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Joseph has been waiting to turn 4 for a long time, and it finally happened! (last night we discussed that there was just one more bedtime and then it would be his birthday) In preparation, I of course started buying gifts on sale for him right after the holidays. Then Jay spotted the star wars cookie cutters in the Williams Sonoma catalog, and when I received the email that they were discounted, our birthday theme was set in motion. We made the dough together the other night, and Joseph requested that he be the one to crack the egg. Only we forgot to remind him that you don't lick raw egg off your fingers. Yesterday he got to go to one of his favorite places on a field trip, the zoo! And between that and the lunchable, it was of course a good day. Last night I finished up the treat bags, Jay made 40 yoda, storm trooper, darth vader, and boba fett sugar cookies, and Joseph went off to school a very happy camper and even got to listen to his favorite music in the car. I picked up McDonalds and hung some streamers up in the kitchen before Jay got home with the kids, so Joseph was very excited when he got home (except for when he and Leah were fighting over one of the balloons and it popped, but we won't post that picture). And then onto cakes and presents. He was only interested in the big globs of balloon frosting, and then was ready to move onto presents (while Leah and Hannah scarfed down every piece of cake on their plate and then some. For Leah that means licking her plate clean and for Hannah that means shoving wrapping paper and paper towels down as her third course) He got many things that he's always wanted that are his very favorites, and was quick to point out on the backs of packages what other things he would like next. As he gets ready for bed I hear Jay reading Oh The Places You Will Go by Dr Suess to him, and I can't help but wonder what our little man will grow up to be. He'll succeed, yes he will indeed, and I hope that the next 20 years don't fly by with such speed!
This week has been 
full of 
yummy birthday leftovers, and on Monday night we had a nice dinner at home with Maggianos carry out and Baskin Robbins ice cream cake. Everyone had lots of fun getting spaghetti all over their faces (though we had to remind Joseph that yes, he does like spaghetti and meatballs) and in typical Conway Family Fashion, Hannah dove right into her plate of cake and gobbled it all down without a thought. Joseph carefully picked off all the candy pieces and ate them, and then said he didn't like the rest and refused to finish. Leah sat there for a while contemplating the cake, and then slowly and carefully dissected it to completion. Joseph had fun opening my presents (which we made sure to explain were presents for Mommy and not for Joseph) and commented on how very really cool my new brown slipper shoes are. Hannah played with the tissue paper while Leah was still making her way through her plate of cake. Jay also brought home gelato, which I tried to save for another time but he was just too excited about his flavor selections. Pistachio (a good old favorite), Tiramisu (which he new I'd like) and then, the surprise flavor. Black Pepper and Olive Oil. Not quite sure how to react to that one are you? I like that he went for something new and daring, but my rating on this one is that these are flavors best had on bread, not gelato. The rest of the week flew by, and yesterday I took Joseph to swim lessons and to Jump Zone with a friend while Jay hung out with the girls and gave them baths (they were squealing with glee in the tub when I got home with a very tired and crabby Joseph. A little too much activity for one morning I suppose). Jay is at the gym playing volleyball now, while Joseph is enjoying his movie pick of the day, Toy Story 3. The girls were watching at first but now they are riding around on their little vehicles and speaking in a language that I am not quite sure I understand. They are actually getting much more verbal, and use the words up, down, more, bear, bunny, cup, shoe, and NO quite a lot. Sometimes there is even a little head shake to accompany the NO. It's a word that all of us are quite familiar with, and Joseph uses it quite a bit with his sisters as well. "Hannah NO" and "Leah NO" are frequently said when he has caught one of them picking up one of the remotes or trying to take his grover. The girls don't say "Joseph NO" yet, but I imagine that is not far off in our future. Perhaps if we found another language that made NO sound a little bit more fun and fresh, we could teach everyone to say that instead. Do you think if I started saying Nashi (Japanese) or Meiyou (Chinese) that I would get more compliance to the word? Doubtful, but perhaps I should consider this for other uses.....
After making our star wars cookies and playing in the basement, the kids had pizza and broccoli and then Leah pulled Hannah's hair for the first time, and then we discovered spots on Hannah's tongue and around her mouth and in her diaper (welcome back thrush, good to see you), and then Joseph delivered cookies to his friends Ruthie and Regan, AND THEN Jay and Joseph built a fort with lincoln logs, AND THEN Joseph had fun hiding from Jay upstairs (in the usual spots under his covers and behind the futon) and now that brings us to bedtime.
