Wordless Wednesday

Truckin'

I know you aren't supposed to let dogs ride in the back of pickup trucks, but what about toddlers? That's okay, right? I figure their opposable thumbs, although tiny, allow them to hang on tight enough to ensure their safety during wild rides down the freeway!

(Obviously, I'm kidding. The truck stayed in the driveway and as you can see they were under the watchful eye of Uncle Dot.)

17 Months!

Brief rundown of my stinkers' 17th month...

Charlotte Anne at 17 Months

Height? Weight?

(Sitting like a lady at the frozen yogurt place!)

My little Bug has been such a sweetie this month. She still has her tantrums and she still doesn't hesitate to let you know when she's not pleased about something, but she has also become so affectionate. She gives hugs and kisses unprompted (I think she just about melted my brother's heart the other day when she came up and gave him a big hug) and she is always loving on one of her stuffed animals. 

Charlotte has learned to say "cheese" for the camera...the only problem is that she doesn't like the flash. So her cheese face always ends up looking something like this:

I always end up having to continually take pictures until eventually she opens her eyes to see if I'm finished...at that point I can sometimes get a good shot! Charlotte's hair is getting a lot longer and lighter. It's also really wavy...I think it's going to be so pretty when it gets long. These days it's kinda crazy!

I would love to put this crazy hair into some little pigtails, but you know Charlotte..do you think there's any way she'd ever sit there and let me put pigtails in her hair? Um, no. So I have to grab her and throw a bow in her hair as fast as I can while she screams and throws herself to the ground. The end result is often something like this:

Charlotte has a new habit of...well, I don't really know what to call it. She likes to move things around from place to place. I think she is trying to organize them in her own little way. For example, the other day she was taking shoes from our closet and bringing them to the recliner in the living room. She added a few things until she was happy with the finished product:

Shoes, blocks, and the white thing in the front is a cupcake wrapper.

I can't complain about this new habit. It keeps her quite busy and honestly she looks pretty cute carrying things around...she's very determined! Sometimes she drags around things that are bigger than she is, like ottomans...when she does this, she reminds me of a little ant hard at work! Charlie has become even more chatty this month. I was trying to add up all the different words she has said and I think it's around 25 or 30...she has started trying to repeat a lot of what we say. The best part? She will now say "mommy" and "daddy" instead of "mama" and "dada". Her dad and I are loving this...such sweet words to hear!

Jensen Todd at 17 Months

Height? Weight?

Jensen is on the move! He is into everything and really challenges his boundaries. He knows that he is not supposed to cross the last crack in the driveway that leads to the street...yet he will look right at me while stepping slowly over it. He's also really into throwing food on the floor...here he is showing off the results of his yogurt-tossing skills:

Time-out does not seem to be doing the trick with this stubborn kiddo. Perhaps it's because it's difficult to be too hard on this little face:

My little angel baby.

Jensen has a new obsession with cars. He always wants to be sitting in them (preferably in the driver's seat) and fiddling with anything on the dashboard he can reach. 

Both kiddos can climb onto the couch these days, but while Charlotte just likes to get up there to play, Jensen likes to get comfy with a good book. It's so cute!

Yep, he's still very much into reading and will plop himself down on my lap with a book pretty much anytime I sit down on the floor. Jensen has also gotten really into stacking his blocks...he's pretty good at it, too! He will concentrate his hardest on building a tower and he gets very frustrated if he can't quite get the blocks to cooperate with him. I think he may have a little temper developing! But when he succeeds, his little face just beams with pride (and he even claps for himself sometimes...too cute!).

Jensen's love of dogs has grown even stronger and he lights up whenever he sees one. Our neighbor's have two shih tzus that he loves to play with (except I have to really watch him, because his new favorite thing is to try to sit on them. Why, I have no idea.). Jensen squeals with joy whenever he sees Jasmine and Mr. Bear...and they are both very tolerant of his excitement. Mr. Bear even shares his water with Jensen!

Here are a few pics of the kiddos together this month:

Just hanging out in the toy chest.

Up to no good.

Sharing a snack while sitting on a box. 

Month 17 was a big one because it marked the kiddos' first time going to school! I am so proud of how well they've been doing and I continue to be so proud to be their mom. And next month? I'll have two 1 1/2-year-olds to be proud of...I absolutely can't believe how fast the time is flying. Love you, my little stinkers!

Lawn Chair Dreams

When we moved into our house almost five years ago, I began to notice that the moms in our cul-de-sac seemed to have a fall ritual: When the weather got (relatively) cooler, they'd bring out their lawn chairs and hang out in their driveways watching their kids play outside. I remember watching them and looking forward to the day when I'd have my own kiddos playing in the yard and my own lawn chair from which to watch them.

This fall, I have my kiddos...and they love to play outside. They'd stay out there all day, every day if they could. And my mom keeps asking me when I'm going to get myself a chair to sit in while I watch them play. But here's the thing: I have zero need for a chair. If it was just Charlie and me, yes, I would sit in a chair while she kept herself amused stacking up rocks, or pushing her stroller around the driveway, or examining single blades of grass. Charlie is quite a low-maintenance outdoor girl:

Exploring the flower bed.

"Helping" Mommy garden by methodically placing mulch onto the driveway.

However, there will be no lawn-chair lounging in my immediate future. And that's because I have to keep tabs on this little guy...

He's drinking from the water table!

He's trying to climb into Uncle Dot's truck!

He's getting into Mommy's car! (He can climb from the back seat into the driver's seat.)

He's climbing into the wagon!

He's sitting in the water table! (He has done this when the table has been empty and full.)

He's deciding it's time for a walk in BOB! (Yes, he climbed up there on his own.)

(And OH MY GOSH he looks HUGE in this picture and it's kind of freaking me out.)

 He's the king of the world!!!

He also eats worms, brings me dead bugs, runs repeatedly into the street (and gets put repeatedly in time-out), dumps buckets of water (that poor Charlie is trying to play with) all over his clothes, and pulls flowers from the flowerbed. In short, he behaves like a little boy! And keeping up with him leaves pretty much no time for sitting down. But that's okay...there's plenty of time for lawn-chair lounging, and my little boy won't be little for long.

A Breakdown of a Meltdown

My stinkers have been throwing some impressive tantrums lately. Is it possible for the Terrible Twos to arrive a bit early...say, at 16 months?? I usually try to ignore them, but the other morning I happened to have my phone in hand during a Charlie-Bug meltdown so I went ahead and did some documenting (to show future boyfriends, perhaps?).

Oh, and the cause for this particular tantrum? She wanted the faucet turned on. It was too cold that morning to play in the water...sorry, Charlie!

Charlotte begins her protests...

A brief pause for a pleading look at Mommy to see if the tantrum is working.

Charlotte sees that the pleading look didn't work, so she resumes the tantrum. She also adds foot-stomping for good measure.

Brother comes to investigate. He is rewarded with a shove and soon becomes the target of Charlie's anger.

Charlotte decides she needs to be saved from Jensen. Jensen remains puzzled as to just what the problem is.

A plane flies by overhead. Distraction!

And she's smiling again. Planes are fun, her annoying brother left her alone, and the faucet is forgotten. All's right in Charlie-Bug world.

Furniture is Fun!

After several weeks of trying their hardest, Charlotte and Jensen have finally mastered the fine art of getting onto the couch and recliner. Now that they have that part down, we are working on mastering the idea that when we're on the couch and recliner, we sit on our bottoms. Ummm...let's just say that last part is NOT going well:

Yep, out of control. Both of them.