Way back in Jan. Stealth Baby climbed a few steps. But again, he didn't seem interested. When mom was up he again (for like the first time in a month) climbed a few steps. Well, on Feb. 22 he climbed all the way up the steps! Talk about pleased. Giggling his fool head off. On Friday (23) I spent over an hour with him simply climbing up the stairs to the landing, turning around giggling to make sure I was following, and then heading up the last flight of stairs to the second floor. Over an hour! He's fully mobile now, so every time I turn around he's missing.

Stealth Baby is now standing on his own as well. By which I mean he'll be in the middle of the room and just suddenly stand up with no assistance and holding onto nothing. Then he smiles for a brief second before flapping his arms and falling onto his butt. And he seems to do it randomly. He'll do it once a day - but it's not like once he gets up he want to do it again and again (unlike, say, the stairs)

Stealth Baby already wants to feed himself! He wants to use a spoon and is quite insistent about it. So I'll get a little bit of oatmeal on the spoon and lay it on his tray. (Feb 21) He then grabs it with one or both hands and attempts so shove it into his mouth, usually via his ear. So we have yogurt and oats all over everything. For a child that can yell so loud with that big mouth, I'm not sure why keeps missing. So my youngest child has oatmeal boogers.

Speaking of food - he's had ice cream all ready! He LOVES ice cream. He'll be fiddling around doing whatever (he is amazingly self sufficient some times) and I'll bring down ice cream and he'll still ignore me. So then I'll basically shove some in his mouth. Ahhhhhh. The light bulb goes off in his head. He then becomes completely intent on that spoon. He is totally still and staring at the spoon with his mouth so wide open you could remove his tonsils. He NEVER sits that still, so it is really funny!

Stealth Baby continues to be a contradiction in terms. Like on one hand he can spend 20 minutes playing by himself. He'll get a few blocks or Legos and just sit on his own in a corner banging them together. And he just loves balls. He grabs one, throws it, and then chases after it like a dog! When he 'catches' it he than bats at it with his hands and continues scrambling down the hallway. It is the most amazing thing to watch! He's happy if you also throw the ball around, but if you don't he can still play on his own. What a neat kid. And balloons! Oh he loves balloons! He can pull the sting and they move! He can bat them around and chase them! He can climb on top of them and bounce! The perfect toy!

On the other hand - my mom pointed this out! - he can be really jealous! He and Precious are currently having a mommy fight (add Pumpkin into the mix and you are a recipe for disaster.) So Precious will demand to sit on my lap on the couch, and suddenly mike will look up for his happy corner and see this - then come crawling over as fast as those chubbly legs can go without rug burn and cry and fuss and demand to come up in my arms too. SO those two kind of keep an eye out for each other to make sure that neither one ever gets me to themselves. Joy. Like, he knows if I'm nursing it is very difficult for me to have Precious on my lap too. (which, but the way, is also something Precious is aware of. So she ALWAYS tries to climb on my lap when he nurses, even if she wasn't remotely interested before that.) I swear to heaven that, as Precious freaks out and tries to climb onto my lap, that Stealth Baby (nipple still in his mouth) gets a little smile! Now, I don't know if he thinks Precious is interacting with him, or if he honestly knows he's driving her nuts - but he does smirk!

Finally, it is now Feb 29 and Stealth Baby has ANOTHER ear infection!! I was at work and get this phone call at 2:30 saying Stealth Baby had a 103.7 fever! Scary! SO I call the doctor and got an appointment right away. He now weighs 26 pounds, by the way! What a porker. I wonder how much he would weigh if he hadn's been sick since Christmas! Anyway, they tested him for strep throat and thankfully he didn't have that, but it did appear he was starting another ear infection. Sigh. He JUST got off the medicine last Friday - barely a week ago. So I'm getting pretty frustrated. I think I need to keep him out of daycare for a week or so to get his strength back. This is just so odd - he Never gets sick! None of my kids do!

