Alex bit my shoulder today. We were wrestling in the hallway and he just decided to chomp down on my shoulder. He was really funny today, well for most of the day. After he woke up from his nap he seemed really sick. Melinda came upstairs to take care of him when she heard him wake up. He didn’t stop crying, though, until she called me up to hold him. He laid down on my shoulder and calmed down. It was sweet for me, but sad for Melinda, since she wants to be the one to take care of the kids when they are sick. She keeps waiting for the day that I will get sick, excited to take care of me when it happens.
Abby is very smart. Melinda read with her an eye spy book this evening and she found all of the items by herself (except the star that was scribbled on). I was very impressed. She also talks very well; complete sentences and thoughtful, personal expression.
Abby was once asking Melinda to watch a movie. She wanted to watch Snow White, but she said ‘Whow Snite’. It was funny.
Melinda has decided that she wants to have another baby. We were talking about this in Abby’s room where the kid’s were playing. When Melinda exclaimed, “I want another baby,” Abby went over to her bed, grabbed her baby doll and came over and gave it to Melinda saying, “Here you go mommy.” It was touching to Melinda and surprising to both of us that she had been paying attention to our conversation.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Around Halloween
Abby was an angel for Halloween. Melinda bought her dress almost a month early. Abby would ask to wear it frequently. When Halloween finally came she got her wear her ‘rella dress’ she was determined not to take it off. She cried and screamed when Melinda tried to take it off after we got done tricking or treating. We went up to the neighborhood in Sandy and went from the Saxey’s down to the end of the street to the south, then back up on the opposite side until we cut back to Mom’s house. We decided to let her wear it home. She agreed to take it off to go to bed, but had to put it back on first thing next morning. She wore it all that day and because I put her to bed that night I let her wear it to bed as well. Unfortunately, the fabric of the dress gave her a rash which was especially bad on her back and chest. We thought it might have been an outbreak of eczema, but narrowed it down to an allergic reaction to the dress because the outbreak coincided with Halloween.
One night, after we had got Abby to bed and turned our attention to Alex, we couldn’t find him. We had ruled out the downstairs because the light was off. Eventually I decided to go down and check and I found him sitting at Melinda’s desk looking at the computer. Her monitor was the only light in the room. He had made his way across the toy covered floor just to sit and ‘work’ on her computer.
Just yesterday while I was at Halo night with Robby Clayton, Melinda and the kids were watching Pride and Prejudice. Alex really enjoyed it and sat on Melinda’s lap entirely focused on the movie. He especially enjoyed the dancing scenes and excitedly pointed at the screen and got down to dance around himself.
At some time Abby let one rip, ‘cut the cheese’ then smiled a silly grin. Melinda told her to say excuse me. She refused saying, ‘No, Abby’s funny”
Alex is usually the first one up in the morning. He comes and plays around in our room and on our bed for awhile until I get up with him to get him his breakfast. The other day while he was sitting in his chair and waiting for me to get his bowl he points to Abby’s empty chair next to him and says, “Abba?” That’s the way he says her name. He understands almost everything we say to him and he is quickly learning how to talk. Lately he response to everything you say by answering, “What?”
Alex still really likes Yager. He tends to get rough with him and wrestles or squishes him. Yager doesn’t seem to mind. Melinda tells me that the other day he tried to eat Yager’s tail. He immediately stuck his tongue out and tried to spit the hair off his tongue. Melinda helped him get it off and he finally calmed down.
One night, after we had got Abby to bed and turned our attention to Alex, we couldn’t find him. We had ruled out the downstairs because the light was off. Eventually I decided to go down and check and I found him sitting at Melinda’s desk looking at the computer. Her monitor was the only light in the room. He had made his way across the toy covered floor just to sit and ‘work’ on her computer.
Just yesterday while I was at Halo night with Robby Clayton, Melinda and the kids were watching Pride and Prejudice. Alex really enjoyed it and sat on Melinda’s lap entirely focused on the movie. He especially enjoyed the dancing scenes and excitedly pointed at the screen and got down to dance around himself.
