President's Day

 We went to the playground on Monday.  Adin's cheesy grin.

 Erik is working very hard to climb onto a playhouse.

 The plows leave a nice sledding hill when they plow the parking lot.  The school left some sliders on the playground, so we did a little sledding.

 Erik found a football, so we tossed that around too.  I think the blur in the corner is Erik tossing the ball at me.

 He's almost made it to the top.

 Adin loved being surprised at the window. 

aaand he made it!

Read!

Erik and Adin are in fun stages of literacy right now.  Adin is a voracious reader.  Today at the dentist, he sat with a book and read Richard Scarry while I had my teeth cleaned.   Tonight he sat in bed and read for 30 minutes after bedtime and really only put down the book and turned off the light under extreme duress. 

Erik is learning to read at a more normal rate, and is slowed a little right now by being in Spanish Immersion school, where he won't have English reading instruction for a couple more years.  However, he is becoming more and more adept at decoding words.  I love when he reads me a simple picture book.  Adin comes and sits on one side of Erik and listens to the book, too.  It's very sweet.  I coach him a little on the odder vowel combinations, and on putting a little dramatic flair into his reading. 

Scholastic Books had a great poster:
Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy books, and that's kind of the same thing.

Adin goes to Chipotle

I took Adin to the YMCA today.  He has swim lessons on Saturday mornings.  I'm trying to take him to the pool on Fridays to remind him of what he worked on the week before, so that Saturday goes slightly smoother.  We sort of took turns being the teacher.  I would have him work for about five minutes and then he got to tell me what to do for a minute.   He had the last turn being teacher, before open swim ended.  As we climbed out of the pool, I said, "Thanks for the swim lesson.  You're a good teacher."  And he said  back to me, " Thank you for the lesson.  You are a good teacher, too."  I thought that was very sweet of him to think of saying.

When we were ready to leave, we went across the street to Chipotle for lunch.  As usual, Adin read everything around him, menus, drink cups, etc.  He asked me questions about the funny stuff on the cup and why the restaurant was called Chipotle.  Adin's meal came with a mini bag of tortilla chips.  As he ate, he said, "I know why they named it the Chip part, it's because you can eat chips here.  But I don't know why they named it -otle."  (pronounced OAT-lay). 

He cracks me up.

Adin's Train

Santa brought each of the boys a building kit.  Yesterday Adin put together the train from his kit.  It's pretty simple, he just had to pound in the axels and the smokestack.  It was perfect for him.  He was pretty proud and then he loved painting it.  As he painted each color he talked about whose favorite color it was and how much they would like that part of the train.  This morning he even played with it!

I'm not superstitious.

I feel like lately everything the boys say and do needs fixing or correcting.  Maybe because a couple weeks ago Erik had strep throat and last week Adin had a cold that gave him a fever for a couple days and then developed into an ear infection that continued the fever.  We probably all had cabin fever from being cooped up so much.

However, I read two things yesterday that helped me turn around my response to their behavior.  One was an interview in the Star Tribune with a 102 year old woman (the age my Bestemor was when she died in August) who advised patience and not getting worked up about things.  The other thing was reading "Christmas in Noisy Village" by Astrid Lindgren.  It's a book I've read since I was a child and in it there are three houses of children getting ready for Christmas.  What struck me last night is that in the house with two brothers, the older one says some mildly sassy or rude things to his little brother and it's not a big deal. 

So because of those two things, I resolved to relax a bit and not worry about things if no one is getting hurt or being incredibly disrespectful.  Coincidentally or as a result, today has been great.  The boys have been playing together beautifully, imagining and creating together.  It certainly makes it easier to maintain my resolution. 

Yesterday was pretty fun, too.  It snowed all day.  We went to the park and made two snow forts and then had a snowball fight.  Adin and I made a snowman that we decided is his snow brother.  So far it only has eyes and a nose, so we can look forward to adding on to it.  We're pretty excited to have snow this year after last year's pathetic showing. 

Must. Whine. Now.

Like many older siblings, Erik has a tendency to try to parent Adin.  He will reiterate what we tell Adin to do, or take it upon himself to be an enforcer.  While I appreciate the instinct, he lacks the, um, finesse, that Joe and I have.  So we tell him thanks, but we'll do the parenting around here, he can do the brothering.  (And the bothering.)  Tonight he was telling Adin to do something and I told him I would do the parenting.  Erik stormed off and shouted tearfully, "I never get to do the parenting around here!" 

Lefse making

 We went out to Waconia today to make some lefse.  Erik got to mix butter into the mashed/riced potatoes. 

 He didn't really like how it felt on his hands.  Erik won't try lefse.  Not even one bite when he is offered a candy bar if he eats it.

Adin, on the other hand, asks every 15 minutes, "Can I have another piece of lefse?"  Lucky for him, Grandma's policy is unlimited lefse on the day we make it. 

Joe, Lois and I rotated through the rolling and frying, with the two of them doing the lion's share.  I did my best to keep the boys out of the way, although it didn't go so well.  Oh well. 

Adin's bedtime conversation

How long can cords be?

How do you make a trip line?

How did they carve Mount Rushmore into faces?

Knock knock.
Banana.
Banana you glad I didn't say orange?

[all of this was just random, apropos of nothing]

Questions and comments from earlier in the week:

I think the moon might be cold, so I would wear a jacket if I was there.

I just noticed something.  We never see the people on shows going to church.

