Author Archives: Kathleen

Charlotte’s Crazy Smile

Posted on by

Ok the series of Isaac posts needs a little balance, so here’s something about Charlotte. She is such a silly unique girl. No-one who knows her can deny that she’s innately ALL GIRL. Sure she’ll growl and drive one of Isaac’s trucks around the room, but most often you’ll find her carrying a doll around the house trying to wrap it up in a washcloth that is way too small or wearing high healed shoes that are three times as big as her feet. Some of her favorite things to do are brush my hair and bring me my shoes. If I take off my shoes and leave them where she can get them she’ll bring them to me every 15 minuets or so until I decide to just wear them again or put them in my room where she can’t get them. When she saw my closet organizer that was filled with shoes she smiled really big and said “shoes!” Yesterday she was carrying a toy dog and a bottle around. She loves to put on hats and seems to think that Isaac’s bike helmet is just another hat to accessorize with. She has been bringing it to me and saying ‘hat’ and insisting that I put it on her. What really makes me laugh is that every time she sees me point a camera at her she gives me this crazy squinty-eyed, wide-mouthed smile.


Created with Paul’s flickrSLiDR.

Posted in Kids

The mind of a mechanic in the body of a 3 year old

Posted on by

Every time I took Isaac to WalMart he would insist on going to the bike section and riding the little red bike. So when his birthday rolled around we bought it for him. The funny thing to me is that over the last two days he has spent more time studying how the bike works than actually riding it. He has such an innately mechanical mind. He loves to turn the pedals and watch the wheels go around. Last night he said ‘m om, the tracks are moving around and around.’ It took me a moment to realize he was actually talking about the chain, but I had never taught him the word chain so he equated it with track wheels on a bulldozer. He continues to be so enthralled with how the bike works, constantly telling me about what he’s discovered and naming all the parts. Today I had to tape the handlebars to the floor so the bike would remain upsidedown while Isaac moved the pedals with his hands and studied how the gears worked!

Posted in Kids

Turning 3: an in Depth Look

Posted on by

(written on his birthday, posted a few days later)

So today was finally the big day and he was so excited. When he saw the happy birthday decorations he got very excited. He pretended to read them and then started naming all the letters in happy Birthday.

Just before sacrament me eting started at church he said alou d “Isaac getting big, big, big” and he reached his arms up high. It was also father’s day so when I told him the kids were going to sing, he said “sing happy birthday to Isaac?”

Charlotte was officially old enough for Nursery as of Thursday so we also let her take the sacrament for the first time (we decided as a couple that it seemed like a good age to start). Isaac was very kind and picked out a piece of bread and then offered it to her before taking his own.

After church we had lunch and then Isaac helped me decorate his cake. We had chocolate frosting so I got some construction cone candles and I bought some small trucks to go on the cake. He was so enthralled with all the trucks on the cake that I had to take off the forklift and clean off the frosting so that he could play with it. He drove it around the living room an d used it to transport his presents across the room.

He told me that his presents were all full of trucks. At one point he told me one of the presents was a cement truck and another present was cement for the truck. He thought the big cylindrical present (Lincoln logs) was a car seat.

He had been practicing the happy birthday song and he was very excited to have it sung to him, however he was afraid of the fire on the candles so he blew them out from a distance with a series of short puffs that made us all laugh!

After cake we opened presents and he did much better this year. Although he wanted to play with each toy after opening it, he also allowed us to provoke him to open other presents.

It was also father’s day so we went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for dinner. He rode his new bicycle. Most of the way I steered while he watched his feet and made comments about the mechanics of his bike. It was neat to see how mechanically minded he is. He didn’t eat much dinner before he decided that he missed his new toys and wanted to go home. He rode his bike home and as he rode he told me that mommys were good at keeping Isaacs safe.

Posted in Kids

Wisdom of a Toddler

Posted on by

5.12.07 – 6.6.07 I’ve been making little notes here about things Isaac has said, but I haven’t written about them so I don’t have real dates for each one, but I know they happened between the dates above.

One day I told Isaac that I needed to go fix my hair, he came to the door and yelled out to me that his hair was broken and mommy needed to fix it.

I don’t know why, but Isaac goes through these phases where he wants to sleep in different places. For about two weeks he slept almost every night on the table top in his room. I think the only nights he didn’t sleep on the table top were the nights that he was so sleepy that he fell asleep before he had time to think about it. He regularly sleeps on the floor as well.

