Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2014 October

Congrats to Dalton, the first of our children to throw up in a toilet. Bonus points for a) giving me ten seconds notice b) raising himself from facefirst on my pillow and c) not screaming.

If you ask Sienna what her name is, she will say "Aggie." Try it. This is what she calls Maggie. She calls Dalton "Daggie". Suffice it to say she adores her sister.

In other situations, she refers to herself as Nenna. Or, more specifically, she refers to her things as belonging to Nenna. Pointing to mom's plate "mama!" Pointing to her plate "Nenna." Must establish ownership.

Dalton is trying to raise money so he can "spend lots and lots and lots of things." John just paid $2.05 to rent a stuffed Lightning McQueen for the evening. It's a steal compared to his other rental car.

Dalton mentioned that his money bank wouldn't close. The lid kept popping off (it's one of those tootsie roll banks.) I told him I'd get him an envelope for his dollars and I pulled them out of the bank. He had $41, including a $20 and $10. Hmm. I asked him if he took it from Maggie, which he denied.
At my school my teacher gave me lots of dollars.
Tell me the truth.
That is the truth.
Well, if that's the truth, your teacher is in trouble.
Then... there is no truth!

Eventually, he admitted to taking it from Maggie. I made him give it back to her and apologize. Luckily, I warned her what had happened and told her to be nice to him, so she was done being angry by the time he gave it back.

Sienna threw Maggie's coin bank down the stairs. I heard Dalton helping her clean it up and talking in his baby voice about "big and little circles" and "silver and bronze."

The other day, Dalton fell of the toilet, hit his head on the toilet paper holder, and broke the plastic spring roll. Sadly, I couldn't stop laughing.

Apparently, replacement springs are only $.97 at Walmart. Good to know.

A couple years ago I did a post on the silly names Dalton called Disneyland rides. Well, it's time to start one for Sienna.

Pirates: Doo doo (which is, of course, the sound a bird makes. Even a bird that is yelling "Yo ho!")
Lala: Ariel
Dee Dee: Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (Beep Beep)
Neigh Neigh: (carousel)
Doo: Pooh, and most of his friends.
Doo Doo: Train (choo choo)

We also say "whee!" in general, for rides.

Dalton turned 5 this past week. He remains the sweetest, kindest, most thoughtful boy I know. He must get it from his Daddy, who is also very thoughtful. He is still generally a good listener, but has developed a bit of stubbornness about doing the dishes. He is also very sensitive and cries at the drop of a hat on days he doesn't get enough sleep. At least i'm still blaming it on that. I've been blaming it on that since he stopped napping three years ago.

He is really enjoying school. He loves telling me what he did every day, showing me his worksheets, practicing making patterns and writing letters. And making friends.

For Dalton's birthday, I made BYU mint brownies, frosted like Mike and Sulley from the Monsters movies. We had some friends over for brownies that night, but his "party" was doing to Disneyland with a friend after school the next day. I bought them treats and let him pick all the rides and they had a good time.

He got a new two-wheeled scooter from us and his grandparents. We also got him some Berenstain Bears books, a Snoopy shirt, an Olaf shirt (and a matching one for Sienna) and a Monsters University hat, which is also part of his Halloween costume. He looks adorable in it. His friend who came to Disneyland gave him a little battery-powered shark that swims around in the bathtub, an aquarium, or the pool. The kids love it.

Sienna's been a crazy, grumpy screamer. I figured maybe she needs more attention and love, so the other day we went to the park instead of sitting around at home. The kids scootered over and I pushed Sienna in the tricycle. Then I paid attention to her and played with her. And during that time, Dalton got hurt. Apparently, he tried to cross the monkey bars, couldn't do it (obv) and dropped down. A parent standing nearby offered to help him down, but he said no, because he didn't know the guy (which is unusual, because Dalton loves adults).

He wasn't able to walk on it, and he was crying very hard and very loud. After about 5 minutes of trying to figure out how I was going to get everyone and everything home, a kind woman offered to help me by wearing her baby and putting Sienna in her stroller. Then I was able to push Dalton in the tricycle and carry his scooter while Maggie scootered home. Whew.

The next morning Dalton still couldn't walk on his foot, so I took him to the pediatrician who sent him downstairs for an x-ray. I was surprised to discover that the hospital didn't have Dalton in their system. Which means it's been over 2 years since he had a crash. Luckily, there wasn't a fracture, so it was just a sprain. We wrapped it up, and he's been enjoying the attention of hobbling around school with one shoe.

The other day at Music Makers, Sienna was running around like a crazy toddler, amidst other crazy toddlers running around, and she ran smack into one of her little friends. He's not so little - weighs more than Dalton though he is a month older than Sienna. So at first I thought they bumped heads, but really she bumped her head on his nose. He got a bloody nose and she got a bump on her forehead, but the hilarious part was that she bounced straight back and landed flat on her back on the floor. Like hitting a brick wall.

I just got a pizza made, from scratch, jack-o-lantern shaped, and in the oven in less than 15 minutes. Sometimes I even amaze myself.