Kids Dancing Again

Here is another video of Dominic and Jocelyn dancing. At about the 0:10 second mark, DominicsMom tells Joss to "shake her booty", and she does! It is absolutely hilarious (at least I thought it was.)

After the shaking, both kids start to spin around and around and around.

DominicsDad

Busted Again

The other week I related a story about how Dominic repeated a couple of phrases he had picked up from DominicsMom. He was playing with his cars and talked about the 'stupid cars!'

Well, she confessed to another incident. Last month DominicsMom took Dominic in for a hair cut and as they were walking through the parking lot, a minivan stopped to let them pass. Dominic said, "She's a good idiot!"

Hmmmm, I think that I might have to start taking Dominic to pre-school!

DominicsDad

Elf Yourself II

DominicsUncle Andy, Aunt Laurie, and lil' Cousin Jake also got into the act. Check them out as Jake is really cute! Although Andy does know how to move those hips...

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1700051517

DominicsDad

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to All!

The kids are asleep and eagerly waiting on Santa's visit!

Love,
Jocelyn, Dominic, DominicsMom, & DominicsDad

Photo Booth

A few weeks ago we were at the UTC Mall when we passed a photo booth. Jocelyn was entranced and wanted to go in, so we said "What the heck? Why not..." Both kids got a huge kick out of it and laughed and laughed at their images on the screen. Joss did not fit in the image when she was sitting in the booth, so I had to hold her up, that's why you see my hand and partial face in the picture...


DominicsDad

Pictures

Here are some pictures from the Christmas party:

DominicsDad

"No"

Jocelyn gave me her first "No" last week. Previously, she just used to say "uh-uh" when she didn't want something. But that does not really provide a lot of emphasis and didn't always her her point across.

So the first time I got a "No", I was picking her up from her favorite rocking horse at day care. She didn't want to leave and gave me a hearty series of "No no no no!" Well, it didn't work for her that time. Since then, "No" has become her favorite word. "No" we can't hold her hand, "No" she doesn't want to go to bed...

I can't wait till she learns "Why?"

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The other day we took both kids in to get their flu shots. Daddy went first to set the example and I was quickly followed by Dominic. He whimpered some and teared up a bit, but he took the pain well and let the nurse put a small band-aid on the needle spot. Then it was Joss's turn. Dominic was very worried that she would get hurt and cry, you could see the worry on his face. The nurse was very quick and before Jocelyn could really protest, the shot was done. She wasn't happy, but she didn't cry.

That night I pulled the band-aid off of my arm. It stuck to the skin a lot and so it stung a little. As it was night-night time, I was dressing Joss in her PJ's. I pulled Joss's band-aid off and she did not like it at all, crying a bit as I took it off. Unfortunately, the small round ones the hospital gave us were hard to get a grip on and harder to pull off. I tried to be quick as possible as slow would only drag out the pain. She cried a bit and Dominic looked worried.

Dominic's turn was next and he got nervous as I took his shirt off. When I started to pull at the band-aid, it must have hurt a little as he threw a fit. I abandoned the attempt and let him go for the night. The next morning DominicsMom tried, but Dominic was wise to us now and as soon as she tried, he pitched another fit and we gave up again. Tonight, I knew it had to come off, so we tried immersing it in the hot water of his bath, but it didn't seem to help. So while DominicsMom held him, I peeled the band-aid off as gently as I could. The poor little guy did not like it at all and he SCREAMED... Jocelyn was sitting next to him on the bed and she was so worried. She didn't know why her big brother was crying and screaming and she became afraid and her little face started to puker up. She started to cry as I peeled the band-aid off and she crawled over to DominicsMom, bawling too. As soon as I finished, I picked up Dominic to console him and tell him I was sorry. DominicsMom was doing the same to Joss. Joss gave Dominic a quick kiss to make sure he felt better. She was sooo worried!

Bad DominicsDad...

