Two words together!

Scout said her first two-word phrase today, or at least we think she did. Ryan was backing out to go to work this morning, and Scout was waving as usual and said, "Bye-bye Da." Now, she usually calls him Dada, but we're counting it. We've been waiting for progress in that area, and this week has been a bit of an explosion. Sometimes, I think we don't notice how few words she has, because she really makes herself heard and understood. Well, she's finally compiling some words to back up her noise. If she starts talking as much as Garrett, I don't think Ryan and I will be able to fit in very many conversations over the next several years. Thank goodness for unlimited texting.

Big brother to the rescue

The kids were on the back porch playing this evening before their bath, when Garrett started screaming at the top of his lungs. It was one of those scary screams that you only hear a handful of times and pray that you never hear again, because it means something's seriously wrong. Soon after G started screaming, Scout started crying, too. I was out there before I realized I'd moved, but was able to make out a few words G was screaming in the process - something about Scout putting something black in her mouth. I did the quick finger sweep, thinking I might find a stinging or biting insect with the way she was crying, but to my surprise, out came half a roly poly. Ryan immediately figured out that Garrett had seen Scout eat the bug, freaked out and scared her with his crying. It took quite a while to calm them down, and it was clear that G was really frightened.

On the way up to the bath with a much calmer Garrett in my arms, I asked him what he was concerned about. He said, "I thought if she put the roly poly in her mouth, she would chew it and it wouldn't be alive. Well, it wasn't alive anyway.", meaning it was dead to begin with. I asked, "So, were you worried about the bug or Scout?" In a sweet and concerned voice he answered, "Scout. I thought if the roly poly went into her tummy, she would get sick and have to go to the hospital."

What a sweet boy! Though it was a major overreaction, we told him how proud we were of him for being such a good and protective big brother. Who knows? Maybe Scout will never put another bug in her mouth, though she may grow up with an unhealthy fear of roly polies.

Finally, the Easter Sunday post

The kids got to come downstairs to their Easter baskets on Sunday morning, which they loved. We let them have a little sugar before breakfast in the form of Peeps, so they were loving it. Ryan worked Kids to Praise at church that morning and said the table where Garrett and his friends were sitting was hilarious. They were all glass-eyed, quiet and still. Guess they were coming down from the sugar-high by that point!

Score!

Me too!

Garrett helping his little sister with her new sunglasses

Nice work, G

My sister was in town, and after church we came home for lunch and an egg hunt in our living room. The kids found all the plastic eggs filled with bunny graham crackers and the hard-boiled ones we dyed the night before. Scout did surprisingly well, but stopped the hunt when she realized there was something delicious inside all of those eggs.

Opening a new pirate set from his cousins

Scout's favorite - a puppy from her cousins

After lunch, we headed to our friends' house for an egg hunt with several families from our care group. We also brought some cascarones to share. The kids loved it, but we didn't stay long, bolting at the first sign of a possible meltdown.

Running for the eggs

Cascarones

Taking inventory with Aya

Resting with Daddy

Nothing better than climbing a tree

Not wanting the day to be all about chocolate and eggs, I, of course wanted to make sure Garrett understood the true meaning of the holiday. So, I began a conversation with him about Christ's resurrection, ending with, "He defeated death." That was where it went all wrong, and G launched into something about lasers or guns, or some other superhero warfare, and it went downhill from there. I blame the sugar.

Me and my Easter treats

Seriously, the best one of the two of them I could get

Children's Home baskets

For the second year in a row, our Faithbuilders class at church worked together to provide Easter baskets for two children's homes in the Austin area. One is a Presbyterian children's home, and the other is Central Texas Children's Home, which, as many of you know, is very close to our hearts. On the Wednesday before Easter, the Murries and the Hames came to our house to help assemble the baskets. We had 27 total, and my living room looked like the Easter bunny had thrown up in there. We got it all sorted out, and Beth delivered the ones to the kids at the Presbyterian home. The Murries helped us deliver the ones to Central Texas Children's Home, and it was a lot of fun. The boys weren't home, but we gave the baskets to Gloria, the house mom. We were happy to find the girls home, though, and it was great to watch them claim a basket and dig through it. Those kids are so sweet, and they adored Scout and Davis. We were really happy to find out that evening that two of the girls, Cheyenne and Carisima were recently baptized. We felt very blessed that evening, and we can't wait to do it all again next year!

