Another movie with the kids

Our first movie experience was Madagascar 2 some time ago. Today we decided to catch "The Princess And The Frog" matinee. We got there just as the theatre was filling up, so ended up with decent seats (especially considering the seats taken in the front two rows by those arriving later). Previews, then movie starts, then we break out the snuck-in kettle corn. This reminded me of walking to the Kensington theatre with my brothers and my Mom would make us all popcorn that we would sneak in.

About halfway through the 1.5 hour movie, William says "I want to leave now". I thought the issue would be either bathroom or falling asleep. I coaxed him into staying and he really started enjoying it. I think he was the loudest laugher in the whole theatre!

The movie ended on a very up note and the kids really enjoyed it. My only complaint is that it seems that every movie we see lately wants to introduce the topic of death. We really don't want to go there with a 4 and 3 year old. Otherwise, great movie.

Afterwards, we decided to go to Champs for dinner and were pleasantly surprised that on Tuesdays, kids eat free! Bonus! We had a nice dinner, then William fell asleep in the car as soon as he got to his seat.

Enjoying my week off.

Santa's lap!

We've finally had a successful Santa visit with both kids! Up until this year, Mary Grace has been too scared of Santa to sit on his lap but reluctantly posed last year because her cousin Catie was with her. Remember a few years ago when she would say "I care Santa!".

Apart from the untimely loudspeaker announcement at the mall, I made a wonderful video of their visit. I included a transcript to help you know what was said.

Mommy: Do you want to tell Santa what you want?
Mary Grace: A barbie van
William: I want Bendaroos
Daddy: One at a time; did you catch that Santa Clause?
William: A mean dinosaur that doesn't stomp and doesn't roar, bendaroos and that's it

Santa: Wow, have you guys been good this year
Mary Grace: Yup!
Santa: I think so, have you been helping Mommy and Daddy out around the house?
Mary Grace: Yup!
Santa: Wonderful; you guys got your toys picked up for Santa?
Mary Grace: Yup!I was playing with all my puzzles last day!
Santa: That's alright, just so long as you pick them up after your done playing with them, ok?
Santa: Tell Santa, have you and your brother been fighting?
William: Yup!
Santa: Well, no more fighting; Santa's watching!
Santa: ...something about my elves...?
Santa: Can you wave to Daddy and say Merry Christmas?
Mary Grace and William: Merry Christmas!
Santa: Merry Christmas; Ho ho ho ho!

Who's William's BFF?

I asked William "Who is your best friend at school?"

He responded "Joe!"

"Who is your second-best friend at school?"

"Nothin!"

Anne and I chuckled at how cute that was, then he said

"I mean nobody!"

Chuckle time is over, and proud parent mode kicks in!

Who has a brain the size of a walnut?

Tonight we were practicing reading hour (since William's teacher said he has trouble focusing during reading time) and in the midst of it, the book we were reading was addressing the things that all people have in common. One item was a brain. So Anne asks William "Who has a brain the size of a walnut"?

William stood there thinking and thinking, then cautiously responds "Jonny?". Dumbfounded, we asked him to repeat what he said, and he came back with "Nate and Jonny?".

He must have misunderstood the question, but we got a giant kick out of it.

Hope you did too Nate and Jon!

SNOW!

I love the excitement in the little ones about things we take for granted as adults. I was up early this morning and while having breakfast, I heard the stomp of William getting out of bed upstairs. Then a couple of careful steps as he approached the window. The the stomp-stomp of jumping with excitement. Then the gallop of hooves as he raced excitedly downstairs all the while screaming SNOW! SNOW! SNOW!

I got a big hug, then an unfortunate question - "Can we go outside and play in the snow?" "I'm sorry William, but I have to go to work now!"

Pesky responsibilities; I would have liked to play in the first snow with my boy. But I keep telling myself that there will be plenty more opportunities.

Thanksgiving 2009

This year we had Thanksgiving at Mama's house. The last thanksgiving of the aughts was a great success. The kids were nice and hungry, William tried a bunch of new food (sweet potatoes, squash), Mary Grace ate a bunch of turkey (with Ranch dressing of course...), and everyone had a great time. In addition we also had stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and of course, Mama's wonderful rolls. It was a feast.

As if that wasn't enough, we also had a pumpkin pie and an apple pie, both which were outstanding!

The weekend was a success remodel-wise too, as I finished the electrical work and got ready to hang the drywall on the ceiling.




Posing with "gobbles"

"Fill 'er up"

Mama and Mary Grace

Cute Poppy

The kids have discovered the cereal Corn Pops, which they cutely call "Poppies". William told me yesterday while looking at the box and reading the letter "Look Daddy, P O P S spells Poppies!".

Mary Grace on the other hand made a pet out of a little poppy. She found a tiny little one that was shaped like a seashell. I didn't know it was her new pet. While I was washing dishes, she handed it to me, and thinking she had found it on the floor or something, I ate it.

Once I saw the look of fear wash over her face, I realized I had made a great mistake. Then the crying began as she ran to Mommy crying "Daddy ate my poppy!". So we searched through several bowls of poppies looking for a suitable replacement pet, but didn't find one.

Good thing for me about 1 hour later, all was forgiven and forgotten. She has since found a new pet, twin small poppies. Now that I know that a piece of cereal can be a pet, I'll be a lot more careful...

Incompatible games

Mary Grace and William sometimes play really well together. Sometimes, however, it doesn't go so well. Imagine observing this:

Mary Grace is playing with her Ponyville. She has Pinky Pie and Minty and Star Song and the others. They're having a birthday party for one of the ponies. It's a great party until William joins in. William brings his dinosaur to join in the fun. Of course, being a dinosaur, the first thing it wants to do is jump around and knock all the ponies over, disrupting the party. The dinosaur proceeds to get into an epic battle with one of the ponies, at which point Mary Grace is running crying for a parent to intervene.

She calls this "playing naughty", as in, "No William, I don't want you to play naughty!"