At some time Abby let one rip, ‘cut the cheese’ then smiled a silly grin. Melinda told her to say excuse me. She refused saying, ‘No, Abby’s funny”
Alex is usually the first one up in the morning. He comes and plays around in our room and on our bed for awhile until I get up with him to get him his breakfast. The other day while he was sitting in his chair and waiting for me to get his bowl he points to Abby’s empty chair next to him and says, “Abba?” That’s the way he says her name. He understands almost everything we say to him and he is quickly learning how to talk. Lately he response to everything you say by answering, “What?”
Alex still really likes Yager. He tends to get rough with him and wrestles or squishes him. Yager doesn’t seem to mind. Melinda tells me that the other day he tried to eat Yager’s tail. He immediately stuck his tongue out and tried to spit the hair off his tongue. Melinda helped him get it off and he finally calmed down.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
I can't like it
I stayed home with both of the kids today because they both have runny noses and coughs. They had Cheerios for breakfast, which is one of their favorites. Abby is very particular about which color bowl she gets. I let her choose because Alex doesn’t care. After I set the bowl down in front of Alex he takes his index finger and touches the bottom of his bowl, and grunts. After I pour the cereal in, he’s so excited to eat that he doesn’t even wait for the milk, but grabs the spoon and digs in. Most of the Cheerios just fall on the spoon before they make it to his mouth because there is no milk to hold them in place. Abby complains to me that Alex is eating his cereal without milk. Lol. When I bring the milk over, Alex points to it, then points back to his bowl. It’s so funny that he likes to tell me how to do it. They both usually eat one full, though miniature bowl. They make much bigger messes if you leave the room and one or both of their bowls end up on the floor.
After breakfast I got them dressed and made a tent for them in Alex’s room. I wanted to have a minute to get ready for they day. Abby played in the tent for awhile, but Alex was more interested in following me around. I think that’s one of his favorite things to do. He is my little shadow whenever I’m around. Melinda complains that I always set him on the counter. The reason I do is because whenever I am in the kitchen he comes on hangs on my legs. If I pick him up and put him on the counter, then he’s content and my hands are free. I think he likes to be involved in the action. Neither he nor Abby likes to be left out.
Abby especially. If Alex has found something fun to play with, then she wants to play with it to. However, I think Abby, being older, has a more developed sense of imagination. Today, for example, after the tent, I sat them both down at the table to play with Play-Dough. The cans were both new so the play-dough came out in one solid cylinder. They were content to play with it just like that for awhile. Abby finally broke off a corner and the first thing she made was a snake. Alex soon demolished his piece, being more aggressive and less artistic than Abby. Later I took most of Alex’s clay and made a long snake, rolling it out on the table. Alex caught on right away and started rolling pieces out with his hand. Abby wanted to do it too so I showed her how and she became more proficient than Alex. Abby took it a step further and made herself and ring, without any help from me at all. Then she asked me for help making a bracelet. Then she wanted a ring and bracelet for the other hand. She was quite content to sit there for sometime admiring her new jewelry. When she saw Alex and I rolling a dough ball back and forth across the table, she wanted to join in so she took her jewelry off and wanted me to make her a ball so she could play too.
Melinda had some kind of 24 hour flu last week. She spent some time in the bathroom hovering over the toilet. Abby went in to see her once and found her in that condition and went right up to her and gently rubbed her head. “Mommy sick?” she asked. Melinda asked her what Alex was doing so she went out to check on him. On leaving the bathroom, she grabbed the doorknob and whispered, “Door open or shut?” Melinda asked her to leave it open, “Ok” she replied. This was repeated when she got to the bedroom door. The next thing Melinda heard was “Alex, no!” Then Abby came back to report that Alex was playing. I’m amazed and how sensitive and in tune she is to what’s going on.
Lately she has been making a very cute grammatical error. The first time we heard it was when Melinda was giving her some V8 juice to try. As she put the cup up to her mouth and caught the smell she instantly replied “I can’t like it”. She said the same thing just the other day while I was spinning Abby and Alex around in my office chair. After a surprisingly long time of enjoying our home made carnival ride, spinning round and round, Abby finally said, “Dad, I can’t like it”, and wanted to get off. I set her down and off she went towards the door, stumbling back and forth until she crashed and hit her elbow on the bookcase. Alex was having trouble too, so I grabbed them both and carried them upstairs.
