Three stories not to forget

We were preparing dinner. Cora was coloring at her table. Quinn was crawling around our feet. Now that Quinn has learned to crawl, she refuses to do anything that doesn't involve crawling...

Quinn crawled over to the open dishwasher. I moved Quinn and, for the first time ever, gave her a sharp, "No no." Not knowing what that means, Quinn came back, and I rebuked her again. The third time Quinn puckered up her little lip and started to whine. Cora got up, came over, kneeled down and pulled Quinn close, lifted up her chin to look in her eyes and said "No no baby" then gave her a sweet hug. She left, but came running back in with Fred Bird (a stuffed cardinal mascot) for Quinn. Cora then returned to her " art".

The best part was the look of righteous indignation on her face. Landon and I started to laugh, and Cora didn't break character. Her look said, "It's like you always say; if you take a toy from Quinn you need to find a new one to distract her..."


At bedtime, I was rocking Quinn while Landon read to Cora. He opened up a fave, "There's a Wocket in my Pocket"...

Landon: did you ever get the feeling there's a zamp behind the lamp?
Cora: (interrupting) yea

And... Quinn is obsessed with Pearl. Way more than Cora is/was.

There are up-sides to living away from family

Otherwise, I'm not sure these moments would EVER happen.

A "don't want to forget it" moment

Cora: Daddy, you broke mommy's car!

Bugsquito

Cora: that's a bug
Landon: I don't think that's a bug.
Cora: it's a bugsquito

Usually she counts to 3 before she does a daredevil move, like jump off the couch onto pillows. The magic number today is 8. 1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...go!

Happy to you!

Cora's fave song to sing this week is "Happy Birthday", but she always leaves out the word "Birthday". I like it. Makes more sense to just wish someone "happy" rather than limit it to a day.

Today is Dad's 60th. cora declared at breakfast, out-of-the-blue, "I'm papaw's friend".

I'm adding a few pics directly from my phone in his honor. "Happy to you", Dad!

Quinn: 8 Month Update

Quote from Grandma M: "Maybe if you squeeze her more tightly, she'll stop growing!"

Quinn started crawling this week!
She sometimes drags herself forward, but she's able to get on all fours and crawl.
She also puts both hands on the ground and pushing up with her feet so that she's standing.
Her little bum looks so cute up in the air.
She loves to blow zerberts, and will do it again and again if someone does them back.
It takes almost nothing to make Quinn cackle.

Superman wears a tu-tu... who knew?

What we have here is several funny Cora stories interspersed with some adorable Quinn pics.

What an adventurous Sunday!

Landon was out-of-town this weekend at the Tennessee game with Cora's godfather Tim (we aren't even speaking of the game!), and Cora's godmother Joy came to town to spend the weekend with us. She had never met Quinn, and we had a wonderful time. It was warm enough to beach on Saturday. I'm not sure that we snapped many pictures...

Today started with a major adventure. Pearl tree'd a raccoon. Pearl was being active, and the Raccoon was managing to dodge Pearl's advances by climbing a tree, so I didn't bother to remove Cora from her perch at the back door where she was watching intensely. In fact, I was betting on the raccoon, and waiting for Pearl to wear herself out before I attempted to drag her back into the house. I even left the room and went on with my tasks... until... I heard Cora break into terrified sobs from our bedroom. Pearl had managed to get the raccoon by the tail, and the two were circling each other in the yard. Cora was NOT happy, and I was met with repeated exclamations of "Mommy, I's scared" and "Pearl got the squirrel!"

I got Cora settled, and managed to get Pearl inside. As I had just taken Pearl away from the best thing that could ever happen to this city-fied hound dog, I put Pearl into solitary confinement until Landon could come home and address the raccoon issue. Pearl was making a whining commotion, and when Cora asked about Pearl...

Me: I put her in timeout.

Cora: Pearl's crying?

Me: Yes, she was bad. 

Cora: Okaaaay (her standard response)

Me: Yes, she got a raccoon.

Cora: She got a squirrel? 

Me: No, a raccoon

Cora: A toon. Okaaaaay. 

When Landon came home, Cora had just woken from a nap. Cora went from groggy to animated, with hands flying, she announced, "Pearl's in the office. In timeout. She bit a squirrel, a toon. Pearl's CRYING!"

(The pics below are from Mia & Papaw Jim's visit the weekend before)

Cora was full of "don't want to forget"'ems today. 

I was sitting on the couch reading the newspaper; Landon and Quinn were both in the floor. 

Cora: (announcing, out of the blue) Mommy wears panties!

Me: Do you wear panties?

Cora: Yeah, I DO!

Me: Does Quinny wear panties?

Cora: No, sissy don't wear panties.

Me: Does daddy wear panties?

Cora: NO!

Me: What does daddy wear?

Cora: Um... PANTS!

In fact, Cora is pantie-obsessed. Last night, we were putting C & Q to bed. C insisted on having her baby... then insisted on getting a diaper out of the drawer... then insisted on stripping the baby down for a diaper change. Her reason? "She needs a new diaper... she STANKS!"

Cora has developed a redneck accent in spite of herself. Her favorite color this week is "Paaank".

And then... standing on Landon's back... Cora announced, "I'm Superman!" All while wearing a tu-tu. 

Quinn isn't being left behind today, either. I predict she'll be in a full-out sprinting-crawl by Thanksgiving. Today, she's lunging forward pretty well, and given proper toy-motivation, she can pull herself forward (Joy got to see her best army crawl yet). Tonight, while Landon and I were in the living room, Quinn made a strong effort to pull-up on her exersaucer. Where is my baby going?!?!?! 

Yes, I recognize that my children are dressed as ghosts today. Yes, I know it is the second week in November. But, when it was time to get dressed today I pulled out the white tutu, and Cora announced, "I'm a scary". So Cora and Quinn dressed as ghosts while we ran around the airport with Joy. Don't judge.