In Which We Attempt Some Semblance of a Christmas Picture

I could post a hundred more mediocre to bad (although funny!) ones, but I think you get the idea.

Libby Loves Boogie Nights

This picture only gives you a taste. Libby's thousand-yard stare for MINUTES was so reminiscent of Mark Walhberg in the "Sister Christian" scene that it must have been an homage.

Kerri's sidenote: It wasn't so much fear as it was pure awestruck-ness. She was trembling at the altar of greatness.

Libby the artist

Libby has left her still life stage and moved to her human figure artistic stage. All of her figures look they same and are equal parts adorable and creepy.

October Recap

Yes, yes -- I know November is almost halfway through, but I missed lots of big highlights in October. So I'm circling back and playing catch up. Live with it.

Libby had a few friends over for a pajama party to celebrate her birthday. Libby -- our own little Hugh Hefner -- would wear jammies all day every day if we'd let her.

Dem Bones (Dem Dry Bones!) is one of Libby's super-duper faves. Aunt Kelly managed to make a kick-ass Dem Bones cake that somehow made skeletons pretty! (It's good to have talented friends, yes?)

An absolutely adorable Snow White (a frantic last-minute sub from the dress-up box when I realized the chicken costume I had for her was too small). She refused to take out her pigtails; of course, they were so stinkin' cute I couldn't blame her.

She's once, twice, three times a lady.

Grandma B. sent us a cupcake project to celebrate Libby's birthday. As you can see, Libby thought this was just about the coolest thing ever.

Emma particularly enjoys the fringe benefits of baking. Honestly, I can't turn my head for second, or she's tipping the bowl up to drink the batter (and, no, I am not exaggerating).

Major(ette)ly Cute

I wore this costume for Halloween when I was little, as did my sisters before me and family members back to my cousin Shelley, for whom my Aunt Barbara made it. Alas, I think it's too big for Emma, and I can't convince Libby to wear it (I don't think anyway -- still working on it).

As it stands, I think Libby's going to go as a princess (*gag* I'm not big on the whole princess thing), and Emma's going to be dressed as a piggy with wings and go as Swine Flew (again, we'll see if I can convince her; she might wind up as a princess just because her sister is or in Libby's old chicken costume from last year if I don't get off my duff and make some piggy ears).

Yup, That's Right

When Martin filled the radiator reservoir in the girls' room last time, he put the photo back like this. I've left it because it makes me laugh: Yup, having kids turned us on our heads, alright.

P.S. Margrethe, if you happen to read this: Thank Dora and Julia for our little elephant, which -- as you can see -- is much beloved.

Snuggle Puppy of Mine

What with Libby starting school and pooping pennies and having a birthday, I feel that Emma's beeng getting shortchanged on the blog lately. So let me tell you a few snippets about our snuggly littlest puppy:



* If Emma could be held 20 hours out of the day, she would be (so long as she could spend the other four hours eating).


* Emma has this hilarious, gravelly, sort of low voice, especially when she's being shy (which is often). The other day after I asked Emma to say goodbye to my friend Kristy, Kristy looked at me and said, "She sounds just like Eeyore."


* Emma insists on going to bed with strange (and different) stuff every night. (Example? She'll often sleep for days with the "Parade" magazine from the Sunday paper.) Consequently, her crib eventually becomes piled with massive amounts of books and magazines and stuffed animals and whatnot. Martin goes in every now and again and shovels it all out. (Me? I just leave it. Seems like a YP.)

No, this was not staged, and -- yes -- I do worry for her social future as a result. (And also -- yes -- this was one of those odd things that wound up in her crib for days and days.)

* Emma is, and always has been, just amazing with names. She seems to hear everything going on around her and absorb any names from it. She knows everyone's little brother or sister, for example. In contrast, Libby only just realized a few days ago that Martin and I have names besides Mommy and Daddy.


* Emma is even more stubborn than Libby, which I was pretty sure wasn't possible. She sets her mind to something, and -- watch out! -- that's it. In fact, I finally just stopped trying to grow out her bangs because the kid simply would not leave a barrette in her hair.

A few moments with the barrette left in. She looks pretty darn cute with bangs now, though!

* My favorite Emma-ism? "Not that one shirt. The other one shirt." "Not that one book." etc. I'll be sad when she realizes she doesn't need that "one" in there.


* Emma love, love, loves when she gets to pick out my shirt for the day. Consequently, I sometimes wear some odd combinations.


