Isaac Says Words

So I've noticed that the majority of these blog posts center around Madeline. I feel sort of guilty about that since I do have another child. And what a kid he is! His personality is becoming so well defined as he's getting older and you can see how Maddy's ebullient ways are rubbing off on him. But at the same time he's different than she is.

Right now my favorite thing about Isaac is his sudden interest in learning new words. He's been saying Mom and Dad for a while now, but now finally Dad and Doug are distinguishable. Doug sounds more like Gugk, but its close enough. Some of the other words he's saying is 'juice' and 'shoes' (those also finally being distinguishable from each other). He says 'thanks' and 'please' - sounds sort of like how Roger Rabbit used to say it 'puweese'. Some of his other words are probably not understandable to anyone but those that live with him. Like he knows his own name but we have to sort of point out that's what he's saying. He also likes the number 6 - and he'll tell you that's how old he is if you ask him. Wishful thinking bud!

My all-time favorite thing he says I've been waiting to hear since he was first put in my arms. For no apparent reason the other day as we had just picked Maddy up from preschool, he say "I love you." to me. My heart melted. I love those words the best, and to have him say it to me without provication makes it that much more special.

Smart Buy

I went to the DI yesterday. I am constantly in search of an old, but still serviceable dresser I can re-varnish or paint to put in Maddy or Isaac's room. I just have this thing about buying something brand new that's going to get destroyed anyway.

So while we're there, Isaac finds one of those Lil Tykes cars. It was love at first sight. He got in it and for the whole rest of the time we were in the store, he was in it. There was a point where Madeline insisted that she have a turn and went so far as to try to shove him over to get a turn. You should have seen the royal fit he pitched. He is normally very accommodating of his bigger sister when it comes to toys and books. It probably stems from her insistence that all toys are hers (whether they really are or not). But with this car, he would brook no exception. This was his!

After we had checked out, I even let him ride the car to the van. But of course in order to get home, he'd have to ride in his carseat. Bring on the tantrum. He threw himself back, he screamed at the top of his lungs, he even tried to bite me, all because I took him out of his car. I managed to get him somewhat calmed down as I put the car in the back of the van. But as soon as I went to close the back door, the tantrum was bigger and louder than ever. The only thought I can think was that he probably thought that once I got the car in the van, that I would let him sit in it on the way home. Um, no.

So as I write this tale, the car is in the garage. Obviously the weather has not only been ticking me off, it has the kids as well. I can't let him ride in his car and Maddy can't ride her new bike because its just too darn cold. But I'm sure that this spring, I'll see that this car will be the best buy at the DI I'll likely ever make for $8.

Year Four Checkup

Maddy saw Dr. Jen yesterday for her 4 year old check up. She's up to 37 pounds and both her weight and height are in normal ranges for her age. She's got 20/30 vision which I am assured is normal for her age. Dr. Jen says that kids don't end up with 20/20 vision until they're around 7. A small blessing considering both Jack and I wear glasses.

Looks like based on last years report, Madeline will have to endure another nuclear cystogram. We are insisting on drugs again this year. Cross your fingers that her urinary reflux has finally resolved itself this year.

I've also decided to go ahead and get her vaccinations she'll need for kindergarten this year instead of next year. It'll be one less stressor she'll have to deal with between kindergarten exam, meeting her teaher and being away from mom for so long during the day. I am, however, going to have it done on a day Jack can go with me. I think having daddy there will help her get through it better, plus I'll need someone to hold her down when she realizes what we're doing. Dr. Jen's nurse, Dana, is the super best at shot giving and so I've also insisted that she be the one that administers them.

Potty Training Horizon?

So as I was changing Isaac, he started getting a really weird look on his face and then out puffed a little fart. Then, as truly the Son of Jack, giggled. Sometimes farts mean poop. Sometimes they don't. So I threw it out there - do want to go potty on the potty? To my surprise, he nodded so I followed him into the bathroom and put him on the toilet. He sat there for about a minute or so and then wanted to get down. I think this was more pretend pottying than truly a conscious effort on his part to go, but I found this encouraging. Madeline really didn't have a true interest in the potty until she after she turned two. I had tried to no avail to start her at 18 months with her just as willing to potty in her trainers or panties as regular diapers. And then of course you hear that boys hold out to the bitter end to train. My friend's little boy is fully potty trained just as he nears his Kindergarten deadline. So the fact that Isaac even considers the potty something other than a bowl of water to play in is highly encouraging to me. I'll take it on his time and cross your fingers he trains up faster than Maddy did.

When Madeline and scissors go wrong . . .

