Artic Blast 2011

We usually joke about the winter weather coverage on the news.  Their "sky-is-falling" chant usually does not pan out.  However, it appears (we trust the National Weather Service more) we are in for a doozy with temperatures dropping into the single digits within the next 24 hours.  And to think we were enjoying weather in the 80 a couple of days ago.

In any case, we spent today getting our refrigerator filled and running some errands prior to our upcoming hibernation.  And since Momma had put off grocery shopping the last couple of weeks... the cart was full and heavy.  We took an hour where Bubita complained most of the time from being strapped in the baby carrier.  She usually loves it; she's close to Momma AND gets to see everything.  Not today.  Bubeaner not to be outdone decided to scream BLOODY murder at the top of his lungs on and off (mainly on) for the duration of our trip.  We were that family.  We got pity looks, sympathy looks and aghast looks.  We attribute the last ones to non-parents.

We are not having any more issues with Bubeaner at night time.  At Bita's suggestion, we moved Bubita's bedtime up to match Bubeaner's.  Problem solved!  He no longer complains, and, other than for a few minutes, neither does Bubita.  Yay!!!

Of course, that would make life too easy.  Now, we are having problems with nap times.  Bubeaner keeps pushing his afternoon nap later and later every day.  He's still sleeping about 2-3 hours.  So Bubeaner still needs it.  Thankfully, when he fights us it just means he stays in his bed talking to himself until he doses off.

Bubita suddenly went from napping every 90 minutes to taking two long naps during the day.  Unfortunately, she fights us for those.  We are convinced the neighbors think we torture our kids from all the crying.

Bubeaner continues working on his potty training.  Every night after his shower he asks to use it!  We even decided to buy extra pairs of underwear; next week we will attempt to go from diaper to underwear during the day.  Surely 14 pairs should be enough.  Right?

He's learned two phrases that he uses constantly: "I don wanna" and "That funny".  When something makes him laugh or when he does something he considers funny, Bubeaner will say "that funny".  Of course, he expects us to agree with his observation.  And most of the time, it is funny.

The other phrase is becoming more annoying than "no".  And we did not believe that was possible.  Almost every single time we ask him to do something he will say he doesn't want to do it.  Even if it's something he likes....  Sigh.  This one pushes a button, but we are trying to not let him know.

We did learn something interesting about Bubita today.  She does not crawl yet.  When we try to teach her, she gets angry and tries to roll away.  Yet, we learned it's not because she can't.  Bubita was on the trundle when Bubeaner wanted to use his potty (a couple of feet away).  While Bubita thought she was "unsupervised" she rolled on to her tummy, looked back to the left and right, then proceeded to scoot backwards.  Once her legs went over the ledge, she looked back again and then proceeded with the scooting reaching out with her legs to find the ground.  By this time Momma was right behind her ready to help if needed, but also wanting to find out what Bubita would do.  Well, Bubita found the ground and then continued scooting until she was standing holding on to the trundle!!!  Sometimes we get the feeling she's just pretending to be a baby.

Night Terrors

The little ones are not having night terrors.  At least we do not believe they are having them.  But they have become little terrors at night.  They are not sleeping.  Oh, they are taking their daytime naps without a problem or fuss.  Nice, long naps.  But then something happens at night.

Every girl needs an Ipad!  (She actually nows how to move things.)

Bubeaner starts fussing and crying not wanting to start the nightly routine.  He fusses about eating dinner.  He fusses about bath time.  He fusses about reading books!  Once he starts eating, bathing or reading, it's OK.  But the mother of all fits starts putting him in bed.  Crying fits.  Hysterical, not the funny-ha-ha-ha fits, but the what-in-the-world-is-going-on kind of fits.  They are a little better if he's in our bed, but they are still bad.  Then he fall asleep.  If he's in our bed, we have some hope of a decent, undisturbed, night's sleep.  If he's in his room, we can look forward to a few crying bouts if he awakes... followed by Bubeaner coming to our room.

Lately, it's nothing but attitude from these two.

