Three Babies

Charmin, Max, and Baby commiserating about being Scarlett's objects of affection.

2 going on 12

A few days ago, Scarlett was in her highchair and said, "Mom, I want down."

Shocked, I asked, "What did you say?"

"Mom, I want down." I was stunned. I'm Mommy, and only a few short months ago I was Momma. Who is this "Mom" person she speaks of? I figured Scarlett wouldn't call me Mommy forever. But barely a month past her second birthday? *sigh*

Trying not to panic as I imagined a surly pre-teen sitting in front of me instead of a precocious two-year-old, I asked, "Is my name Mom or Mommy?"

To which she responded -- no lie -- "You're Shelbi."

You've GOT to be kidding me. I guess I should be happy with Mom.

(Oh, and when asked what Daddy's name is, she says "Chris." We're in trouble. Big trouble.)

Notable Quotables

Me: Hey, porkchop.

Scarlett: I am not porkchop. I'm Scarlett!

Chris: Are you Daddy's porkchop?

Scarlett: No, I'm Mommy's porkchop.

*****

Me: Scarlett, is your last name Schwegmann?

Scarlett: I am not Schwegmann. You are Schwegmann!

*****

Me: Scarlett, where is Daddy?

Scarlett: I don't know.

Me (said in an exaggerated game show voice; I thought it would be funny to teach her to say this, but no luck): He's in Washington D.C., our nation's capital!

Scarlett (after a dramatic pause spent looking at me like I'm nuts): He's at work, silly.

Max is Three Months Old! (February 17, 2012)

Mr. Max is a whopping three months old! He's such a sweet, easy going, and happy baby. He's sleeping great at night and wakes up in the morning in a super chatty mood (apparently the men in our family are morning people and the ladies, well ... not so much). Lots of coos, chirps, and smiles. He's figured out the give and take of a conversation -- if you say something to him, he says something back, and so on and so forth.

You can really get him on a roll laughing, especially Scarlett with her "tickle, tickle, tickle!" routine or with tickles on his bare belly. He loves to watch Scarlett and is happy to let her mess with him, which can involve holding him, patting him on the head, "feeding" him, talking to him, hugging him, serving him tea, you name it. In fact, he's happy to let pretty much anybody hold him, and loves to look around and take in the scene wherever he is.

He's not the greatest napper (just like his sister was at this age). The best way to get a good nap out of him is to take him somewhere in the car since it almost always lulls him to sleep (a trick that generally works on Barnhouses of any age). His hair is still dark (although it's getting lighter over time) and his eyes are still blue. He's been gnawing on his hands and our knuckles for the last several weeks. Seems really early for teething, but who knows. He's really chunking up, especially in the cheeks!

Happy three months, Max-a-Million!

Max chats up Grandma

Max got to visit his Grandma and Paw on his three month birthday. He had a lot to tell Grandma as you can see. Note that the teddy bear and the cloth napkin/blanket were provided to Max courtesy of Big Sister.

Happy "Valentime's" Day ...

from Scarlett the Heartbreaker ...



and Max the Ladies Man!



A dreary, rainy Valentine's Day morning turned into a beautiful, sunny Valentine's Day afternoon. I dragged Scarlett and Max's red chairs out into the backyard, which Scarlett found super exciting. I took Max's chair out first, and Scarlett hollered "take my chair outside tooooo!"

Scarlett loves to look at her "Valentime's" Day cards -- and Max's, too -- from BB, Mimi, Papa Tig, Grandma, Paw, Cherry and Jim, and Erin and Paul. She's looked at them so much that she knows which ones are Max's, which ones are hers, and who most of them are from. Poor Baby Brother looks forlorn because he doesn't have any cards.



But you do, Max -- don't worry! Half of the cards are for you!



Really! Look, here they are!



Brotherly/sisterly love. Scarlett loves to hold Max in her lap. "I hold him?" is requested multiple times a day.



Roz and Max sharing a Valentine's Day hug.



And this is Scarlett's new "smile for the camera" face that she decided to debut today. Oh, dear. And she's holding a rock to add to her collection on the patio. Or she's making a dramatic and/or ironic statement about Valentine's Day. Who knows.



Scarlett and I headed out later to the Bishop Arts District for a Valentine's Day ice cream outing. It was Scarlett's first official ice cream cone (chocolate of course). We sat outside, and the following conversation took place as Scarlett devoured her cone:

Random passerby to Scarlett: You go girl. Go to town!

Scarlett: I not go to town.

Me: Where do you go, Scarlett?

Scarlett: I go to ice cream store.

And I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was -- Scarlett ate every single last bit of that ice cream cone.

First bite.



Delicious!



The camera smile once again. Very natural, Scarlett.



"Going to town."



All gone!



Lots of love ~
xoxoxo
Scarlett & Max

Notable Quotables

Miss Lou (Scarlett's Parents' Day Out teacher): Scarlett, I love your outfit. You look so cute!

Scarlett: I know.

*****

Me (nowhere near bedtime): I love you, Scarlett.