[sometimes he makes my brain hurt]

On Joe's birthday, Adin got to 'wrap' Joe's present by putting it in a gift bag.  At dinner, Joe said he wanted to wait to open the present after he ate.  Erik accepted this, but it was very hard for Adin.  He decided to give Joe a clue, "It rhymes with bunglasses".  I still giggle when I think about that clue. 

A couple weeks ago, we bought a kid sized basketball and we've been having fun with it. Earlier this week we took it to a park, but the basket was way too high and not adjustable.  So they ran around with it and had fun.  Erik came over and was wondering if after dinner we could go to the park with an adjustable basket.  I said we could if the weather was ok.  He looked thoughtful and said he knew the forecast, it was for one basketball.  I thought that was kind of strange but a little funny.  Erik then took the ball over to the tree, climbed up about four feet and dropped it.  One basketball fell, just as was forecasted!

Tonight I went to check on the boys after Joe tucked them into bed.  Erik was already asleep, but Adin was laying with heavy eyes looking thoughtfully at a picture he'd made in Sunday School last week.  He was as deep in thought as a four year old 30 seconds from sleep can be. 

I love these boys!

Piccolo

We bought a second hand Burley Piccolo Trailer Bike this weekend.  We went for a family bike ride tonight.  The trailer bike was attached to my bike.  I was a little nervous about how it would affect my balance and ability to stop, so I biked quite slowly. 

To Adin, it was super fast.  He was really excited.  He was yelling enthusiastically for the whole ride, things like, "I'm really biking fast!"  We're excited to bike Erik to school tomorrow morning. 

First day

Today was Erik's first day of first grade.  He has about 5 or 6 kids from his Kindergarten class in his 1st grade class.  He seemed a little ambivalent about the day.  It was fine, but 'long and boring'.  There's so much time spent covering Policies and Procedures at the beginning of the year.  But he didn't cry, so that's an improvement over last year.

 Showing off his toothless grin.

Running after the bus that turned out not to be his!

Ok, this driver looks familiar.

Feeling pretty super about the first day in a new daycare room.

Adin had his first day in a new daycare.  It's the same system as the one he was in last year, but at a different location, my building!  So now Erik, Adin and I have the same lunch menu!  He was pretty anxious about it, but he talked and talked about his day when he got home.  He made a friend, but has no idea what his name is.  They spent nap time making funny motions at each other from their cots.  Adin said, "Ugh.  I have too much to tell you about my day!"  Reminds me of what my mom said about when my brother and I went to school.  Jon would come home and give the short replies to her questions.  I would walk in the door and start talking about my day.  So anyway, judging by the first day, I'd say Adin likes his new daycare!

Pictures from Norway, Part 4, Tranby

 We drove out to visit my cousin Bodil and her samme bo Gaute, who is an excellent cook, and their adorable daughter Edda.

 There's a little playground in front of their house.

Pictures from Norway, Part 3, (more Sandane)

 There were a few inuksuit by the path.  I was only able to get the boys to pose by this inuksuk by having them say something like, "Ninja!"  Coordinating so that they were all doing it at the same time was beyond my skills.

 This is the view from my cousin's veranda. 

 The day we arrived in Sandane we went to the beach.

The kids played together very well.  Drawing, playing DS, jumping on the trampoline, throwing paper airplanes.

Pictures from Norway, Part 2 (Sandane)

 We flew out to stunning Sandane, where my cousin Marit and her family live.  We took a hike in the mountains.

 We hiked to this lake and then had a picnic lunch and hiked back again.

Pictures from Norway, part 1

 We had a hotel room in Oslo, and often went down to Frogner Park to play on what we like to think of as the world's largest playground.  In this picture, I decided we needed to splurge on some ice cream cones, too.

 Part of Frogner Park is a section called Vigeland Park, full of statues that represent the phases of life.  We like to act out ones that are appropriate for our life stage.  Well, my parents and Joe and I like to do that.  The kids are not particularly cooperative.  We thought this one would be perfect for Erik and Adin, but it was too much to coordinate.  So, you see Joe acting it out and probably the boys are wrestling, but I like to pretend they are hugging. 

 Erik worked on a loose tooth the whole time we were there and finally pulled it out on our last full day! 

We were able to make one trip out to see Bestemor.  She was in fine form, making us waffles and setting the table with all kinds of yummy things to eat.

Good thinking, Adin

I checked out some chapter books to bring with us to Norway.  Two were Mary Poppins (not the first volume, but the second and fourth, I believe) and two were Moomin.  We ended up reading, "Moomin Midsummer Madness."  It was a very trippy book.  Maybe if we had read the first Moomin book we would have understood better, but it was very odd.  Joe and I frequently commented on how strange the story was, and after a few days Adin said, "Well, it is called Madness". 

Today we test drove a couple cars.  First we drove a lovely pastel green Sequoia, then a very dull colored Camry.  Unrelated to the wisdom of the two car choices, Joe and I agreed that the Camry we were driving was very boring, based on color.  Adin piped up from the backseat, "Maybe you could paint it a more beautiful color."  I told him that was some excellent problem solving.

National Night Out 2012

Last night was National Night Out, when neighborhoods are encouraged to hold block parties.  The last three years I've been the one to file the form with the city requesting cones to block off the street for the evening.  Erik and the neighbor boys wrote out about 12 invitations before Erik got sick and the neighbor boys went camping.  So some neighbors received handwritten invites and some got computer printed ones.  They boys helped me deliver the invites last week.

