Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

We had a good MLK holiday, although the weather left a little to be desired. Instead of camping or hiking, we ended up bundling up in puffy coats (Allie) and going miniature golfing with some friends. We ended the evening with a stop at Koja for some yummy sushi. Damon ate six pieces himself; we're going to have to up our order next time to keep up with him!

Ever since Kyla started crawling, I have begun to see time speed up. You know that happens from time to time, like your kids are rolling along steadily, then suddenly edge over onto a hill and pick up momentum. They start rolling faster and faster and I find it's hard to keep up with how much they are growing and changing. Kyla is the perfect example. She had only been crawling for a couple of days when I found her like this:

Who knew she could do that? She had a rough couple of days after she learned to get into a sitting position, and didn't want to fall asleep. She kept sitting up, pulling at the bumper in her crib, waiting for me to come get her. After laying her down repeatedly for over an hour, she finally fell asleep, looking as though she had given up and just tipped over. Fortunately, she's not doing that anymore. Some of my favorite things about Kyla are:

• Her chubby cheeks and tiny nose.
• Her toothless smile
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  The way she acts like a puppy, crawling around with socks in her mouth and panting excitedly when she sees something she wants.
• Her awkward laugh. While she smiles a lot, she rarely laughs, so when I hear it, I can't seem to get enough.
• The way she will eat anything I offer her. She has become quite proficient at getting food into her mouth, and often "cleans" the floor for me by finding things I have left behind.
• The way she wants to be a part of things. She will crawl to where the action is. She also loves being carried around in the backpack, and was such a champ while we were golfing yesterday. Plus, I love any excuse to take a pic of her in that hat.
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Allie continues to be both the hardest and the most fun little girl around. She surprised me yesterday with her golfing "skills," opting for the field hockey method of trying to get the ball into the cup. She never got frustrated and really seemed to enjoy herself. I think she just liked wearing her puffy red coat, to be honest.

Here are some things you may or may not know about Allie:

• She has a fingernail fettish. She likes to "pick them." That is, she likes me to clip them half way so she can peel off the other half. But it goes beyond herself; she likes to "pick" everyone else's fingernails, too, and has even done my toenails for me. Silly.
• She loves to use public restrooms. Almost without fail, if we are out in public, she will need to use the bathroom. Yesterday during our mini golf, I didn't want to take her all the way back inside, so we went behind the old boat on the 10th hole and I pulled down her pants and she went in the bushes.
• She loves chapstick, lipstick and lip gloss. If you want to be her best friend, just give her one of those things and she will love you forever (or until it runs out). She always seems to know where I have stashed my flavored lip gloss and insists that I put some on for her because she "needs to look pretty!" She can be a mess, hair raggedy and still in her jammies, but if she's got some chapstick on, she feels pretty.
• She would eat all day long if I let her. She wants a taste of everything anyone else has, but rarely finishes anything (unless I keep hounding her). It's a bad habit, but since I am anti-snacking, she has learned to eat what she is served, even if she comes back to it later.
• She hates getting her hair combed and cries every time I do it, no matter how quickly and gently I get it done. I am looking forward to the day that she can do her own hair or gets less whiney about letting me do it.
• She is eternally optomistic. Whenever she has a potty training accident, her response is, "I can keep these ones dry." I know she's only two, but she so easily forgets her past failures and is ready to move on. Which brings me to...
• She was doing great with potty training for a while, but has regressed. I know this is not uncommon, but I really hate it. She was waking up dry very consistently for weeks, but hasn't been dry many mornings lately. I put her back in pull-ups for the night because I am so sick of doing all that laundry! I only have 5 or 6 more and then I'm not going to buy any more. We stopped giving her potty candies and I don't know if that's the reason, but she has had a few day accidents, too. I am trying a new thing now where I set a timer for random intervals throughout the day and if she's dry when it goes off, she can have a candy. We'll see how that works.

I miss Damon a lot while he's gone at school. But things are much quieter while he's gone. Allie is much more independent than Damon, and she will play by herself a lot more. Damon would just follow me around and I had to be sitting in the same room with him for him to play. He still is like that to a great degree--he wants to be where I am. But he and Allie are playing a lot better together. He's usually very good about letting her play with him and doesn't mind her tagging along. Here are some things about Damon that you may or may not know:

• He likes to stay on a schedule as much as (if not more than) I do. If it's not 8:00, he doesn't want to go to bed. He likes his routine and doesn't like to vary much from it.
• Unlike Allie, he does not like to use public restrooms. He would rather hold it until the point of no return than use a bathroom other than ours at home.
• He's very private and I think being seen naked is one of his biggest fears. Learning to use the urinal without exposing himself has been a challenge he has had to face.
• He has become a picky eater, which may account for how skinny he's looking these days. He tells me often (almost nightly) that he doesn't like what we're having for dinner. I give him two choices--eat it or be hungry. He has also learned that he can eat just about anything when he wants to, which I tell him will be good for when he goes on a mission.
• I have to force him to be independent. I'm quite sure he would still let me feed him, get him dressed, and clean up after him if I was willing. I'm not, though, and I am constantly reminding him that he is capable of doing a lot for himself.
• He's very easily frustrated and it keeps him from doing things. He first learned to ride a bike without training wheels almost a year ago, but hasn't wanted to ride since taking a bad fall shortly after. No amount of encouragement has broken through his defenses yet, and he refuses to try again. We're working on this, but I am yet to figure out how to get through to him.
• He loves to "collect" things. And strange things, too, like baby food jars, pencils he finds at school, gift cards without a balance...I don't know exactly what he has planned for everything he wants to keep, but I love saving something for him, knowing he will love it.
• He picks things up so quickly, and I'm amazed at how much he has learned in school this year. I think Heavenly Father blessed him with this ability because he knew how easily frustrated he becomes.
• He has, and always has had, an infectious laugh. He thoroughly enjoys many things and it's hard not to be happy when he's around.

I love my kids. I may not express it often enough, but I really really enjoy being a mom. I love spending time together as a family and trying new things together. On our way home yesterday, I looked back at the three of them and had to smile. For as much as they wear me out, I am pleased to occasionally return the favor.

Oh, and yes, I know that Kyla is still too young to be forward facing, but we just barely moved her up to Allie's old seat and we hadn't turned it around yet and the straps were too long. Ah well, at least we felt like we were being safe...