Fine Art

At the Doctor's Office

Nurse Rhonda (who answers my ridiculous, sometimes paranoid questions without ever laughing in my face and who insists on hugs from the kids before, after and during every visit - I adore this woman) is chatting with Roxi while Gib bravely endures a flu shot.

Rhonda, pointing to a chart of the skeletal system on the wall: Roxi, what is this?
Roxi: That's a femur!
Rhonda, looking at me somewhat surprised: I was expecting "knee."
Roxi: And there's the rib cage and the lumbar vertebrae!

Witchy Woman and Snacky Samurai

Happy Halloween!

Firing Up the Crowd

Roxi, Gib, Rob and I joined Roxi's best friend from preschool, Carter, and his dad – as well as 50,000 others – at the Barack Obama rally in Fort Collins on Sunday. We didn't arrive soon enough to see Obama (people started lining up at 4:30 a.m. for his 3:30 p.m. appearance), but we were able to hear most of the speech from afar.

More importantly, we provided an important boost to campaign morale. Roxi and Carter were delighted to find a pile of signs on the ground, instantly picked one up and, without any prompting from us or campaign officials, starting marching past the long line of people waiting to get into the rally, waving their signs and screaming, "Barack Obama!" in perfect tandem. (Regardless of your political affiliation, you have to admit that the democratic candidate's name is awfully fun to say.) Their enthusiasm was well-received, to say the least.

Roxi and Carter are quite the team. Below are two exchanges they had at the rally:

Carter: Let's do running!
Roxi: Now let's do roaring!
Carter: Now let's do running and roaring!
Roxi: Now let's do rock and roll!
At which point, both of them broke into a truly outstanding dance session.

Roxi: You're my best friend, huh? We're always going to be best friends.
Carter: Yeah, there's never going to be a time that we're not friends.

Sweet Ride

At the Reservoir

Incognito

It's important to note that there was no adult intervention here:

Talking the Chalk

Gib's vocabulary is exploding. We thought he might be the quiet one, what with his expressive, insistent, verbose big sister and all. Quite the contrary. He's not quite matching Roxi word-for-word, but it's not from lack of effort. It takes a trained ear and good timing to understand what he's saying most of the time. Though some words are clear as a bell – like meow, cheese, again, eat and no (naturally). Gib has started forming basic sentences, too. "Give that Roxi" was a new one this morning, when I was getting Roxi's clothes out (Gib likes to bring her each piece of clothing ... and then attempt to put it on himself).

The talking at this age, it is so cute. My current favorite phrase of Gib's is illustrated in the video below. This is followed closely by his pronunciation of our black cat's name, Teton, which sounds like someone doing a very exaggerated French accent. Often this is the first word out of his mouth when he wakes up in the morning. I walk into his room, and he looks up with a huge grin and says, "Tetaaawn!"

Release the Hounds

Clearly in the midst of hatching a brilliant, evil scheme:

Big Foot

And so the madness begins: Roxi is playing soccer. She's had two practices thus far and had her first game last Saturday. All the other kids on her team have played before, which is great. Her coach is all about having fun, which is better still. And even though she hasn't really sorted out the purpose of the game yet (see video #1), she's getting there (see video #2). More importantly, she's having a BLAST.

Gratuitous Gib

Missing Summer Already

Bumper Crop

Little Dude

People to See, Things to Do

Nice Hair

Sand in the Toes

Snip Snip Here, Snip Snip There

Gib had his first proper haircut last month ... somewhat willingly. He went in looking like a baby and came out a little dude.

Swingers

We've been having some technical difficulties here at the Tusselwupper Ranch, so there is much to catch up on ... Roxi's birthday, vacation, doctor visits, haircuts and general mayhem. For now though, here are Roxi and Gib goofing off in the back yard today.

In the Basket

Gotta Sing

Gotta Dance

Breakthroughs

Fair Warning: Some of this post may fall squarely in the category of More Than You Wanted To Know. But what the heck, it's been a banner month at Casa de Tusselwupper and I'm going to share.

Señor Gib:

• Got his bottom left incisor on March 29 and top left incisor on April 5.
  
• Says "kah-kuh," which can mean sock, duck (quack, get it?) or cracker, depending on the context. Cracker was Roxi's very first word, so Rob and I are wondering if nature or nurture is responsible for our children's early addiction to flat breads.
  
• Calls cats "aaah!" and dogs "ooo!" and is genuinely smitten with animals. He blows kisses to the neighbor's dogs - these are the only unsolicited kisses he gives.
• Throws balls. With gusto.
• Throws fits. With tornado force.
• Tries to keep up with Roxi by dancing with wild abandon.
• Likes to play in toilet water and climb on furniture/boxes/people/anything. Once a danger boy, always a danger boy.
• Carries books over to Rob and I for us to read to him.
• Tolerates being watched by our lovely babysitter.
• Is no longer nursing, and as a result, or maybe just because the stars have aligned, he ...
• Is finally, finally sleeping through the night. THE WHOLE NIGHT. And ...
• Waking up at 6:30. A REASONABLE HOUR.

Señorita Roxi:

• Is constantly pretending to be someone or something else, particularly characters from The Muppet Movie, Finding Nemo, Sesame Street and The Wizard of Oz, as well as Diana Ross, Linda Ronstadt, Rudolf Nureyev, Brett Favre and Tyler Hansbrough. 
• Puts on "entertainment shows" for her preschool teachers almost daily. These shows often feature Roxi as Linda Ronstadt and her friend Carter as Fred the Mosquito.
• Elaborates on the truth. Not to achieve selfish aims (though the child will do whatever it takes to get a glass of juice), but because it's more fun. For example, the other day Roxi was telling me about how the groundskeeping crew at her school was trimming the grass and also the peppermint and chocolate plants.
• Tells Rob and I that she's "really disappointed in our behavior" when she's upset with us.
• Knows no strangers. She confidently introduces herself to people she's never met, asks their names and remembers them ... even weeks or months later. She greets people she knows with, "Did you miss me?"
• Plays with - and not just next to - her friends, of which there are many.
• Is as patient as one could expect with Gib, who naturally wants to be doing whatever she's doing whenever she's doing it.
• Has developed a fantastic independent streak. She picks out her own clothes, dresses herself and ...
• Poops in the potty. You know, WHERE POOP BELONGS.

So you want to know how we're doing? We're all sleeping and pooping properly. What could be better?

Gourmands