Now imagine the other side. William has a franken-toy setup involving trains running over dinosaurs, blocks acting as the bowser trying to beat everyone else, and even pull-back cars running through the whole disaster. Mary Grace brings her Barbie doll into this, suggesting they could all work together to throw a surprise party for another Barbie.

There's no term for this intervention, but again, it ends up in a brawl of some sort requiring parental intervention.

Sometimes they play well, other times not so much!

It's ok to post Halloween photos before Thanksgiving

Trust me, it's ok.

For Halloween, Mary Grace dressed as a witch and William wanted to be Spiderman. Mommy did an amazing job of finding both costumes on the cheap, in like-new condition, and the costumes were awesome!

Here are some of the photos we took on the magical trick-or-treating night of October 31! The kids had a blast showing off their costumes to all the neighbors and and the adults had a blast watching the kids and consuming drinkables from the beer wagon!




The night started out chilly with a cold breeze but as we moved from house to house it seemed to warm up for us. We trick or treated for about an hour, then headed back to the house to eat some pumpkin seeds and inventory the goodies.

The kids are still enjoying the loot and now expect a piece of candy after every meal, even breakfast. Mary Grace, the perennial bird-like eater has adopted a strategy of eating half or less of her meal then trying to fill up on candy afterward. Yes, she is our little negotiator.

William has learned to climb up onto the counter-tops where he stands up to reach the candy on the upper shelves of the cabinets. Cannonball, as our ex-neighbors Mike and Doris nicknamed him.

We're all looking forward to the upcoming holiday!

The leaf monster!

Here's a video Mommy took of the kids playing out in the leaves this fall.

Happy Halloween

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William's sleepy time

William inevitably asks Mommy or I to lay with him after he's read a story. So once the book gets put down, the lights get dimmed and I snuggle with the little cutie and we talk about what we did today and what is going on tomorrow. Then about 30 seconds of silence before William is asleep. I'm not joking here. 30 seconds.

He asks "will you lay with me" like it's a big deal... Sure, honey - anytime!

Mary Grace's new song

Mary Grace came home from school all excited about the new song she learned at school. Here it is:



(It degraded to some silliness at the end...)

Apple picking and pumpkin patching 2

Faced with a beautiful Sunday afternoon and nothing terribly pressing on our calendar, we opted to head out to G&S Orchards, at 825 Atlantic (crossing of Lincoln Rd in Walworth). It's about a 15 minute drive from the house and completely worth it.

We initially opted not to take a whole bushel, but cost made it more economical. We got a lot more apples than we need, but the cost was still about $20. The kids did great picking apples but had to be reminded to gently place them into the bags and not to pick up apples off the ground. We ended up with 4 varieties and made sure to eat at least one of each variety to ensure they were up to our high standards.

Next, we rolled the wagon down to the pumpkin patch for some pumpkin picking. After much careful examination, William settled on a nice big beauty, and Mary Grace chose "the littlest pumpkin" (based on a book we have). I steered her towards a larger, easier to carve pumpkin and she too got a nice one.

Anne wanted to get one too, so she picked a green one with the intention of carving our house number into it.

On the way back to pay for all the loot we selected, we noticed three years old is apparently the age when a child falls on a rotten pumpkin. Happened to Mary Grace last year and William this year. William couldn't care less though, while Mary Grace was quite upset and crying. Trusty mommy's emergency diaper bag to the rescue once again with a spare pair of pants.

On the way home we realized we hadn't had lunch yet, so we stopped at the new Bay/Goodman pizza on Atlantic and Browncroft and had a nice pizza lunch.

A wonderful fall afternoon was had by all, and here's the evidence:

Ballet video

I think this was the kids first ballet class! Cute!

Happy Birthday Mama

We celebrated Mama's birthday on Monday at our house. We had a nice dinner, then leftover birthday cake from a lunch party for Mama, Aunt Rose and Didi. Happy birthday to everyone!

First rainbow ever!

Walking out the back door to go straighten the garage in anticipation of our first new bathroom appliance, the tub, I noticed it was sunny-raining. As I walked down the steps I saw this!



I quickly hurried back inside and excitedly gathered up the kids. They had never seen a real rainbow up in the sky before. So we all went out in the chilly October air and watched the rainbow!

Mary Grace was quick to point out that in cartoons, if you find the end of the rainbow, you'll find a treasure! As usual, William agreed and even repeated the statement!

Sleep talking

Every once in a while, Mary Grace wakes up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep. I always wake up when I hear the little pitter-patter of her running into our bedroom, straight to my side of the bed. I'm expected to lift the covers and she climbs in and we fall asleep.

That usually lasts about an hour, when she starts tossing and turning, slowly pushing me towards Anne's side of the bed. At that point I get "influenced" to take Mary Grace back to her bed, where she sleeps soundly for the rest of the night.

Last night was one of these events. So I'm sound asleep when Mary Grace starts talking about Cinderella's carriage. I can't remember exactly what she said, but it was obvious she was having a Disney Princess dream...

Finally back to sleep and about a half hour later, Mary Grace is YELLING "Lets go for a hay-ride! Hahaha". I was chuckling at that one, but Anne wasn't so amused. So off to her own bed my little girl went. And a smile on my face I have everytime I think about it.

Hope it happens again tonight!

That TV is going to rot your brain!

I remember my mom saying that to us as kids, especially on those marathon TV nights when Battlestar Galactica or The Six Million Dollar Man was on. I now have proof that she was right.

William and Mary Grace were watching some kids show we Tivo'ed on TLC back when we still had cable. Anne walked in as a commercial was playing and asked "What are you guys watching?" William responded "It's the Wonder Hanger - It holds 6 winter coats!"

Most of the programming they watch is commercial free now, so those rare commercials they do see really carry a lot of influence!

One

Counting the number of illnesses the kids encounter this cold/flu season.

Mary Grace started feeling sick after school. She fell asleep snuggling with Mommy and when she woke up, signs of a stomach bug surfaced. Between "bouts", she was pretty normal, but the "bouts" lasted well into the evening.

