Tuesday, February 26, 2013

February

Wow. Another long delay. I feel that every blog post these days starts out with me mentioning how I'm going to be more consistent with posting. It will really happen, one of these days.

As Valentines day was just around the corner, we had some pink Valentine's cookies. Hudson, of course, wanted to try them once he saw everyone else eating one. Sara Beth obliged by getting an extra cookie for her and him to share.
We started to watch the Super Bowl, but it didn't last long. Hudson was more interested in taking everything out of entertainment cabinets. We decided to do something else instead. At least this super bowl we didn't end up in the urgent care center for a UTI, so that is better than nothing.
Simply eating pink cookies was not enough. So Heather and Sara Beth made some bright pink chocolate chip cookies together. The results were spectacularly pink and when Sara Beth brought some to her teachers at her school, they wanted the recipe so they could make some too.
Heather and I had planned on going out on a date the Friday before Valentine's day. So we got all dressed up, got the babysitter over and left. Half an hour later, we got the call that Hudson had thrown up. So our date got cut short. After cleaning Hudson up and putting him down for the evening, Heather and Sara Beth raced some tupperware boats across the kitchen floor before her bed time.
So two weeks ago, Heather's mom and step dad came in town for a long weekend visit. It was wonderful having them around. One day we decided to go to the Field museum in McKinney. Without a doubt, Hudson's favorite part was the big sand pit where the kids to "discover" dinosaur bones by brushing away the sand. We probably sat at that exhibit for a good 30 minutes. Sara Beth carefully brushed away the sand from the various embedded bones and Hudson just teetered around the uneven surface with a brush in his hand smiling while drooling on all the sand.
In the evening, everyone but Hudson and me ended up playing a variation on Old Maid. Sara Beth really got into it, though Paw-paw became more wary as the game progressed as Sara Beth had a tendency to cheat and look at other player's cards.
That weekend, Sara Beth decided that she wanted to try riding her bicycle without the training wheels. I told her to put on some long pants so she didn't scrape up her knees. By the time she was ready to get on the bike, she had put on not only long pants, but also leg warmers on her arms and gardening gloves on her hands. She did well for her first time without training wheels, but within 15 minutes she was ready for the training wheels to be put back on.
While Sara Beth was learning about balancing, her little brother was learning about plants. He was having a wonderful time enjoying the non-wintery weather by exploring the yard with only minimal supervision.
The night before Me-maw and Paw-paw finished their vacation with us, Sara Beth requested one more game of go fish.
Since my last post, we also went to the Fort Worth Stock Show with my parents. Sara Beth wanted to wear her helmet there, because, why not? She was fascinated by all the horses that we saw there.
Sara Beth enjoyed sitting on the farm equipment though she was more interested in the $10 inflatable horse toys, which I refused to pay for since they looked like they should have been worth about 25 cents. Hudson, on the other hand, absolutely loved the tractors. Every time we let him sit on one, he would make engine noises and had a big grin on his face.
My dad and Sara Beth found a dinosaur on the way back to the car. Sara Beth decided that she would bring the dinosaur home with us and "fed" it carrots to entice it to follow our car back to Wylie.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Baby free

Hudson has progressed from a baby to a full fledged toddler. He can now walk around, and the stairs are no longer an obstacle for him. He can squat down and pick something off the floor without falling over. He slides down the stair steps feet first and can get down faster than Sara Beth. This does mean that we have had to redouble our efforts to toddler proof the house. He has developed a habit of throwing anything that is not bolted down into the kitchen trash can, causing us to start locking the lid. He now moves to the bathroom and will try to raise the toilet lid if we are not watching him. I predict it wont take long until we have to call a plumber to toilet clogged by something Hudson threw in.
Sara Beth and I have been working on building a model rocket that we can launch. Sara Beth provided the paint job. What initially started as pink and purple flames at the bottom of the rocket slowly progressed to cover the entire thing and now the metallic silver base coat is barely visible. We left the rocket to dry on the table and Heather had to fish it out of the kitchen trash can a couple hours later after Hudson has passed through the kitchen.

Now that Hudson is standing up, he can get into Heather's desk drawers. He will spread all the paper clips and rubber bands all around the floor.
Sara Beth decided one evening that Hudson wanted to try some of her chocolate dessert. He enjoyed it, but nothing would distract him from his primary mission at the moment: rearranging the tupperware cabinet.
Hudson loves drinking other people's drinks. Especially Heather's. If he sees a glass of tea or water sitting on the counter, he will reach for it and will not be satisfied until he gets it.
We put a gate at the top of the stairs to prevent Hudson from going downstairs unsupervised when we are not able to monitor his every move. He has started attempting to climb the gate and can pull himself off the ground, though, fortunately, he has not actually been able to climb over it yet.
One of our friends gave us a new triple story cat scratching post. Sara Beth decided that was her new doll house. The cat's climbing holes became the indoor swimming pool. It had an elevator and was able to contain mermaids and horses along with regular Barbie dolls. I moved it behind the couch out of the way once Sara Beth started climbing on top of it and jumping off though.
We have recently replaced our dish washer. The old one was way too small and noisy. After installing the new one, Sara Beth requested that we bring up the dishwasher box up to add to her collection. There is a small hole in the side of it, and both children love playing peek-a-boo through it.
I'm not sure I can fully describe what is going on here other than to say Sara Beth is pretending to be a fairy-princess-cowgirl.
Aunt Sue came to visit and it was close enough to her birthday that we celebrated with a cake. Aunt Sue asked Sara Beth to help blow out the candles. Sara Beth knows that her Great Aunt Sue loves books as much as she does. Every night she asked Aunt Sue to read to her before she went to bed.
Sara Beth decided that she was going to make her own secret drink. It consisted of water, brown sugar, licorice jelly beans, and some other unknown ingredients. I didn't taste any, but everyone who tried it said that they had never tasted something like it before.
One night, as I tucked Sara Beth to bed she asked, "Daddy, did I get any spankings today?" "No," I responded, "Why?" "Well, if my bottom didn't get spanked, then it will sing na-na-na-na-na, rock band!" I agreed with her that a spanking free day is certainly something to celebrate.