Three Crazy Kids

Jay asked Joseph today who was in charge and Leah yelled out "Leah's in Charge!". And when Jay asked Joseph what we have for dinner on Thanksgiving along with pumpkin pie Joseph responded with "Casserole". Um good guess but no. He does however understand the concept of being thankful which is more important than the turkey anyway (even though the turkey is quite delicious) Joseph is more of a peanut butter and jelly guy, and recently he has started making his own sandwiches. Unfortunately I think that our school district is "nut free" which means we won't be able to take advantage of this next year. But back to the comedy....Hannah said something quite hillarious today as well, Jay and I can both remember how funny it was and that we cracked up, and that we were in the girl's bedroom, but neither of us can remember what she said. Good thing that on Sunday I remembered to send myself an email with a reminder of some other things to write about on the blog. One of the topics was "Hannah Pink". Hannah has freaked out on several occasions when she has not been granted her wishes for pink. For example when she was forced to wear the dreaded purple mittens instead of the pink gloves. And the other morning when Leah was given the pink shirt and Hannah was left with the "other color". We have had similar crying fits when giving someone else at the dinner table the pink plate instead of Hannah. Needless to say, we have created a monster. I think we started this early on by always having her be the one in pink so that people could remember "Hot Pink Hannah". It can't be genetic, because I sure as hell don't feel the same way about the color. Though I've come to terms with it within the context of having two little ladies and it certainly doesn't bother me to have them wear it. Another funny tidbit about Joseph is that he frequently says "For real?" I suppose that could also come from me but I don't say that nearly as often as I say things like "Dude" and "Are you kidding me?" I took him shopping with me at Kohls last weekend and the funniest thing was that he thought that you could "borrow" toys from the store, so he kept loading up the cart with hot wheels and super hero stuff until it finally sunk in that the store in fact was not like the library and we had to pay for all of our items (and it was not his birthday, and it was not a holiday, and so on and so forth). And now in closing, an explanation for why Leah was able to boldly exclaim that she was "in charge", Leah is the one who repeats just about everything that comes out of your mouth. As you are talking to her she carries on a two way conversation with you by repeating in paraphrases what you have just said, using two or three word statements. It's quite amusing for now, but is really going to get me into some trouble later if she continues to repeat everything that comes out of my mouth.

What to Do at the Zoo?

We arrived at the zoo this morning to find out that we were too early. Winter hours apparently means a 9:30 wake up call for the animals, so we took the family out for bagels to kill some time and have a snack. Unfortunately they didn't have chocolate chip bagels, but fortunately everyone agreed on a blueberry one instead. Unfortunately neither of the little girls were very interested in their blueberry bagel, but fortunately the tall juice boxes provided enough energy for a few hours at the zoo. When we arrived back at the zoo, our first stop as always was the Aquatics and Reptile House. We were the only ones in it, which was pretty awesome. Leah in particular enjoying running around from tank to tank instead of the usual stroller confinement. We then moved onto sea lions and were pleased to find that our friend the polar bear was out and about (we don't see him much over the summer), and then it was on to Hannah's favorite animal the Elephant. Joseph put in a request for Lions so on our way out we strolled through Big Cat Country and spent some time watching the three baby lion cubs before heading out. We also might have seen an attempt at making new baby lions, which we may have taken a picture of, but decided not to post.

Fall Quotes From Steelers Fans

Joseph:
"I want to stay up early tonight" Clearly he means late. And last night we did in fact give him 30 extra minutes before bedtime.

Hannah:
"No way Mommy" Or No Way, or No Way Leah, and said in quite a serious deep voice with emphasis on the waaaay.

Leah:
"Special Treat?" Repeated over and over with an incredible amount of enthusiasm and a twinkle in her eye, in reference to leftover candy from Halloween.

Parent Teacher Conferences & Current Events

We had a few enlightening and somewhat humorous comments during parent teacher conferences for the kids last week. No real surprises but apparently our eldest tends to "hide during cleanup time". Every time the teacher walks to one side of the room to give instructions, Joseph walks to the other side. We know he understands cleanup time and where things go, because the teacher hears him giving other kids instructions from across the room telling them where they should put things. He also gets excited and likes to participate and doesn't do well with raising his hand or waiting his turn to talk. (Hmmm.....that sounds vaguely familiar.....I wonder where I've heard that before....) We've been trying to work on not interrupting for a while but I think that will be an ongoing effort over the next few (or ten) years. Amazing how in just a few months though he has made so much progress with art and writing skills. Now when he draws a person you can actually tell it's a person (a big head, eyeballs, mouth, ears, arms, legs...very humpty dumpty-esque) and he's starting to write JOSEPH CONWAY instead of just his first name. He even attempted Dominic the other day on his own, and had a few of the letters correct just from sounding it out. So that was Joseph on Tuesday.....and then we had the girls reviews on Friday. Would you believe that little Leah has turned into little miss type A? She leads the charge....takes her hand off the wall during line time when she thinks no one is looking and then puts it back when the teacher turns around. She tries to get on Joseph's bike every chance she gets and she is quite the climber/adventurer. She knows how to do things but if she's not in the mood to do them then she won't do them (like match colors or some other exercise she knows how to do at school) We're pretty sure that she wakes Hannah up every morning and while she definitely loves her sister (they were apparently giggling and "wrestling" with each other the other day at school, at least that's what they said they were doing when the teacher asked) but apparently she also takes out all of her aggression on her. The comment next to "Plays well with others" for Leah was that she's Mastered it, except as it relates to her sister. She pulls Hannah's hair, hits her, takes toys away from her....but plays very nicely with everyone else in the room. Hannah on the other hand usually only hits when provoked (like when Joseph swats at her first). And Leah has a little thing with eating crayons. Needless to say we don't do as much art at home as we should. Usually ends with a very purple or red tongue. With Hannah the most humorous comment was related to her eating. She's usually done with her food while others around the table are still getting served (Leah is in fact the slowest eater in the class) Hannah has been known to shove fist-fulls of food in her mouth and do a happy dance in her chair when food arrives. She's a pretty happy go lucky, friendly and social girl.... but only around those she sees every day....shy around others. And Hannah's a bit on the emotional side, like her brother, and is prone to tantrums and is brought to tears if you use a sharp tone with her. She's mastered the body parts and her favorite animals are elephants and pigs (her pig noise is an actual snort, which she just demonstrated while watching Shrek when the three little pigs came on the screen). Both girls repeat a lot of what you say but usually in just two word phrases, and Hannah is always very quick to answer questions and be a helper. She just needs reminding if there is more than one instruction to be given. With winter approaching Hannah and Leah have discovered mittens and are in love with them. They get very frustrated if their thumb doesn't go in the right spot and the other day Leah was beside herself because I made her take hers off when she got to her classroom and she wasn't done with them yet. I think towards the end of the week we'll actually be busting out the winter coats for all three kids and I know that the girls will be excited because they already try to put them on along with their boots and prance around in hats every chance they get. (they walk into their closet and take all that fun stuff out and parade around their room) I actually managed to loose one of Joseph's winter coats between last year and this year, but he has others so no immediate concern. Jay is in London this week and I suspect he'll be wearing a coat too. And enjoying some fish and chips or bangers n mash when he's not working. Last night we actually went out to dinner after a quick trip to Lowe's (Gina was home with the kids) and Jay ordered a burger since red meat isn't quite the same in Europe. (Just like clam chowder in WI isn't quite the same as clam chowder in Boston...I went out there for a few days for work and the seafood was quite delicious). Tonight is wine and cheese, along with some drama. Gina and I will be catching up on all the must see tv from the past week after the kids are in bed.