I SuperDavey!

We are busy with preparations for Davey's birthday here. He will turn 3 tomorrow. When I told him today that I had purchased Thomas the Tank Engine plates and napkins, he squealed with delight and burst out "Yea! Good job, supermommy!" Who knew that paper plates and napkins from Target could win such accolades?

Speaking of superheros, Davey and AJ received fun make-your-own superhero capes from Aunt Nicki and Uncle Brett for Christmas, and Davey was immediately enamored with the idea. He ran around shouting "I SuperDavey!" and thrusting a superhero fist into the air. When it came time to design his cape, he requested his favorite things on it--Thomas, Percy and Gordon engines, a snake and two lollipops. Here is the finished product:

Santa!

We had a crazy Christmas morning at our house with the kids. Pops and Susan came to see the kids open their presents, and as they were waiting with the kids at the bottom of the stairs, I ran into the other room to start the video camera, which caused Davey to burst into tears. It was an odd scene to be saying to a kid "come on, see what Santa brought for you!" and to have his response be sobbing. I guess that comes with the territory of the holidays being a bit too exciting for the little ones. The second he saw the Thomas train set that Santa had left for him he was all smiles again. My favorite gift from Santa was the play camping tent with a campfire and plastic hot dogs and marshmallows for the kids to pretend to roast. I sent the same thing to my 2 year-old niece, Violet, who camped more in her first year than I have in my whole life and is a real camping pro. I was so happy to hear she loves it and spent the entire morning in there. I am hoping she can show my city slicker kids how to do the real thing when we are able to get out to Colorado for a visit.

Later in the day we went out to Pops and Susan's house for Christmas dinner and a few more presents. I am still kicking myself for not getting video of the gift opening there, which was a classic Pops. He gave the boys a gift that was four boxes inside each other, each one wrapped. After AJ got through the first two he said "this is sure a lot of boxes!" When he got to the last one, he and Davey squealed to discover Pops had wrapped a donut for each of them. Then it was on to a bag of Chinese handcuffs. The boys had never encountered these before and so Pops asked them which fingers they use to push buttons and to stick their button-pushing fingers into each end. They recently messed up Pops' tv by pushing buttons that we can't figure out to undo, so it was sweet revenge when AJ realized what Pops had tricked him into and called out "hey! my finger is stuck in here!" He is starting his indoctrination into Pops' sense of humor and lifelong lesson to be able to laugh at yourself.

14 months going on 14 years

Well, it is safe to say Sissy loves her pink car from Santa. She climbs in and out, in and out (like someone else we know when he was Julia's age) and has a fit when one of her brothers tries to take a ride. Tonight Julia had swiped my cell phone and was sitting inside the car pretending to talk on the phone. Joe commented that she must be 16 with her car and cell phone. I told him kids can get their learner's permits in Iowa when they are 14, and I think we both had a minute where we felt that day will come too soon.

By the way, since this picture had the perfect angle, I can't help put point out the crazy molar tooth that popped its way in before the rest of her teeth. Her smile is so uniquely Julia that is makes me laugh when I see it.

Christmas Eve

We had a lovely Christmas Eve at Grandma Julie's house with Grandma's potato soup and homemade pizza for the kids. Grandma hit two home runs with Zoob building blocks for AJ and a Darda race track for Davey. And then we went back to our house to put the kids to bed and we had pisco sours courtesy of Grandma Julie and crab legs brought from the resturant when Uncle Andy got off from work. Thanks to Uncle Brett for the pisco sour recipe, which I understand he learned from watching a guy in Chile who has made them for years. Not sure what the secret is, but these are delicious. Just what we needed to power through some toy assembly!

Julia's hair bow is a Christmas gift from our wonderful former Nanny, L, who brought it from Puerto Rico, and her Christmas dress and sweater were gifts from her Grandma Francie and Papa. She is one lucky and stylish girl!

For Santa

AJ and Davey were very diligent about making cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve and only ate about 2 of the chocolates each in the process, which for them is extreme discipline. They carefully pealed the wrappers off each one and guarded their plates of chocolates while the cookies baked. When it came time to leave cookies for Santa, I suggested that AJ write a note so that Santa would know the cookies were for him. I was shocked when he was able to write this little sign, writing each letter carefully as I spelled the words for him. Too bad for him that I discovered this writing talent just in time for thank you card season. Look for one in the mail near you. More to come on Christmas posts this week. Merry Christmas wishes to all of our family in Chicago, Colorado, Florida and St. Louis. We miss you!