And Bubita is not far behind on her fits.  She doesn't have fits for the nightly routine; she actually really enjoys it and gets excited when she guesses what comes next.  However, she refuses to go to sleep in her crib.  We must rock her to sleep.  This may be due to Bubita falling asleep while nursing at night lately.  Then if she wakes up, she wants to be held and rocked til she's asleep again.  We know the answer is to let her cry.  But if she cries, Bubeaner wakes up.  And if Bubeaner wakes up, we are ALL going to be awake and not happy.

Bubeaner tries to use his sister as a pillow unsuccessfully.

With Bubeaner we wonder if it may not be due to sinus issues.  He actually asks to use the saline spray on a daily basis.  And he's been messing with his nose and rubbing around his eyes a lot this weekend... about the same time when the fitfull issues started.  We started giving him 1/2 a dose of Benadryl before bedtime in case it was allergy issues aggravating him.  No difference.  Seriously, NONE!  Well, none at night.  He does appear to be in a better mood during the day. 

Bubita wanted so badly to eat some of the Thai food.

As to Bubita, no clue what could be causing the changes.  Our best guess is maybe a growth spurt.  Although that generally happens around 6 months and she's now 7 months old!  But then again, this girl likes to do things her way.  And she's been eating a little more frequently during the day and most definitely eating at night.  Before she ate at 730p and then again at 5a or 6a.  Currently she's wide awake, in our bed and rolling from Momma's side to Dadda's side of the bed while kicking us.  And, it's almost midnight.  Bubeaner has woken up twice already crying.  He's still in his bed... for now.

Bubeaner absolutely enjoyed his Tom Yum soup. Yummy!

This weekend we all got a scare that has affected Momma and Dadda's sleep too.  Saturday morning, while we were out, our home alarm went off.  The police was called.  And when we got home, the patio door was wide open.  There was no sign of forced entry.  However, we ALWAYS dead bolt the back door.  ALWAYS.  And before we left it was locked. 

A girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do.  Bubeaner will learn not to leave his sippy cup unattended.

Nothing was missing, other than our peace of mind.  The only thing we can assume is that maybe someone using the "master" key may have opened it and got scared off by our "watch/attack" dog (or more likely by the alarm going off).  The builders give master keys to "buyers" and then when the house is completed and the closing finalized, the locks are reset by using the new keys.  Well, we reset the other outside doors but failed to reset the back patio door.  So anyone with that master key could have gained entry.

Visiting with some of Bubeaner's NICU nurses.

Afterward we (Momma) did not want to stay in the house, at least at that moment.  So we ran some errands and took the opportunity to visit the NICU.  We had not taken Bubeaner in a long time.  Sadly (for us, but good that babies are healthy) the NICU was pretty empty so there was minimal staff on duty.  We did get to see two of his nurses, RN Cathy and RN Melinda.  They both agreed that Bubita is a female clone of Bubeaner.  At times, it's scary how much they look alike.

Bubeaner and his Tammie

 
Bubeaner was a bit reserved at first, but eventually warmed up enough to interact with them.  Of course, it helped that RN Melinda had a goody bag with stickers and crayons.  She knows the way to a kids heart.  As to Bubita, she was her cute, smiling self.  Being back at the NICU reminded us how far we have come.... and how blessed we were with Bubita's uncomplicated birth.  We are indeed blessed with two healthy, beautiful and absolutely precious children.

He refused to go to sleep.

 Sunday was more calm.  Church followed by lunch with RN Tammie.  We teased her about the bear she gave Bubeaner after he left the NICU.  The bear had a recording, "Hi _____, Tammie loves you."  Well, the darn thing is still working despite the fact that Bubeaner LOVES to press it over and over and over and over.  Bubeaner also got to see his godfather and watch some of the football games.  Although the highlight of his day was "driving" uncle Jeff's truck.  Trucks, tractors, and fire trucks are his current favorite things to do.

Guess, we were not feeding her enough.

Brr, It's Getting Cold Here

Bubeaner racing with Bubita

Today was not as cold as yesterday.  And it actually felt a lot better because the wind was not as bad.  However, 22 degrees by ANY definition is still COLD.  So we decided to hibernate today.  The only real plan on the agenda was Bubeaner's dance & tumbling class.  It just was not worth it to go outside for it.

