things to remember

today is a post mostly for me...things I don't want to forget.

I love how anna pronounces the sound "K." there's a subtle "T" before every "K." Miltk. Yutcky. Nitkki.

I love how anna has started saying "huh?" at the end of various statements. "the dolly's sad, huh?" "they're clean, huh?" the "they" in that second statement is referring to her beloved spiderman pajamas. gotta love this girl.

cate is obsessed with Star Wars. she asks us questions about the plot all the time - detailed, thought-provoking questions. she watches the movies any chance she can get (which is far less than what she wants). she knows which movies are which - maybe not the titles, but she knows all 6 of them. she knows exactly which ones she's seen - in case you're wondering, she's seen all of star wars 1, 4 and 5. half of star wars 3 and 6, and none of star wars 2.

the best part of the star wars obsession is that she knows all the music and hums it to herself constantly. she even puts in the sound of symbols crashing. she really knows the music. and she has favorite songs. the best/worst part is that anna has even picked up on it. I catch anna humming the main song all the time now, too. you know the song, "duh-duh-duhhhhh duh, duh-duh-duh duhhhh duh, duh-duh-duh duhhhhh duh, duh-duh-duh duhhhhh"

for the record. nate and I are NOT obsessed with star wars. we have never attended a convention. I've only seen episodes 1-3 (are they even called episodes?) once.

both girls like to shoot us all the time now, with the cutest little sound effects. who knew violence could be so endearing?

another cute cate thing. a few weeks ago the recycling people came to cate's school to talk about recycling. when I picked cate up that day, her teacher was gushing about how cate knew the answer to EVERY question that the recycling guy asked, that he was very impressed with her. I'm sitting there thinking, "wow! she must have really been paying attention to how we recycle." so, when we got home later I said to Cate, "Wow, sounds like you did a great job talking about recycling today." To which she replies, "It's from my Wall-E game on my Leapster!" Thanks, Wall-E. I appreciate you stepping in to help fulfill my parental duties. Can you teach her to read while you're at it? Oh wait, you already did. Thanks! :)

2-Year Old Potty Humor

Anna just came over to me, made a raspberry noise with her mouth and said, "Who tooted?" and then laughed.

Wow, potty humor starts young, eh?

Anna's First Visit to the Dentist...and Funny Cate Stuff

Anna visited the dentist for the first time today. She did FANTASTIC. Her teeth are healthy and she totally cooperated with the hygeniest and the dentist. When the dentist walked in and looked down at her first thing she said was, "Oh my goodness, she is so cute! I'm keeping this one!" Then later in the appointment she said she would happily babysit our girls any time (she saw Cate yesterday, too). I just might take her up on it...if nothing else, the girls would have very clean teeth after a babysitting session! :)

Anyway, Anna did great. It was really really cute. She and Mr. Thirsty (the sucky thing) had an interesting experience together...it was pretty much a competition to see who could suck harder. Mr. Thirsty won. Barely.

Cate did great at the dentist yesterday too and has uberhealthy teeth. Good job, girls!

Two cute Cate comments from yesterday that I don't want to forget.

I checked her lunchbox to see if she'd eaten her lunch at school. The fruit snacks I had thrown in for a special treat were untouched. I asked her why she didn't eat them and she said, "Because they aren't healthy for your body." How about that? She and I had watched part of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution the day before. I'm also always talking about healthy food and I know they have been discussing fruits and veggies at school recently. I'm glad the message is sinking in and she even made a healthy food choice all on her own! What a cutie.

Later in the day we went to the park and she got a pretty nasty splinter that we couldn't get out. I told her that maybe we could wait until Dad got home to try again, maybe he would have a good idea on how to get it out. Cate said, "Yeah, because Daddy's smarter than you."

Jane's reply, "What? Why do you think that?"

"Because Dads are smarter than Moms."

Don't worry, I straightened her out. ;) Just kidding - but I DID tell her that I am smarter at some things, and Nate is smarter at other things. Nate said Arnold Schwarzenegger says he's smarter then me and that's that. (Arnold's signature is on his PhD degree. PhD Schmee-H-D.)

Sweet Sisters

what makes cate angry

yesterday for "communication" at preschool, the topic was anger. they were discussing how to handle angry feelings. the teacher was going around the room asking the children what makes them angry. the responses were all in the ballpark of "when my sister hits me" and "when my brother takes my toy."

when it came to cate, she said, "when I don't get my way." the teachers loved it. and, we all must admit, it's pretty right on for cate. the girl knows what she wants!

morning comments from the girls

this morning nate said to cate, "I like the trains going by." cate responded, "do you like the trains because they make your daughters happy?"

anna, said something equally as cute, but not quite so "awwwwww" inspiring. she received this purple striped sweater for christmas from someone in the family (any takers?).


