatest full-on obsession... JOY!) Simon worked diligently on his grilled cheese lunch until there was a pause in the (one-sided) conversation and then said:

"So, how about we talk about grilled cheese?"

Simon Says...

Simon is sitting here at the kitchen table painting and the following two, completely opposite types of statements just came out of his mouth. Two statements that, when put together, very much paint an accurate picture (ha ha.. pun intended) of who he is.


"Look! The blue color is dissolving! Dissolving means something disappears in water."

And then just as I was feeling very impressed at his correct use of that word, he comes out with....

"I am making this painting all brown. See? It's a picture of poop. Poop that goes in the potty."


Smart kid. But oh so SUCH a boy.

Out of the Mouth of Simon...

Yesterday:

Simon: Mommy, I want to be African American for Halloween. Can we order an African American costume?

Me: You want to be what?

Simon: African American. Chazzy (his friend) was wearing an African American costume at the bus stop this afternoon and I want to be African American too!

(I was not at the bus stop yesterday, my mom was... so I had NO CLUE what he was talking about)

Me: Umm... what did his costume look like?

Simon: It was red and blue!

Me: (thinking for a moment) OH! Was Chazzy Captain America?

Simon: Yes. African America! I want to be African America!!!

LOL!!!


ETA: Fixed the category, Jen! ;) Thanks for reminding me of that one!

He's on to Me...

So you know how your kids, they talk and talk and talk all day... with the constant questions and the randomness and every once in awhile, for your own sanity, you kind of tune out?

Yeah... so Simon? He's on to me.

He talks wall-to-wall on every car ride we ever take. And, I have to be honest, sometimes, I kind of just give him the cursory, "mm hmm!"

This is what I get back nearly every single time. LOL.

"Mommy, dont' just say 'mm hmm', I am asking you a question and you are not listening to my QUESTION!!!"

(sigh)

Simon Says...

In the bathtub last night...

Simon: I know why there is a penIs on my bum. (this made me realize he thinks the entire below the waist region is called his bum)

Me: Oh really, why?

Simon: Because we got it at the penIs store!

(Of course, the penIs store, duh. Where else would you get one of those? Oh wait... how about the penIs factory that is clearly my reproductive system?)

Simon Says...

When it suddenly gets dark (lights are turned out or whatever), Simon will suddenly declare:

"My eyes! I can't find my eyes!"

Then he'll put his hands to his face and announce:
"Oh... der dey are."


LOL!

A Sweet First...

From the hallway a little while ago, I heard the following:

"I give Ben a kiss! Mwah! I love you, Ben!"

Adding to His Favorite Phrases...

Simon's newest favorite phrase?

"No! I no liiiiiiiike it!"

I'll give you one guess as to who he learned THAT one came from. (rolls eyes)

He even says this as he wolfs down whatever it is he is claiming not to like.

But, I have to give him credit. He also says "please" and "thanks" almost 100% of the time now. I can't even begin tell you how pleasant it is to hear a sweet little voice say, "Have more chockit milk, please, mommy?" in the morning as opposed to "Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooore milk momeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!" followed by a sippy cup tossed at my head. (which was a regular occurence for awhile there)

Chatterbox...

Haven't posted any video of Simon recently... he's more chatty when Ben's not here, so we made this one this morning while Ben was at school. :)

Simon Says...

Simon's chattiness fascinates me these days. I remarked to Tom yesterday that if we had had Simon first and then Ben, I would have worried a whole lot more about Ben's language than I did. (obviously, I didn't ACTUALLY need to be concerned about it because the child can certainly talk now! BOY can he talk...so I'm glad that birth order worked out the way it did... but anyway)

I think part of what fascinates me is the two entirely different ways in which my two children have acquired language. Ben was way more the "total exposion" type... where he went from only a handful of words at Simon's age, maybe 30-40 or so, most of which he rarely actually SAID, to complete sentences/paragraphs just 4-6 months later. If you went by the What to Expect book with him at Simon's age, he didn't even meet the "Will probably be..." as far as language was concerned most months. (all the more reason to take that book with a grain of salt)

Simon, on the other hand, has just kind of picked it up day by day as he's gone along. There was a bit of an explosion around 16-18 months where he picked up some new sounds/endings and really started experimenting with language. But for the most part, I can't pinpoint a time where he went from zero to sixty, so to speak. He will ATTEMPT to say anything you ask him to, which is also something Ben wouldn't really do. His words are also very clear, at least to me... Ben's were clear to me at the time too, but I listen back to his very early talking on videos and can hardly understand him. I can't even estimate how many words he has now because I can't think of anything he doesn't try to say.