Boys' baskets

Jeremiah and Garrett outside the boys' home

Davis getting some attention from Myranda.

Scout with Carisama and Kathleen

The whole group

G sayings

Here are some interesting things G has said lately:

After talking about how he and Scout are going to live in their own houses when they grow up...
G: But we're a family!
Me: We'll always be a family, but when you grow up, you'll move to your own house. We'll still love each other and get together.
G: Oh, that's right. And when I grow up, Scout's going to be my wife, and I'll be her husband!

G: Is it okay if I close my eyes when I sleep?
Me: Yes.
G: Good, cause that's what I do.

G: I don't need to wash my hands, because I don't see any germs on them.
Me: That's the thing about germs. You can't see them.
G: I'm pretending I can.

G: I'm pretending I'm a pirate, and I have to go to the castle. So I get in my rocket and fly up there and rescue the princess, and her name is Princess Bride.
Me: Who are you?
G: I'm that pirate from the Princess Bride movie. You know, the black man. (I raise my eyebrows) I mean the man in the black clothes.

G: Do real spiders shoot webs out of their hands like Spiderman?
Me: I think the webs come out of their bottoms.
G: That doesn't sound very comfortable.

G: Mommy, I want those round, brown things we get at Jason's Deli. They're brown and crunchy.
Me: Salty or sweet?
G: Sweet.
Me: Do you know what they're called?
G: I think they call them teeter totters.
After about 10 minutes of going back and forth, and figuring out that he meant Waterloo and not Jason's Deli, I cracked the code....tater tots.

After challenging me to a race to Scout's room (Ryan usually says "I'm gonna beat you!"),
G: I'm going to beat you up in Scout's room!

Easter party

Garrett's preschool class had an Easter egg hunt and Easter party the Thursday before Easter. Scout and I crashed it, which both of my kids loved. Scout had a fun time during the party and show-and-tell afterward playing with all of the preschool toys without competition. Garrett's show-and-tell for the letter "v" was one of his favorite cd's called Victor Vito. His teacher played the title song for all fo the kids to dance to. It was fun.

On the hunt

Counting eggs

Swiping some snacks while he's not looking

Getting cozy with Mrs. Rose during storytime


Sweet dancing, but maybe we need to work on Scout's footwork

She's not a vegetarian!

My sweet little Scout has been torturing us since she's been eating table food, by avoiding all meats. Nothing from a cow, pig, fish, bird or other animal in any form - ground, deli sliced, in a patty, casserole, wrap or quesadilla - has ever made it down to her stomach. The closest any of it has ever gotten is to her tongue, after which it is promptly spit out. I'm pretty sure it's not a moral issue for her or a choice of conscience but that she simply doesn't have a taste for any of it - or possibly that she knows how much we want her to eat it. She finally started eating beans, so I was feeling a little better about the protein issue. When I made a pizza a few nights ago, she ate some pepperoni, though I still wasn't excited, since I don't plan to make greasy, composite meats a large part of her diet, as tasty as they may be. Then, by some miracle, last night she picked up a piece of turkey deli meat, that I had put on her dinner plate despite Ryan's scoffing look, and took a bite. We all immediately looked away from her, hoping that if we didn't call attention to it, she'd continue. And she did! She ate three whole slices of turkey meat, in fact. So, though I admire the self-control it must take to avoid eating a delicious, juicy medium rare steak, I'm relieved to not have one of those wackos in my family. Just kidding, Shar!