Rest in Peace, Bruce

A friend of mine from college fought melanoma with courage, grace, and humor for almost a year.  The story about him (linked below) is worth reading; he inspired so many people with his joy in living. Rest in peace, Bruce -- you are loved and missed.

http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/03/13/3817517/rock-hill-mans-death-from-cancer.html

Bruce's CaringBridge page: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/bruceandjulierosenberg

Ah Ooooo

An unfortunate side effect of the boys' obsession with Scooby Doo is that Mattie now frequently wants to hear "the werewolf story" at bedtime -- and not just one werewolf story, but multiple ones.  So usually we just tell some version of the Scooby episode, but we've also had to make some up.  Mike has one where there's a necklace that turns people into wolves.  My personal favorite is the one Matthew requested in which "he [the werewolf] has brown eyes and not sharp teeth and he's their friend and he cooks them spaghetti!"  (Sadly for me, he usually wants one where the werewolf has red eyes and sharp teeth.)

As any kid of our generation knows, Scooby Doo episodes all end with a revelation that the ghost or monster or werewolf is just some bad guy wearing a disguise, whose plot is foiled by "those meddling kids."  But I think this point is lost on the two-year-old set.  However, I think they are equally unclear on any deeper lore about what a ghost or werewolf or witch doctor actually is, so I suppose it evens out.

Back in Business

 James saw the ear doctor today, and everything looks good (and the tubes are still in).  He also got his new earmolds and his hearing aids adjusted, so let's hope for smooth sailing and good hearing ahead!

Playing Pirates

We're back home now, but our last stop before we left the beach was this very cool pirate playground. The boys loved the lighthouse slide!  

Age of Aquarium

We spent the afternoon with Uncle Isaac, Aunt Erin, and Baby Cousin Seth at the aquarium.  The boys liked the fish, but some of their favorite parts were the man-made ones (Mattie getting to spin a boat steering wheel, James being mayor of the turtle pictured here, Matthew playing in a fake hollow tree, with owl sound effects, Seth climbing the stairs). 

They were excited about seeing sharks, and I was excited about the huge sea turtle!  (I also enjoyed the "4-D" Dora movie more than I should admit.  Mattie was willing to wear the 3-D glasses; James was not.)

We went to the Smoky Oak for an awesome BBQ dinner afterwards.  All three boys fell asleep in the car during the short ride. Jamesie woke up for the restaurant, but Mattie slept all the way through on Mike's shoulder.  Seth snoozed in his carseat for a while and then woke up for the last part of the meal. 

Brrr

It was a beautiful clear day, but windy and cool/cold.  We braved a walk on the beach and the pier anyhow, along with Grandma and Honorary Grandma Sue.  The boys' new jackets from Aunt Emily the Great came in handy!  (Mattie briefly waded in the water, and then we wrapped him up in a beach towel for the pier part of the walk.)

Some people were fishing out at the end of the pier, and one caught a crab while we were there.  James was really interested in it, and still wanted to see it even after the man threw it back! 

Beach Morning

 Once again, Mattie was unfazed by the cold water.  ("A wave is chasing us!")  James waded in a little bit, too, but then decided that he preferred to have me wade in while carrying him. 

Go to the Beach

I made the mistake of telling Matthew a few days ago that we were going to the beach, and so we have been treated to occasional litanies of "I want to go to the the beach. I want to go to the beach RIGHT NOW" ever since. 

And I told him that the water might be too cold for swimming.  He said, "I don't think so.  I think it will be warm.  I think we can go swimming." 

Well, it turns out we were both right.  The water is cold, but that did not stop Mattie from spending an hour or so wading in it this morning!  (Fortunately Grandma and Daddy are hardy and willing to brave the icy water with him!)  It wasn't full-on swimming, but his legs were all wet.  And you might notice that we are dressed in long sleeves and sweatshirts, which gives you some idea of the weather!  But Matthew was just as happy as could be. 

Jamesie was wiser; he set foot in the water, felt that it was freezing, and decided he'd rather play in the sand. 

It turns out that some of my aunts and uncles were also down near Charleston this week, so we also had a chance to see them (as well as Baby Cousin Seth!)  It was wonderful to see everyone, but as usual, somewhat hard to have a sustained conversation in the midst of toddler-wrangling. 

He's on to Us

 It was difficult to get Matthew to sleep tonight.  I told him that we were going to have a lot of fun tomorrow, so he needed to sleep and get his energy so we could have a great day.  He said (whined), "I don't want to play tomorrow!  I don't want to go to the beach tomorrow!"  I said, "That's okay, Mommy and Daddy and Jamesie can go to the beach and you can stay here."  He then said, "I want to go to the beach!"  Then he paused and said, "You tried to trick me!"  A little while later I said, "What you do mean, I tried to trick you?"  "You said I would stay here by myself, you tried to trick me!" 

Oh no, he's figured out the reverse psychology!

Airborne Rangers

These boys love to jump!

(Mattie brought the blanket down "to put down for Jamesie so he doesn't bump his head!", but Jamesie did not want the blanket covering up the rug.  James, by the way, about gave me a heart attack the other day because he stood up on the top of his slide, and jumped OVER the slide part down to the floor.  Yikes!)

A new feeding therapist came to see James last night; we had decided to get a referral after the stretch where he was spitting out his food a lot.  Fortunately, that phase has passed, but we kept the appointment anyhow.  (Of course, the boys didn't nap yesterday so James had a dramatic meltdown right before she arrived, and only wanted to drink a huge bottle of milk before eating approximately five bites of dinner -- not exactly how we had planned it!)  But it was enough for her to see that all his skills are fine (chewing, swallowing, using utensils, etc.).  So, her main suggestions were for high calorie foods to try (sour cream, spinach dip, mayo, fruits, etc.)  It's good that she didn't notice any big problems, but slightly disappointing in that I was kind of hoping she'd have some magic tricks up her sleeve that would encourage James to eat bigger meals.  No such luck, but it was a useful visit anyhow.  

Wolf Chase

 The boys had a great time this morning playing with C.  Mike pretended to be the Big Bad Wolf and was chasing them around.  They were hiding in the train (and C had the boys on her lap "so they would be safe" -- too cute!!)  She also informed them that, "We're the only ones responsible [for finding the Big Bad Wolf] -- we have to work as a team!"