Things I Love About Henry (2 Years Old)

Yeah... we just did one of these. But it was just his second birthday and Henry's so great that I have more things to love about him.

1. He is very meticulous. He asks to color all day every day and then he sits very still and moves very carefully to make Os and Hs and other letters, or letter-like drawings that he always says are Es. It reminds me of Henry's namesake, his uncle Chad (Charles Campbell), who used to sit and patiently draw each individual stone of a castle. That same kind of patience and attention to detail is already apparent in Henry, and I really, really hope it sticks around.

2. He's meticulous and particular about his clothes, which is hilarious. I can't just dress him in anything anymore. He has strong opinions about what his vestments for the day are. His favorites are boots, of course, and his pilot's jacket. And other jackets with hoods. And sometimes hats. When I dressed him for this little photo op he got pretty excited about his bowtie.

3. This meticulousness is apparent in his speaking, too. Oh he definitely babbles on like a baby, but when he knows he can't say something, he refuses. Take the girls for instance. He knows their names are Ellie and Olivia, but those are hard to say with all those Ls. So he usually calls them "girl-girl". Both of them. Ellie is Girl-Girl. Olivia is Girl-Girl. Only when he is too frustrated to remember that he can't fully pronounce their names does he say something close to "Ellie."

4. He has really started to echo his sisters lately. He wants to be a part of everything they are a part of. But he still has his own thoughts. And as his language develops, we get to see more and more his personality. He's all boy, but he's also so calm and steady. Don't get me wrong, he can whine like the best of them. But he has this kind of temperance. When things are crazy all around him, he is a fortitude of peace. This "eye of a storm" presence. 

5. He does this little run that is so funny. He is sort of bouncing from side to side when he is very happily going about his day. It's pretty hilarious because he will sometimes bump into walls or people and get knocked over. And then he just hops up and continues on his merry little way, bobbing from side to side as he goes.

6. He thinks his belly his hilarious. I don't know why. If you even mention his belly he cracks up. I guess it is pretty funny. 

7. He was a little bit late to the talking game, but now that he's all-in, he is catching on like crazy. Everyday he surprises us by saying something we didn't expect. "Don't spill shirt, dada." // And when he heard some kids playing in the park by our house, "Babies swinging!" // "I want (to) help!" // "See you later, dada."

8. Every form of transportation is a "-car". An airplane is a "plane-car," a train is a "train-car" and, to avoid confusion, a car is a "car-car." And he likes to lay around and play with these modes of transportation so quietly and lazily. 

9. He can really sing. He is often found humming the theme songs to our favorite movies, like "How To Train Your Dragon" or "Frozen". And he loves to be silly and change the lyrics of songs like, "The Farmer in the Dell." There seems to be a lot of singing that happens in this family, so I love it when his little voice chimes in so well. 

10. He is very affectionate. He is always running up to the girls and squeezing them tight saying, "Hug and kiss!" The girls said this is their favorite thing about him.

11. He's a little bit of a social introvert. He loves people and having friends over, but big groups of people are usually not his favorite. So for his birthday, instead of having a party, we celebrated by going to dinner at American Dream Pizza, which is the pizza Steve and I had delivered to our hospital room the night of his birth. His Aunt Jaci and Auntie Mal were there, and so were Grandma and Papa Waters, so he had a great time, being the center of attention and getting to play with his new cars at the dinner table. And, per his request, we had some delicious cupcakes. (Which Jaci and I almost failed at by forgetting the sugar... yikes!)
      We have a tradition in our family that on your birthday you get a treat for breakfast. (His was a chocolate chip cookie bar.) We light candles and sing and then the birthday kid gets to take the first bite and then share if they want to. Even though he is only two, he was expecting this tradition and sat very proudly, reveling in how much he is loved, while we sang to him. And he shared his first bite with his sister. 

12. Remember how I told you Liv has established "Keep you forever" as a way to express love in our family? Well, shortly after that, Henry kept coming up to me and hugging my leg and leaning in to say, "A EPPPER, MAMA!" in a loud, sing-songy way. It took me a little while to realize that he is saying, "FOREVER, MAMA!" as in, "I'll keep you forever." I'll keep you, too, Henry Bear. Forever and ever.