She was awake at 11, 3:30 and 6:30, then finally got up at 7:15, seemingly back to her peppy, excited, loud-talking self. Unfortunately, her fever kicked in at 100.5 and while she's keeping down clear liquids, she's still not 100%.

William and his iron stomach are fine, although he felt a little warm this morning.

William's artsy side

Lately, William has been getting much better at coloring and painting. He's brought home some wonderful artwork from school and it we can see the improvements that each one brings.

Last night, I went to pick up the kids from KidTown and William looked at me all disappointed. I asked what was wrong and he said that he wanted to finish his coloring before he left. He immediately went to work coloring in his firetruck so that he could give it to mommy when we got home. He was very serious and intense, it was adorable.

He did a fine job and we'll be proudly displaying it on the refrigerator!

Snowy Owls no more

Mary Grace recently had her first field trip this year, to the zoo. I saw a big poster outside of her class where each child noted their favorite animal. I already knew before reading that she loves the snowy owls.

Sadly, the snowy owls were nowhere to be seen and their display area was even gone. Anne emailed the zoo only to learn that the snowy owls had passed away.

Should we treat this as a lesson for Mary Grace and tell her what happened, or maybe tell her a white liem like "the snowy owls don't live at our zoo anymore"...

We're not looking forward to the devastation either way.

William and the Lion

William tells us after his first day of school that there's a boy named Lion! We doubted him so we asked, "do you mean Ryan?" His response was no, his name is Lion. The next school day, we found out that there is a Ryan, and that's the boy William was calling Lion. Honest mistake :)

William is definitely verbalizing a lot more and often going on and on with a long story about something he saw, usually a TV show or video game. We typically understand about 50%, but he gets so excited telling us his story (all the while, fidgeting in some way, usually shaking one or two legs) that we have to feign a surprised excitement at the end. We're looking forward to understanding > 85%.

At bedtime, the routine has been augmented my laying down with him until he falls asleep. That generally takes less than one minute though, so no harm done... :)

Finally, the kids have started ballet lessons. Here's a photo from their first day! Video to come soon!

William and Mommy

William has started school, as we all know.  What you all don't get to see however is just how adorable that little boy is, all dressed in school clothes, carrying his Iggy beanie baby and his school bag, with a little half smile on his face. 

He climbs into the car and keeps that look up all the way to school. It's a kind of a combination of worry and pride.

Today I watched him saying goodbye to mommy.  He's still doing the reverse wave since we haven't told him otherwise.  So there he is waving to mommy with his palm pointing towards his face, then moving on to blowing kisses. 

William's relationship with his mommy is something I think I could sit back and watch with fascination and loving pride all day long.

First day of school for William and summer roundup

While for Mary Grace school is now old-hat, today was William's first day at preschool. He got a gentle introduction to his new classroom, new fellow students and his new teachers! Here's a photo of the kids outside just before they entered.



The kids were so excited when I saw them at lunchtime. Mary Grace loves her newly redecorated/remodeled classroom and William enjoyed meeting the other kids and playing with our neighbor, his buddy, Joe.

Anne and I were asking the kids if they had a good summer and what was their favorite part. It ended up with us making a list of all the things we did and saying, we should post that on the blog.

Visit from all the Arizonians
Weekend visit to the Thiel family (first road trip)
Monday night swim parties at the Matzkys
Tuesday night swim lessons at Midtown (first swim lessons for William)
Weekend swimming and kidtowning at Midtown
Swimming in our backyard pool too!
Bike rides to the playground
Swimming in the waves at Durand-Eastman beach
Wednesdays with Didi and Catie
Multiple trips to Seabreeze
Our weekend trip to Buffalo (first time in a hotel)
Selling kettle corn Park Ave fest weekend
Leslie and Tim's wedding (first wedding)
(more to come, I'm sure)

What a weekend!

We had a great labor day weekend, filled with fun activities for both the kids and the parents. We started Saturday afternoon with an Auragen reunion, seeing all my old friends from 3+ years ago. The kids played on the playground, played batting the ball and played "soccer-ball". Everyone had a lot of fun.

Sunday, Daddy pushed for a day at the beach, so off to Durand-Eastman (aka "The Ocean") beach we went. We packed beach toys and a snack and arrived after lunch. William immediately set to work on the sand while Mary Grace wanted to look for beach glass. Next, we decided to brave the elements and go swimming. The wind was blowing and there were waves out at the sandbar. I took the kids individually out to the waves and either held them or just held their hands as we tried jumping over the crashing waves. It was the first time both kids enjoyed the water at the beach. Mary Grace got a little scared at the end, but William wore his perma-grin up until the moment I told him we had to go. Hope next year our first visit to the beach won't be on the second-last day of summer. :(

And Monday, the Daddy took the kids to Midtown to go swimming and for an event "games on the pool deck". The games turned out to be some dollar-store crafts, a little disappointing, but the kids enjoyed it. After our first craft (pipe-cleaner spiders and butterflys), we went swimming for almost an hour. We all started to get cold, so we got out and lounged with Roxanne, Katie, and Hurley girl. The kids got juice boxes, Daddy got a beer and we broke out the second craft.

Back home by 4:30 for dinner, then closed the weekend with some miscellaneous activities leading to bedtime. Sadly, the camera stayed home for all the events, so I'm posting some older, but recent photos of the kids at the pool.

William falls asleep in the most uncomfortable position EVER!

William really loves to watch me play Nintendo or Super Nintendo games on the computer. He even helps out on the simpler levels.

One afternoon, we were playing and he I sensed he was getting tired because he laid his heavy little head on my arm as I was playing. He shifted from one side to the other a few times, so I asked if he was tired and wanted to take a nap. Oh course, he replied "no, I'm not sleepy".

I suggested he could close his eyes and take a quick nap, and he was amenable to that. I swear, 5 seconds later, he was out. Cold.

Luckily, I had the camera on my desk, so I snapped the following evidence.



Then I carried him down to his big-boy bed where he proceeded to take a 2-hour power nap. That boy is such a cute napper. Look at that angelic little face!

