Papillon-isms

Papillon cracks me up. Here are just a few hilarious moments from recent weeks.



Papillon was sitting on my bed, reading while I got dressed (some-what dressed-up) and ready to go somewhere.  Papillon looks up just as I am putting the finishing touches on my look.

P, straight faced;  "Oh mom, you look like a monster"

Me, trying to determine if that is a compliment or not (it could be, I believe, to Papillon, looking like a Sesame Street monster would be a good thing):  "Oh.  A monster? But a good monster, right?"

P, pausing to assess: "No, a bad monster"





I should really make a book of the first words out of Papillon's mouth every morning. They are always hilarious. One morning, I go in, and she is sitting on her bed with some stuffed animals on her lap. She begins her explanation unprompted:

P: "This is pretend Papillon"  (holds up her baby doll).
     "This is pretend Hibou" (holds up a very small stuffed animal. makes sense)
     "This is Margie" (holds up a puppy, obviously)
      "This is Dad" (holds up a large-ish polar bear. Again, seems logical)

Me, realizing she was done and had missed me: "Yes, and where is mommy?"

P, thinking, then digging through her remaining animals for a good while: "This is Mommy" (holds up a multi-colored extra-long caterpillar toy)

Me, pleased with my animal assignment: "Oh, that's fun!"

P: "Yeah, that's mommy cause it has a funny nose.  (pause)  And a funny mouth"





And this classic, which facebook friends have already seen.

One afternoon, I am in the kitchen and Hibou suddenly begins crying from the living room where she and Papillon were playing.

P, unprompted, before I even enter the room: "I did not hit someone!"
Me: "Papillon, did you hit your sister?"
P: "No, I did not hit someone"
Me: "Did you hit Marge?"
P, more confidently: "No, I did not hit Marge. I did not hit somone"

The next day:
P, to Mon Amour: "I told E. (she used my first name), 'I did not hit someone'"
Mon Amour: "Yeah, that's what you told her. But did you hit your sister?"
P, definitively: "No.   I just took her toy"

The truth comes out.

Movies

A few videos, just for fun. 

Hibou has a few new tricks. She currently claps, nods, shakes her head, and shakes hands. She does not wave yet. Silly kid.

Papillon reads ALL. THE. TIME. She's really good at either making up a story, or telling the actual story from her memory.

Hibou is a happy kid. A very very very happy kid.

Papillon both loves, and is afraid of this little friend. She is almost 1, so still a "baby", but she walks, so she seems like a "big girl". This confuses Papillon.  But, they discovered it was fun to give each other hugs. Such fun.

Bathtime is possibly the most amazing fun ever around here. Always hilarious times.

Studious

Papillon and I have started doing "school" things, we call them "projects".

She loves them.

So studious

Pre-Christmas Fun

And just for fun, we'll go a little out of order and talk about some Pre-Christmas Fun now.

Before Christmas, we took advantage of a coupon we had purchased to go to this cool place.  I love this place. We used to go when I was a kid. It's much bigger now. And just as cool. 
Everything is hands on. Everything!

Doing a etching of some "dinosaur skins".



Papillon's favorite thing was this display that measured your height - it spoke to you. It was very cool. (see video further down)


Learning about anatomy (note, most of this stuff is just a little over Papillon's head...but, it was fun nonetheless).


Overlooking the dinosaur display.


We also watched an Imax movie.  The girls first movie theater experience was both Imax and 3-d.  It was also about butterflies. Papillon was half scared, half amazed. Half loved it, half wanted it to stop.  Hibou just got antsy.

After all that educational-fun, we went to 5-Guys for dinner where Papillon discovered a love of peanuts.


And Hibou realized she was very very tired.



Bundle up - it was cold outside!

Christmas #2

After actual-Christmas, we had a second round of festivities. This time at our house with my side of the family!

A little pre-Christmas Iphone-hungry-hungry-hippos with Aunt Mimi

Marveling at the tree and it's awesome stack o' gifts.

Can you believe it, it was a second white Christmas!

Opening a few presents.

Hibou's favorite way to open presents...with her teeth.

Hibou's "what's happening?" face

More present opening

Reading some new books with Grandpa. Note the necklace that Grandpa is wearing. Papillon got a collection of necklaces for Christmas, and only her favorite people got to wear them. Grandpa got to wear quite a few.

Trying on some cool Indian presents.

More book-reading.

Papillon is very good at handing out gifts.

Grandpa helped her open most of hers. At both Christmas's Papillon would have been happy with just one or two presents, she got pretty overwhelmed when we kept insisting she open more. We had to have a little nap time in the middle of present opening in order to reset the happiness.

Stockings contain so much fun stuff!

We got a set of cardboard blocks...that were not super intuitive in their design. Uncle Erik worked it out. He's an engineer.

Hibou, loving the gifts!

It was a lovely lovely Christmas season.

