In The Midst Of Big Changes, It Turns Out They're Still Lovin' It™.

Alternate title: Funny Today, Maybe Not So Funny Tomorrow.

Part II of the "There Gonna Be Some Changes In Here" plan hasn't happened yet, but it involves repainting the room and moving, readjusting and/or heavily securing the furniture and window – and I'm not talking your typical wall anchors and window locks just in case you were wondering.

My main involvement however will be keeping the boys out of the house and/or at least out of their room for the better part of the day. As such, I've been talking it up a bit and when one of my boys asked earlier today about french fries I said, "It just so happens that we're going to have french fries on Friday – Mommy is taking you out for lunch!".

My guys can recite Sunday through Saturday off the top of their heads and typically know what day follows what if you pick a random day of the week.

Apparently when french fries are involved though, all bets are off.

Nate and Seth were more chatty tonight at bedtime than usual and since I was in the next room and could hear everything I decided to transcribe a small portion of their conversation* because it was too funny not to.

• • • • • • • 

N: Not Monday today.

S: It's Tuesday.

N: It's Friday today.

S: It's not Friday today. No. We have french fries on Friday.

N: Friday is tomorrow.

S: Not Friday today. It's Monday now. French fries and chicken nuggets.

N: Cheeseburger.

S: Tomorrow! Seth have chicken nuggets and french fries. Tomorrow, not now. Today is Monday. Today.

N: We having cheeseburgers.

S: Tomorrow.

N: Tomorrow.

S: French fries and chicken nuggets.

N: French fries and cheeseburger.

S: And chicken nuggets too!

N: And a cheeseburger too! 

• • • • • • •

*The actual conversation ran approximately 30 minutes before they wore themselves out. I'm not sure how tomorrow is going to pan out when I have to break it to them again that it is still a couple of days away from Friday, but at least I will know what to order when the time comes.

- L.

The Things They Say: Top 5 Best & Worst

I recently added a new label called "the things they say", since none of the made-up conversations I've come up with over the past two years can even begin to hold a candle to the things my boys actually say these days. 

A couple of weeks ago I started a top 5 list of some of my favorites, as well as a top 5 list of some of my not-so-favorites. For some reason, the "Top 5 Worst" list came together more quickly than the "Top 5 Best", although I can say without a doubt that the #1 best saying of all time was the impetus for the list in the first place.

"Aloo shoes" and "I-dee-dee" are the relics of days gone by now. Ditto for "Leggy-bugs", "Chup-up", and "Pah-guts"*. The endless clamoring for "Reetins! Reetins! Reetins!" until we all thought we would lose our minds has long since been replaced by a simple request for raisins. Hum is now home.

And so it is now – for every ounce of posterity that's in it – I present my top picks for Best & Worst sayings that are currently in use:

The Worst:

By "worst", I mean the ones that drive me up a wall mainly due to the frequency with which they are used. Repetition might be a toddler's best friend, but I can tell you it's often a crazy-maker for Mommy. 

#5. "No singing!" 

– "No singing!" first appeared on the scene last winter anytime I would, you know, sing. It gave me a bit of a complex to be honest. I mean, while I wouldn't win any contests, I don't think my singing is that bad. I can carry a tune (at least most of the time), but I'll admit I felt heaps better when my boys started declaring "no singing!" around others as well.

Of course, at some point I recalled all the times I would sing them to sleep as babies when they were too young to object. Now I wonder if they only pretended to be asleep so I'd quit it with the singing already.

#4. "Piece of fuzz!" 

– "Piece of fuzz!" applies to actual pieces of fuzz, but also includes random things like clothing tags, loose threads and finely chopped food items/spices. Much like the dirt on the cheese crackers, my boys are semi-convinced I occasionally put fuzz in their food. Oy.

Originally, pieces of fuzz were met with a reaction similar to how one might react at the discovery of a spider on oneself – or at least how I would react to that particular discovery (read: general hysteria). Now they are simply pointed at while the discover-ee says "Piece of fuzz! Piece of fuzz! Piece of fuzz, Mommy!" on a loop until the offending fuzz has been removed.