A fire engine with two firefighters came by and the kids got to look around the engine and ask any questions of the firefighters.  McGruff the Crime Dog came by with a police officer and three 'explorers'.  [I guess explorers are high school students who are interested in becoming officers.  They participate in this sort of community event.  Probably don't go along on 911 calls, I'm guessing!]  My kids are deeply ambivalent about McGruff, but Erik was willing to give him a high five.  A police officer on a bicycle came by later.  His job is to bike around alleys after dark, looking for people breaking into cars.  That was quite interesting to hear about.  He said his goal is not to be seen.  When he sees something suspicious, he'll radio in to the patrol cars, who will park on either end of the alley.  Then he bikes up to the suspect.  He said he can often get within a couple feet before the person even knows he's there.  If the suspect tries to run, the patrol cars are right there to stop him.  Erik wore his police jacket last night, so the officers thought that was pretty cool. 

I had some paper airplanes for the older kids to fold and fly, and some cardboard ones for the younger ones.  I also put out bubbles and sidewalk chalk.  The kids decorated the front sidewalk and it's fun to look out the window and see the designs.  At one point yesterday afternoon, Erik and Adin were outside and had been quiet for long enough that I was a little concerned they were up to some mischief.  I peeked around the side of the house, thinking I might catch them with the hose, but they were innocently drawing on the sidewalk! 

It was fun to see neighbors last night.  We often don't run into them other times during the year and it's always nice to re-connect.

When was that?

At bedtime tonight, I asked Adin if Joe had given him Melatonin at bedtime.  We call it 'sleepy medicine', and it made him start thinking about medicine.  The kids and I were knocked out by a virus last week.  We had fevers and there was a lot of ibuprofen going down.  Adin asked if he needed any 'purple medicine'.  I told him that was just for when he had a fever and he didn't have one anymore.  He thought for a while and told me, "Papa gave it to me yesterday, and the day after yesterday, and the day before the day after yesterday."  That made me laugh out loud!

The kids have enjoyed watching a little Olympics now and then.  This morning Erik had the idea to have a Kids Olympics.  Our ten year old neighbor came over and participated, and before he had to leave we had a Medal Ceremony.  I awarded Adin a gold medal in the U(nder) 6 Division, Erik a medal for the U10 Division and the neighbor a medal for the U16 division.  We played the National Anthem on the computer.  Afterward, Adin told me, "You're the best Mama in the U40 Division."  He doesn't realize how good that makes me feel!  Then he said Joe is the best Papa in the U40 Division.

A good attitude

The boys and I have dental appointments tomorrow afternoon.  I think it's so funny that when I reminded them about the appointment, Erik's response was, "Me too?  Yes!  I love going to the dentist!"  I guess that prize box is working.  Maybe I should buy some cheap plastic toys to increase the motivation for my speech students!

Norman Rockwell

When I woke up this morning, I laid in bed for 15-20 minutes, listening to the sounds of my kids playing together really nicely.  That play session did end in tears and a time-out, but you know, their problem solving skills are still developing! 

They pulled out the Legos and built together for a long time, which allowed me to clean up the kitchen.  Erik was very proud of himself for rebuilding a Fire Station by himself.  There's a chute attached, and he put some 'flames' in it, which Adin seemed to interpret at the Fire Station being on fire.  Adin ended up destroying the Fire Station, which made Erik a little sad, but we walked away and came back in a few minutes to clean up together.  They each had a section to clean up and really, they did great.

It's been vacation long enough that they are excited when I bring out left over worksheets from the school year for them to work on.  They both work on some letter writing, Erik begs to work on articulation, and then they do some coloring.  Today, the coloring was enthusiastic enough that I went outside to hang up laundry.  Amazingly, when I came back in, they were still playing together beautifully.  Right now they are the Avengers. 

I'm so happy with how this morning has gone!  If only it could last all day. 

Adin the fighter

Erik now succumbs willingly to sleep, but Adin still fights it hard.  Yesterday, Joe and his mom did a much needed bed switcheroo.  Adin got Erik's twin size, but low to the ground, bed and Erik got a regular twin from the "guest room" (aka, the basement).  At bedtime, Adin spent about 30-45 minutes, wandering out of his bedroom, asking Joe and me to come and lie down next to him and making random comments about life.  Finally he laid down on the carpet in our back room and said, "I can't find my bed." 

Today was so hot we weren't able to do much.  I tried to get them outside a couple times for ten minutes at a time, so they could burn off a little energy without getting heatstroke.  Neither boy could hold up his head during books before bed, but Adin still denied being tired.  Even when he was so close to sleep he could barely talk, he told me he wasn't the least bit tired, and he didn't like bedtime.  Ten seconds later, he was asleep on the rug in his room.

Dear Tooth Fairy

Who could refuse such an adorable request?

It's out!

Erik's been wiggling and wiggling his bottom front teeth for a couple weeks now.  Last week I was a little concerned because he said it hurt and I didn't remember losing teeth hurting.  I was afraid that he had a loose tooth and a cavity.  It turned out his permanent teeth were erupting.  Today, just as we stepped into the building for Vacation Bible School, out popped his tooth!  He didn't have much time to process losing the tooth, since we were swept up in finalizing registration and finding the correct group for him.  He did have time to tell me the space where the tooth had been felt weird.  I told him I remember that slimy feeling of my gums.  Now the tooth fairy has to find her stash of silver dollars...