Christmas #1

Time for some Christmas blog posts turbo-style.  Brace yourself for a lot of pictures, and not a lot of narration. I know Christmas was only a couple weeks ago, but now that it's January, I feel like its totally time to move on to things in the New Year!  So here comes all our Christmas fun in two posts.

Christmas #1 with Mon Amour's family.

Tree decorating...



...picture taking...



...playing with with Grandad...




....bath time!



It was a White Christmas!


And it was cold. Thank heavens for a warm fireplace and some coloring to be done.



Papillon's favorite activity - getting firewood with Grandad in the "barrow".  Also, Grandad taught her that if she says "Open Sesame" than the garage door 'magically' opens. Amazing!


Eatin' some avacados and feeling a little gangsta' about it.


Time for some Christmas book-reading


There was, of course, delicious food, including tasty cheese and sausage bread.


More reading books! A Snoopy book, of course.


Chrismtas morning! Time for presents.


Side note, a random bit of excitement took place when the fireplace "popped" and a spark landed on Papillon's dress. We discovered that polyester melts more than it burns.  Her little dress is a little singed.

More presents!


Hibou's first Christmas! She was actually pretty good at present opening.


And she loved her gifts!


More presents!


Christmas Reindeer!




The day after Christmas, we met up with some of Mon Amour's friends at a restaurant. Hibou's favorite thing to eat at restaurants....the table.


tasty!


And just a few Christmas videos for your viewing pleasure.

Hibou: 10 Months

Hibou turned 10 months old last week. 

Her birthday is right around the corner, or so it seems. I keep thinking she is "just a baby", then I realize that with Papillon, at 10 months, I thought she was pretty nearly grown up.  It's doesn't seem weird to me that she doesn't eat a ton of solid food, or that she doesn't crawl, or that she doesn't sleep through the night - she's just a baby, right? Nope. (well, yes and no. but go with me) She's almost one! 

Crazy. 

Here is her 9 month post for comparison.

And here is my Little Blondie with her doll.

At 10 months, Hibou...

....weighs 17lbs. I would have guessed more, but a recent visit to the doctor put her right at the 17lb mark. Midget!

....takes 1-2 naps a day. 

...sleeps from 7:30pm - 7:30am...with 2-3 breaks. Sleep training has hit some bumps. It officially started last month, then there were a few illnesses, a little traveling for Christmas, and here we are again. Still getting up a little too often.  We'll get there. 

...nurses 4-6 times through the day and usually once at night. 

...eats a ton of solid food some days, and nothing other days. One meal she'll eat a whole banana. The next, just two cheerios. She knows what she wants, and when she wants it, and there is no persuading her otherwise. Favorite foods include avacados, plain yogurt, cheerios and graham crackers. 

....had her second real illness this month.  Last month we got the stomach bug (Hibou threw up for 24 hours), this month it was a 4 day fever (consistently up to 104 when the tylenol would begin to wear off). Miserable. Simply miserable.  I don't know if it was officially "the flu" or just a "bug". But I am so grateful to have two very healthy kids...I am no good at having a sick kid, it totally disables my ability to do anything or make any kind of rational decisions.

 ....is still blonde as can be, and i can't wait to get her helmet off and start playing with bows.

....loves playing with her sister, but has also discovered that when Papillon is not around, her playing is less interrupted. Papillon likes to "show her" how to do things, so Hibou doesn't get to play in peace much unless Papillon is napping. When Papillon is not around, Hibou becomes a chatter box and will play and talk by herself.

...is very curious about everything technology. (what baby isn't, right?). She snagged my ipod touch recently, and managed to kill it (had to dry it out, then wipe the drive and start afresh, alas) and the most sure-fire way to make her happy is to let her play with my phone.

(Randomly, we have a lot of fun on these photo shoots. The Giraffe was a Christmas gift from the neighbors. Papillon LOVES it! Like whoa!)

...is almost almost almost crawling. And is actually starting to get frustrated that she can't crawl. She scootches and bit and spins around in one spot a lot. But not forward-movement yet. But check out this forward lean action:

She is so almost there!

....'s head is almost round!  Check it out! We go for another scan in 2 weeks, at which point we might be done! Officially it will be our call whether we want to be done or not; it just depends on how perfect we are aiming for. It's pretty close to perfect now

....nods her head yes, and shakes her head no. It's hard to believe, but if you ask her a yes/no question, 90% of the time she will respond with a shake or a nod - both of which are very definitive in nature. I don't think she knows every time what she is saying, but its hard to deny that she is communicating with you when you ask her "Do you want more cheerios?" and she nods, or when you ask her, "do you want to go to bed?" and she shakes her head. I'll have to try and get it on video, it's very cute. 

....is all around a delightful, happy, laid back little girl.  Less skeptical and more silly than her big sister at this age. Sometimes I take advantage of her ever-patient personality and push her to the limit...like when I extended this photo shoot just a few minutes too long. Sorry Hibou. I love you.