A Somewhat Disturbing Tea Party - Addendum

Great news.  Mystery solved!  Pondering over. 



Lucy's favorite shows (and also Elliot's) at the moment are these:
1.  Strawberry Shortcake
2.  Doc McStuffins
3.  Bo On the Go
4.  Daniel Tiger


Guess which TV character routinely pulls out her cell phone (while with her friends) -- usually to see where so-and-so is or coordinate a future visit, etc.  Yes.  You guessed it.

Hah!  Daniel figured it out.  So despite the (possibly?) growing movement of hands-free mamas ... with their fears of "missing childhoods"by being distracted with your cell phone (and other electronics), it appears that at least this little behavior of Lucy's is NOT due to copying a phone-obsessed mother.  SCORE. 


Of all the ways I may be screwing up my kids while trying my BEST not to... being on my phone too much is not currently one of them.


And although I sometimes worry that I'm going to want to raise my kids in a bubble, I can definitely see that withholding Strawberry Shortcake for fear of teaching poor phone etiquette... that's bubble land, for sure. 
 

So carry on, Strawberry Shortcake -- carry on with your catchy theme song and your female-empowering, problem-solving, fruit-loving stories. 
 

Some days, we need you just as much as your "real" friends.

A Somewhat Disturbing Tea Party

We had a tea party yesterday.  It was so nice.  We used the cute polka-dotted tea set Sadie bought for the kids, and (major treat), we ate REAL cookies--party favors from a friend's recent Frozen themed birthday party.



The kids were ecstatic.  It had been a while since we had a full-out tea party with real tea, etc. We put on hats, we got Oliver a seat at the table.



Everything was splendid.



And then Lucy's pretend phone began to ring.  Not for real, of course.  Just pretend.  But she answered it, and this was her half of the conversation:

"Oh, thank you!  I'd love to come over to your house, but I'm having a tea party now.  Maybe next time.  Okay, I love you, too.  Bye."

Huh, I thought.  How funny.

 
Then her pretend phone rang again.  and again.  and again.  And each time it rang, she answered it and had this half-conversation with whatever pretend person was on the other side of the phone.  And this, despite the fact that Elliot and I were attempting to engage her in conversation (about where they were born, what the weather has been like, etc.).  She spent probably half of our tea party "on the phone".



So then I was thinking... wait.  Is this her perception of how I am when we're doing fun things together??  I mean... I don't feel like I'm on my phone very much, except maybe in the car when they're watching shows anyways.



But this somewhat disturbing tea party has given me pause about answering my phone while we're playing.  I'm not sure what to do about that, though--because it's not like I want to teach her not to answer her phone (the hypothetical, some-day teenage phone she will have).  You need to answer your phone.  And if I waited until the kids were asleep to return phone calls, they would simply never be returned.

So what is the teaching point here??  Is it that she needs to prioritize her friends/family she's actually spending physical time with, as opposed to the imaginary person on the other end of her pretend phone call?  Or is it that I am spending too much time on my phone, or somehow conveying the message that I'd always rather talk on the phone when someone calls, than spend time with my kids?

Or is it a completely normal milestone -- story-telling... and re-enacting what you've seen (without attaching life-shaping conclusions about one's childhood).



I'm still pondering it.

Six Months Old (Oliver's Monthly Photo)

Oliver is HALF A YEAR old!!



I am changing it up!  This month I photographed Oliver in (one of) his Christmas onesies in the studio.
 

I love these pictures.  They are so HIM.



New things about Oliver this month:

Oliver is getting his first TOOTH!!!  This is significant not only because it's his first... and not only because it's the earliest of any of the kids... but because it is the FIRST TOOTH that I noticed before my mom!  Mimi is the best new-tooth-detector around.  But this one, I discovered!



We went for his 6 month check up the other day.  He is perfect.  95th percentile for height (28 inches!), 75th percentile for weight (18 lbs), and 80th percentile for head circumference.  He's a growing boy.
 

He is so close to crawling.  I can't believe that in the last month, he's gone from a strong tummy-timer to a full fledged sitter-upper and rock-back-and-forth-on-all-fours-er.  Amazing.  He's not just sitting, he's solidly sitting!  Every once in a while, Elliot goes over to him and pushes his index finger on the center of Oliver's forehead.  It's so sad.  He goes straight backwards.


But mostly, he sits very solidly, and the kids are excited about his little milestones.  He now joins us at the table for meals, and he seems to really enjoy that.  He'll start solids (acorn squash) tomorrow.



He is so ticklish. It is hilarious.  He loves to be tickled almost as much (or maybe more?) as Lucy.  They get that from Daniel.  I've never really enjoyed being tickled... and I don't think Elliot does, either.  But Daniel, Lucy, and Oliver love it.  Oliver particularly adores when you bury your nose in his tummy.  That is the best.



Lucy loves getting Oliver to laugh by going, "ah--ah--AH--AHHHH--CHOOOO!!"  He thinks it's hilarious.  And so does she.


Elliot has recently taken to loving holding Oliver.  He stands there with his arms outstretched in front of him, and I hold Oliver up right in front of him, and he wraps his arms around his back and holds on for dear life.  I don't really let go of Oliver (though I do with Lucy), but Elliot believes he's fully holding him, and he loves it.  He seems like such a big brother!



He is still the smiley-est baby I've ever seen.  He is pleased so much of the time.  Just carrying from room to room, if you hold him up high, he is all smiles.  His grin is contagious.

Oliver, we love you and adore your sweet smiles and laughs.  You are so precious to all of us.  We are excited to know you more in the months (and years) to come!!


 Daddy and I are so grateful for you.

