My darling kids!

I still can't post any pictures, but I thought that I should update on the kids and what they are up to these days.

Cadence is testing my patience in every way imaginable. I understand that this is her job as a soon to be 3 year old, but sometimes I miss my sweet, kind, loving little girl. She is still in there, but usually only shows herself to daddy. I will never understand how the same question asked in the same words with the same tone can illicit such drastically different responses. I got the following responses all this morning.

Me: "Cady will you help me pick up your toys?"
Cady: "No! I will not help you! You go to time out, RIGHT NOW!" (foot stamping on the right now part)

10 minutes later
Me: "Cady will you help me pick up your toys?"
Cady: Starts to bawl and runs to her room screaming things I can't understand.

2o minutes later
Me: "Cady will you help me pick up your toys?"
Cady: "Sure! Lets get them all! Can we have a samwitch for lunch?"

It is maddening really. I try my best to stay calm and collected and I am happy to say that I am winning the battle with my temper. Some days she is helpful right away and others she goes completely bat crazy and won't help at all. Those days she loses what ever toys are on the floor to the top of the bookshelf on the office. After a few days of good behavior the toys gradually start to reappear. It seems to work. Our other battle with Cadence is a certain cuss word she keeps repeating (in context too...weird that). We aren't sure where she learned it since Brady and I aren't cussers and I have been really creative with funny/silly words for when I have a situation that would otherwise call for a naughty word (words like 'snot' or 'ham' or 'pickles'). I am pretty sure it is the younger kids across the street though. They yell naughty words at each other (as do the adults) all the time and, though I have asked, I have a feeling it is a losing battle to get them to knock it off. As for Cady and the cuss word (dam lol) I tried pepper on the tongue and it didn't seem to phase her. We don't make a big deal about the word when she says it, just tell her that we don't use it, we use (insert list of silly words here) instead. If she uses it again right away then we do the pepper. I am thinking hot sauce might be a better choice for her since she doesn't really like spicy things.

Cady does do some good things these days! She tells me, "Mommy, your my very best friend!" which I think is so stinking sweet. She loves to have Dance and Sing time. I put my iPod on the speaker dock in the kitchen and let it shuffle through songs while we dance around and sing the wrong words. Rory gets a huge kick out of this display. Cady also likes to make us dinner in her kitchen and always has lots of yummy things for us to try (she can cook faster than me too...imagine that). She loves Rory to peices and is so careful and good with her.

Cady is also going to sleep by herself now. For those who don't know, we co-slept with Cady as a baby all the way up to her 1st birthday when she got her own mattress on the floor of our room. She still ended up in our bed a lot and always needed one of us to lay with her until she fell asleep. Often Daddy would fall asleep before she would. With the start of the new year, Brady and I decided that it was time that Cady learned to go to sleep by herself. The first night there was a lot of crying (all around). The next night was almost worse. The third night Brady struck gold. He told Cady that he could lay with her for two songs (she listens to the Hairspray sound track on her CD player at night to go to bed...girl LOVES that show) but after the two songs he had to go do Daddy things. Cady agreed to this and when the two songs were up, Brady kissed her and said good night and Cady WAS FINE! She stayed in her room without crying and went to sleep! We are thrilled with this new way of life!

Now our little one. Rory is a mommy's girl in the worst sense of the word. She wants mom and only mom unless mom isn't anywhere in sight (even then sometimes she will go crazy till I get back). We are working on this. She stays with Brady's mom on Tuesdays while I am in class and with my mom on Thursdays while I am in class. She is finally taking a bottle (not very willingly but she will take it) so I know she won't starve, but sometimes she just cries and cries until I am back again. Once she is in my arms she is just peachy. It's crazy. She is getting better with Brady too. She will take him over just about anyone else but me.

She is the sweetest baby though! She is giving big sloppy kisses and belly laughs that just light up my day! I wish she would stay little forever! She is growing and finally fitting in to some 3-6 month clothing (the stuff that runs small lol). She isn't interested in food that much. She likes to suck on apples if I am eating one, but that is about it. She doesn't even like toys really. She will go nuts for a cup though! Oh my goodness does the girl like a cup. Yup...just a plain old plastic drinking cup will get her all hyper and grabby. Makes it hard to drink anything and hold her though. lol. She can roll from front to back and now back to front and will sit up in tripod position. She can also do back bends really well. When she isn't strait as a plank of wood she is bending over backwards with great gymnastic form. It is really very funny. Gotta love the girl!

Well that's what is up in the kids world! Hope you are all well!