The Year of the Digger

[I have split the Christmas post this year into two--one on AJ and one on David. This is the second post that focuses on AJ.]

I think it is safe to say that for AJ, this Christmas will go down as the Year of the Digger. His Grandma Francie and Papa gave him a Caterpillar digger toy that scoops and digs, and he was in heaven moving imaginary piles of dirt and garbage from under our couch to under the tree. The only down point came when we tried to take a family picture and he had a meltdown because he had to stop diggering for 2.5 seconds to take the picture.

AJ is getting close to being at the sweet spot for the wonderment and excitement of Christmas. He is still a little young, which became clear to me when he was easily distracted from going downstairs Christmas morning to see what Santa brought. Kids in the sweet spot of the right age for Christmas are at the age where they will sneak down the stairs themselves in the morning to take a peek because they are so excited and just can't stand to wait. AJ is also only starting to get his mind wrapped around the joy of giving that is so central to Christmas. He was mildly interested in seeing Joe and I open the gifts he had gotten us, but it greatly paled in comparison to his joy in opening his own gifts. (And in case you are curious, the mystery gift he bought me at the church holiday bazaar turned out to be a bright pink tote umbrella that is the perfect size for me to stow in my work bag. A practical gift that was not a tchotchke--I was pleasantly surprised!) He is also just starting to get a basic understanding of the story behind Christmas with baby Jesus, so that will take another few years to fully grasp. For now, it was a delight to be a part of his pure joy and enthusiasm.

Davey Bear's First Christmas

I am going to split the Christmas post into two separate posts about AJ and David, mainly because I can only use 5 pictures per post and I couldn't narrow it down that far. Davey Bear's first Christmas was a little different than most babies in that he is almost a year old, so he skipped the phase when the best thing about Christmas is the wrapping paper and bows and went straight to enjoying the toys. My favorite gift opening was when he spotted a Curious George doll wrapped in a gift bag. He squealed and scooted straight toward it and then throughly enjoyed wrestling his prey from the bag and giving it a good chomp. The pictures captured this pretty well, although they are appearing here in reverse order for some reason that I couldn't figure out how to fix in blogger. Just look at them starting from the bottom and going up.

Virtual Christmas

The neatest thing about our Christmas this morning for me was that we were able to share it with the boys' great-grandparents who live hundreds of miles away in Florida. My brother-in-law, John, was able to set up a Skype camera on his laptop in our family room so that my grandparents could watch that moment when the boys came into the room and saw the presents under the tree. So often I am thinking about technology as something that is frustrating when it doesn't work or intrusive when I have to check my blackberry for work, but this was one of those times when technology was magic.

There have been a couple of moments this Christmas season that I want to remember into my old age. Nothing big, just little memories when the boys have had looks of wonderment as they stare in awe at the Christmas tree or dance with excitement as they open a present. It was very touching to be able to share one of those moments with my family far away. Here is a shot of Davey bear chatting with great-grandma and great-grandpa via Skype.

Santa Drank All Da Milk and Left One Cookie for AJ!

We introduced AJ to the idea of leaving milk & cookies for Santa last night. As he breathlessly told my dad and Susan on the phone this afternoon, "Santacameanddrankalldamilkandatealldacookiesbutheleft onecookieforAJ!"

St. Nicholas Party

We took the boys to meet St. Nicholas himself at our church party. The photos tell the story...David got thrust onto Santa's lap and then gave a what?!?...who's this guy?? AJ refused to get anywhere near Santa's lap, so the only way we could get a photo of him with Santa was if I held him on my lap near Santa, as in within two feet of Santa but certainly not any closer.

