Love

Edee: Chicken, I yove you.
Chicken: I yove you too, Edee.  Weally much!!
Edee:  I yove you weally much too.  Dis much!!

She opens her arms wide.

Chicken:  Watch dis, Edee!!

He opens his arms wide too and stands on his chair.

Melts a mom's heart.  They can be such hair-tearing  rascals and then in the blink of an eye they are little angles.  The angel part usually only lasts a blink of an eye too, unfortunately.

Diaper Change

The kids had run upstairs while I was finishing up cleaning something downstairs.  Suddenly I hear called out-

Edee:  Mommy!!  I change-ded Chicken's diaper!

This is one of those mommy moments when it's possible to be filled with both dread and amusement at the same time.  I paused, then hurried upstairs, not quite sure what I would see.

Chicken was sitting on the little trainer potty while Edee was proudly waiting to tell me her accomplishment.

Edee:  I change-ded Chicken's diaper!!
Me:  I see you took it off.
Edee:  I change-ded it.  First I took off da snaps on his onesie, den I took of him diaper!!!
Me:  Wow.... (scanning the bathroom for the diaper and any signs of a heart-stopping mess. Fortunately I found the wet--and only wet--diaper in the trash bin, nicely bundled. Phew).
Edee:  See?!! I did it.
Me:  Okay...well, um, that's alright, but he needs to wear a diaper.
Chicken:  Yit on da potty!!
Me:  Good job, I see that.  Are you going to go pee?
Chicken:  Yook, boy parts!
Me:  Yes I see.  Sit back down. Time to get a diaper on.
Edee:  No, I wanna do it.
Me:  Let me help you....it's not a bad thing if you learn, I guess....
Edee:  No I can do it myself!
Me:  I'll get the diaper...
Edee:  Okay, I know how to do dis. Sit down on your diaper Chicken. Sit down yike dis.
Me:  Tell him to lay down.
Edee:  Okay, yay down yike dis. Okay yemme see....
Chicken:  Ow, legs hurt!!!,
Edee:  Don' worry.  Okay, hmmm....dust 'coot (scoot) you yittle bum onto da diaper.  Ok, no, you need to 'coot a yittle more.  "Coot your bum on wight here.
Me:  Here....let me help just a little
Edee:  Awight.  Yet's see...where are the snaps.....

Needless to say, when all was said (and a lot was said) and done, Chicken needed a brief re-diapering.  As much as I've wished that there was someone else around to help change diapers, and as "fun" as the kids thought it was,  I don't think we're ready for this to be Edee's new responsibility.

Mess

It's early in the morning and Daddy, Edee and I were all snuggling on the couch while Chicken was finishing up his cereal.  From the kitchen we here Chicken yell out.

Chicken:  Uh oh, Mommy!  I may-a mess!!
Me:  You made a mess!!?
Chicken:  Yeah! I may-a mess!
Me:  Oh no.
Daddy:  Are you going to clean it up?  Get a towel and clean it up!
Chicken:  No.  Eat it.

We all started laughing...because we could envision what happened next.

A few minutes later he runs in saying "I did it!"

This is not the first time he's been so distressed about a mess and then determined to solve the problem by eating it.

Potty Mouths

When Edee needs to go to the bathroom, there's usually an announcement yelled out of "Potty!" followed by running up the stairs.

Yesterday after such a proclamation, Chicken followed after her with a "Potty, too!"

I was putting some things away just outside the door and listened to this conversation.

Chicken:  Poopin,' Edee?
Edee:  No, dust pee.
Chicken:  Why?
Edee:  Cuz I dust need to pee.
Chicken:  Oh.  Doin', Edee?
Edee:  Potty!
Chicken:  Poopin'?
Edee:  NO!
Chicken:  Put it in dere Edee!

I don't know if he was referring to putting some poop in the potty or something else, but I came to intervene and help finish up potty time.  I got distracted cleaning something else up in the bathroom and somehow in that time the entire remaining roll of toilet paper got put in toilet.  Welcome to my life.

Bastille

In the car we generally only listen to two different CD's:  Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Nursery Rhymes.  If I turn on the radio I hear a huge fit in response, so grown up music seems like a thing of the past some days.

