William eats 'ronis with sauce

It was a very nice night tonight, so we decided to eat out on the front porch. I was greeted by two close-to-naked children who were just getting ready to eat. I asked Anne if I should get bibs, but we agreed that the less to get dirty the better. We didn't expect what you see below though...

Despite appearances, William did get most of his food into his mouth. And he was all cleaned up about 20 minutes later, after an early bath.

Frankenstein!

I went home for lunch today and was greeted by Mary Grace screaming "DADDY!" and running to me, which is usually what happens. But then from across the room, I saw a very excited looking baby Frankenstein with an ear-to-ear grin, arms outstretched and walking just like a recently brought-to-life little monster. I yelled "Frankenstein!" just as he got to me, leaning into a great big hug from daddy.

That boy is so cute.

William walks!

It started with a few cautious steps, and it's become the preferred method of locomotion! Yes, William is walking now, just a few days before his 14 month birthday.
Right now, he's screaming in frustration because he can't pull off his socks by himself. I better go help out, because we all know how annoying socks can be!

A very nice fathers day!

Fathers day was very good to me today! I'm not sure if my favorite part was sleeping in, breakfast in bed, opening presents, playing with the kids in the yard, 'roni's from Mamma, ice cream cake desert, or snuggling with sleepy kids at bedtime. I guess with a lineup like that, why should I choose? They were all my favorites!

Bunny goes to timeout.

Today after Mary Grace got a timeout for taking a toy away from William, Mary Grace handed down her own justice to her bunny. "Bunny, you going to timeout for pushing that other bunny". She mimicked the same treatment she gets, to the word! After a little while, she went back to the bunny and asked "Do you know why you're in timeout?", then made the bunny apologize to the other bunny.

Anne and I were cracking up, under our breath.

We also took the kids to Seabreeze amusement park for the first time. We expected William to patiently sit in the stroller, which he did. We thought Mary Grace would go on the kiddie rides, but the first thing she saw was a grown up ride that scared her. She was too scared to set foot on the ground the rest of the time that we were there. Poor little angel.

William is a little housewrecker. His latest trick is ignoring Anne and I when we call out his name for bring naughty. He's getting in to everything, and timeouts are a big joke to him. We're at our wits end, and welcome ideas from the more experienced readers of this blog!

Listening to the ocean in a seashell

Thank-you, uncle James, for the sea shell. I can hear the ocean in it!

Tonight after Mary Grace's bath, she looked up at the sea-shell that is on top of the medicine cabinet and asked to see it. I explained that it was a sea-shell from the ocean that uncle James gave to daddy. Then I held it up to her ear to see if she could hear the ocean, and she could! I said that we should thank uncle James and that's what Mary Grace said.

...... Goes around and Around and AROUND!

Mary Grace started singing a song to get William to laugh recently. The song ends with "Goes around and Around and AROUND", getting really loud. But the song starts with some words too which Anne and I have been unable to figure out.

So we asked Mary Grace to sing it slowly for us and we determined that we either can't figure out how the song starts or that the words change everytime.

I guess the important thing is that William gets a good giggle and belly laugh in everytime she does it, and big sister loves to make little brother laugh.

William's first pickle

William had his first taste of a pickle at Don's Original down at the lake on May 19. He seemed to like it, but he's become such a little vacuum cleaner that it's hard to tell if he even tastes anything he eats.

We've been enjoying the early summer. Mommy has the kids in the backyard playing every day and Daddy has been doing a lot of grilling. The deck off the back of the house is shaping up. The stairs will be going up this weekend and I may even get a start on the railings.

Mary Grace loves running around and playing outside. She's always asking to go outside and play, and never wants to nap; "I'm not sleepy" ALWAYS preceeds a 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon and bedtime at night.

Mary Grace makes up a song and dance

Imaging Mary Grace spinning around in circles and raising her hands towards the sky when you read these lyrics:

About Airplanes
About Airplanes

About Airplanes
About Airplanes

Way up in the big blue sky

About Airplanes
About Airplanes

Yay!

Where is William?! - giggle giggle giggle

This morning I went into William's room to get him out of bed and he was "hiding" in his crib. He had pulled his blanket over his head and was sitting very still. So I played along - "Where is William?" I asked, and heard a little giggle. Then he pulled the blanket off of himself and started cracking up.

He's such a little cutie.

We also lost power to the house last night from 10:30 until 3:15, for the first time I can recall since 1996. So if anyone recorded Lost in HD and wants to burn me a DVD, I'd appreciate it. :)

How tall is Mary Grace? 5 lbs!