One morning Isaac was watching a Baby Einstein DVD that showed l ots of images of animals. He came running up to me and said ‘Mommy, go to store buy cows.’ Later he asked me to buy dogs and bugs and horses.

One day after making a mess Isaac said “Oh no, mommy needs to clean it up. Mommies good at cleaning up.”

I took Charlotte into the nursery a few weeks early to help her acclimate. One day we went on a walk and Isaac saw a bird he yelled out “Bird say tweet tweet.”  a week or two later he yelled at the neighbor’s train to say “whooo whooo.”

The other day Isaac said “Mom, buy more money at the store.” Obviously he still has lots to learn about how money is acquired.

One day when I came home, Isaac said “Mom, put Ohio on” which apparently meant he wanted to watch the home movie where he went to Ohio.

Isaac has been anticipating his birthday ever since Charlotte’s birthday in December. For the weeks leading up to his birthday he would say “Isaac’s birthday is coming up and Laresa’s birthday is coming down.” Prior to his birthday, we went to the party store and bought a letter banner that spelled out “ISAAC3” and every time I asked him how to spell his name he’d say “with a 3.”

Posted in Kids

Belated Easter Celebration

Posted on by

I looked up the word ‘belated’ to make sure its definition really fit this post and here’s the definition I found: “coming or being after the customary, useful, or expected time.” That works!

We celebrated Easter yesterday (almost a week late). Last weekend Zach was miserably sick and throwing up. He spent most of the weekend on the bathroom floor. Isaac had a fever on and off and then threw up once on Sunday and little Charlotte had the sniffles. I felt fine, but I had so much homework to do over the weekend that I stayed up past 6:00 AM on Friday night and past 1:00 AM on Saturday. So it didn’t make much sense to try to squeeze Easter into all that.

We made a jelly bean trail from Isaac’s bedroom door into the living room. Charlotte woke up first, but it was easy to keep her from seeing the Easter surprise since she always wants to spend the first part of the morning hugging her mother. Isaac decided to sleep in this morning so I went into his bedroom at about 8:30 to wake him. I told him that the Easter Bunny had come and left him some candy. It took his sleepy little mind a moment to process, but soon he hopped out of bed. He opened the door and saw the candy trail leading into the livingroom. We handed him his Easter basket and he sat down on the floor and started singing the ‘clean-up’song as he picked up jelly beans and placed them in his basket. Charlotte caught on quick and after sampling a few started collecting them in her basket. They stopped picking up candy when they discovered their little Easter gifts. Charlotte got some dress-up shoes, a boa, sunglasses, jewelry, and a silver sequined purse. Isaac got a car transporter truck, a tanker truck, and a crane truck. They each took turns playing with the new toys and collecting candy. As Isaac picked up candy he would laugh about how silly it was that candy was in this place or that place. Charlotte had a blast picking up and sampling candy and really seemed to enjoy the process of picking them up and putting them in the basket. At one point she started emptying out her basket into Isaac’s Easter basket. After collecting all the candy he could find, Isaac handed his basket to me and said ‘here mommy,’ then went to play with his new Easter trucks.

Charlotte enjoyed her little dress-ups. After I helped her put the shoes on she walked around the room in them smiling. Later in the evening when I put them on her she walked all over the house and said ‘oh no’ every time one of the shoes came off. The sunglasses were a hit too—probably partially due to the fact that she always wants to play with mom’s glasses and never gets to. She would put them on and then smile really big and shake her head. Her other favorite thing was the sequin purse. I put some old credit cards in the purse and she would take them out and put them back in over and over again. She would also walk around the house with the purse over her shoulder—she’s such a girl. I can’t get her to wear the purple boa long enough for a picture. I’d love to get a picture of her with the dress up shoes, sunglasses, purse and boa all on. She smiles or laughs when I put the boa on her, but she promptly removes it—I bet she’ll start putting it on and walking around the house in it soon enough.

Posted in Kids

Feeling better?

