Ruthie is 2...ish!

I have terribly neglected this post! Ruthie is almost 2 1/2 and I haven't yet written about her 2-year-old antics. This little gal is so full of personality there's almost too much to say. Maybe that's why I haven't tried to write it all down yet!

So Ruthie turned 2 when we were at Disneyland. The big milestone of her birthday was graduating to a big girl bed. This actually happened at Disneyland thanks to grandma. Ruthie and her were sharing a room and Ruthie was supposed to be in her pack-n-play. But grandma couldn't handle the cries, so Ruthie slept in bed with her all week. Ruthie did so well with it that when we got home we converted her crib into a bed. She does a pretty decent job of staying in her room, but with her new freedom to move she will often stay up late (10pm) "reading" books to herself. And she insists of falling asleep with the lights on.

Here are a couple of cute movie clips from the big birthday day.

As for her little personality.... here goes:

• She's a great talker. She is so good at communicating what she wants, how she feels, etc. She's also a skilled little parrot, which gives the illusion that she understands a lot, when in reality she's just repeating things. Being 2 she also comes up with a lot of humorous insights on the world that continuously entertain us.
• She asks for naps. You heard me right. She knows when nap time is (after lunch) and has often sleepily said, "Can I take a nap now?" Now that she's actually approaching 2 1/2 she rarely asks for naps anymore and we are occasionally foregoing naps these days. She'll still takes them if I put her down, but then she's usually up until 10pm on those days. Oh well - what's a tired pregnant mommy to do? She usually gets a nap.
• Now that she's in a big girl bed, for nap time and bed time she insists on having daddy or (more often) mommy lay down by her. Since she completely resisted cuddles for the first 2 years of her life I am only all too happy to indulge her now!
• She wakes up happy in the morning and greets us with big hugs. On mornings when Anthony gets her she sometimes shrieks "Daddy! You're home!"
• She's good at singing songs. I found it funny when I read an article that said by age 2 many kids can say 2 to 3 word sentences. And little Ruthie had the words to "I am a Child of God" completely memorized! Her repertoire continues to expand. Current song favorites are - "I Will" (aka "The Mommy and Daddy Song"), "ABC's", "Twinkle Twinkle", "Happy Monkey Song", and others.
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• She mostly calls Austin "broder" and despite the daily sibling fights, they are definitely best friends. Their standard morning game is "doggie and owner" wherein doggie Austin wakes up owner Ruthie and then they play in her room till mom or dad wake up. She also gets into his role playing games with him. She plays Martin to Austin's Chris Kratt, she plays Robin to Austin's Batman, she plays Gnocchi to Austin's Curious George. With all that practice, she's pretty socially advanced and actually plays better with Austin's 4-year-old girl peers than she does with her 2-year-old peers.
• About a month ago Ruthie learned how to use a computer mouse and can now play PBS Kids games independently. These days it is common to see Austin playing "Wild Kratts" on his computer while Ruthie plays "Curious George" on my computer while I'm making dinner.
• She doesn't like diaper changes and often cries or kicks trying to get out of them (grrr).
• She had a bald spot on the top of her head for the past 6 months. We think it was probably caused by Austin pulling her hair out. About a month ago it finally grew in!
• She adores her Opa even though she's only seen him 3 times.
• Her favorite color is usually purple (though she still gets her colors mixed up).
• She loves going to nursery and is very cooperative when we tell her it's time for church.
• She eats all day. Every 30 minutes or so she raids the pantry for a "nack" - nutrigrain bars, crackers, protein bars, apples, fruit snacks.
• She makes the funniest faces which elicit many cries of "you're so cute!" from her parents.
• She's so polite. She's quick to offer words like, "Thank you for my cereal", or "I sorry I screamed", or if you compliment her clothes she'll say, "You're Welcome."
• When she's hurt or upset her comfort is to hold her blanket, suck her thumb and watch TV.

This girl is soooo adorable. If I could clone her I'm sure I could make millions selling copies of my cute little girl. I love my Ruthie.

