The Princess & the Pinball

A couple weeks ago, some friends were asking about if we were considering having another baby and if so - would I want another boy or girl. { NO, THIS IS NOT A SURPRISE POST ABOUT A NEW ADDITION TO OUR FAMILY SO JUST GET IT OUT OF YOUR HEAD RIGHT NOW!} And I had one of those moments where I started to answer and then realized I didn't actually know what to say! Which would have been a good cue to stop talking. You would think.

So anyway, that has caused me to do a lot of thinking lately about these two little humans that live here with us. And how different they are from one another.

Annie is very focused, hard to distract or disuade. In fact, she'll argue about everything on the agenda because she only wants to keep doing what she's doing right now, this very moment. She doesn't want to go somewhere and then once we get there, she can't bear to leave.

Riley, on the other hand, zooms from one thing to another. His time limit for everything is about 3.5 minutes. That includes meals, baths, riding in the stroller, ... Really the only thing he will truely focus on is mischief. That's when he can really buckle down.

Annie loves to be indoors; Riley wants to be outside.

Annie's world revolves around storylines and pretend. She can sit and look through books or play Polly Pockets for an hour. She'll beg to watch shows all day long. And I can't even count how many times a day I hear "Pretend that..."

For Riley, though, it's music. Any music, from Benjy practicing guitar to music in stores (which he always notices, no matter how soft) to somebody's ringtone. And he always picks one song per cd that he wants to listen to over and over and over again. Sad to say, his favorite right now is "Kiss the Girl" from the Little Mermaid, or Sha-La-La-La as he calls it. Much more manly.

Riley loves broccoli and tries to reach over and steal mine off my plate; Annie worries over any little speck of green herb because it might be broccoli.

Annie loves to color and draw pictures; Riley only likes to do so in my Bible or day planner. (Yes, I'm old-school like that.)

Annie is very verbal and likes to explain things and have rules for how everybody is to do everything. Riley just wants to run and jump on things and wrestle. His idea of communicating is a high-pitched
scream that sounds like a teapot.

Annie eats and draws with her right hand; looks like Riley's going to be a lefty.

Riley sucks his fingers, loves blankets and stuffed animals, and really gets a great deal of satisfaction out of going to bed and sleeping. For Annie, it's more of a punishment. (Although she is making tremendous improvement in this area!)

Annie desperately wants friends around to play with. Riley just wants people around to bite. And pinch.

So as for whether I would want another boy or girl, it's a good thing it's not my decision because I still don't have an answer to that question. Unfortunately, though, I just keep on talking...

Highlights

Here's the plan for catching up: I'm going to have to resort to a monthly list of highlights covering everything since the end of last summer. This is going to be a long one, folks! But I will sprinkle pictures throughout to bait you along. Good luck!

SEPTEMBER
Hot-air balloons in Boise, trips to the cabin, Lakeview pool (where Riley found a band-aid to play with, used of course!), hanging out with Val-Val on Monday mornings, Annie in Cubbies and me teaching Sparks, and lots and lots of canning!

OCTOBER
PUMPKIN PATCH!!!, 3 weeks with the Beck cousins, carving our Jack-o-lantern, Trunk-or-Treat, Annie gets good at riding her bike.

NOVEMBER

Playdates with friends, Awana Pilgrim & Indian Feast, Benjy working at CostCo, Riley turns two on Thanksgiving Day!

 DECEMBER
Picking out a Christmas tree at Wissell Farms, my Birthday Bowling Bash with friends, Annie in the Christmas program at church, Christmas with the Becks, a whole week at the cabin!

 JANUARY
Playing with new Christmas toys, Tim heads to Alaska (this is actually a lowlight, not a highlight), playing at the park - YES, in JANUARY, it was that warm!, first Family Movie Night!

FEBRUARY
Free vacation in McCall, a week in Portland with Faith (visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/faithcanfield and www.robiesgotfaith.org), and a fancy new hairdo thanks to friends.

                                                                      And that's just the short story.

Overwhelmed!

I felt like I was back on track after my two-posts-in-one-day feat and that I would be totally motivated to stay committed to my goal of posting once a week. I also thought I was going to lose 5 pounds that month by exersizing (why can I NEVER spell that word?!? I give up!) three times a week. And that I was going to get a good chunk of Annie's new memory verse book done. AND that I was going to get all my Awana lessons planned out for the rest of the year. WHAT was I thinking? I must have had an exceptional night of sleep that night!

So none of those things happened in January. Or February. Even including the extra day we had for Leap Year! And now it's March. The reason I can't get around to posting anything on this blog is that I'm spending all my free time lately re-rolling roll after roll of toilet paper that Riley got to. Ok, so that's not the real reason. But the days are just filled with a million little jobs and I seem to only get things done right before they absolutely need to be done. Like Annie's Cubbies homework. Good thing that girl has such a phenomenal memory or I would be so busted!

Since nobody is breathing down my back (here at home, anyway) to sit down and write, the days are slipping by. Riley has started to talk in sentences. Annie writes her name on everything. Their favorite thing to do is to turn off all the lights at night and run around in circles in the living room while blasting bluegrass music. Usually dressed like this:

                          Or like this:

Right now I'm enjoying the rare peacefulness that comes when they actually play with toys - instead of with, say, toilet paper or a tube of diaper rash cream. There's a peacefulness about that too, but it's an eerily silent peacefulness. One that I usually spend debating "Should I go see what's going on? Or would I rather enjoy this and just clean up whatever mess it is later..."

Anyway, I'm going to re-commit to posting once a week. But as for those 5 pounds... all this typing has made me hungry. For cookies, specifically.