Bath time

Whoever suggested giving more than one child a bath at the same time was either sinister, mad, or didn't have enough time to do them one at a time. (We're talking toddler age and older. Not babies, I mean.)

Giving the baby a bath AND THEN letting Carolina take a shower is MUCH easier. Twice as long but MUCH easier. 

And then, whoever said it was much easier has never had to coach Carolina from outside the shower's sliding door.  It basically amounts to a waste of baby shampoo/body wash, water and time. It's the epitome of inefficient bathing. 

And still. Still. It's more pleasant than a dual bath. 

True. 

Hair color

Carolina said to me, "Mommy! Look at your hair!"

I said, "I know, I have to dye it. It's white all here."

She responded, "It's not white. It's a rainbow! Mommy! You have rainbow hair. It's so beautiful!"

New words and fun at school

New words that the baby is now saying:

Buh/buk ("book")

Uh oh ("uh oh" or "oh no!")

Cook or cook-ah ("cookie")

Grrrowh (sound he makes when he sees any animal. All animals growl.)

He's finally taken to walking with me instead of having me carry him everywhere. We're still working on him playing by himself since he prefers to be near or on me all the time. 

He's had a cold and started waking up at night again. I thought it was for comfort, and it was, but he made it into a new habit. So we agreed to let him cry, no matter what, and he did. First it was on and off for over an hour (after midnight), and then a few minutes a few hours later. Then it was about 45 minutes (after 1am). Then it stopped. 

One bad habit broken at a time. 

And Carolina is really, truly enjoying going to school all day. She eats her lunch! She takes a nap! She tells me about her day! 

I've given her chicken nuggets (that I made), pasta with broccoli and carrots, meatballs, pancakes, fish and zucchini fritters. She's also had pizza. I'm just going to keep making her lunches of food I'd wish she'd eat for dinner. So dinner is lunch and vice versa. She gets so hungry at school that she doesn't mind eating. 

I don't give her a snack when she's in the car after school either, since it meant she ate nearly nothing for dinner. So dinner is now at 4pm. But she really eats. 

School schedule has helped me kill snacks. Whoo hoo!

Getting lazy. No update; here are three new photos

First (full day) of school: Pre-K

So happy and not worried at all!

First hair cut

To avoid "baby mullet", I trimmed his hair for the first time. 

New words, new activities

The baby has started to use more words. The ones I can think of most easily are:

Cuh-kah (cookie)

Ch-kah (chicken)

Toca (toca, touch)

Tch (touch)

Pa-tah (pasta)

No no no (no)

No toca? (Can I touch that or no?)

And recently, besides continuing to "read" on his own by looking at books, albeit briefly and infrequently, he's continuing his interest in music. 

There's a toy with buttons that light up and play a different song for each button. He will sit and press the buttons or lie with it, for up to 15 minutes at a time. He seems fascinated by the music, control by buttons and lights. He's also pretty good at the piano. 

He's also taken an interest in his sister's favorite toys, namely HopHop and Lalaloopsy. Lala is easy to carry and she's plastic so he likes gnawing on her while teething. HopHop is just a favorite, so he wants her, too. Mostly this is completely unwelcome stealing and she wants to take them back. Sometimes she lets him. 

He has dolls of his own that he particularly likes but there's something about holding his sister's that's more special. 

Speaking of Carolina, she's getting exciting and anxious about going to school all day in a few weeks. I'm a little nervous myself. Mostly I just hope she eats her food. I know the teachers will help her adjust to the full day routine, but food time is her time to be belligerent, if she wants to be. And I hope the nap may is comfortable enough. I don't truly expect her to nap, I'll be impressed if she does not talk the whole time since they won't let her read during nap time, but I just want her to feel comfortable. 

More to come...