Lump of Coal

AJ is obsessed with the idea of kids getting lumps of coal for Christmas. He's making his own list and checking it twice, and he is certain that three kids in his class at school are getting lumps of coal. According to AJ, these kids get in trouble all the time and definitely must be on Santa's naughty list. I am wondering if his faith in Santa will be shaken if the three show up for school after the holidays with new toys.

AJ has also started to use the threat of a lump of coal to try to get his way around the house. He hates having his hair washed, and the other night when I was scrubbing away, he yelled "Stop washing my hair or you'll get a lump of coal for Christmas!" Still chuckling...

11 grams of sugar

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true loves gave to me
11 grams of sugar and a kitchen full of flour, woe is me.

The 11 grams of sugar refers to all of the sugar that must have been in the cup of hot chocolate and cookies served on the Santa Train at the Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad. Pops and Susan treated us to tickets to ride the Santa Train, and the kids all had a great time. Davey was especially excited about the hot chocolate (he called it his "coffee") and both boys were so amped up on sugar and Christmas joy that by the time Santa came through the car to give each kid a jingle bell, they were bouncing off the seats (and windows). As my dad said, it was the railroad's idea to give the kids a sugar rush, so we didn't feel too bad about the overexcitement that resulted.

It was a beautifully sunny day and we enjoyed the ride immensely. On the return trip, they invited the kids up to the front of the car to sing Christmas carols, and AJ used this as his opportunity to attempt to sneak an additional bag of cookies, which mom vetoed. There was also a book reading, although the railroad was not able to read the traditional Night Before Christmas this year because the publisher started asking for royalty payments. So a book about Christmas on the Iowa prairie written by a local author was read instead by a teenage girl who said "what the heck??" directly into the microphone when she stumbled over the word "Ioway". (Iowa is named for the Ioway Indians who were here in the mid-1850's.) The teenage reader was one of the many volunteers who keep the railroad going for visitors. Most seem to be retirement-aged men who love trains and enjoy dressing up in the railroad gear and basically playing with some very large trains. I think Davey may be happy to join them one day about 60 years from now.

Twelve Days of Christmas

We are getting in the holiday spirit here. I am going to try something new this year to share fun holiday pictures of the kids by using the 12 days of Christmas theme. Here goes...

On the 12th day of Christmas, my true loves gave to me
12 Christmas cookies and a kitchen full of flour--woe is me.

Last weekend was cookie baking. I think we ended up with more flour on the kids and all over the kitchen than in the cookies, but the boys had fun.

Holiday Card Rejects

Joe and I staged a photo shoot just before Thanksgiving in an attempt to get a good picture of all three kids together for the holiday card. Better luck next year. Sigh. I wanted their hair to be combed and orderly, but Joe applied a little too much daddy grease (water) and in retrospect I think people will wonder why the boys just got out of the pool. And there are water spots from all the combing that dripped onto Davey's shirt, but I thought people might think they are food spots (a common occurance at our house, to be sure). And I forgot to take Julia's bib off that I had put on her to keep her shirt dry for the pictures. So we had to use something else on the holiday card (don't want to spoil that surprise, as they should go in the mail this weekend), but I wanted to share the rejects with you for laughs. Hope you are all enjoying the holidays!

11 13 14 23

Skinny Legs

Look at my tall boy with the long, skinny legs! He definitely gets these from his dad and not from me. He is no longer a little boy but has somehow edged his way into in-between not little but not quite yet big, as in elementary school kid big. My mom has noticed a change in him this fall, too. He is able to delay gratification. I have been impressed several times recently when he asks to watch one of his favorite movies and he says "oh, okay" when I tell him not until tomorrow. I steel myself for a meltdown that doesn't come. (But don't worry, because Davey has taken it upon himself to have enough tantrums recently not only for himself but to use up the share of tantrums AJ seems to have outgrown as well). AJ is also deeply aware that he is an example for his brother and sister and about half the time now works hard to set a good example. There are times there in the twos and threes when it seems like kids are really a mess as they adjust to the world and their place in it, so it is a bit of a relief to see a glimmer of the future here at the end of the preschool tunnel.

