Fits of Giggles

  

  

 
Where's the snow?

The outfit Lariska is wearing in these photos was a Christmas present before she was even born. My mother, who swore I was having a boy, was bullied into purchasing this outfit by some women at our church (the money went to a good cause). While I love the outfit I am not sure it is still going to fit by the time the snow comes. So...like all of the outfits I love that aren't seeming to fit my girls I am taking photos while I can!

The title of the blog today centers around bedtime tonight. Matt comes home late on Wednesdays, so I put the girls to bed by myself. It requires a lot of juggling, but like I said before, the chaos has become the norm around here, so I am somewhat used to it now. Anyway...Kyrie was in her crib and Lariska and I were singing her "Twinkle, Twinkle". Kyrie got up and started to jump around (it is very hard to contain that child with a baby in my hands) and Lariska started laughing remarkably loud. So, of course I let Kyrie jump around some more. Before we knew it we were all laughing uncontrollably. Lariska is pretty free with her smile, but she saves those giggles for special things. (A discerning sense of humor? Maybe.) And, it seems that Kyrie is basically the most special of them all, because she is the only one I have seen thus far who is guaranteed a squeal for any little silly thing she does. I have to say that, as their mother, it practically brings a tear of joy to my eye when I witness this frivolity. There are certain things we all want for our children (food, shelter, clothes, happiness) but one of those is for them to like each other. While I know this is not a guarantee of future peace I do hope that it is a step in the right direction. 

TFC Returns

 
After four months of dealing with the TFC it has now simply become the norm. Strange how that happens, hey? Therefore, this afternoon took me quite by surprise when some added chaos cropped up. I cannot remember the last time Kyrie had a blowout (it was probably like a year and half ago!), but today Kyrie ran in to me and said, "Mommy, I pooped." I got everything ready to change the diaper when I noticed a stain on my carpet. Yikes! From there it got real messy. Ugh. TFC. That's all I can say. Lariska was on the floor just feet away crabbing away about her gas, so everyone was a real treat this afternoon. As always, we survived and life goes on.

Okay, now that I mentioned Kyrie pooping I will address the whole potty-training debacle once again. Basically, it comes to this - my daughter is stubborn. She knows how to do it, she knows when she should be doing it, she knows she will get rewarded if she does it, but she ain't gonna do it because then she would lose the control she has over us on this one. We aren't sweating it. After talking to lots of other parents it seems that other like-minded stubborn children tend to just decide one day that they are going to start using the potty chair. We are excited for that day, but aren't pushing it as it seems that just pushes that glorious day further away.

Do other mothers think that they must have the only child like theirs? Regardless, I am convinced that Kyrie is one-of-a-kind. 

 
Pretty in purple 

 
Kyrie loves to jump. Here is an action shot of her fun. 

Four Month Stats

 

Though Lariska was actually four-and-a-half months old, we had her four-month checkup last Friday. Lariska is now 12 lbs. 14 oz. and 24.5 inches long - both in the 50th percentile. Surprisingly, her head jumped from the 25th to 75th percentile! Thank goodness it was not in the 75th at birth! And, no wonder everyone is saying she looks like Matt now. Our Ped. was impressed with Lariska's neck and leg strength and gave us the go for baby food, but we will be waiting till she is six months old. We did that for Kyrie and thought it worked nicely, so why change something that worked the first time around, right?! 

Fruits of the Spirit

 
Lariska gets introduced to the congregation - Kyrie thinks the clapping is for her. (Notice Lariska has eyes only for Kyrie.)

After Lariska's baptism on Sunday, the pastor gave a sermon and mentioned the "fruits of the spirit" in it:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering [patience], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law" (Gal. 5:22,23).

It was ironic to me because when Kyrie was a baby and I nursed her to sleep almost every night I would pray that God would give her these fruits of the spirit (I had done many bible studies on this particular passage and so new them by heart). Now, I often pray the same for Lariska. The ironic part is that as I look at the list of "fruits" it seems that God may have given Kyrie a double or triple helping of Joy, but may have forgotten about some of the others - particulary, patience, gentleness and self-control. It seems like we have a lot more praying to do. But...what parent doesn't???

On another note, Matt actually asked me to blog this, though I was not there to witness:

Matt: Kyrie, what was your favorite part of the day today?
Kyrie: Hanging out with Daddy.
Matt: Awww...Do you know that I love you?
Kyrie: Yes. You even help me wash my hands. 

Imagination Station (cont.)

The other day I blogged about Kyrie's imagination and mentioned that I cannot remember half of what she tells me on most days...which is so true. But, today we had an appearance of some of her "friends" at dinner and since that was like 1.5 hours ago, I can actually remember!

We were eating ice cream for dessert when Kyrie said, "Mom, there's a monkey over there." I asked her what the monkey wanted and she replied, "Ice cream." I told the monkey not to swipe my ice cream and then suddenly it seems Swiper was with the monkey, too. After that there was also a giraffe in my kitchen. When I asked her what he wanted she said, "Carrots". So, we threw him some make-believe carrots. Next there was a dolphin who wanted a peanut butter sandwich. We made some of those up as well and threw them out to him, when a bird appeared in the light. I am not sure what the bird was doing in my light, but by the look on Kyrie's face she could see it vividly. She talked a lot about and to the bird before finally settling back down and concentrating on her ice cream.