Last Day of Kindergarten

Wow.  It's hard to believe the school year is over.  Erik has had such a great year.  Senorita Joyner was a wonderful teacher (any teacher who loves him that much is wonderful in my book!) and he made some excellent friends.  Last week as I was walking back into school at the end of the day, another teacher pulled me aside.  She said she had seen Erik earlier in the day with a few other boys.  They were in a big huddle of a hug and kept saying to each other, "I'm there for you, man."  "I'm there for you."  I really wasn't surprised to hear that.  Although they can pester each other, mostly they are such good friends to each other! 

Today there was an end of the year concert for the kindergarteners.  Each class sang a couple songs and then there were cookies for the students.  I cried, and Erik's been weepy all day.  Because this group worked so well together, I wish that we had the system they have in Norway, where a class of students and the teacher stay together through two or three grades. 

An early Mother's Day present

 Adin made this for me in Kid's Place.  I think he did a nice job painting.

 

The teachers sat down and interviewed him about me.  He said: 

My mom is special because she is part of (my) family.

My mom's favorite food is rice.

My mom's favorite drink is water.

My mom's favorite color is green.

My mom's favorite song is Superman song.

My mom looks pretty when her hair is combed.

My mom's favorite thing to do with me is play Super Friends.

My mom's favorite restaurant is Perkins.

My mom makes the best sausages for breakfast.

I'm glad she's my mom because she is nice.

Love,  Adin

Adin is four!

It's hard to believe my tiny little baby Adin is four. We got him a balance bike for his birthday. He hasn't figured it out yet, and I'm not sure if that's because it's hard for him or if the bike is too short for him. He had fun bringing treats to preschool. At daycare, the kids are allowed to stand on a chair on their birthday, while the kids sing Happy Birthday to them. We had my parents over for dinner,and the neighbor girls came over for dessert.

Sunday Fun

Last night Lois took Erik to see the play "Giggle Giggle Quack".  He loved it and thought it was very silly and fun.  She had a ticket for Adin, too, but he just didn't want to go, for some reason.  This was a bit of a problem because Joe and I had orchestra tickets.  Fortunately, our friends Alley (from the blog That's Alley's World) and Claire (from Claire Bear) wanted a play date, so he visited them for a while.  They had so much fun together, they wanted to play more today, so the dads and kids played at a park while the moms worked on our shared garden.  The kids had tons of fun and got absolutely filthy so they all needed baths before dinner. 

The boys were all wiped out at bedtime, but they stayed awake for books.  Adin wanted me to read him a book about the Super Friends fighting dinosaurs, but I kept saying no,  I wanted to read a different one.  Finally, I gave in and read every other word.  Adin found this absolutely hilarious and all his giggles drew Erik from his room to see what he was missing. 

Erik is not as interested in that type of silliness, so the disjointed story irritated him.  We worked out a deal where he read the words I skipped.  It was very fun for me, because usually he is reluctant to read for me.  He really surprised himself, and was quite proud.  I sent Erik to bed, tucked in Adin and went to check on Erik.  When I walked in, he said, "I bet you are going to say my eyes are very sleepy."  I said, "Yes, you look like you are mostly asleep already."  He said, "I am about...80% asleep.   Maybe 90%."  That cracked me up.  I went back to check on Adin and he was also about 90% asleep.  They were both sound asleep within seven minutes of being tucked in.  Lovely.

Ugh. I started a post about Adin's birthday, but haven't finished it. However, in a nutshell, Adin turned four and we celebrated and he had fun. More info to come, probably.

Erik is six!

Happy birthday to my sweet Erik! We had all the boys from his class over on Sunday for a party. We intended to have his party at a playground, but weather didn't cooperate. Everyone came but one. Grandma Lois was here to help wrangle boys, which was good, because they were pretty much all completely crazy. It was like having 12 puppies in the house. One great gift related thing happened during the party. Erik's been wanting a Captain America shield that shoots foam disks. Well, he received two, and decided to give one to Adin. So they had lots of fun running around shooting those disks in the yard before the rain started. Although the Kindergarteners were full of energy, they were actually pretty sweet a lot of the time. They kept calling each other "Buddy" and gave each other high fives.

We gave Erik a scooter today, he was pretty excited. He also received a microscope and a light saber! My parents came over for pizza and cake tonight.

Lucky boy.

Tomorrow we get to do it all for Adin. Except not the 12 puppies part.

Online scrapbook

Erik has begun to work on little reports for the themes from school. They are so adorable I want to share them. Last month he made one about Symbols of America.

Today he brought home a booklet about Mexico. For the cover he made a flag of Mexico.

On the first page he colored in the flag and it says La Bandera - The Flag. Los colores de la bandera de Mexico son rojo blanco verde. The colors of the Mexican flag are red, white, green.




I won't be able to get the formatting right for this post, to get the text to line up with the proper picture. Oh well. On the next page he colored a Mapa de Mexico - Map of Mexico. It shows four types of terrain that can be found in Mexico. Voy a la playa y a la jungla. I go to the beach and the jungle. (He didn't pick the desert or mountains.)









Next is La comida - food. El taco - taco, la pina - pineapple, las uvas - grapes, el maiz - corn, el queso - cheese, and el pan - bread.






The next page is Mi maleta - my suitcase. En mi maleta tengo ropa, la gorra la camida. In my suitcase I have clothes, a cap, food. (!)






