Enunciate!

I was making lunch today & had sat baby Bright on the floor of Sette's & his room to read a book. While I was slicing away at an apple I could hear Sette reading "Goodnight Moon". She must have been having trouble with baby Bright paying attention because I heard, "Bright - Ton" in a stern, yet rather perfect way. The 7-month-old must not have cared, because she kept calling him by name trying to inform him that she had a job to do while I was making lunch. The handful of times we've actually called him by his full name must have stuck with the little teacher's helper as she tried to reign in her lone student. It made me proud, as well as shocked at her recall.

On the same note, Sette loves to talk...what 2-year-old doesn't? But she has grown accustomed to enunciating quite a bit & I know she isn't hearing it from me. Her dad, on the other hand, has gotten picked on down here in the south for being such an articulate speaker. Regardless, it makes me beam with pride that my little love bucket can pick up on word uses & regurgitate them properly.

Finally, one more note. She is such a little pretender. I just love when I catch her pretending with Bright or playing with her toys creating voices & actions for each of them. Yesterday she made creatures out of Playdoh giving them names & speaking for them. Today she played with a set of toys she just got from her Aunt Abby. They were tiny Dora characters & Bright received tiny Blue's Clues characters. She had them all lined up & was feeding each carrots & other goodies. They of course followed her lead accordingly & she was quite pleased with herself. I want to encourage her so when I "catch her" I try to join in the play hoping her sensitive soul will never be embarrassed. Today we gathered her toys in a bucket & took them to nap with her. So she & the crew napped in mama's bed on mama's pillow (the only place I can get her to nap lately & not wake up baby Bright).

Crawling

Just to note, baby Bright crawled today in nursery....well, sort of. More than I've seen at home & I didn't have a camera handy. He was lifting hands & knees to move, just not in sync yet. By the time I got my phone out to use the crude video screen, he flipped over & was done trying. humpf! hopefully I'll get some new pics or video in the next couple days.

Praying for a playroom

We had a busy day last Saturday with friends selflessly helping us clean up our mess & get our house staged to put on the market. We still have to put it on...long story, but I cannot believe how much harder it has been to live without the things I thought I could. Now, most of the stuff we put into storage was no big deal, but the toys & the baby Bright depositors....ugh! Sette almost made me cry when she went into her room the next day looking for her car. I followed her only to find her standing where it used to be & not knowing what to do. I then quickly showed her a toy she still had. Since then we've had about 3 additional instances of "missing toys". The places to safely put baby Bright have disappeared too, but this has only made the time he spends in the pack-n-play much more frequent. He will never be able to sleep in that thing if necessary, all he has done is play, play, play in it for the past week.

I am actually glad I've had a week to realize what I will need to do to keep the house visitor friendly. It isn't terrible but I have a checklist....dog cage outside, dog goes with us in car, throw toys in bins, make sure beds are made, hide unfolded laundry (unless I've surprised myself), make sure the toilet is presentable (boys are dirty), sweep through if necessary, etc. In the whole process, I've also realized this would be a good list to do daily regardless....shocker, right?!

So I will keep you posted on our housing progress, but to say the least, I am praying for a playroom.

Poop

Bright has been backed-up. At night he has just been crying & crying for days so Dave & I set out to un-stop the boy with a tiny suppository. The instant we put that suppository in, he started smiling. Then after several minutes, he unloaded & I mean completely let loose. After laughing through this experience, I have some fun tips for you all to keep in mind if you ever encounter a backed-up child.

Tip #1: Do not think this will be a SMALL mess that can be completed on an open diaper, on a towel, on your lap.

Tip #2: A closed diaper is not a bad idea & probably would have made this story null & void.

Tip #3: Following that tips #1 & #2 were not heeded, do not hold child over self in any way...no matter how much you think they need comforting.

Tip #4: Have a husband with a strong stomach aid in this process. Not one who leaves & exclaims he "can't handle this" & is sorry, but "just can't".

Tip #5: Have the bath drawn ahead of time & extra towels to lead to the bathroom. You may end up doing this whole process alone.