And... because I am a semi-perfectionist who cannot stand NOT to continue the pattern of blue-and-white striped photos, and because he is SO stinkin' cute, here are the ones from this month, 6 months old.

Photographing My Kids

Do you know what I am doing today?  Placing people's final photography orders.  People.  This is HUGE.  There is light at the end of the tunnel.  I am almost finished with this fall's photography sessions.  If you were wondering why I've posted so few blogs lately... that's why.  But I am almost done! Hallelujah.



I took the kids up to McKinney the other day to see Chestnut Square Historical Village, which is really cool!  The "mom-tographer" group I'm a part of hosted little photo-op stations, with the grand finale of a little table with COOKIES on it.  This, I assure you, made the whole outing worth it from the kids' perspective.



Sometimes I really worry that I'm photographing the kids too much and that they'll resent me for it someday.  Or even right now!  I'm torn, because I want the kids to have genuine fun and not feel like they're performing for a camera... but at the same time, I do want to capture them enjoying themselves, and I'm not good at sketching.  So photos it is.



Some people have asked me how I get them to pose and smile.  Particularly people in the mom-tographer group, many of whose kids are a little older and have seriously out-grown the whole pose-and-smile stage.



My answer is that once I get them how I want them to be posed, then I tell them to stay there, and I try to engage them in conversation or song.  I start clicking when they're engaged.  Because if I just start taking photos of them posed there, they come out terrible.



Here Elliot and I were playing a little "game" -- where he would scooch toward me on his knees, and I would say (laughing), "hold still!! No scooching!!No scooching!!!"  He thought this was a hilarious game.



Here, I asked Lucy questions about Doc Mcstuffins -- about her favorite episode, and about the characters in the episodes she loves.



Here, the kids were pretty much done and were giving all their attention to their cookies, in a sort of zombies-eating-brains kind of way.  So after asking them to look at me myriad times, I just referred to an "inside joke" we have... where I say, "don't laugh!  don't laugh!!"  and boom.  They laugh.  Except not Elliot, this time.  But that's ok.



I am still so new to photography, relatively speaking... and am still learning so much.  It is unreal how much goes into exceptional portraits, and I don't think I'm there yet.  But someday.  And in the mean time, gosh it's fun to have pictures of our kids!  My parents used to take pictures all. the. time.  Daniel's did, too.  Now I get it.  It is way fun.


I keep taking these little mental snapshots, so that I can remember the kids at these ages... the funny things they do and say, and their facial expressions, which seem to always be changing.  But thanks to the most laughably terrible nights of sleep imaginable, with interruptions from all three kids often topping 8/night... my memory formation is shot.  Thus, the photos.

Twenty-four Months (Elliot's Monthly Photo)

Elliot's LAST monthly photo!!! I am only a couple weeks late.  But better late than never.  Whoever made up that sentence should get an award.  I say it at least twice/week.

Anyways.  Elliot!  Turned two!  Just before Thanksgiving.  We had two birthday parties for him, one for family and one for friends.  I'll post those pictures separately, because this post is for his very LAST monthly photo!  Aww.  It's kind of sad.



But also kind of a relief!  Making these photos happen has become more complicated with the addition of a third and during the busy fall photography season.  Nevertheless.  This happened.



New things Elliot is up to:

His vocabulary has EXPLODED!!  The number of words he tries everyday is just huge.  He repeats back almost anything we ask.

He's developed a much stronger sense of how things should be, especially with regard to Lucy and to whose toys belongs to whom.



He's really learned to climb and tumble and is learning the art of falling well, without getting hurt.  He loves to pretend to be a monkey, and to hang like a monkey.  He loves his "EE--EE" slip on shoes (they have a picture of a monkey on them).

He seems to be somewhat "spatially" challenged.  He frequently gets stuck when trying to climb under the table to retrieve a lost napkin or other something from the meal.  We try to explain to him how to turn his head to clear the space between the bench and the table, but he's just not quite there yet.



He loves to pray at meal times!  He gets very shy when it's actually his turn.  He ends up murmuring, in a barely audible voice, something like, "god.  day.  papa.  AAAAAAmen"

He still is in love with all things liquid.  You name it, and if it's a liquid, he'll drink it.  So strange.  He has decided he definitely likes fresh lettuce caesar salad dressing.  He consistently asks for more until it's gone, and then he licks the tongs.

He is a sweet kisser.  He loves giving kisses to mommy, daddy, baby Oliver, and occasionally sister Lucy.  He likes to snuggle, especially in the mornings.  He gets very sad when I leave but is all smiles when I get back.

He loves to imitate his big sister.  He's gaining in dexterity and the ability to mimic each thing she does.  They fight daily over their toys.  But they also share beautifully sometimes and are very thoughtful to each other.



He really wants Oliver to be ok.  When he cries, Elliot keeps repeating, "I'm sorry!" (said 'ah-hau-ree') until he calms down.

He wants to "heee!" (see) everything.  Anything that could be conceived as being remotely interesting (such as stirring the soup, the wet wipes used to clean Oliver's bum, whatever's in your coffee cup, bugs, whatever's on the tissue after you wipe his nose, etc.).  This makes privacy somewhat tricky when doing your business.  But it's for a short time, and I take hope in the fact that it's probably indicative of an engineer's mind.

I could go on and on.  I think I'm getting sentimental about the fact that this is the last monthly post for Elliot!



Elliot, you are such a joy.  You are cute and funny and smart and skilled at everything a 2 year old should be skilled at.  You are a delight to have as a son.  Some day you will grow up and won't need mommy snuggles or daddy snuggles anymore.  I am cherishing these days when you need us, and we love you so much.  We are proud of the way you are discovering God's world around you.  He loves you more than you will ever know.