Day 5: TGIF

As the week winds up, three things are clear:

The boys are still not so sure they love school. But at least they have each other.

Clair is absolutely sure she loves having a little bit of time to herself in the mornings.

And Mommy is happier than she can ever remember that a long weekend is here. One week of school down. (Only a few hundred more to go!)

Day 4: Reprimanded!

I did drop off today by myself for the first time.

I guess I did it wrong, because there were tears! Cary clung to my leg and tried to follow me out the door, tears streaming down his contorted little shiny face.

Miss Toni told me I stayed too long and kicked me out. It is SO hard, symbolically and literally, to turn your back on your crying, clinging child and walk away. But I did it. (Sniff!)

The rest of the morning, I felt like I had swallowed a tennis ball.

Good GRIEF, this is hard. I know it's fine. I know they'll get used to it and so will I. I know. I know.
But seriously, I need a hug!

I'm grateful that today I was able to leave work to go pick them up at 11. (Tomorrow Michelle will start picking them up).

But when I arrived, Miss Toni reprimanded me again. She said (in a friendly but firm way), "You can't stay in my classroom. You got to get to gettin'..."

The lingering exacerbates the crying, she said. So I just need to go!  (Tanika M. Davis, will you please go now?!)

I told her I'd improve and I really, really will. Since I'm going to be doing drop-off four days out of the week, I guess I'd better. For the boys' sake and for mine.

Here's a small clip from today's iPhone video of Miss Toni telling me to knock it off. (And, in true Baltimore style, calling Cary "Curry." Sigh.)

(Also, you can see a small glimpse of the B/G twins in their class, Miles and Isla. They are so darn cute!)

Day 3 of pre-school = quiet time with Clair

Lester dropped the boys off by himself this morning at school. He SAYS there were no tears.

We'll see what Miss Toni has to say about that in the Daily Report.

This aberration in the drop-off routine (Lester goes; I stay) is what will happen on Wednesdays now, which means I get to have a full half-hour alone with Clair before Michelle comes.

Can I just say, it was soooo great! A half-hour doesn't sound like a lot, but it was really a good amount of time to just sit on the floor with her, read a couple of baby books, play with toys, play Peek-a-boo and tickle and snuggle with her. It's quieter and I could give her my full attention! I so enjoyed it and so did she.

I also decided to break out some of the boys' old toys, and this singing puppy was a huge hit!

The bottom left photo cracks me up! She was SOOO excited! "It talks! It sings! It tastes good! Hooray!"

All in all, it was a very good morning. And I think it'll prove to be really nice for Michelle, too, not having Cary and Dean for two solid hours in the morning. She'll get to play with Clairzy, and maybe sneak in a little downtime, when she takes a nap around 9:30. Win-win for everybody!

(And also, because I was already all dressed and ready to go -- not having two toddlers running me ragged all morning -- I could leave the house as soon as Michelle got there. That meant I was ON TIME to work! What a concept!)

Did I say #winning?! Yes, yes, y'all! Winning!!

Day 2: Relief

Today we left the boys at pre-school for the first time.

We came in to the class, and while the boys were happily playing with trucks, we announced that we were leaving and waited  a couple seconds for the realization to sink in. Both boys looked distressed. Cary began to bawl. Being the wuss that I am, I hurried out, while Lester lingered a little longer to offer more hugs. Dean angrily pushed him away, tears welling up in his eyes.The hugging just made Cary bawl harder.

I moved faster for the door.

Once in the hallway, we both paused for a minute, unsure what to do. And then Lester walked back, peeked in and said both boys had stopped crying!

I was relieved.

Since school was only 90 minutes long today, we dropped Clair off at home with Michelle and went to our fave coffee shop/bookstore for coffee and a quick breakfast. It was nice to have breakfast together and talk incessantly about our boys and the ever-changing, ever-busy schedule we keep.

We purposely arrived back at school 5 minutes early to pick them up, so that I could peek in and see how they were doing.

Me, doing exactly what Miss Toni told us not to do: standing in the doorway, peeking in the window.

They were both playing and loosely hanging out, not looking exactly thrilled but not crying either.

I was relieved.