Alex was just sitting on my lap and starting picking his nose. He found what he was looking for and pulled out a booger. He looked at it and I asked him what he was going to do with it. In his Alex voice he says “I dunno” and after looking around and rolling it up on his finger he decided to put it back in his nose. He kept trying, but it wouldn’t stay in, so we got him a wipe and he wiped it off the back of his hand and then wiped his nose and went and threw it in the garbage like his mommy asked.
Melinda noted that she tried to wipe Abby’s nose with a wipe the other day and she wouldn’t use the wipe, but insisted on using a tissue for such purposes.
In the car driving down to Becky and Rob Claytons, Melinda and the kids came down serperately and Abby said, “mommy, sing?” Melinda sang Abby’s requests, singing “Eyes” and poppins. She likes to ask Melinda to sing “rella” for Cinderella or ‘Poppins” for Mary Poppins. When Melinda finished singing, she said, “Mommy, Thank you, so pretty” and stared out the window. Melinda will play music for them from her computer when they are downstairs. If Abby is in the mood for ‘poppins’ she won’t let Melinda play anything else. As soon as the song is over and goes to the next song, she says, “no, mommy, poppins”.
Abby’s princess dress
Alex sitting in the dark downstairs at Melinda’s computer
Abby’s Fart
Alex eating the cat’s tail
Alex asking for Abby at breakfast
Always saying what
Abby’s Dresses
After breakfast I got them dressed and made a tent for them in Alex’s room. I wanted to have a minute to get ready for they day. Abby played in the tent for awhile, but Alex was more interested in following me around. I think that’s one of his favorite things to do. He is my little shadow whenever I’m around. Melinda complains that I always set him on the counter. The reason I do is because whenever I am in the kitchen he comes on hangs on my legs. If I pick him up and put him on the counter, then he’s content and my hands are free. I think he likes to be involved in the action. Neither he nor Abby likes to be left out.
Abby especially. If Alex has found something fun to play with, then she wants to play with it to. However, I think Abby, being older, has a more developed sense of imagination. Today, for example, after the tent, I sat them both down at the table to play with Play-Dough. The cans were both new so the play-dough came out in one solid cylinder. They were content to play with it just like that for awhile. Abby finally broke off a corner and the first thing she made was a snake. Alex soon demolished his piece, being more aggressive and less artistic than Abby. Later I took most of Alex’s clay and made a long snake, rolling it out on the table. Alex caught on right away and started rolling pieces out with his hand. Abby wanted to do it too so I showed her how and she became more proficient than Alex. Abby took it a step further and made herself and ring, without any help from me at all. Then she asked me for help making a bracelet. Then she wanted a ring and bracelet for the other hand. She was quite content to sit there for sometime admiring her new jewelry. When she saw Alex and I rolling a dough ball back and forth across the table, she wanted to join in so she took her jewelry off and wanted me to make her a ball so she could play too.
Melinda had some kind of 24 hour flu last week. She spent some time in the bathroom hovering over the toilet. Abby went in to see her once and found her in that condition and went right up to her and gently rubbed her head. “Mommy sick?” she asked. Melinda asked her what Alex was doing so she went out to check on him. On leaving the bathroom, she grabbed the doorknob and whispered, “Door open or shut?” Melinda asked her to leave it open, “Ok” she replied. This was repeated when she got to the bedroom door. The next thing Melinda heard was “Alex, no!” Then Abby came back to report that Alex was playing. I’m amazed and how sensitive and in tune she is to what’s going on.
Lately she has been making a very cute grammatical error. The first time we heard it was when Melinda was giving her some V8 juice to try. As she put the cup up to her mouth and caught the smell she instantly replied “I can’t like it”. She said the same thing just the other day while I was spinning Abby and Alex around in my office chair. After a surprisingly long time of enjoying our home made carnival ride, spinning round and round, Abby finally said, “Dad, I can’t like it”, and wanted to get off. I set her down and off she went towards the door, stumbling back and forth until she crashed and hit her elbow on the bookcase. Alex was having trouble too, so I grabbed them both and carried them upstairs.