#3. "Uh-oh! Va-va go!"

– Although my boys are well capable of saying "water" and will refer to bath water as "water" for example, water in their sippy cups has always been known as "va-va". And when said water in sippies is accidentally dropped (or more likely deliberately flung) the logical thing to say of course is, "Uh-oh! Va-va go!".

Unfortunately, things that "go" doesn't end at va-va – it's just the most popular and the original source of the "things that go" trend. Seth especially gets pretty worked up over things that "go". You can (sort of) see him in action here, but the hour was late and instead of doing his usual running litany he kept it simple for once with "Uh-oh! Stuff go!".

#2. "Kiss a bonk!" & "Itchy nose!"

"Kiss a bonk!" predates "Itchy nose!", but they are used to the same end – and although they can (and have been) used separately, these days you are more likely to hear them in succession, a la "Itchy nose and bonk!".

Very rarely do either have anything to do with an actual bonk or an itchy nose ("itchy" is how my boys refer to a runny nose in case you were wondering what that's about). On the contrary, "itchy nose and bonk" comes into play mostly in the following scenarios:

Brother steals your toy? Itchy nose and bonk!
Mommy says no more cookies? Itchy nose and bonk!
Time for bed? Itchy nose and bonk!

I'm sure you get the idea, and really it's sort of cute/funny the first 50 odd times you hear it in a day and grab a real tissue to wipe at an imaginary itchy nose while bestowing a kiss on an equally fake "bonk". After that though? Maybe not so much.

"Kiss a bonk" is pretty established at this point and typically a kiss on the top of the head gets the job done. That said, it's not completely out of the ordinary for those bonks to appear elsewhere. Some of my favorites have included, "Kiss the shirt!", "Kiss the sock!" and most famously, "Kiss the behind!".

#1. "I think so!"

Such an innocent sounding phrase, but it's place at the top of my least favorite sayings list is well-earned.

Every day without fail my boys pick a word du jour that is used to mean "general pandemonium time now!". Today's word was "washing machine" as an example – and it was trotted out liberally for such fun times as toy throwing, food flinging and making a rather spirited mess with sippy cups. Of course, all of the scenarios included the requisite shouting of "washing machine" – or worse, "MORE washing machine!" – followed by fits of giggles at Mommy losing her marbles and being forced to say ridiculous things like, "No more washing machine! I mean it!".

Tomorrow they will move on to a new word, and trust me when I say it won't matter in the least what that word is because by the end of the day I can guarantee it will be the most irksome word I've ever heard.

Except for "I think so!".

"I think so!" gets top billing since it was the first phrase my boys used to let me know it was, in fact, "general pandemonium time now" and they terrorized me with that particular saying for a solid week. In fact, "No more I think so's!" is still something the boys say – pretty much around about the time it's clear Mommy is about to lose it completely.

Want to see me twitch? Drop an "I think so!" into casual conversation. Fun!

• • • • • • • 

The Best: 

#5: "Oh my goodness boodness!" 

This is mostly a Nate-ism, but I've heard Seth use it too. It's used appropriately to express surprise. I have no idea what the boodness is about, but you can't have an "Oh my goodness!" without the "boodness" around here. Super-adorable, whatever it means.

#4. "It's a mystery!"

This one is mostly a Seth-ism, but Nate is certainly no stranger to the magical powers of "it's a mystery!".

"It's a mystery!" more or less translates to "I don't know" and often comes into play following an "Uh-oh! *Something* go!" incident when I'm not able to locate whatever it is that "went". Often my boys will steer me in the right direction when it comes to missing toys for example – and usually they aren't so much missing as hidden in some semi-unreachable place. Other times? Well, "it's a mystery!".