We came in to get them. Both boys grinned so wide and said, "MOMMY! DADDY!" so happily, it made my heart melt. Then they played some more while I talked to the teachers.

I'm not saying a word about what each boy was doing, because I refuse to reinforce Cary and Dean stereotypes.

I'm not saying a word about what each boy was doing, because I refuse to reinforce Cary and Dean stereotypes.

But talking to the teachers threw a huge wet blanket on my relief!

Both boys had a "rough" day, the Daily Report sheet said.

Written on Cary's sheet, a handwritten note said, "Cary cried 1/2 the day."
Written on Dean's sheet, as well: "Dean cried 1/2 the day."

Miss Toni said they really only calmed down toward the last 10 minutes of the day -- when it was snack time (why am I not surprised?)

But they looked fine when Lester peeked in on our way out, and when I peeked in on our way to pick them up! I'm so confused. When did they start crying again? And why? And for 75-plus minutes?? What's that all about? I know this is normal and that it will get better over time (probably not before it gets worse first) but still ...it makes me a little melancholy.

The good news is, as we were leaving, both boys said good-bye to Miss Toni, who gave them each a sticker, and they truly seemed to be just fine, no worse for wear. They even said, "See you tomorrow!"

Hugs and stickers make everything better.

On the way down the hallway, Dean said to me, panicked, "Mommy! Where's Cware??!"
Isn't that sweet? He thought we forgot her somewhere, the same way we obviously forgot them at pre-school. Hahaha.

Oh boys, we'd never forget you. All I do is think about you both all day. And even though I'm not 100-percent sold on Miss Toni, I can tell that she is a warm person, who gives hugs and stickers freely.

And that means a lot.

Also, thank you so much for being SUCH awesome boys, and sending Mommy flowers today to let me know that you are really enjoying school, despite crying "1/2 the day."

This came for me today from Cary and Dean!! What a lovely, lovely surprise.

And, as I figured, you are clearly smarter than Miss Toni. (As evidenced by the note that came with the flowers).

That's why you cried and cried and cried some more today. You're so freakin' smart, you knew she'd give you a sticker at the end!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for cluing me in, boys.

I am so relieved.

First Day of School!!

Today was Cary and Dean's first day of school ever.

On our way to school!

 Awwwwwww! In the plethora of milestones in a child's life, this one has got to be right up there at the top. It's a HUGE first -- exciting and bittersweet.

From the photos I've been seeing on my friends' Facebook pages, though, I can already see that every first day is exciting and bittersweet.

So I guess I'll be writing some version of this post for the next 16 years. :-)

Things were slightly less disorganized today (mostly because they split the class up for the first day, so there were far fewer people crammed into the class) but still not at all what I expected. Instead of a mini-version of the actual school day, it was pretty much Meet the Teacher night, part 2: more discussion about Pull-ups than I ever needed to hear.

This teacher has a lot of experience, apparently, so maybe she's just seen over the years that parents of 2-year-olds need to know a lot about her diapering expectations. I dunno.

I guess I should stop having such high expectations about "school" for 2-year-olds. It might be even better if I didn't have any expectations at all.  Then I'd be pleasantly surprised, perhaps!

Anyway, tomorrow, we actually LEAVE them in the class for the first time.  LORD!!

Can someone please send me a fainting couch and a church fan, a couple Valium and a glass of wine?

Thanks!

Pre-school Open House reflections

We had Open House at the kids' school last night. 

Here we are modeling "sitting quietly" and "listening to the teacher."

Here the boys are completely ignoring my modeling.

I have to be honest and say it wasn't what I hoped.

The boys had serious over-the-top anxiety before we got there, and cried and panicked and refused dinner and just acted really manic, which was unexpected and totally threw me into a state, which totally made Lester short with me, which totally made the whole first part of the night sucky.

Once we got there, the school was running a little behind, so we had to stand outside. It was hot and sticky, and I was in no mood. Then, people started arriving with their kids, and everyone was all smiles. The Open House was for the whole school, so we met mostly older kids, but they were all so cute, it took my mind off of being anxious. And the boys perked up, too, once they were surrounded by little people.  So I was sure things were on the upswing.