Um, yeah so this is my dear daughter's handiwork. I guess she must have thought that her bangs were too long or was pretty confident that cutting hair was a piece of cake. This is the result. I'm very glad that her hair grows pretty fast, especially her bangs. I guess we'll be visiting you Amy Ann in a couple of weeks.

Birthday Girl

Madeline turned four years old on Thursday. Time seriously flies. She amazes me every day. Here is a little picture of Madeline at 4:

She can be so sweet and loving, and then defiant and stubborn.

She loves her preschool class. Brycie is awesome with her and she's doing really well.

She loves church and bugs us all the time about going to nursery, until she found out how much fun Sunbeams is, and now she wants to go there all the time.

She loves being outside, and she can't wait until the weather is warmer so she can ride her new Sleeping Beauty bike.

She loves her brother Isaac - a lot. They fight and pick at each other but she is so mothering to him its funny.

She loves to play dress up.

She loves to color and draw. She's not the best at keeping her crayons, chalks or pencils out of harms way. But she loves chalking up the sidewalks, and coloring in coloring books, reams of paper and walls.

She loves animals. Her new dog Ebony and her haven't quite figured out not to harm each other but I think with age, Ebony will be one of her best friends.

She loves to play with friends. She has a fit when they or we have to leave.

Her favorite foods are chicken nuggets and pizza.

She could watch Disney movies all day long if I let her.

She comes up with the strangest comments like "Your grandma's daughter aren't you?"

She is very helpful when she wants to be. She gets me things all the time and usually has a good attitude about it. She gets distracted easily so cleaning her room takes much longer than it should.

She loves to sing and dance. When her Aunt Peggy comes over, there is nothing better in this world than when they dance around to music on her iPod and sing Disney princess songs. She loves the Veggietales CD that has her name referenced in it and will sing along with most of the songs. She even makes up her own little songs as well.

She has the best mad face!

She loves going to the library. She loves storytime when we can make it on time. She loves to look at books and I'm pretty sure she's getting close to reading them on her own.

She LOVES McDonalds.

She will repeat the same question over and over and over again until I acknowledge her asking it.

The best time in her whole small life was when she went to Disneyland. She still talks about it and keeps asking if we're going today.

She loves talking on the phone. Her favorite people to talk to on the phone are her Aunt Amy Jo, Peggy and Grandma and Grandpa. She is such a little teenager about it too - she'll hold the phone to her ear, then cock her head to one side, her other hand on her hip, and walk around the room while she's talking. Most people don't understand what she's talking about because after the initial hello, she really isn't listening to the other person.

She loves to take baths. She'd take a bath multiple times a day if I let her. She pretends to swim in the water. Occasionally she'll say she wants to go back to her old home. She means the apartment we used to live in that had a pool. She loves the water and misses the pool.

Insists on going to the bathroom by herself. If she can get a small stall, that's the one she'll use.

She demanded the other day that I buy her a Beauty bed. After many questions I figured out she was talking about a canopy bed. She only relented when I told her we don't have enough money for it.


There's about a million more but there are so many things about her that are great, frustrating and lovable.

I love you, my little nugget!

The Countdown

So the countdown is on for when Isaac Douglas will make an appearance in our little family. I would use that as an excuse for not blogging lately but the simple truth is that I got out of the habit when the spring sun started to shine and then my pregnant brain made me forget what the fetch my username and password was. At that point, I had given up but I think it's important to note Madeline's travails as she rushes head-long into big sisterhood. She only has 13 more days to be an only child.

I have to admit that at first, I was extremely nervous that she would reject the baby. After seeing her with dozens of stranger babies, and the way she loves to interact with Haleigh, I don't have that fear anymore. I think she'll be a little mommy to Isaac. The worry I have now is that she'll be mad at me. She has suddenly become very snuggly to me. She has never, even as an infant, been a very cuddly child. Sure, she wanted comfort when she was sick or hurt. We now find ourselves snuggling in my bed in the mornings after she wakes up watching her new favorite shows, Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go! Then if I sit on the couch in our family room, she will inevitably find herself sitting right next to me. Don't get me wrong, in a way, I cherish this with all my heart. I love to feel her little big-girl body pressed up against me, confirming that she loves I'm her mommy. But enter Baby Isaac. How is she going to handle it? Mommy won't be so completely at her disposal. Time will tell, I suppose.