I think it's adorable and try to dress her in it frequently. since Day 1 she gets mad whenever I put it on. I wasn't entirely sure why. but apparently she now has the words to express herself. today when I pulled it out of the drawer she told me, "sweater not pretty!" I wrestled it on her anyway. what does she know about pretty? she's two.

(post addendum - 5 minutes after I hit publish, guess who came and put a purple striped sweater on my desk?)

We moved!

We've been getting a lot of questions about where/why/when are we moving...so here's the skinny. We have moved across town just one mile from our now-old apartment and, starting tomorrow, will be managing 5 apartment buildings. Free rent plus cash was too hard to pass up...so here we are, Nate and Jane the Landlords. It should prove to be an "interesting" adventure, but we will be able to save a lot of money since we live in such a ridiculously-expensive place.

We moved yesterday and are currently buried in boxes. The girls like the new place - even though it's smaller, they love their room. It's a nice apartment, so we'll be good here (although we have to store about half of what we own to fit!). If our apartment were any closer to the train tracks we would get run over...Anna loves trains, so we thought she'd be in heaven. Turns out Cate is the one who runs to the window every time she hears the bells start ringing.

I need to go unpack so we can live like humans again. If you need our new address, I'll be sending an email out to friends and family, or you can email me. Hope to post some pictures and more fun stuff soon (my age-old, rarely-fulfilled family blog promise!).

the girls yesterday

Hannah gave this outfit to Cate, and she finally wore it WITH the scarf to school yesterday. It was so cute. I told her it was her "New York City" outfit and, to convince her to wear the scarf, I told her that this is just how Tia Hannah wears it. The trick worked. Although, when I picked her up at school the scarf was in her cubby. Nate asked her later why she took it off. She told us that when you leave it on to long it really starts to hurt, and it felt like it was choking her. It was a much more dramatic response than we were expecting. So funny.

(Cate bought the boots herself with a Target gift card she got for Christmas from Linda. She loves these boots. She slept with them for her nap and the first night she had them, since they hadn't been worn outside yet at that point. It was really funny.)

Here is Anna. She's too cool for school.

little things to remember

anna's new line "not it's not!" we don't really know where she got it and she uses it ALL the time. it's really really funny.

anna calls toiletpaper and papertowels "poo poo towels"

this morning cate was eating her breakfast and asked me if she had school today. when I said, "yes you do!" I could see her out the corner of my eye do a quiet little fist pump. it was just so cute and I love that she loves school so much.

cate snores. LOUD. (well, not as loud as, say, a grandpa...but loud for a 5 year old girl!)

Funny stuff

Just a few funny things Cate has said recently that I don't want to forget:

• This week we got together with our friends Aaron and Lindsay. Cate was wearing a black skirt with black knee-highs that had white stripes at the top of the socks. I had told her that Lindsay would like her socks. Sure enough, when Lindsay saw Cate she commented on how she liked her socks. When I was getting Cate in the car a few minutes later I said something like, "See, Lindsay did like your socks. They're so cool!" Then Cate asked me, "Is Lindsay a fan of cool things?"
  
• Last night we went to a New Year's party at Cate's friend Nathan's house (thanks to Rachel and Simon, Nathan's parents, for letting the kids turn their house into what looked like a frat house post-party!). When we got in the car to come home Cate said, "That was a fun party. Nathan always throws such nice parties."
• When Cate was getting ready for bed last night, Anna was making a fuss about her pajamas. I told Anna she couldn't change (I know, I'm so mean). Nate came in a few minutes later and told Anna she could switch PJs. Cate then said, "Mommies are the only ones who make the rules because they're the ones who buy the houses." While I thought that was pretty great, I did clear things up and told her Mommies AND Daddies make the rules together. Nate concluded that she thinks I'm the only one who works and that he's just going to school like her. She's so cute...and apparently a feminist.

Time for a few Anna tidbits.

• I don't let the girls play with my iPhone, but Nate lets them play with his. The other day I discovered that Anna had my phone, so I started to approach her and said, "Anna, that's my phone, please give it to me." She backed away telling me, "No, Daddy's phone! Daddy's phone!" Who knew she was so smart?
• Anna is the most cuddly kid ever. We LOVE it. It's seriously crazy how much she loves to snuggle and has no concept of personal space. It's the best.
• She says "I love you" all the time and loves to give Cate goodnight kisses.
• Anna LOVES the moon and says goodnight to it all the time. It is SO sweet when she's out looking for the moon.
• She is just such a delightful toddler...I think we say "She's so cute" at least 1000 times a day!
• She has the CRAZIEST sense of style. She's always accessorizing and has strong opinions about what she wants to wear. She can most often be found with a cute (normal) outfit buried beneath a skirt or two, a tutu and mardi gras beads.