But once inside, I was struck by how disorganized things seemed. It was really noisy and hot and chaotic, and completely unscripted. I imagined we'd all come in and hand over our paperwork and supplies, and the teachers would say "Hi Cary! Hi Dean! I'm Miss Toni! I'm Miss Christina! Welcome to your classroom! Here's your cubby! Here's the play area! Mr. and Mrs. Davis, let me show you where we will store their lunches and wash their hands and blah, blah, blah."

Then I thought there'd be a cheerful, chirpy little speech to the whole classroom full of nervous, new parents, complete with a jaunty little list of the kiddies enrolled. Something along the lines of, "In this year's class, we have Jordan A. Jordan, where are you? (Jordan's mom and dad wave.) We also have Mia! Mia, say hi to everyone! (Mia looks shy and her parents smile and wave). We're lucky this year to have TWO sets of twins in our class: Miles and Isla, and Cary and Dean! Where are our twin twins?? (Everyone laughs. We all wave)...etc. etc."

Instead, we all mostly milled about, bumping into one another and introducing ourselves. Then the teachers stood in the front of the room and mainly told us a bunch of "don'ts."

Don't send this kind of Pull-up. Don't send them in nice clothes; they will get dirty. Don't think our class isn't clean because your kids get sick a lot this year; they WILL get sick. And then they will get sick again. Your kids are going to cry - maybe for months. Don't linger too long while they cling to your leg; this is not helpful. Don't stand in the doorway, peeking through the window. Don't send food you know your kids won't eat; we won't force them to eat it. Don't send party invitations unless you invite the whole class. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't.

I asked for a list of the names of kids in the class so that I could start talking about all their new friends over the weekend, and one of the teachers said she didn't have it yet. Really? You don't have a list of the kids in the class -- which starts Monday??

And it was then I noticed that her classroom wasn't even put together yet. Bulletin boards were half empty; boxes needed unpacking. She KNEW we were coming. Why wasn't that done yet? Has no one ever told her about "first impressions?"

See? Look at the board behind me. Where's all the stuff???

The disorganization, frankly, made me nervous.

The boys are only going to be there for three hours a day. With 12 kids in the class, all needing diapers changed at various times, noses wiped, help with snacks, continuous corralling, occasional disciplining, etc., I have no idea when all the good stuff is supposed to happen, if these people don't have the schedule down like trains running. When will they have organized circle time? When will they sing songs? When will they get hugs? When will they learn anything?

Oh! And then on our way out, the teacher told me that my bins -- the ones I decorated for the boys with love and clip art (lol!) -- they're both too big. Cary and Dean have to share a cubby (which kinda bothers me) and when both bins are stacked in the cubby, they won't be able to fit their coats, too, she said. So she asked me to either put all their things in one bin, or buy two smaller bins. Of course, I am opting for the two smaller bins. Cary and Dean are two separate people. Individuals. It's bad enough that some of the other kids get their own cubbies and my boys have to share. They can at least have their own bin. Dammit.

Since everything was running so ridiculously behind, we couldn't stay for the ice cream social, because it got to be 8 p.m., already past the kids' bedtimes, and they hadn't even started scooping.
So we even missed that. Sigh.

What a night. Honestly, in the scheme of things, it was probably just fine and some chaos with a crowd of 2-year-olds is probably to be expected. Lester thought it was just fine. So did Michelle, who came with us. Maybe I just had too high expectations?

Anyway, for what it's worth, the boys very much enjoyed playing in the classroom with all the new toys, and meeting their new classmates.

They played together.

They played with new friends!

Look, Mommy! Starbuilders!!

And Miss Christina already told me that she can tell she's going to fall in love with Dean (he was being such a sweetie!) [When I told him to ask the teacher if he could play with a certain toy he wanted that was up too high for him to reach, he went over to her and said, "TEACHER! I want the toy. Pleeease." And when she gave it to him, he said, "Thanks!" It was cute. ]

And, most importantly, in the car on the way home, both boys said, "I like school!"

I hope I will too.

Bonus pic of Clair and Lester, just because it's cute.

Four heart-melting moments in the span of four minutes

Heading out the door this morning, I asked Dean for a kiss. He quickly obliged.

Then I asked Cary for one.