PS, he still gets up at least once a night. I am spoiling that child rotten!

Pumpkin's Life: Pumpkin is growing up in leaps and bounds too. Of course he knows all his letters, and he can count to 12. He wants to be able to count to 20, but needs help. This frustrates me to no end, because I write out the numbers one to 10, which he can say in his sleep, and then under them the numbers 11 to 20. So it seems to me that it should be OBVIOUS that the numbers are basically the same. So I remind myself that he's not yet 5, so maybe it's not so obvious to him. :+) I am NOT a patient parent. He is really into 'reading'. Pumpkin is starting to understand the concept that letters make words, and that letters have sounds that are associated with them. So we play a game when I say, "What does Frog begin with" and then he yells out "F" and then he 'wins' and I say something like "Argh." (And then he giggles like a madman.) He is really good when I say the word and he says the beginning letter; he is only somewhat good with the I say a letter and he says a word. Some of them he knows - like A is for apple. But a lot of time he goes into brain freeze.

The other day we were playing with this stacking blocks that are also letters. (Stealth Baby loves to knock blocks over, so we play with these and some stacking cups a whole lot) I look over and, wow, Pumpkin has taken the blocks and spelled "C-A-T". Wow. So then I say, Can you spell dog? And he grabs the blocks and spells, "G-O-D" Oops. Oh well, I was still really impressed that he knows cat all on his own.

Speaking of reading, Pumpkin now 'reads' Green Eggs and Ham. He is so proud of himself! Happily we stole a copy from the Dentist (yes, I'm going to take it back) so we now have 2 copies, since it is also one of Precious's favorites too. ("Sam I yam!" She yells.) I know that most of it is memorization, but it is a first step. We have is one really silly baby book that has exactly 2 words per page. (Big Truck; Dig Dirt; Build Road; Etc) Well, he kept wanting us to read to him - which drove me nuts because we have hundreds of fabulous prize-winning children's books in the house and he wants us to read this retarded one to him. But then he started wanting to read it to us! (Ahhhh, another light bulb in the Yates home.) He can 'read' this one because it only has 10 words in it. Boy did I feel awful that I had been so dismissive about him wanting to read it.

Another cool thing happened. We were coming home from Chi-Chis (oops, tangent, gotta tell you about Chi-Chis. We went there one evening after stove shopping because I was so starving that I couldn't stand it. And the kids were wonderful! All 3 sat with their crayons and were good! (Ok, so Stealth Baby is eating his instead of coloring. He was quite so I don't care.) So after dinner we ordered a big "Brownie Blizzard" which was a brownie cut into 4 squares and covered with ice-cream, whipped cream and chocolate sauce. We got 4 spoons and all 5 of us (Stealth Baby of the baby-bird-opening-wide-for-a-worm fame) shared it. The kids are STILL talking about that. What could be better? Chips, crayons and ice cream. A 4 star meal!) Anyway, we are driving home with Pumpkin and Precious in the way back and Stealth Baby in his car seat in the middle row of captains chairs. So Pumpkin says, "Know what? We make a triangle! Stealth Baby is the top and Precious and I are the long part." Well, can I just tell you my jaw about dropped to the floor. That my little hyperactive boy could string together that thought! Yippee.

Speaking of hyperactive. (Feb 22) We finally had some more snow here in the South-land ~ there was a 116 car accident on I95 about 20 miles south of our house. Happily, I had already called Hubby and work and told him it was going to be beyond nasty getting home, and he believed me, so he didn't really get caught in it. Anyway, we got a few inches of snow and once Daddy came home I could take Pumpkin out. So Pumpkin and Kenny both have their sleds, and are going down the hill in our neighbor's side yard. Pumpkin has this big blow up things called a snow runner that my dad gave him. It's like jet ski, except it's a blow up toy for snow. So Pumpkin is zooming down this little hill. At the bottom the kids who live there have piled up their skateboard shit (a story for another letter -grrr those kids are so inconsiderate) which consists of blocks and boards and construction pipes etc. which they form into jumps and such. Anyway, Pumpkin figures out that if he comes flying down this hill he can run into the file of boards, which will immediately stop his sled, but he, happily, will continue moving. Thus, he 'flies' over the 'handlebars' of his sled and does a belly flop on the snow. OhmyGod! The first time that happened I about had a heart attack. What is it with boys!