Alex was just sitting on my lap and starting picking his nose. He found what he was looking for and pulled out a booger. He looked at it and I asked him what he was going to do with it. In his Alex voice he says “I dunno” and after looking around and rolling it up on his finger he decided to put it back in his nose. He kept trying, but it wouldn’t stay in, so we got him a wipe and he wiped it off the back of his hand and then wiped his nose and went and threw it in the garbage like his mommy asked.
Melinda noted that she tried to wipe Abby’s nose with a wipe the other day and she wouldn’t use the wipe, but insisted on using a tissue for such purposes.
In the car driving down to Becky and Rob Claytons, Melinda and the kids came down serperately and Abby said, “mommy, sing?” Melinda sang Abby’s requests, singing “Eyes” and poppins. She likes to ask Melinda to sing “rella” for Cinderella or ‘Poppins” for Mary Poppins. When Melinda finished singing, she said, “Mommy, Thank you, so pretty” and stared out the window. Melinda will play music for them from her computer when they are downstairs. If Abby is in the mood for ‘poppins’ she won’t let Melinda play anything else. As soon as the song is over and goes to the next song, she says, “no, mommy, poppins”.
Abby’s princess dress
Alex sitting in the dark downstairs at Melinda’s computer
Abby’s Fart
Alex eating the cat’s tail
Alex asking for Abby at breakfast
Always saying what
Abby’s Dresses
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Catch Up
Time to play catch up.
Melinda went to Wal-Mart one day and bought a new bra. Later at home when Abby saw the box sitting out in our bedroom she asked, “Mommy, you buy pillows?” Pillows is how she refers to Melinda’s breasts.
Abby has taken to calling her brother by his full name, especially when she is mad at him. But even in normal conversation, the routine goes that Abby will say, “Alex Shane” and he will reply, “What?” It’s really cute.
Alex has been trying to talk a lot more lately. He’s gone from repeating the last word of a sentence to trying to say the whole thing. It’s not really anywhere close, but you can tell he is trying. Just last night I was reading him a book before going to bed. He would open up to the title page and I would read, “My Baby Elephant.” He could say ‘my’ and ‘baby’ pretty well. Then he would close the book and say, “All done”. “All done?” I would ask. “More!” would come the answer and he would open up to the first page again. We must have repeated that conversation 10 times.
Melinda has nicknamed Alex BooBoo, due to his clumsy nature. I joke that he will have to go into the arts or something. It’s might be partially true because he seems to enjoy music a lot more than Abby does. He loves to hear Melinda sing and he loves to dance to music. When Abby was younger she always enjoyed being the conductor and waving her arms around whenever there was music playing. Anyway, Alex has the tendency to run into walls, trip on the carpet in the middle of the room, or one day, when he had it really bad, he fell down Poppy’s porch stairs in the back and then later fell out of the back seat of the truck, landing both times on his head and getting two nice bruises. He is almost close to jumping, or he’s at least getting the idea down. Abby likes to jump off the couch or Granpa Lazear’s footstool. Alex tries to copy her, but just ends up stepping right off the edge, and belly flopping onto the ground. We put a pillow or something soft in front of him, and surprisingly, he enjoys it, even when he does it without the pillow. He has figures out how to walk backwards, which was really cute the first time he did it.
Abby has become proficient at distraction. She will do it now if Melinda’s trying to talk to her about bad behavior by trying to point at something in the room of just completely change the conversation. She practices distraction when we are trying to get her to go to sleep at night too. “I want apple juice” (Which usually sounds like she is saying, ‘Abby juice’). After tasting the apple juice she will say, “I want chocolate milk” (Which sounds like ‘Cot-ik-milk’). After getting her preferred beverage she then asks for her purse. Recently she has been trying to figure out ‘off’ and ‘on’. She has it backwards. “Turn the light off”, she says when we go into her room. She has figured out boy and girl really well. She knows that Daddy wears a tie. When we put a little clip on tie on Alex one Sunday, she really wanted to wear a tie as well. That was the first lesson, that boys wear ties and girls where dresses. The second such lesson came when she learned that boys wear pants and girls wear skirts. The other night she asked me, “Is Kyah a girl or a boy?” “Kyah is a girl and Parker is a boy”, I replied. “OK”, was her understanding answer. She added, “Alex is a boy. Abby is a girl.”