Needless to say after months and months of the same kids music every time in the car, I'm going a little crazy.  I tried pushing my luck and put a Bastille CD in a few days ago.  So far I haven't been met with any protests.  It's kind of shocking, but I'm rolling with it as long as I can.

Yesterday we got in the car to take Edee to Joy School and the music had been playing for awhile.  The next song started to play.

Edee: Hey.  I know this song.
Me:  Yep, Mommy has listened to it quite a few times.
Edee:  Who sings this song?
Me:  A band named Bastille.  Can you say that?
Edee:  Ba--wait, do dey help people?
Me:  Uh....maybe.  They sing and play music for people, which makes people happy.
Edee:  Yike what kind?
Me:  They sing and play instruments like the drums and guitar.
Edee:  And the violin?
Me:  I'm not sure if they use a violin or not.  We should listen to find out what we hear. Do you hear the drums?
Edee:  Yeah.  Dey play da music for people?
Me: Yes they play the music and record it on a CD, or you can go see them in a concert.
Edee:  I wan to see dat!!!!
Me:  Me too....(muttering to myself) but Daddy didn't want to take me.

At least I have another couple fellow fans to listen to them with now.

Sick

I had just put Chicken to bed and was arranging some pillows on the couch.

Edee:  What are you doing, Mommy?
Me:  I'm going to lay down for a little bit because I don't feel good.
Edee:  You don feel berry good?
Me:  Yeah, I'm sick.  I have a cold and I'm very tired.
Edee:  Oh you're sick.  I will take care of you.  I will......put a banket over you.
Me:  Oh.  Thank you.
Edee:  And I will...hmmm....(very sympathetically) you know it's okay to be sick sometimes, Mommy.
Me:  You are right Edee.
Edee:  (stroking my hair). It's not berry fun to be sick.
Me:  No it's not.
Edee:  But you know some people don't like to be sick, and some people do.
Me:  Well...I don't know about that.
Edee:  Well, people are all different.
Me:  Um...well you are right about that.  We are all different.

After imparting her three-year old wisdom she took care of me the rest of the evening by snuggling up with me and falling asleep.  What a sweet little girl she can be.

Tired

Chicken woke up at 5:00am.  It's only 9:30am and let's just say that it's been a long morning.

Chicken and I are sitting on the couch while he's drinking from his sippy cup.  He puts it down and looks seriously at me.

Chicken:  Mommy.
Me:  What.
Chicken:  Tired.
Me:  Me too.  And guess what?  (I start tickling him) It's your own stinkin' fault!!
Chicken: (maintaining the seriousness of the situation, despite the tickling). No.  Daddy's wault.
Me: Why is it Daddy's fault?
Chicken:  Cuz.


We had that exact conversation twice today.

The funny thing is that when I had I got up with Chicken (at 5:00am) and came downstairs,  I heard Daddy's phone vibrating a few minutes later.  He was getting a call from work (which never ever happens, especially so early in the morning), so I woke him up and he spent an hour on a phone conference trying to fix an issue.  So maybe it really was Daddy's fault.

Bear

We are loading the kids into the truck to go on a little family excursion.

Chicken:  Beer go?
Daddy:  What is he talking about?
Me:  He's asking where his bears are that go on his carseat straps.  Chicken, they are in the car on your other seat.
Chicken:  Where my beer go?  Where my beer go?  Where my beer?

We just had to laugh.

Medicine

Daddy is watching a "How It's Made" video about how pills in blister sheets are made in a factory.

Edee:  What is dat?
Me:  Yucky Medicine
Daddy (speaking to me): That one looks like birth control.
Me:  It does.
Edee:  When I an older, I get to eat yucky medicine like Mommy!!

Daddy and I just look at each other.

Me:  Um....maybe...medicine is yucky, Edee.

Boston Talk

We stayed over at some friends' cabin with them this past weekend.  Pam is a mom/grandma figure for us, so in the morning when Chicken woke up entirely too early, she whisked him away so that we could sleep in. I hear them talking in the kitchen as I'm seeing if I can fall back asleep.