On a brighter note in all of the Sivill family's lives, we are moving! We found out that we were now in a good financial position to buy a house a month earlier than expected. We looked around and found a cute little house in Tooele, Utah (about 30 miles west of Salt Lake City). We feel the Lord's hand in this. Too many things have been going right so far. Not only did the seller accept our inital offer with no counter-offer (we offered them $14,000 less than they were asking for) but they want to close on the house a week earlier than we had proposed. Now closing is completely up to the mortgage folks we're dealing with but still, we just feel so blessed. It has just about everything we had on our wish list. It's a total of about 2800 sq feet with 1400 being the top floor. Its got a huge kitchen, 3 bedrooms on the top, a laundry room on the top floor, in a new, nice neighborhood with a small community park with a playset across the street, and a nice master bedroom with doors to the bathroom and closet I can actually get my wheelchair through (note: most newer built homes were using sub-standard sized door frames for master baths and closets). So hopefully the next month's timetable will look something like this:

July 10 - Issac makes his appearance by c-section
July 23 - we close on the house and start moving in
July 30 - we close on the house because the guy selling it will be out of town the week before and for some reason we couldn't close on the 23rd
August 24 - I will be living large in my new house for my 31st birthday and make everyone drive for a hour or more to get to my house to celebrate - LOL

In My Big Girl Bed

So yesterday morning I'm laying in bed. Usually I lay there and listen to the beautiful sounds of my daughter in her crib either singing to herself (or her bears) or talking to herself. But instead, I hear a little fist knocking on the inside of her bedroom door. Uh. . . so she managed to crawl out of her crib without killing herself. Now since she is almost two and I don't want her to do an encore performance and manage to kill herself that time, I decide it's time for a big girl bed. Luckily, when we got the crib it was designed to convert from crib to toddler bed to full size kid bed. We're moving on up!

So here is the result:

So at first she was all excited that she could climb in and out at will, and was bouncing around inside. But as it neared bedtime, and daddy turned out the overhead light so we could say prayers, she wasn't so confident. So Maddy and I talked about sleeping in her Big Girl bed with her Bear and princess blankie. As soon as prayers were over and we sang a bedtime song, she laid down without much fuss. Fast forward to about 1:30am. I hear a cry. Normally, if she wakes up its because she's lost "B" or binkie. She refuses to sleep without one. But just as I was opening the door to see what was up, I found her taking a nose dive into the carpet. Apparently, she had forgotten that the first step's a bit of a doosey, especially at 1:00 in the morning. She didn't hurt herself badly. As you can see it's not that far to fall. I'm thinking that the whole non-crib set up had freaked her out a bit. All change does to everyone, but it was really the first time in her life that a thing that was so constant in herself was different. Thankfully, a hugs and kisses and a diaper change later she crawled back into her bed and fell back to sleep.

New Stuff

Some stuff Grandma either made me or bought for me!

Brown Dress for a Brown-Eyed Girl

View#2

My New Jacket and Hat!

Bigger Smile

Apple Dress

Closer View

Madeline Dancing at Festival of Trees

I have to warn you that this is VERY dark and VERY short. I'm sorry I don't have any video edit programs to lighten this up.

It was a moment I captured where Madeline was dancing along with some girls doing scenes from the Nutcracker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07__BlHOd34

Hope you love it as much as I do.

Stop It!

If you spend any amount of time at home with Maddy and I now, you will inevitably hear this phrase. It is one of many new ones she's picked up, of which, is not the least irritatingly cute. I have to admit she probably got it from me, but exacerbated by a book her Aunt Laura got her where if you put the wand over a picture it either says the name of the picture or makes a song or sound representing that picture. Her favorite one was a stop sign. Stop! it says sharply. She would pick it out again and again. Then the 'it' was soon to follow. Let's go! and Maaammaaa are frequent phrases as well.

She's getting quite adept at songs. She will sing along to the ABC song and knows the hand signs for "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree". We're currently working on "I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home." One of these days I'll figure out how to add small videos from my camera to here so you can see her in action.

The Streak

She is the streak! My Maddy is hilarious. It started one day when she was just running around in her diaper. I'm figuring at one point she must have peed in that diaper and didn't like the feel of it. So in her truly inventive, intellegent way, she pulled on the tabs and pulled it off. I rounded the corner to buttcheeks running in the wind. And so it has been ever since. Any time you keep her in just a diaper for any amount of time, you can bet her diaper will be off and she's flying free.

She's also done this in her crib. I went in there the other day to be greeting by bending buttcheeks. She had been wearing footie jammies but one without a zipper cover at the top. She had figured out how to unzip her jammies far enough down so she can get out of them and then get her diaper off. I've had to resort to putting a saftey pin under the zipperhead so that she can't do that when wearing those kinds of pajamas.

