Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax

Well, we had one really good night/day last weekend where Molly only got up once at night, took a 2-hour morning nap, a three-hour afternoon nap, and then was tired and ready for bed at her normal bedtime. I was hoping we were on to something good, but she’s been sleeping terribly all week. Three of her eyeteeth have broken through, the two bottom molars are most of the way in, and the top molars are poking through in multiple places. There is a giant bulge in her gum where the fourth eyetooth is waiting to make its appearance, and I think it might be the cause of all the sleeplessness and crabbiness over the last few days. When Molly is having an especially bad tooth time, she doesn’t want to eat, doesn’t want to nurse, and doesn't want to sleep (which is a really exhausting combination).I’m hoping that she'll get some relief as soon as that last eyetooth pops through and then we can work on that elusive "sleeping through the night" thing. ;)

Terrible teeth aside, Molly has been so sweet and funny lately. She's saying all kinds of stuff (banana and TV being two recent word acquisitions) and she has a funny sense of humor. She loves to play "monster" – if you roar at her and chase after her, she'll turn tail and run off, squealing all the way. She knows when she has a hold of a forbidden object and will run away with it, so you can’t take it from her. She can climb stairs (and attempts to climb up the slide ladder at the park) and likes to throw balls. Molly likes to go to the park, but is no longer content to sit in the stroller or let Mama carry her – she wants to get down and PLAY! Since her favorite activity appears to be picking up the woodchips under the play structure and attempting to eat them, this new development is a little problematic. She likes to go down the kiddie slides (with Mama's help) and really likes the baby swings.

Grandma took Molly to buy her very first pair of real shoes the other week – she looks so cute and grown up in her white walkers (with pink flowers, of course). Mama got Max some new shoes while we were there – since his fat little feet require extra-wide shoes, it can be challenging (and expensive) to find him shoes that fit. He now has a very cool pair of tennis shoes and a nice pair of dress shoes (with correspond to a rather big hole in my bank account ;). Max really loves to shop shopping -- the store we go to is an old-fashioned shoe store, complete with a little wooden pony ride (which, unfortunately, was temporarily absent during this visit) and lollipops for cooperative little boys.

Max has been a riot lately too -- he's very much getting to the stage where he wants to have a say in everything. He wants to pick out his own snacks, his own bedtime stories, his own bedtime song, his own DVDs, and he even wants to tell you which way to turn when you're out driving ("dis way!"). Thank goodness he hasn't expressed any preference about his clothing -- at least we're spared that battle! I keep thinking he's "just two" and it's hard to believe that he'll be THREE in a few more months. He knows all his letters now, is pretty good with his colors, and has recently become really interested in counting (although things start breaking down after five). Of course, we haven't made any more potty training progress -- Max likes to sit on the potty and read stories and play with toys, but he doesn't seem that interested in actually peeing or pooping on the potty. He does very interested in the idea of it -- Once Upon a Potty is still one of his favorite books and he's recently become fascinated with It's Potty Time video (even though I think it's a tad creepy). We did break down and buy him a copy of Elmo's Potty Time, but he actually doesn't seem to like it that much. He is waking up dry in the morning and from naps a lot of the time and he does come and tell us when he's pooped, so I suppose that's something.

So, now I guess it's just the count down to Halloween -- the weather here has been beautiful and I hope everyone feels better soon so we can get out and enjoy it! Fall is my absolute favorite season and it never lasts long enough for me.