I'm probably past the 50% point on my deck now and I was walking through the house this weekend carrying my tape measurer. Mary Grace was very interested in it, so I said "Lets see how tall you are". After finally getting her to stand still long enough to get a measurement, she started walking off, flashed me a smile and said "5 lbs!". I guess that's good enough for me.

Also, Mary Grace, William and I went shopping for mommy for something for mothers day. Our search took us to Stevers on Park Avenue where we got some treats for mommy. As we were walking back to the car, I told her that we can't tell mommy we got her chocolate because it's a secret. Back home, all the gifts were safely stored and as soon as mommy walked in, Mary Grace runs up to her, all excited, and says "Mommy!!! We got you some chocolate!!! It's a secret!". I guess a little more explaining was in order on my part. :)

Not to leave out my boy, William has been getting closer and closer to taking his first steps. He's totally fealess when it comes to scooting and takes on stairs like he's a natural, both up and down! He gets into trouble a lot, but he is a boy. I caught him today pulling his sisters hair... So naughty!

Some photos since it's been a while:

Thankey

William's new word is Thank-you. His first word was Dry dry dry (which we say after we wash him with a wipe, while we dry him). His second word was Mommy, then Daddy, now thank-you.

It's so cute to hand him something to eat and hear a little voice say thank-you.

You like that {insert edible item name here}, daddy?

Anne and I are probably to blame for this but Mary Grace is now WAY into asking the standard question "You like that, Daddy?" She asks whenever she seems me eat something. Even if it's the same thing over and over again (like eating pretzels).

I think she asks it because she wants some, or at least thinks she wants some. Or maybe it's just to make sure you're eating something you like to eat. Regardless, it's awfully cute.

When she is really talkative, she might even ask "Does that make you feel better", which we know is from trying to convince Mary Grace to take her medicine, and explaining to her "This will make you feel better".

You like that pretzel Daddy? You like it? I like it sooo much! You like that iced tea? Does it make you feel better? I like iced tea!

Look, Thomas - This is my lovey!

We took the kids to Medina yesterday to see Thomas The Tank Engine on tour. We got to take a ride on a passenger car that Thomas pulled, meet Sir Topham Hatt, find our way through the Tidmouth Sheds maze and shop of Thomas and Frieds products.

While William just sat back and took it all in, Mary Grace's enthusiasm level was very enjoyable to watch. She liked talking to the locomotive-sized Thomas, saying things like "Look Thomas, this is my lovey". She ran though the maze effortlessly (which perplexed me until I realized that she was following the worn grass trail), and she picked out a new train for her train set (Percy) and a Thomas puzzle.

On the way out, we drove to a railroad crossing and got out of the car and waited for the train to come by so we could see Thomas one last time. It was probably the best idea of the day, as Mary Grace got to see Thomas approach steam-whistle blowing, pulling all the passenger cars. Once Thomas passed, she also got a kick out of waving to all the other kids on the train.

No William, I'm crying now!

Anne just conveyed a story to me that I had to post. Apparently, Anne was changing William's diaper in Mary Grace's room this morning. William can be quite a challenge when it comes to diaper changes, so to distract him, mommy gave him one of Mary Grace's toys.

Of course, Mary Grace started crying because she didn't want William to have her toy.

Next, William started placing the toy into his mouth which as we know is a no-no. So Anne took the toy from William, which led to William screaming. So now both kids are crying...

And the point of this post is Mary Grace's next statement. "No William, I'm crying now". Yes, we have a couple of fakers...

House Wrecker

Anne and I are very fortunate to have experienced having both a boy and a girl baby. I'm ready to share with you the biggest difference. William loves to get into things much more than Mary Grace ever did. So much so that I've begin referring to him as "the house-wrecker". To be fair, he's just a baby and doesn't get into too much trouble, but I predict that will change as he continues to gain skills in his new world.

So today Mommy and Mary Grace were in the kitchen and William came crawling in from the living room. Mary Grace proceeds to exclaim "Uh oh, here comes the house wrecker!"

I must learn to be careful with what I say around that little girl!

Look Daddy, There's a Cowboy!

Those who know where we live may know that there's a Jewish Temple just up the street at Culver and Monroe. It's a more traditional following, so on Saturdays, you can usually see groups of people walking to or from the temple dressed in more traditional clothes; for the men, simple black suits with a brimmed black hat.