There was a final page that I couldn't upload. It showed different ways to travel to Mexico, train, bike, boat, plane and car. He chose to travel via el barco, boat.
I'm so proud of him!

First Communion

On Thursday, Adin had instruction in Holy Communion. He's a little young, but our congregation allows children of any age (and any adults who want) to receive communion. Erik started after he turned five last year, so Adin became interested, too. It was so sweet, during his First Communion, Erik was standing on my right and Adin on my left. We each took a cup and waited for the server to come around with the bread. Erik showed Adin how to hold his hand out to receive the bread, and which hand he should use to hold the cup.

drawing

Tonight Joe gave the boys a bath, and Adin was mildly traumatized by some water going in his face, mouth and ear. He was all clean, so Joe got him out of the tub and wrapped him in a towel. I came and brought him to the couch to snuggle. He cried a little for a couple minutes and then like a flipped switch he started to laugh about something. He decided he wanted to draw a picture of himself naked. So he got to work and soon Erik joined him. Erik asked if Adin would be drawing his belly button. "No. Not my belly button and not my penis either." Such modesty. He did end up drawing a giant purple belly button, three eyes, six arms and six legs, enormous ears and hair standing straight up almost as long as his legs. Now that I look at it again, maybe the boy in the drawing has two eyes and a nose. I'd have to ask Adin tomorrow.

The other drawing is one Erik did. I find it hilarious. He drew it as a Get Well card, as far as we can tell. Not sure what the sentiment is. "Get well or you'll end up like this guy" maybe.

As long as I'm writing about Adin, he asked me the other day if I went to Russia while I was pregnant with him. ?!? Nope, I've never been to Russia at anytime. Today he asked where he was when I was a little girl. I said I didn't know. Erik thought Adin was in heaven, but he wasn't sure.

Reading

Adin walks into the room. "I want to read you something. It's from a pretend book. Here it is." he holds out his hands as if he were holding a book. Holds the book up to his face. "This book has a lot of 'ah' words. Here's one: 'tall'. Here's another: 'ball'."

Fast!

Adin and Erik continue to be fascinated by superheroes, but now they are branching out. They read about The Avengers (Capt. America and his friends), and even are inspired by Super Grover 2.0 on Sesame Street. Erik made up his own super hero yesterday (Super E, I think his name was) and Adin is always along for the ride.

This morning they were playing and imagining and Adin was talking about his super alter ego. He said, "He's fast, the fastest, he's flying..." and then paused to think of how fast he could go. Faster than the speed of light? Infinity miles per hour? No, the fastest Adin could think of was... "the SPEED LIMIT!" Clearly, I have a very responsible superhero on my hands!

Birthday Secrets

Adin decided earlier this week that he wanted to give me five balloons for my birthday. I fully support that plan, so Joe took the boys shopping tonight. When they came home, Erik rang the doorbell and came in telling me Adin would be coming in right behind him. Then when Adin came in, he asked me to come in his room with him once he got his boots off. I agreed and then Erik couldn't wait for Adin to get his boots off so Erik dragged me to Adin's room and asked me to cover my ears! I think that's around the time I figured out something was up. So I turned on some music. I heard Adin and Erik talking about when it was time to flick the porch lights off and on. And Erik told me to be sure not to come out of Adin's room until he told me it was safe. Once it was safe, Adin took me by the hand and led me straight to Erik's room and tried to open a drawer. Erik was pretty upset but I told him I hadn't seen anything so any secrets that may be contained in the mysterious drawer are still safe. Watching the kids keep secrets is so fun!

Laundry surprise

When I was moving a load of laundry from the washer to the dryer I found lots of little bits of paper. Intrigued, I was curious what piece of paper had been washed. At the bottom of the washer I found a little notebook the boys like to use when they play police officers.

When that load was dry I was surprised to find about 10 rubber bands and paper clips at the bottom of the dryer. Erik was pretending to be a detective the other day, and I guess now his detective clothes are clean.

Water fight

Tonight, when I sent Erik to change into his pjs, he came out naked, except with a pajama shirt tied around his waist. He had the shirt part hanging in the front so that his buns were exposed. He found it very funny, and was running around for a few minutes. I went in the bathroom to supervise tooth brushing. We have a water bottle on the vanity for rinsing after brushing, and I knew there was water in it. Suddenly, it just came over me to squirt Erik's behind with the water, just as he was spitting out his toothpaste. Fortunately for me, he found it utterly hilarious. He screamed with laughter. So we had a little water fight. I stayed in the bathroom and he went in the hallway. He would dash past the open door and I tried to squirt him with water. Not the best activity for just before bed, but sometimes it's so fun to hear him laugh! I wiped the water off the floor afterward, of course. I figure it's almost like I washed the floor!

A Fistful of Dollars

The kids got valentines in the mail today with a significant amount more than one dollar. Adin's first response was to suggest bringing it with him to church on Sunday! It's so cute how he has no sense of what money could buy. Erik gets it more. We were just at Lakeshore Learning (an educational toy store) and they wanted everything they saw. I told them they could chose what to ask for for birthday presents. I'll probably let them each chose something with this Valentine's money, bring some to church and bank the rest. I'm pretty excited that they are excited about toys that don't involve superheroes!