Posted on by

Little Charlotte had a rough weekend.  On Saturday morning when I retrieved her from her bed I found that she had vomited at some point after being put to bed and had been sleeping in vomit.  Unfortunately this was just the beginning of a very rough day.  She continued to throw up every single thing she ate.  If she drank a sip of water, she threw up a sip of water within ten minutes.  She probably went through at least ten outfits.  I had done all the laundry on Friday, but by the end of Saturday I had to wash three more loads comprised almost completely of things that Charlotte vomited on (mostly her clothes, her mom’s clothes, and the towels I had provided to protect the couch and carpet).  Aside from vomiting, she was cranky and sluggish and spent the entire day on her mother’s lap–so much for my homework that I usually do on Saturdays.  By the end of the day she was completely miserable and starting to look dehydrated (no tears when she cried, her eyes looked dry, and only one wet diaper the entire day) so I took her to Orem Community Hospital.  They were able to give her half of some sort of magic pill that allowed her to drink fluids without vomiting.  She was in better spirits, after the pill and actually smiled a few times before going to bed.  Sunday she only vomited one time, but had several bouts of diarrhea and spent the entire day either in her mother’s arms or next to mom on the couch.  She woke up at 1:00 AM on Monday morning with a leaking diaper and screamed and cried or about a half an hour.  She wouldn’t eat or drink anything, but arched her back as if she didn’t want to be held.   When I laid her on the floor she rolled closer to me and continued screaming and kicking.  She finally calmed down and fell asleep in my arms.  She slept the rest of the night without incident, but joined her mom in bed in the morning and slept in mom’s bed from about 6-7:45am.  She continued to be clingy and sluggish until after her morning nap.  When she woke up she had more energy and actually left her mother’s lap to play.  I hope we’re in the clear now.  Her appetite is starting to come back and she smiled, laughed and ran around with Isaac the rest of the day.

Posted in Kids

The ABC song

Posted on by

Isaac lined up a series of numbers on the door and  the stood in front of them and sang the ABCs.  This is a picture of him singing the ABC song to his sister.  

I also like this picture because it shows the difference in height between my little ones.  They grow so fast!  I am very grateful to have children who adore each other so much.  Today when Charlotte heard Isaac crying in his room, she went to his door and nocked on it and called out “Isaac, Isaac.”  Isaac always makes sure that if he gets a treat, his little sister gets one as well He’ll say   “one for Charlotte” and wait expectantly until Charlotte gets one.  

Posted in Kids

Not just for bottoms anymore!

Posted on by

Isaac had a hard time going to bed tonight. He got up over and over again. Finally when I thought he was asleep I went into his room to put a toy away and found him smearing diaper cream all over his shelves and toys! I read somewhere that baby oil is effective for removing diaper cream from a small bottom and it turns out that it also works on shelves, books, trucks, coats, walls, and night stands! For more pictures of this unfortunate incident check out our flickr pictures.  Our collection of pictures is nearning 5,000!

Posted in Kids

Growing up

Posted on by

Well, the pacifiers are finally gone.  Here’s the story as it is written in the family log:

 

3.3.07 Isaac decided to grow up a little today. We were a t Walmart and he wanted to see the trucks. I told him that he had to trade his pacifiers for new trucks. We found a small set that he really wanted so he agreed to trade his ’plugs’ for it. When we got home he ran into his room and got two ‘plugs’ and I traded with him. He was very excited and happy about the trade. We brought it up several times during the day as he played with his new trucks. When I told him that he was such a big boy he lined up next to the fridge so I could mark how much he’s grown!

3.13.07 The first night after giving up his pacifier was rough. He had fallen asleep in his dad’s arms so I thought we had lucked out by skipping the fight to go to sleep the first time with out his beloved ‘plug.’ Unfortunately, he woke up at 11:00 and realized that he had no pacifier. He cried and screamed. He said no more new trucks. At one point he came up with a plan. He gathered up all the new trucks and put them in his closet then asked for his ‘plug.’ I held firm through hours of crying and begging me to trade his trucks back. Finally at 4:00 am he fell asleep, exhausted. The next morning when he woke up he rolled over and said in a very sleepy voice ‘no plugs.’ We talked about how big he was and discussed his new trucks several times. He didn’t have another night like the first one, but there were a few times that he asked for his ‘plugs’ and offered to trade the new trucks. I think he cried one other time when he was tired and wanted his pacifier. Ten days later, it seems to have worked. He no longer asks for his ‘plug.’ With that success behind me, I decided it was time to take away Charlotte’s pacifiers. She is less attached to hers and she still sleeps in a crib so although she cried, overall the transition was smoother for her. I took hers away on Friday night, but allowed her to have it back for a half an hour during Relief Society—I didn’t think it was appropriate to make her cry herself to sleep in that setting.