Monster's Ball

Every year it is a challenge to find warm hats that are not too itchy for the kids and still cover their ears. So far we have had bear hats, alpine hats, monkey hats and now this year's entry, monster hats for all...

My Night

Joe is out of town on business so I have all three kids to feed, bathe and put to bed. It feels like a three kid circus. My mom bravely volunteered to help with dinner and bedtime. After way too many shenanigans (a term my mom uses to describe the boys' antics), I thought I finally had them settled down and on their way to dreamland and my mom left. Then I heard the telltale signs of stomach flu coming from sissy's room. I got there just in time for her to get sick all over me and the carpet on the way to the bathroom. I think to myself it is probably a good thing that I didn't get around to asking our landlord for new carpet. AJ and Davey use this event as a good excuse to sneak out of their rooms and are circling excitedly outside the bathroom giving the play-by-play "Sissy's sick and puked all over mommy! It's green beans from dinner! Yucky sissy! Now she's puking again!!" Just as I am about to really lose my patience, Davey reaches up to pat sissy's back and says "oh, honey" over and over to soothe her and AJ gets in on the act as well giving her a kiss on her head. And then they are off running in circles in Davey's room again. While I change Julia's pajamas and clean the carpet, Davey throws a toy at AJ and AJ kicks Davey in the head in retailiation. When I finally get the boys settled back in bed, AJ asks me "after you put sissy down, what are we going to do next?" I laughed and said "Buddy, you guys wear me out. Mama is going to bed!" Want to come over to our house for dinner and the bedtime routine some night? I guarantee there's never a dull minute.

Christmas Dress

We are on a magnificent 5 day trip back to Chicago to enjoy one last stay in our old house before the renters take possession. AJ broke my heart when on our second day here he told me we needed to return our house in Iowa to Mr. Chris (the landlord) because our Chicago house is our real house and the only one he wants to live in. The kids have been soaking up time with Grandma and Papa, as well as enjoying the holidays. Here are some pictures from Papa's camera of Julia in her Christmas dress.

Halloween Catch Up

I just realized that I never got around to posting Halloween pictures this year. Can't let a year go by without documenting the costumes! This Halloween was a bit of a bust for us this year with all three kids getting sick over Halloween weekend, which put a bit of a cramp in the festivities. This was our first trick-or-treating year in Iowa, and I was very excited to see the return of the Halloween jokes. I didn't realize that this is an Iowa-specific tradition until I moved to Chicago where no one had ever heard of it. There was an article in the Des Moines Register this year explaining that the tradition of telling jokes on Halloween developed in Des Moines in the 1940s. Kids had gotten out of control with Halloween pranks and were doing things like causing streetcars to run off their tracks and egging houses. A woman who was a leader of the park district or something similar in Des Moines announced that they would move trick-or-treating to the night before Halloween and call it Beggar's Night. They also implemented a rule that kids had to tell a joke, do a skit, sing a song or do something else to earn their treats. Over the years the skits and songs have faded away, but the jokes remain.

Here was AJ's joke this year: "Why didn't the skeleton cross the road?" Answer: "Because he didn't have any guts!" Davey was too little to tell a joke, so we coached him to ask people if they wanted to hear a lion roar and then give his best imitation. He makes a pretty convincing lion. Davey was also at the age where he had opinions about his costume, and not all of them are logical. He insisted on being spiderman and wearing AJ's Buzz Lightyear wings from last year's costume, so we called him the flying spiderman. He got quite a few comments on his schizophrenic costume.

The photos are of Grandma Julie and Julia answering the door on Beggar's Night, AJ and Davey trick-or-treating and Davey at school on wear-your-costume day.

Visit From Uncle

Uncle Dave braved a 6 hour trip from his new home in St. Louis to come to Des Moines for a visit. The boys were surprised to see him when he came with Joe to pick them up from day care and gave him big hugs. They were delighted to be treated to a day off from school to go to the science museum with Uncle Dave, who is a former Mr. Science of his high school class (true story--his high school does bestow that title!) They made rockets and saw snakes and did lots of fun guy things. Sissy warmed up to Uncle Dave as well and enjoyed some books with him. Uncle Dave started his ER residency in June and has had lots of exposure to kids in that capacity from delivering babies to treating kids in the ER. This experience serves him well at our house, because even the boys' crazy antics don't scare him off.