I try to think back if I did anything differently and I really don't think I did. I will say that Simon has gotten read to a lot more by this age because Ben wouldn't sit still for such things until well after age 2. But other than that, and having an older brother who never stops talking, and maybe the ear tubes at 2-1/2 instead of earlier, there has been no difference. So I really think it's mostly all that it's just pre-wired!

I don't write this as a brag at all... (and I hope no one takes it as such because I HATE hate hate that kind of blogging and try to avoid it most of the time, although we all brag about our kids here and there on our blogs.) Nor do I write it to compare my two children in a negative way. I have said to several people that I think it's very cool that I got two kids who developed on such different timetables -- Ben walked at 8-1/2 months, Simon? 14 -- Simon's talks nonstop at 22 months, Ben was well over 2 before he had the same kind of verbal skills. If anything, it has made me way less concerned about when how long it takes Simon to do things and I generally don't worry about him doing or not doing something... by the time we get to a third, I will just throw my hands up in the air because honestly, they are all just SO different. I really and truly enjoy the differences and can't wait to see what else is in store for me to see!

A Simon word funny, I do need to share -- Monday, when we pulled into school to pick Ben up, Simon piped up from the back seat, "Schooooool. Class! Bobo! (Ben's teacher)" HA! I can't wait to see the look on this child's face in September when he realizes he actually gets to hang out there for more than five minutes at a time. He will be in his glory!

Simon Says...

I just discovered Simon can count to ten! No idea when he picked this up, but it's cute! "Un Two Free Or Ive Six Sen A Ine Ten!"
His vocabulary in general has just been rather explosive lately... we just took a long walk outside during which he pointed out "Birds Fly Sky!", "Ride Bike!" and the one I'll be discouraging, "Throw Rock!" and lots of others. He's very funny these days! He also almost always answers my questions, which is infinitely helpful in making it through the day less frustrated -- except that I just asked him if he pooped and he very sincerely told me "No poop", which my nose tells me is a straight-up lie. So yeah, there's lots of progress to be made. ;)

Simon's Word for Spiderman...

(lest I forget this someday when his talking becomes clearer)

"Pieder-manner!" or sometimes just "Pieder", but Pieder-manner makes me laugh!

Simon is 21 Months Old!

Dear Simon,

Today you are one and three quarters. ;) This past month has been a fairly easy one with you. You are less frustrated lately because you have found your words and there don't seem to be any teeth on the way to make you grumpy. I am actually starting to wonder if you even HAVE eyeteeth, but that's a whole other post.

This doesn't mean you aren't still challenging sometimes. You are rather prone to throwing yourself on the floor in dramatic fits when you don't get what you want. The funny part is that you don't have much staying power and are pretty easy to to wait out. Two days ago you were in the store with me and the following transpired: -- I've discovered the secret to buying myself some cart time with you is to take you to the store hungry and whip out a bag of goldfish. This day, you wanted to walk when we got there. I said, "Okay, but the fish stay in the cart." You seemed content with this arrangement for about ten minutes, walking happily beside me and then you decided you wanted the fish. I lifted you up into the cart and you did your patented Baby Made of Lead with No Bendable Joints (tm) routine and shrieked. I put you down and said again, "If you want the fish, you need to sit in the cart." We did this a few more times and in between, you tried all manner of extracting the bag of goldfish from the cart before you resorted to the floor tantrum, which I have to say, was quite the performance. First you went entirely limp (your Baby Made of Gelatin with no Knees (tm) routine), and then the wailing began. Ohhh, the people, how they stopped and stared, judging and tsking and a'rolling their eyes, some smiled sympathetically at me, some excused themselves to walk by us, others just peered around the aisles... still you screamed. And then suddenly, as if the Lord God himself had opened up the heavens and pointed you to the path of goodness, you stopped, stood up and decided it might actually be cool to sit in the cart (the basket, not the seat, of course) and munch on your goldfish. You were an angel for the rest of the shopping trip, babbling and pointing and waving to people. All the while, I kept reminding you that I WON. HA! And I will ALWAYS win because I am mommy so it's best you learn that early. :P

In other news this month, you like wearing your brother's underwear over your pants, walking up and down the stairs holding onto the railing (and taking years off my life while doing so), and flushing things down the toilet. Re: the latter, luckily, you only think toilet paper and small bits of paper trash work for this and haven't moved on to rubber duckies or Spiderman action figures. Anytime any of us is in the bathroom though, you come running, saying excitedly, "Fush! Fush!!" The potty go'er then has to fend you off until they are finished their business, all the while with you trying to get a piece of toilet paper into the bowl to "Fush." I usually humor you for being patient and hand you one sheet to throw in and "Fush" yourself. You squeal with glee at this activity. Tell me again why I buy toys?