Up His Nose

It happened today. That day that every parent dreads. The day their child sticks a small round object up his nose. Austin was munching on a bag of popcorn when Austin's nose and a popcorn kernel met up this afternoon. I investigated after hearing whimpering from the couch. It wasn't hurting him, but he remembered the warning I'd given him a year earlier that if he ever put anything up his nose he'd have to go to the doctors to get it out and it would hurt really bad. I couldn't get it out myself and so I took him in.

He handled it well until the scooper tool actually went in to his nose. Then he freaked out. It took 3 nurses and myself to hold him down while the doctor extracted it. Meanwhile Austin was screaming, "Stop! Don't do this to me! Why are you doing this to me?!" I was so relieved when it was done I nearly cried. Austin was equally relieved and almost giddy when it was finally over and the doctor didn't have to cut open his nose as he'd feared. Austin reported that he had learned his lesson and would "never never never do that again." After the trauma we out for french fries and ice cream to make Austin feel better - or maybe to make me feel better.

When I asked Austin why he'd put the kernel up his nose in the first place (he obviously knew it was a bad idea), he reported that he liked the taste of boogers so he put the kernel in his nose to make it booger flavored. Oh boy!

Best By 8-30-11

This is the "big" gift I gave my parents and sisters for Christmas. That's right! I'm busy cooking baby #3, due Aug 30th. At this point I'm 13 weeks along (though I swear I look 20). I had my first doctor visit last week and heard the heartbeat so I now feel safe in blogging to the world. Sadly, I'm still feeling like garbage everyday. But I'm lucky to have 2 astoundingly adorable children to remind me everyday that the agony is completely worth it.

Austin is so cute about this baby. He loves to pat my tummy or kiss it or sing or talk to the baby. He has already named our baby too - "Buzz Lightyear James Johnson." So even though we don't know the gender, our baby is referred to as "Baby Buzz" and called a "he." I think Austin does realize though that this baby might be a girl, he's just placing his bet. If it does turn out to be a boy I have a feeling the nickname will stick, even though he will definitely be getting a different name. Every Monday when I "advance" to a new week (yes, I am counting down every single day right now), Austin and I sit at my computer and spend almost and hour looking at pictures of "our baby" on babycenter.com to see what he looks like now and all the weeks to come.

Ruthie, on the other hand, is having baby sympathy pains. Well... she's picked up on my global excuse to lay around and whine all day. If she wants her blanket and I tell her to go get it her response is, "You go get it. The baby in my tummy hurts me." If she's hungry and I'm too lazy to feed her she'll tell me, "The baby in my tummy is making me sick." She also knows that Daddy and Austin do not get to use this excuse because "only Mommies and Ruthies can have babies in their tummies."

I am so thrilled that this little one is on it's way. We've planned on a third for a while and so for several months before getting pregnant, when we'd be out on fun family outings, I'd think, "Our next child is missing out on all this fun!" Well no more! Welcome to the fam baby Buzz.

August Doings

A few quick pictures from the month of August....

We had lots of visitors! Opa came out from TN and the Molloys came up from AZ. The grandkids loved playing with their Opa. Especially Ruthie. She was quite enthralled with him - it was adorable. Amber, Mike and Henry stayed at our house. We always have a blast hanging out with them. It was so fun to see little Henry getting to be so big! We also had a visit from Jeremy and his boys Colton and Miles. The boys quickly enticed Austin up in to the tree with them. It was a lot of fun to spend quality time with the fam.

Opa and Oma gave Austin a t-ball set for his birthday. Here he is playing a modified game with daddy of "hit the ball, run to the fence, get the ball, throw it at daddy."

Austin is 4!

For Mr. Boy's 4th birthday, way back on August 1st, we had a Dinosaur Train party. I enjoy throwing themed parties. I recently discovered how simple it is to make my own iron-on t-shirts, so instead of goodie bags, I sent all the kids home with Dinosaur Train shirts ($3 from Walmart). We played all sorts of themed games - including bug collectors, pin the tail on Buddy, present "fishing" and of course riding the Dinosaur Train! We borrowed my mom's bouncy house for some added fun.

