Great Expectations

I wouldn't quite say that I am filled with "great" expectations when coming home for a visit. But there are definitely things that I expect. This time my expectations have been exceeded.

1. I expected to be freezing cold within 10 minutes of entering my parents house. I did not expect my dad to keep the thermostat at 70 after I put it there. Thanks Dad.
2. I expected to see the new carpet my parents recently had put in. I did not expect to see that my parents take their shoes off everytime they go from the linoleum to the carpet, and slip them back on each time they go from the carpet to the linoleum. Somewhat reminiscent of the placement of towels on the new cars' floorboards.
3. I expected for Jane to be excited to see Papa. I did not expect Jack to cry at the mere sight of him.
4. I expected to see a dozen or so love notes lying around that my parents have written each other. I did not expect to see one addressed to "Boo Boo" from "Boo Bee".
5. I expected to see some wild turkey or deer in the woods behind my parents house. I did not expect to see two dead deer on the road to church.
6. I expected Jane to miss being able to put on dress-up dresses. I did not expect her to get so desperate as to go through the motions of putting on a dress and then annouce, "I'm wearing a dress" while twirling around.
7. I expected to have a good time while visiting. I did not expect to dread having to go back to doing my own cooking and cleaning again.

Well, two more weeks of slacking off. Two more weeks of Jane following Papa around. Two more weeks of crafting. Yes, I said crafting. That's probably a shock to some. I haven't "created" in a very long time. But I'm taking advantage of my mom's sewing machine and making some very small and imperfect gifts for Jack and Jane.

Thankfully Jack has sinced warmed up to Papa and now gives his smiles out freely. And luckily for Jane her cousin Aubrey came to play and brought 2 dresses! Good thinking Sara!

My itty bitty 5 month old

It's been a pretty quiet month for Jack. His biggest accomplishment was sleeping eleven straight hours. He did that twice. Then we finally moved Jane back into her room that she now shares with Jack. At that point, of course, Jack started waking up for two feedings again. But that's okay. After a week of madness, Jane is now sleeping through almost all of his crying.

Jack is so sweet. He likes it when we hold him so he can stand up a little. I love it most when he's standing on my lap looking at me with a big, closed-mouthed, spit-bubbled grin, while doing his wobbly baby-shake dance. Yeah, I'm sure you can't quite get a mental picture of that. But hopefully in fifteen years it will still bring it back to my recollection.

Jack also loves to sleep with his head wedged into the corner of the crib. I think that cribs give babies super powers. I have only seen him move a little to the side every now and then. But somehow in his crib he manages to get to the top of his crib and into the corner every night?

Jane has been very loving to Jack this month. She likes to hug him and say, "I love my brother." Well, sometimes she says she loves her sister, but we're working on that.

He's going on his first plane ride tomorrow. Jane, Jack and I are going to be in Missouri for 3 weeks. I think Jane is going to miss her Daddy terribly. But we're looking forward to a good trip.

Jane-isms

It's pretty much just me and the kids here right now. Never a break. Unless you count the times I go into the bathroom, lock the door, and take a 5 minute breather while Jane pounds on the door screaming and crying.

So what's really on my mind are the things I would really love for Jane to stop saying. Matt thinks they're cute. But that must be because he hears them about 5% as many times as I do. But let's admit, when these days are over I'll miss hearing her say this stuff.

1. "Oh, no! Now I'll NEVER...." This is said in a very pathetic whiney fake-cryey voice EVERY TIME I tell her she can't do something. "Can I go outside?" "Maybe after nap." "Oh, no! Now I'll NEVER go outside!"
2. "Oh, no! You're not my best friend anymore." Said in the same voice as above EVERY TIME she gets in trouble for something. "Don't pour water out of the tub." (pours water) "Do it one more time and you're getting out." (pours water) And when I sound frustrated and at my wits end, "Ok, get out!" Jane says, "Oh, no! You're not my best friend anymore!" But she doesn't mean she doesn't want to be MY best friend. She means, because I am "mad" at her I must not be her best friend. I have tried on many occasions to explain to my little 3 year old that I am her best friend AND her mommy, and mommies get to tell their kids when they're in trouble. I have gotten so tired of hearing her say this particular one that I just started a rule that if she says it she goes on time out.
3. Anything in repeat mode. What is it with kids and repeating stuff? In the car the other day I swear I heard "I want water" no less than a hundred times. It drives me out of my mind!!!!

