Junebug 23 months

Hey my little bug!

I really should be writing on this blog all the time because you're saying and doing new stuff all the time but you're also a total rascal. Me sitting at the computer pretty much signals to you that it's time to start tearing everything up.

Up until TODAY when you wanted to nurse you would say, "nuh". Then suddenly today you said, "nuh-se". Yay!

You are absolutely adorable in every way and it's funny - everyone admits that you're a rascal but that you're the sweetest rascal they've ever met. A little snuggly peanut.

One of the funniest things (I think) that you're doing lately is that you don't say "I don't know" you say "know". So I'll say, "Junie, where are your boots?" and you'll say, "know." It's like you're just flat out denying the question...where are my boots? NO.

I yanked Zoe out of her preschool last month and you are loving having her home all the time. It really has done wonders for your relationship; you're playing together so much more and you get up to some hilarious shenanigans. One of your favorite games is playing with the monkey leash - one of you gets buckled in and the other holds the leash and you run around the house. Here you are playing beauty parlor.

You have turned into a great little traveler. We drove up to Michigan to see your Grandma Patty and have a little winter in February (little did we know that right when we'd get back, after a mostly dry couple of months, it would dump like two feet of snow on Kansas - what?) and you rolled with everything like a champ.

Your favorite snow activity is eating it, hands down. You like sledding (we'd all pile in the sled and you'd say "DOH!" as in GO) and you're sort of meh on the snowpeople but eating snow - that's tops for you. I guess I'm not surprised since you still love to eat crayons and dirt. Zoe would be all over sledding and making snowballs but you would just lay on your belly and stick your tongue in the snow. So cute.

You love to accessorize - you love necklaces, sunglasses, shoes and you've taken to wearing underpants over your clothes. It's all delightful.

                

I love you so much, little bean. You are really and truly the sunshine of my life, if you want me to quote Stevie Wonder. Which I'm sure you don't. Sorry, I'm your mom. I get to do this kind of thing.

Love,
Mama

21 months

Dear Bug,

Here's a picture of you wearing your favorite dress, which you want to wear all the time and usually layered with some other awesome outfit. Why only wear one cool thing when you can just pile them on top of each other?

I just wanted to write something quick here about what you're doing and saying these days because you are SO CUTE.

Your favorite show right now is Dora (doh-wah), of course just after you got a whole bunch of Elmo stuff for Christmas. Oh, well. You like to say, "Mama! Wee-wee! Doh-wah!" (Mama - tv! Dora!"

You call Zoe "Doh-whoa", and when she's at school you ask for her all damn day. You'll say, "Doh-whoa?" and I'll say, "Zoe's at school." and then you say, "NO."

This sister thing is so bittersweet. It's particularly hard for me since I was the big, bad sister. I remembered being totally annoyed with your Aunt Jess. But now I look at you and Zoe and the one I really feel for is YOU. I watch you watching her and wanting to do what she does and it KILLS ME! You just think she's the greatest thing ever and she just rips stuff out of your hands. Not all the time of course - and she's much better than I was - but you know. Ugh. She loves you, though, and I know that once you're a little older you guys will probably be best buddies.

You continue to be a huge rascal. You still eat dirt and actually just now you poured your drinkable yogurt on the kitchen floor and started licking it up.  You took your shirt off in a restaurant the other day. Rascal! Here's a snapshot of one of our days that your dad put on Facebook:

Junie took the PB&J that was handed to her and threw it across the room. Then she walked over to the junk that Chelsea had just swept into a pile from the kitchen floor, pulled something from it and ate it. Right after that, Zoe came up to Chelsea and said, "What do you think you're the only one person in earth?"

The other thing that has been making me laugh is that when we change your poopy diapers you say, "Eeeewwwwwwwww." It's hilarious. Please never stop doing this. 

Ok - see? Short today because we have to run to pick up Doh-whoa. I love you to bits little girl. I could just eat you up. 

Love,

Mama

Juniper B. Rascal Pants

Hi Bug!

You are so rascally that I am out at the bookstore updating your blog because I just can't get much done at home. Right before we left you got into the butt cream and rubbed it all over your hands and had a little taste. Yuck. And earlier today I took a little video of you outside trying to make your getaway up the hill. That's your thing lately, you just go walking away from the house up the hill. I have an inkling that you might be trying to get to the mailbox but you never know. You might be trying to go to school or walk into town.