Bubita looks beautiful in green.

There was a lot of playing, reading and puzzle solving.  We even had some sliding and basketball dunking taking place.  There were also some races to see how fast Bubita could walk.  We just took it easy.  Bubeaner was not feeling so well; he was a little fussy.  And Bubita must have also felt a little under the weather; she took several long naps rather than just one. 

Bubeaner showing Bubita how to dunk.

Considering our relaxed day, it was surprising that they children were ready for bed at 6!  In fact, we had to eat dinner without Dadda because both of them were getting fussy and sleepy.  We were right to be suspicious.  Bubeaner woke up twice before 9p.  And Bubita woke up at 9p and 1130p crying. 

Bath time was fun. They managed to get the floor very wet.

Bubeaner really enjoyed his bean soup...with lots of onions.

Late Night Movie

The boy LOVES to eat onions.

Bubeaner helped make dinner, fish stew, today.  He loved naming all the ingredients, smelling and, the best part, tasting them.  Of course, some he liked so much that he decided to snatch them up.  He was particularly fond of the onions.  Bubeaner ate 1/4 of a sweet onion...RAW... and enjoyed it.  Eeck!  Of course, this should not be a surprise coming from the boy that dipped his apple in the menudo during breakfast.  But at least he's eating.

Bubita just loves to eat ANYTHING she can get her hands on these days.  Bubeaner helps her out.

Bubita is also a pretty good eater.  We still can't figure out what she's allergic or intolerant to it does not appear to affect her appetite.  Officially, she's still nursing for all her meals.  But she's having a slight snack and then some cereal between her last two meals of the day.  Although that does not take into consideration Bubeaner.  Bubeaner keeps sharing with her his food.  Today he shared his Kix.  Yup, we are not sure how many she ate.  We've also rescued raisins, veggie straws, and chips in the past. 

It was wonderful to have peace and quiet even if he was watching TV.

Dadda had to work later than usual today.  We were left on our own for the evening.  And in desperation, Momma and the kiddos were obviously not feeling well, we watched an animated movie.  It worked well enough keeping the kiddos quiet until they mellowed out.  After the first 15-30 minutes they watched on and off while they played.  But they were in a much better mood.

Most of the evening they spent playing together.

Bubita went to bed without a problem at her normal time.  Bubeaner, well, he tried to milk it.  We read three books plus our prayer book.  And we even rocked and sang songs.  He was still fighting it 30 minutes past his bedtime.  Thankfully, he was not crying.  Bubeaner would just sneak back into the living room dragging his lovey behind him.  It was adorable, but not acceptable.  So back to bed we went 5-6 times until he fell asleep.... and Bubita woke up.  Sigh.  Thankfully, she fell back asleep soon afterwards.

Publish Post

Bubeaner sitting on the walker as they both stopped to watch a scene in the movie.

Three for Three, Baby!

Yup, Bubeaner is three for three in the potty department.  No, we are still not officially potty training just taking him whenever he asks or mentions he wants to go.  This morning he did wake Momma up asking to go, but sadly by the time Momma woke up enough to understand what was going on and untangled from the sheets it was too late.  Bubeaner was NOT pleased.  He was, in fact, pretty upset about it.  We still praised him for telling us.  And went about our day.

Yes, we took another celebratory picture.  Bubeaner looks so "thrilled" about it.

But then as we were walking to the nursery after bath time he suddenly said "pee potty".  Panic ensued.  Momma, who was holding Bubita wrapped in a towel grabbed his arm while trying to reach the potty on the opposite side of the house while Dadda literally dropped his computer bag (he had just walked in) and was trying to get past the child-proofing locks behind which the potty was found.  Needless to say, we were sure we had missed our shot but still sat him down.  And then we heard the most beautiful tinkleling sound to a toddler's parent's ears.  He had been able to HOLD IT!!!  Bubeaner was thrilled and even allowed another potty picture to be taken along with a round of celebratory phone calls.  Yay, Bubeaner!!!