"It's a mystery" is always preceded by a thoughtful pause – the cuteness of which has a lot to do with it's magical properties. Keep in mind it diffuses even the worst of the "Uh-oh! *Something* go!" shenanigans in an instant. It also comes in handy in the following scenario:

Me: "Hey! How did water get all over the floor?"
N/S: *pause*... "It's a mystery!"

Clearly there isn't too much that's mysterious about that situation other than maybe which one of my boys was the perp, but I find myself cleaning up messes without question and having a bit of a giggle when they play the "mystery" card. See? Magical properties!

#3. "That's a machine, alright!" 

I covered this one over here. It's still very much a popular phrase and it still hasn't stopped making me laugh.

#2. "Nate and Seth are best friends!"

I'm sure I don't need to write a single word to tell you why this is on my list of favorites, other than to say my boys really are best friends and I love so much that they are. 

They are each Felix to the other's Oscar. 

• • • • • • • 

You're probably wondering how "Nate and Seth are best friends!" only made the #2 spot. I wrestled with it a little myself, but here's the thing: while Nate and Seth are best friends and I hope they always will be, there's probably a limited shelf life on them actually expressing that in so many words. At some point it will simply become an understood thing.

And much like the "Reetins!" of yore, all of these expressions that either make me laugh or want to tear my hair out will go by the wayside also. "It's a mystery" is probably not going to seem as cute when the boys are teenagers and I'm pretty sure they won't be asking me to wipe their noses or "kiss a bonk" anymore by that point either.

I can however, guarantee that the #1 spot on my favorites list will still be haunting at least one of my boys through his college years and beyond.

It's that good.

And since it's that good, I've decided it deserves a post all it's own.

Until next time then.

- L.

*Aloo shoes = blue shoes. I-dee-dee = ice cream. Leggy-bugs = ladybugs. Chup-up = Ketchup. Pah-guts** = Patty-cakes.

**I originally thought "Pah-guts!" was twin-speak for something to do with bedtime/saying goodnight, to the point I started saying "Goodnight... and pah-guts!" because it seemed suitable. It wasn't until we were reading Mother Goose one day and Nate pointed at the "Patty Cake" page and exclaimed "Pah-guts!" that the "mystery" was solved. That incident certainly gave me pause when it came to being definitive about declaring "Anasahnize!" and "Fore-stains!" as real examples of OP cryptophasia, but rest assured, the fore-stains et al are legit.

• • • • • • •

PS. Last October between the big Hallowe'en photo-shoot (courtesy of my dear friend Padrin) and the bath-time splish-splash pics, "Uncle P" took some random candid shots of me and my sweet boys just hanging out. They certainly weren't intended to be masterpieces, but they are without a doubt some of my favorite photos of my sons and I together. I've been hoarding them, but this seemed like an appropriate post to finally share since they are also very much some of my favorite things.

Working on my drum technique.

Excelling at my tickle technique.

"Mommy Is Little Bit Sad Right Now"

My boys are pretty quick with words lately – and while that's certainly been a lesson in watching what I say, more often than not it's been wonderful watching how fast they pick things up.

In the past couple of days they learned "Mommy is little bit sad right now", which is not entirely a bad thing I suppose. I think it's OK and even healthy that kids don't always see us at our best, but this is the first time they've seen Mommy being a "little bit sad" and I worried a little nonetheless. Despite knowing that it's a perfectly normal thing, I still wanted to keep that from them as much as possible. I'm not ready for them to know sad beyond their own hurts over a car their brother won't share.

Still, they knew.

And even though I'd like to think that "Mommy a little bit sad right now" is the reason they've pulled out a few extra stops over the past couple of days to keep me entertained and/or distracted, I suspect they're actually just having a bit of a free-for-all in their usual fashion.

Tonight's efforts originated earlier today when I did not have a camera handy. Fortunately, my guys re-enacted pretty much the entire thing when I did have my camera in hand tonight at bedtime...

– Oh hi everyone! Is us.
– We looks a little serious, but we do our best to cheer Mommy up in 3, 2, 1... 

