Cousin Love

I love that my children have lots of opportunities to see some of their cousins. We see those who live in Washington at least once a months, if not more. I grew up near all of my cousins, and many of them were and still are some of my best friends. I wish we could live by all of our children's cousins, but I am grateful that at least we can live near some of them.

Shortly after Braylin (Sarah's son) was born, I came to Washington for a few months to nanny for Sarah. I felt as though Sophie and Braylin were practically my own children. Since we have moved back to the area, Braylin and Atticus have developed a special bond.

My aunt comes over from time to time. She has a daughter about a year older than Netty. At first, Netty had a hard time sharing her Minnie Mouse tea set, but now the two girls love playing together.

Watch Me Grow

Netty is in full toddler mode. Every day is filled with uncontrollable laughing fits, temper tantrums, frustration at not being able to communicate, and pure joy with even the simplest things. And Netty's day is usually about the same.

Netty went potty in the potty chair twice a couple of months back, but she hasn't shown any interest since then. Some days I can talk her into wearing her "big girl panties" over her diaper, but she refuses to sit on the potty chair at all. Potty training tips are welcome! I want to get this little girl out of diapers!

A couple of weeks ago Netty had her first official time-out for hitting and kicking me when she didn't get her way. It didn't take her long to calm down, and she's only had one or two more time-outs since then.

She has suddenly become interested in setting the table. When we were at my aunt and uncle's house she unloaded the lids from their cupboard and set them around the table. She's also helped me set the table a few times. It's fun having a little helper!

Since I found out I was pregnant with Netty I have been waiting for the day to come when she would walk around the house in my shoes. Well, she's been walking around the house in someone's shoes all right. I just didn't think it would start with Jon's shoes.

At least she doesn't always try to grow up to quickly.....

Being Cool

People wear sunglasses.

Cool people wear sunglasses in the house. At 7:00 at night.

People wear pants.

Cool people wear pants below their butt.

Grandma's Birthday

 My grandma turned 84 in January, and we celebrated with two low-key birthday parties.

My uncle put the candles on the cake so as to not make Grandma feel self-conscious about her age.

Grandma received a present from a "friend" at church--someone whom Grandma has done a lot for and who acts ten years older than grandma even though she is younger. When Grandma opened the present, she found this "portrait" in a frame. "Eeeee," she said. "Is this really what I look like?" We laughed and laughed. I said, "If one of your grand or great-grandchildren drew this for you--" and she said, "I'd hang it up in the living room for everyone to see. I might hang this in the garage." It didn't even make it there. It's in Grandma's room facing the wall.

Seahawk Fever

Number one reason why it was the perfect time for our family to move to Seattle when we did? SEAHAWK SEASON! We watched the games at my sister Sarah's house, decked out each week in our best blue and green attire. We even wore blue and green to church on the Sunday of the NFC Championship and Super Bowl Sunday (see "Go Hawks!" post from January).

For one of the games, Sarah bought cupcakes with blue frosting. Netty had one. Or two. All over her body.

"Why won't anyone come near me?"

Braylin and Atticus on Super Bowl Sunday--I love these boys!

Sarah's Family's Half-Time Shot

Our Half-Time Shot

Another Snow Day

 A few weeks ago we had another snow day--the second since we moved to Washington! This time the snow was much deeper and the roads were slicker. Church was cancelled. And Netty and I were sick, so we couldn't even go out to play in it.

It was oh, so tempting, too!

How I miss the days of being sick of the snow...

Ferberizing Atticus, Part One

Too many long nights in a row and a trip down "Memory Lane" that is last year's blog post about Ferberizing Netty led me to my big decision that it is indeed time to Ferberize Atticus as well. I prepared myself. I kissed my sweet baby. I told him he was a good boy. And when I put him in the crib and tucked him in, that little twerp put his head down and was silent. He had one little bout of crying but didn't even make it through round 2 before putting himself to sleep.

And I had the gall to be emotional about not rocking him to sleep.

"Go Hawks!"

Over the next two weeks, our primary focus will be teaching Netty to say this. In case your Facebook news feed hasn't been filled with Seahawks propaganda, the Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl! Jon and I aren't big football fans, but that has started changing this season. We went to my sister's house yesterday after church for the big game. I debated how "12th Man" we'd be for church, and decided to just go for it. So we pulled out our best blue and green. And after my cousin posted to Facebook that her son was going to church in his Seahawks jersey ("because babies can get away with it"), we decided to let Netty wear her Seahawks dress. We received many compliments. 

My 12th Men

Go Hawks!

The Girls

Tech Babies

While at my aunt and uncle's house for a party, Netty started watching her favorite show, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, on Papa's laptop.

Yesterday evening we were trying to keep Atticus awake so he would go to bed at a decent hour. Before long, we couldn't keep him awake any longer. He fell asleep for an hour and then woke up for two more hours. Jon and I turned on MASH, and Atticus was immediately enthralled.

Johnny Jump Up

Atticus is too young to be a copycat. Instead, Netty wants to do everything Atticus does. Often we have to make Netty give toys back to Atticus that she has taken away from him. So when we got out the Johnny Jump Up and put Atticus in it, Netty thought she needed a turn.

Atticus wasn't sure about the Johnny Jump Up at first.

Once it looked like Atticus was having a good time, Netty decided she needed a turn as well.

"So, what am I supposed to do in this thing?"

"Yeah, this isn't fun."