Basically, we think he's a marvelous boy and we're so glad he's a part of our little family. 

The Tooth Fairy Came to Play

Well, Ellie lost her first tooth. It was wiggly for a long time, maybe a month? And then yesterday it was just hanging on by a thread and she was letting everyone see how wiggly it was. And she told Henry to come wiggle her tooth and he did and then I heard, "Mom! My tooth fell out." So now she is telling everyone that Henry pulled out her tooth. Weird. 

Before bed she made sure to brush her tooth before putting it in a little box for the tooth fairy. And she wrote a note asking for a chocolate penny. And the tooth fairy delivered. Isn't that nice of her?

Funnily enough, when this happened my mind kept flashing back to mine and Steve's first tiny apartment that we had together. And the moment when a very unexpected plus sign on a pregnancy test changed our lives and our plans forever. I couldn't even think straight for days. It was such an all-consuming swirl of emotions. And now that little plus sign is big enough to lose her first tooth.

Six years (5.5 + pregnancy, if you don't think that math works out) that have changed so much, brought so much goodness and laughter and also worry and frustration. If there's anything about being a parent, I think it's the intensity of emotion. You will never know more joy and love, but you also open yourself up to such deep concern and even pain. You have to really live every moment of your life as a mother. Theres not a lot of time that can be dulled or forgotten about or blurred behind a TV. You have to really be there for everything, the good and the bad. But that good is worth so much more than the bad. And it's this intensity that I think can make parents really wonderful people, because they care so deeply, they (hopefully) think so much about the results of their actions.

Of course this is a huge generalization about parents that isn't meant to say anything but that children are a wonderful gift and a big responsibility and I'm glad I get to be a parent to such amazing children as these. And I hope and pray and worry that I am being a good enough one. That they know how much they are loved, and also how much I care about their current and future well-being.

This girl lights up our lives. She is growing so much lately, really expanding her thought processes and problem solving. She is imaginative and creative and inquisitive. I love the baby stages, all the cuddles and kisses and smiles, but I also love this stage, of her becoming more and more the person that she will be. Developing her personality and her likes and dislikes. I just love hearing her ideas about the world. They are so free. They haven't bumped up against reality too much, so they are pure and limitless ideas.

Although sometimes she starts to say something and I start to panic a little like, "Uhhhh... where is this going?" So far, she always brings it around in the end and I can breathe a big sigh of relief. Like the other day she was getting dressed and pointed to her naked belly and said, "Look! I'm naked like the naked man!" Every child abuse article I've ever read flashed before my eyes in a moment of sheer terror as I tried to ask, as calmly as possible, "What naked guy, honey?" She answered, "The one from the story of Eve with the snake." "Oh that guy. His name is Adam." Whew. That got a little scary for a moment. 

When I ask her if she has something to tell me, the list is never ending. And often times at dinner she'll start to tell us about her dream that she had the previous night. Twenty minutes later, Steve and I are done eating and she's still telling the same ridiculous dream about who-knows-what and hasn't touched a thing on her plate. The other day she said to me, "Ok mom, I am going to tell you my dream. But it's really long. I'll tell it until Daddy comes home and then I'll tell it to him again." I tried to save us both some time by suggesting she tell it to us both at dinner, and she accepted. And it was another dinner in which she talked the whole time and no one else got to say anything. We're working on it.

Ellie, I love you and the way you are growing up, but hopefully not too fast. I pray this world is always open to you and full of adventures and laughter and love and dandelions for making wishes.

P.S. This second plus sign always brings home these ridiculous hats from preschool. They're so funny that I think they deserve a shoutout.

Olivia's Fourth Birthday Party

My mother always had a way of making fun themed birthday parties without spending very much money or using disposable things. Growing up, we didn't have the money to have ridiculous parties with plastic banners and themed tableclothes, but she always made them special. I can still almost taste the homemade calzones I made with my friends one year, and I have some great pictures of a birthday party where she let us raid her closet and play dress up with all her things. It was the thought then that made it special, and I'd like to think that I am passing that on to my children. I enjoy making them pretty party decorations, as inexpensively as possible, and then reusing them throughout the house or giving them to friends. I think we have as much fun planning and prepping for the party as at the actual party itself.