One dollar

Last weekend I mislaid my Kindle, and for a couple days I looked for it with low intensity, sure it would turn up eventually. I kept telling the boys to keep an eye out for it, and let me know if they see it. Every time I said that, Erik would ask where I saw it last, which cracks me up. By Tues or Wed I was getting more anxious about it, and decided to put out an incentive for them. I told them whoever found it for me would get two dollars. That made quite a difference! Erik started to ask me where I saw it last, then realized he knew the answer, and asked me where the second to last place I saw it was. The three of us looked all over the family room. Then Adin decided to check the basement. On the way, Erik must have looked at the fridge and remembered seeing me put it on top to keep it away from them. He asked if it was up there. I had checked there a few times, but just by patting up there with my hand. This time I got out a chair and looked. Ta da! Erik was very excited about his two dollars, and began to mull over what to do with the money. I decided to give Adin a dollar, since he'd looked hard, as well.

On Friday I was taking Adin to the YMCA, and asked if he wanted to bring his dollar to buy a treat. "No. I want to bring it to church." Aw, how sweet. I wasn't sure if he would still want that today, but he did! He brought it along and when it was offering time, he said, "Let's do this!" He made his parents very proud today.

A fun evening

Joe went to a Timberwolves game tonight, so I was searching for something fun to do with the boys. We ended up making sugar cookies. We didn't really do much baking during the Christmas season. I baked for a cookie exchange, and my cousin Cindy bakes lots of cookies to give us, as does my mom, and Joe's mom. So I figure, why go through all that trouble at a time of year when I already have plenty to do? I love to bake, though, and want the kids to have the experience and memories, so we do some of that in January! A couple years ago we decorated gingerbread houses in January. A couple weeks ago we baked gingerbread cookies and tonight we made sugar cookies. It was very fun, and not stressful at all. As a bonus, I made them with my last pasturized egg, so I was able to snack on the leftover dough after the last pan went in the oven!

Adin has moved from asking non-stop questions, to asking non-sensical questions. Like, he'll ask me if I'm five foot seven, or 30. (He may have the mistaken impression that I'm 30 years old. I may have given him that impression.) So tonight, when he said something about wishing there were M people in the world, I thought he was being silly. (Or a divergent thinker, depending on how generous I feel.) I said, "M is not a number." He said, "But it can stand for a number." I thought, Good grief, is he talking about Roman numerals? I told him that was true but I couldn't remember what number M stands for. He said, "A thousand." We were talking about Roman numerals last week, but I can't believe he remembered.

Adin surprised Joe this morning by piping up with a comment about how the title of a book featured alliteration. He talks like a big kid, but he sure acts like a preschooler when we ask him to put on his coat and boots!

The Wedding March

Last night, I was sitting by Adin as he tried to fall asleep. Out of the blue he said to me in a desperate tone, "I don't know yet who I want to marry!" Plenty of time to decide that, my dear!

Pump it up

Adin's preschool class went to Pump It Up, a place with inflatable slides and bouncers. It looks like he had fun.





























Until he was tired and needed to rest.

Merry Christmas!

The house has been very giggly today. We got a box in the mail yesterday from our friends the Nevens. It had some cool stacking boxes and a "Dodge Tag" game. There are two vests, each with velcro bulls-eyes on the front. Each person gets three soft balls to throw at the other person. Both boys have really enjoyed playing although so far just with me, not each other. Erik, in particular, gets very, very giggly when we play.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

So we are on two weeks of break from school, and sometimes the days get long. By the time I'm making dinner, my patience can be quite thin. Yesterday, Erik was bugging, bugging, bugging me in the kitchen, not with anything particularly bad, but the cumulative effect finally drove me over the edge. I pushed him out of the kitchen and scolded him. He started to cry, which annoyed me more, because I first assumed he was crying about not getting to be in the kitchen, pestering me. I asked him in exasperation, "Why are you crying?" He said, "Because you yelled at me! And you hurt me!" Talk about a low point in parenting. However, it gave me the chance to model a sincere apology. I told him I was sorry, it sounded like I scared him and I was sorry I hurt him. It's a fine line, I can't expect him to understand my perception of the nuance of the situation: he had behaved badly and wasn't listening, I was justified in my anger, but not in what I did with my anger. I can only hope that although he couldn't understand it now, someday he will be old enough to parse situations like that. I asked him to forgive me, and he did, but I still felt pretty bad about what I'd done.

Tonight while we were playing, he told me I have a tender and loving heart. I truly feel forgiven and washed clean.

Merry Christmas!

Lest you think it's all Hanukkah, and Festivus around here, we are participating in Advent activities as well. Lots of faith based ones like lighting Advent candles, and secular ones like watching Christmas specials. A couple years ago there was one on TV called "Elmo's Christmas Countdown" and I taped it. We watched it several times that year, and last year as well. The kids were so little and/or sensitive that even Charlie Brown's Christmas Special was too hard for them to watch.

But this year, it all changed. We watched Charlie Brown talk to his friends about Discipline! and respecting their Director! We saw him choose his famously pathetic tree.

I found eight specials on You Tube that I favorited to show the kids. There's our clear favorite so far, Wil Vinton's Claymation Christmas Celebration. We have the book, "The Berenstain Bear's Christmas Tree" but I found a video for it on YouTube, as well. Can't wait to show them that! One I'm saving for Christmas Eve or Day is two hours of the Yule Log burning in someone's fireplace.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Happy Hanukkah!