"No," he said. "I'm building a...." His voice trailed off. So engrossed in his Lego project, he could not even bother to finish his sentence, to explain why he would not be leaving the floor to kiss his poor old mother.

I dropped my head, poked out my lip and pretended to sniffle.

Cary ignored me. Dean put his hand on my arm and said, "Mommy? You sad?"

"Yes," I said, continuing to sniffle.

Dean turned and looked at Cary, with a disapproving face that made my heart melt. (Moment No. 1)

"TARRY!" he bellowed.

Cary looked up from the Legos.

"Mommy, what wrong?" he asked.

"I'm sad because I want you to give me a kiss, please," I said.

Dean continued to give Cary the stink-eye.

"Otay," said Cary, coming over and raising his face, with a little puckered mouth.

I leaned down and kissed him and then turned on my happy face. He smiled up at me.

"Don't be sad," Cary said. (Moment No. 2) He went back to his Legos. Dean stayed at the door.
 
"Mommy?" Dean said. "Don't be sad." (Moment No. 3)

I leaned down and gave my sweet, youngest boy another kiss. He stood at the door and watched me get in the car and drive away.

I waved to him from the moving car and from behind the glass screen I could see -- but not hear -- him say, "Good-bye, Mommy."

And it was that heart-melting moment (No. 4, if you're counting) that turned my pretend sniffles to real ones.

Adorable Little Monsters

Getting the boys ready for school has really been a lot of fun.

I finally found lunch bags to replace the backpacks that the school says they can't use.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! I'm hungry!!!!

They're not as adorable as the animal backpacks, but somehow the motif -- funny little monsters -- works quite well where Cary and Dean are concerned.

Also, they are easy to open, easy to wipe clean, they fit their thermoses and two snacks, plus an ice pack. AND, they were $8.  To that I say, SCORE!

I also had to decorate the boys' leave-behind bins, which are intended to hold two sets of change of clothes. I don't have an artistic bone in my body, so instead of trying to really decorate them, I decided just to find things that represent who the boys are and what things they like.

So Dean's has a picture of a cookie and popcorn and fruit (he loves snacks!), trucks, blocks, a lawnmower, the beach and Cookie Monster, among other things. And Cary's has a picture of books, trucks, a lawnmower and Elmo, among other things.

I had a lot of fun sitting at my dining room table, clipping things and sticking them on the bins, attempting (as best I could) to make them look halfway decent.

 It's mostly just stickers and clip art and glue, but there's a lot of love stuck on these here bins.
<3

Question for the Mommies: I have purchased reusable snack bags, Tupperware with built-in ice packs (for yogurt and cottage cheese and stuff) and thermoses, so that the boys are creating as little trash as possible at snacktime. But I honestly don't see how I get around buying plastic spoons.
I can totally envision washable spoons getting tossed away or left behind, and I have absolutely no desire to buy a million "real" spoons. I think I'm going to just buy a huge party pack of plain plastic spoons. Does anyone have a better idea?

Cary, the budding artist

Cary drew a face yesterday!

Can you see it?

Yes, it's a little abstract, but strettttttttch your minds. See it? 

What I don't know is whether he set out to draw a face and then created this masterpiece, or if he was just scribbling away, stepped back to look at his canvas, saw a "face" and declared it so! Either way, it's pretty darn cute.

Speaking of cute, we found a book that makes the boys just CRACK UP laughing. It's called, "Good Dog, Carl," and has hardly any words. It's mostly just pictures of the antics of a dog and a baby left alone to their own devices. If you're looking for a fun book to buy toddlers, this one is a good one. My two made me "read" it  six times yesterday!

BAD dog, Carl!

 

Change is good

The boys start school a week from today.

To prepare, I wrote out a new schedule for the family that has me and Lester getting up at 6 a.m., and going to bed at 10 p.m. In between those hours, it is go, go, go, go go.

It is a very ambitious schedule that requires us to be on. the. ball. at all times, and leaves little room for spontaneity or screwing up or slacking off. In other words, I am sure I am setting us up for failure.

