Sassy Siblings

It has now been almost 2 years since So gracefully took the role as sibling to Gavin.  Many a moment we have had where hitting is involved, hair is pulled, and screams are heard; however, I am very much aware of the love they have for each other and the support they give (when necessary).  Somehow they just know that they can always count on each other, through thick and through thin. 

How does this naturally occur?  How do siblings just automatically know that they will do anything and love the other no matter what?  Gavin and Sophia seem to have it down to a science some days.  They attack each other one minute, tag team in driving me crazy in another, and laugh hysterically practically high fiving each other for their accomplishments in another.  Here is just a glimpse of their beautiful brother/sister relationship...my heart melts.

The "Other" Kids

So, I notice that I go on and on about our human kids, but need to take a moment to let you get a glimpse of the rest of the fam...the "fur-babies."  As you may have noticed, the blog site is entitled "Kitties, Canines & Kiddos" so I found it apropos to share a little info about them.

We had our kitties first...

Megan, the gray one on the left, actually is older, but we adopted her from my mom right around the time Todd and I married.  As with all of our animal babes, they all come with a little baggage.  Megan is a beautiful, low-key kitty that likes to blow snot rockets around our house.  Yes, you read correctly, snot rockets.  Supposedly, she needs a rhinoscopy where they will open up her nasal passages for the low low price of a billion dollars.  We decided we'll just have to live with all the snot streams...she's worth it. She's really great at massages (as long as they are not in the middle of the night)

Zen, the gorgeous black and white prowler on the right was invited into our lives when I first moved to GA in 2001.  He was my rock as I knew few people and he was a great cuddler.  These days, he has turned a little grumpy and yells a lot.  His quirks include...a special diet because of his urine crystals, heart medicine to keep his heart from expanding, anti-anxiety meds to keep him from turning into a serial killer, and is now on a heavy incontinence pill regiment as he pees just about everywhere in our house (lucky us). He has been such a great cat though.  We always get through it. We love him so.

You can't see me! This would be Baxter. He was adopted a while after we got married.  Poor fella literally lived in a crate for 2 years. He started off scared, but then the cats whipped him into shape.  Now, he is under the belief that HE is actually a cat.  This has been proven by his multiple attempts to sit on tables, tops of chairs and couches and I think I may have heard him meow once.  I think he is feeling like the left out species in our house.  Here is a picture of said cat-like behaviors.

Baxter came to us with needing a surgery to find his other testicle...yes, you read it right.  He also had infected salivary glands and has to be on a special diet for his sensitive stomach. I have to say that he is the best dog I think I've ever seen despite his weight on the cushions making the couches look like puffed out marshmallows. :)

I'm so very thankful for our beloved animals.  They make our family just a tad more interesting.

The Personality Princess

Although this is an older picture, from late summer, it depicts so much of her personality that it just has to be shared with the world.  So's personality is A+ in my eyes.  So much character, determination, and flair.  In this particular picture, So wanted to share her enthusiasm to go to Grammy's house to swim.  I think she was convinced that if she just put these on, perhaps I would give in. It didn't happen that way, but I did get a good chuckle.

It doesn't matter that her hair is flying in 6 different ways...she's happy and just doesn't care.

Isn't it an everyday thing to take off our socks and wear them as mittens around the house for an hour, picking up anything we can get ahold of and laughing hysterically when we can't grasp it?

One afternoon, I went to check on Sophia during her nap (assuming that she would have been sound asleep by then) and found her in her bed with this Russian hat, 15 books and her socks on her hands.  Must have been a frigid day in the land of So.  She kept the hat on for the remainder of the day.

Perhaps she has learned these behaviors from her brother?

Nevertheless, my heart is locked onto this little lady.  I'll travel to a million moons to give her her demanding "give me tiss mama" through the bars of any playground, at any moment.  These little glimpses into her personality make me giddy to think of everything she will become.  At this rate, she will rule the world.  BE READY...she'll knock your socks off...and use them as mittens. ;0)

Low and Slow

Gavin loves CARS movie and especially enjoys the character, Ramon.  If you have ever seen the movie, you would know that Ramon is constantly changing his paint color and is a lowrider...

The other day Gavin was sitting on the potty and pushing out a #2.  It seemed like it was taking forever so I asked Gavin what was taking so long.  He says, "I'm going low and slow Mama."  Hilarious! What, does he have a ghetto poo?

