File This Under...

...boys will be boys.

Tonight Drew and I were in the car. There was no video playing and I was listening to (gasp!) grown-up music. So, Drew had no choice but to entertain himself. Out of nowhere he figured out he could put his hand up to his mouth and blow and it would make the sound of, ahem, flatulence! Which is funny. But not nearly as funny as how hard he was laughing about it!! How does he know he's supposed to think that's hilarious?? He was completely CRACKING UP. I have never heard him laugh that hard about anything. Leave it to gas to bring on the yuks!!! I wish I had it on video.

Once again I have fallen behind on my blogging. Drew got yet another cold and this time my body finally gave in, so I have been sick as well. Which is always fun. And, on top of that my computer has been broken. I wish I could blame it on a toddler, but it was solely me. Thank goodness Uncle Jon is a Mac genius and fixed me up. I was starting to have serious withdrawal symptoms. Amazing how much housework I got done!! Ha!

Any of you who haven't seen Drew in a month or so would be blown away by how much he is talking. I pretty much crack up laughing at him all day. I'm sure others wouldn't think it's so funny, but it is just great to hear all of those words coming of of his mouth. Currently, one of his favorite sayings is, "Sure, mommy". Drew, you want to eat a snack? "Sure, mommy!" I was also calling him by some silly nickname the other day and he said to me, "No mommy, just Drew." Well. Ok then.

We are eagerly awaiting the return of warm weather. Did you know March is in two days???

Happy President's Day

Guess who rolled up to the bank today ready to take care of some transactions? Yep. That would be me. The bank is obviously not open today-it's President's Day!! I also went to the post office, but they have a handy-dandy self serve lobby that is always open. And then, I didn't feel so dumb when three different people walked straight up to the post office door and yanked. No dice, guys, it's President's Day! I have to be honest. I'm not a huge fan of the half holiday. And by half holiday I mean those holidays that only like 4 people get off work for. Let's either do it or not, you know? If we're gonna celebrate let's all the have day off-specifically my husband! Ha!

Speaking of Presidents...my husband almost had a heart attack last night. We were hanging out in the living room and Fox News was on (anyone shocked??) and President Obama came on the screen. Drew shouted out, "Obama!" (Which hilariously sounded like "Hot Mama") I have never seen Daniel's head whip around so fast. A-hahahahaha! I'm still laughing about it today. He said, "How does he know who that is??" Well, since my son says, "What's that?" about 10,000 times a day... When he asked who it was one day, I told him. I guess he remembered. Hee hee.

And so, today, when I was muttering under my breath at the bank because of my stupidity, I said, "The bank's closed. It's President's Day!" Drew promptly replied, "Obama!"

Finger painting mania

I have been waiting, oh, let's see, probably since the kids were born to do this activity. I have the best memories of doing this in kindergarten, somehow related to a teddy bear unit. It is one of my most vivid memories of kindy second only to the time I puked while playing the pumpkin patch game!

It's finger painting with chocolate pudding!!!!! Is anyone REALLY surprised that this is one of the things I remember about kindergarten?? I mean, it does involve chocolate pudding after all. So, finally, I decided the kids were big enough to do this and boy did we all have fun. Not to mention all the yummy leftovers I got to eat during nap time! Check it out!









This one is especially classic! Anyone else think she looks a little like Big Dan, what with the goatee and all??

Catching Up

Well. It has been 10 days since I last posted. This is due to the fact that Drew has continued to be sick. It has been a long five weeks to be sure. But (knocking wood furiously), I think we are finally through with this round. I'm still not sure, exactly, whether he had one, long, nasty bug or two or three in a row, but suffice it to say we went through all the various symptoms, including puke.

But, somehow, squeezed into all the sickness and crankies, we have had a few really fun days. The weather being warm has been amazing and I'm already missing it after one day! One warm day last week, we went to Edwin Warner Park to play on the nature playground and go for a hike. We had THE BEST time! The kids were loving being outside and just having the freedom to run like the wind. They were great explorers-we took along a little paper sack and collected lots of little different nature-y things. Here are a few highlights:

Painting and Play-doh

I guess this is the follow-up post from yesterday's sad winter post! We did indeed stay home and inside for the whole day. I suppose we could have had a field trip, but honestly, I was too lazy to do the whole "crazy toddler get your clothes on" dance. So instead we painted. The kids had an absolute blast, as this is something we don't do very often. Here are a couple action shots.