So we were all going somewhere in the car, stopped at the light at Culver. A member of the Temple walks past us in his black suit and hat. Then Mary Grace pipes up from the back seat "Look daddy, there's a cowboy!" It took a second for us to get what she was talking about, but Anne and I got a big laugh out of it. Then once we stopped laughing, she added "He's going to get his horsey", resulting in an even bigger laugh from the front seat.

William, while not quite as eloquent, has become quite verbal. He talks in his baby babble nearly all the time. He's developed a great belly laugh, and gets quite a kick out of his sister's antics. Mary Grace loves to put on shows for him to make him laugh, and he usually wants to jump in and participate. This usually leads to them getting all wound up and Anne and I sitting back and enjoying the show.

William has just started giving kisses too. Big open mouth face/lip contact kisses. He's also learned to wave bye-bye, and can recite the value of Pi to 12 digits.

Here are a few photos of the little people that make a mess of our house everyday.

 

William in his sweater with ears. And Mary Grace after gobbling up her strawberry ice cream on Daddy's birthday. The cake Anne made me was delish! (thanks Honey!)

One for the road

A few more recent photos of the kids. These were taken on St. Valentine's day. We did our traditional family outing at the Northside Inn in East Rochester the day before the holiday. We got a big winter storm that night and the next day, and we all stayed inside for the whole day and watched the snow pile up. These photos were taken to delay the onset of cabin fever.

Naughty Behavior!

You're probably thinking I'm going to write about either Mary Grace or William's naughty behavior, but no, it's my naughty behavior I'd like to document.

It has been way too long since my last blog entry. I've missed the winter solstice, Christmas, New Years day, and some miscellaneous semi-holidays which only impact me by making me play garbage day roulette (will it be Thursday night or Friday night?).

The quick summary of events since December 2.

Mary Grace enjoys water color painting, playing with play-doh, watching Caillou, eating cheese, dancing on the bed to Daddy's aerobics music, taking long baths, and playing hide-and-seek.

William enjoys watching Abby, playing with Abby, eating Cheerios and Corn Puffs, playing peek-a-boo, being held by mommy, his exersaucer, crawling on his tummy, eating paper and watching Baby Einstein.

Mary Grace doesn't like William playing with "her" toys, doesn't like most foods (or so she says until she eats it all up), doesn't like sledding when it's very cold outside, doesn't like walking in snow, doesn't like going to bed and doesn't like the workmen ("I cared of workmen").

William doesn't like hearing his milk being prepared because he has to have it NOW!, doesn't like to be told not to play with Abby's food or Abby, doesn't like chunky baby food, and doesn't like when Mary Grace takes toys from him.

Some recent milestones were William pulling himself to a standing position, Mary Grace pee pee on the potty, William feeding himself small pieces of food, Mary Grace drinking from a cup (with mixed results).

Finally, here are a few recent photos. Lots more on KodakGallery. Email us if you are interested in seeing them.



All bundled up for sledding with Mommy


All excited about eating some paper!


Playing in William's crib

Cute! Super Cute!

It is amazing how quickly time passes. It's been over a month since my last post here and it feels like a week. It's the same way with watching the kids grow up. In just a few months, Mary Grace will be 2. Then a few months later William will celebrate his very first birthday. With both of them, time has gone by so quickly.

Since my last post, Mary Grace has become a big helper. She loves to dust, using wipes for diaper changes, she gets a kick out of sweeping the floor, and she has a great time pretend-cooking. She also helps unload the dishwasher, puts dirty diapers in the diaper pail, and she's starting to learn to wash herself in the bath. And her vocabulary! She seems to say something new every day and is putting together her own sentences, like "I can't reach it", or "I want to watch Caillou". In response to Mary Grace demanding "I want some milk", we taught her to instead say "May I have some milk please?". She's totally on-board with it. Awesome.

William is a bit more relaxed. His favorite thing to do is eat. He's started on baby foods and LOVES it (except for the peas and summer vegetables). He gets most of his exercise by laughing and doing pelvic thrusts, lifting his bottom off the floor by pushing his feet down. To be fair, he has shown an aptitude for getting around by rolling. He's the jolliest little baby though, except when he's getting new teeth. So far, the bottom front two have proven painful to anyone dumb enough to give him a finger to chew on (Anne and I), and the top front two are just poking through.

We're all looking forward to Christmas and Santa's visit. Rest assured that there will be several posts leading up to and following that magical day. As always, here are some proud parent photos.

Mary Grace is SO BIG	Sitting pretty at Mamma's house
William and Mamma	Happy baby in the sunshine!