Little tidbits and a tea party

Well, I just got to see a person sleeping with their eyes open for the first time. I was snuggling Mela down for her nap (she's napping again!) and she fell asleep ... with her eyes still open!

She was snoring and everything but meanwhile, her eyeballs were roving all over the room, watching some unseen action.

It was weird and kind of cool.

In other kid-dream news, Mela has started having nightmares. Or at least, now she can wake up screaming and tell you about them.

The other morning she told me she'd dreamt that her head had fallen off. She said it ran away from her like the gingerbread man (the gingerbread man appears frequently in our conversations these days) because it wanted to be "alone from [her]." She said she finally caught it and put it in her pocket but it burst open. Turns out it was filled with "a lollipop and decorations."

Again, weird and kind of cool.

Nathan meanwhile, is living a nightmare. Teeth, man. Only 8 more to go, right?? He's happy enough when he's exactly on schedule and his mom is in sight but if you alter any elements, he falls apart.

He cries when you take off his pants, he cries when you put on pants. He doesn't want to eat but he doesn't want to get down. Today he had a fit at Grammie's because she sliced his banana.

It's hard to be a toddler.

The good news is that the language dazzling continues. Caught with the salt shaker pouring in his mouth: "Salty dog?" Trying to climb up the counter to get to the treats: "Cookie monster?"

It's so cute, I almost give in. Today we were at Grammie's, though, and he was so miserable and didn't want to be there and said, "My house?"

I gave him a hug, poor thing, but also congratulated him on the use of a pronoun.

Interestingly, now that Nate can actually talk, the kid-to-kid interaction continues to develop.

This morning, for example, Mela was trying to convince Nate to play with her (instead of hounding me, hooray!):

"You wanna play with me, Nate?"

"No." (sound of trains crashing together)

"You wanna play with me, Nate?"

"No."

"You wanna play with me, Nate? You chase me and you'll win a a bright blue ribbon!"

"Okay."

(chase ensues)


Say click:
Here are some pics from a tea party we had recently with the McN's...

Nate makes sure the mamas' coffee is brewing:
Mela waits for the party to begin ...
Watch out for the hippo!
The crew:
The funny part about this pic is what's happening in the background. Let's play, "where's Nate?" (hint: he has climbed an object)
Tea party in full swing:
Cohen enjoys the real (herbal) tea:
Mela explains the importance of feeding your cat:
The sickie crew retires to the couch/bed for a reading marathon: