In Africa they don't say Excuse Me

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.

Crazy Hair

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....

Q is for Quelf

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...

Um, No

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!

Fun at the Field Museum

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.

Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl

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!

Blizzard

I have to say I expected more, but I guess our friends to the south got a bit worse. We got enough to not be able to get out of either door in our house this morning (Rosco had to hold himself a bit longer then usual while Jay attempted to get his arm and a small kid size shovel out the door to dig out enough room to be able to get his body outside). And it was also enough to cause all the local schools, stores, and many businesses (including the office that I work in) to close. Jay spent about three hours outside plowing us out and helping neighbors with clearing out their sidewalks and paths into their houses and garages. He even raked some snow off the roof (Rosco was extremely jealous watching him do all this). I stayed inside with the kids and got some work done while they enjoyed movies and some coloring. Joseph got to go to his friend Ruthie's house behind us after the path was cleared, and now we are enjoying some quite time while everyone naps. Jay and I don't really nap, we just kind of lounge. Hope everyone is enjoying the big dig out in their area!

Joseph and his Friends

Joseph has been excited about having friends over to our house lately. He had been asking for weeks to have someone over, so last Friday his friend Morgan came over to play and join him for dinner. He was so excited when she arrived, that he did not stop talking for a solid 20 minutes. He pulled out every book and every toy he could think of and told her exactly what it was, and did she want to play with this or did she want to do that. Then when it was time to eat, for the first time in a lonnnnnng time Joseph ate all of his dinner without complaining (Morgan had already finished her vegetables and had started on ice cream, which was the perfect amount of motivation for Joseph to finish his). And when it was time to wash up and go potty Joseph told her "You don't have to go poop Morgan, only pee. You don't want to make a big stinky poop in there like I did". We'll see what fun things come out of his mouth when his friend Drew comes home from school with us tomorrow. He and Grover are enjoying their last "bedtime" before the big event. Apparently everything is measured in how many naps one has to take before a fun activity is scheduled to occur.

Hannah & Leah 15 Month Stats

Hannah and Leah are officially toddlers in case you didn't know. They are in the first toddler room at daycare, and are learning to use spoons, do more projects, and before you know it they will be sitting at little tables to eat. Leah has four teeth on top and four teeth on the bottom, and has started answering yes or no questions by shaking her head. Hannah has two teeth on top with a third about to pop through, and four teeth on the bottom, and is trying to learn how to run (right now it's just a really fast power walk). Their hair is getting longer, but still very thin, so I am torn between going to get it shaped or just letting it go until there's more to cut. Both girls had colds over the last week, and Leah has now had a fever off and on since Sunday which the doctor says to just keep an eye on and let it run its course. We saw him on Tuesday for the 15 month checkup and our MMR & chicken pox vaccines, and in a bizarre turn of events Hannah screamed off and on from 11:30pm-2:30am that night. (Now that, was fun.) When she stopped I was tempted to go into the room and check on her, but I was too afraid I'd wake her up and she'd start shrieking again. Other than that rare event, the girls are still sleeping from 6:30pm to 6am and eating five times a day. Though Leah seems to either have not felt like eating as much over the past two weeks either due to her cold, or due to some weird texture preference she is developing (she picks up the food as though she's going to eat it, and then puts it down and feels the next item on her plate). Hannah ate both hers and Leah's helping of fish sticks and tator tots the other night, whereas last night Leah at both hers and Hannah's portion of spaghettios and meatballs. Both are refusing to eat peas lately, but will still chow down on green beans and anything in the fruit family (well, except the really nasty ones like grapefruit). Homemade pasta sauce with meatballs are always a big hit and they both love Jay's pancakes with sliced bananas. Their weight gain seems to be slowing down though, especially for little Leah, but we think that will change once she decides she likes food again. But now, onto the stats!

Hannah
Height: 32.25in (93%)
Weight: 24lbs 10oz (80%)
Head: 47cm (80%)

Leah
Height: 31.75in (85%)
Weight: 23lbs 6oz (60%)
Head: 46.25cm (60%)

Pisces? Please!

While I certainly understand things changing over time (going to the bathroom inside instead of outside, Constantinople becoming Istanbul, even Pluto not being considered a planet in our solar system) but this is ridiculous. My zodiac sign has not changed. Read the description of an Aries and then read the same for Pisces and tell me which one you think captures my essence. Good thing I'm a westerner and the tropical zodiac which is based on seasons, still as me categorized as such. (yes, I had to do research on this subject) I mean, it's not like i check my horoscope or anything like that. I just don't want to be incorrectly labeled. So if you get me any gifts monogrammed with my zodiac sign, please be sure it's the big strong ram and not two tiny fishes.

Joseph's Favorites

Joseph had a pretty fun homework assignment last weekend, which was to decorate and fill a brown bag with his favorite things. It didn't take Joseph too long to answer questions on his this subject, he spent about 10 minutes with Jay documenting all of his favorites and then I went to work on the computer finding pictures and adding items to my grocery list. I then of course plotted the perfect design for the outside of the bag, but let Joseph put stickers and things where he wanted and had him write his own name and a few other things that he's learned. He also got to practice with scissors and glue, and drew a nice portrait of Rosco to put in the bag along with the treats for his friends. Another thing we talked about was what he wants to be when he grows up. Answer: Ironman. A few days later Joseph asked Jay what he's going to be when he grows up. Jay said "how about your daddy?" To which Joseph replied with "no daddy not what you are, what you are going to be when you grow up!" And so Jay is also going to be a super hero, Batman. And I'm going to be a cowboy girl. These are all Joseph's ideas of course. He continues to amuse us with his seriousness. For example, this morning when we were struggling to get him into the bathroom to go potty and I busted out the "Joseph if you aren't in that bathroom by the time I count to three then no tv after school" and just as I started counting he matter of factly in a very sweet voice said "well that's good because I don't want any tv after school". I got nothing if the 1-2-3 doesn't work anymore. But I digress.....now onto the list of current favorites!

Favorite Color: yellow
Favorite Dinner: chicken nuggets
Favorite Treat: tinkerbell & toy story gummies
Favorite Movie: toy story 3
Favorite Place to Go: the zoo
Favorite Teams: buckeyes, steelers, penguins, pirates and brewers
Favorite Song: all the single ladies
Favorite Letter: A
Favorite Number: 100
Favorite Drink: apple juice
Favorite Stuffed Animal: grover

Favorite Snack: gold fish

Favorite Game: hide and seek

Favorite TV Show: backyardigans

Favorite Thing to do on the Computer: nick jr
Favorite Books: franklin, frog & toad, where the wild things are and dr suess stories

Weekend in a Not So Nutshell

Friday late afternoon/early evening I had a drink with friends after work at the Water Street Brewery they opened in Grafton, as Jay was having fun working on his year end review, and we both met at home with the kids as light snow was falling. We were greeted with shoveled sidewalks as our neighbor Henry had made the rounds before we had a chance (very nice...we love our neighbors), so we ran inside to get the kids set up for a quick dinner (which for us usually means chicken nuggets and veggies). Then Joseph and I headed across the alley to the neighbors behind us (he played with Ruthie while I enjoyed wine with John and Tiana) and Jay put the girls to bed and fired up the ole xbox. After Joseph was home and in bed at 8, Jay and I caught up on some football and tv. Saturday morning we had the usual breakfast, and Joseph and I ventured out to the library. Picked out a few movies, more than a few books, and just when I thought we were headed to the grocery store, Joseph decided to get frustrated. And so everyone in the children's section at the library got to enjoy our lovely argument over whether or not the book we agreed was the last book was really the last book and everyone in the parking lot probably wondered if the screaming child was getting tortured by some maniac or just being an upset three year old. And so we arrived back home with socks and shoes thrown about the car (Joseph's, not mine) and I ventured out to the store with Leah later that afternoon. I can't say I've ever taken one of the girls with me on errands, Joseph is usually so excited to go and they spend the majority of their time sleeping or eating, so I thought it would be a nice treat. She was super excited to get her coat on and ride in a different car seat (mayhaps her first time in the 4Runner?) but she was completely quiet and expressionless at the grocery store. Which is great right? Though disappointing to me of course, as I was expecting excitement and amusement. She only took her shoes off once (and I noticed so was able to save them) and attempted to crawl out of the cart just a few times towards the end (why I always have to circle the store for at least two things on the list and why there was no one to bag my groceries on a saturday I do not know. All and all it went well but since it didn't wow her next time it will be Hannah's turn. Jay and I had skyline chili for dinner (I thought it was disgusting for the first few years I knew Jay but now I love a good three-way), all the kids had baths, and after Joseph was winding down with some games on the computer (nick jr of course) I joined up with a few neighbors to head across the street for a quick stop in at a party. (gatherings and drinks are a bit of a theme in our hood) This morning we woke up to both girls crusted in boogers, but we all still enjoyed Jay's pancakes which included the letter J and a moose (Tyrone from Backyardigans). The girls have mostly napped, but Jay took Joseph to his first hockey game downtown at the Bradley Center. Joseph was just a little excited. He actually thought they were going to see the Penguins but we kept setting him straight. Didn't really matter who it was so long as their was popcorn and apple juice (the free hats were nice too). Pretty great idea Jay had actually, though it could have gone either way since it was during nap time. Now we're all hanging out in the basement and enjoying our last few hours of the weekend.....if only they didn't go by so fast!

