Oh My Bubby

I haven't done posts to just talk about my children in a while, so I decided I would do one for each of them.  I already had a title in mind for Barrett's, so I will start there.

Barrett is full of personality.  He is generally smiling, laughing, and being mischievous.  I can already tell that he is going to be a kid that wears his heart on his sleeve.  You never have to wonder what he is thinking.  That also means that when he is mad, he is really mad, and when he is upset, you'd think the world was ending.  Part of that may be the fact that he is two, but I think part of it is just who he is.  Some people have told me that is because he is a Gemini.  I guess that means they have a "split personality;"  in Barrett's case, he is either all happy or all unhappy.  There isn't really an in-between unless he is sleeping.

That brings me to another of Barrett's little quirks.  Barrett is usually a solid sleeper, but he is an early riser.  In the mornings, I'll hear the "swish, swish" of his diaper has he runs into our room.  Well, unless he is running for his sister's room.  He loves to bother his sister when she is sleeping.  The other night, he actually went to her room, crawled into bed with her, and slept there with her until morning.  He does generally love to be around his sister though, and he copies almost everything she does (if only that worked for potty training!). 

A month ago, Barrett got his real big boy bed.  It is a boat bed from Pottery Barn, and he refers to it as "my boat."  When I say "boat bed," he corrects me with just "my boat."  The first day he had it, he got the play broom out of Audrey's room and was swabbing the deck of his boat.  I guess he picked that up from watching his papas clean their boats. 

The past few weeks, Barrett has really started to talk more.  Usually, that is really great, because I can understand what he is saying and can help fulfill his requests.  Sometime though, the way he says things is still unique to him.  This morning he wanted "ju-ju-cay" for breakfast.  Now, I know how he says juice, yogurt, jelly, biscuit, and many other words that could somehow translate to that.  I finally resorted to pulling things out of the fridge and cabinet; when I pulled out the pancake mix he excitedly started repeating "ju-ju-cay."  I am not sure how you get that out of "pancake," but at least I figured it out!

As I think about it, most of Barrett's words are food related, and I think that is because he loves to eat.  Audrey was always a good eater, but he out-eats her much of the time.  He has started getting a little bit pickier, but I am hoping this is just a phase.  He also loves music.  He often goes into the office and tries to play the piano; by "play" I don't mean bang on it either.  He presses the keys softly and sings to himself as he does it.  He also loves to march around the house with his play drum or the recorder.  When the house is quiet, he will go into the living room, turn on the radio, and start dancing like a maniac.  I am starting to think we need to get him into some sort of music lessons pretty soon!

I guess I will close this post by mentioning Barrett's hair.  I was trying to figure out a haircut for him that wouldn't stick straight up where he has a cowlick.  So, I took him in and asked for advice from the stylist, and next thing I know he had a buzz cut.  It is definitely easier to manage, but I am not sure how well it fits my bubby.  It definitely makes him look older, so maybe that is why I don't like it!

The Frozen Influence

One night when Billy was gone a couple of weeks ago, Audrey asked if she could listen to the frozen CD.  Naturally, I couldn't figure out how to make it play in the living room, so I played it on the computer.  For the next 30 minutes, she and Barrett performed the songs of Frozen as only young children can.  Their expressiveness was so impressive, I had to film it. I had forgotten about the video until I was downloading photos from the camera this weekend. Before you watch it, I have to point out that there is no video of any sort playing.  The kids are doing all of their acting by memory.  Enjoy!

Fun at Home

After a busy summer running from lake to lake and coming home for the weeks between, the past couple of weekends have been a welcome change.  The weather has cooled down (pretty dramatically in fact), and we have had some time to acclimate to being at home.  That doesn't mean we haven't been busy though.  Between Audrey's dance rehearsals, work, church, getting things done around the house, and squeezing in some fun activities, we've kept going non-stop. 

Last weekend, we went to the Greentree parade in Kirkwood.  Both of the kids' new schools had floats, and they could have walked in the parade.  We decided to stick together as a family though and watch instead.  It was a lot of fun, and the kids got more candy than we know what to do with.  The funny thing is that Barrett could not have cared less about the candy.  His favorite treat was an apple that he carried around and took bites from until after we got home. 

 

That night, we got to go to the baseball game.  Audrey actually showed real interest in the game, but was very confused about why, if the player hit the ball, they didn't always get to run to first base.  We pointed out the foul line and explained that the ball has to be inside of it.  She would remember for that inning, and then we'd have to re-explain it the next inning. 

 

Aside from specific events, we've been having a lot of fun around the house.  Billy runs on Saturday mornings, so he is usually gone until 9 or 10.  So, the kids and I play.  This morning we had a percussion parade, built several houses from Lincoln Logs, built a mountain out of cardboard, and drove cars around the living room all before daddy got home from his run.  It may sound boring to some, but having those moments to spend with my kids are wonderful.  I know they won't last forever! 

 

 

 





Getting into a Groove

It has taken us 3 weeks, but I think we're finally starting to find our new normal.  I now drop off Barrett on my way downtown, and Billy gets Audrey ready before dropping her off at kindergarten.  I have managed to weather the change without going the wrong way after leaving work and without forgetting to pick up a child.  We've also only had one day where we ran late, and it was an anomaly of bad weather and bad traffic that caused the issue (it took Billy almost 2 hours to get home from work that day). 

Audrey seems to be acclimating to her new class, and the meltdowns are becoming less frequent. She also has found a few things she likes better than DCC, like pizza Fridays and her music class. She has made a couple of new friends too, and she informed me the other night she wants to invite them over for a "play date."    We actually saw one of the girls when we went out for ice cream one night a couple of weeks ago, and she and Audrey were dancing and playing as soon as they saw each other. 

Barrett loves his new class; he doesn't cry when I drop him off in the morning, but instead "pushes" me out of the door.  I pretend I am falling down the hallway, and he laughs hysterically while running to the window to wave goodbye.   When I pick him up, as excited as he is to see me, he always makes sure he tells his teachers bye before grabbing my hand to head to the car.  His vocabulary is also exploding, and I attribute it in large part to his new school.  They group the children as they will be in school, where Barrett will always be one of the younger kids in his class.  At his old school, they would do it by age, so when a child had a birthday, they moved up to the next room.  That meant Barrett would at some point every year become the oldest child in the class.  Since that will never be the case once he gets to kindergarten, I think this new school will be very good for him.  Just last week, he kept surprising me by using sentences instead of just disjoined words.  He is getting to be such a big boy!