Never a Dull Moment

Whew! I'm finally finding a minute to sit down and do a post! The kids keep me hopping, both are like full blown tornados whirling through the house, starting from the minute they wake up! They start the day at a full gallop...where as, given my choice, I'd have a slower paced morning. But nope, before my feet can even hit the ground I'm assaulted with questions and demands... "Mom! It's morning! Get up! The sun is shining! I'm hungry! Will you make my brekspis? What's taking you so long? Can we do a project? Are we going anywhere today? Can I watch TV?" And Noah, yelling "MOM!" from his crib. Meanwhile, I kind of grunt in response, get Noah out, shuffle into the kitchen and try to down some coffee and convince Bree she needs to eat breakfast before anything else. And, while Noah is less verbal, he still gets in on the act. He'll grunt at me and grab my hand and lead me to the kitchen and point to the pantry, or point to the fruit bowl and say "ba-ba" (banana).

Noah's really growing like a weed and is learning and doing new things left and right. He's also becoming such a boy! For example, some of his most frequently used words are: stuck, help, ew, and ow if that gives you any clues to his daily activities. Not to mention, he's also discovered that essentially male thing, peeing standing up... it was after bath time one day and after I wrapped him in his towel, he immediately took off down the hall. I wrapped Bree in her towel and then went to grab Noah and get him dressed. When I reached him though, there he was in the buff standing next to a little puddle. "Noah," I said, "did you make that puddle?" His response? He bent his knees a little and stuck out his hips in an unmistakable pose. I guess they catch onto that pretty young.

Noah's also decidedly male in his social interactions...he's the classic little brother. Brianna builds the blocks, Noah likes to topple them. Brianna wants to play imaginary stories, Noah just wants to wrestle her. He likes playing cars and yelling.

He's just a little busybody, and is getting into everything! He really thinks he's a big boy and should get to do everything his sister and parents do. It seems like I'm always following him around trying to stop him from doing something he shouldn't like: dipping wash cloths into the toilet and scrubbing things with them, climbing onto the top of the couch, reaching through the passthru into the kitchen and playing with the faucet, or chasing the cats down and trying to brush their teeth.

He also continues his odd love affair with coffee. He'll watch me closely to see if I leave a cup within his reach and then, pow! the minute I'm not looking he slurps up what's left in the bottom of cup. One time, I even caught him dipping his tooth brush into my coffee and brushing his teeth with it!

Of course, Brianna's keeps me hopping too in her own way and keeps on finding new things to say that keep me laughing and/or scratching my head, like telling me I had bought an "unusual yogurt flavor" (I'd gotten boysenberry instead of the usual strawberry), or, while playing Playstation exclaiming, "I've got skills!"

No wonder I drink a lot of coffee! It's my only defense! Although, I do have a secret weapon lately. When I need a break I've been popping in a Laurie Berkner DVD. It's great because it's all kids' music and it's catchy. Whenever I put it on both kids are immediately dancing away. So it's great, I get a break and a show while I'm resting.

So you see, my life was full and busy enough with 2 kids, but adding a puppy to the mix has made it even more crazy! Actually, we're really enjoying our Niko though. He's starting to learn his puppy manners, sitting and coming on command. And he's fitting in quite nicely, although, the cats still remain skeptical about him, but they've at least reached a live and let live type arrangement. Yes, so far the benefits of dog ownership are really worth it, although, Niko's influence on Noah is a bit questionable. These days Noah is often crawling along the floor, playing puppy, and has started just walking up and licking people... I dunno.