Dentist

Yesterday I took Presley to the dentist for the second time in her life.  Her teeth are nice and clean, but unfortunately, she has a "cross bite" that will require a retainer pretty soon in her life.  Her dentist said that he usually does not see a cross bite in kids as young as P1.  He also said that it is very treatable with a retainer to widen her top teeth.  I told him that I had a retainer when I was growing up, and he informed me that teeth are hereditary.  (Sorry about that Presley.)  The good news is that I have always been told I have good enamel on my teeth, so hopefully she'll reach the age of 32 without a cavity just like her daddy did.  Presley looked so small in the chair, and I noticed that her shoes did not even reach the area of the chair with the protective cover. I love my daughter with the crooked smile!  

Christmas Lights

When we lived in Grapevine, every weekend after Thanksgiving my dad and I climbed up on the roof and put up Christmas lights; however, that is not possible at our current house because the roof is so steep.  So for the last two years, we have had people quote us the cost to have them professionally installed, and both times we could not justify how outrageous the cost was.  We don't have that kind of disposable income around Christmas time.  My wife; however, still wants me to put out some small lit reindeer with a sleigh and presents and a Santa Clause, but I refuse to because I think we should go all out or not do anything at all.  Sunday night; however, Lora didn't play fair.  She started talking about it in front of Presley while we were looking at our neighbors' lights.  Presley started telling me that I need to put up Christmas lights, which led to the following exchange that had Lora and I rolling:

P1:  We don't have any Christmas lights daddy. I want you to turn on our Christmas lights.

Me:  I know, but I have to put them up first Presley.

Lora:  Presley tell daddy you want Christmas lights.

P1:  Daddy, I want you to put up our Christmas lights.

Me:  (Big Sigh) Yea, Yea. I know. I know. Thanks mommy.

P1:  (Cackle! Giggle! Laugh out loud) I'm not mommy! ! ! ! (More laughing) Mommy, daddy called me mommy!  Okay Paxten!  (Presley started calling me Paxten because I "called" her mommy.)

It was good fun.  Who knows if we'll get lights up or not.  I might win the battle this year, but as the girls get older, I have a feeling that I'll lose the war.

The Tough One

If I've heard it once, I've heard it a hundred times after I tell someone how tough and aggressive Paxten can be: "it's because she is the second child and has to be tough to keep up with her sister."

Maybe this is true in most families, and I assume it is, but Paxten is not any tougher because of Presley; however, Presley is definitely tougher because of Paxten, and I'm serious.  Let me count the ways. (Actually, this is only a few examples of the countless number of times P2, 20 months old,  has hurt P1, who will be 4 in January.)

A few weeks ago, Paxten was sitting on the couch by Presley, looked up at Lora, and without turning her gaze away from Lora, grabbed Presley's hair and yanked it..... for about the one thousandth time.  Presley cried, Paxten got in trouble.

Recently, I walked in a room to Presley crying while Paxten was hitting her over the head with a coaster.  I slapped Paxten's hand that held the coaster and told her no.  Now both girls were crying.

Also recently, Presley was going potty like a big girl and Paxten went into the bathroom, and then all of the sudden Presley was crying.  Lora went in and found Paxten yanking Presley's hair while she was trying to go potty.

Finally, during Sunday night's bath Presley started crying because Paxten grabbed a cup of water and threw water in Presley's eyes.  I've had several conversations with Presley about what to do when someone is mean to her at school, and I always tell her to say 'NO!' and leave or "run away."  On Sunday, I reminded Presley of this, and she said, "I can't run in the bath tub," while she was crying.  It made me laugh.

This is very hard for me to deal with.  First of all, I wish Presley was tougher, and I feel bad that she always gets hurt; however, I am so grateful for how sweet Presley is.  Presley has never retaliated.  Maybe she doesn't know what to do.  Maybe she's not aggressive or maybe she's minding us, but whatever it is, she is just so very sweet and it breaks my heart some times.  The ironic thing is that Paxten is also very sweet.  I don't think she wants to hurt Presley because she always gives her a hug and a kiss after she hurts her, but I think she is just trying to see what she can get away with.  Presley and Paxten are best of friends, and they play really well together.  Paxten looks up to Presley and tries to copy her in everything she does.  Presley was born to be a big sister and Paxten was born to be a tough little sister to make her older sister tougher.  I love both of my girls so much, and I know this is just a phase, but it can be challenging at times.