Happy New Year!

Hannah and Leah are 1 year, 2months, 2 weeks and 6 days old and Joseph is 3 years, 8 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days old. The girls stayed awake past 8 o'clock last night (usually they are crashing and rubbing eyes by 6:30), but perhaps it was a sugar induced spurt of energy from the chocolate cake or all the excitement of running around with friends. And speaking of running, Leah actually has quite the fast dash. Especially when she doesn't want to get caught with something, like say for instance when she steals something from a cabinet or grabs her sister's pacifiers out of her crib. Leah shoots out of the room as fast as she can go and takes off down the dining room stretch before anyone can catch her. (and no, Leah does not actually use the pacifier since she very much enjoys her thumb, she just finds it amusing to steal them away from Hannah). Both girls have been making a lot of jibber jabber, but they've also started using more words. Hannah says drink, up, mama, dada, uh-oh, whoa, doggie, mange (Italian for eat) and sometimes will repeat things like cracker and shoe. Joseph knows many words of course, though now some of them are bigger and longer (like frustrated), and he has been emphasizing by using "very, very" lately (like I am very, very frustrated). He has also memorized quite a few books, and recognizes the letters that the words start with and uses his finger to trace them while pretending to read (amazing how many words he gets right). And let's see, what about Jay and I. I have almost mastered the Santori family lasagna (if only I could time things right to allow for it to set), I can pick up and carry two one year olds at the same time (not as easy as you would think), and as of today I now have glasses. Not officially or required by law, but to aid with seeing in the dark and far distances (I'm thrilled, really). Jay has turned into the best xbox kinect dance revolution dancer this side of the Mississippi and can race his car in hot pursuit which such skill and speed it would blow your mind. Much more useful skills that he has developed (though you never know when we might be in a dance competition or high speed chase) is the ability to transform a transformer (despite that they are apparently suitable for preschoolers I am not able to perform this task) and fix things around the house (leaky things, broken things, waspy things). Neither of us have yet mastered how to tame a tantrumous toddler, but hey, you have to have something to work on right? Let's just hope we pick up a few new skills before the girls turn 2 later this year. Happy 2011!

Lotso Fun with New Stuff

The kids have been having a lot of fun the past few days playing with all of their new games and toys from the holidays. We rotate rooms and activities throughout the day to try and keep up with all the fun they are used to having at daycare and the grandparents houses. Joseph told us on the way back from Ohio that he didn't want to go home, and wanted to go somewhere else. We convinced him that we could have fun at home too. So yesterday we went to Pump It Up (a place with big inflatable things to jump around and slide on) with his friend Morgan, and today Jay is going to take him swimming. The problem with telling Joseph about these fun things, is that you then have to listen to him ask "When are we going swimming?" about a hundred times before you actually go swimming. If he's not satisfied with your answer, he will respond with "hmph". I find this both frustrating and amusing. Hmph has always been one of my favorite ways of expressing frustration over email (along with ARG), but I can't say I've really said it out loud much. But I do prefer the "hmph" to the screaming, which has grown louder with age (development of the lungs and vocal cords I assume) and on occasion is heard by the entire neighborhood (at least it is winter and all the windows are closed). Today Joseph is having a very good morning, perhaps motivated by the upcoming trip to the pool, but he woke up in a good mood, sat down to do a puzzle, ate some pancakes, had a tea party and read some books with his sisters, and is now flying around the basement as his favorite character Buzz Lightyear (previously Woody, but that is soooo last month) Now he has seen Toy Story 3 (several times in fact) and is speaking in Spanish and going head to head with imaginary Lotso the Bear. We have learned over the past week that Joseph can actually count to 10 in Spanish, spell his name, and thanks to the help of his cousin he can also now count all the way to 50 in English! Next up....calculus. Thanks again to everyone for making this such a fun holiday season for us and the kids!

Merry Christmas!