Chicken:  Is dis?
Pam:  A pineapple.
Chicken:  Is dis?
Pam:  It's a pineapple, we'll cut it up lat-ah (She has that classic Boston accent).
Chicken:  Oh, pine-abal.  Cut it.
Pam:  Yeah, we'll cut it up lat-ah.
Chicken:  Cut it, lad-ah.

Talking like a big boy and a true New Englander now.

Boy

Chicken is such a boy.  Such a two year old boy, now.

He loves attention and praise for his skills.  Something we hear a lot of from him is "Wat dis!!!"  (watch this!!).  He wants you to watch him while he runs, throws, eats, jumps.....pretty much anything that he thinks is pretty cool.  We hear it over and over....and over.  It's usually followed up with "Yee dat??"  (Did you see that?).  He'll keep asking until you acknowledge that you saw what he did.

Yesterday morning though, it shone through that he has a big sister and is in touch with his feminine side.  He woke up in a rage at 4:45 AM demanding to watch "Yawbewwy Yort-cake" (Strawberry Shortcake) and to eat chicken nuggets.  I was not a happy mommy--it was a HUGE fit and TOO early.   So I am saving this mostly for revenge 14 years from now when he brings home his first date--I'll remember bring up how much he loved My Little Ponies and "Yawbewwy  Cake".

Scary

I took the kids to the mall a few days ago to buy Eva tap and ballet shoes.   There was a huge Spirit Halloween store set up in the entrance.  The kids loved it last year in the children's section, so I thought we'd go in a browse costumes, even though I'm set on saving money and trying to come up with my own.

Not a good idea to go in the store.  There was a scary display in the front that had both kids jump and plenty of bloody, dead looking things.  The store employees were pretty creepy themselves.

So we left after I was reassured that I don't want to spend $40 per costume, and we ran our other errands.

Chicken couldn't soon forget the scary Halloween store though; especially because we had to pass by it again on our way out.

The whole ride home he repeated like a broken record:

"Scary.  Hallloween.  Scary.  Halloween.  Scary.  Halloween.  Scary.  Halloween......"

The way he emphasizes his "L's" made it pretty cute.  "HaL-Loween"

But poor little guy. We still have a whole month's worth of Halloween.

Morning

Daddy and I almost always have a difficult time waking up in the morning.  The kids either wake up too early, or we stay up too "late" (if you call 10:00 late),  or most likely, it's a combination of both.  We also often have kids joining us in bed in the middle of the night or waking us up, preventing a restful sleep no matter when we fall asleep or wake up.  Sigh.  It never ends.

This morning as both kids were ramming and jumping on our barely moving bodies, they were chatting with each other (since neither of us were responding to their endless requests and questions).

Chicken:  Baby!
Edee:  I not a baby, I a yittah (little) big girl!!
Chicken:  Me big girl, too!

Daddy snorts a little.  This is the first sign to me that he's actually somewhat awake.

Edee:  No you not, Chicken!   You are a yittah stinker boy.
Chicken:  Yeah!!  Me 'tinky boy!!

That one had me laughing.

Edee: Yes, you are!  A stinky diaper boy!

And.....we're awake.  Another day of nonstop Edee and Chicken has begun.

Happy Family

There's a song we sing from church about loving each other and being a happy family.  The chorus simply goes:  "We are a happy family."  The kids are familiar with the song as it's sung at both church and home.

Chicken recently had a birthday, and looooooves singing the Birthday Song.  He's created a new version that he's been singing repeatedly the past few days to the tune.

"HAPPY WAM-WEE (family) TO YOU!  HAPPY WAM-WEE TO YOU!!"

I'm not going to lie; it's adorable.  He sings it so sweetly.

Gross

Chicken is pretty emphatic when he thinks something is gross.  He hates having his  hands messy and is always asking to "wahss hans" (wash hands) if his hands are dirty.

The other day Clayton found some remains of the previous meal on his hands.  I didn't manage to see it in time, but we hear the declaration of "EWWWW, GOSS!!  HAN!  GOSS HAN!!"  Before I was able to assist him, figuring he'd be begging to wash his hands soon, all the sudden he declared in the most matter-of-fact way, "Eat it," and the gross substance was gobble up.

It gave Daddy, Eddie and I a good laugh...though it was quite gross.