I do a terrible job

When I give Natalie a bath it's a 50/50 shot as to whether it will be an enjoyable experience.  She claims that I "tangle" her more than mommy.  Well Tuesday night was one of those "tangled" nights, and I'm not talking about the new children's movie either.  She was exhausted.  Fighting a little bit of a cold and just tired so it was touchy from the beginning.  She was doing great.  Happy, smiling, laughing with her bath toys...then I washed her hair.  My finger got stuck in one tangle and I pulled her hair just a little bit.  I have done it before and she didn't notice but with the combination of factors mentioned above, she lost it.  Screaming, crying, tears streaming down her little face.  She cried herself to sleep about two minutes after getting in bed.  Last night we were in the car on our way home and Natalie asked mommy: "Is it your turn to do me?"
Mommy:  "yep"
Natalie:  "YEAH!!!"
Daddy:  "You know what that means....tomorrow night is my turn again!"
Natalie:  "oh no"
Sara and I were trying so hard not to laugh
Daddy:  "Why did you say oh no?  I do a good job!"
Natalie: "You do a terrible job." (emphasis on terrible)

Friday Free-For-All

• KU got lucky.  Can't believe the refs called that foul.  It wasn't a foul.  Two kids going hard for a loose ball both out of control.  That's not a foul with 7 minutes left much left 0.7 seconds.  Oh well.
• Speaking of the Jayhawks.  If I have taught Natalie one thing it is that we don't like KU.  She routinely says "boo KU!" whenever someone even brings them up.  However she may not know exactly what she is looking for quite yet.  See she has problems distinguishing between this and this.  It is always interesting to be sitting on the couch watching the Chiefs and hear "boo KU" as Natalie watches.  I say "no, no, sweetie, that's KC not KU, we like KC.  Go Chiefs!"  It has no effect really as we have gone through this exercise about 20 times this season.
• Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."  Somehow I tied this to Christopher Columbus and George Washington in our small group the other night.  Wait, I'll get there, I promise.  Faith is belief in the unseen right?  No one around today saw either Christopher Columbus or George Washington, but we read about them in a book and everyone accepts it as historical fact.  We can go see the documents signed by George Washington.  We see the battle fields where he fought.  Columbus goes a little farther back but we still accept as fact that he existed and did what everyone said he did.  He sailed across the ocean, saw India, said hi to the natives, miss named them, and the rest is history.  So at what point does historical fact become faith?  Is it when we run out of documentation of events?  Why are so many people willing to accept what happened in the 1400's but not the events that happened from 0-100?  Do they think people started making stuff up?  Why is the Bible not taken as historical fact?  Did that many people really conspire to make up a story?  At what point do non-believers think that somebody decided to write a 1000 page book about a man who never existed???  I wonder what event non believers feel started the years at 0?  So at what point did the Bible become a faith book and not a fact book?  500 AD?  1000 AD? 1975?  I choose to view it as a historically accurate depiction of my God and His Son Jesus Christ.  I take it as fact.  I guess I have a lot of faith.
• If you have answers to the above questions or something you want to enlighten me on, leave a comment or send me a note.  I would love to know if anyone has any good resources on this stuff.

