Playing school

Both kiddos have been playing school around the house this week.  Big sis pulls out her easel and starts teaching the alphabet to her "girls" as she calls them (her barbies).  Little man packs a lunch box and backpack with highly important stuff (the contents of both are such a random assortment of importance to a 3 year old boy).  They really are excited about the new school year!

The first day of school went well for both kiddos this week.  Little man woke up and literally told us "I don't want to go to school.  I want to stay home.  I want to dress NOT in clothes."  Bless his heart, he wasn't the least bit excited about his transition to the 3 year old class at daycare.  BUT - da duh da duh - we all live with big sis who was SO excited about her first day of kindergarten even little man couldn't help but get into the "school is cool" spirit.  He even told me in the hallway that his teacher was not mean but nice and he happily ran off to play with his friends once we arrived at his class.  :)

By today, Friday, big sis was still quite enthusiastic about school.  This morning she happily yelled "I'm a Kindergartner!"  Little man looked at me with his big blue eyes and asked "Will I be there too?"  I gave him a hug and happily said "yes" while thinking "way too soon buddy, way too soon!"

As I was posting about school tonight I began to reminisce and started looking through baby pictures of little man on my computer.  I found these pictures of big sis and little man which just warmed my heart (big sis was 3 and little man was almost 1).  I know I have posted these pictures before (maybe even 2 or 3 times!).  I have a similar picture of me reading to my own little sister.  We were a bit older in our picture but the sentiment is the same.  I hope these kiddos continue to love to read and love school!

The Oreo

Another forgotten video/post.  Behold the OREO!  Just a boy discovering an oreo for the first time.  This video was taken January 2010.  I can't believe how grown up little man is these days compared to this video.  They really do grow up SO FAST!  We don't have as much video of big sis as a toddler - so it is a treat to be able to look back at our sweet little man.  Enjoy!

Egg Hunt . . . in September

More spring time pictures . . . egg hunt at church.  Big sis was really into filling her basket.  Little man was really into filling his belly.  Lots of candy eating and lots of cute pics.  Enjoy!

Easter in September

This week my catch up posts are all about spring.  I LOVED the kiddos' Easter outfits this past year!  Blue and yellow are two of my favorite springtime colors.  A little late, I know, but uber-cute none the less.  Aunt K lets us invade her yard for an afternoon egg hunt each year.  Which I realized recently is a nod to the circle of life since she lives in our grandparents' old home.  The place where she and I and our cousins did a lot of egg hunting in our day.  More pics on the way.  Enjoy!



Big sis and I BOTH have the "girly" picture tilt ;)



Little man on the move!



So sweet . . .





Eggs! Go!

 



CANDY baby!





Make a wish!





Make TWO wishes!



About A Boy

I thought it would be appropriate to list a few of the many things little man is doing lately as he approaches the ripe ol' age of 2 this Sunday:

1)  Everything big sis is doing little man HAS to do.  It is quite cute to us and VERY annoying to big sis.  We just acknowledge her frustration, tell her he is learning and pretty much that is just what little brothers do, and then laugh at the kiddos when they aren't looking.  And to be honest she is still REALLY patient with him.

2)  Hippos are still a favorite.  Little man is quite fond of Tasha, the Backyardigan hippo and regularly falls asleep with her now.

3)  Animal noises are cool to little man right now.  I seem to remember this being a fascination with big sis a bit earlier than 2 - but pretty much anything verbal has occurred earlier with big sis.  My favorite animal imitation by little man is his elephant - he adds arm motions for the trunk and everything.

4)  Little man is speaking in complete sentences which most people now understand (not just us!).  It is really weird to hear him talking so clearly.  And really amazing all at the same time!

5)  He would LIVE outdoors if we would let him!  He loves to play in the water and help clean up the yard and dig in the garden.

6)  Sorting and putting things in their place are also a big fascination.  He will dump out all of his toys from a box just to "clean up" - over and over and over again.

7)  The terrible twos are upon us.  And let's face it - they have been going on since 15 months of age.  But his tantrums are getting bigger although not more frequent as I had expected.  I am sure that will come . . .

8)  He is a pretty smiley guy - and very mischievous.  Little man likes to stir up trouble or make a joke and then say "thads funneee".  Little ham!

9)  Sometimes he still cries when we drop him off at school in the mornings.  But not as often and definitely not for long.  He usually wants to walk/run into school with big sis, get a bit of cuddle time when we hit the hallway, and then greet his teachers and get to that all important playtime with his school buddies.

10)  Little man finally has started his love of reading.  We regularly read before school, as soon as we get home, and then we sometimes have to pry bedtime books away when it is time to sleep.  Love it!  And love him!!!!