You also have discovered a love of dancing. This is actually pretty recent, but suddenly it is one of your favorite things. Just yesterday, at Grandmom's, you played an ABC song on a toy about fiftyfahundred times, each time, pulling someone up from the couch by the hand, saying "Dass? Dass"? I'd like to say this means you like company in your dancing, but I think your motives are more devious. I think you like to see us all make fools of ourselves. ;)

You readily say, "Peez" these days to get what you want, which I'm happy about. If you are going to order someone around to do your bidding all day, it's at least nice to have manners about it.

The word of the month? Silly. You are just plain silly and giggly and just constantly make us all laugh. Many have speculated that your Uncle Brandon has a mini me... I guess only time will tell. ;)

See you next month!
Love,
Mommy

So Much for That Second Cup of Coffee....

Until very recently, I had this morning routine... I'd get up around 6:30, have my coffee, answer email, post on my blog, check the bank account and update Facebook. Then I'd get a shower and go sit quietly with my second cup of coffee until around 7:20 when Simon got really noisy in his crib. He wakes up around 7, but generally plays and looks at books for 15-30 minutes.

Now all of a sudden, he is using words like "mama!" and "door!" And pretty much as soon as his eyes are opened, he immediately starts in with "door?" "door?" It's quiet at first, until I ignore it for awhile, then gets more desperate. "Mama?" "Dada?" "Ben?" "Door!!!!!!"

Yes, it's very cute. And so is the big grin he gets on his face and his giggles he lets out when someone actually opens said door.

...But I do miss that quiet cup of coffee. ;)

Simon is 20 Months Old! :)

Dear Simon,

Today you are 20 months old. I feel like I JUST wrote one of these too... seems like your second year is flying by!

This month has been the month of WORDS! The words they are just everywhere. You really say pretty much anything and everything these days and I can't even begin to tell you how helpful that has been for BOTH of us.

Your best and clearest ones have to do with your daily routine. You'll come downstairs in the morning and make a beeline for the refrigerator, where you will request "ohgur peez". (Yogurt, please) On a good day, you'll say, "Dah koo!" (thank you) on your way out to the living room to watch, "Mouse". Then you'll suck down a drinkable yogurt and promptly demand, "More!" or you'll be "a done" and go put it in the "rash". (trash)

You like to play "dunsairs" and get really angry if you can't. "Cars? Bus? Peez? Uhpuh door?" you'll beg at the top of the basement stairs. You LOVE the remote control cars you and Ben got for Christmas and you have also taken quite an interest in our box of wooden trains and train tracks. Between those things, you'll play happily for hours (or until Ben takes something from you).

When your big brother isn't around you wander around calling his name and then reminding yourself he is "a skoo". If he is around, you'll tell us he's "Oh-er dare" (over there) You also say a few other names this month, including, "Pappap", "Marc", "Taylor" and "Burnon" (Brandon)

You ask for your favorite books by name, though it takes a trained ear to understand "Ker Jor' (Curious George), "Boom" (Chicka Chicka Boom Boom) and "Behbeh beh" (Baby Bear Baby Bear What Do You See).

Still ever my headstrong little guy, you pretty much go through life knowing exactly what you want and setting out to get it. So help us all and anyone within earshot if you can't have it. Yes, you are still tantrum prone, but it's not as bad as in recent months. You generally quickly recover and can be distracted. You also don't take any nonsense from Ben (or anyone, really) and will sound your shrieking alarm if he DARES commit any injustice toward you. Big brother can't get away with ANYTHING these days. ;)

You can do a lot of things for yourself and are still quite determined that you can do all the things Ben can do. For instance you desperately want to take a cup to the sink and get yourself a drink of water. And you can do this rather well... the problem is you can't resist the urge to then take said cup and pour it into another cup. This makes for a wet floor, a wet toddler and a frustrated mommy.

You're back to being a great eater most days, so I'm guessing you are growing. Actually, I KNOW you are growing, because most of your 18-month pants and overalls don't fit very well anymore and the shirts, while they fit in most places, are too short in the sleeves. You rapidly burned right through Ben's second-year winter wardrobe and I had to get you a few new things!

You are my cleaner upper... rarely can you leave a room without first turning off any lights (or making me turn them off if you can't reach) or toys that are on. You even turn off your noise machine whenever I get you out of your crib. When I wipe up the daily dinner messes off the kitchen floor, you are always right by my side pointing out spots I have missed. "Mess!" you say!
Sometimes you'll even grab a napkin and try to clean things up yourself.

You laugh... a LOT. Your belly laughs often fill the room and get us all laughing too. In fact, making you laugh is still one of Ben's favorite things to do!

And that, Little Dude, is the latest on you. We are visiting "Mouse" this month and I am so excited to see your eyes light up with all that there is to see! I think you are going to be quite a handful, but that you are also going to have a blast!

See you next month. Same Little Dude time, Same Little Dude Place.

Love,
Mommy