I always enjoy church gatherings because they remind me of my childhood when my family went to the Earlham Church of Christ. Holiday parties there meant lots of kids running around in their church clothes drinking red Kool-Aid made by the giant coolerful and making Christmas ornaments using things like old L'Eggs pantyhose eggs to contain a miniature deer or nativity scene accented with a lot of Elmers glue and **glitter**. The church we go to now is the church Joe went to as a kid, and they generally have a similar vibe to their church parties with lots of kids running around, lots of parents catching up on church news and free donut balls and coffee by the urnful. After dropping off our charity gifts and regarding Santa from afar, the boys enjoyed some donut balls with Grandma Francie and Papa and Grandma Francie took AJ "shopping" at the holiday bazaar in the church hall to buy gifts for me, Joe and David. I know he got Joe a basketball clock for $3.50 and David some bubbles, but my gift remains a well-guarded mystery, which for a two year-old must mean that he forgot what he bought, because he surely would have spilled the beans by now otherwise. We'll have to wait until Christmas to see!

All Aboard!

What are the holidays without a gingerbread house, or in our case, a gingerbread train?!? I feel very fortunate to have a mother-in-law who is always thinking of fun ways to celebrate holidays and create family traditions, and this gingerbread train kit showed up at our door courtesy of Grandma Francie. It's a little lopsided (okay, a lot lopsided) and looks nothing like the picture, but we are proud of our little engine that could.

AJ had fun decorating it with candy, although he was a little horrified to learn that we weren't going to eat the whole thing when we were done. When I told him we wanted to save it to use as the centerpiece for our Christmas morning breakfast, he looked at me mournfully and said "Can I just eat the cow catcher with the chocolate chips?"

The Tree Is Up!

At our house the tree is finally up and the holiday PJs are out. These photos took many tries.

The Apprentice

Uh oh--this latest development is going to be trouble for sure around our place.

Much to AJ's dismay, David has discovered AJ's tools and appointed himself AJ's apprentice in the trade of doing pah-jects around the house. Today David discovered the orange button on AJ's workbench that makes a loud noise to pretend that the table saw is operating, and he was delighted to push this button for about an hour straight. AJ's response was to act as if he did not know David was behind him at the workbench as AJ proceeded to sit on David. It was clear that AJ was physically trying to box David out of AJ's sacred workbench space.

Nowday!

AJ is well into that great age when he has little variations on language that are funny and adorable. When I was young, story has it that I once said "I'm, I'm, I'm flustrated!" which was an apt combination of flustered and frustrated. Along the same lines, the other day I told AJ that we couldn't do something today but we could do it tomorrow. His response: "I WANT TO DO IT NOWDAY!" I still laugh to myself when I think about it.

Turkey and Whatnot

We had a great Thanksgiving with lots of family and food. As far as the main event goes, I will be very honest and confess that I scheduled Thanksgiving dinner for 3:00 in the afternoon when the boys were napping. They had two dinners plus several other meals with our visiting family, and I decided that after cooking all day, I wanted to enjoy one meal without worrying about feeding little ones and cleaning gravy fingerprints off my shirt. It worked out well because we had great conversation, enjoyed a glass of wine and the dinner and then the boys woke up in time to come down for dessert.

We now have a tradition running for a few years of having a team of me, Grammy Julie and Grandma Francie to tackle the cooking. We make extensive notes on what worked well and what we want to re-work for the next year. This year's new additions to the menu that were hits were both from Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa) cookbooks--butternut squash with sage and pancetta and then pumpkin roulade for dessert. Both boys enjoyed a whole piece of the roulade, which was a jellyroll made out of pumpkin cake and marscapone cheese filling. Yum!

The picture is of David enjoying his first Thanksgiving dessert.

11 months going on teenager & Uncle Roger's birthday

David is eating like a horse lately. I remember when AJ was this age going through the same growth spurt and once ate three substantial breakfasts throughout the morning and still wanted lunch. The other night we went to dinner for Uncle Roger's birthday, and David ate four pieces of pizza by himself. He has been a little bit cranky lately, and I think it is a combination of getting his pointy canine teeth and being hungry all the time.