Today is a cold, wet, and rainy day....but that is ok because it is cleaning away all of the nastiness that was underneath the snow all winter long and hopefully will help things turn green now that spring is almost here. Slowly I am starting to clean out closets and Jay gets to organizing different areas of the basement. We had to get out our lighter jackets earlier in the week, though after a day or two returned to the heavier ones. But while it was warm we actually had all the kids out playing after school one day, and the girls loved running around in the alley with Joseph and our neighbors. For the first time in, oh I don't know, FOREVER, they didn't go nuts crying for dinner right away. A glimpse hopefully of what our spring and summer will look like. We're hoping to get them out more in the evenings with the nicer weather, though they still have their limits. Like clockwork they start to meltdown around 6:30, which I think is around the time they started getting fussy last night during the big Italian feast with my family as a pre-celebration of the fact that I am once again getting older. Thankfully we brought our favorite stuffed animals...Bear (Leah) and Bunny (Hannah). Joseph is still a big Grover fan, and that's who travels with us, but his bed is filled with other favorites like Yurtle, Shark, a Blue Duck and a Blue Bunny. All three kids passed out on the way home (and I may have snoozed through south Milwaukee) and arose before we did this morning. Since the girls are approaching 18mos and Joseph is almost 4 we took everyone for pictures today, and those appointments are getting more and more stressful for me. Three kids coordinated, clean, hair in place.....and happy. Hair and happiness usually prove to be the most difficult. We got everyone haircuts yesterday, as Joseph needed a redo (straight thin hair is impossible it seems) and the girls needed some shaping despite my attempts to just "let it go". And happiness....well if only there was something I could do to prepare for that other than full bellies and clean diapers. Hannah was the hardest one this time around (and I think that was true of last time as well) and group shots....well they are just ridiculous...but we'll keep trying! Stay tuned for shots to get posted this spring! Now everyone is napping and once the silence breaks we plan to make star wars cookies (per Joseph's request) and play in the basement (and then what?). Well I'm not sure, but we'll have to think of something. Joseph likes to know the order of events for any given day, and I'm pretty sure it was me that turned him into this planning oriented little dude. And now I'm off to exercise (or maybe lay on the couch...it's a toss up between the two) and think about "and then what".
We took a quick trip sunday morning downtown to Discover World, and decided to let the girls run around the great lakes exhibit and the aquarium. Joseph was so excited to show them around, and was running all over the place shouting "Girls, girls....over here!!!! Hannah, come look at the fish! Leah, come crawl in the cave!" And between trying to keep Joseph in sight and each of us trying to keep up with our assigned little lady (the I'm on Hannah, you take Leah approach) we were quite busy trying to make sure that no one wandered off, fell down stairs, or jumped into the open water exhibits. When we got down to the aquarium Joseph wanted to keep moving at his fast pace and show all the cool things to his sisters, but the girls came to a quick stop at the first open view exhibit in the floor. I remember Joseph sitting down on his butt and scooting across the first time he did it, Hannah and Leah instead froze and didn't want to move forward. They eventually crawled across, and then Hannah would get wobbly legs if you tried to put her down on the glass floor. Leah eventually decided that it would be best if she crawled on the narrow strip of carpet to the side of the glass, and we had to pick Hannah up in order to continue on and see all the fun things that Joseph wanted to show us.
We had a night out on the town through Jay's work, and when I saw the photo corner set up I couldn't resist pulling Jay over for a quick shoot. The second pose is actually what you get when you tell me to do something "goofy", and Jay's reaction to the "goofiness".
This was Joseph's follow up to me telling him at dinner not to interrupt when we are talking. We said he has to say "Excuse Me", and then we will tell him whether or not he can talk. He says in Africa, they say "Boo-Ah" and they raise their hands. And at school they don't say "Excuse Me" either, they raise their hands. He then went on to speak of China and other important international topics.
