I saw this going differently in my head.

Merry Christmas from the Tottens!

Movie Night

Tonight was Gabe's first movie theater experience:  Finding Nemo in 3D!

Nemo is one of his current favorite stories (we "get" to tell it to him at bedtime every night lately), but we've purposefully been light on conversation about seeing the movie at the theater because we weren't sure when it would happen and because he's in a stage where everything gets repeated 3,627 times.  So rather than subject us to having to endlessly answer queries about when this blessed event would occur, we kept mostly quiet about it.

When it was decided that tonight would work to go see it, I asked Gabe if he wanted to go meet Daddy at the movie theater and see Nemo, and he then proceeded to say "This going be fun!" about 88 times between home and the theater.  But, it was so cute that I couldn't be too exasperated.  Plus I'm getting really good at responding after about the dozenth time with that vague "mm-hmm" that provides acknowledgement that I heard him but also allows me to multi-task and think about something else.  (that is until he switches things up on me and changes the question/statement, and I hear myself responding in the affirmative when I should be saying no...so far he has not figured out how to work this to his advantage but it's probably only a matter of time until he begins throwing in requests for cookies before dinner, etc.)

To those of you (all two of you!) who read this blog and keep bugging me to update it:

My apologies.  And this post won't be about anything either, so don't get excited.  I have a million pictures and a few events I really do want to post about, but now the thought of playing catch up is overwhelming, so if I ever do get a window of time (like now), instead of buckling down and updating, I find something else to do, like play Words With Friends, which I had heard about but then Paul told me that we should play a game so I signed up for it and now I'm involved in four games (oh the slippery slope) but I also rant and rave about it, as both Paul and Mandy have heard, because I think it lets you get away with ridiculous words that aren't even real and I find that really annoying - even when I'm winning (although I will admit that it's more annoying when I'm losing).  Paul and I are now playing a game old school Scrabble style where the words have to be "real" but the other day he played "glout" and I thought he meant "gloat" but it turns out "glout" is a word.  Who knew?  (well obviously Paul did) 

Here's some pictures.  Bret invented this game that Gabe used to call "up ky" when he was younger ('up sky'), where Gabe gets on his little car and Bret drives him/flies him around the room.  As you can see from the expression on Bret's face, he gets very into it (sound effects, up and down and tipping and turning).  As you can see from the expression on Gabe's face, he LOVES it (he looks a little crazed about it in that first picture).

So there you go.  This post should cover things for the next few months!

Easter Weekend

Saturday we went over to my folks' for lunch and an Easter Egg Hunt (capitalizing it makes it sound so official - but it was actually 7 adults watching Gabe look for eggs and giving him advice:  "Look up!  Look in the plant!  Look by the tree!" and me yelling at people to get their legs outta my picture because they were ruining my shot.  Honestly it's like I think I'm some sort of photo journalist the way I run around manically trying to capture the moment.  But I'm pretty sure that looking through all these pictures will keep me entertained in my twilight years, so that's what everyone needs to remember...me telling you that you're ruining my picture today is actually buying you some peace and quiet when I'm looking at those pictures in future tomorrows.  ["future tomorrows"?  does that even make sense?])

And now for a few of those pictures:



My dad and Gabe watched a bit of the Masters and shared some
commentary between them of the action. 





(Really, Christina?  Even for a holy day like Easter - God's
day, no less - you can't give me a normal expression??)



(...guess not).

Incidentally, see that haze over the bottom half of the picture that adds character and mood to the photo?  Are you just so impressed right now with my photography skills?  Are you thinking about commenting on this post and asking me for some tips on taking photos?  Are you wondering to yourself why I don't start a section of this blog soley related to photography tips, like every other "mommy-blogger" out there who has bought herself a DSLR camera?
Well I will save you the trouble of having to ask me:  it was windy and my hair blew in front of the lens.
I'm pretty sure I'm about to quit my job and start a photography business.





I realized later that I didn't take a single picture of my mom that day.  But I did take a picture of the sad little group of eggs we dyed; strange.


 I hadn't planned to dye eggs this year because I thought Gabe might not be very interested in it.  But then I was the grocery store and saw an egg dying kit for 99 cents - right next to kits for $5...FIVE BUCKS! - so I went ahead and got it.  Two eggs into the process, Gabe wanted to go back outside.  (patting self on back for buying the cheap kit)

Abby's dress was cute AND tasty.

