The amazing way Hannah's mind works...

Hannah is a talker. Always has been, I'm sure always will be. She comes by it naturally from a long line of gabbers. What is so amazing to me though, is the way that she says things sometimes. A few examples from yesterday...

I had forgotten to give Hannah something to drink while we were eating lunch . Did she say, as many other almost 3 year olds would, "I need a drink" or "Could I have a drink?" or "I'm thirsty"? Oh, no. Not Hannah. She turned to me and said. "Mom, could I please have something to wash it down because I think I have some bread stuck in my teeth?"

Later, playing a game where we were looking for things with different shapes in the living room, Hannah decided to look for objects which are circles. She didn't go for the obvious round clock hanging on the wall, or the wreath, or the ball on the ground in front of her. Oh, no. Not Hannah. In this exact order, here were her list of circular observations: the bulb in the lamp is round (looking at its circumference...naturally), the knobs on the doors are round, the top of your coffee cup is round, and the base of the ceiling fan is round.

Her clever little mind is drawn to the complex over the simple every time. It's astounding some days.

Christmas Cookies

Hannah and I began the (hopefully) new tradition of decorating Christmas cookies together. I frosted each of the sugar cookies and she was in charge of the sprinkles. Then, we also made Chocolate Crinkles for daddy and she got to roll them in the powdered sugar. As you can see, she did a very good job. She was so precise about some of them...no surprise there. The hardest part was getting her to understand that she couldn't lick her fingers when she got a little frosting or a lot of powdered sugar on them and then touch the cookies that others might eat. Eventually, though, she got it and waited until we were all done to lick her fingers and enjoy a whole cookie of her own. I can't wait to do it again!

Christmas Photos

Here are some snapshots of our fun day. There aren't very many of the Peterson gathering, since I got my new camera about an hour before we headed to my folks. (Thanks, Andy and Hayes!) Then, of course, there are tons at my folks because I had a new camera to play around with.

Evolution of Noah's First Black Eye

Hannah's Nativity...dinosaurs and monkeys and ducklings, oh my!

What? You didn't know that Tigger and Goofy were there for the birth of Christ? I guess we have a different translation of the Bible at the Peterson house...

The runner-up Christmas card picture

Hayes and I almost went with this one for the Christmas card. We thought it was such a funny shot. Amazing how we can look so calm and happy sandwiched between dual freakouts. We decided against using this one, though, for fear that people who don't know our kids that well might think this is their natural state. It's not. This was about 10 seconds of fussing. They are really quite sweet and mellow most of the time. Really. I'm not just saying that because I'm their mom. Honest.

Here we are again

After a long hiatus, a new posting. Life is too busy when working full time educating other people's kids and trying wholeheartedly to care for your own, so clearly, blogging falls to the bottom of the priority list.

New for Hannah: She had fun decorating the Christmas tree. ("How do you think of that mom?" "That's beautiful, Hannah." "Thanks, I did it myself.") Also, she's obsessed with pretending to swim on our living room rug, but insists that you roll up her pants legs like shorts. Because, naturally, you swim when it's hot outside so you should be wearing shorts at all times. And finally, when I asked her a yes or no question the other day, her answer was "Indeed!"

New for Noah: In addition to the serious black eye-- (which looks soooo much better now), Noah is a talking machine. He repeats everything right now. New this week are "vacuum" and "broccoli" both of which he likes very much. He also loves names "Papa, papa, papa" and "Hannah, Hannah..." over and over. And finally, he's learning to count. The other day, looking over my shoulder out the living room window he suddenly starts repeating "five, six, seven..." Too cute!

Dance machine

Not much more to say. The boy has moves!

Random pics

Here are a few cute snapshots of our week.

I can't believe I have to go back to work next week and won't be around everyday to capture all the happy playtime moments.

Handsome little man

Hayes snapped this photo in our back yard a couple of weeks ago. I love that it totally looks posed. It's not; it's just those handsome and photogenic Peterson genes shining through. He certainly didn't get his ability to take a good picture from the Reynolds side of things!

Puzzling

Hannah is into puzzles right now, and I'm continuously amazed by her skill.

She was in her room the other day, and I hadn't heard her for a few minutes, so I leaned over from where I was sitting on the living room floor and peaked in. There she was lying on her tummy with her hands under her chin, reciting the alphabet and naming all the animals and objects on this puzzle which was assembled perfectly. Yeah, ages three and up? I think not.

What's a mencil?

Hannah is learning about rhyming. Not surprising, since she wants to spend most of the day reading books. And, for mommy and daddy's sanity, we frequent the library to keep the selection ever changing.

For several days last week, every time she addressed anyone, it sounded a little something like this, "What are you doing you silly, billy, chilly, willy, nilly daddy?" But as her little vocabulary is ever-expanding, she thinks that every time you change the first letter of a word it makes another real word with an actual meaning. So along with her new found love of rhyming is a constant barrage of questions, mostly inspired by the everyday objects she sees around her-- like when she ran into the kitchen and we had this exchange:

"Mom, what's a mencil?"

"Mencil isn't a word in English."

"Oh. What's a lireplace?"

"That's not a real word either."

She runs back into the living room. Not more than one minute later, she is back. "What's a lippopotamus?"

Given the enormity of the English language, and the persistence of my particular two year old, I have a feeling this may go on for a while.

The tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth

Not only is Noah officially a serious walker, (and gaining speed by the hour), but he has been working on breaking his two front top teeth for at least a month now. He's still a pretty happy little trooper considering the pain...not to mention his (and my) sleeping patterns being interrupted and his eating and nursing being affected. But finally at the end of last week, his left tooth broke through, and his right is pushing so hard against the gum it's a perfect white line stretched so tight it could break any time.

Please let today be the day! I really like the thought of sleeping through the night again, at least until the next teeth start coming...

Potty Training Excitement!

Not only have we gone potty while out in public, but Hannah has also held it in the car until we got home, and has even gone a few times at home without having to get completely naked.

Ahhhhhhhhh, success!

Picking Blueberries at Aunt Linda's

As much as Hannah has enjoyed picking the strawberries and peas from our own little garden, I knew she would enjoy picking (and munching) the best blueberries around. And I most certainly wouldn't mind taking home a few gallons for the rest of us, either.

Honestly, she did better with the picking part than I thought. I anticipated much more munching than picking, and a possible subsequent tummy ache, but to my surprise she only ate about one blueberry to every three or so that went in her bucket. Much more self control than I think I would have had at her age!

Who knew, though, that the real highlight would be climbing and playing under the kitchen stools? Not nearly as tasty, but just as exciting, I guess...

Big Happenings

There are some big things occurring at the Peterson house all at once.

1) Hannah is in the midst of potty training and doing a mighty fine job-- only a few accidents in her big girl undies the last few days. Unfortunately, she is also convinced that she must strip completely from the waist down in order to sit on the potty chair and vehemently refuses guidance about how one can, in fact, use the potty while leaving their pants and shoes and socks on. We'll see how this shakes out when we go camping in a few weeks and the only "facility" is a pit toilet/outhouse.

2) Not only is Noah ten months old on Thursday, but he is on the verge of really walking. Just last night he took three consecutive unassisted steps while he and I were playing after dinner. Then, he took three more for his daddy while I was getting Hannah ready for bed. He should be running by the end of the week.

3) Last, but certainly not least, Hayes turns the big three-oh on Friday. That's right, 30 years old at last. I couldn't even begin to do him justice trying to explain what an amazing husband, father and human being he is. So, I won't really try. Those of you who are fortunate enough to know him well, know exactly what I mean. And those who don't know him well, should get to know him better. You may never find a truer friend, a more kind-hearted soul or a more consistent character. So, happy birthday Hayes. I admire you more and more every day.

Fourth of July

One of the really cool things about living in our little city of Maywood Park is the 4th of July. It starts with a parade consisting of kids all decked out in their wagons and on their bikes, dogs with fancy collars, senior citizen veterans riding in convertibles, fire engines and police cruisers blaring Sousa marches.

This year, while Hannah cruised in the little car uncle Mike gave her, cousin Reid came and joined the fun in the Radio Flyer. Noah was napping through most of it, but woke up just in time to catch the end as a bystander.

Then, in the afternoon there is the neighborhood barbecue, with games and raffles. Hannah enjoyed finding and collecting pennies in a paper cup, and Hayes and I are the reigning water balloon toss champs. (Woot-woot!)

Finally, the evening is ended with a fireworks display right outside our house. I guess the year before we bought our house, the fireworks set the front lawn on fire. Since we've been here, though, there have been no mishaps, although we keep the hose handy just in case.

All in all, it's a fun day to live in Maywood Park. It's nice to live in a place that feels a lot like a small town-- right in the middle of Portland.

family photos?

As I was looking for a family photo to post in our profile, I realized just how few family photos we actually have. Then I looked for a photo of both of our children together-- still very few to choose from. Since Hannah is finally getting better about sitting still and being close to Noah, I am hopeful that maybe this summer we can actually capture both of them being cute in the same place at the same time. And, maybe Hannah will learn not to look away from the camera or close her eyes just as the photo is being snapped. And maybe they will both be smiling. And maybe mommy and daddy could get in on one too.

It's good to have dreams, isn't it?

eating grapes

This morning was extraordinarily beautiful -- the kind of morning that makes you wonder why everyone wouldn't want to live in Oregon. Noah fell asleep on the way home from the grocery store. So, as he snoozed away in the car seat, I began to put away the groceries.

Hannah ran into the kitchen and, with her steel-trap memory said, "Please mama, can I have some red grapes?"

"Good thing I just rinsed some for you," I responded with a smile.

"Probably we should eat them in the sunshine," came her matter of fact voice.

Yes, probably we should.

Getting in on the action

Come on... everyone else is doing it. (And the teacher succumbs to peer pressure, too.)

So, now that it's summer and I might actually find a few minutes here and there, I've joined the blogosphere. Hopefully I'll be able to chronicle the amazement I feel most days as I watch my kids develop. If not, maybe I'll just be able to look back on this and appreciate having a record of the little things that are often forgotten as they make way for the bigger milestones.

As I write this, Hannah is quietly napping and Noah is cruising around looking for cords to chew on or books to pull down on his head. (Luckily, I think I've moved all those dangerous items that he loves so much.) Hayes is probably driving a van full of kids to some skate park and I am wondering when Noah will be ready for nap number two. All in all, a pretty mundane start to the afternoon. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.