Stink, Stank, Stunk

There are few things that strike terror in the heart of a Mommy like the words "ought-oh, help me, Momma." Those were the words I heard a few short moments ago. In a fit of maniacal spring cleaning I decided to organize my pantry. I had all of the canned foods sitting on the floor. Caleb was stacking them and arranging them by size. Awesome. Then I heard the words. Ah, those words. I wish you could have heard the pitiful way he asked for help. He had a can of sardines. Yes, sardines. About once every three or four years Josh gets in the mood for them. We happened to have a tin left over from this last lapse in sanity. It turns out the Caleb knows how to open those little pull tabs. How unfortunate. He was sitting in a nice little puddle of the juices holding the tin up for me to finish opening it. It was funny. It was cute. But let me tell you, people, IT STANK! I cannot tell you how much I dislike the smell of anything remotely fishy. Needless to say, his clothes are now in the washing machine along with the rag that I used to frantically clean up every last drop. I can still smell it, but hopefully my Pier One candle will man up and cover the smell soon. I wish I had stopped laughing long enough to take a picture, but on second thought that would have prolonged my exposure to the smell. :-)

Chillin' With My Monkeys

We're just hanging out. Caleb is getting better at picking out clothes. Luckily today is pretty nice, so we didn't have the normal meltdown over wanting to wear shorts.... I just said ok! (I've also learned the important lesson of hiding the summer clothes when the weather is cold. That way there's nothing to get upset about.)

Independence

Caleb likes to pick out his own clothes. Can you tell? The most important thing is the socks. He gets very offended if you try to tell him that they should match. He digs through the pairs until he finds these two, pulls them apart, and wears one of each. He was very insistent that the red sock should go on his right foot. He's a man who knows what he wants.

Sittin' Pretty

Maddie likes to sit up. It won't be long before she can do it herself, but for now we just have to prop her in a corner. Isn't she getting big?

On a funny note. I noticed Sunday morning that the kids were both wearing their Christmas gifts from Uncle Sam (don't you just feel patriotic?) and Aunt Marcie. I thought it would be a great photo op... you know, prove that they really do wear the clothes. Unfortunately, Caleb wasn't having any of it. I took the picture anyway. The clothes are still cute. :-)

PlayDoh

I have learned that if you want him to put away the PlayDoh, you'd better have something even more awesome waiting. :-)

Mmmm... Tasteless Cereal

Maddie had her checkup this week. Everything looks great. I was more traumatized by the shots than she was. The funny thing was her weight. She's already 18 pounds. No wonder her clothes were fitting a little tight!

Anywhoo... we were given the green light to start baby cereal. Of course, that means the obligatory first pictures of baby eating real food. I'm not too sure she was impressed. Anyway, enjoy!

A Little Exercise

She's got her eyes on the prize!

The Battle of the Gyms

When Caleb was a baby we were given a little baby gym. You know, the kind that you hang toys from and they supposedly enjoy swatting at them? Well, Caleb was never very interested. I guess he didn't see the point. He was much more interested in the other gym thingie we had. It played music and had flashy lights. He's just a flashy-light-electronic-toy lovin' boy.

So, that being said, we still have both of these baby gyms. I decided to pull out the first one (which, incidentally, is shaped like a hippo) and try them on Maddie. I'm sure nobody is surprised that Madeline prefers the non-electronic hippo-shaped toy gym. She loves batting at, grabbing, and trying to eat the toys. She coo's with delight at the non-moving, non-flashing, unexciting toys. That's not to say she hates the flashy light gym thingie, but she does get bored with it easily. You can't catch it, and you can't chew on it.

The other day I was watching Maddie enjoy her hippo inspired toy. Caleb wandered in, and in a flash of recognition realized that it was HIS hippo inspired toy. He promptly grabbed Maddie around the waist, scooted her over, and joined her under the toy bar. It was a tight squeeze, but Maddie didn't mind. She thought the whole thing was hilarious. Nobody is as fascinating to her as Caleb. They played under the silly thing for a good fifteen minutes, which is about 50 years in toddler-attention-span time. What can I say? You never know when they'll do something cute.

Post-Call Drowsy Daddy

Josh is often sleepy after call. Caleb decided he would help with Daddy's nap. Of course, he didn't want a nap himself, he just wanted to tuck Daddy in. :-)

Happy Groundhog Day!