Austin requested "the same cake Buddy got on his birthday." Being a terrible and impatient cake decorator, I printed a picture of the cake and just put it on top of the one I made! Thankfully Austin was satisfied.

Party guests: Audrey, Ruthie, Ethan, Taylor, Joseph, Austin, Malachi, Inza, David and Nathan (not pictured).

If anyone out there has an opinion - what do you think of throwing parties for your kids every year? I honestly don't mind the work (right now) and I like the celebration, but I worry that other parents might feel burdened by buying my kid gifts year after year. Plus most people around me seem to be in favor of the "party every other year" plan. What do you think?

Now for some "being 4" highlights:

• Soon after turning 4 Austin started writing letters on his own. One day, out of the blue, he just started writing. Moments like that amaze me. What kids can pick up on their own. Since his birthday, his writing has been reinforced by preschool and he's getting pretty good. He still sometimes balks against holding his pen the correct way, but he'll do it if I remind him to "do it the way Miss Shannon tells you." Sometimes he'll ask me how to spell things and write them out. A few weeks ago he surprised me by writing AUSTIN, RUTH and HIDE (my name) all by himself (and he asked for help to write ANTHONY).
• As mentioned, Austin started preschool in August. His teacher praises him often for his smarts. He quickly picks up on new things and is great at counting and memorizing. Did I mention the day he recited the Pledge of Allegiance? I had no idea he was working on it until the whole thing popped out of his mouth one day!
• Austin loves to build. Train tracks, Legos, Playdo, marble run, his airport station - if it can be built he'll be enthralled. Then he'll spend an hour playing a make believe story around his creation. These are good care-free moments for mommy!
• Austin and Ruthie are becoming better and better friends. I'm definitely breaking up squabbles multiple times a day, but they also have moments where they play so well together it delights me. Like tonight, they played "doggie chase" around the couch for 15 minutes before bed and laughed and giggled their heads off.
• Austin also has unpleasant 4-year-old moments. Right after his birthday we started working really hard on "being nice". It seemed like he was physically attacking me or Ruthie 10 to 15 times a day. It was beyond aggravating. So we took a "Power of Positive Parenting" approach - which included a lot of praising for correct behaviors. There are days when I swear the system has worked miracles, and days when I think we're almost back to ground zero. Sigh. I keep hearing "He'll mellow out at 5." Here's hoping.
• Austin's other unpleasant behavior is his screaming. When he's frustrated, he will scream at the TOP of his lungs. Ruthie has started mimicking this behavior lately too (grrr). In fact, one time, he got frustrated with a toy and let out one of his blood curdling screams in the middle of the sacrament at church! Anthony took him out at lightning speed. At other times I tend to let it go since a) I prefer screaming to hitting and b) I hope that ignoring it might eventually kill it. We'll see.
• I was delighted that at Austin's 4-year check up he measured in at 40.25 inches. He hit the magic "big kid" mark just in time for our big family trip to Disneyland!
• Favorites (some old some new): green, raisin bran, The Cat in the Hat tv show, Buzz Lightyear, his Batman playset, playing "chase" around the couch, fruit roll ups, hot chocolate, his cousins.

Lullabies

Those of you who have seen our wedding video know that "our song" is I Will by the Beatles. We've made sure to familiarize our children on this song, so it's a regular in our bedtime lullabies playlist, and a favorite for them. Both Austin and Ruthie know it by heart. OK, Austin knows it by heart, and Ruthie is catching onto the syllable sequence (you never know if she gets the words or just plays them back as she hears them). Case in point, this is from a conversation that Austin had with Heidi a while back:

But mommy, I was so lonely in time out

Then let's make it faster

But mommy, I love you. Do you love me too?

I always, always love you.

Do you love me when we're apart?

That's when I love you the most because I miss you.

And when we're together my song will fill the air. And I need to sing it loud so you can hear me. Like this, "I'm a T-Rex. I'm a tyranosaurus. I'm the biggest carnivore in the cretascious forest." That's my song.