Posted in Kids

One Crazy Sunday

Posted on by

Yesterday was an interesting day. Zach had to be to church early since the choir was singing (he left just before 8:30). At 8:45 I headed out the door with both kids and the diaper bag and as I shut the door behind me, it locked and I realized my keys were still inside. Isaac was holding some of his noisy trucks that I had planned to leave in the car. I quickly put the trucks in the diaper bag and with no access to a stroller, I took off on foot.  We made it to church just in time to sit down before the meeting started. When I explained the truck dilemma to Zach, he took the trucks out to his car. While he was gone, Isaac remembered the trucks and attempted to hop down off the pew, but his head went forward and he hit the hymnal holder and he let out a cry. The meeting was just beginning and Zach was still placing the toys in his car—luckily someone behind me offered to take Charlotte so that I could take my injured and crying Isaac out into the hall to calm down. He ended up with a nice read mark right next to his eye (pictured above). The rest of the meeting went ok and Sunday school passed without incident. I took my place in the back of Relief Society with the other mothers (we have our own row with space for our babies to play right in front of us). As I was sitting there listening to the lesson with Charlotte standing right in front of me, the sister beside me nudged me and pointed to Charlotte. It took me a moment to realize what was happening. First I saw what looked like water spilling onto the floor at her feet then I looked up and saw that she did not have any water to spill. That’s when it occurred to me that it wasn’t water at all. I lifted up her dress to find that one of the straps of her diaper had come open and the diaper was detached and the diaper was falling off. I quickly reattached the strap, blotted the floor and took her in for a diaper change. Amazingly her dress, socks and shoes were all dry—the floor was the only casualty! The picture is of Charlotte before Church–doesn’t she look innocent? 

Posted in Kids

Anything can be a train!

Posted on by

Is it normal for two-year olds to be so creative?  Isaac is always building things and pretending that different objects are trucks or trains.  Lately whenever I give him a straw it turns into a ‘digger’ and drives around the table.  He makes the most interesting trucks with his blocks and he regularly turns household items into trains.  The other night he emptied my cupboard to make a train as I was fixing dinner.  He’d sit on the cookie sheet behind the pressure cooker and say “Isaac in train” then he got up, moved back to a cookie sheet farther down the line and said” Isaac in train car.”  He then decided that he needed to eat dinner on his train.  He took his bowl of pasta off the table, grabbed a fork and sat down on my cookie sheet and started eating!

Posted in Kids

Little Mommy

Posted on by

If you don’t belive that there’s an innate difference between girls and boys, then I’d like you to meet my children!  As you know, Isaac is all boy.  Loves trucks, trains and anything with an engine.  Charlotte on the other hand likes girly things that Isaac never cared about.  She loves her plastic bead necklaces, she enjoys trying to play dress up and she loves her dollies.  When I was pregnant with Charlotte, Grandma Cochran would put a doll out with the rest of the toys in an attempt to prepare Isaac for the arrival of his little sister.  He would have nothing to do with the doll, he’d just push it aside to get to the toys.  He never picked it up or held it.   Charlotte, however, picks up her doll and holds it close to her.  She rocks it and “talks” to it in her little girly voice.  She also likes to take the doll’s hat off and try it on her own head!  She also shows more interest in stuffed animals and kittys.

Posted in Kids

Isaac gets a haircut

Posted on by

I have no exciting story to go with this picture, but in an attempt to post more often, I thought I’d post this. Now I have all this space to fill so that the picture can be encapulated by text.

On an unrelated story Charlotte is doubling her teeth count to four–two are just breaking through on the top.

Hmm. . .what else could I write. I cried twice in class last night because I missed my kids and wanted to be home with them. I called Zach as I walked to the car after class and cried again. I guess I can be an emotional person–I am dreading this semester and how busy I’ll be–I need more time with my kids!

Posted in Kathleen's Personal History, Kids

Expert Snow Shoveler for Hire

Posted on by

What he lacks in experience he makes up for in cuteness! Need your walk shoveled and you don’t care how long it takes or how through the job is?  If you answered yes, then I know just the toddler for you.  He’ll come over and monopolize your snow shovel, but he’ll make you laugh while he does.

This picture was taken on December 16th.  It was the only time that I have attempted to shovel the walk and driveway this season.  We went out there just after breakfast while Isaac was still in his PJs (notice the stylish firetruck pants) and I did the best I could before Isaac insisted on having a turn.  Unfortunately once he got the shovel, he refused to give it back and I was never able to finish the job–oh well, it’s melted and snowed again since then so it’s just as well!

