Jackpot!

Not being a little boy or having little brothers I don't quite understand the whole infatuation that little boys have with their genitalia. Maybe it's just a nice handle or maybe a security item of sorts but I just don't get it. Well, tonight Colin joined the brotherhood and discovered his penis. While he was in the bathtub after supper he couldn't decide if it was more fun to hold on to his pee pee or splash the water, so he did both at once. He looked somewhat similar to a bull rider in his little bathtub seat--right hand holding the pee pee and left arm waving in the air and splashing the water. All I could do was laugh.

Spring is here...almost

Growing up out in the country in South Dakota there were a few events that signalled that spring had arrived. There was the return of the birds, the first spring thunderstorm, and then there was an important smell. There is a certain smell when farmers go out into the fields in the spring and start disking up the dirt. I can't really explain the smell other than it smells like disking. I'm not sure why, but I really like that smell. I wouldn't want Yankee Candle to make it their newest fragrance, but I look forward to smelling it each spring. Anyway...the birds have been back in Omaha for about a month now, and we had our first spring thunderstorm tonight--Gabrielle learned what rain is. Now I just need to find a farmer in a field.

She's a big girl now

The time has come and we must accept that eventually our kids are going to grow up and not be cute little babies anymore. This weekend Gabrielle took another step toward being a big girl and got a big girl bed. Her new room isn't quite complete yet though. I ordered the bedding from JCPenney and it's not here yet but she's at least got sheets and a couple of blankets along with her special pillow case from Grandma Jean. She's pretty sure that Matt or I should sleep with her at night though so we'll probably be fighting that for a little while. I'll put some new pictures up on the kids' Shutterfly site if you want to check them out.

She has also started talking a lot more eventhough Matt and I may be the only people who can translate her babble into English. She's been learning more names lately and so far she knows Mommy and Daddy's real names ,Abba and Muh, as well as Rahrah (Roxie), Titi (Whitney), Deddie (Debbie), Dodo (Doyle), Dean (Jean), Keh (Kent), Caca or Bubba (Colin or brother), and of course Gahllyah (Gabrielle.) I tried my best on the phoenetic spellings.

Colin is getting stronger everyday...and into everything he can get his hands on. He is still in a sort of army crawl status as far as mobility but I catch him pushing up on his hands and knees every once in a while. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he figures out how to crawl. His appetite has increased drastically and he's now eating 1.5 to 2 cups of baby food per meal in addition to about 5-6 bottles along with a couple snacks of Cheerios and other small cereals thought the day. I'm tempted to just start feeding him table food but we'll hold off for a little while longer. It's only 3 months to his birthday so he'll be eating big boy food soon enough.

New York

Last weekend I went to NYC on vacation with my sisters. Before the trip I was both excited and a little scared. I knew Rox wouldn't take us anywhere dangerous, but almost everything I have seen or heard about NYC has had a negative connotation. I was pleasantly surprised though and found the city to be very safe despite the fact that I only saw I think 3 police officers while I was there and one was posing for pictures with tourists in Times Square. The streets and sidewalks were dirtier than I had envisioned but other than that I loved it. I'm excited to go back again and hope that Roxie will still be there next summer.

Gabrielle was a little under the weather when I got home but she's doing fine now. She was having some problems breathing due to a case of bronchiolitis (sp?) but is doing fine now. She has to have nebulizer treatments a couple of times a day but is adjusting well and should be able to go longer in between treatments soon.

Snow days, et al

When I was a little kid my sisters and I used to pray for snow days. I think Roxie's class even sang a song in our Christmas program one year that had a refrain of, "There's no school tomorrow, no school tomorrow, no school tomorrow 'cause it snowed!" or something like that. Is it funny that as a teacher I still pray for snow days? I told my students on Wednesday to take everything they wanted at home with them after school in case there would be a snow day. I pretty much made sure they had their instruments in hand as they walked out the door when the bell rang. I have to admit that I was excited about the prospect of a snow day but I didn't let optimism get the best of me because in OPS it's all or none. There are no late starts or early dismissals--it's a bus thing. They ended up closing school and pretty much everything else in the metro area yesterday and almost all of the same schools are closed again today. It makes for a nice little winter break here in the beginning of March. Actually a really long one for me...which brings me to the next topic o' the day.

The kids have been sick this week. Nothing like a good old rotavirus to do you in for a week. Gabrielle started with the projectile vomit on Sunday afternoon and I stayed home with her on Monday. Colin had a 101.6 degree fever on Monday when Matt picked him up from the babysitter and since we were taking him to the Urgent Care Clinic we took Gabrielle along as well since her temp was 101.9. I was home again with both kids on Tuesday when the explosive diarrhea set in and my mom came down on Tuesday night to take care of the kids on Wednesday so I could go to work--the only day I worked this week by the way. They are both finally starting to seem like they are getting better but Gabrielle's pooper is still on the fritz. I can never explain the trauma that happens when a kid totally kills it and the diaper pretty much explodes. It makes for a lot of laundry! Today was a good day though--she didn't explode her diaper once!

I'll spare you all of the nasty details but there is one story that I must share. Wednesday night Gabrielle had exploded her diaper for like the 3rd time that day and was getting ready to get into the shower to clean off--yes she was that dirty. Well while she was waiting to get in she farted. Now, little kid farts are usually pretty cute but this one had a little more substance to it. My dad refers to this particular problem as the "seperator" not working. So she farted with diarrhea attached on the carpet in my room. As Matt and I were surveying the damage we were identifying what was contaminated by said event, i.e. a whole basket of clean laundry, the carpet obviously, and Gabrielle's Elmo doll. Matt said, "Elmo got it here on the eye," to which my mom responded, "Elmo is officially shit faced." Maybe it was just the moment, but when you've been cleaning up puke and shit all day for the third day in a row that is pretty damned funny.

And finally topic #3. Since Lent is upon us and today happens to be Friday we introduced Gabrielle to fish sticks today. The standard Friday night meal during Lent at our house was fish sticks and instant mashed potatoes. It was awesome because Rox and I could cook. Anyway...I found fish sticks that are little kid size and pretty cute. I gave her ketchup to dunk her fish sticks in and discovered that she's not a real big fish stick fan but she loves ketchup. She just sucked all the ketchup off the fishsticks and kept on redipping. I can't remember which one but I know at least one of my sisters did this all the time--it was probably both of them. Gab had never had instant mashed potatoes before today either and they were a hit too...but only with ketchup on them.