And, finally, a capture of Ruthie singing along with me.

Disneyland 2010

ur second family trip to Disneyland took place Sat Nov 13 to Sat Nov 20. During the trip we celebrated Ruthie's 2nd birthday on the 15th.

Here's a handful of memories from our fun week, roughly left to right:

1-Lambson kids on the teacups. Their family went to Disneyland a month before us.

2-Austin found a map of the future of California Adventure. He spent 20 minutes comparing his map to the one on the wall.

3-The 'A' boys. Anthony and Austin.

4-Austin showing Pluto his remote control "Shiny Pluto" toy.

5-Anthony buried the kids in the sand at the beach. We spent our last day at the beach.

6-Ruthie started out scared of the characters, like she was last year. On the second day we met up with Koda and Kenai. They didn't have a line, so it gave Ruthie a chance to approach at her speed. She spent 20 minutes watching other kids approach while the bears tried to encourage her to come over. Finally she had the courage to give them both hugs. The silent, perma-smile bears clapped and pumped their fists and coddled her. It was so cute.

7-The 'R' girls. Ruth and Heidi Ruth.

8-Ruthie digging the Playhouse Disney show now that she knows what the shows are.

9-Ruthie has recently adapted Donald Duck as her favorite character. My mom, who came with us, got Ruthie a stuffed Donald for her birthday. When asked, "What are you going to name it?" she replied, "Um... Mickey Mouse."

10-Autopia cars. Austin and grandma rode, but we didn't. Every afternoon one or two of the adults took Austin around to play while another one took Ruthie back to the hotel for a nap.

11-At CA Adventure park with Minnie. We tried to get Austin on the Soarin' ride, but he was still too scared to ride some of those 'unknown' rides.

12-Austin with, who else, Buzz Lightyear! That morning we bought Austin a magic trick so he spent a moment showing the trick to Buzz.

13-Partners statue. Is there a story there?

14-What if I'd married a man my own height? Ruthie helped bury Anthony in the sand. It was cold and cloudy on the beach that day. I kept my jacket on and didn't get in the water above my knees. Anthony and the kids were braver.

15-It sure was fun having my mom on the trip with us. Good times, great memories. Plus we got a date night in the park. While mom watched the kids Anthony and I rode some of the best coasters - Space, Screamin', Tower of Terror.

16-The bubbles on the Nemo ride elicited the biggest reaction out of Ruthie last year. But this year it was just so-so, but still a fun ride.

17-A future princess.

18-Our trip family photo. If I was a Christmas card sender, I probably would've used this picture.

19-Lambsons with Mickey.

20-Ruthie and I enjoying yummy treats. Ruthie was absolutely coated in it by the time she was done.

21-Austin on his big afternoon with grandma. They rode so many rides and had such a fun time together.

22-Stuck in Prim Nevada. Our car broke down on the way there. We were set back 4 hours and got to Anaheim around 3am. Grrr! I'm just glad we got it figured out.

23-Lambson's family Christmas card picture.

24-Dinosaurs. Austin can name all of the dinosaurs! He takes after his mother. I used to love naming the dinosaurs when I was 5 and now my little 4-year-old does it. (Thanks Dinosaur Train).

25-Anthony and the kids braved the cold November ocean water for about 30 minutes before they were totally blue and numb.

26-Ruthie at Minnie's house.

27-My triumphant moment of the trip. Austin rode my favorite ride with me - Splash Mountain! It took a bit of convincing, though. We first had to ride the Matterhorn, then bribe him with popcorn on the walk over and even use peer pressure telling him that even Makayla had gone on the ride! His take? It was fun, but wet. He was willing to ride again, but we never got around to it.

28-Darling wiped out kids. We actually spent long days at the park, crashing around 8 or 9 pm. By the end of the week we were a bit back logged on sleep.

29-Austin wrote his name in the sand. He's gotten so good at that this year!

30-Dumbo!

31-Austin's surprise favorite ride of the trip: Alice in Wonderland. He requested this about 3 times a day.