Elf Yourself

This is a funny website that is making the rounds. Please click the link to check it out!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1511765222

You upload pictures of yourselves and the site pastes it onto dancing elves. Hilarious! Jocelyn definitely steals the show and I got the elf with the big butt. Figures!

Dominics "Dancing" Dad

DominicsMom is Busted

DominicsMom is busted. This afternoon Dominic was playing with his cars and DominicsMom overheard him say "Stupid cars!" One of the cars must not have been playing well with the others. She laughed and returned to what she was doing. Dominic continued to play a little more, then one of the cars must have gotten out of line again as Dominic exclaimed,

"Freakin' cars!"

She's busted. She had a little talk with Dominic, but at least it wasn't the 'F' word...

DominicsDad

How to Turn On the TV by Cole

DominicsUncle Lee with a follow-up story about Cole:

The follow up story is last night when Cole wanted to watch Barney. Barney is Cole's second favorite person in the whole wide world, just after Mommy, but about 5 spots ahead of Daddy. Daddy is behind Barney, grandparents, animals, any blond girl, any other toddler, but just ahead of spinach.

After dinner, Cole ran to the TV, pointed to it and started a little hopping whine about "Barney! Please watch Barney!" As we try to limit him to 30 minutes of TV a day, and he already watched Barney that morning, we said Barney went to sleep and we should play with our toys. Normally this could lead to a tantrum, as this is around Cole's bed time, and he's pretty tired.

But this time, Cole started to dance. Yep, little toddler "out of control, deep knee bending, arms flailing, spinning around the room" dancing. But there was a point to this dancing. After a few seconds, he "danced" closer to the TV, and as he got close, he closed his eyes -- remember, we can't see him because he can't see -- and started pounding at the TV in the general vicinity of the ON button. He'd take a whack at the TV, step back a few paces, take a peek, close his eyes, and step forward again for another whack, then repeat...all the while giggling at his ingenuity. He did this 6 or 7 times before he got the TV on and we could stop laughing…

I'm hoping this stage lasts for awhile because I haven't laughed this hard since the time Dominic's Dad was playing handball on our parents' garage door and thought it was warm outside, so he took his sweat pants off…forgetting that he didn't have any shorts on underneath.

I was dying laughing when I read this. Except for that last part. I don't know what he's talking about.

Ok, ok...it happened. Yeah, I remember that day. We had been playing wall-ball for a bit and I started to get hot, so I decided to take off my sweat pants. I was too lazy to pull off my shoes and was busy working the sweats over them, when I noticed Lee laughing and about to die. I saw the reason he was laughing, I had not put on short pants underneath my sweats and all I had on was my skivvies. I tried to pull up my sweat pants, but I couldn’t pull them back up over my shoes, so I hopped down our sidewalk and into the house. Lee followed me, laughing his little head off...

DominicsDad

Sharing

Yesterday, I mentioned that Jocelyn and Dominic were playing well together under his tent until they got in a fight over an etch-a-sketch. It is now common for the two of them to get in fights over toys. One will see the other with a toy, want it, and proceed to create a fuss until they get it or are given a time-out. Joss will want something, then Dominic will want something and it goes around and around. After a few minutes with the toy they loose interest and go see what new toy the other one has and it starts again.


We have come to the firm conclusion that we need to buy two of every toy, preferably the same color as they are now getting in fights over who has which color toy, witness the fight they had over the otherwise identical etch-a-sketches. (By the way, the etch-a-sketches really hold their attention as they love to scribble on it, erase their 'art', and start over.)

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In another example, Dominic was playing with a rubber frog in the bathtub when Joss decided that she wanted it. She grabbed on to it and started to pull while Dominic held on to it for dear life. Both started to scream and holler. I had to pull Jocelyn away (since Dominic had it first) and she did not like that at all...so she slapped the water really hard, making a big splash. Dominic wailed as water splashed into his eyes.

Hearing Dominic's distress, Jocelyn did it again... She liked her results and raised her arm for a third slap into the water. As I was getting wet I quickly put an end to it with a sharp word to Joss. This only slowed her down momentarily. She slid up behind Dominic and started to wrap him up in her arms, like she does when she tackles him. That would probably have not worked out to well in the tub, so I gave her another warning "Jooooosss..."