But we shall see. We're going to dry-run the schedule this week and see how it goes. Lester wants to start tomorrow, but we were at my Mom's all weekend, which means we did no grocery shopping/cooking or laundry, which means I have to cook tonight, which means I am already behind the 8-ball schedule-wise. So I think I will propose we start Wednesday. Or Thursday would be even better. Friday? Do I hear Friday?

Honestly (as you might sense), I don't really want to start at all. Mostly because I am NOT an early morning person, and I think I never will be.  I am sluggish and sloppy in the mornings, and not my best self. Also, I just fundamentally do not like change. I have realized this over time. I like things the way they are, because I understand them the way they are. I have a little bit of latent anxiety about certain changes in life, and this transition is proving to be one of those ones that is making me a bit crazy.

What if waking up earlier makes me highly unhappy?
What if waking the boys up earlier makes THEM higly unhappy?
What if the boys hate school?
What if the boys hate US?
What if Michelle has trouble getting things done now that she has to leave the house every day -- with Clair -- to pick the boys up from school? What if that makes HER highly unhappy?
What if this pre-school stuff just disrupts everything?

These are the kinds of hyperbolic things I think about when I'm fretting about the change on its way. I can see intellectually that I am making mountains out of molehills. But emotionally, I can't stop myself. Hi, I'm Insane. Nice to meet you!

Anyway, I am also -- in turns -- excited about this new chapter in our lives. The boys will love school and their new teacher and friends, I know. And a month or so into this new schedule, it will seem as familiar as the one we live by now.  C & D will learn so many new things, and Clair will benefit from at least a few hours every day of one-on-one time with Michelle, which will be very good for her, too.

It'll all be wonderful in the end, I know.  Even if I'm a thousand times sleepier -- and I have to be a hundred thousand times more organized, it'll all be fine. There's coffee at the office. And Google docs.

Change is good, I keep telling myself. Change is good. Change is good.

Happy 6-months Clair!!!

My baby girl turns 6 months today. A half a year has gone by like THAT.

AS I think back on the last 6 months, the most overwhelming thing I feel is grateful, because she is a pure joy to have as a daughter. Truly.

Check out this video of her with her Dad the other night. She's SUCH a happy girl.

 I'm blessed to have her. Our family is blessed to have her.

In other news, Lester and I went to Parent Night at the boys' new pre-school (which starts in just 11 days!!)
Among other things, we learned that the school does not want the children using backpacks, but instead wants them to use tote bags, which they provide.

So those adorable little zebra and elephant backpacks I bought? Useless.

See what happens when I stop procrastinating for one second?!

So, now I need to buy lunch bags, instead of backpacks, to keep their snacks in. I started looking last night and it's hard to find what I want. Which is:

• Relatively inexpensive
• Insulated
• Easy to open
• Easy to clean
• Small enough to fit in a tote bag
• Big enough to hold snacks and a thermos
• Kid-cute, but not covered in cartoon characters

I haven't found all that in one spot just yet. But I'll keep looking.

Also, please know that  I am focusing on these seemingly-inconsequential things to keep from thinking about the fact that my babies are going to SCHOOL. In 11 days!

Play that funky music, Davis boys!

I think it's high time we got the boys in some music classes.

We went to my friend Stacey's house this weekend for a playdate and, despite the fact that she has more toys in her house than a Toys R Us warehouse, all my two sons did was fight all afternoon over a toy guitar.
See?

They have pretty good technique, if you ask me.  OK, actually I know absolutely nothing about guitar technique. I have no musical ability whatsoever. But those two kids sure look like they know what they're doing!

Then yesterday, while playing with Legos, the boys both made "guitars" and started singing "Neon," which is their favorite John Mayer song.

(Dean cracks me up!)

Anyway, I don't know if this is an indication of real musical potential (where they would have gotten that from, I don't know) or just a passing toddler interest -- the same way they are into excavators and lawnmowers, for instance. But it can't hurt to see, right?

There's a free try-out class next month at a place not far from us. So we'll go there and see how they like it.

And just remember -- if my boys turn out to be the next Jimi Hendrix (minus the drugs) and Carlos Santana (minus the accent) -- you saw it here first.

Cary's first non-Daddy haircut!

Lester has always wanted to be the kind of Dad who cuts his own sons' hair.