Adin's preschool/daycare is learning about different December holidays. Today they talked about Hanukkah and made latkes. Adin wanted to know more, so I went to Shalom Sesame and we watched a couple videos. First, we learned about the first Chanukah with Veronica Monica, then we learned about fixing the temple on Extreme Makeover: Temple Edition. I followed some links to a recipe for oven baked latkes, and we are now at the flipping part of the recipe. I'm sure Adin regrets ever asking, but I'm excited about giving them a try.

Oops, I guess flipping latkes is easier when you remember to oil the pan.

Big Cheese Adin

At Adin's new daycare/preschool they have a kid of the week, called "The Big Cheese". They ask the parents to make a poster board of pictures, fill out a survey, and parents can come in and read a book, bring lunch and/or participate in an activity. This week is Adin's turn. Joe selected some photos, which you can see in the background of the first picture.

This morning, Adin was very reluctant to go to Lenox, and to be the Big Cheese. He told me he wasn't big, he was a little cheese. So we started back pedaling and making a much smaller deal out of it. I got to read the book "The Gingerbread Baby" to the kids, which I loved doing. (The teacher took several pictures of me reading!) Then the class made gingerbread houses by taking empty half pint milk cartons, smearing frosting on them, sticking graham crackers to the frosting, and then attaching candy with more frosting. The teachers allowed Erik to stay and make one. That was quite fun to see the way different kids had different strategies. I related to the girl that hoarded as much candy as she possibly could on her plate!

Afterward, Erik and I played a couple minutes, and then left. Adin desperately wanted to leave with us, so that was hard! An hour later his teacher called to say he didn't really get over us leaving, complained of an ear ache and when she took his temp, it was 100.8! So Erik and I returned to pick up Adin and take him to the clinic, where he was diagnosed with a double ear infection! Poor big cheese.

Fortunately, he was well enough that we made it home for: Erik's first playdate with a school friend! He has a buddy from Kindergarten, and has been begging me for months to invite T over for a playdate. I finally called his mom last week and she said T had been requesting the same thing. So today T came over and they got to play superheroes, draw on magnadoodles, play a board game, and 'reminisce'. It was adorable to see them aggressively hug each other and refer to each other as "best buddy". They often would say to each other, 'remember...' and talk about little inside jokes they had from Kindergarten. T has older brothers so it didn't seem to phase him when Erik got a little over excited. T's mom has said several times that they plan to reciprocate and have Erik over, which I'm excited about.

All in all, it's been quite a day!

Monopoly

Joe bought Monopoly Junior at Goodwill this summer. It's been fun, the perfect level for Adin, but a little too simple for Erik. So Joe taught Erik how to play regular Monopoly yesterday. The first game taxed Erik's attention span a little, but after taking a break he asked to finish the game. He begged to start a new game last night, and the two of them spent an hour or more in the basement last night playing. This morning was my turn to sleep in, and when I came down, it was obvious Erik had been nagging to finish the game. So they went right back down for another hour or so.

I don't remember exactly what it was I was trying to get Adin to eat, but his response cracked me up: "I dare not try it." I asked if he heard that phrase in a book or something and he told me, "I growed up saying it."

Clue

Happy thanksgiving! We are having a lovely, warm, day. My parents picked up a board game from the lending library in their building. We've played Clue Junior at home and gave Clue not Junior (as the kids are calling it) a try. We played in parent/child teams and it's very funny to hear as Erik's parent partner whispers to him what he should guess and then he says it out loud. He's very, very serious about games. Adin, on the other hand, is running around the condo half naked, dusting, jumping, hugging, and having lots of fun.

Here's a picture from my Dad's birthday, just to show you what late fall is like in Minnesota this year.

Cleaning Blitz

So often things happen I want to post, but then don't get around to it. While Joe is reading a story about the first Thanksgiving I'll write something up quick. We just had a five minute family cleaning blitz! We all put things away and swept. After five minutes Adin was done, partially because it's bedtime, but Erik was going gangbusters and wanted to keep helping. He found another place to sweep (by the back door) and then helped pick things up off the carpet so I could vacuum. It looks sooo much better! Dare I hope we could make it a family tradition to clean for 5-15 minutes each evening? Perhaps I could motivate them extrinsically with a weekly reward. Hmmm.

Funny stuff Adin said today

I have had a cold this week, and am quite congested. We were driving in the car and I said I wished I could breathe. He said to me, very seriously, "Breathing is when you open your mouth and you don't do any talking or eating. Like this, Mama."

Tonight he told me he was hungry and brought me a giant can of soup. I did not actually believe he was hungry, so I didn't want to open it, plus we have a vat of gazpacho in the fridge. So I dished up some gazpacho and told him he would like it because it was full of yummy fruits and veggies. I warned him that this type of soup we eat cold. He said he wanted to eat it cold. When I gave it to him, he ate a bite and said how good it was (but then didn't eat any more)(I knew he wasn't hungry.) He said Erik wouldn't like it because it has tomatoes in it. I agreed and wondered why Erik doesn't like tomatoes. Adin said, "He growed up different, and a different time." I laughed, it sounded so much like someone talking about how social mores change and how people of different generations see the world differently.

First day of preschool!

Adin was so excited! He woke up and every five minutes was asking, "Is it my first day of preschool?" Then he wanted to go out and have his pictures taken like Erik did on his first day. There are quite a few kids in his class that he was in two year old parent and child class with last year, and he just went over to the table and started playing with play doh.

