My Very Hungry Caterpillar

I'm assuming almost all of you reading have also read Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Many of you have probably read it more times than you care to count. As a teenager it was one of my favorite books to read while babysitting, now that I'm a mom I don't really have to read it per se, just turn the pages at the appropriate spots, for it is all but committed to memory!

Anyway, over the past few weeks Joshua has acquired a voracious appetite that seemingly can't be satisfied. He is barely finished eating when he wants to eat again! I'm assuming this is just a growth spurt, but many days he is eating more than I am--I expected this when we approached the teenage years, but at three? I'm running out of idea for what to feed him that is both nutritious and varied!

So, without further ado, I present to you yesterday's food consumed list, very hungry caterpillar style.

On Wednesday My very hungry Caterpillar ate through:

-One glass of chocolate milk

-One gummy vitamin

-One banana

-One bowl of cereal

-One piece of string cheese

-One serving of whole grain crackers

-One serving cheese cubes

-Three fish sticks (I think, these might have been Tuesday...)

-One glass of (secretly) watered down berry juice

-One handful of almonds

-One apple

-One graham cracker

-One bowl of chicken tortilla soup

-Two cookies

-One tube of yogurt

-One bowlful of grapes

-One cheese quesadilla

-One slice turkey breast

-One peach

-One handful crackers (again!)

Yeah, for real! I'm pretty sure at this pace my little caterpillar won't be a little caterpillar anymore either, but so far he shows no sign of not being hungry anymore. :)

It's D-day

Hey All. Welcome to wet, drippy Wisconsin--pretty typical for March, but getting old pretty fast!

This weekend it's been constant rain, which makes me feel personally wet and drippy too. Even the little things become irritating more quickly. The kids are going crazy caged inside, but you can't even brave the cold and take a walk, it's just too wet. :(

In other notes, I've noticed on my ClustrMap that there are seemingly new readers to our little blog. Welcome! I'd love to hear who you are in addition to seeing your little red dot on my map. :)

So, since it's a slow day and not much is going on and since I always love to hear "Aha" ideas for what to do with my kiddos when they're driving us and themselves wild, let's make it D-day. De-lurking day for all you browsers out there. Leave a comment and let me know your best tip for a rainy day (especially with two little ones, including a bouncing-off-the-walls-3-year-old) or just let me know that you're reading. Either way it'll brighten my day, because comments on here always make my day more interesting! And if you're one of my "faithful" readers, give me your best tips too, I don't think I can ever get an aresenal of we're-stuck-inside ideas that's too large.

And for those of you who read this blog exclusively for the photos, here are my sweet babies, who make me smile, even when it's rainy!

An interview with my little J-Man

I saw this floating around someplace and figured it could be cute. It was a little above Joshua's head (would have been funnier and more interesting if he'd been 5-ish) but he's quite the little chatterbox and he was excited about playing the "question game" although he lost interest about #10. :) I asked him the questions then wrote down his answers verbatim, some are interesting, some are cute, and some are just weird!

1. What is something mommy always says to you? "I wove you"
2. What makes mommy happy? "saying "I wove you" and give hugs makes you happy"
3. What makes mommy sad? "if I say 'no' it makes mommy sad and if I don't sleep that makes ya sad"
4. How does your mommy make you laugh? "if you laugh at me it makes me laugh, if you say 'wee, wee, wee all the way home' it makes me laugh"
5. What was your mommy like as a child? "I don't know"
6. How old is your mommy? "big enough to drive a car" (this is probably my favorite answer)
7. How tall is your mommy? "BIG"
8. What is her favorite thing to do? "Hugs"
9. What does your mommy do when you're not around? "Goes to a meeting"
10. If your mommy becomes famous, what will it be for? "I don't know"
11. What is your mommy really good at? "working"
12. What is your mommy not very good at? "writing" (I have no idea why he said this...)
13. What does your mommy do for her job? "work for Joshua and Daddy and Wydia"
14. What is your mommy's favorite food? "broccoli, but when you were a boy you didn't like broccoli, you tried and tried and tried and didn't like it when you were a boy!!!"
15. What makes you proud of your mommy? "vacuuming" (I think he thought the question was what makes me proud of him)
16. If your mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be? "Plablo" (Pablo from Backyardigans)
17. What do you and your mommy do together? "vacuum, cook, read"
18. How are you and your mommy the same? "we're both a Slager, and blue eyes"
19. How are you and your mommy different? "cuz you're a medicine doctory" (he's not really getting the question, he's talking about one of our friends who's a pharmacist..I think, or maybe I'm a medicine doctor because I give him his medicine, not sure)
20. How do you know your mommy loves you? "good"
21. Where is your mommy's favorite place to go? "to the market, to the farmer's market" (interesting, but it is one of my favorite places, though I would never have thought to answer this way myself...)



