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