If that wasn't allowed, she started to try and pinch his back, but he was too slick and she couldn't get a firm grip. So she cocked her arm back and was about to take a swipe at him when I picked her up and moved her to the far side of the tub. She is one determined little girl! She almost immediately started to slide back towards Dominic when I was able to distract her with a smaller frog toy and complete her bath.

Kids!!!!

DominicsDad

A Story of Cole

DominicsUncle Lee related this story to me concerning Cole:



Cole is starting to show signs of 'plotting' - that is, actively scheming to get what he wants. I think we are in trouble as he gets older, but for now, 2-year old toddler logic is saving us….

Cole didn't want to eat his dinner last night. He wanted to jump straight to his favorite dessert -- soy ice cream with blueberries on top. Absolutely loves it. Well, Mommy and Daddy informed Cole he had to eat his dinner before he got dessert. Cole disagreed with this and picked up a carrot and flung it off his plate. Mommy wasn't pleased and sternly let him know that throwing his food was unacceptable, and that no dessert would be forthcoming if he continued to do this. So then Cole pretends to eat his dinner, but starts slipping is food into his bib. All with a crafty, sly little grin on his face. Once again, Mommy lets Cole know that he has to eat his dinner and that putting it in his bib won't help him get dessert.

A minute later, Cole starts taking both hands and rapid-fire shoveling all of his food off his plate! Kind of like the same motion a dog uses when digging a hole - just rapid wheeling of his little hands to shovel it all into his lap. We look at him in momentary disbelief - has our son gone completely crazy? Or does he really think this will get him his ice cream and blueberries?!? Then we see his face and have to swallow our laughter…our little 2 year old has his eyes screwed tightly shut, with the biggest grin on his face that I have ever seen….he is thinking that if HE can't see himself throwing his food on the floor, then his PARENTS can't see him doing this either!

Heh heh heh…after gaining our composure we were able to reign the food maniac in and give him a time-out. I guess it all stems from the game we play where Cole closes his eyes and then we go "Where did Cole go? I can't see Cole?" I guess now he will learn that we can actually see him when his eyes are closed…


I can just see Cole now closing his eyes and tossing the food. The little stinker!

DominicsUncle Lee has promised a newer picture of Cole, I'll post it when he sends it.

DominicsDad

Hanging in the Tent

On Sunday I built Dominic a tent out of two chairs, a blanket, and a pillow. He had a great time hanging out and playing with his new etch-a-sketch. A little later, Jocelyn woke up and I brought her downstairs. She liked what she saw, wiggled out of my lap, and crawled into the tent to join Dominic. He was agreeable as she lay down next to him and they both shared one cream pillow (which Dominic had absconded with from the couch.) After a bit, Joss became a bit restless and decided that she wanted the pillow, that the blanket was in her eyes, and that Dominic took too much of the pillow, so she needed to remove him from the pillow. Naturally, Dominic objected to all of her notions and a fight started...

I was able to diffuse the situation by giving Joss her own pillow and I was thus able to take the following picture. They actually played that way for 10 minutes! I was amazed at the temporary peace and quiet.

Then Joss decided she wanted the blue etch-a-sketch, but Dominic had it first and wouldn't let go...



DominicsDad

Privacy

You absolutely loose all privacy when you have little kids. The other evening after dinner I was playing with the kids while DominicsMom cleaned up after dinner. At some point, both kids were engrossed in their own activities and I snuck upstairs to use the bathroom (my book was up there...)

I thought I was pretty successful and so left the bathroom door cracked open. After a bit, I noticed a pair of small hands wrap themselves around the door edge. They pushed the door open and Jocelyn poked her head into the bathroom. I thought about yelling for DominicsMom, but I could hear her banging pots around and I didn't want to scare Joss. So I shrugged and did not shoo her out.

Big mistake...