Christmas for Maddy

Madeline loved the Christmas tree, with all its sparkly lights and fun ornaments. She could not, however, leave the tree alone and any candy cane that happened to be near the bottom was eaten, and we've one ornament casualty. This Christmas she has become a fantastic candy and cookie fiend to the point where regular food does not interest her anymore. When asked what she wants for breakfast - "Cookies!"

Christmas morning was a mixture of fun realizations and ones yet to come. The fact that more presents sat under the tree than from the night before didn't phase her at all. The fact that she got to open all these fun packages was delight to her. That at least she enjoyed with relish. She got so many fun ones this year she kept going from one to the other, not able to decide which to play with first. She got a Little People castle playset and the additions of Sir Lance-A-Little and his dragon, and A Night at the Ball set with dancing prince and princess and their horse drawn carriage to go with it. She also got a set of Disney board books with all the Disney movies, and a ride-upon plane with Winnie the Pooh (currently the most played with). She also got from her cousins in Las Vegas an Elmo book that's supposed to teach words but doesn't work very well (we'll have to replace the battery I think) and a music center complete with working microphone that she loves.

Later that day, she got from Tyler, Gab and Haleigh a cute My Little Pony doll and from the Bradshaws two Carl books that she loves to ready because of the doggy in them. Her Great Aunt Pamela got her a cute Christmas bear. All in all, she got a lot of love from her family that showed in how thoughtful their gifts were. I know the high point for her day was when we went to the Bradshaw and she got to play with her cousins there.

Santa

Like the big, brave girl I am, I took my picture with Santa Claus today, with the help of his reindeer. I thought he was a little intimidating at first but then his helper gave me his toy reindeer and I felt much better. Then I gave the camera the biggest smile I could give. I wonder what's in all those colorful boxes mommy and daddy are trying to hide from me. I guess we'll see!

Joyful Girl

Jack and I are so proud of Maddy. Not only did she go pee-pee in the trainer potty yesterday but she used it again today to do #2! She is such a smart little girl and is so anxious to do big-girl things.

I was watching her today and I marveled at how much joy and energy for life she has. She only wants to be happy, dance and express her little self. She shows this in so many ways - in the way she loves to draw and make large colorful circles on the page, how she gets so excited when she sees me or Jack or Amy Jo after we've been way from her for a period of time, and the way she randomly gives loves to not just us but to perfect strangers. It melts my heart when she will be playing and then just get up and come over and give me a hug. She's beautiful on the outside but its so much more beautiful on the inside.

Halloween

Madeline picked her own pumpkin for Halloween, and had a blast trick-or-treating with her cousins, Tyler, Gabriel and Haleigh. She was a BYU cheerleader (pictured below)! But since it was so cold that day, she had to wear her ladybug jacket over her costume. Oh, well. She still looked cute.

She really seems to like the chilly air and loves to play with the fallen leaves and branches that fall around our apartment complex. I think she likes the chilly air because it gives her an excuse to wear the cute hat mommy got her at the store!

Dancing Queen

Pick any happy, upbeat song and you'll find those chubby little legs start to bend a bit to the rhythm. Then with more enthusiasm, she bounce up and down with a huge grin on her face. If she really likes the song, then she'll not only bounce but she'll throw a few piroettes in there as well. In our brief lapse in access to cable TV, she has been unable to watch one of her favorite shows, Backyardigans. The highlight of the show for Madeline is the singing and songs. I love it because each episode tries to pick from a different brand of music from blues, ragtime, reggae, bassa nova (???), and so on.

To my chagrin, her favorite type of music seems to be R&B. I blame it on the Disney Channel (stupid Choo-choo Soul). However, she does very much enjoy dancing to the Gorillaz "Dare". I don't mind them so much so its fun to dance along with her. In the car, her whole little upper body and head is bobbing to the music.

Now to get her into 80s synth pop (yeah, right but I can dream) - Oh Mickey, your so fine, your so fine you blow my mind, Hey Mickey!

(This one's especially for Grandpa!!)

Close Call

Today I witnessed a terrible accident. We were sitting at a stoplight a few cars back, late for church as usual, when the car in front pulled into the intersection and was t-boned by a woman who was trying to fly though the intersection. The woman's car's front end was totally demolished and she was going so fast that the poor man driving ahead of us flipped over on his side. My initial reaction was concern mostly for the man, hoping that despite the pitiable condition of his SUV that he was ok, and some concern for the woman that hit him. But then I found myself crying uncontrollably. We were only two cars behind this man who was hit on the passenger side. My beautiful daughter was sitting in the backseat on that side. What if it had been us? What if that stupid, stupid woman had hit us? Oh the ugly thought of it just floored me. But it was not us. The Lord was looking out for us and, thankfully, for the man in the SUV who walked away from the accident without even a glass scratch. Today re-confirmed for me how very important my beautiful little girl is, and how I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that she grows up to become whatever she wants to, God willing. But I also know that if, for some reason, God does not will, we are bound together forever as a family. I just hope the former rather that the latter is His will.

