Wednesday, February 11, 2009

If I Can Just Stop Coughing Long Enough to Say...

Ah, sickness. When it hits, it likes to stick around. None of this one-day-visit type thing. In my last post (which should have been a funny "Not Me! Monday" post, but was sorely lacking on the humor) I talked about how we're all sick around here. How we've been sick for the past week.

Well, we're all still sick. No more tummy viruses, thank you, God! Just some yucky colds with red noses, hacking coughs and blocked sinuses that steal our sleep at night and make us walking zombies during the day. I'm sure you all can relate. After all, they don't call it the "Common Cold" for nothing, right?

So I haven't been blogging much yet this month. Partly because of the sickness and partly because I've been spending some time getting some much-needed reorganization done in my kitchen. I'd like to paint it next month when my sister and her family come to visit. (My sis has offered to help! The men can handle watching our 4 kids while we spend a day painting, right???) Maybe I'll post some pics - you know, before / during / after shots.


So, last Friday I cleaned off the area above my cupboards (wow was it dusty up there) and washed and reorganized all my cupboards. I have a box of stuff ready to go to Salvation Army. Which is still sitting in my garage. Even though my neighbor works there at the dock where they accept the donations and could probably just take it along with him to work some day if I asked him, But have I? Nope. And Seth hasn't taken it in, either. So it sits.

But at least it's out of my kitchen!

Yesterday I hung new curtains in there, and I think after I get the room painted, it might actually look nice. My house needs some color. Except my bathroom, which is two-tone purple. I've been wanting to re-do that room since we moved in. (It's next on my list!)

Ok, enough about boring house projects. If you're still with me, wake up, stop snoring... I'm gonna talk about my kids now. :)

I probably don't write enough about them on here. So I'm going to try to be better about recording their milestones and such. After all, that is one of this blog's main purposes! But oh, how I get distracted! (My sister calls it ADOS - "Attention Deficit - Oooooh Shiny!" We both seem to have it!) So, without further ado, here is the latest on:

Ethan: Six-and-a-half (and don't you
dare forget the half, my goodness). Loves school. Loves stories. Loves movies. Starting to love Pokemon (not so sure I like that a whole lot.) He is not so fond of onions, peppers, mushrooms... well, it's easier to just write what he does like - Mac N Cheese. Peanut butter and jelly. Fish sticks. That about sums it up. Oh and corn dogs, but I haven't bought them in a while. It's so hard to get him to eat anything else. He will sit at the table for hours if we don't keep encouraging him to eat his food. He always whines about something and asks why he has to eat it, and why can't I make him a PB&J sandwich... Yes, it gets frustrating. Somedays we set a timer for 20 min (after he's been sitting there for 10 - 15 min or longer, not eating) and say when time's up, you're done, and the kitchen is closed. Is that mean? Seriously, anyone got any ideas for us??? I don't like the idea of him eating a separate meal from us all the time, so we've been making him eat what we eat. And it's nothing weird, I assure you! :)

