Qualified

Rachel has been telling us for some time now things like "You're the best daddy in the whole wide world."

It's become a little less heartwarming lately when it's been immediately followed-up by "And you're my only daddy in the whole wide world!"

Rachel is Kaitlin

There are times when Rachel basically becomes Kaitlin, the little girl with ADD on Saturday Night Live - you know, the one who keeps calling "Rick! Rick! Rick!" and does the little songs and dances and just can hardly control herself. Tonight is one of those times. I actually have myself at least partly to blame seeing as how a serving of marshmallows is 4, and I gave her 12, not knowing that a serving would be so tiny.

*sigh*

(I guess that makes me Rick?)

How On Earth Does She Come Up With This Stuff?

Yesterday Rachel wanted to wear her Alice in Wonderland dress. We were standing in the kitchen watching the snow out the window when she realized the song "Winter Wonderland" was playing. And she said "This song is a complement. It's winter, and I'm wearing my Alice in Wonderland. It's 'Winter Alice in Wonderland'!"

I'm pretty sure she meant "complement" in terms of "goes along with," not "compliment" as in "I look good in this dress," but I have no idea how she knows of that usage of the word. Seems like every few days I hear her use a word I had no idea she knew and understood. I'm really curious to know what her I.Q. is. I think they test around the time of Kindergarten, so it'll be interesting to see how she scores. I have no desire to push her toward gifted programs, whatever the scores. It's high-pressure and you're competing with other people at the top of their classes, so it can be stressful. I think junior high would be the earliest I'd encourage formal "gifted" education if she was interested; otherwise, I'd rather she just do a good job in regular classes and enjoy learning.

In Ben news, still no teeth, despite what is apparently his complete misery the last 3 or so months. Not that he's been fussy and crying all that time, but you can certainly tell that the teething pain often bothers him, much more than it did Rachel. Poor little guy also had trouble digesting peas, like Rachel, and apparently blueberries. Not sure what else as I ended up just cutting back his foods to the first 4 vegetables, first 5 fruits and meats, in addition to cereals. He's now eating Puffs, too, although he can't quite pick them up and get them to his mouth without help yet. But he's gotten good at eating rice rusks. I never knew about those with Rachel. Although messy, they're large enough for younger babies to grab onto and steer to their mouths without much trouble, and they dissolve pretty easily in their mouths.

I'm now starting to reintroduce other foods again and hope that he does better with digesting them, although I won't be giving him peas or berries for a few more months. He's doing a lot of babbling at times and likes to say "Mam" or versions of Mama. He's also like a little growly bear sometimes - so cute to hear the growls and grunting, or the quick breathing he likes to do when he gets excited. He loves it when we imitate those sounds back at him, and he has the sweetest smile!

He's not crawling yet, but I don't think it will be long. He can scoot and roll around really well, though, so I have to keep an eye on him at all times and not leave him alone unrestrained for more than a few seconds. He'll be a month older than Rachel was at Christmas. It will be interesting to see if he's very much into tearing into gifts and his stocking, although I doubt it. He *does* like to grab things and stuff them into his mouth, though, so anything he can do that with should be a big hit!

If She Only Knew...

Here's the exchange that happened today when Rachel and I were in the drive-thru line at Burger King, talking about her kid's meal:

Rachel: I'll bet it has a toy!
Lori: I'll bet you're right. That's one of the cool things about being a kid, you get a toy with your meal.
Rachel: It's kind of boring.
Lori: Being a kid?
Rachel: Yes. It's kind of a hard life.

Wow, just wait until 10 or 15 or 30 years from now, kiddo!

Sleep Hatred

ACK. How did it get to be December already with no more posts?

Anyway...what is with this thing my son has against sleep? Why doesn't he realize how precious it is to get sweet, sweet sleep? When Rachel got to be a toddler, she started to really fight going to sleep, first with naps, then being wired at night when it was time to go to bed. I finally had to stop forcing the nap issue because it was such a battle every day and because she'd drop like a rock at night if she hadn't napped in the afternoon. We had some rough late afternoons and evenings while going through an adjustment period, but now, if we get her to bed between 7:30 and 8:00, she does pretty well. The longer we push it past 8:00, the more she starts to lose it.

With Ben, he just hates going to sleep. He'll hang in there and cry, sometimes getting more and more upset to where he starts just screeching/screaming and I have to go in and calm him down and try to get him back to a place where he may drop off. He does that even when his eyelids are heavy and red and he's obviously exhausted. He's been sick with a cold (his 2nd or possibly 3rd), and he's so worn out, but still with the fighting the sleep.

Is this a boy thing? Moms of boys and girls, did you notice a difference between your girl baby and your boy baby and how they'd go to sleep? Or am I just cursed to have kids who will fight with everything in them to avoid dropping off peacefully?