Back-to-school night and other snippets

The boys start in the 3s class on Monday and last night we went to back-to-school night.

This one was much better than last year's - easy-going, warm and familiar. But I knew it would be because I know the 3s teacher and really, really like her. Miss Michelle is all the things you want a pre-school teacher to be -- and as a bonus, she is a real fixture in our neighborhood, so we see her at the Red Canoe and at community clean-ups etc.  It makes me trust her investment in this community and the kids who live in it. So I think this will be a great year for Cary and Dean!

Dean squeezes his friend Marcus.

I love the green in the boys' new school sneakers. I don't love the green it cost to buy them.

Also, lots of their friends (including Marcus) from last year came back, and -- even better -- our friends Maya and Abby will be in their class this year! Yay!

Earlier in the summer, we all got together at Koco's for dinner. The kids played and had Popsicles. Yum!

 One of the things that Miss Michelle says she will be working on with the 3-year-olds this year is "responsibility." Everyone will have rotating "jobs" in the class. That makes my heart sing, because my boys need responsibility. One REALLY needs it.

Take a look at the difference in how the boys handle their clothes when they take them off at night to get into their pajamas.

This is what Dean does when he takes off his clothes.

This is what SOMEONE ELSE does when he takes off his clothes (after being badgered to stop reading and put.on.your. pajamas. right. NOW!) Note: I'm not saying his name so as not to embarrass him in the future. See what a good Mom I am?

In other fun bits, the boys continue to crack me up with the things they say and think.

Here are a few examples:

Cary (out-of-nowhere): Mommy, if Dean was in your tummy, how could you eat?!
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Dean: Mommy, is your boss Tom?
Me: Yes.
Dean: Is he a train? Or a man?
Me: He's a man.
Dean: (looks disappointed; walks away)
{My poor son thought I got to work with Thomas the Train everyday.}
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Boys, spying Brownie Bites on the kitchen counter (leftover from a board meeting):
Dean: Mommy, can we have brownies with breakfast?!
Me: Nooooo. No brownies with breakfast.
Dean: Can we have brownies after breakfast?
Me: Noooo. No brownies after breakfast either.
Dean: Pleeeease.
Me: Nooooooo.
Cary: Pleeeeease.
Me: Noooooo.
Dean: Hey! What if I give you five bucks?!
Cary: My cousin Herb drives a brownie!!
{I cracked up at my boys "quoting" Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. They were so cute, even using the "pigeon voice" we use when we read he book, I almost gave them a brownie. Almost.}
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Overheard from their bedroom:
Cary: Nooo, Big Bad Wolf! Why are you not being nice, Big Bad Wolf?
Dean: Ummm, because I want to come in!
Cary: OK. You can come in!
Dean: OK. Thank you!
{I love that my boys reimagined a peaceful ending to the Three Little Pigs!}
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This weekend, we're going to Dylan's 3rd birthday party (Happy birthday, Dylan!), and we'll meet our new soccer friends at a kick-off-the-season Pancake Breakfast at the school. In fact, I have to go this weekend to buy shin guards for them. Shin guards!

Get prepared for lots of soccer photos to come!

Watching the kids grow and get along

One of the most fun things about having children is watching the dynamics between them.

Especially when they start off as twins, not even aware of the other's existence, it is quite fascinating to watch them grow, figure out that "hey, I like this kid," and slowly, slowly become best friends.

The boys went to a birthday party this weekend.  It was Thomas-the-Train-themed and it was a little bit off-the-hook. There were trains everywhere. Train-shaped sandwiches, trains on the floor, trains on the cake, a train movie. Even an ACTUAL TRAIN. (I was like, whoa! These people take birthday parties seriously.) All the kids were apoplectic over the train, and there were tears and tantrums when it was time to share. So it was really cool to see how my two boys looked out for one another, each taking pains to make sure his brother got a turn, and then another turn, and -- when everyone else went back into the living room to play with the hand-held trains on the tracks on the floor -- still more turns.

They thought this train was the best. thing. ever.

At home, they fight like the dickens. But out in the world, they are very protective of one another. It is very sweet, and I hope it is also indicative of how they'll be later in life, when it really counts.

The boys also have a hilarious ritual at night, after we say prayers and close their door for bedtime. They talk and talk and talk and talk, and sometimes sing, and also act out scenes from Sesame Street or Yo Gabba Gabba or from books we have, like Elephant and Piggie.

Lately, they're obsessed (especially Cary) with a Cookie Monster DVD Aunt Tootie gave them for Christmas, where "Cookie Hood" steals cookies to give to the cookie-less and everyone blames Cookie Monster, which hurts his feelings. They cannot get enough of play-acting this all day, and half the night. Take this hilarious exchange from last night:

Cary, in his bed, talking unintelligibly about something having to do with Cookie Monster, really, really loudly. 
Cary: Ohhhhh! (Mumble mumble) Cookie Monster!! Nom nom nom! (Gibberish) NOOOO! Cookie hood! (Nonsense) Don't! Ohhhh! Nom nom nom nom nom!
Dean (yelling at the top of his lungs): Cary! You have to get ahold of yourself!

Hahahaa! That CRACKED me up. I realized later that Lightning McQueen says to Mater Truck in one of their zillion books: "You have to get ahold of yourself! You're making a scene!" But at first, before I remembered that book, I seriously stood outside their bedroom door like, "Whuh?"

They are too funny.

It'll be very, very interesting to see how Miss Clair fits herself into this dynamic. It's clear already that she intends NOT to be overlooked. She crawls or cruises right over to where they are, and tries to play whatever they're playing. And when she doesn't get her way, she gets a serious 'tude. She is loud and gregarious and in-your-face, and I do believe those two Davis boys are gonna be in for it, as soon as she's able to walk and talk.

You can catch a small glimpse of her getting the best of them in this video:

A little background: We had been stacking tall Lego buildings in different color patterns, and trying to hypothesize which one would be bigger when we were done. The buildings kept falling, and it took us several frustrating times to finally get them both upright, so we could judge. And then...enter Clair!

Again I say, they are tooo funny.