Kaliyan ("Kibby"): Three years old. Is just starting to learn that her name is Kaliyan, but we still mainly call her Kibby. (For those of you who don't know, Ethan gave her the nickname Kibby when she was only 2 weeks old, and it stuck. Her given name, Kaliyan, is Cambodian, and is supposed to mean "sweet, morally good, charming" and is pronounced more like "kaul-ee-yahn" with the "K" sound sort of a cross between a K and hard G sound. See why we call her Kibby? Seth is the only one who gets the pronounciation perfect, but that's just because he's Cambodian!)
Ok, getting back on track (remember the ADOS, people, give me a break here...)
Somedays her speech / language still concerns me. She doesn't answer questions well still. She will either respond with yes or no (if a yes / no question) or just repeat the question back to me. It gets frustrating. For more on her speech / language issues (my concerns) see here.
Some new or current phrases she uses:
~~ "Kin Wooby hug Wooby, Mommy?" Usually when she is being "tormented" by her little sister. She means "Can you hold Ruby, Mommy, (so she will leave me alone?")
~~ "Hup abow, _________?" Fill in the blank with any Disney princess movie. Means "How about, ________?" She will say this repeatedly, trying to get me to switch movies for her halfway through one. Or if I refuse to put one in for her to watch. (So terrible to just color, or play with toys / Mommy / sister...)
~~ "Doh wowwy, Wooby!" Meaning, 'Don't worry, Ruby." She says this when Ruby cries.
~~ "Oooooh, I nee ice pack!" When she gets an owie. Or when Ruby gets a bump, she says, "Ooooh, Wooby nee ice pack, Mommy!"
~~ "NOOOOOO!!! Dohn' you unerSTAN?!" ("NO! Don't you underSTAND?!") Um, yeah, we hear this one a LOT. Poor little girl! :( Although I have to say she has been using this more lately with the meaning of, "I didn't get my own way, and I really
should have, don't you know that?"
~~ "I be a pwincess!" She says this while parading around in whatever, a pink blanket, my nightgown, or one day, it was my bra around her middle. Nice. So glad we didn't have company then...
Some other Kibby stuff... She loves pink. Anything pink. She is a picky eater, but loves fruit. And always wants to eat Fruity Pebbles cereal. Except she calls them "Pimples". I'll have to remind her when she is a teenager that she always said, "I wan PIMPLES!" as a 3-year-old!
She also refuses to share her favorite things with anyone. She screams when Ruby gets near her My Little Ponies, Care Bears, or anything else she happens to hold dear at the moment.
What else? Oh, potty training. Ugh. Not going well. She hasn't gotten it that she needs to let me know before she wets... and whenever she does tell me I think it's just to get a piece of candy. Which reminds me. Another favorite phrase of hers is, "Go potty get candy!"

Ruby: 15 months. She's learning so many things! Words she now uses: Momma, Dadda, No, Hi, Bye, All Done, Go, Baby, Awo ("hello" - while holding play phone to her ear). I can't think of any more right now, so that may be it. But what a difference from Kibby, who started to say Dadda and Momma a little (very
very little) around 1 year and then didn't start talking again until she was 21 months!
Ruby also is learning to feed herself. Such a messy time! She loves to play with Kibby's tea set, and like to play in the bath and to stack cups. She has learned how to unzip a zipper (thanks, Dad...) This has made it more challenging to keep jammies on her! :)
She runs, loves to be tickled and chased, she climbs up on things, and loves to tug on (and chew on) the speaker wires in our living room. Much to our unliking...

So that's the latest scoop. I'll try to be more prompt about updates in the future, to avoid another overly-long post.

Anyone still reading? You deserve a medal! I'm done! :)

5 comments:

Ter said...

Yay I get a medal! :)

Sorry to hear you've been feeling under the weather. I know how that is, it sucks! Hopefully you will all feel better soon!

Country Mouse, City Mouse said...

My youngest daughter was a late talker. We got tubes in her ears two months ago, and in the last couple of weeks she has had a speech explosion!! I love her little voice and having a conversation with her!!

Hope your home is well soon.

Wendy said...

I get a medal too! Too cute...I was giggling about all of the cute things you do. I don't think you're a mean mom for just being done with dinner...they'll eat when they are hungry.

Sassyfrazz said...

I am sorry to hear that you have been sick at your home! Tis the season of yucky sickness. I hope you all feel better soon!

Fun to read about your kids and what they like/dislike, etc. I love getting a sneak peak into your world!

I would love to get into organizing our whole house. I need a drill sargent to stay with me a few days to help me get rid of stuff I don't need and to keep me on track. I hope you get to paint when your sis comes!

Anonymous said...

(Your last comment to me had no email attached to your profile, so I tracked you down here...to tell you...that...)

Your "thanks for reminding me about my old college friend. Nutella." had me in stitches for hours.

Well, at least for a few minutes.

You're a funny lady.