It's a very, very sweet idea, and I'm all for it. I love the idea of them always having that father-son time together. And Lester also loves it because it saves money.

But we did not count on Cary's hair texture when we thought this could happen throughout the boys' childhoods.

Dean's hair is such that Lester can just take his electric clippers and buzz all around, sorta like mowing the lawn. It doesn't matter so much just *how* you mow, so long as when you're done, the grass is shorter - and approximately the same length all around.

But with Cary, whose curly hair is softer, with patchy places that need to be cleverly concealed, that technique has proved to be less-than-desirable. Lester has tried and tried, and the last time he buzzed my poor child's hair to pieces, I declared "no more!"

So we took Cary to the barbershop this weekend, and had a trained professional cut his hair.

He cried at first, and said he was tired and wanted to take a nap. LOL.

We got him to calm down by showing him how his hair was falling on the smock. Also, Dean came over and told him, "Tarry, it's o-tay. It's o-tay."

Lester watched the whole thing and now swears that he can cut Cary's hair. You know, because he's seen the trained professional do it ONCE.

Cute hair!! Cute boy!

Look at my handsome boys! I absolutely love Cary's haircut.

And a photo of the whole family! We haven't had one of these since Clair was 11 days old! Thanks so much to the barber who came running out to take this picture of us, just because she said we were such a nice family. Awwww.

Needless to say, I think we should always let TRAINED PROFESSIONALS cut Cary's hair, despite his wonderful father's insistence that he can do it.

But then, what do we do with Dean? It's weird to let one boy get his haircut by Dad and one boy get his cut by a barber (aka "the trained professional!")

My vote is to let them both go to the barbershop. Lester thinks differently. We'll see how this turns out. :-)

Weird week, please go away

This has been such a weird week.

My computer at work got some nasty virus, which took TWO DAYS for the tech guy to fix. The ordeal left me majorly behind on some client work and was (is) a major, major pain.
He said it was fixed as of yesterday, but today, I am still having crashing issues -- AND -- now none of my old settings are on the PC. My font types, shortcuts, bookmarks, folders, and all the photos of my kids - GONE. When I just tried to at least restore my desktop background (which is a cute pic of all three kids), guess what? It made the computer crash again. Sigh.

Yesterday, Michelle came to work in tears. Her dog's been sick for a little while, but she thought she just needed to eat a bland diet for a week or so. But yesterday, Zoe (the dog) began bleeding all over the house, and had a horrible rash and swollen ears. Michelle was worried sick. She came to work, crying uncontrollably, and saying she would take her dog to the vet that night.
Of course I couldn't let her do that. I told her to make an appointment for that day and I'd come home from work so she could go get Zoe seen. I left work at noon thinking I'd be able get some work done oncethe kids took a nap, but of course, that was a pipe dream. So I'm even more behind than I was before.
(Michelle's dog is OK and apparently had an allergic reaction to something. She's on medication now).

Coincidentally, Lester had planned a little date for us last night at a fabulous farm-to-table restaurant in our neighborhood that somehow we have never been to. Of course, we had to postpone it because we had no babysitter, which was absolutely fine.

But I think it made Lester a little bit grumpy.

He came home from work in a bit of a funk and then yelled at me because he said I always do things with the kids that I'd give him the side-eye about if he did them (gave them a piece of cookie with lunch; let them watch a short clip of Ernie and Bert on my phone, etc.)
Add to that the fact that my boys were utterly confused as to what was going on -- Cary kept asking me if we were going to get in the bathtub after lunch -- and it was just a terrible, horrible, no-good very bad day.

And I am also in a bonafide funk because I feel like I have gotten nothing done all week, and I fell down on the job when it came to being there for a friend who needed me, and I can't seem to ever get to meet all my personal obligations (to friends and loved ones and myself) and maybe Lester is right that I am harder on him and his parenting than I am on myself, and I started a diet and failed miserably (chips, cookies AND pizza last night. Geesh.) and the Year of Austerity is wearing on me, and I keep saying I need to get up earlier so I can get things done (like exercise) and not run late ALL THE TIME, but dammit! ... I am TIRED!!!

But it is Friday, thank the good Lord. This weird week is winding down. And next week will surely be better, right?