Did you note the intense concentration in this picture?? He is working extra hard on making that one red blob perfect.



And just in case there are any other mom readers out there who are looking for ideas, I'll share some of my painting tips with you. Isn't that nice??

First, anytime you have a party that involves a plastic table cloth of any kind-save it! These work great as drop cloths for painting time. If they get too disgusting, you just toss them out. If they stay clean, well, I of course save it for next time! You can also buy these at the dollar store-a two pack!

Second, I suggest investing in an easel. Easy for me to say, I know because I got mine for free. But the Little Tykes easel we have is great. My favorite feature is that the little ledges that hold the paint are removable. This makes cleaning them a snap.

Third, use paint cups with lids on them. We have three of these that came with our free easel that are made by Little Tykes I guess. But, I needed a fourth one, so I made my own:



I just took the smallest variety of Glad ware and cut a hole in it. It worked great.

Fourth, use old wrapping paper for painting paper. That is, if you don't happen to have any painting paper and you decide at the last minute to paint. Not that I would do that. Ahem. Anyway, I bought a roll of Valentine's wrapping paper at Target for $1 and have used it for three things so far. First, I covered our Valentine mailbox (more on this later). Second, I cut out hearts from the paper for a craft, and last, I unrolled big sheets of it for the kids to paint on. While it is sort of my fantasy to have one of those cute Pottery Barn art tables with the white butcher paper roll attached, that is not my current reality. So, cheap wrapping paper it is!

Last, while the kids are painting fill a bucket with soapy water. This way, when they are finished painting, you can just dump everything in the bucket. I also recommend having a "transition activity" planned so you can clean up without the kids "helping". We did paint with water.

Play-doh has become the most popular pastime at my house! They are totally loving it. I am working really hard to put aside my anal inclinations to make them keep the colors separate, because I'm pretty sure it would no longer be fun if I was policing play-doh mixing. So, it's only a matter of time before the only color play-doh we have is brown, but for now, the thrill of swirly play-doh is more than they can resist! To put the icing on the salty play-doh cake is the fact that Lyla calls it "plu-doh". Well, that and she likes to play with it with her ballerina dress on.



I want to do more than just survive winter! I want the kids to have fun. I want me to have fun. I want to not lose my mind. We're working on it!

The Winter blah, blah, blahs

Can I just let you know how happy I am about it being February?? To me, January is the the worst month of the whole year. Not only is it the epitome of cold and dark, but it is long. Somehow, though, this year, it flew by (hmmm, maybe a trip to the sunny caribbean didn't hurt...) and now it is February. I love February, you want to know why? Yes, it's still cold, and yes it's still dark, but it's SHORT!! And, only 28 days this year. No pesky Leap Day getting in the way of my race to March. I know, deep down, that winter always lingers into March, but somehow, mentally, March is the finish line for me. And as of today, it is only 24 days away!

Today I hopped on weather.com to see what the weather was going to be today. I was really hoping for at least the 40s so we could maybe play outside for a while today. When I typed in my zip code this is what came up: 12. TWELVE degrees outside. The high is going to be a whopping 34 or something ridiculous. We are so sun and fresh air deprived it's ridiculous. Add to that the fact that Drew is STILL sick three weeks later and you have a recipe for a whole lot of crazy.

Yesterday the sun was out. Not the muted winter sun, but the real live sun. It was still totally freezing outside, but I stood by the back glass doors and "basked" in the sun, just trying to soak in whatever I could. It made me think of the time Drew was a baby and had jaundice and Granna and I laid him in the Boppy by this same back door to sun him!! We were quite proud of ourselves when we took him back to the ped and the jaundice was gone!!

I have scoured every website and mommy blog looking for ideas to keep the kids busy. It's going to be a doozy. At least I may have some good blog stories to write.

I don't think it's by mistake that the very song playing on my iTunes right now is "Let the Sunshine In".