 You are talking more all the time. There are things you say that I understand - understand in that I know what you're trying to say but I have no idea what you're actually trying to say. Ha.

For example, today when you wanted to get out of the swing you said, "Au jus" - JUST like au jus the meat juice stuff. It means you're all done or you want to get out. You also say something like this to mean you want to go outside.

When you want to nurse you say, "Nuh!" and when you want to switch sides you say, "ah too" which I guess is other? I don't know for sure. You call the iPad the "iPee" which is what I have started calling it too - its just funnier.

You call Zoe "Zoe-whoa", which is probably the best name for her ever since WHOA. Zoe! Just...whoa.

You say whoa and wow and yay a lot, which is awesome. You're sort of always wowed and pleased. It's a great way to be, kid. Keep that up.

You and Zoe have really started playing together, which I love. Since I am so close with your Aunt Jess, I am all about the sister-love. You really hold your ground with Zoe and often times you're the one beating her up. She's very patient with you, which is really sweet. She's officially a better big sister than I was at her age. But to keep it that way I would recommend you stop pulling her hair.

You go with the flow really well, kiddo. We went to "France Cancisco" as Zoe calls it to visit Aunt Jess and you were such a great traveler. Thank goodness for the iPee.

Jess and Michael moved to SF from Brooklyn in June and we were all super excited to be visiting her somewhere other than NYC. Don't get me wrong, New York is great. Just not so great to visit all the time with kids and you know, the fact that everything costs money there (even breathing air and peeing)  and she never had enough room for us to stay with her and everyone's mean and they act like you're in their way and out to ruin their lives. Anyway. She moved to SF and got an apartment with enough room for us to stay, and the people in France Cancisco are so laid back and hippie-ish. The guy at the hot dog cart (where they also had veggie dogs) looked right at me when it was my turn and said, "What'sss uuuupppp?" Score one for SF.

Then we went to Branson for Thanksgiving with the Hiltons and we had Zoe's crazy 5th birthday party and you just coast along like it's all no big thang. Just anotha day, yo.

I am SO excited for Christmas with you, beanie. You're going to LOVE it. You are already super excited about all the little advent goodie bags and you hold the purple reindeer we have, prancing them around saying, "NAY! NAY! NAY!" I hope it snows. Right now it's like 65 degrees and it's December 4th. Ugh. Kansas City really nails it in the spring and fall but man, it gets summer and winter ALL WRONG.

I love you, little punkin. So so so so so much it hurts.

Election 2012

Dear Bug,

Guess what? Obama was re-elected!

I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I knew I was nervous but until today I didn't realize how nervous I actually was.

You were born into a world where Obama was already President. Lucky kid! And I'm so glad that he will be the POTUS for the next 4 years. I really believe he is a capable leader.

Sure, we're not in the best place as a country but we're in a better place than we were 4 years ago when he took office. We're making progress. Most of all, I feel so relieved that we have someone in office who believes that gay people should have the same rights as the rest of us. Someone who believes that women can make their own reproductive health decisions. Someone who believes that we all should have access to affordable health care.

And not only was Obama re-elected, we have 18 women in the Senate. We have our first openly gay woman Senator. Elizabeth Warren was elected! Claire McCaskill beat Todd Akin! It was a great night for us, Bug. Particularly for you young people. I feel good about the road we're on for your generation.

PHEEEEWWWW.

Today Zoe called her Junebutt

Dear Junebug (or Junebutt),

I'm sorry again that I update this so infrequently. Life is crazy and I'm also old. 37 in a few weeks! 

You are growing up so fast. I can't believe you're almost 19 months old. And before I forget - here are your 18 month old stats: 

Weight: 25.25 lbs (81%)

Height: 33.5 in. (92%)

Nice.

Right now you are totally trying to be just like your big sister. You see her on the iPad so you've figured out how to navigate around it. You grab it say, "Mine!" ELMO!" and find your way to the PBS kids app. Like a boss. 

You are also learning how to run. It is so cute I could die but is resulting in quite a lot of falling and scraping your poor little palms. 

One of my favorite things that you do right now is you laugh this funny little "he he ... he he" laugh when you're going to get something you want like chocolate or a yogurt or to nurse. It's the best. 