Melinda went to Wal-Mart one day and bought a new bra. Later at home when Abby saw the box sitting out in our bedroom she asked, “Mommy, you buy pillows?” Pillows is how she refers to Melinda’s breasts.
Abby has taken to calling her brother by his full name, especially when she is mad at him. But even in normal conversation, the routine goes that Abby will say, “Alex Shane” and he will reply, “What?” It’s really cute.
Alex has been trying to talk a lot more lately. He’s gone from repeating the last word of a sentence to trying to say the whole thing. It’s not really anywhere close, but you can tell he is trying. Just last night I was reading him a book before going to bed. He would open up to the title page and I would read, “My Baby Elephant.” He could say ‘my’ and ‘baby’ pretty well. Then he would close the book and say, “All done”. “All done?” I would ask. “More!” would come the answer and he would open up to the first page again. We must have repeated that conversation 10 times.
Melinda has nicknamed Alex BooBoo, due to his clumsy nature. I joke that he will have to go into the arts or something. It’s might be partially true because he seems to enjoy music a lot more than Abby does. He loves to hear Melinda sing and he loves to dance to music. When Abby was younger she always enjoyed being the conductor and waving her arms around whenever there was music playing. Anyway, Alex has the tendency to run into walls, trip on the carpet in the middle of the room, or one day, when he had it really bad, he fell down Poppy’s porch stairs in the back and then later fell out of the back seat of the truck, landing both times on his head and getting two nice bruises. He is almost close to jumping, or he’s at least getting the idea down. Abby likes to jump off the couch or Granpa Lazear’s footstool. Alex tries to copy her, but just ends up stepping right off the edge, and belly flopping onto the ground. We put a pillow or something soft in front of him, and surprisingly, he enjoys it, even when he does it without the pillow. He has figures out how to walk backwards, which was really cute the first time he did it.
Abby has become proficient at distraction. She will do it now if Melinda’s trying to talk to her about bad behavior by trying to point at something in the room of just completely change the conversation. She practices distraction when we are trying to get her to go to sleep at night too. “I want apple juice” (Which usually sounds like she is saying, ‘Abby juice’). After tasting the apple juice she will say, “I want chocolate milk” (Which sounds like ‘Cot-ik-milk’). After getting her preferred beverage she then asks for her purse. Recently she has been trying to figure out ‘off’ and ‘on’. She has it backwards. “Turn the light off”, she says when we go into her room. She has figured out boy and girl really well. She knows that Daddy wears a tie. When we put a little clip on tie on Alex one Sunday, she really wanted to wear a tie as well. That was the first lesson, that boys wear ties and girls where dresses. The second such lesson came when she learned that boys wear pants and girls wear skirts. The other night she asked me, “Is Kyah a girl or a boy?” “Kyah is a girl and Parker is a boy”, I replied. “OK”, was her understanding answer. She added, “Alex is a boy. Abby is a girl.”
Tuesday, September 6, 2005
Scissors
Today was the first time that Abby used scissors. She knew what they were used for, but she couldn’t get them to work. Melinda tried to show her how to use them, but she didn’t want any help. Finally she consented to let me help her and she got it figured out. I was afraid that she would take to cutting her hair and clothes. She hasn’t done much of either, though after Melinda cut my hair a couple weeks ago, she tried to cut Alex’s hair. She had him sit down in a chair and she stood behind him, grabbed the scissors and was ready to go. I showed her how to pretend she was cutting his hair, which worked for both of them.
One morning while I was getting ready, Alex came in, opened the drawer and grabbed the deodorant. He tried to fit it down the top of his shirt, but it wouldn’t fit, so he tried to lift up his shirts and put it in from underneath. At first I wondered what he was trying to do, and then I realized that he was trying to put on deodorant as he had seen me do. It’s amazing the things that kids pick up on.
Abby and Alex love to take turns, or at least they have learned the idea well. Abby likes to use it to her advantage. If Alex is doing something that Abby wants to do she’ll say, “It’s Abby’s turn!” It’s helpful for us as their parents to use it to get them to share. I’m glad they understand the idea well.
