silly and surprising things the kids are saying...

Me: Taylor, can you throw that wrapper in the trash, please?
taylor: No, I busy.


aidan: Mom, did you know that dinosaurs are exstink?
me: I sure did. Do you know what that means?
aidan: Yes. But are there any dinosaurs in Colorado or Missouri or Springfield? Because I don't like dinosaurs.

taylor (in the pool): Aaaah, aaah (singing). I Ariel, Mom!

aidan: When you die and you go to heaven, mom, don't worry. I'll take care of Taylor for you.


For each one that I remember, there are about three more that I laugh at and then forget. These four things all have happened in the last two days or so. Taylor is in a stage right now where at least a couple of times a day, something comes out of his mouth that I feel like he shouldn't know what it means yet as a two-year-old. Every time anyone around him asks 'why?' right now, he always says, 'Because.' And he leaves it at that. This is interesting to me as a lover of languages and development. He obviously has learned fairly recently that this word is the word that comes after the word "why," but he does not totally understand it yet. He also has, in the last week or so, started speaking in total and complete sentences about 25% of the time. This means he's not leaving out the little prepositions or anything. It's so weird to watch that happen right in front of you. I wish I had paid more attention to when Aidan started doing those things, but I can't remember.

In any case, the obvious rapid development is cute and funny and just another reminder that they are growing up pretty quickly.

Breaking the rules

I am not sure how proper it is. In fact, I am sure the authors of Babywise would not condone it. But last night, Taylor was crying about an hour after he went to bed, and we got him up and brought him out with us. Now, understandably, we do not have a three bedroom apartment; Taylor’s room is separated from our living space by only a thin curtain. He hears everything that goes on after we go to bed. But he was moaning, “I wanna sit on the couch wis you!” How does any parent say no?

So…we brought him out to join the two of us and Aidan, and of course, everyone got a bit excited. No “bedtime calm” or anything of the sort. We wrestled, tickled, and laughed for a good 45 minutes. I happened to have my camera out, and so we took pictures and let the kids take pics. In fact, some of these were taken by Aidan, a 4 year old who does better than Terry sometimes!

In the end, despite the fight about going back to bed, despite the fact that Aidan was still complaining from her room at 10:30 p.m., and I had to get her up early to go to the gym while I taught, it was totally worth it. We laughed so hard and so much. These are the times we will remember when they are older and do not want to “hang out” with us anymore

getting our feet wet...

Back in June, I paid ridiculous amounts of money for the kids to take swimming lessons, but they ended up being somewhat "fake"--mostly due to their ages, I suspect. Taylor was fine in the water as long as I was holding him, but every single time, about 20 minutes into the lesson, he'd look up to me and say, "I done." Aidan learned things like pool rules, trying out a life jacket, and blowing bubbles. Hmmm...

When we began swimming on our own afterwards, Taylor was too scared to get in. He'd sit on the top step of the pool the entire time. Aidan wasn't like that, but she was still quite timid.

Last week, we visited Missouri and both sides of grandparents. We went to a mini-waterpark on Thursday with my mom and dad, and I think maybe that was the turning point. Taylor was visibly nervous when we first got there, probably because there were so many bigger kids running around and splashing. By the end of the afternoon, he didn't want to leave. On Sunday, they went down to the Quail Creek pool, and by the time I got there a bit late, Taylor was jumping off the side (with Grandpa's help catching him, of course). He would crouch down and say, "ready, set, GO!" I was shocked. And glad that we'd apparently left behind the scared of water child.

Today, Terry and I took the kids to our apartment pool along with a "picnic," as Aidan likes to call PB &J outside. Both of the kids just did great. Aidan is nearly swimming by herself, and Taylor went under almost every time he jumped in. I'm not saying he loved that, but he kept on jumping!

I cannot remember ever being frightened of water. I'm sure I was when I was very small, but I think we must have gone swimming frequently. I remember being at Lytle Pool with my family and having a lifeguard ask me to swim across the pool as a test to see if I could really be in the deep end. That particular pool is rather large, and I'd never had swim lessons, so I doggie paddled across the pool. This is not the quickest way to swim, and I can remember being frustrated and embarrassed that it was taking me so long, but I made it. After the official "OK" that day, I never looked back. I spent as many days as I could at the pool as a kid.

I love the water, and I want my kids to feel that way, too. I know it takes time, but I'm anxious for those days to be here.