The Nemo incident

Tonight the kids were taking a bath. Yes, they still bathe together. They were all washed up and just playing nicely so I walked out of the bathroom to get the towels. Next thing I hear Mary Grace screaming and crying and William holding onto the Nemo toy he had just hit Mary Grace in the face with, repeating "sorry, sorry, sorry".

This isn't the first time something like this has happened. Mary Grace seems to be the peace lover and William the war-starter. I admit, I lost my patience and yanked him out of the tub, wrapped him in a towel and carried him down to his room, put him in his bed and closed the door. We were both pretty upset.

Anne came up to help with William and I went back up to check on Mary Grace. Mary Grace was happy as a clam now. I asked what happened, and she said that William accidentally hit her in the face with the Nemo toy when they were playing. Oh jeez, I feel like a heel now.

Then Anne came up with William, and William's story was that he hit her with the Nemo toy on purpose when she squirted some water at him. Wait, what?! Mary Grace proclaiming William's innocence and William proclaiming his guilt?

Regardless, Daddy had to eat some humble pie and apologize to William. Judging how Mary Grace was crying and carrying on, I thought she was genuinely hurt, but there wasn't a mark on her. That girl is destined for Hollywood.

My boy and I finished the night bed buddies and snuggled until he fell asleep, so it's all good. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

You're silly daddy!

I figured I better blog this before it becomes a forgotten memory.

Right after Mary Grace started pre-school, she started saying to me "You're silly, Daddy!", not immediately after doing something silly either. She would say it with no rhyme or reason, just to say it. At first I wondered if maybe her teachers were saying it to her, then I wondered why she was saying it.

Anyway, it got to be really common, and slightly annoying until I figured out that it really means "I love you, Daddy!". So I explained that to Mary Grace, and now whenever she says "You're silly, Daddy", I respond with "Awww, I love you too Mary Grace!". And she immediately comes back with "That's not what it means!".

Well, I think my interpretation is correct, so I'm sticking with it!

New Beds

The kids get home and see their new beds for the first time.

William and those pesky Ls

So William still says most of his L words with W instead. As in Wunch instead of Lunch, Wemon instead of Lemon, etc. We started correcting him once we discovered he could say the L sound, but I think he's learned a lot of the words with W, and old habits are hard to break, even for a 3 year old...

One word we still allow, and will probably always allow with the W however, is Love. I wuv you Mommy. It's far too adorable!

Speaking of that particular statement, Mary Grace has started saying "I love you Mommy" whenever she is about to get into trouble for doing something naughty. It's really cute, but I don't get the logic behind it. Is she thinking that saying the magical phrase will make the consequence go away? Again, so cute, it probably even works sometimes!

Sorry doesn't cut it, William!

(03:14:50 PM) Anne: Mary Grace just told William that sorry doesn't cut it after he hurt her and then apologized!
(03:15:14 PM) Rick: in those words?
(03:15:39 PM) Anne: "sorry doesn't cut it, William" is what she said
(03:15:43 PM) Rick: hehe
(03:15:56 PM) Rick: who says that?
(03:16:37 PM) Anne: maybe me?

Mary Grace and William are both picking up on the things we say. With Mary Grace, I'll say something that she's never heard before and look at her and she's got that faraway stare going and I just know she's processing and storing the information.

Mr. Timmy Tiptoes

Mary Grace's favorite bedtime story is The Tale Of Timmy Tiptoes, by Beatrix Potter. Our next-door neighbor gave Mary Grace a big book of all of Beatrix Potter's stories and that is her favorite by far. Both her and her brother love to sing the two songs "Who's been digging up MY nuts" and "Little bit 'a bread and NO cheese".

Tonight we read the story again and I keep thinking about my little girl growing up and looking back on these moments and said to myself "self - you need to write this in the blog!". Check.

Stealthy bed changer and giggles.

Mary Grace has been occasionally coming into our room at night to sleep for whatever reason. Daddy doesn't mind so much except that she's a major bed hog! Either Anne or I end up carrying her back into her own bed after an either short or long time (which is directly related to her bed-hog-edness.

Last night we were very pleasantly awoken to Mary Graces's giggles as she slept between us. It seems she was having a very happy dream, although she has no recollection of it.

"Look at the flowers on those cukes!"

This reminds me that I have to have Anne record a tickle session with the kids, so that we have a recording of their little giggles.

Popcorn sale during Park Avenue Festival

Anne and the kids had a great idea to open up a stand and sell something in front of our house during the Park Avenue Festival this year. It was decided that homemade kettle corn would be the item to sell, at the low,low price of $0.50 per bag.

So Anne made a sign and set up a table with two chairs and an umbrella and we waited.
And waited.

Their friend Katie came by with her dad and we made our first sale - 2 bags! After that, we had a mix of neighbors and strangers, all perfectly happy to buy bags of kettle corn for .50. Some even contributed to the cause and gave $1.

William got a little confused during all of this and tried to give people money as they were walking past the house.

At several points, Anne had to go inside and pop more popcorn when we ran out. At one point, a tipsy couple came by and the woman said to Mary Grace "Oh, you want some money?" and proceeded to give her a few dollars. Thank you very much!

Soon, the trickle of people stopped and the kids started playing in the front yard instead, picking leaves off of bushes and pulling weeds out of the lawn. Daddy was left with a few bags of kettle corn, which he gladly ate.

Notes for next year: Start before 2:30pm on Sunday. We totally missed out on a large customer base

Also, educate the kids on selling rather than eating. They got bored and ate a large portion of their profits!

Carousel Protocol

One of the things that I've done with the kids since they were old enough to do it is to take them on carousel rides. Mary Grace has been riding the one at Strong Museum regularly, as has William.

It's been a while since I've been to Strong Museum, so I didn't realize there were protocol changes. I do remember the last time we rode, that I wasn't allowed to put my arm around her anymore.