The kids have all had crazy hair lately. Joseph's head is riddled with cowlicks and no matter if we go short, medium, or long, it just doesn't seem right. And the girls, well, we are trying to grow their hair out and have no bangs which means they typically have half their hair up in a pony tail or pig tails. But when the rubber bands come out for bedtime, or grow loose with napping or playing, their hair is rather frazzled. And so Joseph got another mediocre haircut this morning, and I'm thinking the girls will go in soon just to get things trimmed and evened out. The haircut for Joseph this morning was not only a fun visit, but also a safety measure to make sure that we have rid his head of the two nits that were found in it at daycare on Friday. It was going around the schools in December and after the holidays a family brought it in to daycare so since then they have been doing regular checks. They called on Friday and told me that "Joseph wasn't doing so good" and I have to say when they said it was lice I was relieved. I was thinking they were going to say something like "he's puking like crazy and needs to go home" or "he has a high fever and needs to go to the doctor" or horror of horrors "he's having a temper tantrum and won't stop screaming". I have to say, I might prefer a few nits to any of these other scenarios. If lice was creeping and crawling all over his head I suppose I would have a harder time with that. 10 loads of laundry later, 5 heads washed with RID shampoo, and 1 thorough inspection of Joseph's head and I think we're done with this hiccup to what was already going to be a busy weekend. Nothing left on the agenda for today though, other than putting away all of those lovely loads of laundry. Not my favorite thing to do, but I'll take it over cleaning up poop or puke or having everyone actually feel lousy. Plus I can watch Grey's Anatomy, Parenthood, House, The Good Wife, or any recorded shows of my desire while matching socks and putting away shirts. That is, unless all the kids wake up. I'd better go....
Joseph has show and tell every Wednesday (though we did not realize this until recently, so we've missed the past few Wednesdays, which I gotta be honest, irritates me slightly. Kind of like missing homework, only not so much). Well anyway, this week the letter for show and tell is Q. We've done R before, and that was fun because he brought in raisins for everyone in the class. And then we had M for monster, and I think it was O for Optimus Prime (as opposed to T for transformer). And this week, well this week is Q. Q! There is q-tip and quarter of course, though I could see something going terribly wrong with these items, which removes them as candidates to take to class. Quail and quill. Neither of which we have in the house. I thought of making a Quiz (or actually friends thought of that, I just like the idea) but I'm not sold on it because it's not really "show and tell" it's more "look what I came up with". And so far after looking through our things tonight our best ideas are the Quack Quack Quack book or the Riddler who has a Question Mark on his shirt. Now if it was Jay and I doing show and tell, we would go with Quelf. It's a board game and it is fabulous. At first I was skeptical (I was tired the first night we played, and as my to be brother in law pointed out, I wasn't winning which doesn't put me in the best of moods) but I have to say it is quite an amusing game. We played around the table at the Grogg house in Winona two nights in a row, and if we didn't have to come home we probably would have gone for a third round of singing love songs to each other, speaking of ourselves in the third person, crying like willow trees, and wrapping ourselves in gift wrap (actually, I refused to do that. I took the penalty of moving back two spaces). We're back at home, and on the way home we stopped twice for Joseph to go potty (much preferred to the alternative). The second time it was for the big p double o - p. He thought at first that we were going to make him go on the road, but we explained that we were going to go inside somewhere. We ended up at Starbucks (though no need for a drink as I had already had a latte from McDonalds) and as I was trying to speed Joseph along for fear that there was a line forming outside the door, he asked who would be waiting. I said other little boys and daddys (we were in the men's room...twas the only one available). He asked what their names were and I responded with "I'm not sure" to which he exclaimed "you mean they are STRANGERS????" I said yes, strangers sometimes go potty too. We really need to start writing more of these conversations down, as the comedy just doesn't Quit around here. (he said something Quite funny to his cousin Oliver over the weekend, something about "no not him, someone taller") But alas, I did not document the moment and now have to rely on my very unreliable short term memory. Que sera sera...
That was my response to the director at daycare when she asked if I was expecting. She then went on to explain that Joseph had told all of his friends yesterday that his mommy was having a baby. A baby boy actually. And when they asked where the baby boy was going to sleep, he said, in Hannah and Leah's room. Because there are already cribs and baby things in there. When we told Joseph last night that I was not having a baby, and we asked him why he thought that, he said, because you have a belly. I then said, but Daddy has a belly too Joseph, that doesn't mean you are having a baby (laughing). He then said, but you have nipples (more laughing, but trying to maintain composure). To which the reply then was, well you have nipples too Joseph. I'd like to think that he told this short story because a friend in his class is going to have a baby sister soon, and he was just trying to keep up with all the chit chat. We'll have to see if this story fades with time, or if it becomes more of an epic tale. Either way it falls under comedy. That kid. So funny!