Dolls

During Thanksgiving week, Presley and Paxten have both been home a lot while I have tried to work.  The work is slow, but the fun part is that I can hear them interacting in the play room just off of my office.

On this particular morning, I kept hearing P1 tell P2 that it was time for the babies to go night night.  The girls would grab all of their babies and put them in "bed."  After a while, I started hearing P1 say, "Sweetheart it's time for bed."  I asked her who she was talking to, and she told me that she was talking to P2 because she (P1) was the mommy and P2 was the baby.  I guess P1 could not convince P2 to be the baby because a little while later, I heard P1 saying, "mommy it's time for bed."  I told Presley that mommy was down stairs, and she told me that she was the baby and that she was talking to Paxten.  Pictures below.

Happy Thanksgiving

On this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for:

• My two daughters.
• My daughters' wonderful mommy, who also happens to be my wonderful wife.
• My immediate family, who I really enjoy when all 8 of us can get together.
• My Long family, who just lost a cornerstone.
• My Parker family, who I don't see nearly enough.
• My wife's mother, who was the first soul brave enough to watch both girls at the same time over night by herself.
• My job and the freedom it gives me to spend time with my aforementioned daughters and wife.
• The girls' Montessori School that is less than 1/2 a mile from our house.
• That my body still allows me to run when I can.  (This is a gift I fear I take for granted way too much.)
• All the weight my mother has lost and the more we'll get to be with her because of the years it has added to her life.
• That my dad reached his 58th birthday today.  Here's to 58 more good years.
• For my country even though it appears broken right now because it is still the best country in the world.
• For my dog, Cady.

... realistically, I could keep going and going and going. There is so much to be thankful for for all of us who live in this great country.  Life isn't fair, and it isn't perfect, but it is good, and by living in the country we were born in, ours is better than most.

Here is to a Happy, relaxing Thanksgiving to all of my blog readers, (if there are any) and may you find the time to remember what you are thankful for this season, especially the little things, and time for a nap.

Woolly Bully Ache Leg

Two nights ago Presley and Paxten and I were dancing in my office to Woolly Bully. (Yes, I'm serious. Any time I think of a good song to dance to I'll find it on youtube and put it on and we'll all dance. Usually Presley and Paxten and Lora dance while I watch and smile, but the other night it was just me and the two girls dancing while mommy was in the living room.) 

Me:  Presley go get mommy to dance with us.

P1: Okay

(Ten seconds later Presley comes back from talking to Lora.)

Me:  Presley, where's mommy?

P1:  She doesn't want to dance.

Me:  Why?

P1:  Her leg hurts.  She has a tummy leg.

Me:  A "tummy leg?"

P1:  I mean a ache leg.

Me:  An "ache leg?"

P1:  Yea.

Me:  I see.

(She was trying to take a term that she knew, "tummy ache," and use it to describe her mommy's hurt leg.  I think she was looking for "leg ache," but I liked what she said way better because it made me smile.)

Communication

"Cut it." (talking about her food)

"More please." (talking about anything she wants)

"Too tight." (talking about her car-seat, diaper, shoes, etc.)

"One time." (while holding up two fingers) (she uses this for "one more time")

"Kiss, hug." (anytime she gets in trouble for hitting or grabbing sissy she'll say this while hugging and kissing P1)

"Bye-Bye (insert Daddy or Mommy or Sissy or Cady or Pat-Pat or Kevy or Poppy or SuSu etc.)

All of that in addition to "no" and her ability to repeat the last word of every question while shaking her head up and down, and Paxten Parker can communicate with us. (Please note: she has other two word sentences that she says, but these are the most common recently.)

We have also started giving her choices to empower her. I remember that working with Presley, but I don't remember having to start it when she was this young, but I may be wrong because I was not taking notes back then either.  Today she didn't want the diaper I was trying to put on her, but we only have one type of diaper, so I had to give her a choice of which diaper she wanted.  I showed her the front of one of the diapers and the back of the other one and let her choose, and she must have fallen for it because it worked!  I love my girl with the expanding vocabulary.