– New HATS!!!
– Or as we would really say, "'ATS!!!" 

Nate

– "There are cats in 'dis hat!" 

Seth

– "Is dark outside. Turn off the lights!"

I'm going to have to stop making up stuff the boys say since the last two pics are the things they actually did say at the time and they're much better at the funny than their Mommy as it turns out.

- L.

Happy Leap Year, Everyone!

It turns out February 29th was the day for some surprising new manners at lunch. There was a very brief exchange yesterday over saying "thank you" and "you're welcome" that didn't seem to register much at the time, but obviously made a bigger impression that I'd thought.

Today, my boys – Nate especially – couldn't get enough of finding things to hand to each other in order to elicit the "thank you/you're welcome" exchange.

And I thought we were doing well with "Exmoosey!".

Nicely done, boys. Nicely done.

- L.

PS. Of course there's a video of it all (and then some). You can check it out here.

Meet Gord.

Gord of course, is a gourd. 

Now meet Gord's friends:

Pun'kin, Pun'kin and, er... Pun'kin. Also sometimes known as "White!", "Orange!" and, er... "Orange!". If nothing else, we pride ourselves on our originality at the OP, everyone!

The Pun'kin trio* and Gord made their first appearance at our Hallowe'en photo shoot and while Gord was not an immediate favorite, he quickly grew into one in the days that followed.

Gord and his friends were nursery staples and regular tagalongs for the past couple of weeks while I silently prayed the novelty would wear off long before things started to get overly ripe.

Prayers were answered and Gord and the Pun'kin trio were composted without incident this morning while no one was looking.

Oh Gord, we will miss thee. Thank you for the many fond memories but mostly for not overstaying your welcome.

Know that you are forever in our hearts and will be remembered for generations to come thanks to our new YouTube™ video, complete with an introduction by Seth at the 2:40 mark.

*If you're the sort with a keen eye, you will have noticed that the Pun'kin Trio was originally a Quartet. Pun'kin #4 left the group during that fateful outing due to creative differences (which is another way of saying we somehow lost a pumpkin at the playground).

- L.

PS. I left our latest video unedited. It's basically 6 minutes of the boys putting together their new upper and lower case alphabet puzzle, complete with requisite chatter. I left it unedited mostly for me because I can, but I really do recommend checking out Gord's big intro. Both the pumpkins and Gord were added by Nate and Seth before they got down to business. They were pretty dedicated to their new friends at the time.

Best. Video. Ever.

Oh, hi again everyone. I realize I said we were back two weeks ago and then we kind of fell off the radar again. I was working on sorting through the past two ( three?) months of photos and culling something together for a new post – which is harder than I thought it would be since there's so much catching up to do – when something unexpected appears to have happened.

I'm still somewhat in denial, but I'm pretty sure my boys are gearing up to ditch their afternoon nap. Just to be clear, they ditched their morning nap AGES ago, so I'm talking about the other one.

The one break I was still able to get during the day. The one where I could get stuff done (like blog) or maybe catch a nap myself.

That one.

It's all out the window for now. There has officially been no napping of any kind (not even of the lousy 15 minute variety) for the past 3 days.

It's too soon for this, right?

It is.

I know this.

You know this.

But trying to reason with toddlers is like...

Well, it's a lot like trying to reason with toddlers actually.

They're too tired to pull it off successfully and the cracks in their plan are showing. Seth fell asleep in the stroller late morning while we were out running errands – and you can't wake them when something like that happens. And by "can't" I don't mean "I didn't have the heart to" because I gave him a poke. I literally mean he just slept through my attempts to wake him up.

So I knew the afternoon nap was also probably not going to happen yesterday. Despite my attempts to wear everyone out, the only person I wore out was myself. At least at nap time.

Unlike Seth, Nate did not catch a nap during our morning errands. He did however, find the time to nod off as I was clearing the table after supper.

Zzzzz...

