Ryan and Juliet

Ryan and Juliet have officially moved out of their cribs and into big kid beds. Which is really just a mattress on the floor so they don’t fall off and bump their heads. First night, Ryan woke up crying but after being comforted, fell back to sleep. Juliet, on the other hand, ended up in our bed half way through the night. Second night, both slept soundly through the night. Please keep your fingers crossed for us that our good luck continues through the upcoming nights.

Ryan and Juliet,

You both turned two last week. I wonder how old you are now reading this. We had an amazing day on your birthday. Your Dad took the day off from work. We went to the park to see the ducks and ride the carousel. We rode it 3 times with stickers to prove it! Each time you got to choose a new horse and you picked awesomely. We gave you finger paints so I immediately made us all go outside to paint. I did well waiting as long as I did really. We had dinner and went out for ice cream (baby cones, twist, w/ rainbow sprinkles). Then home for some ball play with the neighbors and finally off to get ready for bed. I think you both loved your day. Next came your birthday party…

Note carousel stickers

I was so stressed before the party, I just kept running around telling your family who had just arrived after a 3 1/2 hr. journey, “Can’t talk, too busy”. Its amazing they still love me. Well, I suppose they have no choice (evil laugh). With everyone’s help, it came together just in time. As it turned out, nothing really mattered but the balloons. We gave you each one and weighed it down with a bracelet from Grand Ellie. Juliet, you held your balloon so tightly for fear you would lose it. I think you held onto your balloon and your Daddy for the entire party. When Ryan let go of his you screamed to him “RY-RY BALLOON, RY-RY BALLOON!!”. You were quite distressed until he came back to retrieve his balloon. Ryan, you did what you do best. You went around to several of your guests and gave them hugs and love. You melted many hearts that day.

After the party, in a quiet house, while everyone slept, your Dad and I reminisced about the day and the two years gone by. I get tearful when I think about how far all of us have come in those two years. But what have I learned? I have learned about inner strength, and when you need it, you find it even if your body or your mind is telling you it doesn’t exist. You pull it up and you use it. I have learned a love for my family that drives selfishness out the door. Before you both, I was deeply afraid I was too selfish to be a mom. You might worry about this too one day, but try not to as when you are a parent love conquers. That’s it… that’s what I’ve learned! Love conquers. Cliché? Maybe. But when you stop to think about it, you’ll count a hundred different ways it already has. But that’s another post…

Ryan is starting to talk and while he is amazing us he is also making us laugh. Around 18 months, Ryan wasn’t talking too much except for a few words here and there. And then at the library, while standing on a stool I told him to be careful. He turned to me and said quite clearly, “I know Mom.”

Then last week, he walked by with the phone in his hand and I asked him if he was calling 911 (as Juliet has been known to do). He said, “I don’t know Mom. ” I asked, “Ryan can I have the phone?” Ryan handed the phone to me and said, “Here you go Mom.” I said thank you and he replied with “Your welcome Mom. ”

Then a couple days ago Ryan looks at us all individually and says,  “Hi Dad.  Hi Mom.  Hi Judet.  Hi me. ” Dan and I are still laughing.

To be the perfect mom…

We must ensure our children eat enough fruit and vegetables. They must always say please and thank you. They must share well, eat well, play nice, excel in math and science, and draw like da Vinci. They must take scheduled naps for at least one hour. After 12 months, we must stop them from drinking from a bottle and cut off the tips of the pacifiers to avoid temptation of giving them back. We should calculate their calorie intake and all food must be homemade or of 100% natural ingredients. No TV until they’re age two, and then only two hours per day. We must read to them n hours a day. They must stay ahead of the curve in all things including the alphabet, numbers, reading, writing, vocabulary, addition, subtraction, conjugation, and quantum mechanics. We must give them proper amounts of love and attention but encourage independent thinking and problem solving. We must keep up to date with their milestone charts, and read on how to raise a happy child and solve behavioral problems. Temper tantrums in the stores and checkout lines is an absolute no, no. And lastly, NO JUMPING ON THE BED!