(Gabe - are those your legs in my picture frame??  Uh-oh kiddo...guess who just lost himself a day off senile-Mommy duty when I'm 85...)

Laura, Scott, legs?  LEGS!!



This is one of my favorite pictures taken from the day - Gabe was so animated
when he would discover an egg!





On Easter Sunday we did round two of egg hunting.



Gabe was delighted with the discovery on Saturday that he
not only got to play the game of searching for eggs, but that
they had stickers and candy inside.  By Sunday he was shaking
them when he found them, confirming that there was loot inside.
Oh how quickly they learn!



We got a hand-me-down sleeper from a friend that makes Abby look like an Easter Egg.  perfect!

Looking awfully protective of her treasure

This one is from the week after Easter...but since there's no telling when I
might do another post, I figured I'd add it here!

Next Stop, Broadway

Tonight at dinner:

Abby has had her sweet potatoes and is done being trapped in her chair, so Bret holds her while Gabe and I finish eating. 

Bret sits Abby up on top of his head and asks Gabe, "Hey do I have a baby on my head?"  Gabe is eating and smiling looking at Abby on Bret's head but doesn't answer, so Bret turns to me and says "Babe, do I have a baby on my head?"

I look above Bret's head for a few seconds and say "Uh, no" and turn away.  Then a few seconds later I turn back and say "Oh, but you have an Abby on your head!"

Gabe starts laughing and says loudly "Mama, you funny!"



So obviously I am quitting my job and we are moving to Hollywood so I can be discovered!

"Mama, what yong?"

In our dining room a little while ago:

Gabe:  "Mama, cack!"   (Let me interpret:  "Mama, snack!")

Me:  "Ok, go get in your chair.  You can have the rest of your yogurt from breakfast."

Gabe:  "Fyacks?"  ("Flax?"  ...my mom started giving him flax on his yogurt a year (ish) ago and now he requests it whenever I suggest yogurt to eat.  In fact, he will eat a couple of the top bites of yogurt with the flax on it and then request more...Bret has started asking him if he wants yogurt with his meal of flax!)

Me:  "Yes, I'll put more flax on it."  So I go about getting him his yogurt/flax and then sit down at my laptop with him eating at one end of the table and Abby happily spitting up on her bib at  the other.  I decide that since I haven't been on Facebook for a while, I will log on and peruse through the 7 million comments about the snow.  (note - I underestimated, it was 8 million)  In the course of my Facebooking, I saw a comment from someone I went to junior high with and said aloud, "I'm friends with him? I didn't know that."  And then from his page I rabbit trailed to the page of someone else I was in band with in high school, and after looking through a few pictures and contemplating the strangeness of 20 years having passed since high school, I said aloud in a reflective manner:  "Wow.  Oh my gosh." 

Gabe's response:  "Mama, what yong?"  ("Mama, what's wrong?")

I tell ya...I really think God gave two-year-olds the capacity for extra adorableness to combat their penchant for tantrums and the desire to wage epic battles. 



Enjoying his "cack" of "yo-guut" and "fyacks"



Since he has a tendency to pose for pictures now with his eyes squinted
shut, I asked him to open his eyes for this shot...this is what I got!

Cautionary Tale

Tonight I was still inside Target at 10:55 pm.  I went out to run a couple of errands after the kids went to bed and since I was blissfully alone without an infant or a toddler to keep entertained, I was taking my time and pointlessly browsing the store.  You don't realize what a luxury pointless browsing is until you haven't done it in a while. 

Finally, at 10:57 pm I decided I should go up to the front to check out.  Being (for the most part) a rule-follower means that if I were to actually wait until they announced that it was 11:00 pm and the store was now closed before I went up front, I would feel both irresponsible for waiting until the last minute and anxious that they would tell me that they weren't going to allow me to buy anything since the store was now closed. 

As I'm walking toward the front, I hear someone say "Just to let you know, we're closing in a couple of minutes".  I turn, thinking they're talking to me and ready to reply that I'm headed out, when I hear someone say in response "I know - can you direct me to the baby section?  This is an emergency run...she can't find her blanket and she won't go to sleep without it.  I need one with a silky edge and it has to be big."

My first reaction was completely judgmental:  'Wow lady, your kid is WAY too attached to that blanket if you're making a trip to the store at 11:00 pm for a replacement.'

