16 months

Pancake is a walking talking machine. She was discharged from physical therapy last week. She has been walking since she was 14 months and has continued to improve her balance and speed. She can navigate uneven terrain and even picks up some speed at times.

She adores Doodle more than ever. She loves playing ball and trains with him, really she loves anything he's doing.

She has a bit of a sweet tooth, just like everyone else in her family. We recently cut puffs and graham crackers from her diet because she was refusing all other food (bananas, Cheerios, peaches etc. . .). She whined a bit the first few days but has since rekindled her love of healthy breakfast foods. She knows where some things are kept and helps herself to the food items on the bottom shelf of the pantry cupboard (picture below of her eating corn flakes out of the box).

People have been asking me if she and Doodle are different or more similar. I have to say it's a bit of both. They are different in that Doodle was a calm, even-keeled, go-with-the-flow baby and Pancake is anything but. She takes after her mother. She wants things the way she wants them and gets cranky when someone tells her differently. She has taken to thrusting her head back and whining loudly if I take her from an activity she wants to do and throws herself on the floor if I direct her away from something she's trying to get to.They're also different in that it took Doodle until age two or later to figure out some things that Pancake can figure out now. I'm trying to think of an example but nothing is coming to mind at the moment. It's something I've observed though. Pancake eats a lot more sugary foods than Doodle was ever allowed to eat because she sees her brother eating ice cream or cookies and I think it mean to not let her have what she sees others enjoying. Sometimes we take her into the living room some while Doodle has dessert.

But she and Doodle are quite similar too. They both love to eat and will try just about anything, they both use the pacifier to help them sleep (the use of the present tense was not an error -- Doodle still sleeps with a pacifier), they both charm strangers wherever we go, and they both are pretty daring on the playground equipment. They also both go to bed very well and sleep through the night reliably, both of which I truly appreciate. They're both super cute, too.

She's been clingy to me lately, which is annoying when I'm trying to cut vegetables with a sharp knife or take a heavy pan out of the oven. I've been prepping dinner while she naps in the afternoon, which I don't always have time to do.

Pancake's vocabulary and verbal skills are soaring to new heights all the time. Occasionally she says four and five-word sentences and often conveys two and three-word sentences. Mr. D gets up with her in the mornings if she wakes before 7:00, which is most of the time, and has taught her to raise one hand and say "me" when asked, "Who loves Mommy?" or "Who loves Daddy?" One morning Mr. D forgot their newly established routine of asking and answering, so Pancake said, "Who loves Mommy? ME!" with her cute little arm raised.

She insisted on wearing my grandmother's necklace.

Doodle quote

Raul is on third, Jimmy on first. One out. Mr. D had not said a word.
Doodle: "Squeeze him Placido."

For those of you who know baseball this should make perfect sense.

This heat is killing me

Our house does not have central air. When we look for a new house central A/C is going to be a priority of mine. It didn't use to matter that much because we had these enormous old trees across the street that kept our house fairly cool in the summer. But our wonderful neighbor sold his property for a song to some awesome builders who took every tree down. Now our house is hot and sticky.

Getting the kids in their bathing suits, slathering them with sunscreen and packing up the towels, waters, snacks and diapers is so unappealing that it's hard to motivate myself to go to the pool or the spray ground near us. And going for a walk is out of the question unless it's before 8:00 a.m. or after 8:00 p.m.
We have window A/Cs in several rooms (the kids' bedrooms, our room and the family room on the second floor) but I could only contain the kids in the family room for so long. They don't seem as bothered by the heat as I am. In fact, Doodle said he wanted to stay home and play trains instead of go to the spray ground this afternoon. Great!

We're going to our friends' house for dinner who have A/C so that will be a great relief. I don't know what I'm going to do if this heat wave lasts much longer!

At the spray ground

Dropped the ball

I have not given my blog the attention it deserves these past few months. Life seems so hectic. When I have a moment, usually at the very end of the day, I just want to watch Entourage or something I've recorded and lay on the sofa with Mr. D.

We've also either been away or had guests at the house every weekend this summer, this weekend excepted. Last weekend my brother, sister-in-law and their dog were here. It was great to visit with them and spend some quality time that didn't include my brother working on our house or simultaneously visiting with my parents. We went to the Phillies game on Sunday. It was the first game that Doodle stayed for the whole thing (they won 1-0).

The beginning of last week we were in Lancaster County for a mini vacation. We stayed at a great hotel, the Bird In Hand Family Inn, which had three pools (one outdoor, two indoor), mini golf, ping pong, pool (which Doodle kept calling water because he couldn't remember that it was called pool), tennis, basketball and a restaurant. We had a great time visiting the National Toy Train Museum, which both kids really enjoyed. We pet and fed lots of animals, visited the Wilbur Chocolate Factory, ate good food and shopped a bit. Doodle and Pancake loved seeing the farms and the horses and buggies everywhere. It was a relaxing mini vaca. We'll definitely stay there again.

Yesterday, we went to a lake that normally takes about an hour and ten minutes to get to, but yesterday it took two hours because there was an alleged accident, of which I saw no evidence other than the extreme traffic. The kids and I had a great time playing in the water and digging in the sand. Pancake has no fear of the water despite her general timidity. She put her face in because Doodle put his face in. She wanted me to let go of her when we were in water way over her head. She didn't want to sit in my lap or between my legs in the shallow water so I sat her in even more shallow water and she was perfectly happy finding milfoil and splashing around. She would eventually scoot herself into deeper water and I would have to keep moving her back toward shore. Doodle had a new pair of goggles. He loved being able to see the bottom of the lake. He has become quite the water bug this summer. He goes in by himself with swimmies on his arms and doesn't mind being over his head.

When it was time to leave the lake Doodle got into a mood, refused to listen and ignored my demands to take off his swimmies and bathing suit, stop playing ball, stop playing with sticks, stop telling our two-year old friend to play with the sticks, put on his shoes. I had to walk him up the hill holding tightly to his wrist and sometimes dragging his limp body to the changing room so that I could put on dry clothing. Once dressed I sternly escorted him to the car. Because he refused to put on his shoes even after I warned him that the pavement in the parking lot would be very hot, I had to carry him the last few yards to the car. There he took his suit off and I got him dressed. I left him in the car, with the windows open, but buckled in his seat while I went back to the lake to get Pancake and the rest of our stuff. My friend was watching her while I dealt with Doodle. He had to sit in time out when we got home and I had a long talk with him in the car and again this morning about listening. I really can not stand Doodle's defiant phases. He makes me so angry.

It has been super hot and my energy levels are lower than usual. I find it hard to care for the children all day, make a meal for dinner, clean or at least straighten up the house and still be in a good mood.