Paxten Only

Presley was with my parents this weekend and will be at school the next two days. Paxten was with Lora and me this weekend and will be at home with Lora and me while we work the next two days. We had 26 months with Presley only, but we rarely get time with Paxten only, so this weekend it was interesting to be with Paxten without "sissy" around. First, I will say that she is a lot more independent than we give her credit for. We have always thought that Presley was independent, but Paxten has never been alone really. Also, although she has been known to be aggressive towards her sister, (she's a fireball still) she really is loving and sweet and funny and smart and independent just like her sister, and it was very noticeable this weekend when she was not competing for attention.  I love my little sweet fireball so much, and I miss her sweet tender sister when she is gone.

Balloon Talk

Everyone who reads this blog knows that when you suck in helium from a helium balloon and then talk, you sound like a mouse.  Recently we went to one of Presley's classmate's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese where we brought home a helium balloon identical to the one below.

On Thursday morning, I told Presley that if we suck the air out of the balloon that we would each sound like a mouse.  So of course, she wanted to do it.  I cut a hole in the balloon, and she and I laughed, talked like mice and laughed some more, until the balloon was out of air.  It was a neat moment, but the neatest moment of all came later when I was talking to Presley about it, and I realized that she didn't think we sounded like mice because we were sucking helium out of a balloon.  She thought we sounded like mice because we were sucking air out of a balloon with a picture of a mouse on it, and why would she think any differently unless I had told her.  I love my mouseketeer!

"Seek the wisdom of the ages, but look at the world through the eyes of a child."

-Ron Wild

Diamond on a Shelf

"The Elf on the Shelf".  Ever heard of it?  If you don't have young kids, you probably haven't heard of it.  If you do have young kids and you don't have it yet, then get it.  I heard about it from parents in past years, and this year I decided to buy it.  First if you don't know what it is, then you can read all about it here.

I'll wait while you read it.

Okay, now that you do know what it is, you should know that our elf showed up yesterday, and Presley named her "Diamond."  Presley came down stairs this morning looking for her.  She talks to her.  She lights up when I ask her about her.  Two times this morning, I thought Presley was calling my name when in fact she was saying "Diamond," and not "Daddy."  It truly is a magical tradition that I suggest all parents with young kids start.

Here is a picture of Presley in front of Diamond this morning, who happened to show up on a pumpkin today.

And here is what Diamond looks like, except she has blue eyes instead of brown:

Presley's Point of View

There are tons of cliches about seeing the world through the eyes of a child and about how kids say the funniest things.  While Presley was riding with me today to pick up her sister, she had a couple of those moments.  See below, with pictures.

We pulled up a stop light and there were two dogs in the back of a pickup.  Presley saw the dogs and said, "Look at those two dogs back there.  They have a doggy door."

It made me laugh.

Do you see what Presley was calling the "doggy door?"  I thought it was very creative and funny to think about.

On a related note, when we pulled up to Paxten's day care provider's house, out of nowhere Presley said, "HAAAA!  That tree has a hoo-hoo!  That's so silly!"

I LAUGHED SO HARD! ! ! ! !  (I'll let you figure out what she was talking about on your own.)

Say What?

The other day Lora and I were getting Presley ready for me to take her to gymnastics.  We were almost running late, so I was in a hurry.  You should know that at gymnastics class they cannot wear socks for safety reasons so we always just put on shoes without socks so when we get to gymnastics all we have to do is throw off her shoes, and then we are good to go.

Well on this particular Wednesday night, it was cold so Presley wanted to wear socks under her shoes.

Me:  Presley, hurry up, put your shoes on.

P1:  I have to put my socks on first.

Me:  No Presley, we don't have time.  Just put your shoes on without socks.

P1:  But I'm cold. I want my socks on.

Me:  You can't wear socks to gymnastics class.

P1:  I want my socks on.

Me:  Presley you can't wear socks with those shoes.

P1:  Of course you can.

Wait..............

 .........for.......

.................it..

P1:  Daddy why are you laughing?

