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September 29, 2007
Overheard: Gus and Evie
Evie: [approaches Gus, very closely, coming in for a kiss]
Gus: [steps back] "No, I don't want a kiss!"
Evie: "But Gus, I love you!"
Gus: [walks up to me] "I don't want her to kiss me.]
Evie: [walks up to me, beaming, full-faced grin] "I LOVE Gus!"
I wonder if he would have been willing to take the love given had he not had a fever... which we discovered when we got home. Good thing there was no kissie kissie.
Posted by janna at 09:53 PM | Comments (1)
Eli's 19 months old
As if it weren't already official, it is now REALLY official that I live with three boys. What has pushed us to the official official point?
One box of mac and cheese is no longer enough for our family. Next time we have to move to two.
So now I wonder, how long will two sustain us? And how much food will I really be buying when I have a 12 and 14 year old in the house? [Oh my god, I will have teenagers?? Seriously? You mean I'm not just playing house with little kids? Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a dream because I often feel like a 12 year old myself, just playing grown up.]
No more baby portions for Eli. He's is SO a toddler now, in every sense. He has raging tantrums at times, where he will gladly try to throw himself out of your arms as you walk up the stairs; and he skillfully and appropriately uses the words 'mine' and 'no'. While he may fit the stereotype to a T at times, he also is defining his own being outside of it. Eli is beyond snuggly, nuzzling into my neck on any free occasion; he often shares toys with Gus without any outside request to do so; and he loves to clean, which I'm trying to encourage and maintain until he's old enough to do stuff on his own [wishful thinking?].
I need to videotape him in action, as I can't possibly describe his sweet voice [nor his dinosaur growls] with any justice. I think we have a joke-teller on our hands, as he seems to be able to crack himself up throughout the day. Can't wait to know what he's actually saying to himself, because sometimes I just hear him say, "Mama...
I blink, a month goes by, and Eli has grown.
Posted by janna at 09:15 PM | Comments (1)
Face painted
Posted by janna at 01:36 PM
September 26, 2007
Gus in my favorite tree in the whole world
Indianola, Iowa, purple beech.
Posted by janna at 11:52 AM | Comments (0)
September 25, 2007
12 stairs + 5 hours + 3 stiches = TOUGH GUS.
Sunday night, 6 pm.
John, Eli and I are upstairs. Gus is on his way up from the basement. We hear two thuds, then a scream. We run to the stairs to see Gus at the bottom, bleeding from his head. John gets to him and immediately said, "Stitches, let's go." We are out of the house in under 60 seconds. All four of us.
Gus was really drowsy at first, which worried us, but after five hours of waiting, he was finally seen and suffered bravely through novacaine injections and sutures. His goal all along was to get a bag of M&Ms, which he promptly broke into at 11:00 pm. About five M&Ms in, I mentioned he could fall asleep and he was out.
It wasn't until the next day that I found out (through a verbal and almost physical re-enactment of the scene by Gus) that he was literally at the second to last stair at the top when he decided to jump up to the top. It didn't work. He fell down the whole set. I am more freaked out now about it all then I was at the time because now I realize how bad it could have been. So thankful.
Posted by janna at 10:24 PM | Comments (2)
September 22, 2007
Wanted: words
Elias is now 18 months, almost 19, in fact, and he is on the raging path of independence. Since Gus has been doing quite a bit on his own for while now, Eli is demanding the same rights and freedoms, at any cost.
Case in point: Gus now makes his own breakfast. While I stand and supervise, Gus takes his waffle out of the freezer, pops it in the toaster, gets his plate, the syrup, and other needs out and ready by himself. This avoids the inevitable 'you did it wrong' scenario. Eli wants the same opportunity, and while I try to give it to him as much as possible, he still isn't allowed to stick his fingers in the toaster (I'm such a hard-ass, I realize).
These moments are beyond frustrating for Eli. Not only have I stopped the electrocuting, I also am not understanding his screaming babbles laced with tears. It is in these moments that I say, "C'mon language!" We need language now more than ever. It is coming, more and more everyday, but I'm looking for that magic switch that might make our mornings just a wee bit easier.
Posted by janna at 01:53 PM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2007
garden of eden
Also known as Indianola, Iowa.
Posted by janna at 10:02 PM | Comments (1)
September 14, 2007
the power of language... or lack thereof
We're a wordy bunch these days. Complex sentences spill from Gustav's mouth, as if someone suddenly uploaded the advanced thought disk into his hard drive. He now has a wonderful ability to talk about abstract issues, such as feelings and how our words can impact others, how do babies come out (argh!), and where the heck does YOUR pee pee come from, Mama (oh god, now I have to be anatomically correct?).
He has the memory of his father, with the uncanny ability to remember the smallest of details, even a year out. At our block party last weekend, half-way through the day Gus asks, 'Where are the water balloons?" There had been no mention of it from us, but he had remembered, from when he was 2 1/2, that there were water balloons. Perhaps he was scarred by the event of a water balloon bursting all over his then-baby brother's head.
He also is keenly interested in the stories we tell, wanting to hear about our days more than wanting to tell us of his. These do not need to be fantastical stories... the more mundane, the better. I literally recount my steps, and he stores every word as data. If I mention a co-worker one day, he will remember their name several days later. These are not people he know in flesh, but only in the world of his mind. I went to a gathering of other local folks who do the same kind of work I do on Wednesday night. Gus waited for me to get home, and I told him about who I was with, one of them being Frank. Then last night, I told him I had a meeting with some people at work, and he said, "With Frank?" I was so surprised, I had only mentioned Frank to Gus the one time. Then suddenly he asks, "Is he the same Frank at Papa's school?" Oh, he was remembering John's teacher he briefly met THREE WEEKS ago. I said, "No, but wow, Gus, you remember things like your Papa."
"Yeah," he said nonchalantly. "I remember his yellow shirt, too."
Showoff.
Posted by janna at 06:32 AM | Comments (0)
September 09, 2007
Dude, you're picking my nose
I laid down with Eli tonight on his tiny toddler bed, in the hopes that he would fall asleep... giving me permission to fall asleep, too. I didn't care that I was cramped.
As we were snuggled in together, I with my eyes closed so as to induce a sleepy stupor in my child, I suddenly was awaken by a little finger up my nose.
It must have been an accident, I thought. There's no way he would do that deliberately (somehow ignoring the giggling that ensued from Eli after I pulled his finger out).
Then he did it again, his full-belly laugh guiding his inquisitive finger to the right location. Because of the smallness of said finger, its reach was far.
How can nose-picking be hysterical to a 1 1/2 year old already?
Posted by janna at 12:29 AM | Comments (1)
September 03, 2007
this photo cracks me up for so many reasons.
Posted by janna at 11:38 PM | Comments (0)