On the heels of my reaction was an echo of Gabe's voice in my mind, asking for his "bappie":   his blanket with minky dot fabric on one side that he likes to rub his face on.  His blanket that when he bumps against something or otherwise gets hurt, he immediately asks for and runs to get and then touches his blanket to the spot that's hurt as if it has magical healing powers.  His blanket that he faithfully hands to me first each morning before climbing into our bed to cuddle.

And then I realized:  'Wow lady, your kid is way too attached to that blanket.'

Because Bret told me last week that...

...he was having a bad day at work and checked our blog to look at pictures, but was disappointed that I hadn't posted anything new in a month.

So Babe, this post is for you:



Gabe showing off one of his "houses"

Our smiley 4 month old, growing up so fast!



Long-arm shot from Christmas Day.  I like this one
because the shirt you got me brings out my eyes.
Good job on the Christmas shopping!



But I think I like this one better because:
a) my head doesn't look so huge, and
b) you have a snowflake coming out of your head



Gabe diggin' his new Cars t-shirt. 



Damage to the roof after the New Year's Day windstorm, which you spent your holiday off work fixing.


So there you go...next time you have a bad day and come here looking for a boost to your spirits, remember that you have:

- an endlessly entertaining toddler who thinks you're the coolest thing ever

- a wife who laughs at your jokes (usually), doesn't mind losing ping pong games to you (sort of), and who thinks you're the bees knees (always!)

- an adorable baby girl who one day soon will consistently sleep through the night and stop spitting up (right????)

...and that you are the kind of guy who can fix his own roof after a windstorm.  Shazam!

Love you babe!

Mr. Gabe Head and Mrs. Abby Head

"No mas!"  When I first heard this Gabe-ism, my first thought was whether we'd watched any children's shows lately that taught Spanish.  I kept trying to figure out if the context of the situation made sense for him to be telling me "no more"...then I finally figured out that he was talking about his Mr. Potato Head's mustache.

Of course.  "No mas" = mustache

Don't know why I didn't catch that faster.  (???)

Gabe's favorite thing to do with his Mr. Potato Head ("Ho head" or "Ho-ho head") is to put the pieces on his own head.  This is a favorite look of Mr. Gabe Head's:

This morning while I was doing my hair, I had Abby in her seat in the bathroom doorway and Gabe was playing back and forth between his room and the hall.  At one point I looked down and saw this*:

Hilarious.

*this picture is a re-creation.  By the time I ran downstairs to get my phone to take a picture to send to Bret, Abby had de-mustached herself.  I tried to get Gabe to put it back on, but he had moved on to putting Mr. Potato Head's arm into the slot for his hat.  So, I had to try to capture Gabe's artistic flair on my own.  I have to say that I don't think I did it justice.

What Gabe Said

Yesterday Gabe and I went to the dentist, and Gabe got a new toothbrush which he saw sitting on the kitchen table this morning.  He got very excited ("Tees!" {teeth} "Open!") and I told him we could open it after breakfast.  Then I asked him what he wanted for breakfast.  His answer:  "Too-pace!" {toothpaste}  

Earlier this morning while I was feeding Abby, he was playing with his football and running around the living room falling down like he was being tackled and yelling "Ta-down!" {touchdown}  After one of them, he came up to me and very earnestly said "Heh-mut" {helmet} ...as in, apparently he needs to be wearing his bike helmet like football players have helmets.

I didn't even know he knew the words toothpaste and helmet...although I'm not sure why that surprises me since we use them and it seems like every day he comes out with a word or two (or three or four or ...) that I haven't heard him say before.

The Pros call it "Table Tennis"

Bret and I have been talking about getting a ping pong table for several years, but the conversation has never seriously gone anywhere because of space constraints.  This last weekend, though, I think the onset of the winter doldrums got to Bret because on Sunday around noon, he says to me:  "I want a ping pong table."

So I say my usual:  "You're willing to give up the other half of your garage for this?"  (one half is already taken up by a trailer)

But this time he responded with a simple, unequivocal:  "Yep!"

So I said:  "Ok, get on craigslist and let's see what's out there."

8 minutes later we'd emailed in response to an ad for a free table.

A mere 9 1/2 hours later we were back at home with our new FREE* ping pong table!

Isn't craigslist grand?


It was too late to play on Sunday night when we got home, so last night we bundled up the kids and headed out to the garage after dinner.  We set Abby up in her swing in front of a heater and Gabe ran around us playing with his dinosaur set and generally trying to get underfoot.