When I came to pick him up he was super excited. He finally got to play on the 'big kid playground'. They even had a (modified) fire drill. Because it was the first day for so many kids, they went outside before the alarm went off. His teacher, who had Erik for the last two years, said when I picked him up, "He's so different from Erik! I don't think Erik talked for the first three months!"

Adin's only disappointment about preschool? He wished it lasted all day. This is in stark contrast to Erik, who begged this morning to go back to preschool instead of going to kindergarten. Erik pulled out lots of tricks today. He asked to skip. Said he was sick. Blamed me for signing him up for full day (this one was a valid point). I think the actual school day is continuing to go ok, just the getting ready at home is tough.

Last Thursday, after the first day he told us he learned the Spanish word for 'yes'. Friday he said he learned a counting song with numbers 1-10. Today he got off the bus and told us he learned the word for 'circle'. Later he said he knew the words for 'up' and 'down'. He says he doesn't play with anyone on the playground, but I he actually is, just not the involved imaginative play schemes he does with the neighbor kids. His teacher has told me that he chats and laughs with the other kids.

I think my favorite part about the kids going to school is picking them up afterward. I get so excited to see them and hear about their day.

First day of Kindergarten!

It went well. He slept well last night, and seemed nervously excited this morning. Lots of extra energy, but no tears. We took pictures by our new apple trees, on the step and on the bus. After he was safely on the bus, I drove to work and watched the clock until his bus arrived. Then I joined the other parents out front to watch the Kindergarteners and first graders arrive and parade into school. He waved and smiled when he saw me, and was chatting with another boy about the noise level of the cafeteria.

Later I walked through the cafeteria and said hi. I asked how the day was going. "Fine. It's sort of complicated, because everything is in Spanish." I reminded him that all the kids found that part complicated. He agreed, and asked if it was almost time to go home. He seemed overwhelmed, so I didn't linger. After lunch I know he had recess and then they have a quiet time for the kids to rest if they want.

I did go back after school and watched him get on the bus. His teacher was super organized and he got right on the correct bus. I had written his bus number on his palm, and I saw him check his palm as he climbed the steps. He told Joe and me that he learned how to say "yes" in Spanish! He's very excited to go back tomorrow, because they are having (grass fed all-beef) hot dogs for lunch.

Ha! I just previewed the pictures and instead of the picture of Erik and Adin on the steps, there's one of the neighbor girl playing peek-a-boo with Adin. Also, I thought I had rotated Erik's picture already. So I guess you'll have to tilt your head to see how he looked on his first day!

'Tis the week before preschool

Ah, Adin. He's been a bit of a stinker lately, and it's hard to tease out what behavior is because of being three and independent and what's for other reasons. He's been so impulsive and disobeys us so much, that I firmly believe he's reacting to all the kindergarten talk. I think he's picking up on Joe and my anxiety, Erik's anxiety and aggressive behavior and it's making him feel unsettled. I also think he's a little jealous. We talk and talk about Kindergarten, and just a little bit about preschool. Today we all went shopping because Erik really needed bigger clothes. We have vast quantities of clothes Adin's size, so it never crossed my mind to buy him anything new. Tonight at dinner, Adin talked about Erik getting new pjs. Adin said he wished he could have new pjs too. The lightbulb finally went off for me and I told him that just like we bought Erik pjs the day before school, we could buy Adin pjs the day before his school starts.

Adin insists he's starting kindergarten, too. This may or may not help, but I sort of went along with it. I agreed that he's starting school, and talked about his teachers, Kari and Shelli, and some boys he knows in his class. I tried to strike a balance with not bursting his kindergarten dreams, but also grounding him in the reality of his actual class. I'll have to try to do some special things with him on the days that I don't work.

I can't believe how big my little pumpkins are getting.

'Twas the Night Before Kindergarten

Well, this is it. We've gone to Open House. Lots of kids came in and hugged Srta. Joyner, so they must sincerely like her. It's a nice big, open classroom, with an attached bathroom. Erik hung on us a lot, looked around and brought me books to read to him. This was difficult, since I don't know Spanish, but sometimes it was a familiar book, and that helped. The highlight may have been learning that we already know the Spanish word for turtle: tortuga. It was fun to see there were a couple kids Erik knew from preschool, and a couple I knew from other preschool classes.

Open House was Friday, and this weekend was tough. Erik was pretty aggressive and yelled a lot at other kids. I think the Open House ramped up his anxiety level. Today we had a fifteen minute meeting, just our family with Srta. Joyner. She asked him what he wanted to learn in school this year (how to invent things), asked Joe and me what we wanted him to learn (social skills, sharing, school routines). She made sure Erik knew how he was getting home (bus). She checked if he would be eating school lunch or bringing lunch from home. He said bringing his lunch. [Later we looked up what lunch is tomorrow (beef ravioli) and Friday (hot dogs). He's not familiar with ravioli but he loves hot dogs, so he's going to get school lunch on Friday.]

I've tried to be calm and upbeat in front of Erik, but when he's not around I'm a wreck. Yesterday I walked to the library and let myself feel sad. I thought about all his baby and toddler milestones. I cried a little. When I got to the library I started looking through the children's books for stories to read to Erik. I started to feel excited about the years ahead and all the wonderful books I could share with him. That helped. Joe has been feeling sentimental, too. I went through Adin's clothes and bagged the small ones to send to Goodwill. Joe said just looking at the bags made him tear up thinking about how time passes.

I don't know if I'll get pictures and stories posted tomorrow night, but I'll try to do it by this weekend.