I took the kids down to Chicago to go to the Field Museum today with my family and cousins....Joseph was excited to see Sue the T-Rex which he had been looking forward to for a while. He also enjoyed all the other dinosaurs, exploring the ice age, playing in "the jungle", and walking the streets of Tahiti. After lunch we went to see the gems, which I thought he seemed overly excited about, but then I realized that he thought I had told him that we were going to a gym. Needless to say he was a bit disappointed to find himself in a room full of diamonds and topaz. So we only stayed there a short while and then went in search of mummies, which we found, and ended the day in the children's play area. Hannah and Leah enjoyed this part the most (or perhaps second to lunch) because they got to roam around, and crawl through big tree logs on the floor. Leah passed out on the walk outside to the car, Hannah was asleep within minutes once belted in her car seat, and Joseph tried to convince me 10 minutes later on the way to Aunt Gina's that he had finished his nap and was ready for the Tinkerbell movie. I told him he needed to sleep at least an hour and he said, "no mommy a short nap, two hours". I agreed to this bargain, and Joseph held up his end of the deal by sleeping all the way home along with his sisters. Sister's are now asleep again, Joseph finished writing out the letter "J" on all of his valentines, and is now playing with his bat cave, transformers and evil Dr. Porkchop with Jay while I quickly summarize our day. Which reminds me....Jay completed another successful polar plunge! Probably the warmest ever (45 degrees outside) but the water was plenty cold and the costumes were better than ever. Pink leotards! Quite amusing....as was the conversation I had with Joseph while reading him a book tonight. We were reading Franklin and his Secret Club from the library for the first time, and he asked "Mommy, who ripped the pages?" I replied with "probably someone else who had the book before us" to which he said "I bet it was the Oviraptor, the one that eats the other dinosaur's eggs. I bet he did it". Maybe, but that would make it one very old book.
A little chant Jay does around the house this time of year. In preparation for today's super bowl festivities we've spent the weekend mostly at home. The kids have been pretty entertained with rotating in some different toys, removing a basket out of the girls room that Leah and Hannah kept fighting over, and racing on all our toys with four wheels in the family room. Joseph has been very into playing with his sisters lately, as well as being the protector of remotes and putting things in high places they can't reach when he see's them being "naughty". Leah keeps taking Hannah's pacifier out of her mouth, and will even reach into the crib to do so and then squeal and do her fast walk out of the room before she gets caught. Hannah will sometimes return the favor by swiping Leah's teddy bear and then hiding in the corner behind the rocking chair. They do nice things for each other too, for example giving the items that they take away back to the other one. Hannah wins the award for sneakiness today though. We had just finished lunch and baths for the girls, and had placed them in their white shirts and black pants in preparation for naps and Steelers shirts over the top, when all of a sudden I hear slurpy drippy noises coming from the dining room (I was cleaning up in their room). I walk into the next room and what do I find? Hannah Lu with cheesy mac all over the floor, her face, and her pretty white shirt. Leah was watching, teddy bear in arm, thumb in mouth. I screamed for Jay (who was upstairs with Joseph) to get Leah (note to self, figure out a way to distinguish holy cow there's a messy disaster scream from oh my gosh somebody is injured scream) and quickly wiped up the very orange Hannah before any more spread across her body. Thankfully the Steelers shirt will cover most of the mess, and we are getting ready to retire most of these clothes anyway. After all the season is almost over, and the girls are getting bigger. Here's to hoping for a Steelers win, not knocking over any refrigerators, and that no Packer fans take out their frustration on our house or vehicles!
Joseph has been waiting to turn 4 for a long time, and it finally happened! (last night we discussed that there was just one more bedtime and then it would be his birthday) In preparation, I of course started buying gifts on sale for him right after the holidays. Then Jay spotted the star wars cookie cutters in the Williams Sonoma catalog, and when I received the email that they were discounted, our birthday theme was set in motion. We made the dough together the other night, and Joseph requested that he be the one to crack the egg. Only we forgot to remind him that you don't lick raw egg off your fingers. Yesterday he got to go to one of his favorite places on a field trip, the zoo! And between that and the lunchable, it was of course a good day. Last night I finished up the treat bags, Jay made 40 yoda, storm trooper, darth vader, and boba fett sugar cookies, and Joseph went off to school a very happy camper and even got to listen to his favorite music in the car. I picked up McDonalds and hung some streamers up in the kitchen before Jay got home with the kids, so Joseph was very excited when he got home (except for when he and Leah were fighting over one of the balloons and it popped, but we won't post that picture). And then onto cakes and presents. He was only interested in the big globs of balloon frosting, and then was ready to move onto presents (while Leah and Hannah scarfed down every piece of cake on their plate and then some. For Leah that means licking her plate clean and for Hannah that means shoving wrapping paper and paper towels down as her third course) He got many things that he's always wanted that are his very favorites, and was quick to point out on the backs of packages what other things he would like next. As he gets ready for bed I hear Jay reading Oh The Places You Will Go by Dr Suess to him, and I can't help but wonder what our little man will grow up to be. He'll succeed, yes he will indeed, and I hope that the next 20 years don't fly by with such speed!
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