Speaking of Uncle Roger's birthday, AJ was glued to Uncle Roger's side once he heard there was going to be a birthday cake with candles and ice cream. You can see from the pictures that he was right up front for the action to make sure he did not miss out on his piece of cake.

I'm a person!

One of my favorite concepts that AJ has caught onto lately is the idea of distinguishing people from different things, like dogs and cats. The other day we had this conversation:

Me: "You can't have two of those, buddy. It's one per person." (Silence while he thinks this over.)

AJ: "I'm a person?"

Me" "Yes. Who else is a person?"

AJ: "Mama is a person."

Me: "Yep. Anyone else?"

AJ: "Dada is a person."

Me: "Yep. What about Honey Sue?" (our cat)

AJ: (pause as he thinks) "Yes? Honey Sue is a person?"

Me: "No, Honey Sue is a cat!"

AJ: (Laughing) "She's not a person! She's a cat!"

Since then we have had several conversations a day about who is a person and who is not. His favorite is to say Uncle Will is a person! But his dog Wrigley is not!

Birds of Feather Flock Together

Our tool-loving birds of a feather, Papa and AJ, recently flocked together to make a bird feeder from stratch. My favorite part about these projects is seeing how proud AJ is of them after they are done. He will tell me over and over that AJ and Papa built the bird feeder that will feed all those hungry birds, and his little chest puffs out with pride just thinking about it. Over the weekend we were in the kitchen at my in-laws house looking out on the new birdfeeder when AJ saw his first bird perched there pecking at the feed. "Look! A bird! He's a hungry bird getting some dinner! AJ and Papa built that feeder to feed all da birds!"

The other new thing about this project is that David showed some interest for the first time, and AJ was a bit possessive about it being his bird feeder that he built with Papa. I am trying to figure out whether it is better to teach AJ that he has to let David share in these projects with Papa or to let AJ just enjoy the one-on-one attention.

Chocolate cupcake = happiness

The boys' Uncle David came by today with chocolate cupcakes. This is one where a picture really is worth a thousand words.

Reprieve

After some miserable weather this fall, we were given a reprieve this weekend in the form of two perfect fall days. Living in Chicago, we knew we needed to get the boys out to soak up the sun because there may not be another 70 degree day for literally six months. I get depressed just thinking about it! So we played some ball outside and went to the park and for a couple of walks and played in the leaves. Anything was fine as long as it was outside in the glorious sunshine. AJ even built a birdfeeder with his Papa...outside. When AJ asked me if he could watch Thomas the Train, I had the same response as other moms across Chicagoland--"You can watch Thomas for the next four months while we are stuck inside in the snow and cold. Today we are going to be outside!" I know people often say that living in a place with perfect weather every day is boring and the four seasons give you something to appreciate. I get the idea of appreciating something that is fleeting, but I think I would really appreciate 365 days of weather like today.

Trick or Treat...Can I Fix Your Door?

So after last year's debacle when AJ did not want to wear his costume, I took a note from my friend's page and decided that it would be a good idea to come up with a costume this year that involved everyday clothes plus a few extra props that he could carry around if he felt like it. The natural fit was something with his beloved tools, which led to Bob the Builder. AJ has reached a point where he can talk about something that will happen in the future and get that it is coming but is not today, and for about two weeks when we discussed Halloween and how he was going to dress up as Bob the Builder, he was pretty psyched. Even more psyched when we discussed that people would give him candy if he rang their doorbells and just said trick or treat. When we talked about how he would carry around his tools, he got the idea that Halloween involved a pah-ject when he would fix things, and he came up with the idea that he was supposed to ring doorbells and offer to fix people's doors for candy. "Trick or treat...can I fix your door?!?...Then I'm gonna bam! bam! bam! on their doors with my hammer!!" Points for enthusiasm, but I am not sure if the neighbors would appreciate all of the tiny dings in their doors.