So the ride starts and I casually put my hand over her hip, being the overprotective dad and all, I didn't want her to slip off. So my hand quickly gets brushed off of her and rests on the horse. Mary Grace looks back at my hand and pushes it again, this time all the way back to the tail.

We go around again and she looks back and sees my hand on her horses tail and asks "Could you take your hand off my horse?"

So I obediently follow her directions and focus all my overprotectiveness on my little boy instead. Now he better not try to pull that until he's 10!

Didi, you've been warned. :)



Uncle Ricky and the kids at the Strong Museum Carousel

The kids and daddy at bedtime

The kids wanted to read a book in mommy and daddy's bed, so here we are getting all set. What's missing? The ritual! Brush teeth, wash faces and hands, put on jammies, THEN read a book, then tuck in and kisses and I love yous.

Nate and Jon and Mary Grace and William!

William and Mary Grace with their cousins Jon and Nate, taking a bike-ride on a nice sunny afternoon!

Daddy, I have a question for you

I put William to bed tonight and he was a dream. Very gentle and cute, talking with his little boy voice, and extra snuggly. We read three short books, then he hopped off my lap and climbed into his bed. After kisses and tucking him in, I went across the hall to my bedroom.

A few minutes later, I heard William call me. I went back in and he says

"Daddy, I have a question for you".
"OK, William, go ahead".
"Will I have bad dreams tonight?".
"No, you won't have bad dreams, just try to think of happy things and when you fall asleep you'll dream about those things. You could think about going to the amusement park, or playing with your cousins".
"OK, I'll think about playing with my cousins".

So Nate and Jon, he REALLY loved you guys being here and playing with him. Anne and I had a nice time with you too. :)

William's made-up foods

Lately, William has been making up new foods and renaming existing foods. We hope this is a trend he continues, because we find it so cute!

Mud-crushers - Miniature Snickers bars
Spider Balls - A new type of cereal he made up which has no sugar in it.
Rainbow Dogs - A type of candy.

(Hmmm, I wonder if William knows that they all have 12 letters? Is this some sort of clue?)

A rare good picture of mommy and daddy

We don't come up with good pictures of ourselves very often, but we both liked this one, so up it goes! (at least until Anne asks me to take it down :) **

**picture was changed by Anne.

It's been nice being your neighbor Mike and Doris

With great sadness, we bid farewell and best wishes to Mike and Doris our neighbors for 7 years, and mine for 14 years, the kids for their whole lives! We'll never forget Mary Grace and William yelling over the fence "Hi Mike!" and "Hi Doris!" EVERY TIME Mike or Doris were in their yard. We'll always be reminded of our ex-neighbors by all the great toys they've given the kids over the years and the beautiful quilt that Doris made for each of the kids when they were born.

My favorite story is when I met Mike the first time he handed me a key to his house and a key to his truck. "If you need anything from the house, just let yourself in and take it; if you need the truck, don't ask me, just take it." It doesn't get much better than that. Mike taught me about building retaining walls, hanging drywall, using leverage to your advantage, trimming trees, and most importantly, pacing yourself and singing while you work.

We threw a little neighborhood surprise party for Mike and Doris a few weeks back and here are some of the highlight photos.


Mike and Doris



The gang



The girls waiting for cake



The boy being a boy

I hope we can keep in touch and see each other again because we will all miss you!

A funny thing happened at Kidtown tonight

As typical on Wednesday evenings, Rick teaches a class at Midtown Athletic Club. I drop the kids off at KidTown, their child care. The kids usually have a great time, and aside from a little over-indulgence with TV viewing.

Tonight when I went to pick up the kids at 7:30, I was very surprised to hear that William fell asleep and was still sleeping. So I walk over to the TV area and there's my boy, sound asleep with a loaner blanket with 5 kids all around him watching TV (including Mary Grace).

That boy was OUT COLD. I picked him up and took him to the car and he barely stirred. Only when I mentioned stopping at Wendys did he snap out of it!

No, William, 5:00am is not morning-time!

William had a rare bad night last night. Usually he's asleep at 8:30pm and we don't hear a peep from him until the next morning at 7:30ish. So it was very alarming to hear him screaming "Mommy!!!!!!!" with some urgency at 4:30am. Anne went and tended to his needs (he though he saw a bug in his book basket) and came back to bed. Then again at 4:45 with the bug thing, this time in his laundry basket. Dozing off around 5:00am and the screaming resumes! So I got him and brought him into our bed.

Unfortunately, the sun started coming up which in William's mind means it's time to get up. So he laid there restlessly for about 15 minutes before I finally got up with him. Let me remind you that there's not a lot to do at 5:15am. He played some games, drank some milk, then started distracting me (I was trying to do some work remotely)

So I got dressed and we took a trip to Wegmans to get some groceries, then came back and unloaded, then ate a donut. OK... 6:15am. :(

So we went back to the games and some TV and some tinkertoys. That stretched things out until I was finally able to go to work.

Unfortunately for William, today is an action packed Seabreeze with friends day. Anne and I were taking bets on when exactly he would conk out. I predicted before lunch, she said just after. So at about 1:30pm, he started getting really whiney and impatient, followed by a need to "rest" in the stroller, immediately followed my sleep.

Racquetball or Whack-a-mole?

William has always had a hard time saying "whack-a-mole" and I thought it sounded like he was saying racquetball. So whenever he said that word, I would reply with the other word. This has gone on for quite some time now, and now that I'm actually playing racquetball again, it's gone into high-gear.

I overheard Mary Grace say today "Mommy, I love you just as much as you love me." They're both starting to say some really cute things lately. We can tell that William is processing a lot more, then coming up with new things to say. It's so interesting to hear the things that the kids come up with.

First amusement park trip of the year!

We got another season pass at Seabreeze this year and took our inaugural trip there last week. This year is extra special because the kids are tall enough for two new rides; the teacups and a really high airplane ride. We had a great time although we ran out of cash at the end and had to bypass all the games in favor of ice cream!

Daddy and the kids on the teacups.