Ice Cream Noise

It is little man's big week - he turns 2 this coming Sunday.  So in honor of this milestone I am hoping to make this week "all about the boy" on the blog.  We will see if I can actually stay true to the theme - his big sis likes to steal the show.  But since big sis has had quite a few big moments lately I thought it only fair to give little man some extra attention this week . . .

Birthdays are all about cake and ice cream, especially around here.  And since the ice cream truck has started cruising our neighborhood the kiddos are quite smitten with the ice cream bug.  No worries about too much ice cream - we regularly "herd" them back inside to avoid the ice cream truck tune.  We want to keep frosty goodies a special treat in limited amounts.

The following video shows how excited little man is about the "ice cream noise."  He even has a book that plays the same song. And my favorite part is the way he actually eats his half of the ice cream sandwich - no need for a plate!  As usual big sis was available to answer all of mommy's questions :)

Culture

This past week has been "family time catch up" week.  And we have spent a lot of that time drenched in culture.  Last weekend was the dance rehearsal, dance recital, and then a children's play.  I wouldn't have wanted to do so much sitting with either kiddo but unfortunately no one asked me about when was the best time to have these events.  Big sis of course did great until she was so exhausted and hungry that she melted down in tears.  But they were short lived tears and easily fixed by FOOD. 

I was most impressed with little man who at the age of almost two made it through all the sitting with very minimal fussing.  He really surprised me and watched a lot of the dancing and the play.  He started the play asleep but when he woke up he didn't cry or fuss.  As long as he was on mommy or daddy's lap he seemed ok. 

The rest of the week included stitch night for the girls/walking for the boys, shopping downtown, walking to vote at our local voting center, a fancy dinner with Disco for work, a trolley ride through the shopping/eating area near our house as well as good pizza and gelato, and play time at our favorite indoor playground

We ended the week with a Greek food festival.  As per usual, big sis was a bit picky about her food choices - but little man ate anything you put in front of him.  I was proud of big sis because she tried and loved calamari. Although, truthfully, it is so close to fish sticks I am not sure she could even tell the difference.  But we will take what we can get when it comes to expanding her palate!  I can only take so much of chicken and cheese . . .

Comedian

Mister mischievous posing yet again.  He wandered around the living room like this to make sure everyone saw his new trick.  Little man cracks us up with his explorations into "the silly" on a daily basis.  I love this little guy - and I love seeing his funny interpretations of the world!

Mommy's Day

Today we just spent time around the house relaxing for Mother's Day - the best way to spend it in my opinion! We had a big breakfast at home with a beautiful floral centerpiece on the table from the kiddos.  They each made a homemade card for mommy.  We lounged outside and inside.  And the kiddos were in pretty good moods all day so it was fun to just relax/play with them.  The day ended with all of us piled in big sis' bed for story time.  And I held both kiddos as they drifted off to sleep.  Perfect!

Refurbished Brick Patio

Disco has been working really hard to clean up our backyard!  My job has been to find any remaining rusty nails/broken glass and herd the toddler/pre-school crowd.  Mainly because if I cleaned up the yard I would throw away many items Disco deems "essential." 

The cool part of this process has been that the kiddos are really enjoying their backyard adventures.  Although big sis can get a bit frustrated about being outside if she would rather watch TV with her blankie - little man would live outside if we would let him!  The kiddos are great "helpers" and regularly find some way to help us.  Big sis loves digging for worms and moving them to the hops garden and little man likes to sort and stack rocks/bricks.  Both enjoy picking up construction trash with me - even though it has been 2 years since construction was completed we still have plenty of trash!

The other cool part of this process is that Disco has been re-using all of the "saved" materials he has collected over the years.  Dirt piles have been moved to fill in holes, rocks used for drainage, and leaves/grass for composting.  The left over lumber is soon to be new swingset/fort for the the kiddos.  And even though we will have to make the brick patio "permanent" at some point - it was nice to start thinking about placement, etc today.

As with most projects, the kiddos made themselves right at home on the refurbished brick patio:

Nickname

Little man has been able to say mommy and daddy for quite some time now.  He even has a pretty good handle on many other family member names.  But for the longest time we couldn't figure out what he was calling big sis.  Unfortunately big sis has a somewhat difficult name - especially when you are under 2 years old and don't say "s" very well.  We thought he was calling big sis something but couldn't figure out what.

Within the last month it FINALLY hit us that he calls big sis "guh-guh".  Which made me feel better that I never realized what he was saying because it sounds nothing like her name.  It drove big sis nuts when she first found out little man wasn't calling her by her proper name.  She is very proud of her name and if anyone asks she belts out her first, middle, and last name. 

We have all adjusted to the name little man has given big sis.  She seems to like guh-guh now too.  And even though she won't allow anyone else use a nickname (including guh-guh), little man can call her what he wishes.  Just something about little brothers . . .