The highlight of Halloween for AJ was getting to interact with our next door neighbor, who AJ calls Mr. Bwuce. Mr. Bwuce is the cool guy who is a professional musician by night and who loves to fix things around his house during the day. This is pretty much AJ's dream job--banging on drums and messing around with tools all day--super-cool. AJ obsesses about Mr. Bwuce and talks about him often, especially after spotting Mr. Bwuce up on top of his house patching his roof--"Mr. Bwuce was up high on top of his house!!! He had some tools up dere!" Once last summer when AJ was getting ready to take his nap, he spotted Mr. Bwuce in his backyard working on something on a table with a vice, or as AJ called it at the time, his bice. AJ laid in his crib for about an hour that day, talking to himself about Mr. Bwuce and his bice being completely unable to fall asleep for all of the excitment. So a large part of AJ's anticipation about Halloween was that he now had a legitimate excuse to talk to Mr. Bwuce--he was gonna ring Mr. Bwuce's doorbell and do his shtick about trick or treat and tools. So imagine AJ's utter delight when Mr. Bwuce's nice wife invited us in to their basement to see the real, live Mr. Bwuce practicing with his drums, vibraphone and marimba. AJ was simultaneously delighted and completely speechless about being in the presence of Mr. Bwuce.

David was an adorable little elephant wearing the most adorable Halloween costume ever handmade by his Grandma Francie. It was first made for AJ when he was four months old, so the 10 month old David was just barely able to squeeze into it. He was definitely not a saggy, baggy elephant.

We were lucky to have the boys' Grandma Julie fly in for Halloween on a last-minute good deal plane ticket. Hoorway for e-saver fares! We are all waiting on pins and needles to meet my sister's baby who is due tomorrow and scheduled to make her appearance on Tuesday at the latest. I promise to post picture ASAP. This will be the boys' first girl cousin. We are also waiting with anticipation to see our very first cousin, Baby Johnny, who is going to make his Chicago debut later this week.

Stubborn

It is becoming more apparent that in addition to having a huge head, David also has a hard head. He is generally a happy and delightful little guy, but he has a stubborn streak in him that is strong. When he doesn't want to eat/take a nap/have his diaper changed, he will arch his back like an Olympic gymnast to protest and try to prevent you from putting him into his high chair/crib/changing pad. He also takes after his paternal uncles in that he is loud. He has two volume levels when he babbles--normal and then a shout that reminds me of being at the dinner table with my husband's family as they all try to talk over each other (in a good, loud, Italian/Lithuanian way). So when he really does not want to do something, he arches his back and shouts at me in his baby babble. I have taken to calling him Archie.

Lately David's stubborn streak has focused on food as he refuses any and all baby food and demands--and I mean demands--to eat whatever big people food anyone else around him is eating. Cheeseburgers, french fries, tortellini, ravioli, pizza--you name it, the kid loves it. When he gets big people food, he will eat it with relish and eat quite a bit of it. When he runs out, he bangs in his high chair tray with both hands as if to say more! more! In the picture above, he threw a huge fit until Joe let him eat some french fries and part of the cheeseburger bun. Tonight at dinner he threw another fit until I let him get close enough to AJ's plate that he was able to swipe two handfuls of cut-up pizza, which he promptly shoved straight into his mouth. AJ was horrified and screeched "Baby's eating my pizza! That's AJ's pizza!" David just grinned and dove in for two more handfuls.

The Patch (Kaching, Kaching)

My dad and Susan came this weekend for a visit, and my dad graciously agreed to spend his birthday on a quest for The Great Pumpkin. After he and Susan arrived the day before from Iowa, we then turned around and drove them halfway back to Iowa to go to a mega apple farm/pumpkin patch near DeKalb that was a cross between a county fair and giant retail experience. There were about 1,000 cars in the parking lot, and each carload probably spent about $50 on pumpkins, apples, cider, and (my favorite) apple cider donuts. We passed a house on the way to the farm that was disproportionately large compared to its neighbors, and we joked on the way home that it probably belonged to the farmer who was smart enough to open up a cash cow pumpkin patch. The money was just pouring in there from the city slickers who were happy to stand in a 40 person line to buy a half gallon of apple cider and some taffy apples.