As you already know, Pumpkin has 4 massive cavities. (There goes 800 bucks out the window!! Ouch.) Well, he just loves, LOVES the dentist! Can you believe it? This child will do anything for a 'prize!' So Thursday Feb. 15 was his first solo appointment where they were going to drill and fill. It was very scary for me. Pumpkin didn't seem to mind at all, but I hated to see the drill (and the blood.) Anyway, the first thing they gave him was nitrous oxide, which makes him loopy. So Dr. Urban (who I really like) is asking Pumpkin, "How do you feel? Do you feel loopy" Now, Pumpkin wouldn't know what loopy feels like! So I said to Dr. U, this is as still as I have ever seen him with his eyes open. I'm pretty sure he's loopy. Oh yeah, the way they give him the oxide is through this thing they put on his nose -- which Pumpkin and I call the elephant mask,. Pumpkin loves it. He was upset when we got home and he realized that he left his elephant nose there. SO Pumpkin is looking forward to going back (to get the other side of his mouth worked on) so he can get an elephant nose to bring home. Also, since he wasn't supposed to chew much after he got the cavity, they suggested I get him a shake to fill him up. You can just imagine how pleased Pumpkin was by this turn of events. To him it was a great day. He has me all to himself, I sit and hold his hand and talk to him for 2 hours, he gets prizes, and he gets a milkshake! He asks once a week when we are going back.

I must say it was a bit difficult for me. After Pumpkin is loopy they shoot novocaine into his gums and teeth using a large needle. But I can't be nervous because my presence is supposed to calm Pumpkin down. And then because the cavities are so bad they really had to drill in there to clean everything out - so there was a lot of noise and some blood. I don't mind noise in blood unless it's my child in involved! Originally Pumpkin was concerned by the noise, but I was right there holding his hand and said, "Now what does that sound like? That is just like daddy's motorcycle! I really like daddy's motorcycle, don't you?"

Precious's Life: Precious is still addicted to TV. Every time I turn around she wants to turn it on. It is SO frustrating to me, because that is NOT at all how I want my kids to grow up. She's actually a very clever little girl. She knows how to turn the TV on, how to turn the satellite on, and how to turn the kill switch on. Sigh, so all of the ways that I've tried to make it that she can't turn it on don't work. So, I'll say no, but be upstairs making lunch - and she'll run downstairs and turn the TV on anyway. Grr. Her movie of choice is currently Robin Hood. Actually it's funny because she likes to march with the soldiers and also dance when the peasants dance. Too cute.