I've heard that 3 is the most magical age of childhood. Meaning that children pretend play most at the age of three. For Jane it has definitely rung true. In fact, I don't think there's much time in her day where she isn't pretending something. And she certainly is never just quiet.
*While at a visit to the dermatologist for Jack's hemangioma Jane had her dog Valentino. She was talking up a storm with the nurse and doctor, and of course, with Valentino. Valentino needed a shot, you see, but he was scared, but she told him it would only hurt a little bit, and that he would get a band-aid. After acting out the steps of giving him a shot, getting a band-aid, opening the band-aid and putting the band-aid on Valentino the nurse said, "do you want a band-aid for him?" and got a small one out of a drawer. Jane seemed like she wanted to tell the nurse, "Come on lady, didn't you see he already has one?" and said, "No, I already have a PRETEND band-aid." The doctor asked me, "When she finally goes to sleep do your ears just keep ringing?"
*When Jane eats at the table and no one is in there with her she usually talks to one of her stuffed animal friends. One day I came in and saw there were no friends with her. I asked who she was talking to and she told me she was talking to Amy. Other times she'll have her hands talking back and forth or her markers, whatever she can find.
*Sometimes Matt will play "Friends Galore" with Jane in the morning. That means that Jane lines up all of her stuffed animals and Matt talks for them telling Jane what they want. "I need a banana." "I need a bath." "I want candy" etc. It is hilarious to watch her act out each step of the process: opening the cupboard, getting down the candy basket, picking out a candy, opening the candy.
*At times the excessive pretending can really get in the way. Like when I was in a hurry to get her something to eat because Jack was crying, but I just HAD to feed the birdie first! I kept trying to ask Jane what she wanted, but I had to finally give in and ask birdie what he wanted.

Thanks to an awesome little episode of Sid the Science Kid Jane is all about being healthy these days. She likes to run and jump around then feel her heartbeat. When it's beating fast she'll say, "I'm exercising!" And she always asks me if what she's eating is healthy. Today she got a sucker and said, "Oh no! I'm not eating healthy!"

Twice this month Jane has been mistaken for a boy. One time she was wearing a green shirt and had frizzy hair. I'll forgive that one. But what about the time she had on a pink bow and pink Dora boots?

Sometimes when Jane talks about when she was a baby she'll say, "When I was a Jack..."

Jane has started to say "Don't bite me!" when Matt and I get stern with her. And she acts genuinely afraid of that prospect. But we have never bitten her, threatened to bite her, or anything!

Just like her daddy Jane came up with her own pun tonight. While eating edamame she started calling me edamommy and thought she was very clever.

Instead of I don't know she says, "I can't know."

She was doing a worksheet where she circled all the things that she could touch. Chair, ball, moon, cereal, stars, etc. They were all circled. I said, "Hmmm... can you touch the moon and stars?" She said, "When I'm a fairy and can fly I can touch the moon and stars." Touche'

At the beginning of the month she was calling jack-o-lanterns "Jack-o-weens" like a cross between jack-o-lantern and Halloween. It was too cute to correct. Eventually it started to morph into Jack-o-leenard.

After getting a dress-up dress on Jane told me, "I'm a princess because Heavenly Father loves me."

One Sunday afternoon I tried to take a nap with Jane. She kept talking and talking and moving and playing and I kept asking her to stop. Eventually I got fed up and told her to just get out. Well, Matt had earlier told her to stay in the room, so she was really upset. She said, "But, but, but, both big kids will be mad at me! Now I don't have a best friend!"

Don't worry Jane. In just a few years it will be me and dad that are sad we're not YOU'RE best friend anymore!

No real pictures without my blogtographer, but here's a pic of Jane at 4 months. Quite a different head shape than Jack, wouldn't you say?

Halloween

Matt's sister Tammy sent us a Halloween package. In it there was a window cling: a black fractured skull with fangs. I thought there was no way I'd be able to put that up without Jane becoming unnerved. But I did it anyway. And each day Jane would greet him like she greets all of her friends--in a loving, cooing voice. She also loved playing with her little plastic skeletons. So we practiced putting bones together to make our own skeletons. Here's her adorable version:

We also made our family out of tiny pumpkins:


All week Jane has been wanting to play trick or treating. We'd take turns knocking on a door and pretending to give out candy. She was so excited! She was also insanely excited to wear the balloons that were part of her costume. When will I ever learn not to tell her something exciting is coming up? She couldn't help but wake up all week asking if she could go trick-or-treating yet.

Luckily I was able to convince Matt to take an hour off work to meet us in Sandy and take some pics of our kids. Everyone in our own neighborhood seems to be getting the flu or the swine flu anyway so I was more than happy to not go knocking on those germ infested doors. Here's our kids in their gear:


Watch out for that tail!



After the photo shoot the big moment had finally arrived. After the first few houses she kept saying, "I want to go to another house." Just as I suspected. So then imagine my surprise after only about 6 or 7 houses when Jane announced. "I'm done." Julie talked her into a couple more houses and then I gave her the option of getting more candy or going back to Julie's. She chose going back. At the house she dumped out her paltry amount of candy just as she had seen in a book. She ate a few pieces and then got distracted. Julie told her to pick out some more candy from their bowl. She took 3 Laffy Taffy's and 2 Jolly Ranchers. Then she took about 5 pieces of her own candy and tossed them into Julie's bowl. Jane really didn't understand the true meaning of Halloween.


Hopefully she had fun even if she didn't get us a month's supply of candy.