Chef's Special

Mattie was very excited to pick out spices to put in his egg this morning!

(He ended up dumping a massive amount of onion powder in, but fortunately N was wise and had him add the spices before she put the egg in the bowl, so she could correct the onion overdose!)

Moldy Oldies

 At the playground this evening Mike mentioned the child of a friend of ours, who was actually a small child when we saw him last, and who is now turning 17.  I said, "Wow!" and of course Matthew wanted to know what happened.  We explained that someone we knew had gotten older and grown up.

Mattie thought for a moment and said, "Did he get mold on him?"

(So then we had to figure out how to explain that old food got moldy, but grown-up people do not!  We're rolling stones, baby, we gather no moss and no mold!)


P.S.  We think, but are not certain, that yesterday's squirrel may have been there today taunting a new group of children by climbing just high enough in the tree to be out of their reach.  :)

Squirrel Chase

James decided he wanted to catch the squirrel at the playground this evening. I assumed the squirrel would dart up the nearest tree, but no, the squirrel decided to play along!  He (or she, who knows?) would let James get within a foot or two, and then dart away again.  He went around in a big circle a couple times, with James happily following behind -- and then Matthew came to join in on the fun!  This went on for a few minutes, and then the squirrel spotted some other squirrel to chase around instead, and darted off at full speed (leaving the boys in the dust).  I had been wondering if the squirrel was just fat and lazy from being near the picnic benches, but no, he could hustle when he wanted to!

The pics here are kind of blurry, but they give you the idea.  :)

The Hideout

The boys love playing with C!  (And not-so-little sister E, although she still mostly does her own thing.)

C dubbed the space behind the bench their hideout, and they all stuffed in there giggling about something.  (I'm not sure what they were hiding out from -- probably werewolves.)

First picture:  I didn't know they could both still fit in that wagon!

Second picture: Don't Mattie and C look like they're striding off to solve some crime in a detective series?

Not Thirsty

The boys' preschool teacher greeted me today by saying the boys had won the first round of the "drinking milk from cups" battle -- she'd served milk with their snack (instead of the usual water). James took a sip, made a face, and rejected it -- perhaps not surprising since he doesn't usually drink regular milk.  Matthew realized it was milk, and then proclaimed that he was not thirsty (and cheerfully informed me of that "fact" as well).  Stubborn and clever little guy!

Matthew was delightful today; he's so enthusiastic. And James was also right in the middle of things; the kids were all playing with musical instruments when I arrived, and James was in the center of the group, shaking maracas.  Later he was playing trucks with the other boys, and both twins were enthusiastic participants in the hokey pokey.

The teacher was so happy with how much James has blossomed now that he can hear again.  He's always been happy and engaged at preschool, but now she says he's talking more and more assertive.  (I think some of that is just the age -- almost-three is an age of strong opinions!)  But it's great to see.

On the playground, a group of kids including Mattie and James were in the playhouse.  Mattie decided it was an elevator, and they were playing along -- and James was talking about pushing the buttons.  It was really nice to see him participating in the imagination part of playing.  That kind of play is just now emerging in their age group, but I think the hearing problems were keeping James out of some of that before.

Backyard

The boys had fun playing in the backyard yesterday. James was trying to climb a tree all on his own initiative -- takes after his father! :) James also was doing a great job kicking the ball; I can guess there will be some soccer in our future.

Ice Cream for Breakfast Day

From the Rock Hill Herald: http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/03/21/3837046/thousands-eat-ice-cream-for-breakfast.html

Thousands of people across the world stopped to eat ice cream for breakfast today in honor of Bruce Rosenberg, Rock Hill’s Jewish champion of Christmas lights who died last week in the arms of his daughter.

On March 21, 2011, Rosenberg was diagnosed with cancer — Stage 4 Metastatic Melanoma. One of the things that came to mind as he battled the disease was to "Have Ice Cream for breakfast." It was a metaphor for living life.

He wanted March 21 to be "Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day" to remind people to live a full life and not take even the small things for granted. He created a Facebook page to spread the word.

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/03/21/3837046/thousands-eat-ice-cream-for-breakfast.html#storylink=cpy

Rosenberg lost his battle with melanoma just nine days short of March 21. But that didn't stop thousands from eating ice cream today to honor his wishes. More than 3,700 people from Canada to Australia signed up on the page, and hundreds have posted photos of their morning ice cream indulgences.

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/03/21/3837046/thousands-eat-ice-cream-for-breakfast.html#storylink=cpy

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I must confess we cheated a little -- Matthew is in a stage where we figured that ice cream for breakfast one morning would mean many more mornings of battles over why he can't have ice cream for breakfast every day! So instead he enjoyed his Bruce-inspired ice cream (and a second helping) with dinner. :)  

Jamesie asked for ice cream and even acted like he might take a bite, but in the end, only played with it.  (Too bad!)

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/03/21/3837046/thousands-eat-ice-cream-for-breakfast.html#storylink=cpy

Realism

Matthew's imagination is blossoming these days -- he "investigates" the footprints from the werewolf in the back room, he wants Daddy to be a Tickle Monster, he informs us that he is a kitten.  :)  And he really loves his bedtime stories.  The other day he wanted one where the Three Pigs meet a werewolf, gleefully informing me, "That's a new one!"  (I like the one where the Three Pigs build a train to go visit their Mommy.)

But tonight he requested "the grocery store one" from Mike.  Mike asked me how that one went.
"Fred and Daphne [characters from Scooby Doo] go to the grocery store."
"And what happens?"
"They buy the things on their shopping list and come home."
"And?"
"That's it.  That's the story."

Museum Shadows

 Mike was out of town this weekend, so Nicole joined us for an outing to the science museum.  The boys explored some new (to them) exhibits: the math one pictured here with the shadows, and Mattie discovered that you could go inside a rocket ship.  Of course, as usual, the train and the dinosaurs were the main attraction.  (All on his own, with no suggestion or prompting from us, Matthew walked up to the engineer after the train ride and thanked him for the nice ride.  When the engineer told him to come back again, Mattie assured him, "We will come back!")

We ate at the new cafe (same location, new owners), and the line to get food was crazy, but once we ordered it was quick and tasty.  To entertain the boys while I was in line, Nicole taught them about coins.  Mattie told me about them:  "This is my quarter, this is my penny, this is my diamond!"  (Wouldn't that be nice!  We corrected him that it was just "dime.")

P.S.  We did not do too well with the St. Patrick's Day observance this year.  Jamesie had some green on his shirt, and Mattie on his socks (which are infant-sized Halloween socks that he nonetheless insisted on wearing).  

24

 Woo-hoo!  James is somewhere over 24 lbs!  (We changed the scale from the "infant" version to the "toddler" version, so while it's now safer for standing on, it's hard to get James to stay on long enough to get an accurate measurement!  But Mike's best guess tonight was 24 lbs., 2 oz.  Hooray for progress!)

James also did an excellent pee in the potty tonight. :)  (I'm sure your day would not have been complete without knowing that!)

Family Album

Photos from Uncle Dave.  I particularly love the last one with all the squirming babies!

Relations

Here are just a few more pictures from our South Carolina trip.  :)