Once she had the door open, Jocelyn stood there staring at me, then cocked her head and gave me a few "Da, Na!" She then walked over to the training toilet we have by the sinks. (We use it as a step ladder for when the kids brush their teeth. Dominic doesn't use it as a toilet anymore and Joss has not begun.) She pushed and slid it over to the bathroom stall - our master bathroom has an open layout with the shower and sinks, having a very (very) small enclosed area for the toilet. She pushed the training toilet up to me and against one wall, then opened it and sat down on it.

She was imitating me and playing going to the bathroom! Of course now, I couldn't close the bathroom door, so I was stuck with her. DominicsMom had mentioned that Joss had done this with her the other day and had wanted her pants and diaper taken off. Sure enough, Joss stood back up, pointed to her pants and said "Daawwwn". She wanted her pants down! So I pulled down her pants, took off her diaper and she sat back down.

Then stood up.

Then sat back down.

She repeated this several times, all the while chattering away at me. I asked her a couple of times, "Joss, do you have to go pee pee? Do you have to go poo-poo?"

"Uh-uh."

Great, she was just playing.

After several minutes of this, I was done in more ways than one. I tried to shoo her out so I could close the door and finish.

"Uh-uh!" She wanted to stay. So I mentally shrugged to myself, finished up what I had to do, and then squeezed past Joss to get out. At about that time DominicsMom came up and apologized, she hadn't realized that Jocelyn had wandered upstairs. We both turned back to Joss, who was still sitting on her toilet. We asked if she was done and we received the expected, "Uh-uh."

It took us a few more minutes to get her off of her toilet so we could get her ready for bed.

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Jocelyn is not ready for toilet training yet, she's just imitating us and playing. We are both secretly hoping that we can keep her interested in sitting on the toilet so that we can get her toilet trained early.

Last night, she was on her toilet again (which she insists on dragging into the toilet stall, making it tough on us as it is so confined.) She did her typical up down up down routine, all the while chattering away at DominicsMom. At one point when she had stood up and moved away from her toilet, DominicsMom tried to pick her up to put her into her jammies. Joss squatted down and shook her head violently, so DominicsMom let her continue a bit more.

A few minutes later, Jocelyn squated down next to her toilet and proceeded to pee all over the bathroom floor! DominicsMom and I had to laugh, Joss was playing at sitting on the toilet, but when she actually had to do, she squated down and peed on the floor!

She is going to be soooo much trouble!!

DominicsDad

Funny Stuff at the Table

Dominic and Jocelyn feed off each other when it comes to acting silly. Tonight was a case in point...

At about the 0:33 second mark, listen for Dominic...You may have to turn up your volume to catch it.

DominicsDad

Future Bribe Material

I'm going to make sure I keep a copy of this clip...we can use it against him when he starts to date.

"Listen to me or your date gets to see this video!"

DominicsDad

Feeding Fish

Feeding the fish at Mema's.

DominicsDad

Them Crazy Kids

Dominic and Joss can be funny. They each grabbed a hammer and proceeded to bang the day lights out of this poor box. At the end of the video, you can see Joss get excited and do a little dance...

DominicsDad

Photo with Santa

A classic photo of our kids…on Saturday we were at Fashion Valley Mall and we saw Santa. Dominic wanted to see Santa, give him his list, and have his picture taken. All was well, except that we forgot to ask Joss. She wanted nothing to do with Santa and you can see that clearly on her face as Santa struggles to hold on to her.

I tried to sit next to Santa with her on my lap, but she refused to sit still, but turned and tried to hold on tight while whimpering the whole time. With a long line behind us, I gave up, dropped her on Santa's lap, and let the photographer snap away. When the photographer was done, I picked up Joss and she quieted down right away (well, after I moved away from Santa...) Santa took some time to ask if Dominic had been a good boy, what he wanted for Christmas, and to remind him to listen to his mother (which he did for all of 5 minutes.) Dominic had a good time and I think this may have been the first time he sat still for Santa (or the Easter bunny...)

Enjoy!




DominicsDad