Posted in Kids

Charlotte’s Birthday (Belated)

Posted on by

Is that proper usage of the word belated?  I know it’s the appropriate term for late birthday cards- oh well, here’s some thoughts I wrote down on her first birthday:

 Today was Charlotte’s birthday. I think she had a good day. After a breakfast of banana bread, I gave her a bath. She loves baths so much that when she heard me turn on the water, she toddled as fast as she could to the bathroom and stood at the edge of the bathtub trying to climb in. After her bath we played a little while before we went to the store and then to Wendy’s. She had a lunch of French fries, mandarin oranges, and milk. She laughed and giggled and danced to the music playing over the loud speaker. Isaac got out of his seat and started entertaining her. It’s funny, all he has to do is look at her sometimes and she laughs. After Wendy’s she played outside for a little while before taking a nap. Then we went to the post office and the store. She had fun walking around the post office while we waited in line. A little girl started to play with Charlotte by following her around. Charlotte thought that it was great! After dinner Sarah, Nate, Josh, Grandma Cochran, Grandpa Cochran, Heidi and Laresa came over for cake and presents.  Charlotte loved her new toys. Some of her favorites were some bead necklaces and a toy cell phone.  As soon as she opened them she stood up and started walking around while playing with them—I think she learned this skill as a survival skill because it’s harder to take a toy away from a moving baby! Isaac gave her two pink cars for her birthday. He was so excited about them that every time I told him Charlotte’s birthday was coming he’d remind me about the pink cars! As soon as she opened them Isaac took them and put them in his room with his cars. We told him that they were Charlotte’s pink cars and he corrected us with the words “Isaac’s pink cars.” This was only the beginning. Isaac was more excited about Charlotte’s presents than she was. He tried to help and wanted to play with each toy. One of his favorites was a little dog that wagged his tail and made little noises as you pulled it around on a string. He walked all around the house saying “Isaac’s doggie” as he pulled it!

Posted in Kids

Cochrans can make Bad Bloggers

Posted on by

So I haven’t been very regular about this blogging thing.  I should fill this site up with adorable stories of our irresistable children, but it just doesn’t always happen that way. Every now and then I make a note in our log about the children and some of those notes could make acceptable blogs.  Like I thought last month, I should post a little about Charlotte’s birthday, then as time past I thought of how embarrisingly distant the date would be from her actual birthday and I decided not to post, but now I think I could write this boring little explination and then fill in some catch up blogs from my log–and that’s better than nothing–right?!

Posted in General

Cute kids get more Candy!!

Posted on by

Yesterday was Isaac’s first official Trick-or-Treat adventure.  I think he had a good time and he provided his mom and dad with a good stash of candy! 

We got our first group of trick-or-treaters before we left and when Isaac saw them knock on the door, say trick-or-treat, and get candy.  He said ‘Isaac, me’ and pointed to himself in order to indicate that he’d like to say trick-or-treat and get candy.

In a non-scientific study based on taking Isaac trick-or-treating one time, I have determined that cute kids get more candy!  Several people remarked on how cute he was and gave him handfuls of candy instead of the requisite one piece.

At one of the last houses we went to, he noticed some big jack-o-lanterns and grabbed my leg.  I picked him up and he clung to me tightly and wouldn’t let me put him down.  The next house had jack-o-lanterns as well and he refused to go near the door.  From that point on we couldn’t go to any houses that had jack-o-lanterns at them.

Posted in General

A Kind-Hearted Boy

Posted on by

Isaac has developed this nurturing side lately. He regularly puts stuffed animals and dolls to bed. sometimes in his own bed other times he sets up a bed in the livingroom with a pillow and a blanket. Today he was playing with his trucks next to Jack when he noticed that Jack was falling to sleep. He ran to his room and retrieved his ‘duck blanket’ and layed it gently on the cat! If you haven’t already guessed from the picture, Jack is our cat.

Posted in Kids, Pets

There is such a thing as too much sunscreen!

Posted on by

 

I thought I could take a few minuets to type something on the computer.  I knew there was trouble when I heard both children laughing in the other room.  I came out to find that Isaac had raided the diaper bag and was smearing sunblock all over the floor and Charlotte was helping him!  If you want to see more of this mayhem, then check out our flickr pictures (found on the left hand side of this page.

Posted in Kids
« Older Entries Recent Entries »