The Baffling Mind of a Toddler

Forgive me for stating the obvious, but I'd like to observe that most toddlers, at least the toddlers I know, have a fear of things like ghosts, monsters, and the general creepy-crawly population. As any parent (I think) would, I often worry that Sweet Pea's young sensibilities are going to be frightened when we begin to watch certain things on TV or read particular books. You never really know what little kids are going to fear. I, for instance, was afraid of The Incredible Hulk, The Secret of NIMH, and my great-grandfather's feet. (Don't ask. Just read.)

So, you can imagine my surprise when M saw a commercial for Sesame Street and went nuts. She was tearfully pleading for me to change the channel. Now, she loves Sesame Street books, toys, and the like, but seems to be terrified of the actual show.

What makes this even more strange is that the kid will happily watch any of the Harry Potter movies, has been in the room with Pirates of the Caribbean without complaining, and would watch The Princess and the Frog and Sleeping Beauty, which both have some pretty sinister villains, over and over again if I would let her.

Just to make this clear, and perhaps you can help me to understand it a little better, here is what we have concluded:

Scary.

Not scary.

Scary.

Not scary.

Scary.

Not scary.

Are you as baffled as I am?

What We're Reading

We've been doing some fun reading here at Head Manor, as of late. Baby D is finally at an age to be interested in looking at the pictures and enjoy having books read to him. (Woohoo!!)
Madeline has, of course, loved books since she was capable of turning their thick, cardboard pages.
So, what are the kiddos reading these days?

Here's a sampling of what we do during the day, and before we go to bed. Does anything look familiar?

Madeline loves Fancy Nancy. She will not go to sleep at night until we read at least one Fancy Nancy book, and she knows which ones she wants each night. She also knows which ones have been returned to the library and what she wants to bring home from our next visit there. Olivia is a favorite, and she has the entire book memorized. (If I were one of those moms, I would tell you she could read it. I'll give you a bit more credit than that.) For obvious reasons, we love Madeline, which she has also memorized. In all these books, she has her personal favorite lines that she likes to recite, so I pause when we get to the "good parts," and let her have her say. She's so dramatic when she says her lines, too. I think we have a future Julie Andrews in our midst. ::sigh:: I love Julie Andrews.

I've been checking out the How Do Dinsosaurs... series from the library and reading them to both kids. David seems to like the pictures and Madeline enjoys reading them. She calls them dragons, not dinosaurs, but whatever. She likes books. Lizards are lizards.

This one is David's favorite. He smiles and giggles when I read it, even if it's bed time and he's protesting sleep. When Madeline was David's age, her favorite was from this same series. I can't blame them. I loved Sesame Street before Elmo existed and when Snuffalupagus was still only visible to Big Bird. (Did you know everyone can see him now??)

So, how about you and your little ones? Read any good books lately?

9 Month Checkup Report

Baby D is still tall and healthy, and has tooth after tooth after tooth sprouting through. The good doc told us to be on the lookout for ANOTHER ONE in the next few days! Holy cow!

He weighed in at 21.3 pounds (75th percentile) and measured up at 30 inches tall (90th percentile). Yes, I know I said he was 30 inches tall at his last appointment, but  Dr. G says there is probably very little chance that a 6 month old baby was 30 inches tall. Baby D must have, not surprisingly, wiggled as they were measuring him back in April.

He isn't quite as big as Sweet Pea was at her 9 month checkup, but he is starting to wear size 18 month clothes now.

Love, love, love that baby boy!!

9 Months Old!

Can you believe he's nine months old, already??? Holy cow!!
Baby D is still doing the combat crawl, but moving much faster and has quite a case of "the grabbits." He also has one tooth, and another one is just starting to peek through.
Oh, and his vocabulary is quite impressive. Now, in addition to "Dada," he can also say "Gagagagagagack," "Dohdohdohdohdoh," and "Ah-ba!" I know. Genius baby.

And, yes. He is still the sweetest little boy I've ever met. That smile you see is genuine and almost constant.

I'm such a blessed mom.

My Sweet Babies

"Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble."  I John 2:10

Rest In Peace, Andy Griffith

Andy Griffith passed away today.

I usually don't put very much thought into celebrity deaths - not to sound harsh, but I don't know these people and it doesn't usually have much of an effect on me.
It's different this time. Part of me feels as if Andy Griffith was family. When you grow up in a Southern town, watching your family members as they wave to strangers driving by, seeing them give to people who have fallen on hard times because it's the right thing to do (and never even dreaming that it might be out of the ordinary to do so), and hearing the great Southern storytellers that we all have in our families, something about the Mayberry life resonates within you.

I've been to Mayberry. Yes, I know it's called Mt. Airy, but it's Mayberry to me and quite a few others, I would imagine. I've eaten cake at the Diner. I don't think Juanita served it to me, though.
We called Madeline "Opie" until we knew she was a girl.
My good friend, Sara V, gave me the Andy Griffith Show Trivia Game for Christmas several years ago.
There's just something about the clean humor and sense of community on the show that makes people want to be Andy Griffith's friend.

The values Andy teaches Opie on the show are simple, honest, meaningful values that are lacking in a lot of modern families. I don't want our family to lack those values.

Here's a clip of one such lesson:

Opie's Allowance

I know Andy Taylor and Andy Griffith are two different people. But, you can't hear the real Andy Griffith sing "Church in the Wildwood" without closing your eyes and tapping your feet as if you were at a singing in the spring.

Andy Griffith - Witness to the Resurrection on July 3, 2012. May he rest in peace.