Chop-chop

Sorry about the poor quality of these pics, (Rob took them with his cell phone) but they are too cute not to share. We went out for sushi for dinner Saturday night and the boys had a ball using chopsticks. Our waitress gave us these little plastic things that hold the chopsticks together to make them easy for kids to use. Camden thought it was the coolest thing, and even though he struggled a little, he refused to use a fork. And of course, Palmer had to follow suit with big brother. He actually managed to get a couple grains of rice in his mouth, I think. I tried giving Palmer bites from a fork, but he wouldn't take any food that was not offered to him from a pair of chopsticks. They ate chicken Pad-Thai (noodles, veggies and peanut sauce) and a California Roll (cooked crab, avocado and rice). Camden did a fantastic job, and he became very adept at picking the vegetables out of his noodles with the chopsticks (Grrr...).

Buh-buh Talk

So, Palmer has officially spoken his first sentence: “I want that!” It’s not surprising since he hears it all the time from his big brother. I don’t think Palmer knows it is a sentence, but he knows it gets him what he wants. Over the past two days I have heard it nearly 100 times. Over and over and over…I want that, I want that, I want that. Of course, it is still baby talk, so it sounds more like “Ah-waan-dat,” but combined with the pointing and grabbing, the meaning is very clear.

Palmer is actually very good at communicating, and his vocabulary is growing, but for some reason I am the only one who can understand him. Can you tell what he is saying? Test your baby talk knowledge (see the answer key below).

Palmer’s list of words:
Muh
Baba
Dada
Deh-da
Wawa
Ah-duh
Ah-guh
Mama
Oww
Nuh
My-eee
Doo
Ha-ha


Answer Key
More
Bottle
Daddy
Doggy
Water
All done
All gone
Milk
Out
No
Mine
Juice
Hot

How many did you get correct?
0-3 Crybaby
4-6 Toddling right along
7-10 Baby talk expert
11-13 Are you sure you’re not his real Mommy?

Potty Post

If you are a mom, you already know this. If you are not a mom, well then FYI: when you have kids, there is no more privacy when you pee.

It all starts innocently enough. When they are babies, you don’t want to leave them out of your sight for even a split second, so you “hold it” until nap time, but then there inevitably comes that day when you really gotta’ go, so you bring baby with you. What difference does it make? Babies don’t know what’s going on. As they get bigger, you can go by yourself and leave the toddler occupied with a pile of toys, but you MUST leave the door open so you can keep your ears tuned in case something happens. What difference does it make? You are the only two in the house. Then, as toddler becomes pre-schooler, just when it is finally safe to close the door and be alone for a few minutes when Daddy is home, SURPRISE, in they barge, mid-stream! Why not lock the door you say? Well, you see, their tiny little ears have super-sonic hearing, and somehow, from anywhere in the house, they can hear the slightest little clink that sounds when you turn the lock on the bathroom door. That little sound signals them like they are on the SWAT team and their captain is shouting SWARM, SWARM, SWARM. They attack the door, pounding and screaming as if you had abandoned them for life! So, let’s just say, to keep the peace the door is better left unlocked. That being said, I am always prepared for the barge-in.

So, of course, Sunday afternoon, I am in the bathroom, mid-stream, when Camden exhuberently throws the door wide open. Our conversation went like this:
Camden: “What are you doing, Mommy?”

Me in my head in an exasperated tone: “What does it look like I’m doing?!”
Me out loud, sweetly: “I’m peeing, Camden.”

Camden: “No Mommy, you have to stand up and go pee-pee like a big boy.”

Okay, no problem, I can think quickly.
Me: “Well, no…see, uh, yeah, well… I am a girl, so I have to sit when I go pee-pee.”

Camden “No Mommy, you should stand, ‘cuz then your pee-pee [the body part, not the liquid] can point in the potty and you can go pee-pee.”

Me: Well, no, my pee-pee [again, body part] is different because I am a girl. Girls have different pee-pees, so they have to sit down on the potty.” (As you can tell, we do not use technical terms for body parts in our house – I am all for the euphemisms)

Surprisingly enough, he seemed very satisfied with that answer and matter-of-factly said,” Okay, Mommy,” and left the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Then, later that evening he was reminded of our earlier conversation upon his nightly pee-pee inspection in the bathtub and he wanted to reiterate, just to make sure he was clear on everything.

Camden: “Mommy, you sit down when you go pee-pee ‘cuz your pee-pee is different ‘cuz you’re a GRILL?

Me: “Yes Camden, my pee-pee is different because I cook hamburgers and barbecued chicken.”

Okay, so my feable attempt at humor was lost on his two-year-old mind. At least I made myself laugh.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Rob has been bugging me forever to get Camden’s hair cut, but I really like the Joey Lawrence look, so I kept refusing. I was trimming just the “bangs” myself, and it was finally getting to the proper bowl length, and I was starting to train it to do that split in the front like Joey's did. Anyway, I loved it (notice the past tense here?) Yes, that’s right, Rob took Camden for a haircut yesterday and the results are pictured below for your viewing enjoyment. So, no more bowl for Camden. He looks like such a big boy now. Combine the hair cut with the potty training, and he is all grown up (tear). I do miss his cute little mop of hair, but, that’s okay, I have trimmed up Palmer’s hair and the beginning of his bowl cut is coming along quite nicely (as seen in the latest slideshow pics I added to the right). I can’t wait for his cute little blonde bowl to be grown in to the perfect length...in about a year or so.

Let's all do the Potty Dance!

We are celebrating a huge milestone this week in the Hernandez house. It literally brought me to tears. It’s a bigger deal than learning to walk or talk…Camden is potty trained! No more baby diapers EVER! (You have to say that like Joan Crawford for maximum effect).

The best part is that he insists on using the big potty, so I have relegated the little potty chair to storage in the garage and will resurrect it when Palmer is ready. The only down side is that he also insists on standing up to go pee-pee like a “big boy” and his aim ain’t so great.

Camden has been using the potty at day care, and the little potty chair at home, for a few months now, but I have been falling back on diapers whenever we left the house, not wanting to risk cleaning up accidents in public. But, I finally bit the bullet the weekend before last, and we made several outings sans diapers. It was amazing, he told me when he had to go, and he used the potty, and used the potty and used the potty. Okay, there is one other drawback; everywhere we go he has to use the potty. And, there is another best part too: (excuse me if a get a little graphic here) not having to change his stinky, poopy diapers is wonderful! That part (going #2 in the potty) was a little harder to get him on board with, but he finally came around with a little bribery.

I tried to make him continue wearing diapers at night, not wanting to have to wash pee-pee blankets in the morning, but Camden flat-out refused, saying emphatically, “Mommy, I am potty trained.” How could I argue with that? And, he wakes up dry every morning. So, as far as I can tell, he is 100% fully potty trained and never looking back – not a single accident yet in the last two weeks.

Seriously, it’s better than walking and talking!