We are so excited to have a new niece/cousin in the family! Auntie Michelle delivered Maddie on July 21. She is just as cute as can be, and we can’t WAIT to cuddle her! I’m sure Layla is really excited to have a girl cousin, and to get to be a big cousin (previously she was the youngest and only girl). We are planning a trip out to England in October and will get lots of Maddie cuddles then (which is, technically, forever).
Maddie July 25, 2012
Where Layla Go?
Layla has a favorite version of peek-a-boo that she plays mostly in the car right now. “Where Layla go, Mommy?” I’ll look at her in the rearview mirror and she’ll have her hands over her eyes. I’ll ask her if Layla is different places (“Did we leave her at home?” “Is she at Target?” “Is she at the park?”) She will keep saying no, and eventually take her hands off her eyes and laugh. Very cute.
Cars 2
Hayden used to LOVE cars when he was not quite 2 – 3+. Then, as we all know, he turned his focus to trains, and in the last few months he has decided he loves robots, transformers, beyblades, and ghosts. So it is really funny to me that in the last few weeks, he cannot get enough of the Cars 2 movie. It seems so old-school-Hayden! Truth be told, though – although he wants to watch the whole movie, we think it’s actually the preview for a new Disney movie called Planes which he is obsessed with. Regardless of the reason, he literally watches the movie about 4 times a week (and asks if he can watch it 100 x week). He gets to watch a movie or cartoon while Layla naps, and incidentally now Layla tells me several times a day she wants to watch a movie, even though she has a very short attention span for TV.
Colors (Mommy Say It)
Layla has been really interested in colors lately. You can ask her what color anything is and she will tell you! She’ll tell you yellow, whether or not it is, but yellow IS a color, and maybe a stop sign is really yellow and everyone else is wrong. 🙂
She loves asking what different colors are, but what is funny is she will be on a roll giving (mostly incorrect) answers to different objects. Then I’ll ask her what the color is of something else and she’ll look at me with a smile and say, “Mommy say it.” That’s a pretty good indication that she is done with the color game. She does this with other things that she doesn’t know the answer to, like if we are looking in a book and I ask her what something is that she doesn’t know: “Mommy say it.” (Stream of consciousness: not really related to the topic at hand but what is also funny is when we are looking in a book, she loves to point to something and have me say the wrong word/name for it, then she will say, “nooooo,” and I will say, “What is it?” and she will tell me what/who it is.)
‘Mon Haddy July 8, 2012
Kara has mentioned that the kids are starting to play together and starting to conspire to cause trouble. Layla is 
absolutely the ring leader! Hayden’s personality is that he either wants to play by himself, or he will follow (usually girls) what others are up to. Layla just does what she wants!
As they get into trouble we will regularly hear “Mon Haddy, Mon Haddy” (Layla telling Hayden to come on, incase it wasn’t obvious). Layla instigating, and then Hadyen a very willing accomplish!
One of their current favorite activities is them wearing Kara’s shoes and trouncing around the house. Or running into the “cold room” (room over the garage and named by Hayden) and tormenting Lucy in there.
It’s fun to watch then together but I feel the trouble has just started.
Legos
Hayden has loved Legos for a longtime. He loved these big blocks we had, the Duplos and now normal Legos. It totally fits his personality so it’s not a big surprise, and he is excellent at doing the Legos. He can do large sets on his own that are well out of his age range and loves doing them. It’s good for us as it can keep him amused for hours. However, Hayden being Hayden there are a couple of quirks! Hayden has to very prescriptively follow the instructions. Any attempt to skip pages will end in a problem. If we can’t find the piece (and I mean the exact shape, color etc) then we have a problem! He also wants help. Even though he knows how to do it he will insist that either Kara or I sit next to him, and if we don’t he will make a poor effort to find a piece and then we have a problem…. Because of these “problems” the Legos spend more time on top of the fridge (where toys go when kids are bad)!
Summer July 5, 2012
Wow, it has been such a hot summer! We have been down to Lake Monroe at Grandpaman and Grandma G’s for the 4th of July. It was so hot that even a chicken like me who takes 20 minutes to immerse herself in the water jumped straight in, and again today when we were at the pool I didn’t hesitate on the steps which is even more indicative of the heat than a thermometer. Highs have been over 100 for several days with very little rain. We even left the pool a little earlier than we might have otherwise because it was so hot and the pool water so mild that John wasn’t even feeling refreshed while in the water.
We have tried something new with our childcare situation this summer. Normally the kids go to a day care center on the 3 days per week which I work. This summer though while the schools are out we have hired our neighbor who is about to be a senior in high school to watch them at home while I work. It has been really great! She can drive, so she has taken Hayden to the little camps I’ve signed him up for and taken them to the library and things like that. They like her a lot, and they seem to like being home. I was a little worried that Layla would seek me out throughout the day and make it hard to work, but she is good about understanding that when Natalie is here that is who she goes to. When our paths cross she does like to tell me hi and often wants me to pick her up, but that is one of the perks of having them home with me! It’s nice to get little cuddles during the day.
Of course, Hayden sometimes seems to get a little bored being home – that’s the trade off. He’s home so much that he runs out of things to play with (how that could ever be possible with the amount of toys in our house I will never know). Although, saying that he really hasn’t been home that much during the summer apart from when I’m working. When it’s not a work day we are always off somewhere.
Hayden and Layla's Place 