Bee in the Wild: 18 Months

She calls me Honey. At 18 months Phoebe has discovered the moon, and rediscovers it almost every day in her books and outside in the sky. The wonder! Words are flowing out of her mouth at a rate I can't even keep up with now. But for the sake of documenting, Bee can pronounce and produce in context these words among others: ball, oh-oh, moon, bee, eye, nose, ear, shoes, cheese, excuse me, bless you, cookie, pizza, eat, hat, sippy, please, thank you, binky, open, windy, raining, car, truck, boots, shoes, socks, teeth, brush, comb, hair, push, pull...
Bee loves shoes and is beginning to pay attention to her own wardrobe. When she senses it's time to go, she will bring me her shoes to put on.
We have been working on our manners and Bee says please and thank you effortlessly (sometimes with a little prodding from mom and dad). By far the cutest though, is Bless You! after a sneeze. We die. She can push the red kitchen chairs all around the house to reach what she needs. Practically nothing is out of her reach now. Bee will ask for a "moothie" almost every morning and guzzles it eagerly, bringing her sippy cup back for a refill.
She can be a bit naughty all of a sudden. Mom has a lot to learn about being patient and getting ahead of the problematic times of the day, like dinner time. Phoebe wants to be in the kitchen doing whatever mom is doing. But we are quickly finding that the kitchen is not big enough for the both of us to cook in. Bee loves to twirl around in circles but then is so confused by the resulting dizziness and inability to remain on her feet afterwards.
We take long walks around the neighborhood to help burn energy before naptime. I'm really careful not to rush her, and allow her to touch and smell and sit in everything along her path.
Right now she does this "amused" face and I'm struggling to know how to accurately describe it. We snuck in on her one night and just then the neighbor's dog barked. In Bee's sleep, she opened her eyes and took a short deep breath in with an open puckered mouth. It was the cutest thing we'd ever seen. Mom couldn't keep in her laughs and fled the scene before it woke up bee.
Her curiosity is insatiable. Toddlers are into everything. Then there are some toddlers who are really into everything. And then there is Bee. Who takes it above and beyond. She is my tornado. If it can be opened, she will open it. Empty it. Then close it. Push, pull, bend. Drop, roll, throw. Over and over all day long.
I find myself fighting to keep her little yet also cheerleading every big step with anxious exhilaration.
She is Juju's biggest fan. She talks about him and says his name almost constantly and in every phrase that exits her mouth. Juju is the first word that comes out of her mouth in the morning. She is always worried about where he is, if he's coming with us in he car, and making sure we don't leave him wherever we are. She squats down in front of him and says "bebe happeeee, ah-BOO!" to get him to smile.
She can become possessive of my phone and has figured out how to turn it on and swipe to open the screen. Clever girl! Probably my most favorite thing she does right now...she calls me "Honey!" Especially when she's frustrated or needing some specific attention from me. She will come up to my legs and push them saying "honey honey honey." Sometimes from her crib in the morning I hear a "Honey Momma!" calling out for me. I couldn't possibly love it more and am honored to be this little Bee's Honey Momma.

Juju's Blueprint: 5 months

Push pause please. Freeze frame this boy right here, right now. Four months was a huge turning point for our little mister and honestly at 5 months he just keeps getting better and better. He has worked his Momma's heart right over. Julian looooves to snuggle and have his face right up against yours. I like to think its because he wants to see exactly what you see. He is completely enamored with big sister Bee and watches her every move like a hawk. They are sharing the nursery together at night and go to bed at the same time. His daytime and nighttime schedules are slowly becoming actual schedules and more predictable. I'm so proud of the progress he is making. This boy is just all around handsome and his giant gummy smile and contagious giggle put me right over the edge, every time. He does this thing while being held facing forward, where he will turn his head up and double check who is holding him over and over every 10 seconds or so. We die, it's so adorable. When he gets excited he kicks and waves every part of his body as if he is going to burst. He has THE best hair, ever. He is happiest of all when outside. He loves chew on his squeaky Sophie and to play with toys-as long as Bee doesn't steal them away. He goes berserk under his play gym. He loves his binky. He rubs the back of his hands on his face and forehead when he's tired. He blows spit bubbles like it's his job. He rolls over. He loves to be tickled. He despises being dressed. Sigh. Five months, you are my fave.

Halloween Concessions

When you have kids...Halloween is fun again. However this year I had a $0 budget for costumes and negligible amounts of desire, time, and energy to make anything memorable. Abracadabra! We borrowed costumes from the CKJ's and it was perfect. Our sweet and salty concessions combo was super fun. The afternoon before Halloween I pulled the red tutu out of a bag in front of Phoebe and her eyes popped clear out of her head while she exhaled a gargantuan "WOOOOOW!" Big hit, that tutu. Cutest red M&M you ever did see. And Julian's popcorn head poking out of his popcorn bag literally stopped traffic during the trick-or-treating at the Foothill Village.

Halloween day I took the kids down to Grandma and Papa Ed's and we ate candy for breakfast and lunch and in between. Question-now that Bee has been introduced to candy, how do I UN-introduce her to candy? Halloween night Jana and Russ came up for some carrot chowder and a little trick-or-treating before heading to a party dressed as BYU and Utah rivals. Phoebe was pretty blown away by the process of knocking on doors and receiving candy in her pumpkin bucket. 

My family will appreciate this: I added boxes of raisins to our candy bowl this year and had that epic moment when you realize I AM MY MOTHER. There is it. Here's your sign. But that's not even the best part. We left a bowl of candy on our porch while we left the house to sniff out some famous home-made donuts on the next block over. As we we were coming back we spotted a group of trick-or-treaters sprinting away, capes and hats and wings chasing their happy squeals down the street. They had obviously emptied the candy bowl (totally acceptable Halloween night sugar rush behavior). But when we reached our porch I was horrified to see that they left the raisins! I'm still laughing about it. Halloween is the best.