* Emma has a special affinity for Seven. I think she sees Nub as belonging to Libby, so she staked her claims on the other kitty around. Poor Seven. He's a gentle guy, thank God, but he certainly doesn't have Nub's completely unfathomable and utter patience with every form of toddler torture. (The funniest part? Emma calls Seven "Nub." This despite her amazing gift for names. Odd.)

Let the tortures begin!

* I can hardly keep clothes on her these days. (Don't ask me about the turd story from when she took her own diaper off Tuesday. Shudder.)

Washing dishes (naked, of course). If only Mommy had the patience more often for the dish-washing game! (Or if only my entire kitchen were waterproof. Perhaps that's the better wish.)

* Because she's always been surrounded by kids a year older than her, she adores having a younger kid around. She is one bossy little beeyotch then. "No, Zach. No." (Although she is fascinated by little babies and is very sweet toward them. But give it a few months, and she'll be quite the meanie.)

New Video

The girl are in Ohio so I had a night to kill and made a new video. I pine for these bachelor weekends and when they come I get bored and pine to have my wife and kids back. Sigh.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Stinkerbutt!

It turns my brain upside down to think that this kid ...

... is now 3 freakin' years old. What a merry chase she has led us! I can't wait to see where you take us next, Sweet Libs.

This-n-That

Libby and Mommy had a date yesterday and went to see "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." My God, was that movie ever horrible! It was so bad that even Libby did not like it. Pure dreck. Nice to spend some time with my little monkey, though. We had a ball together!

As for Emma, she and Daddy had fun together at the farmer's market and Old McDonald's. Speaking of her Emma-nence, Emma is not crazy about getting her picture taken. This is why we have so few good photos of her. I thought these pix, though, really show her gorgeous smile -- both the little one and the big one.

More photos for ya:

Cheese-dog! Doesn't she look like a dork here?

Libby had a weird mystery fever one day, and we had to cloister ourselves at home. We had a tea party to keep our (OK, my -- I'm not ready for flu season!) spirits up.

Hard Lessons

Both girls have learned hard lessons this weekend.

It began with Libby yesterday morning. Our first-floor neighbors have several trailing plants from their deck planters. We were playing on the sidewalk below their deck, and Libby decided to try to swing on the "vines" (a la Dora). Needless to say, it didn't work. Note to all of Libby's blog readers: TV apparently is NOT grounded in reality. Who knew?

To make the lesson even more painful, she was trying to swing over a sunken section about three steps down. She was fine, but she scared the poo out of me when I saw her falling down into the pit. There she landed, surrounded by broken leaves and other bits of plant. Poor thing. (Kim, I keep flashing to the "swimming pool" you made out of Mom and Dad's shower. I'm sure Libby had just as clear a mental image of her swinging as you did of paddling around in your pool.)

Then it was Emma's turn for a typical childhood lesson. She and Libby were playing "go to work" at our back door. They both stand by the screen door, and Libby shuts the back door so I can't see them. I have long known this would end in tragedy, but what're ya gonna do? After months of this beloved game, Emma finally forgot to keep her fingers out of the door crack. Smash! (Poor thing really got it, too. It's nice and purpley.)

Our brave Emma has managed to soldier on and only mentions it five or six times an hour. It requires constant visits from our boo-boo fish (an ice pack), several Band-aids, lots of kisses from Libby, and -- mysteriously -- occasional bites from Emma herself. ("Eat boo-boo." I don't know what the heck that's about.)

Emma's the biggest chicken you ever saw and is terrified of slides at the park. This eensy-weensy slide at Libby's preschool is the only one she enjoys. Who cares that it's shorter than she is?

Libby on her first day of school sans Mom and Dad. The teacher told me the other day that she asked Libby if she was drawing an apple (they're studying apples right now). "No," Libby said. "I'm taking notes." Ahhhh. Already a little nerd. I love it.

Overheard

Emma just put a little jar into a bigger one, looked up at me and said, "Oh my gotch. Look." Hilarious.

Even more funny? I swear she sang this last night while I was changing her diaper (sung to the tune of "I Want a Dog," which should explain the third line of her invented song lest you think she has some gender identity issues):

Daddy has penis.

Daddy has penis.

I want a penis.

I want a penis.

Vagina!

It was a little garbled, but I'm pretty sure these were the song's words. Honest to Gotch.

A Coupla Pix

Emma must have sensed that I finally sat down to post a new entry and get Aunt Kimmy off my back because she just woke up and started to cry. Sigh. Such is parenthood.

Enjoy the pictures, sans cute stories about my kids. But expect cute stories to come soon. (Or not. You know me!)

