Update on the kids

I haven't been very inspired to write much these days. There have been several things that have happened, but I just haven't felt up to posting. ah well.

So I'll talk about the kids (=

Ryan is almost 8 months old. He is sleeping through the night when he isn't cutting his teeth. Bedtimes with both of them are about 745/800pm. It is a constant struggle to get our lives headed toward bed by that time of day, but I am really working on it!

Ryan is usually up first by about 7am. Some days he is up earlier and Layla comes wailing into our bedroom "Mama! Ryan is awake! Please take him out of the bedroom. He woke me up!"

He had quite a bit of trouble from months 4 through 6 with reflux but it seems to have gone away completely since the beginning of December and we are grateful for that! He is a very happy and easy-going baby. It isn't unusual for me to forget where I've put him....he is pretty content on his own for about 15 mins. I'm grateful for that!! He isn't crawling hand over hand yet, but pulls forward both hands at a time and is very quick to get across the room and find ANY electrical cord or power strip. He is eating some solids and while he was slower to catch on to eating than Lj was, he has ramped up the amount he eats incredibly fast. He'd eat a whole banana or avocado each time if I gave it to him. I keep trying to introduce new foods so that slows him down a bit. Today he refused to eat anything from a spoon - he wanted to feed himself everything. Messy messy messy.

He loves his big sister and is constantly entertained by her dancing and jumping around. Most every afternoon when the sun is low enough that it doesn't bug Layla's eyes, we go outside and I water the plants. Ryan is usually in a stroller parked where he can see both of us and I get some nice "alone" time as I water the plants and while Layla plays her elaborate pretend games.

Layla is 3 years old and 4 months now. She is as much a talker as she always was and I am constantly surprised by her vocabulary, thought processes and the way she can imitate our speech. She is interested in Arabic and wants to know how to say this or that. Her steady diet of Dora episodes from the DVD keep her "speaking" Spanish as well. Diego is a character on Dora and he is one of her constant companions. However, if I get too much into playing pretend with her, she backs out and says "mom. It is only pretend. He can't do that!" As if I should know the boundaries of the pretend world!

She is doing well at nursery school for the most part. She is still hesitant every day when I drop her off. Sometimes she cries, but one of the maids scoops her up and takes her upstairs. They call her "dalula" which essentially is a softer, kinder term for spoiled (= I say " Of COURSE I spoil her! She's my only daughter!" They laugh at that.

Today I was driving around trying to find a small, dirty car shop in the midst of a million other small, dirty car shops and I said "I can't find the store daddy wants to meet us at!" and Lj says "Don't worry mom. I know where it is. But I don't have my telescope." (= I so wish I could remember all the funny things she says. I'm sure every mom says that.

She had her first "sleep-over" last night. We had a party at our house and I didn't want her up until 11 or 12 at night so she went to sleep at a friend's house. I introduced the idea of sleeping over and packing her jammies and she jumped up and got ALL excited about packing her suitcase which is this silver metal thing someone gave her. It was TOOO funny watching her march out the door with her silver suitcase, lamb under arm and chatting like crazy to the friend who was picking her up. Narry a glance back at the door (=

This morning we were talking about her time and apparently at some point during the evening she did something with the TV. She was quite serious when she said:

-I turned the TV off. It was just an accident. I didn't get put in time out.

-Miss Sarah didn't put you in time out? Should she have put you in time out?

-blank look

-If mommy was there, would she have put you in time out?

-nods head. yes, Miss Sarah didn't....can't....she doesn't know how to put children in time out.

ha ha!

Anyway. all for now.