He seems surprisingly taller

I would like all of you to know that today Back Seat Boy WALKED into the living room. Back Seat Girl and I were in there picking up toys, and all of a sudden BSB walked in with a proud look on his face like "check me out, ladiez!". To my credit, I didn't completely freak out, but I wanted to.

He has been using those little legs more and more lately, but these last two days, and especially today, he's been walking much, much more. That's not to say I'm about to put him down at Target and see what he can do, but I am relieved he's decided it's not a bad way to get around, this 'walking' thing. He's still one hell of a crawler, though. Man, he should teach lessons.

Also, we were at Bruegger's eating breakfast this morning and there was a man at the table next to us in business attire enjoying a bagel and coffee, when BSG points at him and loudly exclaims "That guy looks like Icabod!".

And then I died. The End.

No-Pants Lance

Last night when I put Back Seat Boy to bed, he was wearing jammies. Both the pants and the shirt. This morning when Driver got him out of bed, he wasn't wearing any pants. When I saw BSB, I asked Driver where his pants were. Driver looked at me with confusion and said "I thought you did that".

Upon further inspection we found his jammie pants in the crib. I really hope he doesn't figure out his diaper.

Hey, I know this guy

I went to highschool with this guy. I really don't know what else to say, but click here and here, and try and tell me he's not the coolest guy you don't know.

Edited to add: I know the first link doesn't work, and now the stupid "Lawrentian" won't let me look at any articles without signing up, but if you click on the second link, just do a search and you'll be able to find the original article.

Not a Cuddler

It's rainy and cold here today, and I'm in 'clean the house' mode, which is rare, and should be taken advantage of. Since we haven't really been following our weekly movie days around here now that it's finally been nice, I told Back Seat Girl she could watch a movie when she woke up from her nap. When she woke up the first words out of her mouth were "Can I watch Cinderella now?".

We went into the living room and I started the movie. Back Seat Boy was still sleeping, and BSG just looked so cute sitting on the couch excitedly waiting for her movie, that I asked if I could cuddle with her for a little while. I was already sitting next to her on the couch, and that was apparently enough for her. "You can just sit there", she told me. After a minute or so I leaned over and gave her a hug and kissed her on the cheek. She made a face and said "I told you you can sit next to me". Then she touched my leg with her toe and said "See, isn't this nice?"

I'm hoping she keeps this up into her teenage years. Should really reduce that teenage pregnancy risk.

Snatiation

For all of you who are familiar with Driver's weird habit of sneezing after eating too much or being overly full (he often blames the 'bubbles from beer' for making him too full), here is some interesting reading for you. I don't know why we never thought to google it before, but tonight after taking the kids to our local ice cream parlor run by a huge, hairy biker full of tattoos (another reason to love Richfield), Driver was having a sneezing fit, and I casually asked if he'd ever googled 'sneezing when full' before. He immediately sat down at the computer, and a phenomenon that has plagued him for years, something I, along with many of his friends, have been teasing him about since college, finally has a name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneeze
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snatiation

More stubborn (and perhaps smarter) than we thought he was

Dear [Back Seat Boy],
The jig is up. I know your secret. If you didn't want me to find out than you shouldn't have put on that little show at your Dr's appt. Maybe you wanted to make a fool out of mama? I tell the Dr "he still can't walk", the Dr takes you across the room, and you immediately start whimpering and walk across the room to me.

Here's something you should know about secrets. Once you let the world know, you can't make them un-know it. For instance, on Wednesday I saw you walk, without the aid of someone's hand, farther than any of the faltering, falling down steps you've taken at home. Now I know you can walk. The Dr. saw you walk and told me you can walk. I have a witness. This means that you can't pretend you don't know how when we're home. You can't crumple to the ground and crawl to me when I leave you standing somewhere and say "Walk to mommy!". You can't cry and reach for my hand when I tell you to walk the few steps between the rocking chair and your bookshelf to pick out books. You can't stand up, by yourself, in the middle of a room to throw a ball, then look right at me with that shitty grin on your face, slowly crouch down to a crawling position, maintaining eye contact with me the whole time, and crawl to get your ball.

I will admit that a few weeks ago I was heard saying that I really didn't need you to walk, because I love the way you crawl around, and I thought I was going to miss it. I figured this was the last 'baby' thing you do, and once you started walking you would stop being a baby and start being a toddler. I will probably miss the way you 'dance' while crawling, and the sight and sound of you crawling while holding something, but I have video and pictures, and quite honestly--YOU ARE 18 MONTHS OLD!! YOU WEIGH 26 POUNDS! I love you, but this is starting to wear a little thin.

In conclusion: I know you can walk, you know you can walk, and, according to the Dr, you need a little "motivation". Well, I can tell you that we will start walking across the bridge at the playground. I will hold your hand, but there will be no more crawling over all of the playground equipment. Second, I will no longer rush to you to clean off your hands when you hold them up to me, whining, because we are outside and you got tree buds or other miscellaneous pieces of nature on them crawling around the yard. If you really need to be held by someone you really don't like to find the motivation to walk, then I will find a total stranger to come over every day and hold you across the room from me until you figure out that walking is a much more efficient way to get around than crawling. Please, Back Seat Boy, please. I really think you'll have so much more fun this summer if you just get those chubby little legs underneath you and start walking around.

Love,
Mama

Ruining her chances of running for public office one post at a time

This conversation took place while Back Seat Girl was sitting on the potty and the rest of us were in the living room:
BSG: OOH! I smell my poopy!
D: What does it smell like?
BSG: Yucky!!
Pause...
BSG: I've got poopy hanging out!
Small Pause...
BSG: I got rid of it!!

Here are some miscellaneous pictures. The family one was taken at the Twins game. We did some self portraits (held the camera out in front of us) which I thought were pretty cool, the problem was that half of someone's head was always cut off. I guess that's what you have to deal with in a family full of large-headed people.