He laughed!

Is there anything better than the sound of children’s laughter? One of my favorite milestones is the first time my babies learned to laugh.

And now all three have reached it!

Today when I picked Lawson up from daycare he was so excited to see me that he giggled and laughed. It was awesome.

10 Reasons My Preschoolers Smiled Today

You know all of those posts about Why My Toddler is Screaming? There’s even an entire blog devoted to it. We’ve all read them. And we’ve probably all laughed (or cringed) because we’ve been in the same boat as the parents taking those pictures.

But you know what? There’s an equal number of reasons that my preschoolers have been smiling lately. Here are just the first 10 that come to mind:

1. Tickle fights. This one is a little bit obvious, but there is nothing that gets my kids laughing like being tickled. Except maybe getting to tickle mommy.

2. Doing something new by themselves. Both of my older kids are fairly independent (shocking, I know), so learning a new skill tends to lead to excited exclamations like “I did it!” accompanied by a big grin.

Our first kids’ party

This past Saturday we had another 2^nd birthday party for Lynnie. This time it was for “her friends.” Okay, so it was for my friends who have kids around Lulu’s age. We had a BLAST!

The party started at 2 in the afternoon, and Lulu started waiting by the front door around 1:30 saying “friends. over.” When our friend Sarah and baby W arrived, Lulu was so excited! And then she realized that she had to share her toys. But she got over that pretty quickly, and had a fantastic day.

Happy Lynnie Day

(a much too detailed account of my daughter’s 2^nd birthday)

*Fair warning: this post contains a lot of details because I want to remember everything about my little girl’s special day. If reading detailed accounts of mundane activities isn’t your thing, suffice it to say that her 2^nd birthday was pretty great.

“Mommy, c[ome] on. Mommy, wake. Mommy.” It’s not a bad way to start the day, really. Lulu calmly let us know that she was awake and ready for the day around 8 this morning. I went into her bedroom and found her laying sideways in her crib, happy to see me. “Hi, Mommy. Happy Lynnie day!”

I can’t believe my baby girl turned 2 today. I want to remember every detail of the day, because it really was a happy day.

Happy Mommy Day

Mothers’ day is important to me. And my husband has always tried hard to make it special.

When I was pregnant with our daughter, he was incredibly sweet and bought me a mother’s day gift. I still have the note he attached written on lined journal paper telling me how happy he was that I’m the mother of his children. Every year he reminds me that he still feels that way.

This year for Mothers’ Day, the hubby bought me fancy bubble bath (and we all know I love a good bubble bath!), but the real present of the day was that he taught our daughter to say three adorable words together:

The Best “Job” in the World

How can my baby girl be almost 2? Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was getting up in the middle of the night to feed her instead of her baby brother? Now, my 3 am snuggle time is spent with our son instead of our daughter. It’s our son who’s learning how to roll over, discovering his hands and cooing when I make silly noises.

Lulu, on the other hand, seems to learn something new every day. Her vocabulary is constantly expanding, and she’s starting to put words together. Last night, I gave Lulu her bubble bath and read her a book. After saying her prayers and singing our nighttime song, I gave her a hug and laid her in bed. As I was leaving her bedroom, she said “Nigh-night. Love you. Buh-bye.”

Bubbles, bubbles everywhere!

My parents were kind enough to babysit last night while Hubby and I went out to dinner. They couldn’t find any bubble bath for Lulu’s bedtime routine, so they bought some Mr. Bubbles at Walgreens. Do you remember the old fashioned bubble bath?

You know how some scents are attached to memories? I poured two caps full of the pink liquid into Lulu’s bath tonight, and I was instantly brought back to my own childhood. I think it’s awesome that my little girl will have at least one memory that matches my own. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

The proof is in the picture

I keep telling people that the Gibster is a happy baby, but most of our family and friends see him most often in the evenings. And since the “witching hour” is a real thing, they see him at his worst.

But here! The proof is in the picture. I promise – he really is a happy boy most of the time. Just look at this great smile:

Oh to be a two-year-old

As some of you probably know, last week was a little rough in our household. Poor Lulu got an ear infection which was followed quickly by hand and mouth disease.

I think this is the only time I will ever have a doctor suggest that we feed our child ice cream because eating anything else hurts. Anyway, she was pretty much allowed to eat popsicles whenever she wanted. Now that she’s feeling better, we’re trying to limit them.

This evening, she ate a good dinner, so I let her have a lime popsicle afterward. It was dripping, so I took it and put it in my mouth.

Do you know what Lulu’s reaction was? “Spit mommy. Spit.” She wanted me to give her back the bit of popsicle that I had eaten.

Needless to say, I didn’t, but it was still pretty darn cute.

The Girl in the Mirror

Have you ever thought about how many things we have to learn early in life? It’s amazing to think about all of the little skills that Lulu has already learned. Things like sitting back down after you stand up or putting lego blocks together required so much effort at first. Now she can do both of those things without thinking.

The newest lesson I’m trying to teach Lulu is that the girl in the mirror is her. She loves looking at the mirror and showing herself how to do things.