Wild Child

Lately whenever anybody holds Cecie, they always seem to ask if she wants her mommy. They ask this because she Won't. Stop. Moving. She will grab onto you, pull herself up to a stand, sit back down, try to lay down and roll over, leans forward to try to grab anything and repeats this process over and over. I tell them that while I might be able to get her to sit slightly more still, in general this is just Cecie. She wants to be on the move.

And today she put her immobile days behind her once and for all.

Thanks to the lure of the remote control, Cecilia has learned how to use her arms to propel her little body forward via what is known as The Army Crawl. And in the few short hours since revealing this new skill, she has become quite adept at it and gets from A to B in no time at all and is already trying to use her legs to help her along.

So tomorrow I will be baby proofing and figuring out how to manage a baby who presents very different challenges today than she did yesterday!

Notice...she has two little teeth!

She got bored of just sitting there so she decided to start chewing on the pillow.

I think Simon was more excited about Cecie learning to crawl than anyone.

Love having two!

Hysterical Baby Giggles, How I Love Thee

As little miss Cecie gets older, it is getting easier and easier to get big laughs out of her. Peek-a-boo is definitely a favorite and one that almost always results in a giggle. There is nothing that can get her to laugh as hard as Simon playing peek-a-boo with her, though. She laughs so hard she sounds almost like a crazy old smoker and usually winds up choking because she is so into it.

Saying I love it doesn't even come close to how I feel about her laugh, and especially those that arise because her big brother is trying to make her happy. These two just kill me...

{The real fun begins after the first 50 seconds or so...and Simon quietly telling Cecie that he loves her makes this just about the best video we could ever capture.}

Dance Party USA

The other night we had a little dance party up in here...Simon has some pretty slick moves. Okay, so his moves probably aren't too different from the likes of any other 4 year old across the country, but he adds a little Simon flair by kicking a ball around and smacking one of Cecie's toys, just 'cause.

I was chatting with a mother at her son's wedding this past weekend and she reminded me to TAKE LOTS OF VIDEOS. I have a video camera on my person quite literally at all times, so I should really be able to take more quite easily. I do, but just not as often as I will wish I would have 20 years from now...

Anyway, enjoy a glimpse into our dance party:

Attempt Number 1: Puff Ponytails

I've tried to put a few puffs in Cecie's hair already, but I never attempted her whole head and never really did it right in the first place. This time, I did it right I think but by the time our first wrestling match came around (aka a diaper change) the puffs in the back were gonners. If nothing else, it was good practice for both of us and she looked so freaking cute while it lasted!

One of these days I'll have to figure out a style that has some longevity because that fro of hers is getting bigger by the day! :)

Can't forget about the boy!

Lately I've been posting a lot of pictures of Cecilia, both here and on Facebook. This one got a lotta love on the ol' wall yesterday (thanks friends):

I don't care who knows it - I think this baby is effing gorgeous. C'mon. Look at that face, that hair, that skin, that smile, AHH! And she loves the camera. Or rather, she loves her mama and will smile for me if I so much as say hello to her. Hence, we seem get lots of happy, cute baby pictures.

On the other hand, Simon (who is equally as breathtaking in my eyes) loves to thwart the camera. My camera does have a lot of photos of Simon on it, but most of the time the second he sees me pointing it in his direction he tucks into a ball, runs away, puts his hands up or just starts making a crazy "I'm not going to permit a decent picture" face. So it's not that I don't try to get photos of him, it's that he tries to not let me.

Super fun stage.

The other day he was playing outside and I wanted to capture some candid shots. He spotted me instantly, grabbed his pretend sword and went to attack. The fact that I have not figured out the fine art of taking clear action shots is evident whenever I try to get this energetic little human on film (or rather on my sd card I guess, but that doesn't have as nice of a ring to it). I won't give up, though. I'll keep trying to learn more about my camera and more about how to get a 4 year old to cooperate...

Crazy Lady

Yesterday we were busy....

Between running errands and taking Simon to and from school and gymnastics, there wasn't a good time to attempt a solid nap with the little one. But I still tried. All day. And I still failed. All day.

Finally by 5pm I had to put Cecie in her crib (again) because I just could not hold her anymore. While in my arms she was half asleep and half FIGHTING sleep and it was driving me batty (which is admittedly an understatement). So in her crib to fight sleep she went and outside I went to take a deep breath in the warm, quiet air (my mom said she used to do this for a minute when she needed a mental break and I thought it was a fine idea just then).

I went outside barefoot and remembered the new dress and shoes I bought while running the aforementioned errands. I walked to my car and decided to throw the shoes on since I have a gravel driveway and barefoot on it is just not smart. I heeled it back to the door and was just not ready to go back in so I plopped on the swing set to enjoy my surroundings for just another minute. Next thing I know Bryan gets home from work and sees his wife sitting on a swing in black heels, bright blue cotton shorts, an old t-shirt and unruly Pippi Longstocking inspired pigtails with no kids in sight. He laughed saying that I looked like a "crazy mother" and that was enough to make me laugh too and get back to reality with (somewhat) renewed patience.

Some days are just like that I suppose. And seeing as it's 7am and I've been up long enough to blog, today might be "just like that" too...

Round of Applause

The other day when Simon was whining about who knows what, I decided on a whim to try something. As luck should have it, he stopped whining and started laughing instead. The whining spell was broken! He asked for what he wanted like a normal human being and all was well in the world. This was nothing short of a miracle, I tell you.

Want my secret? My guess is you might.

Well...I clapped at him. Like smacked my hands together over and over until he stopped whining and started smiling, which took all of 3 seconds. It's sounds (and looks) ridiculous, but it's ridiculously effective so I'm going to stick with it for as long as it produces a smile and eliminates a frown. Who knows, maybe he'll stop whining altogether?! Or maybe it'll backfire and he'll whine just to get clapped at since he seems to think it's so funny.

Either way, I'll keep you posted on its long term effectiveness...and if you try it let me know if it works for you too! :)