Mommy and the kids posing pretty

Overnight Trip to Buffalo

This weekend we decided to take a trip to Buffalo and spend the night at a hotel with the kids. It was their first time at a hotel so Anne and I were in full observational mode. They seemed to both do very well with the concept of a bunch of strangers all sleeping in different rooms of the same building.

We checked in and immediately decided sleeping arrangements; Mary Grace wanted daddy and William wanted Mommy. So far so good. Next, we decided to take a dip in the pool. When we got there, we were surprised at how big and nice it was! The shallow end was 3' deep, so the kids required a parent each. They had such a good time in that pool! I don't think either of them stopped smiling ear-to-ear the whole time we were there!

We left the pool to have dinner with my brother's family (yum, thanks guys!), then decided to all go back to the hotel to swim some more! Again, very excited and happy kids, especially since we brought back some pool toys with us.

William and Mary Grace generally are in bed by 8:30, so it was quite a shock that they were still going strong in the pool at 9:30pm! We decided not to push our luck and risk a tantrum and left the pool for our room. William climbed right into bed, he was exhausted. He was asleep by 10. Mary Grace, on the other hand would-not-go-to-sleep. She was up past 11, whining and complaining about this or that, but finally the power of sleep overcame her reluctance.

The next morning, we got dressed and had breakfast at the hotel, then proceeded to our other destinations.

All-in-all, the kids took the whole "not sleeping in their own beds" thing in stride and had an outstanding time in Buffalo. I kept thinking about how much fun it would be to stay at a hotel with a pool in the dead of winter. So hopefully we'll be doing that.

Eating habits

I was thinking about how those two kids eat and wanted to jot down some notes for posterity.

Mary Grace refuses any and all vegetables, except for corn (on the cob and off) and she will open up sugar snap peas and eat the peas inside. She used to eat "ronis" with sauce but now will only eat them with butter. She does eat ravioli with sauce though.

She loves french fries and potato chips but won't eat any other potato (fried/mashed)

William will at least try new things and enjoys broccoli, peas. He tried mashed potatoes the other night and seemed not to hate it too much. I think he had a consistency issue with them. Tonight he tried baked beans. Consistency problem again.

Their agreed favorite food? Mommy's special recipe mac&cheese. Also hot dogs, ham/turkey roll-ups (especially with toothpicks), and believe it or not, they both LOVE Garden Burgers.

William learns to pedal his bike!

William has been only slightly interested in riding his tricycle so when we go for walks, he usually opts for a wagon ride instead. But yesterday, he decided to ride his bike to the playground. I walked with Mary Grace and Mommy walked with William. Since he hasn't been practicing, I was surprised to see William doing so good pedaling! (click the image below for a video)

From 2009-05-30

We played at the playground for about an hour and on the way back, we stopped to chat with some friends. I could tell the kids were getting tired as we had gone swimming at Midtown earlier, gone to the library and just ran for almost an hour at the playground. Here's proof that William was one tired puppy! (click the image below for a video)

From 2009-05-30

Flip-flopper and chatter-box

Lately William has taken on a family trait. Here's the scenario. William, do you want a pancake for breakfast? "No, I don't want a pankpank". Then once the pancakes are all prepared and served to his sister, he says, "I want a pankpank too!".

This is IDENTICAL (except for the pankpank part) to the what my brother Chris did when we were growing up and which I'm certain drove my mom nuts!

Anyway, he also flips back and forth. William, want some fruit? "Yeah, I want an apple. No, I want strawberries. I want to have some grapes. Oh, I want to have an apple". All in one breath. So many choices, so little time.

The kids spent the evening at Didi's last night, while Anne and I went to a fabulous wedding (congrats, Rich and Mel!). We picked them up around 10:15 and William was conked out but had been crying that he wanted his mommy just before sleepytime. Mary Grace on the other hand was wide awake and having a snack when we arrived. We listened to her chattering away most of the way home, but she also succumbed to the sandman.

Two sleepers when we got home made bedtime a treat for mommy and daddy for a change!

Pool fun

From 20090521

Wiping off my kiss! Hmmph!

Today, mommy was taking William and Mary Grace to Lollypop farms for a little afternoon fun. I was home from work at lunchtime and helping get everyone into the car.

After buckling William in, I asked him for a kiss and he gave me the forehead. I said I wanted a kiss on the lips, so he leans forward and kisses me, then promptly rubs the back of his hand over his lips, wiping away my kiss!

I got Annes attention and tried for a repeat performance and he did the same thing. I figured the third time is a charm, but sure enough, he kisses me and wipes his lips a third time!

Little stinker!

I had one of those moments with Mary Grace this morning. She was SO HAPPY about nothing really; she was just glowing and smiling from ear to ear while eating her breakfast before I took her to school. I just looked at her and thought I will remember this moment and that smile for the rest of my life!

Sassy boy!

First, William was playing on the new mini trampoline and was not following the rules that Mommy was laying down. As mommy was explaining the rules, William turned to her and said "Leave me alone, go in the kitchen, whatever!".

Later, William was stalling at bedtime by hanging out in Mary Grace's room. Mommy was calling him to come into his own room, then resorted to the dreaded "count-to-3". William's response? "Be quiet; I'm trying to pick out a book!".

While both of these situations were not exactly positive, all Anne and I could do was to laugh. We expect more of the same...

... as soon as his head hit the pillow

Little boys seem to have an on/off switch.

William had a very active day of playing both inside and outside. Towards the evening, there was a lot of crying going on, telling Anne and I that he was pretty tired. So when bedtime came around, he was the one telling us he wanted to go to sleep!

So we read a book, then be climbed into bed all snuggly with his two favorite blankets. And he lays down his head on his favorite pillow. I offered to sing him a song and I swear, before I got in the 5th note he was asleep.

Mary Grace on the other hand is laying in bed singing right now...

Peeling crayons and Q-cumbers

Anne and I were reminiscing about Mary Grace and crayons when she was 2-3. Every time we pulled them out for her to color with, she would sit there and peel the paper off the crayons! She preferred that over coloring with them. So we ended up with an entire bucket of crayons with no paper.

