Kid-Isms

NOLAN:

• Outside of his preschool class Nolan was showing me a painting of his snowman. He seemed very proud to show me, Gramma (who was in town) and one of his favorite teachers. He explained, with glee, that the two purple dots on the second to top circle of the snowperson were boobies. That's my boy.
• Nolan was in trouble and Brian said, "I am going to have to take stories away tonight." Nolan said, "No, you don't." So Brian said, "What should I take away?" Nolan picked up a 'baby' toy and said, "This." Brian said, "Will that make you sad?" Nolan said, "No." So Brian said, "Try again." Nolan went through his bin of monster trucks and found a broken monster truck and handed it to Brian. And on and on it went.
• Nolan asked me if Brian and I would die before him (deep, right?). I said I didn't really know, but I sure hoped not. He was worried he would be all alone and I assured him that there would always be someone to take care of him and love him lots. Without missing a beat, he said, "If you die, I could go to Gramma and Pa Pa's house, but I'll have to use the GPS."
• I then told him, I hope we're all old and wrinkly when we all die. He said, "If you're wrinkly I might not love you, because you're not pretty anymore. I love you because you're so pretty." I was so relieved the mood was lightened that I didn't go into that issue....
• Nolan was in the bathroom combing his hair and he saw my hair bobby pin with the jewel on it. He asked Brian “What is this for?” Brian told him it was to hold up Mommy’s hair since her hair is long. He laughed and said “Mommy’s not Rapunzel!”

JOSEPH & DANIEL:

• The boys are both getting speech therapy through the local group that helps Daniel with nutriton and physical therapy. They've been evaluated and the result was that it was very obvious that they understand, but they are behind on receptive language, which is a technical way to say "talking." An AWESOME woman comes out once a week and bascially plays with them and then helps give me pratical tips. We also get to go to a once a week playdate, with awesome toys, slides, hands on activities and other kids their age. Already their speech is improving! This is not something I was terribly worried about and knew they would talk in their own time, but poor Joseph gets so so so frustrated and angry when he can't communicate what he wants, we really appreciate the help. They have encouraged us to keep using sign language to bridge the gap and both boys can communicate most of their daily needs through this (drink, milk, napkin, eat, bath, please, thank you, yes, no, more).
• They both love to sing, and adore "the itsy bitsy spider." They do the appropriate hand gestures for the song. At night when I sing "moon, moon" song, Joseph says, "Mooo"
• Joseph will often hold up one little pudgy finger, right in front of his nose and his lips always go in this little "O" like he's about to kiss you. We ask, "One more time?" And he always nods happily! Daniel has taken to doing this, too, but his finger usually goes straight into his eye.
• The boys LOVE butterfly kisses and shriek with laughter when I give them.
• When either is mad or frustrated they start by throwing toys, then look at me. If this doesn't get them what they want, they'll often go to a chair or table and try to knock it down. Time outs are a pretty popular hang out right now.

Its SNOW big deal

Okay, so we lived in Florida for four years. Contrary to popular belief it DID get cold there. But it only snowed once (and that was the first time in 17 years, so it is indeed rare). Usually, though, in between cold days would be random warm days and winters that included grilling out and Christmases spent outside. But lets not forget that before Florida we lived in Wyoming, where most autumns found it snowing by September and every single Halloween we lived there it snowed. I expected Boston to be similar to Wyoming, so by December when we still hadn't had any significant snow I was quite frankly frustrated. I had promised the boys sledding and snow angels. Hot cocoa with marshmellows that always tastes good...but tastes the best after playing in the snow. And then, Christmas arrived with the threat of a storm the following day. And after that...the snow didn't stop!!! So far, this winter, we are at 68 inches of snow. It was the third snowiest January ever. Nolan's had 5 snow days and one delayed start. The base has had 4 snow days, with one delayed start.

Here's Brian shoveling our front sidewalk (much of Jan it was one big sheet of ice). This is one of the icecicles he was brave enough to take down.

Another view of the icecicles on our roof. There has been serious problems city wise with roofs leaking and collapsing. Our friends house had a serious leak that resulted in the celing having to be ripped into and replaced. Since we live in a quad, we have a tiny patch of grass that is our "front yard." We share that tiny patch of grass with our neighbors. Where do we put all the snow? They actually have dump trucks come take it away, thankfully. This may give you an idea... My neigbhbors across the street have a single standing home, so a bigger yard, thus resulting in less snow removal. I like seeing the snow pile growing above her van... Getting the mail was fun there for a while...that's not just snow, there is plenty of ice, too! Trees in our backyard...as much trouble as the snow has caused, this is beautiful!!

PJ's & Pancakes

Saturday I had a little Valentine's party at my house for the kids and mommies. It was a PJ & Pancake party and we all sported jammies while we chowed down on pancakes, did a little craft, played and hung out. It was a fun morning and something I want to do again in the future.

Brian was the pancake master!! He made 60!

Brian thinks I went a little overboard (I believe his direct quote was, "I thought this was just pancakes?"), but this is the closest I'll ever get to decorating with pink and hearts!

Nolan picked out the pj's for himself and his brothers.

Even after chowing down forever at the table, Superman wanted more pancakes.

Callie is so sweet!! This is Nolan and his "girlfriend" (and fellow classmate), Katelin. She has decided they will be married and he's not putting up an argument.

I love this picture for so many reasons. (Cheyna, minus the superhero get up, does this remind you of anything?)

I stole this from Erica's blog (thanks Erica). Jess took some pics too, I will add more when I get them. I actually didn't take nearly as many pics as I wanted to!