Oak'ey be so dangerous..

Oak knows how to climb UP stairs but not down. So we've been trying to keep him away from the stairs when we are upstairs. Dakota even knows and as soon as Oak even looks towards the stairs, she scolds Oakley "NO NO Oak'ey. No no stairs!" And she'll try to shut the door to the bedroom so he can't get out, or she'll pull on his clothes or almost strangle him trying to get him to stay put. I've been trying to teach her to be softer with him and that she doesn't have to boss him around that much. It's ok, if he looks towards the stairs LOL. Just don't let him go down etc...

So this morning I am in my room putting some clothes away and I thought the kids were playing in their bedroom. I could see the hall by the stairs and never saw them cross it. Suddenly, I hear Dakota saying "Help me! Help me! NO NO Oak'ey!!!"

So I reply by telling Dakota, "Leave him alone. It's okay." (Thinking they are in their room and she is mad that he is looking at the stairs or going anywhere near the door). I continue to hear her scolding him and start to worry she might be hurting him, so I start towards their room when I realize Dakota is at the top of the stairs. Lo and behold, they had crossed the hall w/o me noticing and Oakley was suspended head first down the stairs with Dakota pulling on the footy of his PJ's like they are reigns and holding on for dear life!

Thank you miss Dakota. THIS time you were so helpful! If it weren't for her, Oak would have tumbled down a full flight of stairs head first.

After I grabbed Oaklely, Dakota says, "Mama, Oak'ey be soooo dangerous!"

I had to agree. We also gave her tons of praise for being a great big sister.

Guess I'll have to keep a closer eye on those two than I thought!

Kas and Bape

We spend a lot of time with the kid's cousins and Lucy calls me 'Kas' all the time. Dakota is so use to being around her that she's started calling me 'Kas' interchangeably with 'Mama'.

Similarly, I call Doug 'Babe' most the time.

So, this morning, we were all laying in bed together and Doug and Dakota were having a pseudo pillow fight.

Dakota turns to me and says, "Kas, Bape hit Koda with a pillow."

Hahaha...

Giggles

Tonight while I was B-feeding Oakley in the rocking chair, Dakota was trying to climb up on the chair with us. Oakley started kicking her away gently with his foot. Dakota kept sliding off the chair exclaiming, "OOOPS!". This happened over and over till both kids were giggling uncontrollably at each other.

Nights like this, I realize how much I love having 2 kids!

Earrings

So Dakota has been begging for earrings for months now. She always tries to put my earrings in her ears and admires them when I wear them. Doug tried talking her out of it by telling her it was going to hurt and that it would be "OUCH earrings". She'd just replay, "OKAAAAY! Ouch earrings!!!!"

This has gone on for about 6 months now. And randomly she'll just come up to us and say, "PUH-LEEEEEASE Koda have ouch earrings??" And every time, we say, its gonna hurt and they'll have to poke her ears and she just says 'ok'.

So the other morning she was asking again and we went thru all the same conversations and she kept saying "YEEESSSS! Ouch earrings!" "PUH-LEEEEEASE???" So finally Doug relented and I took her to get her ears pierced that day.

She picked them out herself (her birth stone-Aquamarine) and then sat very very still in the chair with her hands folded in her lap... waiting for her 'ouch' earrings. She waiting while the girl drew little dots on her ears and compared them. I warned her again that it was going to hurt so she wouldn't be shocked. Then came the punch! She squealed and tear came down her cheek. But I told her over and over that she was 'so brave' and that we were almost done and she was going to have pretty earrings! She was resistant the second time around but I held her hands and told her that we just had to do one more so she could have pretty earrings on both ears and then we would be all done and she'd have her pretty earrings forever! So she bravely held my hand and said, "O-o-kay" and let the lady do the other ear. She cried again for a second and then as soon as we put the mirror in front of her face and showed them to her, the tears stopped and a big smile crept across her face.

Then she looked at me and said, "Mamma, I so brave. Look! Parkly (sparkly) earrings!"

She was pretty happy after that and skipped with joy all the way back to the car. She also stopped and showed anyone who would listen. Then she insisted we call Mima and tell her.... So I dialed my mom and just got voicemail. I explained to Dakota that Grandma wasn't there and she replied, "How about Betty?" Betty is my aunt and Dakota loves her.

She has been thrilled all week about her new earrings and likes to tell everyone how brave she was and how pretty they are! All in all, she doesn't regret it and we don't either. :) She may be young, but she definitely knew what she wanted this time!

Ramblings of a 2-yo

Dakota picks up the binky holder that attaches to the diaper bag that looks kind of like a mini purse and says, "Mama, my hand bag!" I couldn't figure out if she really knew that term and was a little shocked, but later while watch Madagascar 2, I realized they say that. She seems to pick up on everything! Better be careful what she watches!

"Mama, wanna watch Kung Poo Nanna!" (Kung Fu Panda)

She also cut the top of her finger and came to me with blood trickling down, "Mama, Koda ouch singer (finger). Mama!! Sleeping Beauty singer (finger)!!"

Again, gotta pay attention to what she watches. And we obviously watch too many movies at our house :)

Creepy Crawler

Yesterday, I left Oakley downstairs and ran upstairs to get a diaper ask Doug to change his diaper. Dakota followed me up, and we were all in the master bedroom talking. Doug agreed and started toward the door when I hear him exclaim, "What THE ???? Are you sure you left him downstairs???"

I replied, "100% sure, why? Did he climb up the stairs?"

Yes, indeed he did. He was making his way into our room as we spoke.

My creepy crawler is now a climber as well!

He absolutely HATES being left alone in a room and this is proof! I am convinced his stair climbing is a direct result of his sheer will power to be in the same room with us.

O-Kaaaaaay

For over 6 months now, Dakota has said "OK!" in place of 'yes'. She said it all the time and in every tone depending on the situation. But the past week or so, she has said 'yes' more than once, and her new response for 'yes' is "Uh-Hmmmmm" (uh-huh). It's pretty cute when she does it.

She also LOVES everything lately. She is learning how to express herself more and one of the ways she does this is by saying "I WUUUV ______". It's everything from 'I love apples' to 'I love Mama's car' to 'I love food hot'.

So lately, our normal conversations look something like this...

Dakota: "Mama, I WUUUV deer."
Me: "You do??"
Dakota: "UH-HMMMMMMMMMM!"