32-Goofing off in Toon Town.

33-Playing in the Brother Bear area.

34-My boy was just barely tall enough to ride some coasters this year. Scraping the 40" sign at 40.25". He loved Thunder and Splash, but wasn't ready for some of the others. That's ok. It's fun to have something to look forward to.

Rona and Other Sundries

• Ruthie has become quite the little miss independence lately, and she won't stop at irrationality to assert her new attitude. Case in point, take our latest bedtime conversation:
  Dad - Ruthie, it's time to put your PJ's on.
  Ruthie - No!!! I want Rudolph (the current alias for Austin).
  Dad - OK, if we get our PJ's on, we can read books with Rudolph.
  Ruthie - No!!!
  Dad - Well what do you want to do then?
  Ruthie - I want my PJ's.
  Dad - Great, let's put them on.
  Ruthie - No!!! I do myself.
  Dad - That's fine, go ahead and put them on yourself.
  Ruthie - No!!!
• The other day Heidi was in her bathroom putting on makeup and Ruthie grabbed the eye shadow from her. Heidi said kindly, "Ruthie, would you like to put on the eye shadow." Ruthie replied "No!!! My shadow!!!"
• As indicated above, Austin's latest obsession has been Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. That's all he wants to watch 24-7. The other day when he got sent to timeout Heidi overheard Austin quietly brooding in his room, "Why am I such a misfit? I am not such a nitwit. Just because my nose glows, why don't I fit in?"
• The Red Nosed Reindeer fad has also rubbed off on Ruthie. Whenever she sees Yukon Cornelius she hollers out "Yuuu-konnnn," mimicking Rudolph and Hermie calling out Yukon's name as he falls off the cliff with the abominable snow monster. Ruthie has also nicknamed the snow monster "Rona." Yes, that's Rona as in Mona with an R. Whenever she sees him in the movie or in our Rudolph book she claims matter-of-factly "That's Rona." Tonight we played the ambiguous wrestling game of kill-or-be-rescued-by-Rona. I'm absolutely lost as to how she picked up that name. TV says: "A-bom-in-a-ble Snow Mon-ster." Ruthie hears: "Ro-na."
• "Cooperate" has been the word of the house for the past couple months. "Now, Ruthie, if you don't cooperate...", "Thanks so much for cooperating...", "Are you ready to cooperate?" And the kids have caught on pretty well. And yet, it just sounds out of place coming from a 2-year-old. "I no co-op-e-wate" sounds like we skipped all the middle chapters and jumped to the back of the handbook on language development.
• A few weeks ago Heidi was in the church bathroom trying to convince Austin that "this is Jesus' house, so we should be reverent and treat it nicely." Austin's reply was "Wow, I didn't know that Jesus had so many potties in his house." And when one failed to flush he added, "And one of his potties is broken."
• Yesterday we went to see Tangled in the theater. When we got back Austin proceeded to turn off all the lights in the house. After singing a little song, he informed us, "See, my hair is glowing!!!" Then he made Ruthie sing (her version: "ladl-adl-adl-adl-adl-adl-adl") "Look Ruthie's hair is glowing!!!" In truth, it was pitch black and Austin's hair was definitely not glowing.
• At church I was sitting on the foyer couch between two others holding Austin for a time out because he screamed at the top of his lungs during the sacrament. Austin was wriggling so I had to hold him down pretty firmly. After struggling for a while he called out "Dad, you're hurting my penis!" Promptly followed by a blush from a Dad and two couch sitters. Yes, he has no qualms about discussing his body parts.
• Last month on our trip to Disneyland we were taking pictures in front of the CALIFORNIA letters at California Adventure. Ruthie got pictures in front of the R while Anthony and Austin got pictures in front of the A. Then Austin climbed up on the A and yelled out "Take a picture of me inside the A-hole."