Spring Sprinkler

It is way too early for this activity but little man discovered the water hose in the backyard and was soaking himself anyway.  So we thought "what the heck"; it was warm enough so we got the kiddos in some bathing suits and set up the sprinkler.  Best sprinkler ever I might add!  And it only cost $2.50 on clearance  . . . bargain.

Can we say FUN?!?!?

Upgrade

Disco added cupholders to his daddy daycare "boxcar" or as he calls it "the movie theater". Surround sound may be next . . . and if he buys a popcorn machine I know this is a permanent fixture in the house!

Daddy Daycare

Disco's plan for watching the kiddos while I work/study on Saturdays:

Step 1: Put the kiddos in a box
Step 2: Point the box at the TV
Step 3: Turn on a movie
Step 4: Find something to do for the next 120 minutes

When I called to check in, little man was yelling "outside" and bringing Disco his shoes. Thank goodness someone wanted to get outside on this beautiful spring day!

Computer Update

Soooo . . . this week has been blah around the B-M household. Everyone seems to be just "business" as usual. But we are all getting tired of the allergies, hectic work/school schedule, and in general are ready for the craziness to quiet down.

I wish I had some pics to post because those always seem to brighten my day. Disco is working on his "new" computer. Our current one is totally overloaded with beautiful pictures of the kiddos. So we had to splurge and bid on a new one - which Disco won at a really good price. Not exactly what we had planned since we are on a "pay off the debt" budget. But hey, when does life ever go the way you planned it?

For now, things are good. The weather is beautiful. And we are playing hard when we are all together. What more could you ask for?

Spring

I just can't say enough about how much I love this spring tradition! Listening to parents argue with their uncooperative kiddos who are more interested in running rather than pictures . . . good times. No, seriously, we had a great time goofing around in the daffodils this year. It was the first year I felt like we could force a few quick photos and then let the kids RUN where they wanted - both kiddos much more independent and happy to just hang out in a massive field of yellow. These are my favorite pictures - enjoy!

Shopping War Wounds

We braved a LARGE rummage sell at a local high school recently. Our kiddos did great with the huge crowds. I ended up with 30 shirts/shorts/pants for $4 - I thought I had bought fewer items until I actually counted all of them tonight. I paid a whopping 13 cents for each item. Score!

Unfortunately, big sis and little man were horsing around in the checkout line when little man kicked big sis in the nose:

Poor Big Sis

Big sis quickly recovered from the encounter (this was actually one of the few shots where she wasn't smiling at us - but I found this pitiful look was so precious and it summed up her initial reaction to the kick). I figure this is the first of many unintentional injuries with this pair of kiddos . . .

Big Tent

Behold - the tent that engulfed our living room this past weekend:

Fun with Flashlights

Lounging and Reading

Sassy!

Weekend Top 10

We had a busy weekend - it was fun and loaded with family time! I hope to have pictures from some of the activities to post later in the week. But for now a quick recap:

10. Took the day off Friday to play with kiddos and Aunt K

9. Got my hair cut and donated it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. Which also led to getting my eyebrows waxed (can't have a new do with a unibrow)

8. I bought new bras. For those of you out there wondering about why you have to hear about my new bras, well, I will never breastfeed again. Which can be a bittersweet experience until I realized I get to take some time to concentrate on ME. And that means new bras.

7. We hit some major rummage sells around town, scored some sweet deals, and ate Krispy Kreme donuts.

6. Painted pottery with a bunch of 4 year olds - YIKES!

5. The kiddos ran through fields of daffodils

4. Little man puked, little man screamed, we have since confirmed little man still has an ear infection

3. Palm Sunday rocked with live sheep, goats, dogs, a donkey and a llama. We even got to see a baby sheep moments after its birth.

2. The kiddos ran through fields of daffodils a second time.

1. We put up a HUGE tent in our living room - this family is ready to go camping!

That Psycho Squirrel Park

Thanks to catlady, we now have a new name for the park we frequent most often - that psycho squirrel park. It has to do with a very unfortunate incident at big sis' 4th birthday that would take too long to post at this moment. (Although the pics I included today are from the b-day party).

The last two days we have spent a lot of time at the park. Yesterday was great because I was able to pick the kiddos up early so we spent extra time at the park while big sis played with her friends. Little man was much more independent and self-entertaining than usual which for the first time made the park much easier on me.

Today, we had to go to the park out of necessity! I had a blah day at work. Big sis and little man were extremely grumpy after I treated them to a sugary after-school popsicle (not likely to offer THAT again!). And my mood and the kiddos crying/whining began to drive Disco a bit nutty as well.

So it was time for a change of scenery after dinner - and the park was again a perfect distraction. The weather was beautiful, the crowd of parents and kiddos was light (and surprisingly pregnant!), there was no line for the swings, and it brightened everyone's mood. Well, little man was a little grumpy about leaving - but who could blame him. That psycho squirrel park rocked tonight!