I spend a lot of time on toilet, as least that’s what I told. Abby must have picked up on that and the conversations that Melinda and I have about ‘my bathroom’ and ‘her bathroom’. Melinda came into ‘my bathroom’ to use the toilet and Abby said, “No, Mommy, that’s Daddy’s toilet”.
One morning while I was getting ready, Alex came in, opened the drawer and grabbed the deodorant. He tried to fit it down the top of his shirt, but it wouldn’t fit, so he tried to lift up his shirts and put it in from underneath. At first I wondered what he was trying to do, and then I realized that he was trying to put on deodorant as he had seen me do. It’s amazing the things that kids pick up on.
Abby and Alex love to take turns, or at least they have learned the idea well. Abby likes to use it to her advantage. If Alex is doing something that Abby wants to do she’ll say, “It’s Abby’s turn!” It’s helpful for us as their parents to use it to get them to share. I’m glad they understand the idea well.
I spend a lot of time on toilet, as least that’s what I told. Abby must have picked up on that and the conversations that Melinda and I have about ‘my bathroom’ and ‘her bathroom’. Melinda came into ‘my bathroom’ to use the toilet and Abby said, “No, Mommy, that’s Daddy’s toilet”.
Saturday, August 6, 2005
Away in Peru
6 August 2005
While I was away in Peru for 3 weeks on a humanitarian mission, and Melinda stayed home with the kids, Melinda got in the habit of always having the same thing for lunch. One day, when it was about time to eat Abby says “I want Pizza.”. Melinda agreed and the called 5 buck pizza to deliver. Abby continued to say “I want Pizza” as she anxiously waited for the delivery man. When the doorbell finally rang and Melinda said, “It’s here!” Abby ran to the door, opened it up and said, “Pizza, Pizza!”.
Alex’s surgery – ooh, haa
Abby and her dolls
Alex likes to follow Abby around, holding onto her shirt
Abby likes to help Alex get dressed, wash his hair etc.
Abby likes to help Melinda do everything, “I wanna help”; Speaking in complete sentences
Running to the garage saying “Daddy’s home” whenever the air conditioner came on, Alex shrugging his shoulders and looking in the bedroom and bathroom trying to find me, and knocking on my office door.
While I was away in Peru for 3 weeks on a humanitarian mission, and Melinda stayed home with the kids, Melinda got in the habit of always having the same thing for lunch. One day, when it was about time to eat Abby says “I want Pizza.”. Melinda agreed and the called 5 buck pizza to deliver. Abby continued to say “I want Pizza” as she anxiously waited for the delivery man. When the doorbell finally rang and Melinda said, “It’s here!” Abby ran to the door, opened it up and said, “Pizza, Pizza!”.
Alex’s surgery – ooh, haa
Abby and her dolls
Alex likes to follow Abby around, holding onto her shirt
Abby likes to help Alex get dressed, wash his hair etc.
Abby likes to help Melinda do everything, “I wanna help”; Speaking in complete sentences
Running to the garage saying “Daddy’s home” whenever the air conditioner came on, Alex shrugging his shoulders and looking in the bedroom and bathroom trying to find me, and knocking on my office door.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Code 11
I am at the Atlanta Airport and talking with Melinda on the phone. She just told me about the first adventure while I am away. She was at target, looking at some greeting cards while the kids were playing right next to her and then the next time she checked on them, they were gone. She started to panic because she couldn’t find them anywhere. She finally contacted a store employee who issued a code 11 and all the employees started looking for the kids. An employee found both of the kids in the shoe section. Alex was wearing a pair of pink flip-flops.
Abby likes to say “Good Girl” to Alex. She acts like his little mother, trying to get him to take his drink, pick him up, take his hand etc. She really likes to dress herself. The other day she put her panties on by herself, but she had them on crooked and one of her cheeks was hanging out. Melinda pointed it out, then Abby replied, “Silly Abby.” She picked that up from me because I would always say that to her.
Abby likes to say “Good Girl” to Alex. She acts like his little mother, trying to get him to take his drink, pick him up, take his hand etc. She really likes to dress herself. The other day she put her panties on by herself, but she had them on crooked and one of her cheeks was hanging out. Melinda pointed it out, then Abby replied, “Silly Abby.” She picked that up from me because I would always say that to her.
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