So far we are tied at 2 games a piece.  We're pretty well matched - at least when Bret's not trying to perfect his slam/spike move on me.  He says he needs to practice so that he can beat his dad & brother next time they're over...they grew up with a ping pong table and apparently there are some old rivalries just waiting to be resurrected.  My family also had a table when I was a teenager, and I remember Dad & Paul playing a few epic games that included big slam/spike moves.  Whenever either of them would do that in a game with me I would get SO mad and whine "I don't want to play if you're going to play like that!".  It should be noted that I have already whined this to Bret at least twice.

Abby was all smiles for about 5 minutes, then fell asleep. 
Apparently we did not play games interesting enough for
her to stay awake for!



Gabe emptied the contents of his dinosaur box and kept us extra nimble as we tried not to trip over him.



Yes, these are pictures of us with our ping pong table.

What?  Is that strange?

*In the interest of full disclosure I will share that the table was located in Olympia, 2 hours away from our house, so there was an extra tank of gas required...however - since we all went to pick it up together, it's really just like we went on a Sunday drive and came back with a ping pong table!

I Sure Love This Kid.

October Fest-ivities

...we made our now traditional family trip to the Corn Maze:


Our fearless leader!



Gabe has no time for a family picture, he's seen the exit!



These two are so cute I can hardly stand it!

Don't we all look strangely happy about getting lost in a bunch of corn?



The farm we went to also had a Trike Track with various John Deere trikes and bikes for the "kids" to ride on.


...and this year we got our pumpkins from Grandma and Grandpa's pumpkin farm!  My parents put a pumpkin patch in their lower backyard and got something like 20 pumpkins from it! 

Searching for the perfect pumpkin



Found it!




Gabe picking out Bret's pumpkin - doesn't it look like he's laughing because "Daddy's pumpkin is smaller than mine!" ?



We picked the white pumpkins for mine & Abby's


...and for Halloween, Gabe was a very unhappy elephant.  He did NOT want to wear his costume and whined the whole time I was getting him dressed and ready to go trick-or-treating with Bret.  Abby and I stayed home to pass out candy, and I was attempting to get a few pictures of her in her ballerina skirt when she decided to have a major diaper blowout all over herself and me.  Talk about an eventful evening! 



This is from the day we bought the costume and were trying it on to make sure it fit.  Gabe had the most dramatic slumped over posed the whole time I was trying to get a picture...apparently the idea of having to dress up to get candy is very emotionally taxing for a toddler.



But, of course, once he was back home in his sweats and looking at a pile of candy, all was once again right with the world!

Abby in her skirt when I bought it - didn't get any good pictures on  Halloween.



Just put him on repeat....and rollover.

This is the conversation I have with Gabe 8 (thousand) times a day, starting as as early as 6:00 AM:

Gabe:  "Daddy?"

Me:  "He's at work, buddy."

Gabe:  "Me?"

Me:  "Sorry, buddy, you're too young to go to work."

Gabe:  "Oh."


As the day goes on, Gabe's part of the conversation gets more urgent and my part of the conversation sounds more and more like a recorded message:

Gabe:  "Daddy, Daddy?!?" 

Me:  "At work."

Gabe:  "Me, me?!?!"

 Me:  "You can't work."

 Gabe:  "Oh."

 Toward the end of the day, I start to amuse myself by providing long answers, in an attempt to see if it will change the course of our dialogue:

 Gabe:  "Daddy?"

 Me:  "Sorry, buddy, he's at work.  Daddy goes to work and helps people with their computer problems.  Sometimes their hard drives are fried, or their programs lock up, or sometimes people do silly things like just forget to plug things in all the way.  Daddy's got some pretty good stories about the different calls he gets.  You should ask him about them sometime."

Gabe waits for me to finish talking and then says:  "Me?"

 Me:  "Well you can't work buddy, you're too young.  In some countries I could send you off to work but here that would be illegal.  I guess you could consider it 'work' when I make you pick up your toys...but then again, is that really 'work' or is it just teaching responsible toy ownership?  I would say it's the latter.  What do you think?"

 Gabe:  "Oh."


The kid definitely has a one track mind when it comes to the whereabouts of Bret.





In other news, Abby rolled over (front to back) for the first time last Thursday!  Gabe's solution to tummy time was to fuss and whine and bury his face in the blanket until I took pity on him and declared tummy time over.  Abby's solution is to take matters into her own hands and in short order she's usually flipped over and THEN starts fussing to be picked up.  Guess she thinks her fussing will make a bigger impact if I can see her sad little face.  Unfortunately for me, she's usually right.  I'm such a sucker.