She was right.  Of course you could wear socks with those shoes.  She had done it countless times before.  I was in such a hurry to get her out the door that her being comfortable had taken a back seat to getting to gymnastics on time.  Her feet were cold and there was no reason she couldn't wear socks.  It was amazing how that loosened me up and put everything into perspective.  All of the sudden, I just loved her so much, and I didn't care if we were late to gymnastics (we weren't) and she put socks on with her shoes.  I also thought to myself, she is growing up WAY too fast!

Haircuts

I took the girls to get haircuts after picking them up early from school this week.  Despite the pictures, they really enjoy it.

Fall Festival

Presley her Fall Festival at her school this week.  Here are a few pictures.

Monkey See, Monkey Don't!

On a few occasions, for attention I believe, Presley has faked getting hurt almost the same way that Paxten has just hurt herself.  For example, we were outside one day and Paxten tripped and skinned her knee up on the concrete.  As she started crying and mommy and daddy rushed to her to check on her, Presley went over to the portion of the concrete that was covered by a doormat and acted like she fell down and started fake crying.  I laughed at the time because Paxten fell on the hard concrete, but Presley decided that she didn't want to sell it on the concrete and went to the area that had a little padding on it.  I know that this is for attention, and I hate to think that she ever feels like she needs to do this when Paxten gets hurt because Lora and I are very conscious of both of their feelings and try not to let either of them ever feel that the other one is getting too much attention.

On Sunday Paxten was running to Lora who was sitting on the couch, and she tripped and her face went right into the back of the hard wooden frame of the couch.  I didn't see Paxten fall, but I heard it and Lora's immediate action led me to believe that it was a pretty bad fall.  So as Lora is tending to Paxten, I come rushing over about the time that Presley decided to get up off the couch and act like she fell into it.  But instead of falling, she just decided to head butt the couch.  Unfortunately, she decided to head butt right where there is only a piece of cloth covering the back portion of the wooden frame of the couch, so she head butted the wooden frame hard and immediately started screaming and crying.  This was no fake cry either.  I felt so bad for her because she was now crying harder than Paxten, and I also felt bad because she thought she needed to do that, but while I was comforting her, it was hard not to laugh at what had just happened.  Both girls were okay, and hopefully Presley learned her lesson.

Celery

Lora can't stand it, but her 19 month old daughter will eat it.  Seems like a weird food for a toddler to tolerate, so I was impressed.

"John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt"

Me (while driving in the car with the family):  John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, his name is my name too.  Whenever we go out, the people always shout, "JOHN JACOB JINGLEHEIMER SCHMIDT, DA DA DA DA DA DA DA! ! ! ! ! ! ! "
Lora:  Daddy, stop yelling.
Me:  Presley, tell mommy to talk to the hand because that is how the song goes.
P1:  Mommy, daddy is supposed to yell because it says "the people always shout."
Me:  Thank you Presley.

Breakfast...

... has now become a lot easier because Presley and Paxten eat the same thing for breakfast and they sit at the same table.  This may sound silly, but I am very serious.  When you are ALWAYS running late, it's a nice change that saves time.

Smart Cookies

I often talk about how smart I think Paxten is on this blog.  So much so that I want to make sure that you understand me when I say that BOTH of my girls are smart.... and I'm not the only one who thinks that.  The other day Lora was dropping off Presley at her school and Paxten was in the car with her.  One of Presley's teachers came to get her out, and as she was getting Presley out of the car, Paxten said, "bye sissy."  Presley's teacher was very impressed that 18 month old Paxten was saying 2 word sentences.  Lora told her that she had been doing it for a while, and then Presley's teacher said, as she was putting Presley out of the car seat, "I guess she's going to be a brainiac just like this one." 

If it sounds like I'm bragging, it is because I am.  This is my blog, and those are my girls, and I am VERY PROUD of them.

Puzzle Paxten

Paxten Parker is one smart cookie.  I've said that before.  Her day care provider has been impressed by how well she can put puzzles together at the age of 18 months.  So similar to the post of her putting her shoes on, here is a post of her putting a puzzle together.  She got absolutely no help from me.  We didn't hand her any of the pieces at all.  We simply took them all out and told her to put it together.  I was very impressed.  The last picture of her smiling after she put it together makes me smile too.  I love my smart cookie.