MONDAY NIGHT MUSINGS

- I love how CJ says "I luf you" back to us when we tell him we love him! It's the best!

- Why does my son insist on eating the wrapper along with the contents of that wrapper, together? Gum, fruit snacks, even the small paper wrapper on a McDonalds ice cream cone. And lately, if he has eaten something he is not supposed to, like a big wad of gum with the wrapper, and we ask him to spit it out, he swallows it as quickly as he can. I think it's his new form of rebellion. Thank goodness we've been able to get coins and whatnot out of his mouth BEFORE he gets them down. Little stinker.

- CJ loves to make ramps out of things - like our baby gate for the stairs, or the Wii fit stand - and roll things down them, balls, cars, anything that will slide down. He'll play on these ramps with his toys for hours. Maybe he'll be an engineer someday...

- Last week Mattie started walking on her knees. She doesn't do it all the time, but when she does, it's hilarious watching her scoot all around sitting straight up on her knees!

- We found out who CJ looks like last week. Apparently, CJ looks just like his Uncle Cameron (Bryce's little brother), minus the big head. At least, that's what the Gilbert side of the family thinks.

- CJ's at the really awkward in-between stage with his feet. His size 7 shoes are too small, but his size 8 shoes are too big. He has to wear extra thick socks with his 8s or they fall right off. Case in point: last weekend when we were in Redmond, Bryce's parents took CJ to the dog run to walk their dog, JJ. CJ ran off in some field, and when Papa chased him and picked him up, he was mnius one shoe. They searched the field, retracing CJ's steps, but they could not find his shoe. It's probably some lucky dog's chew toy now...

- Grandma's are such spoilers! Because CJ lost his shoe when he was with his grandparents, Bryce's mom, Sheila, wanted to buy him another pair of church shoes to replace the one that was lost. She took CJ to Target while Bryce and Mattie and I stayed behind to finish packing up our stuff to head back to Spokane. When they got back from Target, not only did CJ have a new pair of church shoes, but he also had an adorable pair of red Converse too! Oh, but it didn't stop there...he also had a toy truck, and the movie Cars, along with lots of snacks he picked out. And Gramma Sheila didn't forget about Mattie, even though she wans't even there. Mattie received a little dolly, and a new pair of pink Converse! And then on top of all that, Sheila bought us a movie too, Princess Bride! And my mom is the same way. I go with her to pick out A, as in ONE, birthday gift for Mattie, and we come home with a 3 pairs of shoes, and two toys! Gotta love those grandmas!

- (5/5/10)  I swear Mattie said "baby"! I was changing her diaper and she was restless, so I asked CJ to hand me her small dolly. He did, and then he proceeded to get her bigger dolly and hand it to her. She took both dollies, and I'm pretty positive she said, "baby." I was so excited, that I was repeating it and I got her to say it one more time! But I haven't gotten her to say it since...

- Mattie's known how to wave for a few months now, but she's finally started doing it more regularly this last week. It's great!

- Lately CJ has had a thing for magnets. He likes to push one of the chairs over to the fridge, take down all the pictures, and then radomly disperse the magnets on all sides of the fridge, or pile them on top of one another.

- Sometimes CJ talks to himself - all kids do - but his conversations are conversations he's heard from us. For example, the other day he went to the front door, and as he opened the door, he exclaimed that he was going running and would be back :)

- Mattie has started begging with her hands. When she wants something, she holds both her hands out to you. It's so hard to resist when she looks so cute doing that.

- Started packing a few days ago. Books - check. Decor - check. 90% of my house left to pack still - check.

- For the last few weeks CJ has been doing the funniest thing. When Bryce gets home from school, he tells him to take off his shoes and his coat. And when we go to see Bryce at school and we're in the car, CJ tells him to sit in the front seat, or he'll tell him to drive. It's his precious attempt to make sure that Daddy is staying.

- Mattie is a walking machine now! She finally got the confidence that she needed and she can cross any terrain now: carpet, tile, pavement, grass - you name it, she's got it!

- I learned a new trick yesterday - alcohol gets ink out, even lots of pen scribbles on a couch! I didn't know! So as long as I have a "creative" toddler, I will have loads of waterless hand sanitizer around.

- Bryce had to preform a little surgery yesterday that involved my tweezers, an Icebreakers mint, and CJ's NOSE! Lovely. CJ's fascination with his nose has now gone from picking, to sticking things up there. Good times.

- Bryce and I participated in our first yard sale on Saturday. We only walked away with $22, but since it was our friends, the Adams', yard sale and we just included a few things, 22 bucks wasn't too bad - worth the effort, I guess. All I know is that Bryce and I would be lousy at it if we were trying to actually make some money - we practically gave away our stuff for free! Bryce just keeps reminding me that if we hadn't sold it, that's exactly what we would have done anyway...I'm not so sure (I probably would have kept it :).

- Oh, and would you like to know what happened this morning? I bathed the kids and got them all lotioned up. CJ had his undies on and Mattie had a diaper and they were playing. CJ had just gone potty and they were doing well, so I thought I would jump in the shower. I didn't wash my hair, or my face (already had), so it was seriously only like a couple of minutes I was in the shower. I hurried and lotioned up and got dressed, and then I went in to check on the kids and do my hair in their room. When I walked in they were both splashing in some sort of puddle on top one of the storage bin lids. I thought it might be water, but then I looked over at the sink, and I could tell CJ had not been there. Then I had a sinking feeling of what it was they were splashing in. I felt CJ's undies, and sure enough, they were playing in a huge puddle of his pee! It was splashing on the carpet, on some nearby books, and Mattie was even sticking her hands in her mouth after I moved her away. Oh yuck! I stripped them down again and stuck them under the shower and did a quick rinse with some soap. CJ actually liked the shower, but Mattie hated it! Anyway, as you can tell, it was a lovely morning...

- Get this - this afternoon Mattie was walking around kicking the little Jazz basketball like it was a soccer ball! Maybe we have a future Mia Hamm on our hands.

- I gave Mattie a small box of raisins today, thinking she'd like some because CJ was eating some too. She then proceeded to dump them all out, and then meticulously put them all back in the box, never eating one! She's our little clean freak!

- I've slowly started packing, taking things off the walls, books off the shelves, etc. and CJ has totally noticed, everything! Whenever he goes into a room that has something that's no longer there, he points and asks, "Where'd that go?" or "Where's the books go?" or "Where's the clock go?" or "Where's the ABC's go?" (CJ's monogram that was on the wall above his crib). We just tell him that we've packed it in the boxes to move to our new house, or to CJ's new house, and he says, "New house?" and silently says ok. Who knew CJ was so observant!

Happy Monday!