joys of motherhood: April

-Nolan is starting to recognize emotions and will point out when people are sad or crying or happy. He also is associating feelings with himself. The other day when i laid him down for his nap he said: N:"seepy"
me: are you so sleepy?
N: "tie dud" (=tired)
I was surprised he thought to use the word tired.
He is also obsessed with people being mean. If he notices that there is a bad guy in a show or someone is yelling he starts pointing and shouting "mean! mean!" If he does something naughty we will tell him he's being mean and he shouts it again, although I'm not sure he's quite realized that this is an unwanted attribute.
-Nolan is talking a lot and putting more words together. Both of my kids seem to be QUITE talkative. He says really funny stuff and all of a sudden it's like he's decided it's time to talk in full sentences. He will repeat almost anything and always repeats you're intonation so if you say it in an excited way or as a question he will always go up at the end. It's funny. The other day he was sitting in the stroller at the mall and Caitlin came up and was hanging on the side by him. He looked at her and said "hi sweetie, hi sweetie!"
-Mom confession #1: I totally cry whenever I see my kids doing things for the first time without me. For example: Caitlin's first dance class, Caitlin's first dance recital, and most recently: swim lessons. Nolan is out there in the water and I'm getting totally teary eyed while trying to keep it together so the other mom's done see and so i don't start bawling while I'm trying to answer Caitlin wondering if there's a bathroom there. I'm like literally tearing up watching Nolan hold his breath and go under water. I'm a mess, and not looking forward to the first days of school.
-Mom confession #2: Everyday (almost) during quiet time at my house while I'm sitting here on the computer I hear the bus come by to drop off a neighbor and every. single. time. I think it is the UPS truck and hope they are bringing me a package. Sometimes I even get up to check... nope, just the bus, just like every other day.
-In the car sometimes Nolan will wriggle his arms out of the car seat straps if the buckle is not pulled up far enough. So naughty. I alway try to pull over right away and make a big deal about that not being safe. He did it the other day and there was no way to pull over but there was a red light coming so i planned to stop and fix it. Caitlin kept telling me his arms were out and that he wasn't being safe. I ket telling her I would put them back when i got to the red light. As we pulled up I put the car in park and Caitlin says "Mom, Nolan's arms are out and that's not safe.... can you handle this?"
-At swim class Caitlin got to wear her goggles which she was SO excited to do. I 100% think they helped her mood and swimming. But anyways she put them on and when she went under the water for the first time she popped up and told her teacher "wow! You have really small feet under there!" then turns and yells to me "Mom! She has really small feet under there!" I was cracking up.
-We were at the mall the other day and went to Victoria's Secret for a couple minutes. As we were leaving we walked past the big display in the front that had a mannequin wearing the huge feather angel wings and Caitlin says, "oh I love that little chicken thing!" HAHA probably not the sexy effect all the VS angels were going for.
-The other day I told Caitlin that i used to do something when i was little. She began asking me all these questions about people growing up and then becoming mommies and grandmas and all about family connections. Some of her questions were kind of hard to answer in a way that would make sense! So then she asks me, "So Mom, do you get a new face when you get old?" HAHA!
-One night I was feeling really tired and anxious to get the kids into bed. I was helping Caitlin go to the bathroom and she wasn't putting her jammies back on and just dawdling so i was being kind of short with her. She took my cheeks in her hands and said "Mom. We've had a fun day, so please don't be a disappointing now." I mean the things she comes up with.... she knows how to put me in my place.
-When we went to "This is the Place Heritage Park" they have a bunch of tall monuments as you drive up with Brigham Young and the likes on top.
Caitlin said: "Mom, who's up there?"
me: "I'm not sure we'll have to see when we're closer."
Caitlin: (in a really serious voice) "Mom, it's the Gods."
What?!
-She would prefer to wear a dress or tutu (aka a skirt) everyday. Someone asked me if I did something to make her like that and I said no, she comes by it on her own. And now that it's summer that's probably what she'll be wearing most the time. On Saturday to go to Walmart she insisted on this outfit. And then asked me to take pictures of her. Such a girly girl.

-Nolan is actually really into accessories. He loves hats and wearing glasses. Whenever we are in the car and I put on my sunglasses he asks for his "dasses".

-Cleaning the house sometimes can feel so counterproductive. Caitlin dropped the soap dispenser and spilled glass and soap all over the bathroom floor and Nolan colored all over the top of the vacuum with green crayon. I had a serious talk with him and told him we don't do that and to say sorry. At first he seemed apologetic then he got that little look in his eye and scrunched his face and yelled and swatted at me. When that happened I took him to his room and put him in time out. He didn't like that. Then i went and had another talk with him and that was that. A few minutes later i hear him yelling in the kitchen "tie out! tie out! no no no!" and He was making his Mickey pretend to color in the vacuum then saying "tie out" and putting him on the table. While trying to clean the vacuum with a wipe. I had to laugh.