"Momma!  Do you HAVE to take my picture NOW?!?"

That was the best way to close a good day.  It's always a good day when Bubeaner and Bubita have a good day.  Bubeaner was past whatever was bothering him yesterday.  He played most of the morning with Bubita and Meme'Licia.  He ate a good lunch and enjoyed a good, long afternoon nap.  He did wake up in the middle of it due to Bubita's fussing.  But was able to go back to sleep almost as soon as Momma laid next to him.  (It's hard to say no to a sleepy baby boy asking "Momma, night-night?")

We even managed to take a short stroll to the park and played for a little while in the playground.  Bubeaner met a new friend, Austin, while we were playing.  Austin is a little older but he was pretty patient with Bubeaner.  They laughed and managed to discover new ways to get up to the slides.  And Bubeaner over came some of his natural caution and even attempted some of the (big boy) stunts Austin was doing.  It makes us wonder if maybe Bubeaner would really enjoy school. 

Peace in the tub.  Doesn't happen often but we enjoy it when it does.

School, and when to start, has been a topic for discussion at home.  Bubeaner has not done so well at the church nursery during mass (at St. Philips) and women's group (at St. Michaels).  In fact, he would panic and meltdown.  That's one of the reason we stopped taking him.  He was so freaked out and traumatized afterwards it really didn't seem worth it.  We may start it again and see how he does now.

Bubita was pretty good today too.  The older she gets, the more we notice how much she enjoys the alone times to play, interact and even just cuddle while her brother is sleeping.  Today she really fought nap time because she was enjoying playing too much.  Hey, it's nice when no one is taking the toys away from you at every turn.  Although, she doesn't usually complain.  Thankfully, Bubita just moves on to something else. 

Bubita was delighted to have caught the cup from her brother.

And even though she fights taking naps, once she's in her crib Bubita tends to sleep without much of a fuss.  At least that's the case during the day.  But unfortunately, Momma has gotten her used to falling asleep while rocking her at night.  Tonight she refused, absolutely REFUSED (90 minutes) to fall asleep until Momma rocked her.  Bubita was asleep within 30 seconds.  Momma may have created a little monster.  But how does she know that she has to fall asleep without fussing during the day but fussing at night?!?! Kids!

Our little Snow White princess with her dark hair.  It looks like it might be black.

She's now asleep in her crib.  And soon we are sure to hear the little shuffling of feet into our room.  We have read the books, watched the interviews with psychologists/neurologist/pediatricians, and been advised by friends and family.  We know the theories.  But after much soul searching and discussion, we have decided that we are not going to fight it.  We both used to sneak into our parents' beds as children....  And eventually, we stopped.  One day too, our kids are going to grow up.  They are not going to need us, well, at least not the way they need us now.  So for now, we are going to enjoy the drool on our bed, the unexpected kick or punch, and the bed-hogging.  Some day they will be all grown up and all we will have will be the memories.

The Craziness Comes Out Sometimes

Well, there were no pictures taken today.  It was not because of lack of cuteness.  Bubeaner was quite dashing in his outfit and cool boots.  And Bubita was so adorable with her brown and pink outfit with matching brown headband and huge pink flower bow.  But even with all that cuteness, they were just difficult today. 

The original plan was to visit aunt Pau at work taking her some balloons and flowers and possibly even eating lunch with her.  We started trying to leave at 9a.  By 1030a, we had given up hope.  There was crying, whining, dressing and undressing, packing and unpacking of the diaper bag and just plain difficultness.  Bubita did most of the crying.  Bubeaner took care of the rest with his fair share of whinning and crying. 

This if from a few days ago, but pretty much the look he had all day.

On the bright side, Bubeaner used the potty again this morning.  We are 2-2!  We are still not officially potty training, but just letting him tell us when and if he wants to try the potty.  In the morning it works.  In the afternoon, he was caught squating obviously "working" on something.  He was pretty clear about his response when asked if he wanted to use the potty: "No, mmm, no, no potty." 

