They Call Them Stereotypes For a Reason

So this morning I took six kids out in the yard: Tigger, Chip, O'Malley, Aurora, Bianca, and Stitch. The others were sleeping, helping with lunch, or finishing up Go Diego Go. :) I gave them a choice today and not everybody picked to go out.

They swarmed out in a herd and all ran for the balls. We got a bunch of new ones recently that are still very exciting. O'Malley asked me if I'd throw some practice pitches for him to hit- he is Big Stuff on the t-ball team. And within five minutes, the three boys ALL had bats and balls in their hands and were mesmerized by the game, even 13 month old Tigger who is still in the drunk stagger stage of walking. He screamed when anybody came close to his bat and just stood there SO happy. Meanwhile, all three girls had put their balls into shopping carts or baby carriages and were wheeling them around the yard and ignoring the game.

I'm all for kids choosing their own play topics, but it's kind of funny to me that for the most part it seems like this stuff is hardwired.

Friday Focus- Mater

It's Mater Man! He started right after it would have been his chronological turn for the Friday Focus so I'm just getting around to his first turn, but he's been here since January. He's three weeks younger than Lady and we've been having a great time watching him grow. He gets cuter every day. Love me some baby pudge.

He sneezes in the sunshine. I think that's one of my favorite little things about him. You step one foot outside the door and instantly he's seized with multiple sneezing. It's so cute.

AAAH-CHOO!!!

I am fierce like a lion. I will fight you. Look out for me!!

This bumbo is okay for awhile, but then I try to climb out of it sideways. I don't like to be contained in it for very long!!

And apparently, although I didn't know it at the time, I was subconsciously waiting to post this until I had the "I hate carrots" series of photos we shot yesterday. I hate to laugh at the baby's expense, but wow he hates carrots. We gave him a couple more mouthfuls after he let us know clearly that he was done, just because we needed more faces from him. It made my morning.

And he wasn't crying here- he was making hairball noises and trying to hack the disgusting veggies out of his mouth. For awhile he just sat there with his tongue hanging out, trying to make sure everything had dripped off before he had to taste it again. And these are not just your ordinary carrots from the jar- they're yummy homemade organic carrot baby food made by his daddy the chef. Silly, silly Mater! :)

He loves the Jumperoo but it wears him smooth out.

What?! I wasn't sleeping! Stop laughing at me, it isn't funny at all!

Friday Focus- Lady

Miss Lady is already past five months old! I both love and hate how FAST the first six months goes. I still feel like she's brand new and just got here, but she's already rolling all the way across the room and eating cereal and working on trying to sit up.

I really like this expression on her face. It's completely pleasant and cheerful, and at the same time I feel like she's looking at me and going, "really? Is THAT what you think?" I keep expecting one eyebrow to raise up really high.


She has some fabulous headgear, although sometimes she prefers to wear it as a sleep mask. Just depends on her mood and the occasion.

Other times she has to sit up for it to be properly displayed. Pretty sure this bow is as big as her head. LOVE IT. I think she was more interested in chewing on her own shoulder that morning though. And also watching O'Malley play some Wii during quiet time. :)

Lady and Mater are beginning to be interested in each other's actions. I like putting them both on their tummies facing each other and listening to them carry on a conversation. She got bored and rolled away, and I think he was trying to follow her. He looks like he really wants to get her attention here and she just isn't having any of it.

She's getting really vocal and likes to sing and talk all day. She's also beginning to have a couple of those "I'm five months old" days where she's bored with everything we try. I keep telling her to hang in there because she can almost sit up by herself, and a whole new world will open up for her as soon as that happens. She's nearly there!

Friday Focus- Stitch

Stitch does not enjoy opening her eyes for pictures lately. But she very much enjoys hunting for spring eggs.

She finds many and she is highly pleased. :)

Did I mention she likes to eat? On Monday I was making baked french toast and it was taking a little longer than she felt was reasonable. So she had two bowls of rice chex while she was waiting. When the toast was done she had two big bowls of that too, with cut up strawberries and several glasses of milk. She was really annoyed with me when I told her she couldn't have any more because she was eating so fast some of her friends hadn't even finished their first helping yet. Then at lunch she had SIX bowls of the chicken soup that everyone loves. Granted they were kind of small bowls, but still. Six. Usually the first thing I hear from her when she walks in the door is, "I so hungry!! SO hungry!!"

mmmm.... cookeh.... i can haz cookeh.....

We got a sit-n-spin finally! I've been wanting one for awhile to go with the letter W. Because that makes perfect sense, right? :) We had a big discussion this morning about it to explain it- we're going to put it inside a big box and let them spin around in there and pretend they are in a Washing machine. Hence the W. But we did talk about S also. Plus I don't have a box yet. She got about half an hour to work with it all by herself today before the other Pink Ladies showed up and she was super excited.

I took video of her spinning and I waited seven hours for it to upload but alas. Blogger hates me. I give up.

She's making some progress in the potty training area. Aurora's mom brought an incentive chart and some stickers and it has worked wonders for both Stitch and Silvermist. Aurora could care less, really, but the other girls are in love with the idea of getting Aurora's stickers before she can do it herself. Mostly she's still in the sitting and not producing anything stage, but every now and again she does earn a sticker. :)