Like a Steel Trap

At dinner, Matthew was talking about one of his preschool friends, and we complimented him on his good memory.  James piped up, "I have a really good memory, too!  I remember breaking my leg!"

(We didn't tell him that this might not be the most impressive example of remembering something!)

(As you can see from the picture, Matthew lost yet another tooth, this one on the bottom.)

The Force Finally

We've had big plans to go see the new Star Wars movie since before the holidays, but we were repeatedly thwarted by illness, snow, etc.  But finally last weekend we made it!  The boys liked it, and so did we (although as Mike noted, it would have been a bit more enjoyable without the interruptions by the six-year-olds -- "who's that?"  "Shh, just watch the movie!"  "Is that a good guy or a bad guy?"  "Shhh, just watch the movie!")

The Danger of Assumptions

So I just assumed that the illness Mattie had this week was some version of the viruses that were floating around in Florida, or at worst, the flu -- and in either of those cases, there wasn't much the doctor could do, so I didn't think to take him in. Until yesterday, when it seemed like he was getting worse again after getting better, so I thought maybe he had a sinus infection.  Nope. Strep throat and impetigo.  Poor kid!  (And now I'm regretting sending him to school on Thursday to spread those germs!)  He got some antibiotics and seems to be feeling much better today.  So, note to self, do not assume that all family members have gotten the same germs!

However, in this case, two wrongs sort of makes a right, because James is finishing up a course of antibiotics for a possible ear infection, so apparently that protected him against catching strep from his brother.  :)

F is for...

Last night for bedtime reading, James picked out a book called G is for Googol, and we read a section on the Fibonacci sequence, where each number is the sum of the previous two numbers.  The book went as high as 144, and then James figured out the next couple numbers (the 13th and 14th in the sequence) on his own. Then he went to bed.  When I went in to check on him a little while later, he sat up in bed and said, "Mommy!  The 17th number in the sequence is 1597!"  He was right. Wow!

(Meanwhile, in the morning he had said he didn't want to go to school because "I hate math.  Math is boring!"  Well, of course it is -- he's bringing home worksheet after worksheet where they're adding and subtracting numbers up to 20.  Time for another note to the teacher to see if we can have him do something a little more a match with his skills.)

Winter Arrives

 When we first got back in town, there was a dusting of snow, then a ton of rain, and now the snow seems to have decided to stay a while!  We didn't have much as of this afternoon (probably two inches or so), but lake effect snow is expected all week.  Mattie and I even heard a little bit of the "thundersnow" on Tuesday.

As usual, the Southtowns have gotten a lot more than we have, but the band of lake effect snow arrived here a couple hours ago, and I think we've gotten maybe 4-5 inches already.  The forecast is for 5-8 inches, so we'll see where we end up. Matthew is hoping for a snow day!

(He did lose that second front tooth this morning, and also stayed home from school because he still isn't over this cold -- I wasn't sure at first whether he was really was still sick enough to be home, but as soon as James got on the bus, Matthew fell asleep for two hours, so I guess that answered the question.)

Generational Transmission

Last weekend, James was excited to teach Daddy cribbage (although they did have to do a FaceTime consultation with Grandpa about some of the rules!)

100 Legos

The boys were very excited about their 100 Lego tower! (Mike is out of town, so they wanted me to take a picture to send to him.)

One Tooth Down

Mattie lost one of his top front teeth last night, and the one next to it is barely hanging on -- I wouldn't be surprised if it's gone in the morning!

(Poor kiddo has been home sick from school the last couple of days, but hopefully he'll be okay for tomorrow.)

A Litany of Ills

 So the last few days of the vacation brought quite an array of maladies -- three urgent care visits, a pediatric ER visit (turned out Daniel's persistent fever was caused by the flu), and a (fortunately brief) hospital stay for Grandpa (dehydration and pneumonia, likely caused by one of the several viruses floating around).  And did we mention the flat tire?

Someone joked that we should just put a tent over the house and have it decontaminated! (Perhaps fogging with Lysol and Tamiflu?)

It was great to see everyone nonetheless, and hopefully 2016 will only get better from here!

Second Christmas

 The children made short work of the second round of present-opening!  Just imagine a cloud of flying wrapping paper and you'll have about the right idea.  :)  Everyone was very pleased with their gifts.  Daniel even made sure the dogs each had a bag of holiday treats. (Ernie got to open his himself.)

A Little Different

 Well, we are definitely not at Grandma and Grandpa's house any more!  As you can see there's not too much snow, but Matthew and James were eager to break out their shovels anyhow.  (The top two pictures are Matthew and the bottom ones are James.)  Matthew also liked the little patch of ice on the porch that made his "skating rink."

The high was only around 15 degrees today, but it bounces back up to high 20s tomorrow, and according to the forecast, we may even see 40s later this week.

Happy New Year!

 The boys welcomed the New Year with light and noise!  Matthew and James were excited about us waking them up at midnight to see the ball drop -- but not surprisingly, when we actually got them up at midnight, they just wanted to go back to sleep.  :)