Bubita did manage to roll off the trundle bed in the nursery.  She only actually fell less than five inches.  How she managed to fall was the confounding thing; the trundle has a little ledge.  But then again, we should not be surprised.  The girl has been a rolling maniac the last few days.  Whenever she wants a toy or something that catches her attention, she will roll to get it.  She then rolls back to where she was or towards another toy.  She does not appear interested in crawling at this moment.  Rolling works just fine.

Bubita has such a beautiful smile.

We did enjoy a nice little afternoon walk around the neighborhood.  Bubeaner really perked up and relaxed during the walk.  Bubita was just thrilled to people watch.  We followed this by a relaxing warm bath where we let them play longer than usual.  However, even that was not enough to avoid a little meltdown at dinner from Bubeaner.  He didn't even really eat dinner.  It was just crying, crying and crying with a dose of whinning.  His bedtime may need to be pushed back... though he has not had a problem the previous nights. 

Dadda read him a few bedtime stories and sang to him before putting him to bed.  He was asleep almost before Dadda walked out of the room.  Bubita was not far behind.  For now, they are sleeping peacefully.  Let's hope for a better day tomorrow.

Potty! Potty! Potty!

Someone used the potty for the first time today!!!  As we were getting ready for the shower, Bubeaner came up  and said "Momma, pee pee!"  We immediately dropped everything and sat him in his potty.  After a few seconds we heard the tell tale tinkling!!!  Bubeaner was not shy to recognize his endeavor demanding a "bravo" for his feat.  And he got one... actually, he got a lot of bravos and screaming in joy and calling everyone to share the news.

Bubeaner on his potty with his "iPad".

A couple of weeks ago Bubeaner started asking for underwear.  We bought him some but with the clear understanding he would have to use the potty in order to wear them.  He agreed.  Then promptly told us he would NOT be using the potty when we got home.  So the underwear was put away.  We are not stressing about getting Bubeaner potty trained; we'll start worrying if he's 4 and still wearing diapers all day.  Our theory is that he will let us know when he's ready.  Maybe he's ready.

They looked so cute in the cart together. (Double children seats on carts are AWESOME!)

There was a slight miscalculation. In the excitement of getting him on the potty and followed by the celebrating, we had left an undiapered Bubita in the middle of our bed.  We were watching her the whole time so there was no fear of her rolling to the edge without us noticing.  We just sort of forgot about the diaper....  Needless to say, we had to wash the sheets.  It was a good thing all (ALL) the beds in the house have the waterproof mattress covers.  The little minx didn't even give us a hint of what she was doing.  Sigh.

Bubeaner started his nap early.

Bubita looks so peaceful napping.

 We did manage to go shopping today.  We were in desperate need of diapers, diaper wipes and other necessities.  Bubeaner was well behaved.  Of course, he was enjoying the samples at every aisle.  And since he was with his aunt Pau, he got away with eating almost everything.  Bubita lost her patience halfway through.  It was mainly because she was hungry.  Can't blame the girl for complaining.  Thankfully, we were able to remedy that fast.  Although the best part was the peace and quiet in the car on the way back.  Ah, silence is so beautiful sometimes.

Bubeaner insisted Bubita wear her camo boots too.

Bubeaner loves his boots.  He learned to put them on...though we are still working on Left versus Right.

 The rest of the afternoon was a blur since Momma took a nap trying to get rid of a bad sinus headache.  Thankfully, Meme'Licia was able to entertain the kiddos when they woke up from their nap.  Once Meme'Licia left, we spent the rest of the afternoon playing.  Bubeaner really enjoyed working on his new farm animal puzzle.  He would call out the animal name followed by making the animal sound before placing them on the board.  And he was doing it in both English and Spanish.  He also spent some time working on a puzzle uncle Ivan got him.  It's a little more advanced for his age, but he's getting better every day.  It's a little hard because he wants to do it himself without help.

Both babies in their highchairs.

 It is so much easier to prepare and enjoy dinner now that Bubita also has a high chair.  Before she would either be in the walker or the jumperoo while we prepared/ate dinner.  And we used the Bumbo to feed her.  But she would always end up on someone's lap.  Now, she sits in her chair playing and talking with Bubeaner across the table.  She's also able to enjoy some snacks too.  It was a good feeling to have her join us at the table during dinner.  It still amazes us to think that three years ago we didn't even use our table.  And now, it's full.  We are blessed.