Of course, I took some pics and then woke him up. It was a little too close to bedtime not to, while simultaneously not being close enough to bedtime to actually make it bedtime. Pandemonium ensued.

Seth got in on the action too.

Oh, the cranky pants were out in full force. There was weeping. And wailing. And possibly some gnashing of teeth. It was a scene.

In the midst of it all, I made the executive decision to skip dessert (nobody cared) and whisked the boys directly off to the bath (everyone universally approved) in the hopes that it would lead to an early bedtime at the very least.

It did not of course – bedtime was pretty much regular bedtime, but...

The bath perked everyone up so much I thought it might be a good time to try to get some pics of Seth and the technicolor red cheeks he was sporting through dinner and his bath since that's sort of the other reason we fell off the radar (once again) over here.

There is a major teething situation going on.

Seth has always suffered more with teething than his brother and it's been a slow and painful road for him – but much like Nate, who got his first 10 teeth or so at regular intervals and then went on to get the rest of his teeth all at once (this was miserable btw and I would have mentioned it except we were probably having another lapse in posting at the time) – it would appear that Seth is following in his brother's footsteps.

I'm not sure I've seen drooling to this extent before and I have witnessed my fair share. And then there were those technicolor red cheeks.

So I thought I'd take some pics and this would be a short post about my woes with a sleepy Nate and a red-cheeked Seth and me mumbling some excuses about the lack of new posts.

Except Seth didn't have technicolor red cheeks by the time I showed up with the camera, but I figured I'd take some pics anyway.

At first I wasn't having much luck getting a shot of Seth. 

– Hi everyone. I is awake now!
– Oh, hi everyone. I looking for Legos! I is busy playing put-away.

Seth is a great helper by the way as well as fastidious about order in general, and since we were winding things down for the night he was busy putting the "Legos" away. For the record, Nate needs to work on this skill a little, but I have a feeling it will be a hard sell. They are shaping up rather nicely as the next generation Odd Couple. 

– I is smiling because I not looking for Legos. I has brother to do that for me.
– Sorry everyone. Very busy. No time for chats right now. 

– Still busy. I is man on the move. There is still legos to find! 

– I is admiring fruits of my labors now, but only for little bit. Legos might be all done, but 'dis room not tidy yet.

Now you might be asking yourself at this point, what does any of this have to do with the "Best. Video. Ever."? Well, nothing really, except to say some of my favorite videos of the boys are the ones where I think I'm filming one thing and then something totally unexpected and wonderful happens. This was one of those times.

At first I thought I was shooting Seth putting away the Legos. Then I thought I was filming him doing a silly little dance that we call the Bojangles. And while I did get some footage of both of those things (and will hopefully have time to post them at some point), none of this was in the making of the Best. Video. Ever.

No.

Because what happened next was so much more awesome than any of that. The very best part happens around the 1 minute mark, but the lead-in is pretty hilarious too. Go check it out.

- L.

Things We Know

At 17 months, we know:

Our colors:

Red, blue, green, orange, yellow and purple. And possibly white. Their favorite color to seek out seems to be blue, but their favorite color to say is "purple". They both love to say "pur-pah".

Our sounds:

All the requisite cow, horse, sheep, pig, goat, and pirate sounds. Yes, I said pirate. Everyone with a pirate ship should know how to say "yarrr!".

Enough said.

Also, courtesy of Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?, we also know how to say:

Pop, pop.
Klopp, klopp.
Hoo hoo hoo.
Dibble dibble*.
Bzzz, bzzz.
Boom, boom, BOOM!

Our numbers: 

Nate and Seth have "one" and "two" down pat when stacking things. Also, they are freakishly good at stacking things. Blocks, toys, peas**... you name it. They are stacking it.

And whatever gets stacked on top of "one" and "two", be it three things or twelve things, the highlight is declaring "nine, ten!" when you are done.

Our alphabet: 

Or "abba-bet!" as the case may be. Upper-case abba-bet is no match for Nate and Seth. They are keenly interested in all things abba-bet and can tell you what every single letter is no matter how abstractly it's presented.