Who knew?

Kerri found some Toy Story action figures at a yard sale and yesterday Libby found them. It took her about three minutes before Woody and Buzz were in a passionate make-out session. Who knew?

Libby's First Day at School, in her own Words

Insert Camping Pictures Here

Martin just realized that he accidentally deleted all of the camping pictures. Oh, well.

We had a pretty good time, although I'm not anxious to repeat it anytime soon. The girls had a ball! They loved having a killer playground in our "back yard." They insisted on using the pool Sunday even though it was foggy, drizzly, and about 65 degrees. Woohoo!

Sleep wasn't great, but I suppose it could have been worse. They could have stayed up alllll night long and instead of just waking up allllllll night long.

The most fascinating part of the trip? We were next to a family with SEVEN kids. The oldest was maybe 12 (at the most). And while that was interesting, the most interesting part was that the parents paid not a lick of attention to anyone but the baby. I'm talking, 2- and 3-year-olds sent to the playground for the entire day. And the baby sat in a playpen the whole time except when her diaper needed changing. It was quite remarkable.

The most amazing part to me? The parents sat and talked for hours and hours on end. Not sat in companionable silence but actually sat and talked, talked, talked (well, the man talked; the woman mostly listened and laughed). I don't think Martin and I talk that much in a month, and we only have two kids! (Sorry, honey, but it's the truth.) Apparently, when your parenting style is non-parenting, you A) feel no need to ever stop breeding, and B) can still court each other like you're childless.

A-Camping We Will Go

We're taking the girls camping for the first time this weekend! Just a quick little trip about an hour away. May the force be with us.

Libby keeps shouting, "We need a tent and sticks and marshmallows." She's repeated this endlessly since we told them this morning. Emma has started adding, "And lollipops." The kid knows how to work it. (Needless to say, we now have some lollipops packed.)

A Penny Earned

And there was much rejoicing!




P.S. It was a penny, not a quarter.
P.P.S. No, I did not save it. The logistics of saving it would have been ... unpleasant.

All Better!

Well, she still has some minor wheezing (as well as a quarter lodged somewhere in her innards), but she's much, much better. She was quite the little trooper throughout the whole ordeal.

I now vow to be hyper-vigilant with her asthma, and we also now have a firm "asthma action plan" in place from the doc, so we know exactly what to do to avoid trouble in the future (we hope, hope, hope -- I shudder at the memory of my breathless little baby).

Thanks to all of you for calls and texts and Facebook well wishes. Sorry I haven't been able to respond to many. Yesterday was a blur of getting back into the routine and making sure she didn't do too much. I'm looking forward to getting back on track this weekend.

Libby's home

Libby came home yesterday and no doubt is driving her Mom crazy at this very moment.

Libby's in the Hospital

Libby's back in the hospital.  She was throwing up and having trouble breathing last night so poor babies been admitted and put on an IV an oxygen.  Even better, the doctor walks in and the first thing she says to the doctor is "I swallowed a quarter" which she had told to Kerri in such a way three days ago that Kerri didn't believe her (and she never told me) and sure enough, she had. An intern said we'd have to put her under and have it removed, but wiser heads in the ER said that we'd just monitor it until it passes.

Libby

Our Essential Being

Both the girls were sick today and reverted to their core self.  I do the same thing.  When I'm sick, all I want to do is sleep.  When Libby's sick, all she wan'ts to do is watch TV.  When Emma's sick, all she wants to do is eat.

New Pictures

Note that we've connected the sidebar to Flickr to make it easier to keep up-to-date with pictures. We just uploaded a new random bunch, including a few from a trip to the pool last week.

Libby's song

Libby's been driving Kerri and me crazy singing a song whose words we just couldn't make out. The first time I heard her sing it it sounded like:

I speak spanish
and goably goo
I gobble goo
How about you?

The most annoying thing was that when I'd say "I speak spanish and what? And 'spaghetti too'?" she wouldn't just repeat the 'goably goo' part, she'd say "no, I speak spanish, and goably goo, I gobble goo how about you?" and end it was a look like "duh".

So after hearing her repeat this about fifty times I finally figured out that the "goably goo" was "english too". But then we went through the same exercise another fifty times before Kerri wised up and searched for it on Google. Turns out this is a Dora the Explorer masterpiece that goes:

I speak Spanish
And English Too
I like them both
How about you?


Apparently, Kerri and I both though I like ketsup made more sense to suggest that "I like them both".

What's the Poop?

