Beware of baby

Ian is a lot like a bear. Soft, cuddly, ferocious. He crawls around chewing on doll heads.
He tears wet wipes apart with his teeth, just to witness his own strength.

He attacks without warning, leaving a thick, wet trail of drool and jagged bite marks.

Yesterday, he was hysterical with laughter over my yelps of pain as he bit my hand.
He even has a battle cry. Or bear growl. It means he's feeling playfully aggressive.
I should post signs around the house: Beware of baby.

Princess Audrey

Audrey loves to have her picture taken when she's feeling fancy. Even if fancy happens to be a Christmas bow and pink jammies. Or getting crazy with tutus.

This video is for Aunt Kelley, who sent us a fun CD with Disney princesses singing and talking to Audrey by name!

Some funny moments with Audrey: I was singing "Big girls..they don't cry-yi-yi" to myself when Audrey piped in (her own tune): "But they do when they're naughty" as if she was just singing along.
We're driving along and Audrey sees brick houses:
A: Are those houses made of bricks?
M: Yes.
A: Is our house made of bricks?
M: No, our house is made of sticks!!
A: No, mom, our house is made of wood.

I'm tagged

While I hardly ever respond to tags, I was in the mood for this one. House of Broken Crayons tagged me to list five experiences that make me feel like an authentic mom. And we're not talking about the beautiful moments here.

1. I no longer bat an eye when my three year old wipes her nose on her shirt. Especially if it's her PJ shirt--that doesn't count as real clothes, right?

2. Mr. B and I count Ian's poops and report: "Today he was quadri-poopal!" Or as Mr. B puts it: a quadripooplegic. We have our own brand of potty humor.

3. I go through bipolar phases with my creativity. For a few months we are doing all kinds of great activities, outings, classes, and then I expire and we spend a few months watching PBS, coloring, and me hoping they'll play quietly with their toys while I blog/email/play Plants vs. Zombies.

4. I haven't had a good night's sleep in 18 months. And don't have any expectations for that to change much. Ever.

5. I'm used to interruption. Before typing this last thought, I had to change Ian's diaper. Which, by the way, makes him bi-poopal, and it's only 10:30.

Dance class

Audrey started her first dance class: it's a combination of ballet and gymnastics, once a week, and she loves it! It's at the YMCA, so I worked out during the class, but I couldn't help spying on her for a few minutes. She was all smiles and seemed so delighted! My favorite picture is the last one, but of course it's blurry.

When kids are cute

Ian--nine months old, thinks he's trickier than he is, which leads to cuts and bruises. And a lot of me lunging to catch him.

Audrey found a comfy spot. She's big into imitation these days. While also being super independent and bossing us around.

I have spent TOO MUCH time looking for these dang shoes the past two weeks. Santa brought Audrey a little Cinderella doll with a dress and shoes, and they delight her. But the shoes are so small and they fall off easily, so that means Mommy has to hunt them down. Now we have a rule that they have to stay in one spot. Cinderella can remove her shoes if she wants to travel, but the shoes have to stay "home." It's working.

Audrey made up her own song the other night at dinner. She may have gotten parts from somewhere, but it's not familiar to me. It's just a two line song, but I think we're close to winning a talent competition.

One of Audrey's latest things is hosting a show. She uses her training potty to elevate herself, and shouts, "Welcome to the show." I don't know where she came up with this. She then rambles about what will be on the show tonight. This video captures the general idea, although she's usually way more hyper. (I'm having a hard time loading this video; I'll try again later.)