Like this, Daddy?

Crunches are tricky when you're two.

--KC

Echo Excitement

Topher is hilarious with our keyboard. He loves to hit one note at a time and then listen for it to echo off the vaulted ceiling. And every single time, he shows the same amount of enthusiasm. I love it. I love his little gasp and then his little finger pointing up at the ceiling where he hears the sound.

And when he gets so excited about something, I can't help but echo it.

--KC

Christmas Postcard

We had this genius idea to send out a Christmas postcard this year, but it didn't work quite right. The company cut off our paragraph after one and a half sentences and it makes no sense now. We are sorry but hope that you enjoy the picture of us nonetheless. Here is what the card was supposed to say: Front: Back: Merry Christmas, everyone. Sorry again! --KC Quick Update: I emailed Simply Postcard's customer service and a real person emailed me back less than 10 minutes later. He is working to fix the postcards and will be resending the corrected ones out in the morning. Even though I was upset about all of it, I have to admit I am impressed by their speedy response and desire to make things right! After being on hold way too many times this month with different companies (ordering gifts, etc.), this is the best customer service I have encountered and it went a long way towards making me feel better. Hopefully your correct postcards will be arriving soon!!!!

Usurped on Black Friday

TJ was awesome and went out at 3:30am on Black Friday to visit 3 stores and trudge through my gift list for me. At his last stop, he picked up a new dog bed for Sassy. Well immediately upon bringing it in the house, it was claimed: And guess who was extremely confused and unhappy about that:

We feel for you, Sassy, we really do. Now please stop giving us those pathetically sad eyes.

--KC

The Reinvention of Sleeping

It's no secret that there's not a lot of sleeping going on in our house. We had to get the child that requires alarmingly little rest without compromising his energy level in the slightest. (And okay, it doesn't help at all that Topher has a friend his same age that will literally sleep for 16 straight hours.) Well, there have been some big changes around here recently. 1) First of all, we moved Topher from his crib to a twin bed a few weeks ago and noticed that he seemed happier and even slept a little longer in it. (I sold his crib last week on Craigslist and expected to feel a TINY bit sad about it, but the sadness never came. I TOLD you I'm not a baby person!) 2) Next we decided to attack his bedtime routine. We started being even more strict about lighting, times, and doing the exact same things every night. Lights were dimmed at 7:30, we would read scriptures at 8, then we would read Topher his books and turned the lights off completely at 8:30. Unfortunately, this still meant holding him on the couch for at least another hour until he finally gave up and fell asleep. 3) This last Friday I decided that we were all too miserable to continue on this way. I feel very strongly about not letting a child "cry it out" alone in a room, however. So when it was time for Topher to take a nap, I explained to him what was happening and I carried him up to his room for a nap and laid him down in his bed. He was NOT happy about this at all. For over an hour I stood right by his bed and made sure that he stayed in it, remained laying down, and avoided hitting his head against the walls (something he is prone to do when he is really very angry.) It was awful to see him so mad and frustrated (and okay, there was a point where I wondered if he was even possessed), but I felt better knowing that I was not abandoning him. I was literally RIGHT there the whole time. Finally, with my ears ringing and resolve weakening, I curled up at the end of his bed. He was snoring within 5 minutes. 4) Since that first incident he has only cried one more time whenever I have laid him down for a nap or for bed. Usually I will just curl up at the end of his bed for a little while until he doses off. Last night I even was able to leave him alone in his dark room for about 20 minutes while he was still awake and he didn't cry or get out of bed once. And now when he wakes up in the middle of the night, I can just go in there, change his diaper, lay at the foot of his bed, and he generally falls back asleep within 5 minutes. (This is a VAST improvement over carrying him downstairs and holding him on the couch where he could be up for an hour or much much longer.) Maybe it has taken us over 25 months. Maybe we have complained more than any other parents in history. Maybe we made it so much harder than it had to be. Maybe I've prayed and pleaded for help with this problem for two years. Maybe we're just awful at this. However, I believe we ARE moving in the right direction. And once we finally master this sleeping thing, no one will EVER appreciate sleep more than we will. --KC P.S. I do realize it has been nearly a month. Our camera broke and our computer is being less than cooperative lately. And unfortunately, cameras and computers are the two main ingredients of blogging. :) I will try to do some catching up soon. Thank goodness our phones take useable pictures!

King Of Chicago

Last weekend we headed to South Elgin, a western suburb of Chicago to see our friends Mat & Angie. They just bought an amazing new home and welcomed all three of us for the weekend. The first day there, Topher found a plastic crown laying around (from a recent birthday party I think) and thought it was the greatest thing ever. He wore it like a gladiator helmet most of the time: But occasionally put it on correctly (some of these photos have been edited by yours truly using a combination of new iPhone apps that I'm totally in love with): We never ventured into the actual city of Chicago, but we have another friend, Al, who took the train from the city to visit us. We haven't seen him in years so it was a really great surprise. Topher, as always, relished being the center of attention:

Saturday we went to a children's museum, but Topher fell asleep on the way there. We joked that we wouldn't pay admission for him until the museum roused him from his sleep.

It did, but he was still free. I LOVE having a 2-year-old. They are old enough to have fun but young enough to do most everything for free. First Angie helped him dig up dinosaur eggs:

Then he flexed for us in front of this weird dinosaur we found in the basement (this place was pretty strange, actually.)

His favorite part of the museum was the hot air balloon that would go up and down. My favorite part was the air-cannon that Topher is standing near.

It was colorful, if nothing else. Most of the exhibits were over his head (literally and figuratively--get a step stool, museum!) but I think he had fun running wild for awhile.

That night Angie and I went to Ikea while the boys stayed home. I didn't take any pictures there. I was too mesmerized by the whole experience. It was a fantastic weekend. Angie & Mat, your home is absolutely gorgeous and we felt so happy and welcome there. Thanks for putting up with our toddler and for all the delicious food. We are so lucky to have friends as wonderful as you. And Topher, thanks for being a total rockstar in the car. It took a few suckers, a few videos, and a couple naps, but he handled the 5-hour trip (each way!) like a total champ. We are SO proud of him. He also stole my yellow hat for the ride home, but personally I think it looks better on him anyway.

--KC

Halloween 2010

Topher does not like costumes. We had to think long and hard before deciding on a "costume" that didn't feel like a costume. We finally chose this: Which helped him get all this: Because when you have a face like this: people just want to give you a lot of candy. :) He got the hang of trick-or-treating after about 2 houses and happily ran door to door for over an hour before wearing out. (It also helped that he LOVES to have his hair cut/styled so when we slicked it over and hair-sprayed it and tried to give him a forehead curl and then told him how handsome he was, he ran to the mirror in his bedroom and smiled and admired himself for awhile before grabbing his pumpkin bucket and demanding to go.) This is quite an improvement over last year's meager stash. Hope everyone had a frightfully happy Halloween. --KC