Friday, July 28, 2006

On the Contrary

6:30 am:
Me: Here's some chocolate milk.
C: I don't LIKE chocolate milk!

7:45 am:
Me: Thanks for getting right in the car! You're such a good boy!
C: No I'm NOT a good boy!

8:00 am:
Me: Who should we take first, Connor or Chloe?
C: Connor!
8:05 am: (As we drive past Chloe's school)
C:Why aren't we taking Chloe to school??!!!

8:10 am:
Me: Let's look both ways before we cross the street.
C: There's a car!
Me: It's moving away from us.
C: NO! It's coming for us!

5: 15 pm:
Me: Did anyone bring anything cool for show and tell?
C: Max brought an airplane!
Me: That sounds really cool!
C: It's NOT COOL!

5:35 pm: (At Chloe's school)
Me: There's my sweet girl!
C: She's not a sweet girl! She's a GOOD girl!

5:45 pm:
Me: There's a Honda Civic, just like Grammy's!
C: That's not a Honda Civic! That's a HONDA!
Me: (For the 847th time) Right, a Civic is a kind of Honda, like an apple is a kind of fruit.
C: An apple is not fruit!

6:15 pm:
C: What's that on Chloe's leg?
Me: Those are just sock marks.
C: They're not sock marks! They're sockie morks!
Me: (Sigh)

6:20 pm:
C: What are you fixing?
Me: A salad for me and Daddy.
C: I don't want a salad! (side note-Duh) I want chicken nuggets and applesauce and cheese.

6:25 pm: (presented with chicken nuggets, applesause, and cheese)
C: I don't want APPLESAUCE!
Me: (exasperated) You are just disagreeing with me for the sport of it! You're driving me CRAZY!
C: NO I'M NOT!

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Pictures at an Exhibition

Just wanted to share some pics...


It's amazing how much he loves her.


Hey, I had that same outfit when I was a kid! Well, I think I was 10 when I got Vans. Connor has a head start on coolness. Or maybe he'll have issues when he's older because his parents always dressed him in a manner that THEY thought was cool.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Progress

Chloe has become a lot of fun lately. She can do all kinds of new things. Here are a few of her favorites:


She loves to laugh!

The purple chair is still the number one toy- she likes to use her feet to play with it, and we have added things for her to grab with her hands.

We finally got the purple saucer out of the attic. It won't be long before it is as important as the chair.

Grabbing her feet is probably her favorite pastime. She isn't sticking him in her mouth yet. (Don't worry- when she does, we will photograph and blog appropriately.

Check it out! She's going to roll over!

"Okay, I'm on my stomach. Now what?"

Friday, July 07, 2006

Car Talk

Connor spent the early part of this week in Nashville with the Chockleys, allowing Chloe to imagine what life would have been like if she had been born first and didn't have to share our time and affection with Connor. I'd say she would have enjoyed being an only child! She spent three days cooing and smiling and impressing us with her early attempts to roll over. (She totally did it today! She rules.) I told anyone who would listen that she wasn't missing Connor at all.

Then he came home, and I found out I was wrong. She lit up at the sound of his voice! Thursday morning, for the first time ever, she didn't fall asleep on the way to school- she stayed awake to talk to her brother. I told Connor she was asking about his trip, and he started telling her about it. I interrupted with a question about something he did in Nashville, and he said, "Mom! I'm talking to Chloe!" He then proceeded to lower his voice so that only his sister could hear. I turned down the radio so I could eavesdrop on their intimate conversation about fireworks, Bonnie and Claire, and Cars, trying to keep my heart from melting into complete oblivion. (I had to drive! I needed all my internal organs.) Then when Connor was done regaling her with tales of his Nashville adventures, Chloe let out a long, satisfied coo. My heart melted further as Connor's face lit up. "She's talking to me, Mommy!" Looks like he missed her too.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Tree!



So Connor turned the big 3 this past weekend. Friday, Steph and I went to his school to do the whole cake-n-ice cream thing with his class. It was fun sitting at the table with Connor and his friends, in those little chairs that are 10 inches off the ground. Christian, the ham of the table, amused us by applying the ice cream to his nose and cheeks like makeup. There's something about the way that kid talks that really cracks me up-- he's a born comedian. Of course, Connor inspires a gut laugh on a regular basis too.



After that, Steph went back to work, but I took Connor to his first movie-- Cars. He has been going on about "the movie where the cars talk" for weeks now. I guess the promo blitz did him in. Anyhoo, he was beside himself. He loved it. (Me too-- worth it for adult viewing.) He paid attention for the entire 2 hours. We only had two problems-- one, he kep getting swallowed up by the movie theater chairs, so he spent lots of the movie on my lap. And he ain't light anymore. And two, he was so excited that he was... loud on several occasions. He'd yell at me, at the top of his lungs, "DADDY, YOU SEE THAT CAR?????" with a corresponding volume drop on the movie to dead silence in between the "YOU" and "SEE." I actually saw a couple in front of us give dirty looks and eventually move to the other side of the theater. (I should add that they didn't have kids.) Yeah, so now I'm "that parent" in the movie theater who can't control his kids. Whatya gonna do? Anyway, let's just say that "Cars" has been a BIG part of our lives since then.

The next day (his actual birthday), we started the day with breakfast in bed, which was a big hit on Father's Day a few weeks ago. (Acually, we still have crumbs in the bed from that...) Then, we took a trip to the Peabody Park sprayground. I'm ashamed to say, this was Connor's first trip there. (I could write some long-winded excuse about living in east Memphis, but I'll just leave it.) After about a half hour of uncertainty about getting wet, he dove in and had a blast.





After he developed a good case of raisin fingers, we went home to greet Mimi and Bwana, who had just arrived for the big day. Grammy, Tiff and Cullen joined us for a frenzy of consumerism, mostly directed toward broadening Connor's transportation choices-- a bike, a Razer scooter, and roller skates. The skates were especially funny-- he of course couldn't even stand up in them, but it was serious business to him. As we all giggled at his spaghetti legs, he scolded us all with a "DON'T LAUGH!"

Chloe participated too:



After that, there was the usual ritual of us all standing around watching Connor make a huge mess with his cake and ice cream. Including taking the car for a few laps around the top of the cake.



Wait, do I really have a three-year-old? Ohhh jeezus, Mary and Joseph, my sciatica...