I love my little guy and it's so fun being able to have real conversations with him and seeing the connections form for him each and every day. :)

Nothing Notable

I always dream of having a witty post, or a nostalgic or emotionally meaningful one, but my life doesn't seem to be much like that these days. We're still here, trying to hang in there through the rest of winter, which seems to be hanging on and refusing to leave.

The kids are doing well, growing and changing and learning new things as usual. I'm continually amazed by how much they learn even over short periods of time.

My Little Monkeys

I think I'm in a rut, both with writing and just in general. I'm feeling a yearning for something fun, new, and a bit routine shaking--but not really sure what. I think mostly I'm just starting to have a case of cabin fever and the winter blues all rolled into one... I just need to keep reminding myself that March is less than a week away, and to cherish each day for the unique, special time with my kids that it is. Even when I feel like my life is stalled in slow, I know they'll be different even tomorrow and I don't want to miss that!

Thirteen Months

Here are a few pictures of the kids from the past couple of weeks. Enjoy!

Yeah, I've feared this

We're on vacation this week, but had to share this anyway.
For all of you parents of two out there, you know you've worried about this when you turned your back for even just a minute...here's photographic proof your worst fear has become someone's reality. At least the parents had the sense of humor to take a photo. :)

Lydia's Latest Language Leaps

Ok, here's my updates on Lydia's new words for my own personal record. James and I have been telling each other that this has to be one of our favorite kid stages we've experienced so far. Each and every day she learns new things and daily we get to see her own little person emerge. We're trying to enjoy all of it, but she's a spirited one so it means new challenges as well.

But, onto the new words:

"Gup", cup

"Baba", bottle

"Paba", paci/pacifier

"Papa", Grandpa Slager (Papa is what Joshua has called him since he started talking. although he said Gigi first, now they're even I suppose. :)

"Ma", more

"Daa-da", Dolly

"Dog-og", Doggy

"Beek-boo-boo", Peek-a-boo

"Bnk", Blankie

"isshh" or "shishy", Fish/fishy

"shdoo", shoe

"Ki-ki", Michael (Joshua's fish)

"Du-dee", Ducky

She also 'roars' when she sees a picture of a lion and tried to make a funny blowing/trumpeting sound (like Daddy always does) when she sees pictures of elephant or stuffed elephants, etc.

Ahhhh! Much Better. :-D

Guess where we went today? If you said "the park" you'd be right. It was the muddiest its ever been when I've conceded to going, but with our very unseasonable, but well-loved 55 degrees and sunshine day came around I just couldn't resist. Both of the kids had a blast and didn't want to leave. (Lydia decided to throw a huge hissy fit to remind me of the fact I'm a very cruel mother for teasing her with a few minutes of swinging fun and then removing her...)
I'm a bit concerned that even when the temperatures inevitably plunge 20-30 degrees for the next six weeks Joshua will still hound me daily to go back. And, I'm wishing that I'd thought of going to the zoo. That would have been a fun trip, but easier to get out of doing regularly.
Anyway, in true February in Wisconsin fashion, I'm pretty sure there's a chance of snow tomorrow, but we're ignoring that fact and trying to soak up as much of the warm sun as possible to tide us through til April when it comes for good.