• • • • • • •

In case any of this sounds like a shameless brag, it's not. I'm not the mom with the flash-cards.

I enjoy reading to them. And building things with them. Sometimes we count, but more often we don't. We make noises. Often with purpose. Sometimes loudly.

We have fun basically.

And I have no idea what's going on over here lately, but I do know I'm outnumbered because I can also count to one and two.

And quite frankly, I'm a little bit scared.

- L.

*Dibble, dibble appears to be unrelated to this, although it seemed like a likely suspect at first. "Dibba Day!" (whatever it means) is no dibble dibble, in case you were wondering.

**I bet you thought I was kidding, but I'm not. They have attempted to stack peas – with some actual success. Something I learned from my 17 month old boys: with a little bit of careful squishing along the way, it's not entirely impossible.

Conversations With Nate

The vocabulary around here is pretty much off the hook, but I'm only halfway convinced Nate and I had our first conversation today because I'm in heavy denial about how fast my babies are growing up I suppose. Still, here it is (just in case this was the real deal):

Nate: I know! I know! I KNOOOOOWWWW!

Mommy: Awhhh. What you know, Nate?

*pause*

Nate: I no know.

- L.

Double Your Dibba Day, Double Your Fun!

I'm not sure this post requires an explanation beyond the title.

If you'd like to double your fun in a Dibba Day kind of way, then you'd best head on over to our YouTube™ channel post haste.

- L.

Dibba Day Part II (And Some New Words Too!)

Too busy eating for chats right now. You go watch my video instead.
And don't forget to have a Dibba Day everyone!

OK, sound effects might be more accurate, but we've added the following to our lexicon: 

Ba! (sounds like "Ba!". Said when asked what sound a sheep* makes.) 

Moo! (sounds like "Moo!" or sometimes "Boo!". Said most of the time when asked what sound a cow makes. Or a ghost cow I suppose.) 

Nay! (sounds like "Nay!". Occasionally said when asked what sound a horse makes.) 

*snorting noises* (sounds just like you imagine. Snorted with gusto in reference to the sound a pig makes. And usually for 10 minutes after.) 

Wee wee wee! (sounds like "Wee wee wee!". Sometimes echoed after playing "This Little Piggy Went To Market" in between the giggles.)

As for "Dibba Day" and what it means, that's anyone's guess – I think it's just Seth trying out the art of conversation – but if you'd like a second helping there's a new video up on our YouTube™ channel with a whole lot of "Dibba Day" and a dash of "Me Me Me!" thrown in for flavor. And Seth getting wise to his Mommy hiding behind the camera at the end. Enjoy!

- L.

*Roughly 50% of the time the cow, horse and pig also say "Ba!", especially if Nate and Seth aren't super alert. For some reason, I find this quite humorous.

And A "Dibba Day" To You, Baby B!

Nate and Seth have only mastered a handful of words, but they don't let that stop them when they feel like having a conversation. Nate's go-to for chats runs the gamut from la-la's to did-did's to nay-nay's. Seth, known mostly for being a man of few (but well-timed) words has been trying out a couple of new chat-phrases of his own lately. "Dibba dibba day!" is exceedingly popular, but the occasional, "Numma numma nay!" gets thrown into the mix here and there.

For reasons that aren't clear, one of the most recent words they are saying is "Baby". I know I've been pretty adamant about Nate and Seth still being my babies, but sadly it's not a word anyone really says anymore. They both adore their Dr. Suess' ABC's book though so my guess is it's come from the "B" page:

Big B, little b, what begins with B?  

Barber, baby, bubbles and a bumblebee! 

And maybe it's just extra enthusiasm because their new word is very exciting after all, but often Seth will tack on an extra "B!" at the end (a la "Bay-bee-bee!") which may or may not be toddler-speak for "bumblebee". Or maybe he just remembers his name from a long time ago.