Bubita enjoying a snack.

Bubeaner enjoying a strange concoction: cheese pizza dipped in yogurt that was mixed with pizza sauce.

Birthday Celebrations

We appear to have settled into a new Saturday routine.

Coach Morgan, Bubeaner's swim instructor, moved all her classes to Saturday due to school conflicts.  So now, Dadda is in charge of taking Bubeaner to class.  It's a good opportunity to spend some quality time together.  And Dadda is thrilled to be able to participate in Bubeaner's activities.

Bubita spending some quality time with uncle Gary and her godfather.

Bubeaner has really been practicing on his swim kicks and blowing bubbles in the tub and ballpit.  Yet, he was too easily distracted today.  Coach Morgan was not able to get much participation from him.  Bubeaner really only concentrated when it was time to put away their equipment.  No surprise there.

Bubita and Momma went off to spend the morning together running some errands.  She behaved BEAUTIFULLY!  Bubita has improved dramatically when it comes to spending time in her carseat.  But even then she does not usually cooperate when she sees people around that could be holding her.  Today, Bubita decided it would be OK to just play and interact with people even if it was from her carseat.

Bubita was literally running in her walker on the wood floors.

Either way, both kiddos were exhausted when they got home.  After a light meal, they both took a nice long afternoon nap.  This was great since we had dinner plans.  And as soon as they woke up we headed over to uncle Gary and aunt AA's home.  We were celebrating uncle Gary's birthday from earlier in the week.

Bubita in her pjs enjoying some cuddling time with aunt AA.

Sadly, with all the holidays and craziness of November and December, we had not visited in a while.  The kiddos were a little shy at first.  It took them a little while to warm up.  Soon Bubeaner was feeling at home again.  We were not sure if that was a good thing or not since he was everywhere and into everything.  Bubita was also running around in her walker.  They really enjoyed their time there.  We actually ended up leaving really late because the kiddos were playing without stop.  We usually judge time (to leave) by Bubeaner's demeanor.  This time WE were the ones to tell him.

Bubeaner and uncle Jeff.

Sunday, aunt Pau and Kyle joined us for church.  We decided to take the risk of sitting in the sanctuary.  Bubeaner did GREAT!  He did move a bit, but it's the first time he has not tried to compete with the priest during the sermon.  Grandma Ellen gave us some finger puppet at Christmas; they were a great help.  And not to be outdone, Bubita was excellent too.  She stayed in her car seat just asking to be held towards the end.

Bubeaner "driving" his godfather's truck.  He LOVED it!

Afterward we went to aunt Pau's birthday lunch.  We learned that Bubeaner really likes steamed dumplings and basil eggrolls.  That's all he would eat.  This was the also first time Bubita sat in a highchair.  She did pretty good.  The only problem was that she thought she could lounge in the chair.  It was so big that she was in danger of sliding out.

Happy Birthday aun Pau!  (Bubeaner looks concerned about the candles.)

While aunt Pau and Momma went to buy Bubita her own highchair, Bubeaner and Bubita stayed with Dadda, uncle Jeff and Kyle.  Bubeaner was pretty well behaved.  Bubita.... Well, Bubita pretty much spent the 2 hours torturing and tormenting the men.  Yes, they suffered.  From the reports, she cried non-stop, only wanting to be held while being walked.  Of course, she behaved beautifully once Momma was there.  Bubita and Bubeaner behaved wonderfully through the rest of the evening.

Helping aunt Pau cut the cake.

They particularly enjoyed helping aunt Pau blow out the candles on her cake. Bubeaner went to bed without a problem even considering all the sugar from the frosting and cake.  Bubita was another story.  She refused to go to sleep.  But she was able to join us to watched Miss America (family tradition) on DVR.  She was asleep half way through; it was all good.