This year, for Olivia's fourth birthday party, we went with a kind of Tangled theme. Mostly because I could envision cute, homemade decorations. And I thought it would be cool to have a Flynn Rider "Wanted" poster piñata, which we had.

^^ I designed the invitations and had them printed at Staples. I'm kind of obsessed with watercolor backgrounds right now. I want them everywhere. 

 ^^ After I made some of these tissue paper flowers for the girls' room, I thought they would make really great party decor. These purple and pink ones won't go to waste after the party, either. The purple flowers are going to Mallory's new apartment and the pink ones will be added to the girls' flower wall downstairs. The tissue paper for these cost $12, with a 20% off coupon at Michaels. And if you can believe it, those flowers are just taped up with what I am convinced is the greatest tape in all the world.

 ^^ I designed the menu for "The Snuggly Duckling Pub" and had it printed as an engineering print at Staples. We served all foods you might find at a German pub. (Because Rapunzel is a German fairytale. I really like to go with the theme): bratwurst, pretzels and a winter vegetable medley (which was a surprisingly big hit - it tasted delicious - but of course, most things taste delicious when they are baked in butter and garlic), royal fruit salad (this perfect fruit salad, using only yellow and purple fruits, in true Tangled colors), kettle corn and chocolate cupcakes with a buttercream frosting.

 ^^ This cake is possibly the best one I've ever made. It was amazing! I used this 3-tier cake recipe to make one 4-inch, 2 layer cake for Olivia and two dozen cupcakes for guests. (I absolutely love this recipe, which I also make my own version of here. It's so good, and when you've found a good thing, why change it?) I frosted the cake and cupcakes in the morning so that by the evening the buttercream had a nice crunchy layer on it, which I love. Melissa was so kind to give me some just in time!

^^ The candle is one of those standard ones you can find in the baking aisle of most grocery stores, but I painted the middle with glue and sprinkled it with gold glitter, because, the color scheme. I'm into it. 

 ^^ I made these floating lanterns, a la "At Last I See The Light" scene out of tissue paper, string and battery-operated tea lights. They look so cute in person. These will stay up for a while, and then, sans tea lights, they will be part of the playroom's new dollhouse scene. More on that later.

 ^^ I used a box to make this piñata. I cut off one end and paper-mached it to make a part that would break, because I didn't have time to make the whole thing out of paper mache. It was wrapped in white wrapping paper with "Wanted" signs taped on. It was filled with gold chocolate coins as the reward and the kids hit it with a frying pan, just like Rapunzel uses against Flynn.

^^ And I can't forget Steve's favorite part of the party, this sign that hopefully says something about apple juice for kids and Logyard IPA in German. He was very excited when he looked up the word "logyard" on Google Translate for this. (If you actually speak German, please do not be offended at our inability to.)

As always, Olivia's favorite part was the chocolate cake. It was my favorite part, too. Well, and the flower wall and floating lanterns. Those were also spot-on.
She's one of the best people to throw birthday parties for. She gets really excited about all the decorations and the cake. When she saw the lanterns she said, "Wow! They are so beautiful, mom!"

Things I Love About Olivia (4 Years Old)

I'll probably say this every year, but I can't believe this girl is four years old now! Our previously pretty calm and cool child developed a streak for the dramatic this year. Which has brought its challenges, but it has also been fun to see this new side of her. 

She is our little ray of sunshine. And these are some of the ways she lights up our lives:

1. She plays so nicely with her brother. My quietest mornings are Tuesdays and Thursdays when Ellie is at school and Henry and Olivia can play. They are both pretty content to play dolls or trains and I love hearing them talk to each other. As I write this, they are both contentedly brushing my hair in (almost) peace.

2. She still loves to snuggle. She has told me she will snuggle with me until she is six. Hopefully that's a long, long time from now.