Christmas season

• So many traditions to start with girls this young.  Hanging the ornaments, watching certain holiday specials, hanging the lights, decorating the house, etc.  The ornament hanging this year was fantastic!  Natalie was all about it.  She wanted to hang everything on the tree, I think she would have hung the dog by her collar if we would have let her.  She was so anxious she could barely wait for Hallie to wake up from her nap to get started.  We put up the tree and the hung the lights on it before bear woke up and so when she came out of her room with mommy the tree was already up and lit.  She rubbed her little sleepy eyes, squinted as her eyes adjusted, pointed her right finger, and groggily said "pretty".  Which is humorous because that is what Natalie used to call Christmas lights, "pretties".  When it came time to put the star on top Natalie didn't want to do it.  She said she would do it next year.  I said "well one of my daughters is hanging the star on the top of the tree, so if it isn't you can Hallie do it?"  She said "ok, I guess".  So I lifted up Hallie and she "helped" me hang the star on the tree.
• Yesterday I went to hang up my coat and Hallie noticed a pink and blue stocking hat on the floor of the closet.  She picked it up and said "hat, hat, hat" and tried to put it on.  I asked her if she wanted to wear it and she said "uh-huh" in the way only Hallie Bear can.  Now you have to understand the imagery here.  When I get home from work Hallie is not wearing a shirt 95% of the time.  She usually likes to color with markers while mommy makes dinner and to save the shirt Sara makes her take it off.  Wise move, the kid usually has marker on her belly, hands, and face when I see her.  Now add in a pink and blue knit stocking hat that completely covers any hair she has.  Add in a little round belly that sticks out over her pants and a diaper showing above the waist.  She was stinkin' hilarious!  She proudly showed mommy and Nanee what she was wearing.  Nanee took one look and goes "you look like a man!".  Mommy quickly said "no she doesn't" in between her snickers of laughter.  Hallie quickly responded with "Eden!!" her "man" cousin of 4 months.  It was awesome.
• Sara got out the Christmas toys/books on Sunday while we were decorating.  Natalie is only slightly attached to those things.  They came out and she spent 45 minutes playing with the Advent little people calendar.  Now you have to understand that there are 25 stuffed little people associated with this thing so she had plenty to do, it isn't a traditional lift a flap Advent calendar.  But she is also protective of the actual Christmas Little People.  She wanted all of them, both sets all to herself, Hallie wasn't allowed to have anything.  We make her share but Hallie lasts about 5 minutes and then is off to another toy so it doesn't really matter in the long run, Natalie still gets her toys back really quickly.  On Monday morning Natalie was using the potty and made me stop outside the door and wait for her.  She goes with the door wide open still, not an ounce of shame in her little body yet.  I thought it was weird that she made me stop because she never makes me stop.  She's big enough to go on her own and if she needs help she will just come out to the living room and ask, with or without her pants pulled up.  She said "Daddy can you wait for me?"  I said "Sure, what do you need".  "Nothing, I just want you and Hallie to stay here with me."  And then kind of quietly "so Hallie doesn't get my people".  The little manipulative big sister!!! :)
• Hallie has learned to say "no".  I don't like it.  Not at all.  My sweet little Hallie Bear should not be able to look me in the eye and say "no".   She's to sweet and innocent.  Oh who am I kidding, she got the nickname Bear for a reason and it isn't because she's soft and fluffy!  "Hallie eat your supper".  "No."  "Don't tell me no, eat your supper."  "No (with a little smile)".  "Hallie pick up the toys, please."  "No."  "Leave the lights on."  "No."  "Don't hit."  "No."  "Let's go take a bath."  "No."  You get the idea.  She is still sweet but it's like this is her new word and she is going to use it!

Talking, talking, talking

• Hallie is a stinking hoot.  I may be biased but I think she is the funniest little almost two year old there is.  She is getting so much more talkative and knows exactly what she wants.  For instance if she wants to color (with markers that usually end up on her more than the paper) she says "I codor" pronounced like color but with a d.  She doesn't take no for an answer either.  She says please and thank you pretty plainly as well along with doggy, kitty cat, mommy, daddy, the normal words for little ones.  Last night as I was trying to corral her for bedtime she went in to Natalie's room (or Nanee's in her world) where mommy was picking up books with sister.  Hallie walks over, grabs the book off the top of the pile in mommy's hands, and said something we couldn't quite make out.  I don't think she realized what book she picked, she just knew it was time to read.  So I tried to grab her but she ran off down the hall saying whatever it was she was muttering.  I followed her only to find her sitting on the couch with the book on her lap going "on couch" "on couch" "on couch".  Hadn't heard that one before, no wonder I didn't recognize it.  Apparently she wanted to read on the couch instead of her rocking chair.
• One more quick Hallie story.  This one was relayed to me through Sara so I hope I get the details right.  Hallie found some pajamas on the floor by the washer that mommy hadn't picked up quite yet and so Sara asked her "Hallie can I put that in the washer?"  Hallie kind of whined and took off with the pajamas.  She actually headed for the girls bathroom where they brush teeth at night.  As I am hearing this I am thinking "Oh how sweet she knows those are night night clothes and so she is taking them to the bathroom where they get ready for bed".  I was wrong.  Apparently she dropped the jammies and grabbed the little footstool we have in there for the girls to reach the sink.  She took it to the washer.  Turned around, went back to the bathroom, grabbed the jammies, came back to the washer, stepped on the stool, and put the jammies in the washer for mommy!  Such a big helper!!
• This morning grandma came to pick up the girls and take them to her house and while she was there she was asking Natalie about her backpack because apparently they left it on the bus yesterday.  Well they got to talking about what was in there and grandma told Natalie that she accidentally had Mark's papers and her teachers must have got them switched.  Natalie said no, they didn't.  And grandma said "remember, the paper that said 'If I had a million dollars' and then 'I would buy my mommy and daddy a new house"  At this point I thought, wow how nice of my daughter, so giving. "that's what Mark's said".  Oh, not Natalie's.  I asked her "What did you say you would do with a million dollars?"  "Buy candy"  "That's a LOT of candy!"  "Yep, all for me!"