Busy Bubeaners

The kiddos are doing great now that we are settling back into a routine after the craziness of December.  We added up the days we were out of town; we were at our home a total of 9 days that month!  It's no wonder the kiddos had some issues readjusting.

We were quick to start them back on their daytime routine including naps.  Bubita takes two short naps in the morning and evening.  But she is now taking her long afternoon nap with Bubeaner.  That has appeared to have helped with their nighttime routine.  Bubita has slept for 12-13 hours every night the last two days.  Twelve to thirteen hours!!!  A the wonder of a good night's sleep. 

Bubeaner loves his new warm jacket.  

Of course, there has been another change.  We have a nightly visitor to our bedroom.  Every night this week we have heard the shuffling of little feet followed by the "Momma night-night" or "Dadda night-night".  It's not ideal; however, he falls right back to sleep and is now not moving as much when he sleeps.  We have debated using the baby gate to keep him in the nursery.  The concern is that he will cry or raise his voice to get our attention thereby waking up Bubita.  We can deal with sharing our bed so long as we can sleep. A startled-awake Bubita does not allow us to sleep.  Dilemma.  Dilemma.

Poor little bundled Bubita.  At least, she is warm.

We have also resumed our daily routine of a daily walk.  It has been moved up to earlier in the day taking into consideration how COLD it has been lately.  And it has helped a lot with attitude issues.  The kiddos, especially Bubeaner, are in a much better mood if we go for a walk.  Not surprisingly, the only other people we run into on our walks, specially the coldest days, are other parents with young children.

Our two little helpers.  Notice Sandy keeps an eye on them from a safe distance.

 
And Bubeaner has become a little harder to deal with now that he is in his Terrible-Twos stage.  He's still a good kid and pretty easy going.  But there have been changes.  For one, he has suddenly become a really picky eater.  It is a hard transition from Bita's awesome home-cooked meals to Momma's, well, just meals.  But today Momma got the idea of letting him help her make his meal.  He has helped out before while we make dessert and he loved it.  The plan was that if he helped make it he would be more interested in eating it.  It worked!  We are planning on letting him help more often.  Hey, he may even grow up loving to cook, something Momma does not enjoy doing usually.  Although working with the Bubeaner made cooking fun.

Bubeaner is pretty good about putting his things in their place.

We have also been facing a new problem.  Bubeaner does not like to share with Bubita.  That would not be a great problem if he just refused to share his toys.  The problem is he refuses to let Bubita play with her own toys!  Sigh.  We've been working on it a little every day.  Thankfully, he has not taken to hitting Bubita... yet.  Let's hope that continues.  He has, however, taken to "spanking" Momma and Daddy saying "no, no, no".  We are a little baffled as to where he got this since we don't spank.  Interesting.

A happy, silly, Bubeaner.  He's developed quite a sense of humor.

As to Bubita, the girl is determined to be a big girl.  Anything and everything her brother does she has to do too.  The other day she managed to grab a crayon while Bubeaner was coloring.  And she actually looked at the coloring book and then back at the crayon before attempting to eat it.  With Bubita, most things appear to be good snack material. 

Bubita loves her brother, but gets pretty miffed with him at times.

Bubita's favorite past time involves doing laps around the house in her walker.  Now that she has finally mastered walking one foot at a time (before she did the two foot jump), she's getting pretty fast.  Thankfully, she still cannot move on carpet.  That pretty much limits her access to the family room-kitchen area and the hallways.  A lot less for her to get into trouble this way... at least for now.

Chillin' with the homeys.

She is not crawling yet.  But Bubita is now a pro at sitting on her own.  And she wants to be sitting all the time.  It does give her greater access to the things around her.  She's even started enjoying playing with some of her toys while sitting as opposed to just trying to eat them.  At times, Bubeaner even plays with her.  Well, they play together for a little while before Bubeaner decides to take the toys away from Bubita.  But we are working on that.  And he does enjoy entertaining her.  This week Bubeaner discovered Bubita thought it was funny when he accidentally hit himself.  Well, he spent a good 15 minutes pretending to hurt himself (a la the Three Stooges) making her laugh hysterically. 

Ah, the rare occasions of harmony.