Apple looks like Bapple

Last weekend was our first apple picking adventure with close friends and family.  By close friends, what I mean is our best friends who had children that are close ages to our children.  Gavin is BFFs with Bay and they are practically connected at the hip. They also drive each other crazy.

As we travelled up and down the rows of trees, we started to do a little dividing and conquering to fill up apple bags.  Gavin asked to go with our friends and So, Todd and I went off to relax under the shade of a tree.  In reflection of this, Todd has pointed out that our son has done a lot of growing up as he stated, "Gavin would rather spend the day with his girlfriend's family than ours."  Whoa...is he a teenager already?



Ready to apple pick!



Me and my girl

 Gavin has started to rhyme his words lately.  On the way to just about anywhere you can hear in the backseat..."man looks like ran" "cut looks like hut" "dog looks like mog" "racecar looks like macecar" "house looks like mouse"....

So eating her first picked apple

Sophia spent her time crouching down to observe a group of bees on an apple.  She kept telling them "Hi bees!"

Our Apple Picking Outing

We brought all the apples home and as we are unpacking we notice that Sophia has taken a bite of every apple she can get her hands on.  I think we had about 6 apples with chunks out of them.

Call 911!

I picked up Gavin from daycare, a little later than usual, and was in a rush to get home because I was already so far behind.  Usually, I would take the time to ask Gavin if he'd gone to the bathroom and touch base with him in the potty department, but today...I guess I was a little distracted.

About halfway home, I hear Gavin say, "I have to go pee-pee Mama." I look around and notice that of all the places, we are at least 8 minutes from the nearest anywhere.  The one part of the daycare route that has nothing...of course.  "Can you hold it Gavin? Is it an emergency?" I ask.  "I have to go pee-pee Mama."  I start looking around for my options.  Luckily, he is capable of standing and peeing anywhere into just about anything.  Although I'm not trying to get in the habit of peeing out a window, off a cliff, into a bucket, on a pile of trash or off the side of the road, (all of which we have already done in the past in extreme situations) it looked like the pee-pee pulled out the trump card and was about to throw it out on the table.

"Alright Gavin.  Can you keep the pee-pee in your body until I can stop somewhere?" I hear a confirmation and I drive about 2 minutes up the road to a pull off spot.  Don't be deceived. Just because it has no restaurants, stores or anywhere else to pee, doesn't mean that it's not a busy road.  So, I pull out Gavin, do the usual business...all while car after car drive by with rubbernecking drivers wondering what's going on.  A tad embarrasing.  Particularly when he doesn't have it all mastered and he looks like he has wet his pants despite all of my efforts to keep him dry. 

As I put Gavin into the car, I look at Gavin and thank him for telling me that he had to go the bathroom.  He then looks at me, almost in tears, and says, "Do we have to call 911?" At this point, I'm pretty confused. No, just let me know when you have to go again.  I get in the car and begin to drive off and I hear sniffles and again, "Do we have to call 911 Mama?"  It takes me a second...
"No, honey it's not that kind of emergency." I had asked Gavin if it was an emergency to see if he could hold his pee.  He interpreted that as our deep conversation months ago when I talked to him about how to call 911 if there is an emergency at the house. My sweet boy reminds me that I need to think about how a 3 year old boy interprets what I say.  At least I can tell he's paying attention.

Kickin' It

So, the kiddos have been enrolled into soccer and it has been so much fun.  Fortunately, parents are asked to be part of the classes when the kids are so little and it is needed.  Gavin loves running around, kicking the balls and scoring with everyone whooping and hollering to send him praise.  Sophia, on the other hand, enjoys trekking herself over to the other teams, running away from the ball, and throwing temper tantrums over balloons (one of the many things the coach uses to keep their attention). 

It seems, after an hour of this rotation of events (run after ball, chase after So, deal with tantrum), that we are actually the ones receiving the training as we run after our children encouraging them to do as the coach instructs.  At the end of our time, everyone gathers together to stretch out, say "go team" and receive stamps on the hands for a job well done.  As I think about each soccer session, it becomes clear that Gavin and Sophia are part of something bigger.  Not only an opportunity to not only have fun, but to learn discipline, endurance and teamwork.  I hope that I can play role in that discovery even if there isn't always a stamp to prove it.


Sophia looking sly



Gavin with a hula hoop



Just stamped!