I'm surprised, I have to say, that your humor is so sophisticated. The other night your dad went to a Die Antwoord concert in Lawrence and I stayed home with you guys so you slept with me (you normally sleep with him and I sleep in Zoe's room) and you woke up at 3am and pulled on my shirt (your usual signal that you want to nurse) and you said, "MOO". Um? Really? We're going there, huh? Some people have said that you should stop nursing when your child is old enough to argue with about it. I guess one could argue that you should stop nursing when your child is old enough to make fun of you for being like a dairy cow. Still, we're nursing until you're 2. Lucky kid.

You are talking quite a bit. It's cracking me up the things you say, though. You don't say any of your sibling's names but you say Elmo and Dora. You say the same thing for outside, iPad and all done. It sounds like "Ah-thoo". Your most favorite word is NO. You've got that one down. You say wa-wa-wa-wa for water. You don't say yes, but you say "yeah". You've got all the animal sounds down although you always say "neigh" for unicorns and zebras but I'm not sure I can correct those so let's just go with it. You say baby, pee-pee, up, buckle, mine, apple, and I'm sure a lot of other words that I can't think of right now. 

In a few weeks we're going to visit your Aunt Jess is France Cancisco (as your sister says). I am super excited to see her but I'm worried you won't sleep. You're not a fan. You sleep the best for your dad, but he's not going. Wah.

Travis says you're a lot like he was - you're totally rascally. Every time we go over to Liz's, you dig up her plants and sneak into her room and put toothpaste all around her phone. You pull stuff out of the garbage, draw on the floor with crayons, and climb up on the toilet and grab sunscreen out of the cabinet and squirt all over the floor. But we really can't be mad at you because you have the sweetest little curious demeanor - you're all, "what? hey! I'm just growing my brain over here. Just a little explorer." And you have this thing you do where you cock your head to one side and smile this sly little "you know you love me to pieces" smile. It's pretty awesome.

You are so much fun, little Bean. I love that every single day I get to wake to your little "ooh - I get to nurse!" laugh when your Dad brings you in to me. You make me so, so happy. I love you so much sometimes I think I might freak out.

Love,
Mama

Junie B - 17 months

Dear Bug,

You are upstairs sleeping as I type this which is something you haven't been doing much of these days. You slept like it was your job in Michigan - the best sleeping I think you've ever done and I was thrilled because I thought we'd turned some kind of corner in the sleep department but not so, evidently.

We got back from Michigan a little over a week ago and you, like your sister, LOVED it. You're a good little traveler, too. 14 hours by car each way; hotels; lots of new people; a huge dog. No sweat.

I was worried that you would be a holy terror at the beach because our experience with pools has been nothing but stressful. In true worrier fashion, I planned to have you either in your life jacket at all time or leashed. Yes, I bought you a baby leash. But as it turns out, you were a total pro at the beach. Sure, you did disgusting things like lick the sand and eat algae, but you were mellow and played happily in the sand and were cautious about the water. SCORE! Another beach baby!  

This year we ended up staying 5 whole weeks, which was great. We had a ton of visitors - Kieran, Eileen, Michael, Gabby, Cora, Liz and Ryan. Jack and Josie came for 12 days this time and we spent almost every single day at the beach. Partially because you were tossing my mom's house. Seriously - you were doing some serious rascal-damage. CDs on the rack? Stupid idea; those can come off. Plastic baggies in their box? Nope - those are better out of their box and all over the kitchen floor. Dog food? Yes, I'll eat that. Yum.

Above is a photo of you at my childhood beach; the beach I played at all summer long when I was a kid. It's surreal having you guys there. Life is weird. 

You are juuuuust starting to talk. You still do tons and tons of gibberish talking but you're starting to say things like you  mean them. You say "haaaa" for hi which makes you sound like Minnie Pearl. Yesterday you were playing with the phone and I was able to get you to repeat "hello" which sounded like "heh-wooo". Sort of awesomely teen wolf-ish. 

You are just the happiest little thing almost all the time. Even when you're tired you rarely get crabby or irritable. You do get mad and try to bite us when we prevent you carrying out some rascally plan you've hatched. That makes sense, though. We who dare to get in your way get punished. Duh.

I love you so much, Junebug. Someday you'll understand how much. Maybe. 

Love, 

Mama

15 month stats

Length: 32.75 in
Weight: 24.8 lbs
Disposition: Awesome