1.
Julianna loves her (almost 10 month old) little brother so very much!
She kisses his little fuzzy head and hugs him. She plays with him and gives him toys when he's upset or crying. She loves watching him eat his food and tells him he's a good boy. She gets so excited when he crawls or does things for the first time. Julianna also loves picking out his PJs at night & jumping up and down while making funny faces to make him laugh like only she can do (there is some kind of secret laughter code between them!). She holds his hand in the car and stares at him like only a big sister can do. She gets upset if Tyler has to go somewhere with Mommy or Daddy without her - she wants him to be with her all of the time! Julianna has even given her beloved precious baby giraffe to Tyler to play with. I am in love with watching their relationship blossom and grow daily. It's something that you can't truly understand until you witness your two children bonding with each other. Tyler looks up to Julianna with such admiration and love, like nothing I've ever seen before.
2.
The pencil story. Ah yes the pencil story. I was debating whether or not to tell this but, hey what the hell right?! So, Julianna picked up pretty fast (as most kids do) that her 'private parts' are not the same as Tyler and Daddy. One day not too long ago, she announced loudly, "Daddy has a pencil". A what? Huh? And I thought for a few seconds...Ooooooh. OK yes he has a penis honey. (kill me now!) Then she said in the same breath, "Mommy, Tyler has a pencil and he poops out of it". Um. OK?? What do you say to this kid?!
3.
Julianna is 3 years old and will turn 4 in May. Before you have kids, everyone warns you over & over about the terrible twos. Ha! We got through two years old and thought "Wow, that wasn't so bad after all". (all you moms with older kids, you can laugh now). Then came age three. Oh. My. God. No one warns you about three! Three has been beyond challenging. That's for another post. Julianna is primetime whiny, crying, obnoxious meltdown age. And I do mean prime time. All the time. Any time. About anything. Meltdowns (with a squealing high pitch that only a dog can hear & gasping breathes) over a crayon tip missing from a crayon, her balloon popping, not finding matching ponytail holders, hello-kitty barrette missing, too much milk in her cheerios, not enough milk in her cheerios, band aid falling off (after being on her imaginary boo-boo for 4 days), imaginary black speck in her rice, or pizza that is NOT from our favorite pizza place! And... melting down over the wrong flavor yogurt, wrong color spoon, no clean hello-kitty underpants, no clean hello-kitty socks, and the list goes on and on. Balloon popping... Oh wait, I already mentioned that- but it deserves an honorable mention due to the absolute enormity of the meltdown that one creates. Holy Moses head for the hills if that balloon pops!
4.
Julianna got a tea set from my mother (nana) for Christmas. This girl loves having tea parties with her animals. Giraffes are usually the main guests at the party, but cow, horsey, doggie, snake, hello kitty, or pony are often invited too. Julianna knows to stay in her bedroom that she shares with Tyler until Brian or myself come into their room in the morning. We have always told her if she gets up early to read a book or play quietly. And she does. Several times we have walked into her room in the morning and she has her tea party all set up, drinking tea with 4 of the above named guests. So so so cute! The animals will all have a cup that their little snouts are dipped into. So adorable!
5.
A few weeks ago, I was sick with a sinus infection and playing play dough with Julianna - and out of the blue she said to me, "Mommy I love you, I hope you feel better soon" - And she kept getting up to get me grapes in hopes it would make me feel better. I love this little kid - it makes all the whining and meltdowns (see #3) totally worth it!
6.
Julianna is growing into her own little person - every day I see her personality shine through and it just makes me smile with a proud-mama smile! She is so smart, funny & goofy. She laughs and tells jokes. She knows what she wants (sometimes a little too much), and knows what she doesn't want. She has such a fabulous personality and I love seeing her grow inside & out each and every day. I love seeing her with my husband. The bond they have is just amazing. It's so true what is said about daddy/daughter relationships.
7.
Back to the previously mentioned band aids (see #3). One night, Brian and I came home from our date night out and went into Julianna's room to kiss her goodnight (as we always do every night), and noticed she had a band-aid on her chin. Huh? All we could do is laugh. To know this kid, is to know she has 3-4 bandaids on her body any given day at one time. Mostly for imaginary boo-boos. She will be sitting on the sofa and out of nowhere say "Ouuuch! My elbow hurts. I need a Hello Kitty Bandaid". I could only imagine the extraordinary excuse she used on poor Jill (our babysitter) to get her to put a bandaid on her chin that night!
8.
The other night, I was reading Julianna a short story in her HighFive magazine (like Highlights for kids under 5 - it's awesome!), and I explained to her what twins are and how we have a set of twins in our family. I then asked her if she could name the twins in our family? So she quickly responds "Oh - me and Pepper. We're twins". Pepper is our dog. Clearly she missed the point. I was trying to get her to name her 13 year old twin cousins. Funny stuff though.
9.
File this one under kids say the darnedest things. The toilet made some gurgling noises the other day after she flushed it. She then proceeded to yell out, "What's wrong with the freakin toilet?". Brian and I were cracking up! Could be worse, she could have said the other F word! I have to know that day is coming. Soon.
10.
Julianna wanted to meet Tyler's 'heart doactor' when we went to the Congenital Heart Awareness Event at the Hospital a few weeks ago. I later found out that Tyler's cardiologist was so touched by Julianna wanting to meet her. That is her way of learning about (and coping with) Tyler's condition even though she probably doesn't understand a lotbout it yet. She probably thought, "Who is the doctor they are always going to see?". Now she knows who his doctor is. I was also showing Julianna the halter monitor that was attached to Tyler's chest for 24 hours after his doctor' appointment a couple weeks ago. Julianna was genuinely interested in it and not scared at all. She doesn't ask about his scar at all either, even though she sees it daily. I think she just knows it's part of "him" and that's it. I believe she understands Tyler is different than her because she knows he goes to the doctor quite often and she talks about his heart doctor, but she is too young to understand the reality of it of course. I think it's pretty amazing how accepting she is of the special attention he gets and is OK with it (except when melting down - see #3).
Here are some pictures of a typical indoor day, which is every day lately due to the snowpocalyptic winter we have been having here in New Jersey.
Julianna loves cutting paper with her new scissors that Nana gave her!
Make note of random band-aid.
Indoor fun
This was taken in December right around Christmas.... Pre-Ice Age.