My little girl is not making me wait for her to be "grown-up". That little one is 16 months going on 16. She already sasses me - "Nooo!" she says as she points her little finger at me with those furrowed brows. She talks on a cell phone like a teenager (see previous post). And now she hangs with the girls too. The other day we were at the apartment pool and we were sitting in the hot tub. A group of teenage girls about 12-13 years old got in after us and were fascinated by Maddy. They asked to hold her and I consented, since she was already pushing me away to get at them. One of the girls grabbed her and brought her over to where they were sitting. She sat down in the middle of them looking perfectly at home. She even tried to talk to them in her way. They giggled and she giggled too (although she had no idea why she was giggling.) What's next? Is she going to be asking me for lipstick and eyeshadow at three? Probably.

My Little Wonder with a dash of Tornado

Imagine a room with perfectly vacuumed carpet, furnitured clean and dusted, everything put neatly in it's place - and then she wakes up! The tornado hits and everything is on the floor, in disarray and crayon is on the windows. Sigh. I love her but it is now so hard to keep everything looking decent when she loves to get into everything. I should be grateful that she is curious, playful and creative.

This afternoon when she woke up from her nap she was doing something so magically wonderul I can't get over it. I know she's awake because I can usually hear her talking to herself in her room. When I went up to her crib, somehow she had gotten a hold of an empty plastic storage bag, the kind you'd put food in the fridge in. She showed me the bag, put her hand in, grabbed at her imaginary food and put it in her mouth and chewed. I laughed so hard. I never imagined that at this age she could be so inventive. She even offered me some. So I took it, ate a bit and then she took her turn at eating her imaginary treats. Sometimes I don't know where she gets these ideas. We've not played at make-believe in this way so I can't imagine where she would learn to do it.

It reminds me of something she did last week that had me completely laughing and fascinated. She has her own crayons now with a Disney Princess coloring book. I had walked in the room where she had some show like Backyardigans or Wonder Pets on that had a particularly upbeat song on. There she was, holding one of her crayons like a microphone, singing her own song and dancing to the song playing on the TV! I do not do this so that she could pick up on it - I have no idea where she could have learned something like that!

One thing I think she has learned from me is her abilities with telephones. She sometimes is 16 months going on 16! When I have her talk to people on the phone, she doesn't like me to hold it for her. She wants to hold it herself. She then cocks her head and talks on the phone like she was some teenager or something. And she prefers cell phones to the house phone. I guess she's too cool for the house phone. But then the 16 month old comes out in here and she can't resist to push a few buttons during the conversation.

She never ceases to amaze me with all the things that she does. She is so friendly, not just to people in the family but to anyone and everyone in general. She will give a big smile and wave at random people. She loves to give babies her age kisses and will run up to them without compuntion to give them one, usually scaring the crap out of the other toddler. She will also just go up to strangers and just start talking to them. The other week when Amy Jo and I were at the ZCMI Center mall, we had gone into the Deseret Book. There were a pair of sisters sitting on the floor in the children's section, the older one reading to the younger one. Madeline thought nothing of sitting herself down next to the older girl and listen to her read. At first the girls were unsure what to do, but after myself and their mother encouraged them, the older girl continued to read and Maddy sat there and listened. Oh, my heart! One day I hope that Madeline will be the older sibling reading to her younger brother or sister.

Cherrios

So Madeline thought it would be really fun to get into her baby bag this morning. Inside are these really small tupperware type things where I keep Cherrios and other such snacks. Pop - open come the container and all over the living room floor go the Cherrios. Now this would be a boring vinnette except that is it not truly Madeline at her best. She is an on-the-go sort and promptly walked all over the Cherrios. This must have felt a little funny and on inspection was surprised to find that Cherrios stick to one's feet when one walks over them. Being both prudent and the problem-solver that she is, she pulled them off her feet and started eating them. What doesn't kill her, I guess, will make her stronger. I would worry about having to vaccuming them up but lucky for me, Buddy, our resident bottom-feeder, is doing a nice job of cleaning them up for me.

Maddy has also developed a strange facsination with anything that can be wrapped around her neck. Daddy's ties are the best but she has been known to wrap the dog leash, old computer keyboard wires and bathrobe ties around her neck. She is such an interesting personality, but sometimes her little ways scare the crap out of me because she is freaking fearless. Good thing in some ways, way bad things in others.

Maddy and the Bottom Feeder