The photos below are of Kyrie fishing in the sunroom. Her Dora bat quadruples as:
1) A bat
2) A fishing pole
3) A telescope
4) A banjo
Depending on her mood, you will find her swinging or strumming it, placing it up to her eye or reeling it over the end of the couch. Yesterday, after playing "fishing" for a couple of days in a row, I decided to make some real fish and her bat into a reel fishing pole. (Ha ha. Get it?) Sad to say, it wasn't the best of poles, but Mommy caught a couple of fish with it!

 
Go Fish 

 
"Fishing" 

We're Not Perfect

 
(Not pictured: Dan, J.J., and Jackson Schambow)

Surprise! And you're like, "Duh!" Not that I ever thought anyone thinks we are perfect, but I think it's probably safe to say for all of us that we'd like to project that image. The perfect family. The perfect life. Whatever. I can tell you that we proved 100% today that we are not the perfect parents.

Let me preface the following paragraph with: We think Kyrie is perfect and wonderful and just love her energy and enthusiasm. After Lariska's baptism today I am not sure the entire church body sees her quite the same. The nice term is "pistol" or "ball of energy" or as a friend put it, "big personality". I am fairly certain that others would use the word, "hellion".

During the entire ceremony Kyrie ran up and down the church stairs. I tried nicely to get her to hold my hand. Matt tried forcefully to get her to stay in his arms. Yeah...neither technique worked. My strategy resulted in 2 seconds of sitting down. Matt's strategy resulted in some loud words for Daddy (right during the prayer).

Lariska, however, did great. She was as happy as a lark. She watched her big sister running around and I am fairly certain thought to herself, "gosh that looks like fun."

I feel like a failure as a parent or like I should have been able to reign my daughter in. Here's the thing, though...I could've reigned her in - with a timeout and some scolding (and a lot of tears) - but, who wants to do that in front of the entire church? Should I have? Place your votes here. I would like to know. Seriously. 

 
Five seconds where I actually got Kyrie to watch what was happening 

 
Here's Kyrie running around during the baptism 

 
Lariska gets authorized for her first bath with the big kids. She, Kyrie, and Daddy had a lot of fun. I thought the giggles were never going to end and had trouble turning off the video camera. 

  

 
Heather Schwar and daughter, Julia (17-months old) 

 
I think Julia likes Lariska. 

 
Thirsty Gals 

Silliness

I just finished nursing Lariska and put her down for bedtime and have been uploading photos to the blog when I suddenly now hear "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" coming over the monitor. My Little One has somehow hit the button to her crib "toy" and is now razzing and giggling at the music. Too funny. I hope it puts her to sleep instead of waking her up...okay, you aren't going to believe this, but it ended and now she turned it back on again!!! I might have to go in there and put the kaibash on this silliness. It's bedtime! What a guber.

We had a lot of fun today. Kyrie and I went to get her haircut. Nana and Jackson stayed with Lariska while we went together. It is always nice to have some Mommy and Kyrie time - something we both greatly enjoy. She wasn't super-keen on the haircut at first, but she did a great job after awhile. We stopped and got cheeseburgers for lunch, then took a nap, and then cleaned the entire house (with Nana's help)! Lariska's baptism is on Sunday and we are having 19 people (and three babies) over. I hope we can keep it looking as nice as it does now until Sunday. Yikes!

 
Matt and Kyrie having fun coloring together 

 
Red Horse 

 
Daddy likes being two again, too. 

 
"Daddy, I need that crayon!" 

 
Kyrie pretending to be a dolphin. 

Imagination Station

I can't remember if I have blogged about Kyrie's imagination...

A few months ago Kyrie was known to be seen with a purple alligator. Then later the alligator had a baby and was constantly feeding the baby alligator. More recently there have been bunnies in the playroom, bears climbing into her crib, and there is a constant chatter going on between any and all of her Weebles, My Little Ponies, and Dora figurines.

Here is what could be overheard at dinner tonight -

Kyrie: Hi peas. How are you?
Peas (in a voice that sounds suspiciously like Kyrie's): I'm good.
Kyrie: Can I eat you?

I try desperately to remember the conversations her Weebles have with one another. I think those are the liveliest and most hilarious. But, I do think my favorite is when she talks about some kind of imaginary animal she is carrying around and what it is doing. Many times I get to share some food Kyrie has cooked for her imaginary friends and sometimes I even get kisses and hugs. Ocassionally, we fly through the playroom together and we can often be found swimming in the carpet. Gosh, it's fun for me to be two again.

Art Collection

My art collection has been increasing both in number and in value. The paintings Kyrie makes are far more valuable (to us) than any of the "real" art we have (which isn't much!). Now the tough decision is - which of her pieces to keep and which to give away???

 

  

  

Daddy and His Daughters