Cicadas

She loves her bugs. Its loud here. You can hear the insects all the time. Abby loves pick them up and talk to them. Yet if one falls on her or lands on her leg, its freak out city. I can't wait until they are gone.

Cuddle Time

Abby sure does love her little brother. She asks at least twice a day to hold Noah. She loves to lay with him on the couch. At bedtime we bring him in her room for storytime and to say goodnight. I always lay him on the bed next to her. I ask her if Noah can sleep in her room and she laughs and tells me "No boys in my bed." Hahaha, we'll see how long that lasts.

Bug's Life

Can you see them? The hundreds of creepy crawlies making their way out of the ground and up the tree.

It's the 13 year cicada bug, hatching all over our front yard and crawling up our trees. Ewww. I put on a brave face so Abby doesn't grow up scared of these ugly creatures but ewww. Like its name the 13 year cicada only hatches every 13 years (eggs are in the grass) climbs up the trees, makes an awful noise for a month or so, mates, lay its eggs and dies. This is the first time I've witnesses the madness of these insects.

Abby loves them. She's two and loves all animals, spiders, ants and cicadas. In 13 years she'll hate them and Noah will love them... its the circle of life.

Our friend, Kai, stopped by to pick up something today and also got excited about the bugs. Abby even convinced him she need to be picked up so she could get a closer look at the bugs.

Our cicadas were made famous yesterday in their short life. A photographer from work came out and shot some video of the nasty insects for file footage. I'm sure it will see a lot of air time in the next few days. Not sure I want to be known as the bug house but its better than being a murder house or drug house.

Update

Noah is feeling much better. I took him in Monday afternoon. His pediatrician said if the fever continued through the night we would need to take him into the hospital but thankfully it dropped. He's still stuffy but feeling 100% better than last weekend. He's such a happy baby. The smiles he gives us now are so great. He recognizes Dave, Abby and my voice. He's biggest problem right now is he grabs he's own hair and not realizing what he's doing pulls on it... which makes him cry. It's pretty funny to watch... does it mean he needs a haircut? No way... maybe at the end of the summer.

Sorry for the crazy picture, this was the three of us after dinner/daycare the other night.

The last few weeks at school Abby has had awful anxiety. Crying for half hour before school which continues through drop off. Starts again around lunchtime and into nap time. At one point her teacher told us if she didn't stop crying at nap time she was going to be spending the 2 hours in the hallway. While a week later and its like she finally got it together. Not sure what was freaking her out or why but she's over it and back to her happy self. I've been trying to let her help pick out her clothes in the morning... and it's starting to get warm here. Near 80 almost daily. And every day she wants her fleece jacket and her winter cap. Yeah she's that kid. She does take them off at school without a problem but it is pretty funny when she plays in the yard before school dressed like this.

See all the shoes in the background, the neighbor girl is a year older and gave Abby about 15 pairs of slightly used shoes. Abby loves them. She is learning how to put them on by herself. They aren't always on the right foot but its one less thing she needs help with in the morning.

Sick

Noah has his first cold. He spent the weekend clinging to me. Saturday night he slept in bed with me and yesterday we spent most of the day lying on the couch. Abby kept giving him hug and kisses to make him feel better. We called the nurse exchange last night to find out what we could give him because he's still so young. They said one more dose of Tylenol and to call this morning if he's still running a fever. So since he's still running a fever, we are to the pedi's office in a little while. Noah's so stuffy and uncomfortable, hopefully the doctor can give him something.

This is from yesterday.

Explaining a Headache

Sometimes we find things that are very hard to explain to a two year old. Today I had a headache all day. When we got home, I was feeding Noah, when the following conversation took place with Abby.

Abby: "You read me this book, daddy?" (Side note--She now tells us "I can't read the words in the book." Haha, makes me laugh).
Me: "No, I'm feeding Noah right now, and I have a really bad headache."
Abby: "You have a headache?"
Me: "Yeah, it hurts really bad."
Abby: "Where?"
Me: "In my head."
Abby (looking around my head): "Where in your head?"

At this point, I'm kind of confused. What do you say to this?

Me: "On the inside of my head."
Abby (searching my head high and low to find a "traditional" sign of an owie): "Where on the inside?"
Me: "Right in the middle of my head"
Abby (now looking perplexed, looks in my ear): "You have headache in there (pointing to my ear)."
Me: "Haha, yes, inside there."

She then ponders her next move for a minute. She goes and gets her fake salt shaker from her kitchen and brings it over to me.

Abby: "I put salt in your owie? It will feel better."
Me (laughing out loud): "Why would that make it feel better?"
Abby: "Salt on your owie makes it better."
Me: "Haha, ok, you can add salt to my owie."
Abby then pretends to pour salt in my ear.
Abby: "Your headache feel better?"
Me: "Yes, Abby, it feels much better. Thank you, you're very sweet."
Abby: "You're welcome."

Mother's Day Weekend

Mother's Day weekend was wonderful at the Pleimann house. Saturday we just hung out. I put Abby to work washing windows. She thought she won the lottery and I hope no one calls social services. I know it's not a stellar job but it looks a lot better than before.

Saturday night, Dave cooked an amazing dinner, Abby supervised by providing music and dancing in her "princess" skirt.

When we first looked at this house, it had benches out front and I had hoped they would forget them and we would inherit them. No luck. But I had mentioned that it would make a great Mother's day gift... and not only did I get a bench but a bench, rocker and an end table. Dave had brought them home in the car and sent the kids and I on a walk so he could set up the furniture and he hoped I would see it on the way home...

I totally didn't see it. Walked right past it. I do have to say we got distracted by the two bunnies who have a started hanging out in our yard. So after we were inside and getting ready to take Abby to bed, Dave suggested we go back outside. I was very excited when I saw the new furniture. We spend a lot of time in our front yard and it will be wonderful to have somewhere to sit while Abby looks for worms.

This morning we headed to the zoo, its our yearly tradition. Noah was only awake for about 20 minutes of the 2+ hour trip. Yep, still sucking his thumb.

Abby really wanted to see snakes so we checked out the herpetarium. It's full of snakes, turtles and lizards. She loved it. She really loved all the different turtles. I'm sure once she realizes she can ask for a pet a reptile will be at the top of her list.

Abby also wanted to see giraffe's, I've lived here 10 years now and I had never seen the giraffe's out. And there was a calf, I didn't take its picture but it was there.

And this is our 3rd annual Mommy & kids picture. I love it. Happy Mother's Day!