Oh, and last night, William came running into the kitchen to inform us that cucumber starts with a "Q". I guess that's logical for a 3 year old, so we just went with it.

Q-cumber it is, William!

Who's the mommy around here?

Lately, Mary Grace has taken it upon herself to try to play the parent role. She helps him out all the time, but she has been occasionally disciplining William. When I hear this happen, I remind Mary Grace that she is not William's mother and should be going to Anne or I when William does something naughty.

Today I was working on some laundry upstairs while William and Mary Grace were watching some TV downstairs. When I returned downstairs, William suddenly had no diaper on. I asked where the diaper went and Mary Grace responded, "I put it in the garbage". Huh? "Yeah, William pooped in it, so I changed his diaper" she adds.

To be fair, earlier in the week, Anne noticed that Mary Grace hadn't done a good job of wiping after going #2 on the potty and mentioned it to Mary Grace. Her response was that it was William who didn't do a good job of cleaning her up! We had to remind both of them that it wasn't the responsibility of the other to wipe.

Here's a recent photo of Mary Grace and William enjoying a cool morning on the back deck.

Ma'daddy!

William, having been calling Anne "mommy" all day long takes some time to get used to saying "daddy" when Daddy gets home from work. So I'm known as "ma'daddy".

For example, "Look at this, ma'daddy!" or "Come over here ma'daddy" or "Can you help me with this ma'daddy?"

This usually goes on for an hour or so, then he adapts. But he never says "da'mommy". Hmmmph!

Random items.

Some funny things lately...

William responds to calling his name from another room in a very unique way, one that Anne and I have no idea where he got it from. Example

Anne: William?
William: What is it?
Anne: How you doing?
William: Good.

Neither Anne nor I use the phrase "What is it?" when responding to someone calling our name.

Yesterday, Mary Grace was sitting at the table coloring while I was helping Anne make some chocolate pudding (from scratch; you gotta try it!) While I was stirring the pudding, William came running in the kitchen saying he made a poop in his diaper and wanted it changed. So I'm telling William he'll have to wait and we go back and forth a few times on the poop thing. Meanwhile, I'm done stirring the pudding, so I hand the spoon to Mary Grace and ask her if she wants to taste it.

Now, Mary Grace had been focusing on her coloring and only heard the word "poop" being thrown around. She looks at the chocolate pudding covered spoon and gets completely grossed out because she thought it had poop on it! "Ewwwwww, I don't want any of that!"

My little boy

Tonight, when getting ready for bed, we were talking about William wearing his undershirt to bed. We decided to take off the undershirt and put on his pajama top instead. William starts talking about undershirts and how they scare him because they wake him up at night. When he started saying the word understorm, we realized that he has confusing the words undershirt and thunderstorm. Funny.

After the jammies were on and all the goodnights were done, we were sitting in his glider reading. He snuggled right in and pushed back to a recline position. I sensed exhaustion, so capitalizing on the moment, I started humming a lullaby. Sure enough, he was asleep in short order. I know that the days on the kids falling asleep while we hold them are probably coming to an end, and this was such a good opportunity that I had to take advantage for as long as possible. So I held him tightly and kept humming songs while glided away.

Good night, sleep tight little boy.

William turns 3!

William had a great day today on his third birthday. William responded to everything saying "Happy Birthday" to him by saying "Happy Birthday" back. He was treating it like "Merry Christmas"... :)

It started with a beautiful day weather-wise; sunny and 70s. Because it was so warm outside, we decided to let him open one gift at lunchtime. He got a nice water table with a little pump in it so that it works like a sink. That boy LOVES playing with water, so it was a perfect gift. He and Mary Grace played with it on the deck all afternoon.

We had DiDi, John and Mary Jo over for pizza and cake and ice cream. We had an appetizer on the deck in the sun while the kids played with the water table some more. We went back inside and had dinner. At one point the adults were all talking and William was trying to say something but nobody heard him, so he yells "I....WANT....MY....CAKE!" We all stopped what we were doing and went for the cake, afterall, it is his birthday!

He got some great presents, which Mary Grace was most than happy to help him open.

At the end of the day, Anne asked what his favorite parts were and he said with a big smile on his face, his cake (a bug-themed cake) and his water table!

He had a really good day; a perfect birthday for a 3 year old.

William and his godmother	William and Mommy	William and his sister

"Last Day" and William's birthday tomorrow!

I was just IM'ing with Anne and I used a phrase that Mary Grace has been using for some time and I wanted to document it, so here goes.

At some point, Mary Grace started using the term "last day" as a replacement for yesterday. We both found this very cute, so we've adopted it into our vocabulary. Everytime MG says it, Anne and I share one of those "that's so cute" glances.

William turns three tomorrow! He's started on his potty training and even goes all by himself now. He's doing great and we're really proud of him. He's also started saying his "L" sounds when we work with him. Previously he used the "W" sound. For example, Mary Grace's lovie was "wovey". Last night I was explaining it to him and click, he got it! I was saying it over and over. Today he's reverted so I guess we'll have to keep working on in.

He's also a fast talker (like Daddy) who doesn't have time to sound out all the consonants when he talks. For example "i-a-do-that" rather than "I want to do that" and "i-a-milkey" for "I want some milkey". Also "maa-gwace, you wanna pway w'me?". The later is one of my favorite lines from William to Mary Grace.

Heartbreaker? William Dangerously?

While watching some TV, Mary Grace heard the word "heartbreaker". Not knowing what it meant she asked Anne "Is a heartbreaker a tool, Mommy?" Containing her laughter, Anne explained what the term meant.

William has taken a turn to the dangerous side. He climbed on top of his toy box and then was standing on the window sill. Seeing this, Anne told him to get down. He asked "why do I have to get down?", to which Anne responded "because it's dangerous!". William came back with "I like dangerous things!"