Their beginning to team up

• Natalie is slowly realizing that Hallie can be her little puppet.  And Hallie LOVES it.  They play together a lot now.  They will disappear in to Natalie's room for 30 minutes before we hear any fussing.  Last night was hilarious.  After about 5 minutes in to playtime we hear Natalie holler "MIIIIIIIINE!!!".  Daddy was poised to jump in to action.  But then the darndest thing happened.  Hallie laughed.  That's right, Natalie hollered and Hallie laughed.  So Natalie hollers again "MIIIIIINE!"  I am sure this time Hallie will not like it and realize it isn't a game, but again she laughs.  Then I heard a second little snicker.  Natalie was laughing now too.  So back there they sat for probably 30-45 seconds of Natalie hollering, Hallie laughing, then Natalie laughing at Hallie.  This began the night of playing.  Pretty soon they are running through the halls until we would hear a thud, usually Hallie hitting the floor.  They made their way out to the living room.  Natalie decided to jump off the tiles in front of the fireplace, only about 18 inches off the ground.  No sweat for her.  We asked her not to do it again because Hallie would think she could do it.  Too late.  There's Hallie perched on the ledge waiting to jump.  She starts bouncing (she can't get air yet) and saying "jump, jump".  Natalie walks over and helps her "jump" down by giving her a hug and pulling her off.  Hallie landed on Natalie and they both just cackled.  They did this probably 10 times before we diverted their attention.  Then they started holding hands running through the living room.  Being the good daddy I said "No running, Natalie".  I picked her because she was obviously leading this crazy version of tag/chase/ring around the rosy/whatever.  She grabbed Hallie's hand and said "let's walk Hallie".  They slowly, and I mean slooooowly, walked out of the living room holding hands. We knew something was up.  Had to be.  They just had this look like we are going to run as soon as we are out of sight. Sara was stifling a laugh on the couch, hand over mouth.  Yep, as soon as they were in the hall, they took off running to her room.  Thud.  Down goes Hallie.  Laughter ensues.  Run, thud, laugh.  Run, thud, laugh.  Run, CRASH. cry.  I go in to Natalie's room to find Hallie screaming.  A welt was forming above her eye.  Turns out they were playing a game where Natalie gives Hallie a little push and Hallie runs a few steps.  Natalie looks at me and says "I pushed her too hard".  Ya think?  So now Hallie has a big bruise above her right eye and learned that playing with big sister can be rough.  Fifteen minutes later she was back up and playing again with Natalie.  So she got her first injury from playtime with sister but also her first recovery and re-entering the fray.  And mom and dad got our first of many chances to fix a boo-boo for one caused by the playing with the other sister. :)