Stop. Think. Is that ridiculous? All at once it sounds crazy, but when separated over time most of these are true. By no means do I mean to disparage any mother for surely I am among you. A mother will do all that is in her power to meet these expectations and ensure our children grow up to live happy, successful, fruitful lives. As such, we worry incessantly about whether or not we are doing the right thing. We have big worries and small worries. We wonder about the impacts of decisions we make or just what life has handed us. We wonder and we worry and we do all that we can. And at the end of the day, we pray for peace of mind, we love more than our hearts and minds can take, and we say “what the hell, have a donut”.

New words from Juliet that are just too cute not to record:

Dink Dink – means thank you
Melmo – means Elmo
Fly Fly – means flower, butterfly, or do the Fly Fly rhyme
Up – most frequently used word and means pick me up now or pay the consequences

Dink Dink and good night readers,
the mommy

Ryan and Juliet will be 18 months in 4 days.  We can say they are a year and a half now! Amazing. They’re no longer babies. They now look and act like little kids. What happened? It’s all Dan’s fault really. I knew I should never have let him buy clothes for them past NB. Since then they’ve just been growing and growing!

Here’s what they’re up to….

• Juliet likes to call me Dadda (I think because it’s easier), but when she does say Momma it melts my heart. Don’t be fooled though. She knows very well who her Dadda is and when he’s here, she’s only has eyes for him.
• Ryan sits at the table and eats all that I give him, except vegetables. He will have none of those green things. Juliet’s the opposite. She loves broccoli and fruit, but is not so great about sitting at the table to eat.
• They both play so well together. They share everything and work together to explore and make new discoveries.
• Juliet loves to draw. Ryan will draw a little on the paper, but if I take one quick glance away, he’s off to find a wall or book to draw on. To his utter disappointment, which he expresses with giant tears and his saddest cry, I take the crayons away from him and set him back at the table with his crayons and paper.  Rinse and repeat.
• Books continue to be their favorite toy. Dan and I will neatly put the books on their bookshelf only to have them immediately go and take them all off and blanket the floor with them. They will sit and “read” to themselves, or bring them to us to read to them. Juliet loves to stack them. Ryan loves to unstack them.
• They take one nap a day after lunch between 12-1pm and nap for about 2 hrs.
• They like to sit with their blankets on the couch and watch Curious George, Dinosaur Train, or Sesame Street. They say TV is bad for them at this age, but I just don’t know how else to get breakfast, lunch, and dinner ready. Who are “they” anyway?
• They can crawl up the stairs and down the stairs, just sometimes not at the same time which makes it difficult when there is only me to catch them if they fall.
• Juliet LOVES to dance. She twirls and twirls and has even started to do some ballet moves on her own. I think she comes to this naturally. (Clearly she got this from her mother’s side.) Ryan likes to dance too, mostly by twirling and then falling into things (headfirst of course).
• They sleep from 7:30pm to 5am.  Yes, that’s right.  There seems to be a 5am internal wakeup call. In addition, 4 out of 7 nights they wake up in the middle of the night and I treat them with a small bottle and a short snuggle.  This will be coming to an end quite soon, however.  I mean it this time!
• They know lots of animal sounds.  Dog, kitty, horse, turkey, rooster, monkey, owl, duck,chicken, and likely many more.  Also, they both have an ferocious roar.
• Their eyes have settled into a color which remains nameless. Ryan has the eyes the color of a rain cloud as the sun shimmers through. Juliet’s eyes might appear brown at a moments glance, but look closely and you’ll see they are the color of a maple leaf on an august morning. Of course, if a name is not found, these descriptions might be found a bit lengthy one day for a driver’s license.
• They talk quite a bit, especially Ryan, but they are intelligible only to themselves and possibly each other. We can make out “uh oh”, “kitty”, “Ry Ry”, “Juliet”, “Momma”, “Dadda”, “go go”, “bottle” (pronouced as baou), “please” (pronounced as “cheese” by Juliet),  “no”, “yeah”, “bye”, “hi” and the beginnings of many many more.
• They are trying to count, but instead of saying 1, 2, 3 Ryan says “die, die, die” and Juliet says “tee, tee tee”.
• They walk, run, play peek-a-boo, dance, chase, do Kung Fu, and work very hard on jump.