weekend

It has been really, really cold here. On Saturday morning the thermometer read -14 F when I woke up. But today it got up to the 40s. Weird. 

We've had a good weekend, and I'm now dreading being back at work on Monday. Vacations are bad for me. They just make me want to stay home full time.

Yesterday morning I let both kids help me cook for the first time. Henry can now follow directions, wait, take turns, etc and actually participated in the cooking without any disasters. It was so cute. Now I know that when he comes running into the kitchen with his arms held up, yelling "I want to help! I want to help!", it will sometimes actually work to let him help me. 

After breakfast, I put a turtleneck on Henry. He said, "I want the turtle. Where's the turtle?" Ha!

Celia had a birthday party to attend, so Chris took her and I stayed home with Henry. We had such a nice time. Henry kept asking for food, but he had already had a few snacks so I held him off until lunch time. He ended up having a 45-minute lunch! Two bowls of carrot soup, 1/4 of a yellow pepper, a cup of grapes, and a whole lot of oyster crackers. Then we played in the ball pit and read books. I've noticed a change in Henry over the last couple weeks. He is getting more mature. The terrible toddler is still there, but there's a glimpse of older kid there too. He's using more complex sentences, and seems to be understanding more complex narrative language. He has started understanding concepts like "today" and "tomorrow". He remembers things I've told him, from one day to another. Anyway, I thought of all this because I've also noticed that he's enjoying more advanced books. He still likes looking at picture books and board books, but he now prefers hearing real stories. It's really fun to see him enjoy story books. 

Chris and Celia got home while Henry was napping. Pita had all kinds of My Little Pony party favors. For some reason she was doing all kinds of poses when I wanted to take her picture.

I had to go grocery shopping, which I hate to do in the afternoon (very crowded), but I hadn't gone in the morning because it was icy and -14. So I talked Celia into going with me, and we went out for a while. Pita is a very good grocery shopping companion. Her only requirement is that I get five green twisty ties for her from the produce department, each time we shop. The store was horribly crowded, as usual for a weekend afternoon. I couldn't wait to get out of there when we were done. Then we went over to Carter's because Celia needed a couple of new shirts and I had $30 of store credit there. I paid $5, and ended up with three shirts for Celia, a pair of pjs in the next size up for Henry, and sunglasses for Henry. Henry likes sunglasses and so far has always worn Celia's. When Pita saw them in the store, she wanted to get Henry his own. 

Today we had a pretty relaxed day, mostly at home. Before nap time, Henry and Celia were playing so well together. Celia was in Little Mommy mode, taking care of Henry. I got a bag of cotton balls for them to play with this week, and boy was that two dollars well spent. Those cotton balls have had about fifty uses so far. Today they were cooking with them and pretending they were coffee in their coffee maker. They made cake and coffee :).

Celia discovered the voice recording app on her LeapPad. She was absolutely amazed by it, and spent a lot of time recording songs. 

Celia got Henry ready for his nap today! They didn't even want me around! She read books to him, which was interesting seeing as she can't actually read. She did pretty well using the pictures as a guide, making up her own words. Henry listened very intently. Then Celia let Henry take her stuffed dog to bed for his nap. Oh, these sweet babies. I love them so much.