The Music Man

My son is obsessed with music. And as I've mentioned before, he is super obsessed with guitars. We have stumbled upon a new show and it is right up Drew's alley. The "Imagination Movers" is a group of four guys who, well, it's kind of complicated, but for the purposes of this post, we'll just leave it at: they have a band. Throughout their show, the sing various songs and play their instruments. And can I just tell you that when the songs start, Drew grabs his guitar and jams along-complete with appropriate "rocker" moves. Of course, if I happen to be watching with him, I am promptly handed an instrument and asked to join in. If there is not an instrument handy, he implores me to do my best air guitar (which by the way, is quite sad). The night of the super bowl, when Bruce Springsteen came on to play, he grabbed his guitar-held it like a stand-up bass-and jammed along. In front of company! He was in the zone.

This does not only take place at home. Yesterday, we were in the grocery store and a song came on that he apparently enjoyed-"Bu-down, mommy, bu-down!" [Translation: Play your fierce air-guitar, mommy!] In the grocery store?? Yeah, we were rockin' out totally on the beans and rice aisle.

Each night before bed, either Daniel or I spend some time in the rocking chair with him and he loves to sing songs. He is starting to sing along, which is a hoot! Last night he was singing "Peace like a ribber". And poor guy, his voice is still sort of raspy and he kind of sounds like a lunger when he is singing. Not that it helps that he is listening to Daniel or I sing each night. That can't be good for tune development.

We definitely need to be getting all of this on video. If he ever goes on American Idol, this is the kind of stuff they love to show! Or, you know, we can haul it out at the rehearsal dinner for proper parental induced embarrassment!

Girlfriends

Girlfriends are the best. They are the ones who understand when you've been alone with toddlers all day and just need to get your words out. They are the ones who tell you it's no big deal that you child has eaten oatmeal for dinner 14 nights in a row. Girlfriends understand why ice-cream makes it all better.

I have to tell you. Lyla is turning out to be quite the girlfriend. Just the other day we were upstairs in my bedroom. She came running up behind me, slapped me on the behind, and said, "Look, Aunt Kel, your booty!" I laughed and said, "I know, isn't it big?" and she replied, "No Aunt Kel, it's little!" See?? Who else would say that besides a girlfriend??

And then today, a day in which I have not had a shower, my hair is super struggling and I look rather bedraggled, she looked right at me and said, "It's your pretty hair, Aunt Kel!" I don't know how she knows the code already-that you always tell your girlfriend she is looking good-but I'm pretty thankful to have such a great little self-esteem builder around!

That's Amore!

Drew has had a rough few weeks. He has a cold that just won't give up the fight with the major climax occurring in the middle of the night last night. (Because when else would be a good time for a cold to hit full throttle??) Anyway, he was up for good this morning at 5:20 a.m. And I'm not really sure when he actually got up-I heard him moving around at 4:30 and when I checked on him at 5:20, his light was on. Ugh. Apparently he missed the memo that I do not get up in the 5's. Ever. I told him it was still dark outside and he needed to go back to bed. He came completely unglued! So, I made a pallet for him in the playroom and turned on Disney and tried to squeeze in a little more sleep.

Drew is, when he's feeling good, a great sleeper. He always has been and it has been one of the major bright spots in rearing him. Even on his worst days as a baby, he would go right to sleep and sleep all night. The down side is, once he is up-he is up. There is no easing into the day for this kid, and once he's up, he expects you to be prepared to give him your undivided attention and begin the task of keeping him entertained for the next 13 or so hours. He does not play by himself. Ever. I keep trying to explain to him the merits of alone time, but he's not buying it.

So, this morning, he watched T.V. for approximately 17 minutes before he started saying, "What's that?" to everything that came on the screen. And if I didn't answer (sleep, people!) he would ask me again, louder! Guh. It was awful. And then, out of nowhere, he came over, laid his head down by me and said, "I love mommy". OH. MY. GOSH. This is the first time he has ever said it and it was the best thing EVER! And then he just kept telling me all morning long.

What a little casanova. Just in time for Valentine's Day! He already knows just how to make a momma swoon!