For his part, AJ was pretty happy to pick out two pumpkins--one for himself, and in a act of generosity, one for his brother, who was along for the ride but having a rough day due to teething. AJ's favorite part was clearly getting to scrub the mud off the pumpkins he choose using the cattle watering tank and scrub brush that was set out for this purpose. Another genius business move--have the customers wash the dirt of their own pumpkins, saving the money to pay workers to do it and giving them that "authentic" experience.

Big Guy Play

To follow up on the Little Guy Play post from last week, AJ is also doing some new things in his playtime. He is now able to do things that last more than a few minutes and require some concentration and more advanced motor skills, such as building entire train track set ups, putting together villages of lego towers and--his latest favorite--putting together giant floor puzzles with around 50 pieces. He is getting good at the idea of putting together objects in the puzzles, like figuring out that the horse's legs go with the horse's body. He has also started to repeat the phrase "look at the picture on the box!" although I can't tell yet if he is actually doing this to figure out where things should go. He doesn't quite get the idea yet of straight pieces being the edges around the puzzle, but we are working on it. By the time his Great-Uncle Roger gets here for Thanksgiving, AJ should be a good little puzzle buddy to work with Roger, provided that Uncle Roger doesn't mind doing a 48 piece giant floor puzzle of a fire truck.

AJ is also taking a class once a week at our local park district that is just for two year-olds (no parents allowed in the room). From what I hear, it sounds like they play for the entire hour and a half. He looks forward to it and has had no separation anxiety so far. I ask him about it weekly, and so far all he has reported is "it's just good" and that they have trucks to play with.

AJ-isms

I want to record these little AJ-isms before I forget them.


Chicajo=Chicago


Elphlant=Elephant


Aminal=Animal



The cat pawed me!=The cat clawed me.



You wanna take me a bath?=Do you want to give me a bath?



We gotta new mini-ban!=We got a new mini-van.



I need two m&ms--one for me and one for dada=I need two m&ms for me.



I need to go potty=I am going to pretend I want to use the potty to waste time and delay going to bed.

You wanna take me to the 'Tanic Gardens?=Do you want to take me to see the model train exhibit at the Chicago Botanic Gardens?

Papa--where's the Grilla Glue?=Papa, where is the Gorilla (brand) Glue that I want to use to fix everything in sight?

Little Guy Play

David is starting to really play with toys, which is fun for me to watch. He is in a stage now where he enjoys rooting through the bins of toys that we keep on a low shelf. He tries out one thing, discards it and moves to the next. He can make quite a mess out of things in a very short amount of time. Our family room and play areas usually look like a bomb has gone off when he and AJ are through with them on the weekends. The fact that these same areas are neat and organized during the week when our nanny Linda is here only reminds me of how lucky we are to have her.

One of the funniest things David does when playing is to take a toy hammer and bang it over and over on the floor. It is pretty obvious to me that he learned this one from watching his tool-obsessed big brother. AJ didn't even own a hammer when he was 9 months old, so it is one of the areas where David gets an advantage from having an older brother. David is also into seeing cause and effect, which means he loves anything with buttons that light up or make noise when he pushes them. And he also wants to do anything that AJ is doing. With his developing motor skills, he is not yet able to do much other than destroy what AJ is working on, from knocking over lego towers to pulling apart train tracks and pulling pieces out of puzzles that are in progress. As you can imagine, this does not go over well with his big brother. David for the most part gives a howl of protest when he is removed from the big brother play area and then gets quickly distracted by some new toy he is given and all is well for the moment.

PS--I have three new posts this week, so be sure to read back through the other two in the end of September.