Page Turners

I don't know why, but I foolishly started reading The Hunger Games last night. I'd been warned it was good. Anthony read book 1 on a flight to Germany, book 2 on the flight home and neglected the kids for an entire Saturday while I was gone so he could finish book 3. It's not like I have that kind of time. So why did I even start? Maybe I thought I was stronger than that. Maybe I haven't read a good page-turner for a few months and I'd forgotten the ocean-tide-like pull. Actually, I just wasn't expecting it to be that addicting. I started last night and was able to put it down for bed when I finished 'Part I'. I woke up this morning and spent the entire rest of the day neglecting the kids and the house till I finished the book around 5:30pm. For some reason the kids were extra extra good today and I managed to get away with it. I'd take a picture of our tornado house but it's all too embarrassing.

But, this has me thinking - what are the best page turners you've read, recently or not? Here's my list, though I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

1. The Hunger Games (I don't think I've ever ever done a 1-day read like this)

2. Angels and Deamons

3. Ender's Game (The first page turner I ever read back in 9th grade)

4. Harry Potter book 1 (The other 6 weren't quite as "new" as that very first for me)

5. Twilight (and Stephanie Meyer's other 4 books, although caveat: I was pregnant when I read them so I was only too happy to indulge in an escape!)

6. The DaVinci Code

7. The Dark Divine

8. Echo (an unpublished book by Brodi Ashton - I can't wait for Everneath to come out next year)

What am I forgetting? What is your top ten?

Happy (Utah) Halloween

Halloween comes early in Utah when it falls on a Sunday. Many trick-or-treaters were out and about tonight - including us. Austin selected our costume theme again this year. About a month ago he got super into the new PBS kids show "The Cat In The Hat" - hence The Cat, The Fish, and Thing 1 and Thing 2. I actually get a big kick out of doing family costumes. It'll be sad someday when they want to do their own separate things.

I discovered tonight that I must be a sugar-indulgent mother because this horde of collected candy meant nothing to my children. Austin got home, dumped his loot on the floor, looked at it and announced, "Here daddy, you can have it." Ruthie, on the other hand, wanted to at least try the candy, but only one bite from every package. "Open this, mommy." Bite. Toss. "Open this, mommy." It's ok though, Anthony and I didn't mind eating it all for them.

The Weepies (I Got Bounced!)

Welcome to "The Weepies"! This has been Anthony's favorite group for about a year now. They did a concert here Saturday night and Anthony got us tickets. I am now totally hooked too! It was a great concert; the only downside being that they only played 10 or so songs and we were well prepared to listen to their entire musical library. If you are reading our blog (not just reading this on an email) you can hear some of their best songs. Click here to check it out. Or watch our concert recording below (if the link is working).

[Us in concert-bought t-shirt and beanie].

Oh, and I got bounced from a club for the first time in my life. (Yes, it was the first time I've ever been to a club in my entire life!) Whenever Anthony and I go out he always drives and pays for everything. I drag along my wallet, hanging conspicuously around my neck like a janitor's keyring. So for once I decided to be free of the burden and leave my wallet at home. Turns out the concert was held at a small music club (with a bar) that held about 300 people. As we approached the front of the line to get in I noticed people showing their IDs. I laughed and said, "Guess I won't be going to the bar tonight! Ha Ha." No ma'am, you won't even be going in. The bouncer dude refused to let us in! Ack! We raced 30 minutes back home, grabbed my stupid wallet, raced 30 minutes back to the concert, missed the opening act and made it 2 minutes before our band took the stage. Phew! Listen up people - never leave your wallet at home!

(Please no commentary on why you should never go without wallet or ID. Believe me, I felt plenty small and stupid about it so just laugh

and don't rub it in.)

Cutest Girl in the World

Many thanks to Amber for the adorable hand-made dress (seriously - is that amazing or what!?).

My Favorite Picture Of Summer

This summer we discovered two things:

1. The kids have more fun playing in our oscillating sprinkler than in their kiddie pool. They even manage to get me to join in the fun!
2. We love cucumbers! My over-ambitious garden was worth it if for only one thing - Austin figured out how to pick ripe cucumbers and eat them straight from the garden. He loves to cut them in half with his bare hands and share with Ruthie. One vegetable they eat gladly. Yay!