Ok, On January 19 it was a yucky rainy day, so I took the kids to the library. It would be within walking distance if the kids were older and if there were sidewalks, which is to say it will never be within walking distance. Too bad. Anyway, it's a 2 minute trip and it has a great kids section. On Thursday mornings they sometimes have story hour - it's a separate room with rocking chairs and lots of steps (seats for little kids) leading down to a landing (stage) amphitheater style. So I can go in there and the kids can pick out new books for me to read and the non interested children can play on the large stairs or look at themselves in the funny mirrors. Well, Precious (miss vain) was transfixed by the mirrors. Licking them seemed like a good idea, which I quickly put a stop to! So she started preening in the mirror and removing her clothes for better effect. About this time I decided it was time to go home! Needless to say Precious didn't want to go home! (Quote of the Day from Precious's daycare teacher, who rarely if ever has Precious misbehave. "My word, that girl has a set of lungs on her!") So Precious began screaming. And I mean shrieking at the top of her very agile lungs. And removing clothes. SO I finally shoved her in Stealth Baby's stroller and strapped her in (in her diaper), picked up Stealth Baby and headed to the car. (Please note it is raining and January and Precious has no clothes on.) My gosh was my face RED. I was SO embarrassed. Happily most everyone there seemed to think it was amusing as compared to appalling. So we get to the car and I've got to put Stealth Baby in his carseat. As I'm doing this (Precious is still shrieking) Precious manages to escape from the stroller and goes streaking through the parking lot toward a busy street. Happily I caught her!! Actually, she was making so much noise we were the prime attraction for everyone INSIDE the library, so when she was about to escape several people inside saw what was happening and came running out into the rain to help me surround her. I finally grabbed all 3 kids and shoved them in the minivan and sat on the floor with them hugging Precious and Stealth Baby until she calmed down. What a day! Shrieking still remains her favorite means of communication.

Precious is the queen of opinions. I'm sure every mother goes through this - Pumpkin tended to love this one green Tiger shirt and every time he saw it he would demand to wear it. And now he loves this totally hideous baby blue shirt that has purple and green dinosaurs on it. Yuck. But he didn't care about his pants. Precious cares about both the top and the pants and consequently looks like a miniature bag lady all the time. Why do I bother to get this beautiful matching outfits when she mismatches them all the time? Even more awful - she love to wears this one white dress with little purple and pink flowers. I mean, this thing can be covered in food and mustard and she'll dig it out of the dirty clothes bag and put it on. And it's an ugly dress even when it's clean - I got it for 50 cents at a garage sale thinking it would be something easy and junky to put on her in the summer after swimming. But NOOOOO, she has to wear it every week in the winter. To make matters worse, once she got food all over it so I threw it in the bleach pile. Well, I forgot about it and it got mold on it - so on the front top and shoulders it has little black dots. But this is her favorite outfit. Oh well.

Precious does love to color. Unfortunately her favorite canvas is herself. So any time she finds markers first she colors on the nearest wall, and then she removes clothes (removing clothes is a recurring theme) and draws on herself. Funny tangent - Hubby is a fab dad, but not the most observant one. He was sitting on the couch with Pumpkin on his lap, totally transfixed by the Lion King II (which he has only seen like 8 thousand times.) So I walk downstairs after doing the dishes and there are Hubby and Pumpkin staring at the TV while Precious, not more than 2 feet from Hubby's nose, has removed all her clothes and is coloring on herself and the table with markers. So I look at Hubby and say, "You were supposed to be watching him!!" in my best lion growl, which is a line from the move he was watching. So now any time one of the kids do something stupid on one of our watches, the other says, "You were supposed to be watching him!" Ok, it doesn't sound funny in writing, but it keeps us sane.

Precious got an oven for Christmas. She enjoys putting things in it. However, what has really caught her attention is making 'pies' out of playdoh. We have more playdoh in our carpets then some people have in containers in their house. I decided it's a lost cause, but a worthwhile one if everyone is happy and not watching TV! So we get Stealth Baby's stacking cups and our two 3 lb. tubs of playdoh and make culinary masterpieces, mashed into the stacking cups and 'eaten' (literally by Stealth Baby!) with Precious's plastic kitchen ware stuff. And grind blue and red plahdoh into our now oatmeal colored carpet.

Ever since the 4th of July when I stupidly took Precious to the fireworks she has been scared of any noise louder than a door slamming. And I mean truly terrified. Things like loud bells cause her to run screaming to me calling "I'm Scared! I'm Scared!" The other morning I dropped her off at Daycare and her teacher was like, she won't go outside because the church next door was building something. (This is the origin of the 'she's got lungs' quote) Apparently Precious gets absolutely hysterical if they are working and she's outside. So they just let her sit side sucking her thumb. My poor baby. Boy did I screw up.