Blauggie

A good thing or a bad thing

Eliza has never been much of a tv watcher, which I'm grateful for (other than from about 5-5:30pm, at which time I would love to be able to stick her in front of a show while I make dinner) because then I don't have to worry about her little brain being fried by too much tv.  The weird thing is that she is VERY into characters - Elmo, Dora, and Mickey, especially, despite never having watched a full episode of any of their shows. 

Well, for some reason, this week she flipped a switch and will now excitedly watch an entire episode of either Dora, or a cute show called Pocoyo, with full, glassy-eyed, don't-bother-me-during-my-show attention.  Sebastian is thrilled, because, as a big fan of television, I think he thinks he has a little more leverage if he asks to watch a show that Eliza likes.

And he's right!  Both kids sitting quietly for 20 minutes!  Heck yes! 

Big kids

We had a fun weekend -- a trip to the Mall of America to experience the Amazing Mirror Maze, which was, actually, more amazing than I was expecting, and sledding for the first time this winter (which, for Eliza, means the first time in her life).  Our friends brought a little Eliza-sized sled, which she loved, and went down over and over by herself.  Every time she got to the bottom of the hill, she'd say, "again" and head back up.  Sebastian, who is not known for liking fast things, hopped on his sled face first as soon as we got there and flew down the hill without a second thought.  He says it's because he's four now.

A little theater

Sebastian saw his first puppet show on Monday, and it's been puppet-show-city around here ever since.

Of course, he wants me to take a turn crouching behind the small overturned table, which couldn't be any less comfortable...so I've resorted to just sitting behind the table (I mean stage) and putting a blanket over myself.  He seems satisfied with that. 

Bubble bath!

Sister attack

Yesterday, Sebastian was feeling the baby kick, and I told him he could say something to the baby if he wanted to.  So, he put his mouth right next to my stomach and said, "We only have Lizey, baby."  At first I thought it was him telling the baby that, as of right now, Eliza (Lizey) is the baby of the family, but when I thought about it more, I realized it might be more of a forewarning, as in "Our only other sibling is this crazy girl named Lizey, stay in as long as you can!"  

Or, he might have been telling the baby, "Hurry up and help me out, I need some backup here!"

While she was beating up on him, she was saying, "I got Bruds, Mama." (Bruds is short for brother, by the way). 

Quiet ballerina

Eliza was upstairs the other day being a little too quiet.  I yelled up to her to ask her what she was doing.  "Reading a book," she replied.  And she was! 

In a tutu, of course.

Then she ran laps around the living room, just to make up for all the time she had spent sitting still.

Oh, hello

We got a glimpse of our healthy, active baby today!

We brought Sebastian and Eliza with us.  Sebastian was somewhat interested, but Eliza, who pretty much knows nothing about the baby (other than that my belly button is becoming increasingly hilarious), just sat on Derek's lap and made him sing made-up songs (which he tried to do quietly, but she kept asking him to "sing wowder."  What she was super excited about was riding the "elegator" after the appointment.   

Santa and sickness

Ahh, Christmas...is finally over.  It was a great Christmas, with two great kids and lots of great family. 

The superhero outfit from the last post was made by Sebastian's very talented Auntie Shannon.  It was probably his favorite gift, followed by the Crayola Glow Station, which truly is awesome.  Eliza's most prized posessions are a tiny version of her blanket (also made by Auntie Shannon) for her dolls,

an Elmo stuffed aminal, and a Hello Kitty necklace.  She aslo got a doll cradle from Santa (which was, on very short notice, prettied up by Grandpa Santa and Auntie Shannon Santa).  Naturally, she wanted to climb into it herself on Christmas morning.  I told her she absolutely could not, so, naturally, she climbed into the over-full-of-pointy-plastic-toys bin and made herself somewhat comfortable (PS, you can kind of see the new Elmo, tiny Huggy, and the necklace in the picture).

On Monday we headed to Milwaukee to spend the week with my family.  It was fun, as always, but we came in to a sick household, a left as a sick household.  Eliza escaped with only a cough (which she got from me, not from the stomach-flu-infected members of my family), but poor Sebastian had scarlet fever.  It sounds awful, and was pretty nasty for a few days, but all it is is strep throat with a rash.  He had to miss a few fun activities that we had planned while there, but still seemed to have fun.  He's doing really well now, although he still has some rough red patches on his face and the remains of a cough and runny nose.

After I took him to the doctor on Thursday and got the diagnosis, I was feeling really sorry for my sick boy, so bought him a milkshake on the way to get his prescription filled.  He took a gulp and grinned at me with his puffy, red face and said, "am I lucky!"  I said, "No!  You're sick!"  I would give that kid a thousand milkshakes if it made him feel better.