Clifford the Big Red Dog

Symeon loves the show Clifford and he really loves his sidekick T-Bone a silly little bulldog that is super sweet.  Here he is enjoying his favorite episode "Stinky Friends."  He laughs like this every time he  watches it which makes it even funnier.

Symeon's Bed

Symeon is a collector and he loves to carry things around with him. He has been like this since he was small a smaller baby.  During nap he takes a few books in his bed and I know he looks through them before falling asleep so that is how it started and now well it is a bit more stuff which does not seem to impede his sleep and honestly it does not bother me one bit but the other night there was barely any room for him but he slept fine.  I had to take a picture to remember this funny phase in his life.

In this tiny bed there are 9 items you can see and about 5 items you can't and he sleeps with things all around him.  Tonight when I put him in his bed he wanted a small notebook and a broken book light added to his collection.  Everyone once in awhile when the collection gets a little big I empty his bed and the collecting begins again.  

Last week though we did find one thing in his bed that I would never have let him have.  I must include this bit of info which is that Shawn put him down  for his nap on this particular day and he said he never saw the item in Symeon's hand so what was it?

Yes folks silly putty.  I walked into his room to get him up and  I thought he had been sick because there were two large green blobs on his sheets and I realized the silly putty was in his bed.  I asked Shawn if he had let him take silly putty in his bed and he said no which I am glad for Shawn's sake he had not allowed the putty in but rather had not seen Symeon put it in his bed. I might add these blobs were smeared on his brand new truck sheets and pillowcase I had just let him pick out the day before.  When I helped Symeon out of bed I noticed why the putty was so squished on his sheets because he had huge blobs smashed into his tee shirt and shorts.  He was laying on it sleeping and his body heat basically melted the stuff into his sheets. I wish I had taken some pictures but honestly I was just to frustrated by the whole situation and the extra work it had created I set to cleaning it up and when I was almost done I did chuckle and wished I had taken some pictures but oh well.  I guess we are just blessed that nothing worse happened with the silly putty, so a few days later I can laugh it off and keep going.  I am sure I will be reminded of this every time he uses those truck sheets and there is a large green stain on them.  Oh my little collector I just love ya!

Bubble Baths

Symeon and Marin love bubble baths right now and I love the pictures of them enjoying it so much.  Here are just a few from a photo shoot one night last week. 

I took about 20 shots just trying to get them next to each other and this was the best one.  

I love this look on his face it screams what should I do next.  

The final splash of the evening.  We had so much fun playing and enjoying the bubbles. 

Our budding photographer

Symeon still loves to take pictures and he asks me all the time to take pictures of him and Sissy doing lots of fun things.  Here is trying to get the best shot. 

A tattoo gone bad

Symeon loves tattoos and so of course when he gets one he always wants Marin to get one as well.  He had these fun sports tattoos so he picked a football for his arm and this little saying for Marin's arm which is #1 Fan.  The tattoo was fine it was the placement of it that was the oops.  As soon as I took the paper towel off her arm I was like oh shoot that looks like a concentration camp number tattooed on her arm.  I have tried rubbing and washing it off with no luck it is finally starting to chip off but really it is so tacky.  Some one at church asked me about it and I told them it said number 1 fan and then I explained I was mortified when it looked like a number found on people who survived concentrations camps and she said yah I thought the same thing when I saw it.  Oh gosh I felt terrible I thought by chance I was the only person who saw that when they looked at but I guess not.  So I chalk this up to a learning experience and move on never put any small word tattoos on your small child's arm it is a bad idea.  

Apple Jack's or so they think

When we are in CT the kids get lots of special treats that I don't allow at home.  One good example is sugar cereal which I do not allow.  Austin and Clover had Apple Jacks cereal at their house and Symeon loved it.  When we got home he was still talking about it and so I found that Cheerios has a new fruity Cheerio that is colored with fruit juice so behold Apple Jacks at  home.  I must add this is a special treat and not a daily breakfast. 

Summer fun at home

We have spent a lot of time pool side this summer although it is a small one it is perfect for us.  Here are the kids enjoying some of their favorite past times this summer. 

Shooting rockets with Daddy

Marin loves to chew the rockets and has bitten holes in all of them but one, she loves foam which is a bit scary.  

Daddy and Symeon shooting the squirt gun

Symeon loves squirting everything

A pretty Babes in the pool, this is one of the only places she will sit for quite awhile.

Getting in and out is pretty funny to watch

Really who squirts babies?  A Daddy and a brother of course and she loves it!

The love of my life relaxing pool side

Symeon and I having a water fight

I love his face in this one!

Mama taking a "drink" and Symeon coming from our garden where he had watered the plants. 

My sweet girl and some really cute feet....

I love when she sits with her feet crossed!

Summer water fun

Here is Marin having some fun in the water while we were in Connecticut.  If there is water anywhere Marin is always ready to get wet. 

The chipped tooth

I just realized I never updated the chipped tooth story.  Well we took Symeon to the dentist and he did really well sitting in the chair and letting the doctor examine him which was really nice.  The doctor said, as we expected, there was nothing they could do unless but wait.  If the tooth turns brown that is what it will be but if it turns black we need to call them and have it removed.  So far so good it is not brown or black yet and he reassured me the farther we get from the injury the less likely it is to turn brown so we will wait and see.  I have not been able to get a good picture but here is my best attempt for posterity's sake. 

This is about 5 days after the injury since he would not let me anywhere near him the first few days.  The left tooth is pushed back and there is a large purple bruise above it but by this time the raw bloody mess was gone thank goodness.  The right tooth has the chip but it is hard to see in this picture. 

Marin and clothes

Marin is very curious and way ahead of herself developmentally, some one thought she was two the other day.  I responded by telling them she was 14 months old but acted 2.  She has started taking off her own clothes.  The other morning I came into the living room and found her without her shirt on and she was just laughing.  She came out of the bathroom the other day without her diaper.  She had pooped in her diaper walked into the bathroom took it off on the floor where she left it and walked back into the living room like okay Mom I took care of that, if she would have wiped we would have been fine but maybe when she is 15 months old she will starting wiping.  I cannot let her walk around in a diaper because it is off in 2 seconds luckily she does not seem to realize that you can take off your pants which at this point is my saving grace.  I hope it takes her a bit longer to figure that out. 

Marin's full contact eating continues

If you have read my blog since Marin has started eating real food you have seen pictures of her with food all over the place.  Well this is another one of those pictures although she has taken it to the next level with throwing food across the table, dropping it on the floor when she is done and the final one is smearing it into her hair when she is done eating.  I guess she gets bored so I watch her like a hawk and when I see she is getting done I swoop down and take the plate from her as quick as possible, wipe her up, and get her away from the table.  I have started taking her shirt off during the day when I know lunch is going to be a bit messy and I will only feed her some foods on bath day because for about a week I had to bathe her after every meal yes every meal even breakfast.  So here she is with a pbj sandwich which I did not get away from her quick enough. 

She opened the sandwich and stuck it to her head.  When I put her in the tub chucks of bread were floating in the water.  I washed her hair out twice and combed it with soap in it to try to get it all out but much to my sadness it took two more baths the next two nights to get the peanut butter grease out of her hair.  She walked around for 3 days looking like we had not bathed her in a really long time her long greasy hair sticking to her face.  Lesson learned I now giver her pbj in bite size pieces. 

Symeon loves art

My little guy if very active but he does have his quiet times and he enjoys such a range of activities which makes me so happy and so much fun.  He loves his art supplies and has them hanging on doors around Paxton which is fun.