Story time

• A couple of funny stories from the past couple weeks.  First on our way to Kansas City for my cousin's wedding Hallie was having some issues.  She is not the best car traveler and doesn't sleep really well in the car seat.  We thought we had the whole thing conquered.  No videos puts them both to sleep.  So on the way up we put on a Bob and Larry CD and off to dream land they eventually went.  After about five minutes of both girls sleeping I turned the CD off and changed it to the radio.  About two seconds later Natalie wakes up and starts crying.  She is screaming "that's not Bob!"  She wakes up Hallie who then starts crying.  Oops.  Thought they were sound enough asleep that we could get away with it.  Guess not.  My punishment was to listen to Hallie cry for the next 1.5 hours AND listen to the CD again.  Sara tried everything to get Hallie to calm down.  We gave her snacks, a drink, videos, everything.  At one point Sara said "Hallie, shhh".  You would have thought she said the meanest thing Hallie could think of so Hallie ramped up the volume.  Natalie, being the good little mommy, says "Hallie, what's the matter?"  Now keep in mind that Hallie likes to get Natalie in trouble by tattling on her.  Hallie responds to Natalie "Mommy....ssshhh"  as if Natalie would reprimand mommy! It was so funny I about drove the car off the rode.
• The wedding weekend was a blur.  Between rehearsal dinner, family pictures, birthday party for my sister and my wife, the wedding, the reception, going to church and lunch with my brother-in-law and his family, there wasn't much time to breath.  Our girls were troopers.  They did so well.  Hallie didn't sleep worth a darn on Friday night and had to nap at grandma and grandpas hotel room but she made it through with flying colors.
• Hallie's newest thing is to pretend with her baby dolls.  She is obviously doing something with them because she actually strapped one of them in her booster chair....while it was on the barstool!  This left our Hallie bear on her knees in front of the booster perched precariously on about 3 inches of chair while strapping in her baby about three feet in the air.  Not cool.  So we took the booster chair and put in on the floor.  She then proceeded to put the baby back in the booster and get some food from mommy.  The food was actually a play spoon and play can of peas.  When asked what she was feeding the baby she said "hot dog".  I think she eats to many hot dogs.  After feeding her she decided the baby was thirsty.  So she got her out, cradled her in her left arm, and gave her a bottle.  So sweet.  Other than feeding them they are now beginning to cry.  Hallie will show up carrying a baby and look at mommy and say "baby, cry" and pout.  Things aren't better until mommy gives the baby a kiss.
• Natalie is entering the "I hear you but I am going to pretend that I don't" phase.  That's not so fun, in case anyone cares.  We have had some discussions about that.  She's getting better and most of the time is the most pleasant 4 year old to be around.  
• She will just lose herself in her imagination. She will sit at the counter for an hour playing with stickers.  She will tell stories with them and use and re-use them on different pages.  Yesterday she didn't even need a page she just used the counter itself.  Then she will get down, go get her princess paper dolls and proceed to play with them the same way.  When she's done with those she will grab her little people and pretend with them.  Sometimes they even sing.  Just yesterday the broke out in to a rousing rendition of some song she made up.  We asked her where she heard it and she wouldn't tell us.  The sweetest sound though is to hear my 4 year old sitting at the counter or playing in the living room and break out in to "Mighty to Save".  "Savior, He can move the mountains.  My God is mighty to save, he is mighty to save..."

Friday Free-For-All

Ah, another week done.  Time for football!!!  Oh wait, K-State and Chiefs are both off this week.  Time for .... yard work????  Oi.

• Sad yet ironic headline of the week:  "Segway company President dies after driving Segway off a cliff.
• Atheists/Agnostics know more about religion than Protestants and Catholics??? Link
• Interesting discussion I had this week with a couple of different studies:  Does it take more faith to believe God does NOT exist than it takes to believe He exists?  I contend that believing God exists is easy.  It can explain anything.  Origin of the universe?  Almighty Creator did it.  Don't have to think about it.  Reason for unexplained medical recoveries?  God did it.  You see where this is headed.  You wanna know the hard part?  ACTUALLY BELIEVING THAT HE EXISTS!!!  Because if you actually believe that, then your actions would reflect it.  Too often my actions don't reflect what I say I believe so then I ask, do I really believe or is it just words?  What about you?  Do you really believe God exists?  Does your life reflect that? :)
• I get to go to the KSU vs Nebraska game next Thursday.  I am so excited!  Oh, not because of the game so much (it will be great though), but because I get to go with my wife!  Just like the college days, going to a game with Sara.  We might actually get to listen to something other than Bob and Larry in the car!
• Lots of exciting things going on in October.  Cousin getting married, spending time with my sister and her husband, spending time with my brother-in-law, his wife, and our nephew, Fall Festival at church, my sister's birthday, my wife's birthday, not to mention that I think it's the greatest sports month on the calendar!  It's going to be a great month!
• One quick daughter update: they are both doing great.  Healthy, happy, and in great moods!  Natalie is getting better at asking for things before crying about them.  She is seeing that if she asks and we say no it's not the end of the world and if she doesn't get upset mommy and daddy are much happier with her. :)  Hallie is just Hallie.  There really isn't any other way to put it.  She is talking more and more, getting MUCH more opinionated and still eating everything she can get her hands on.  She has also discovered that most clothes come off of baby dolls and so if you're clothes don't come off, you are shunned.  She doesn't want anything to do with you baby, she only likes the ones that she can have us undress/redress for her.  Should I be worried about that yet?