All this to say, there's a new video on our YouTube™ channel featuring a lot of la-la's, dibba-day's and baby, baby B!

•   •   •   •   •

Our current list of words:

Book (sounds like "Booh!". This was Seth's first word said in context.)
Ball (sounds like "Bah!". This was Nate's first word said in context.)
Duck (sounds like "Dah!".)
Up (sounds like "Up!" but also sometimes "Ep!")
Apple (sounds like "Ah-poo!")
Baby (sounds like "Baby!" but also sometimes "Bay-beeeeeeeee!")
Teddy (sounds like "Teh-dah!")
Daddy (sounds like "Da-dah!")
Mommy (sounds like "Mum-mum!" but also sometimes "Maaaaam!")

- L.

The After-Party & What Nay-Nay Did-Did*

In case you were wondering what a Scarecrow and a Tin Man get up to after hours, it looks a lot like business as usual around here:

... except even more stinkin' cute!

After our big day at the park taking pictures of sad babies and/or slightly less sad babies where you couldn't see their costumes very well, I decided to just let them roam in the nursery and try to take a few shots.

Without further ado I present... Tin Man:

I think we can all agree... 

... that Seth definitely has heart. But just in case there was any doubt... 

... here it is front and center (although he usually wears it on his sleeve).

And now... Scarecrow: 

Appropriately floopy, right? Everything a Scarecrow should be. All is well. 

But wait... what's this? 

Looks like he's putting some serious effort into it now. Better head over to our YouTube™ channel if you want to see what Nay-Nay Did-Did next.

- L.

*I meant to include updates on talking in this post, but I forgot (chalk it up to weary mommy brain). In case it's not already obvious, Nate's the talker (as in chatterbox). So far his sound repertoire includes:

• ma-ma
• da-da
• ba-ba 

• woo-woo
• yee-yee
• did-did
• things I'm forgetting (see weary mommy brain)

... and also nay-nay. I'm at least 95% sure this is Nate being self-referential.

His favorite phrase though?

"Did-did-did-did-did-did!"

Picture it with a sudden upward pitch starting on the second "did" and then descending back down to the starting point. I get some of the biggest smiles out of him out of the blue if I mimic his own intonation at him. I have no idea what his meaning is, but it's clearly something good. "Guess what Nay-Nay did-did?" has also been a popular phrase around here for quite some time.

He also says "mom" and "mom-mom". :)

Seth is less of a talker, although I've heard him on random occasion make all of those sounds (minus "yee"). Think of him more as the strong, silent type – except when it comes to things that are stinkeroo (obviously).

When he does have something to say, it tends to run along the lines of, "ma-da-ba-woo-did". So imagine how my heart melted the day he furrowed his brow, looked me in the eye and deliberately said, "Mom... Mom". Just like that, with a little pause in between and everything. It's the only word he says with such purpose and sometimes when he feels like using his super-quiet inside voice he'll just mouth it. Like in our after-party YouTube™ video. I'm pretty sure he really is giving Nate directions to his destination. ;)

This Is Not A Blog About Laundry

This is not a blog about laundry.
This is not a blog about laundry.
This is not a blog about laundry.
This is not a blog about laundry.
This is not a blog about laundry.

It's a baby blog – honest! With video. So... enjoy!



This one's of Nate, making his incredibly cute gurgling sound. He makes this sound a lot. Seth does not make this sound. I can't make this sound and M. can't really manage it either. It's definitely a Nate thing. It reminds me vaguely of something I heard in a movie once, but I can't think of which one.

Oh, and also he has the hiccups. Super-cute.



This one's of Seth getting an impromptu head and face massage. With feet. He doesn't seem overly perturbed and Nate finds it all quite funny.

- L.

The Oddest Prime: Now With Video

Well, I'm trying out video for the first time at The Oddest Prime since Nate and Seth were both in a chatty mood tonight. Please ignore the food stains and general dishevelment and enjoy.





- L.