3. She loves ballet. Last March she and Ellie started taking ballet class. At first, Olivia had a hard time participating in the class and paying attention the whole time. Now, she is really picking up on it quickly. Her favorite move is a grand jete, a leap. Just recently they've had two new teachers who have really helped to expand their repertoire and understanding of the basic elements. They even start out at the barre now, which makes them seem like very official little ballerinas.

4. She is friendly to everyone. If you give her any kind of an opening, she'll talk your ear off, even if you're a perfect stranger. Last week we met a friend for brunch at a cafe and while we were waiting for her to arrive, another man come in to order breakfast and said "Hi" to Olivia. "Hi! Did you know that it's almost my four birthday? I'm going to have a Rapunzel birthday with cake. " And then a bunch more about birthdays and brothers and cowgirl boots (not cowboy boots).  At which point Henry interjected to show his boots. He's gotta cut in somehow.

5. We started saying things like, "I love you, I'm going to keep you forever." to each other. And she's just shortened it so that she comes up to me randomly and squeezes me and says, "Keep you forever." And then she shortened it even more, "Keep you, Mama."

6. She loves her sister. They can really get at each other's throats (sometimes literally), and they drive me crazy sometimes with their arguments over toys or clothes or whatnot. But they are also best friends. They stay up into all hours of the night talking and talking. I wish I knew what they talked about. They are always learning from each other and Liv loves to learn her letters from Ellie.

7. She's always playing dress-up and imaging things. "Hi, Olivia." "Hi Mom. I'm not Olivia. I'm Hiccup, see this is my viking hat." // or (to me). "Hi Grandma. Ellie is my mom. And you're Ellie's mom, so you're my grandma." // or I’m my dad’s mom. She’s very clean and nice. And shiny." // After the Fourth of July she would go around the house saying, "This is my firework dress. When I spin it goes Flash! Flash! Flash!"

8. She's witty. You can't really correct her without getting her own interpretation of the situation. She painted a picture that was just white paint smeared on a blue piece of paper at school. When she brought it home she said, "Look Mom, I painted you a picture of New York City." "Oh," I said, "I guess it's kind of abstract." "No, it's just really foggy so you can't see the city."

9. She loves to adventure. When her teacher asked her class where they wanted to go on a trip, most kids said Disneyland and Olivia said New York City. I do love that kid. And when I asked her what her favorite thing was that she did when she was three, she said it was going to OMSI to see the dinosaurs.

10. She loves music. She got a ukulele for her birthday and it's barely been out of her hands. She can't even hold it correctly, but she plucks away and makes up her own songs. Steve is really good about introducing the girls to new bands. I'm always hearing them say things like, "Dad, can you play us the new new song stuck in your head? Not the new song, the new new one." Somehow, this makes sense to all of them and he knows which one to play. Some of her favorite songs are Honey (Magic Man), Radioactive (Imagine Dragons), Synesthesia (Andrew McMahon), Way Back When (Grizfolk), Everything is Debatable (Hellogoodbye), Mona Lisa (Brad Paisley) and Wagon Wheel (Darius Rucker). If that's not a sophisticated playlist for a four-year-old, I don't know what is. 

11. She loves people. She is always asking after her friends and grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. She is pretty keen to cuddle up to anyone who will give her a lap. She's also the perfect person to take to sad events like my grandmother's funeral because she lights up a dim room. It's hard to be sad in her presence for very long. And when she hears sirens of any kind she says to me, "Mama, someone is hurt. We should pray for them." And then she does. She also told me, " "I like God. God is really my favorite."

12. She likes to pretend to be a baby crab and pinch people. "You're daddy crab and I'm baby crab. Pinch! Pinch! Pinch!"

13. She has peculiar eating habits. She is a self-proclaimed vegetarian. She is always telling us she doesn't like meat. Which is usually fine because we don't eat a lot of it. And her favorite part of her birthday party for the past two years has been "eating cake." No wonder we get along so well.

Basically, she's one of the absolute best humans I've ever known and I look forward to seeing her grow and learn and become the person she is becoming. So far, it's a pretty wonderful person. 

We love you, Olivia. Now and always. We're going to keep you forever.