Right??!
 

Daddy's girl

All the trying I have been doing to convince myself that Clair looks like me has been shot to pieces.

By this photo:

 
Hello! These two are more twins than Cary and Dean.
 
Even this picture of me at 2-months-old, that my Mom found on a trip to Boston and texted to me with this message: "YOU = CLAIR!"  -- even this picture can't compare:
 

Yes, this is a Polaroid. Holla

Clair is Lester's baby, through and through. Head shape. Facial expressions. Ears. Eyebrows. Coloring. Set of the mouth.

It's all him.

The only thing she appears to have gotten from me is her social-bee personality. Let's hope she doesn't get in trouble at school for gabbing too much, like I did. :-)

Kids say the darndest things

The boys say and do the funniest things. Here's a sampling:

After dinner, I'm in the dining room and Lester leads the boys through the kitchen, headed for upstairs. I hear quiet, quiet, quiet ... and then:
 "Mommy! Mommy!" They run over to the dining room and look at me urgently.
"Yes," I say.
"Daddy give us chips!"
 I make an exaggerated gasp. "Chips! Daddy gave you chips??"
Then they turn to Lester, who is hiding behind the wall between the dining room and living room.
They both wag their fingers at him and say, sternly, "Daddy!! Not supposed to give us chips! Not to give us chips any-MORE!!"
Then they crunch happily on their chips.
"Thanks boys, " Lester says. "Thanks a lot."

Playing on the floor with Dean and Cary, I say to Dean, "Baby, please don't throw the Legos. Just build with them. OK?"
Dean: "I'm not a baby! I'm a little boy!"

At the dinner table, Cary is whining incessantly. I ask him repeatedly what's wrong, but he just whines and rubs his eyes. I decide to ignore him.
Finally, he says to me, "Mommy, I'm sleepy. I'm sleepy in my eyes."

Outside playing with the next-door-neighbor kids, the older girl is trying to teach Cary and Dean how to throw a Frisbee. Her younger brother keeps stealing the Frisbee and tossing it. Exasperated, she says, "You're getting on my nerves!"
Later, I spy Cary in the neighbor's flower box, tugging on a plant. He pulls a leaf off and I say to him, "NO! We do not pull on plants. Leave it alone Cary."
He looks over at me and says, "Getting on my NERVES!"

Cary asks me to turn the music on.
Sure, I say. What do you want to hear?
He thinks for a second and then says, "John Mayer."

Dean has started asking for food and drink at all times, even when he's just eaten. He will go down the list of things he "wants," I guess hoping we'll give in if he asks for the right thing.
"Mommy, I want some nack (snack)," he says.
"No, you just had dinner. You don't need a snack."
"Mommy, I want some fruit."
"No."
"Mommy, ummm...ummm...I want some agua."
"You just had water, sweetie. You finished it. It's time for your bath. No more to eat or drink tonight."
"Mommy?"
"Yes, Dean."
"Ummm, I want, I want...ummm...I want some wine."

Cary, in the bathtub, spies his private parts.
"Mommy!!" he says, excitedly. "I have pink on my p****."
"Well, yes, I guess that is pink there," I say.
He studies it, carefully. And then says, "MOMMY!"
"Yes, baby."
"Not green on my p****."
"Ummm. No.," I say. "Not green. Be very glad for that."

HA!!!!

Milestones met; farm animals to pet. Big weekend!

This weekend, this happened:

Completely sitting up on her own! Ah yes, the golden age! When we can sit her on a soft pallet, surround her with a bunch of toys, and leave her alone while she plays. Until she falls over, of course. Or cries because she can't reach the exact toy she wants. But that's what Cary and Dean are for!
 
Also, this happened this weekend: Clair's first taste of rice cereal!

My baby girl is growing up. She'll be 6 months on the 16th -- a full half-a-year old. Wow. It is really going so much faster this time around. I feel like she was just born.

Speaking of time moving fast, my nephew Russy turned 5 (!!) this weekend. And the whole family celebrated at a local farm.

Happy Birthday Russ Buss!!

The boys were happy to run around in the grass.

And they loved seeing all their cousins!