Emma pooped on the potty this morning! The kid is on a roll. Of course, I harbor no illusions that potty-training is imminent. Instead, I assume I'll have months and months of both diapers and her screeching that she wants on the potty (which is pretty much where we've been for a while now, only she's suddenly being productive while potty-sitting).

In the meantime, here are the two cutest kids in the world:

Overheard

Libby is a story-telling, song-making-up fool these days. And pretty much everything she says is hysterical. My recent favorite, which is often repeated, is Mother Goose according to the Libster:

Hickory Dickory Dock

Went up the water spout

Down came the reindeer and washed the spider out

Hickory Dickory Dock

Speaking of talking fools, Emma is a total chatterbox these days as well (we don't get much silence this-a-way). She already says several sentences and loves making her feelings known. Her little personality has really blossomed in this last month, which means that that little impish side she has always had is now at the forefront.

Big Emma news: Today she came running to the bathroom yelling "Potty!" and then actually peed on the potty! Wow. I don't expect a repeat of that anytime soon, but it was pretty cool.

Story Time with Libby

For the last few nights, Libby has been going to bed after telling us the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears go to the Zoo. Which is basically the story of Curious George because she makes the story up by looking at the pictures and trying to remember what the story for that page is. Last night we got about half of it on tape. Probably the sort of thing that only her parents can appreciate but I post it here nonetheless.

Big Girl Bed Time

Last Saturday Libby got her very first Big Girl Bed and she LOVES it. She's taken to it like a champ with zero complaints and no sneaking out in the middle of the night (so far...).


For some reason, Libby has decided that sleeping in a big girl bed means sleeping in (or at least with) a sweater and baseball hat. We tried convincing her she'd be hot but ultimately figured that it was a battle not worth fighting.


In fact, the biggest problem we've had so far is that Emma seems to be leaning towards wanting a big girl bed too. And Mom and Dad are not ready for that.

Baby No More

Emma has become such a ... kid. How did that happen? Where did my little baby go?

Makin' Music

Hey, Wright girls and your mad musical skillz: Suck it.

Chipping Away

A time-honored tradition at Grandma and Grandpa's is to gorge on chips and dip. (Just ask any of the girls' cousins. Or their dad, for that matter.) As you see, Emma has taken to the sport as a duck to water. Or as a spoon to onion dip, as the case may be.

I think the "kkkkkk" sound she's making is her attempt do a fake little giggle that's supposed to say, "That's so silly."

Hi, You

One of Libby's awesome new things (and therefore Emma's awesome new thing, too, since she does every last thing her sister does) is to greet everyone she sees. Here's a video of her greeting the commoners from her super-fantastic new toy -- a trike from Grandma and Grandpa!

Libby has continued this practice now that we're back home here in the Windy City. You should see her parading up and down the street and calling out a cheery "Hi, You!" to every single person we see.

Even the city folk (including some pretty hardened characters, let me tell you) are usually moved to greet her back with a laugh and a wave. Only the most grumpy of urbanites stalk past without a word. I've dubbed Libby and Emma the Ambassadors of Rogers Park.

Lolling Around Lakeside

We had a visit to Ohio a few weeks ago and did pretty much all of our most favoritest things. The aunts and Diana and Grandma and Grandpa also watched over the girls while Martin and I headed to Ann Arbor for a few days of kid-free R&R. Pure heaven for all involved, I think.

Here's a rundown of what we did:

We gave this squinty-eyed look to Mommy multiple times a day and said, "Mommy, I'm sorry that you ran over my bike." (Long story. The good news is a chopper life-flighted a replacement wheel from Radio Flyer, and the tricycle has made a full recovery.)

We went on wagon rides.

We read some good books.

We watched the 4th of July parade and got enough candy thrown our way to last us until we reach high school (if only our parents hadn't eaten it all).

We painted rocks (a Lakeside tradition). Gee, think Emma is exhausted and overwhelmed?

We rode around with Shuttle Earl on the job.

We ate lots and lots and lots of pizza. Often outside. And often mostly naked. (And sometimes totally naked. We're classy like that. My parents' neighbors must wonder who these hillbilly children are.)

We played in Lakeside's awesome sandbox 14,357 times.

We (finally, finally, FINALLY) got two more teeth. Emma was soooo sad and made sure that Aunt Kimmy and the rest of her loyal entourage never let her feet touch the ground.

We saw model trains with Daddy.

And just generally partied until we could party no more. (And, yes, Libby is pretending here; Emma is most certainly not.)