Scarlett: But I'm not sleepy!

*****

Me (upon noticing a gift bag I accidentally left in the car): Oh, look Scarlett -- a present!

Scarlett: What in the world?!?

*****

Me: Scarlett, where is Daddy?

Scarlett: New York.

Me: What is he doing in New York?

Scarlett: Work.

Me: When Daddy is in New York and he goes to Time Square and sees all of the people walking around reaaaaaallly slowly, pointing and looking up at the tall buildings, and wearing fanny packs, what does Daddy say?

Scarlett: Ugh, tourists!!*

(*Confession: I trained her to say this one over the last couple of days. For some reason, tourists in New York drive Chris absolutely nuts, despite the fact that at this point he is one himself.)

Ten hours!

Max slept ten hours straight Friday night -- 8:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. Hooray! Even if he doesn't keep it up consistently, I know he's now capable of sleeping through the night. Good sleep is a glorious, glorious thing.

Elmo Hayride

As mentioned in an earlier post, Scarlett's Paw and family friend Randy put together an amazing hayride for Scarlett and the kids (and heck, the adults too) at Scarlett's birthday party last weekend. We knew we were going to go on a hayride, but had no idea about the fun twist they had planned. The first clue that it was not going to be your run-of-the-mill hayride was the video we watched after we sang Happy Birthday to Scarlett. The video featured Randy reporting the late breaking news that Elmo had been kidnapped by the dastardly Prospector Pete (of Toy Story fame) and that it was up to the kids at the party to rescue Elmo using a series of clues. With our mission clear, we loaded up for our adventure: little kids in one trailer, bigger kids in the back of a truck, and adults in another trailer (with special adults-only beverages).





Our first stop was the Sheriff's office to find out more about poor Elmo's disappearance. Guess who answered the door? None other than Woody, Scarlett's favorite Toy Story character. (The role of Woody was played by Danny, Randy's son.)





Woody showed the kids Prospector Pete's wanted poster (apparently Pete already had a lengthy rap sheet before the Elmo incident). It read:

WANTED
DEAD or ALIVE
PROSPECTOR PETE
for
Stealing Woody's Hat
Selling Buzz Lightyear's Laser
Plucking Big Bird's Tailfeathers
Stealing Grouch's Trashcan
Eating the Cookie Monster's Cookies







Sheriff Woody sent us on our way and told us that our first clue would be at the fork in the road. Here's what we found.



The clue at the fork in the road read:

You are doing fine
Continue on a straight line
Look left and right and up and down
The next set of instruction must be found

In the forest where a tree is shining
There lies a box with silver lining
The box when opened, as you will see
Will contain more directions to get you to me

As we headed into the forest, this is what we spotted.



The next clue said:

Since you have made it this far
I’m beginning to think you may be a star
But not yet have you reached the end of the trail
You sure are going slow, are you a snail

Turn left when you pass through the gate
Please don’t make a mistake for goodness sake
There are three men under a tree that get no pay
But if you look they will help you find your way

The next clue was at a wood carving of three faces Bill made in a tree stump near their front gate.



That clue said:

You are getting close but the situation is getting grave
In fact this thought you had better save
For more instructions you must find
So don’t delay and use your mind

Follow the road down the hill
Where you will find some people who lay very still
A lone cowboy will have for you
What will be your very last clue

Getting the last clue from the cowboy skeleton, which said:

You have done so very well
To the cowboy you must say farewell
And continue down the road and up the hill
At my camp we will meet with much goodwill

Elmo is now so very near
You have nothing at all to fear
Freeing Elmo has been your goal
All it will take is all of your gold



When we made it to the field filled with gold nuggets (and stray golf balls from Paw's driving range), the kids got out and filled up the bucket with gold to use as ransom for Elmo.







As we continued on, we finally stumbled across Prospector Pete (played by Scarlett's Paw). Pete was pretty scary looking, complete with a long gray beard and a shotgun.



And there was poor Elmo being held prisoner!



After a botched ransom exchange (we managed to keep the gold so Prospector Pete didn't get it after all), we nabbed Elmo and took off. Sweet Scarlett comforted a very nervous Elmo and told him everything would be ok.



She even offered him a taste of a gold nugget in an effort to perk him up.



A grand time was had by all, especially Scarlett!



Thanks again to Paw and Randy for putting together a most memorable hayride!

I Stand Corrected

I noted in Scarlett's two year post that she can't count to ten, but rather just identifies the numbers individually. Turns out she can! I asked her this evening how many shoes her octopus toy was wearing, and she said -- at about 90 miles per hour --

"onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightNINE!!!"

(The "NINE" was said with such emphasis that I half expected her to bust out with jazz hands.) I asked if she was sure the octopus was wearing nine shoes, to which she responded skeptically, "maybe ten?"

Another funny thing she did tonight: she pointed to the Longhorn on my shirt and announced "that's Longhorn!" I asked her what the Longhorn's name is, and she said "Bebo." Now I need to start teaching her some Aggie jokes. I figure it's never too early to start brainwashing teaching her.