A slight misunderstanding

Tonight, Mary Grace announced to Anne that when she is 6 she can wear the clothes that Frank gave her. Anne replied, "The clothes that Frank gave you? Frank who? Frankie didn't give you any clothes." Mary Grace replied,"No, not Frankie, Frank who drives the CVS truck!" Anne said, "Do you mean the UPS truck?"

After a little analysis, Anne figured out the misunderstanding. We buy a lot of stuff online, so the UPS guy comes to our house probably once a week. He's very friendly and knows the kids now and the kids know him. His name is Frank. So Mary Grace thought that when Frank brings boxes to the door and the box has clothes for her, that it's a gift for her... from Frank!

I think Anne straightened her out.

Fun at the pool in Arizona!

Here's a few photos and a video of how much the kids enjoyed Uncle Jack's pool in Arizona. Seeing the perma-smiles on their faces while in the pool really made the trip worthwhile!

This is William splashing his cousin, Nate.


Here's William lounging poolside.


And finally, here's Nate and Mary Grace.


And a fun-in-the-pool video



Unfortunately, cousin Johnny was sick while we were there. We know he'll have a better time with the kids at the beach this summer!

Oh yeah... that's right.

During our vacation, William started saying a new phrase: "Oh yeah, that's right". We're not talking saying it once or twice, but over and over again. Asking questions that he knew the answer to, just so that he could say again "Oh yeah, that's right". "Daddy, Where's Mommy?". "Upstairs, William". "Oh yeah, that's right". It was very cute and everyone got a big kick out of it.

Today, Mary Grace and I watched Beauty and the Beast (thanks Uncle James...) and we both really enjoyed it. At the end, Mary Grace said she wants to see "Sleeping Beauty", "Little Mermaid", "Aladdin" and "Cinderella"; essentially, all the Disney Princess movies. I got to thinking and wondering if she's deprived since she's 4 and hasn't seen them?

Brothers and Sisters

William, while being a very mischievous little kid is also quite a lover. He enjoys hugging and kissing mommy and daddy and even his sister. He REALLY enjoys kissing his sister... because she dislikes it! Yesterday, after a big hug and kiss from William, Mary Grace got mad and standing there with her tiny index finger pointing at him, she said "William, I don't ever want you to hug or kiss me again!"

His response? More kissing, of course.



This picture was taken at the Phoenix Zoo in front of the Macaw exhibit. Look how you two are holding hands...

Fun with a led light and a slow shutter

Mary Grace swinging the led light while Daddy takes a picture with a 5 second shutter speed.

 

You're in our thoughts and prayers, Sarah

Wishing and praying for a successful surgery and a quick recovery for my niece Sarah, who is having corrective surgery for scoliosis today.

And also wishing for strength and peace for her parents as they support her through the surgery and recovery.

Time for a new Christmas list!

Today, Mary Grace announced that she wanted to write her Christmas list. Mommy's reaction was that Christmas is a long time away, but Daddy remembered that we had almost no idea what to get her, since what she wanted changed on a daily basis! So we encouraged her to start her list... on Google Docs!

Doing her dooty as promised

Mary Grace has been stalling on her potty training for at least 6 months, as the regular readers no doubt know.

Anne set up a deal that Mary Grace would not be provided any more pull-up diapers once she turned 4. In Anne's own words "I will NOT be changing the stinky diaper of a 4 year old". Mary Grace agreed to these terms, and we all waited for that fateful day.

The day after her birthday, she kept her word and went on the potty all by herself. We're so proud of her and how quickly and easily and independently she's doing her dooty now!


Here's Mary Grace and her cousin Emily at Mary Grace's birthday party

Potato Chips

Since this was Superbowl Sunday, we had stocked up the house with all kinds of junk food, including potato chips. Mary Grace LOVES potato chips, and we've tried to get her to eat mashed potatoes using that as leverage, but it didn't work.

Tonight I asked Mary Grace to guess what the ingredients are in potato chips. Her guess, while logical, was a little off. She said: Potatoes, Salt and Chips.

Anne's valiant attempt to get Mary Grace to eat a vegetable

Relayed from a story Anne told me.

Anne was trying to get Mary Grace to try some glazed sweet potatoes that Anne had made for dinner. Mary Grace wasn't interested. So Anne resorted to bribery. "If you eat one bite, you can have anything you want".

Mary Grace replies "Anything? Can you name some things that I could have?"
Anne replies, "Well, a new doll, or a toy from the Strong Museum gift shop, or ..."
"OK! What do I have to do?" asks Mary Grace.
"Just eat some sweet potato".
Here's the kicker: Mary Grace replies "Well, that won't be happening."

William impersonating Mr. Nut Cracker

When we took the Christmas decorations out this year, William was all about the Nut Cracker. He just loved to hold it and make the mouth move. It became his new favorite toy. Then one day, he gave it a voice!



Other things to note. Mary Grace making her breakfast, and William repeatedly slamming the Nut Crackow into the washing machine at the end. He's a boy.

Mary Grace and William dancing.

The kids spontaneously started dancing last week. Luckily we were there to catch it on video!

Daddy the non-blogger.

Santa brings Daddy a new digital camera for Christmas and daddy hasn't blogged any photos since. Naughty daddy. Hope this makes up for the recent lack of photos!

Here are a few from Build-A-Bear. William and Mary Grace each got a Build-A-Bear gift certificate from the Tobins for Christmas. Of course Mary Grace made hers a Cinderella bear, and William's is a Spiderman (but without the mask thank-you-very-much, because the mask makes him scary).




Next, we have William sitting pretty on the pillow with his blankey watching TV. Mommy liked how he had his head propped on his folded hands.


A little wrestling action in the kitchen. It's so fun to see them playing together!



William playing firetruck with his fireman hat on. Great toy, thank you Sarah, Aunt Lori and Uncle Chris!



Sledding at Cobbs Hill Park with Mickey; who "is not at all like Micky Mouse, she's just a normal lady". (quote from Mary Grace this past summer)





Mary Grace's first baby shower. She was a perfectly behaved little angel and she was a great helper, not only bringing presents to her cousin Lindsay, but opening them too! :)