Cary loved seeing and petting the animals. Here he is feeding a goat and making happy chortling noises.

Dean had no love for the animals. He was happy just to have a Capri Sun at all times.

See?

Clair was the life of the party, screeching and giggling and making everyone laugh all day with her big personality.

And she and Matty were soooo sweet together! Look at them -- holding hands! Awwww.

We bought Russy a Skippyjon Jones costume for his birthday. But of course we had to try it out ourselves first. My name is Skippito Friskito (clap clap)...

...I fear not a single bandito. (Clap clap!)

Can't believe this little cutie is 5 years old. Again, happy birthday Russy! We love you!

Forward, backward, staying in place

Clair: Moving forward

Clair can just about sit up on her own! This is a huge milestone that I remember from the boys' infancy. It is so very freeing when you don't have to prop a baby, or bring along some sort of sitting apparatus when traveling. And she looks like such a big girl, sitting up all straight-backed (for a few minutes at a time), playing with a toy and checking out the scenery.

And this morning, lying in my bed, playing with her feet, she started full-on babbling: DA-da! DAAA-da! Da-da-da-da-daaaa!

She sounds exactly like a fictional baby character in a Pixar movie. It's so adorable, I can't. even. deal.

Dean: Slightly stuck

Dean had a really bad evening yesterday -- very much like the ones I'd thought were somewhat behind us -- and of course, it was a night when Lester had a meeting. He was so over-the-top, all exposed nerves and tears and irrationality -- that I ended up putting both boys to bed at 7:25, no bath, no story, no fanfare. Just Good-night. Close the door. Heavy sigh.

It was all I could manage.

He's also started a bit of a stutter, getting stuck on the first words he's trying to say, especially when those words are "Cary," and "Baby Clair," for some reason. It often sounds something like: "Tarry-tarry-tarry-t-t-t-t-tarry-tarry (pause) Tarry took the Legos away!" I have read that we should ignore this, that his brain is just moving much faster than his mouth, but it worries Lester. Especially when paired with his stress-and-sleepiness-related eye-blinking, and his ball-of-nerves emotions. But, surprisingly, I (for once) am inclined not to worry. I think this is very normal for kids his age, so we'll try ignoring it and expecting it eventually  to go away.

Cary: Regressing

Cary, who can recognize all his letters, insisted today that a foam letter "L" was the letter "K." Like, arguing with me about it.

And this child who has known his colors for sooo long, very often lately, confuses red and yellow (who knows why.)

Michelle said, after two days of peeing in the potty, yesterday he flat out refused to sit on it (which made his shadow decide not to sit on it either.)

And this morning, Lester asked him if he wanted to go to school, and he said, without missing a beat, "mmm-MMM!" (Shaking his head no.)

Maybe it's just as well. It seems my two boys -- who demand to be on my lap more and more these days -- need a little more time at home. And that is alright with me.

Preparing for pre-school

Hard to believe it but the boys start pre-school in 25 days!

I finally started talking to them about it and preparing them by reading books (Llama Llama Misses Mama; Maisy Goes to Pre-School) etc., and surprisingly, Dean is the one who keeps saying, "Mommy, I want to go to tool!!" and Cary just looks a little skeptical and slightly pouty.

It'll be interesting how this all actually plays out at the end of the month, when we have to leave them at school. I am imagining tears and panicking and shot nerves (all around).

Meanwhile, I have started preparing myself for that emotional occurrence by ... shopping!!

I soothed my bubbling anxieties a bit by ordering the books I mentioned earlier and also adorable little kid backpacks, sippy-cup-style thermoses, reusable snack bags and labels with the boys' names on them.

Aren't these Skip Hop bags the absolute cutest? Although, I am now wondering whether a backpack with so much white in it is a good idea for a 2-year-old boy. The zebra may come back to bite me.

I'll have to deal with my actual emotions later, I know, but for now, I am feeling pretty good.

Thanks, retail therapy!

I refuse to get excited

Text I got from Michelle this morning:


The boys went pee pee 2x on the potty! Clair is having a great day as well.

After 2-plus years of parenting, I now know that this could mean something. Or it could mean nothing at all.

So, I won't even mention it. (Except to all of you.)

:-)