July update

Here are the funny/cute things that happened in July:

- Grace announced she has a "vagine" at July 4th get together to G-Rex and Jack (Jeff's partner).  Jeff had to translate for them to understand her.

- Matthew fell out of grocery cart at the check-out line head-first...yes my heart stopped!  Thankfully he only bit his lip.  Note: grocery cart seat belts don't work....Matthew just stands up and steps out of his.  He's now graduated to the large part of the cart.

- When I asked Grace why she did something bad, her excuse was that she did it to make me angry.  It worked!

- Grace got her first canker sore.  She insisted that I email our dentist to ask advice about how to treat/prevent canker sores and our sweet dentist gave us lots of wonderful advice!  I never would have dreamed of calling my dentist for such advice!  What a proactive young lady I have on my hands!

- Grace told me she wants another baby.  When I asked girl or boy, she said "boy" and she wants to name him "Penis"!  (Hopefully this post won't come back to haunt her...but it was too funny not to mention!)
 

- I asked Grace why she likes boys so much (she goes through phases of wanting to be more like boys...like being able to stand to pee, and talks about penises so much) and she said they were her favorites.  I told her that was good because she could marry one someday.

- Matthew uttered his first sentence: "Go away!"  Thanks for this sentence go to G-Rex who used this phrase when trying to scare off pigeons at a park.  His second sentence was probably, "There you go."  I think I say this a lot after I've helped him or Grace with one thing or another.
 

- Matthew has is own unique was of pronouncing words.  In particular, he seems to like putting the emphasis on the second syllable of a word...or just saying a word without the first syllable at all!

Some of my favorites are:

Da-da

He-len

Coo-kie

Ma-mam

- Grace now likes to close the bathroom door and tell us that she needs her privacy.  If only that worked for me!

- Grace came running and screaming to me one day and told me that Matthew slammed her ear in the door.  I hugged her and said I was sorry, but truthfully, I had trouble picturing how that was possible.  I felt bad the next day when I noticed that the top of her ear was purple!

- Matthew's prized possession is currently a pink guitar.

- Matthew can identify the violins playing in a song and yells "lin".  "Vio" is difficult for him to say still.  However, "lin" then morphed into "lint" then "laint".  Several mornings he woke saying "Laint!  Song!"

- Grace has been noticing similarities in words lately.  Her first comparison was, "Mommy, the word tiara sounds like your friend Chiarra!"  Then she noted a grayish sky when driving and she said that sound like her friend's name "Gray".  Another time she said Mitchell sounds like Rachel. 

- I gave my frist "all-request live" violin recital.  I waited until an evening when Jeff was home so he could hold on  to Matthew, otherwise he would have insisted on touching my violin the whole time.  Thankfully I learned the violin through the Suzuki Method which starts with ear-training so I can pick out songs without any music.

 

Requested songs included:

Ba ba black sheep
Johnny Giraffe
Cotton eyed joe
I've been workin' on the railroad
Row row row your boat
Eye of the tiger
Blinded by the light

- Grace told me that Matthew was in my tummy and she was in Molly's tummy.  It's amazing how much they understand at such a young age!

- Grace asked how Matthew got in my tummy at bedtime one night.

- Grace noticed skin color (in negative way) for first time.  Said she didn't like a friend because of her skin color.  Really, it was because the friend was head-strong like Grace and they don't always share toys very well with each other.  Thankfully they have had subsequent playdates and she hasn't said anything negative since.  However, I rushed to Amazon.com and ordered a bunch of books talking about how people are different but the same and all wonderful.  Both kids love the books!

- Today Grace brushed her teeth, washed her hands and face, picked out clothes and dressed herself for school..all without my asking!  And when she was all done, she even rewarded herself with a sticker!  7/23

- Matthew seems to be growing out of 2 of his 3 major food allergies!  He started out eating eggs and dairy in baked goods, then graduated to pancakes and waffles and on Monday (7/22) he took a bite of scrambled eggs without any hives breaking out on his face!  Then on Wednesday (7/23) I gave him a few nibbles of mozzarella cheese with success and decided to give him a 1/2 slice (.5 oz) of cheese on his sandwich on Thursday (7/24) again with success!  I'm waiting to have the allergist test out the peanut allergy since this is a more sensitive allergy, but I'm hopeful.  Another un-official allergy is tomatoes.  He always seems to have a few red blotches on his face after eating them, whether cooked or uncooked.

- Grace defended Matthew when a friend took his lovey and Grace returned it to him, admonishing the friend that it was mean to take someone's lovey!