"Why" Questions and other Brain Busters

You know your child is growing up when....

She asks you what the inside of her body looks like...

and after your attempt of an explanation of a few essential internal organs, she states, "you can turn back on the radio now." (We were in the car.)

She says "Why are they just fake?" about the first characters she see's through the submarine on the Finding Nemo ride at D-land.

She asks Dad if he's talking to one of his bro's on the phone. This picture below is such a classic. It is Stephen at home during a lunch break. And no, he is not talking to one of his bro's, it's some frustrated nurse at the hospital! If she only knew how awesome his listening skills were!

She asks why you won't let her ask questions that begin with why anymore?

She says that some day she will be a mommy too and have little kids that she will read stories to and that sometimes they will come and visit me (the then grandma).

She starts thinking of kids names that will work for her. Such as, (are you ready for this?): Cooper and Cindy. Sadly, the final winning names were Diego and Dora. In case you're wondering, no, we never watch those shows. Really.

Speaking of T.V., she happened to mention one additional thing that she will do as a mommy, which was a hint that she wished I would do. That would be letting the children watch cartoons. Reasonably, Sesame Street, which we do watch, doesn't count as a cartoon.

Structure or Spontanaity?

Where do you think you fall along the continuum? Comments directed towards me like, "just embrace it" (referring to the sand at the beach) and "relax" from Brooklyn and Stephen, about lots of stuff, and comments like "don't sweat the small stuff" from my mom somehow suggest that my personality leans more toward the side of structure.
On the other hand, spontanaity feels fun most of the time, until the activity is over and it's time to go home and clean up...So I did have a fun time finding google images of spontaneity. The picture above is called the spontaneous picnic dress. It looks pretty hilarious to me. The picture below is from the movie Enchanted. I love how "realistic" the curtain cut-outs are.

In summary, I pressed Stephen to choose one side of the continuum that he would rather live with. After much thought, and after trying to choose the middle, he went with the spontaneous side. Should I be surprised? No. Am I on that side of the spectrum? No. Should I be? Maybe I could give up some of my ground, but something inside of me totally functions well with organization and routine and predictability, but I don't think I'm over-the-top with it either...or am I?

The truth is, I totally admire things about both kinds of personalities. I know I should let myself be more open minded and spontaneous. However, I really envy those people who appear to really be "together" and have like zero clutter areas in their homes, or "a place for everything." The truth is, I really wish my house would be mostly clean most of the time on most days of the week. Then again, chasing this unrealistic ideal can really drive a person crazy! I'm curious to know what the readers think about this, or where people think they fall on the spectrum? P.S. Some of you I already know are dying to echo in with Brooklyn, Stephen, my mom, my sister, and most people that know me really well by telling me to just RELAX! But please, try not to be too harsh! :) I will try to blame some of the fault of my ultra-organization aspirations to my teaching background.

The Rains Came Down . . .

and the floods came up!
Sorry to all our friends and family in the mid-west and east who are perhaps experiencing a bit of rain this week. We sent it your way after it stayed way too long here. Hope your downstairs neighbors didn't get flooded out like ours did! And yes, of course that's me in the picture!

Quack!

Siezed This!

The day was too beautiful to not go out for a jaunt on our favorite path!
I wouldn't mind living in one of these condos.
For now I am just lucky enough to be an at-home mom who is able enjoy views like these.
I can't believe we're in the middle of winter! It sure doesn't feel like it!

The Secret

We Never Tire

of our visits to the library. My favorite is how attentive Ian is to someone or something other than the storyteller.

Boo

Brooklyn came up with this idea for a Halloween costume next year. Surprisingly, this even trumped a Disney princess one we've already tucked away in the closet for later this year.
Let us demonstrate the versatility of this fabulous costume. If the ghost mask doesn't suit you, there's always the bow-secured vest option. We even gave her dolly a matching one.Thus we see the humble beginnings of an aspiring designing woman...and her first admirer.

More Baby Blues

Here Ian is coloring in conjunction with library story time.
It didn't last very long. Especially since I wouldn't let him color the table.

Baby Blues

New Year's Day

It was so much fun to have 4 whole days of Stephen to start off the New Year! This is one thing we did on New Years.We played at a quiet park near our house and the temple. There's no playground equipment here, just lots of grass and a dirt path with exercise equipment every once in a while. The weather was beautiful. The kids loved reaching for the one dangling red ornament on that tree in the distance. It must have looked cool at night with all the lights on it.I have to remind myself whenever we go places that if it's a ball or a balloon, we need two. Otherwise, the kids might have to practice sharing. Sometimes this is successful, sometimes it's not.
Ian is learning to be quick on his feet.
You-know-who is always either chasing him or doing a drive-by of toy-snatching.
Finally Ian got a few minutes of uncontested ball time with Dad.
What's with the bib being left on the whole time? I don't know either.
Time to pack up and go! Naptime awaits us at home! Yes!

Our Climber

For those of you who are not family, this is probably way too many pictures of the same scene, but I'm trying to show how Ian climbs around these days. He uses any number of things as his step stools. This time, it was a pink plastic barbie chair.
Once he reaches the table top, he points and begs. (Don't you just love the artful smudges that live on our mirrors?)
With a little help, this kid can almost stand as tall as his older sister.
Now he eyes something on the other counter of the kitchen, so here he maneuvers again to the ground.

First he has to pause for a few seconds to smile for the camera... then the mission continues.Brooklyn is being herself in the background. Probably she is hoping to catch some of the camera's attention.
Wait a minute, he thinks, why does my target keep evading me?
His persistence reminds me of someone else I know... and love.
Does anyone else's kid want to enter the contest for length of time that a tongue is held outside of the mouth?
Mom, why is that flash still going?
"Eeeh" translates nicely into either, "I want it," or "Give it to me now."
He has to be quick to either keep up with or escape his big sister.