The Mowing Man, Part II

Joe gave the lawn one final mow this past weekend, and he had a ready and able helper in Davey. It reminded me very much of the lawn mowing done by AJ at about the same age (but on a much warmer weekend).

Funny

Today I picked AJ up at his daycare mid-day to take him for a special lunch. He didn't know I was coming and beamed with pleasure as he puffed out his chest and told his teacher I was coming to take him for a special lunch. When I brought him back for the afternoon, I mentioned to him that the afternoon would pass quickly and I would be back to pick him up before he knew it.

When I returned at 5:15, it was dark out already due to daylight saving's time. AJ greeted me with "Mama, you said that you would be back before I know it, but I already knew it and you weren't here!" I am still laughing as I type this...

Mama Got a New Pair of Shoes

Guess who got a pair of pink shoes? I think Julia is almost ready to walk! Wouldn't you want to walk, too, if it gave you a chance to wear these beauties?

Hello, Dolly

Sissy's first birthday was a fizzle with Julia coming down with the stomach flu immediately after dinner on Friday night and right before singing and cake with her brothers. Poor girl! Here's hoping the birthdays only get better from this one forward. As a nice consolation prize, Joe showed up out of nowhere with an adorable little dolly for her. I have written before here about how Joe is not exactly active in the procurement department. I am the one who buys the clothes, toys, books and other gear that kids need. But occasionally he will come out of nowhere and show up with a gift or a token for the kids, and it always interests me to see what he finds. Once it was tourist t-shirts from a business trip to Canada that had a moose on the front whose mouth opened to display his teeth. Another time it was a chocolate with a paper spider on top from a trip to Switzerland. But this time he really hit it big. I had asked Joe to run by a baby shop to pick up another lovey blanket for Davey (it gets really dirty at daycare, so one always needs to be in the wash). Joe showed up on Julia's birthday with a bag that had the blanket and a little pink doll peeking out of it. I asked him if his mom picked out the doll, and he said a little defensively that he did. I thought this was the sweetest that he had chosen a pink doll for his daughter's first birthday. Completely unexpected and a lovely surprise to brighten up an otherwise fizzle of a day. As you can see from the pictures, she loves Dolly.

Storytime

This is a milestone--sissy is now big enough to hold her own on the bed for storytime. Now if we can just find a book that will hold the attention of a 4, 2.5 and 1 year old...

Carving

We had a brief pumpkin carving session last weekend and managed to get through one before deciding to leave the others au natural. Here is the result of Joe's work--he takes after Papa in the pumpkin carving department, I think.

Ride Em Cowboy

More pictures from the park this week. AJ reminds me of myself at this age in that he is sensitive and more cautious than his younger sibling as I was with my younger sister. I remember being frustrated that she was braver than I was when it came to jumping out of the tree house and climbing over fences on the farm. AJ has a fear of heights and has to slowly get used to tall slides, so I felt for him this week when Davey climbed to the top of a twisty slide and barreled his way down without hesitation while AJ climbed to the top of the stairs four times and backed down the ladder each try. The last time he wailed to me "why can't I do things that Davey can do? I am the bigger brother." I remember so clearly what that felt like and sympathized. The good news is that keeping up with Davey on some things will motivate AJ to push himself out of his comfort zone and try things that are not easy for him.

Park

We have been busy exploring all of the new parks in Des Moines. The boys remember them and have their own names for them that sometimes take me a while to figure out. Davey will ask me to go back to the green park, and I have to figure out which one had green painted equipment. It's funny what I don't notice as an adult that makes their radar as kids. The seesaw is the perfect image for AJ and Davey's relationship right now--up and down, up and down. Playing together sweetly in the bathtub and then punching each other hard ten minutes later. They are always in each other's orbit, wanting to know what the other one is doing and where they are at any given time, but they also drive each other a little bit nuts. Not unlike some married couples, I guess.

Giddyup

More photos from the pumpkin patch outing. When David got on the horse tire swing he immediately said "Giddyup, horsey! I go! I ride horsey!"

Pumpkin Patch

I took the kids to a local pumpkin patch one weekday evening to avoid the weekend madhouse. They were fascinated by the farm animals there--the turkeys, the goats and the chickens in particular. AJ did a pretty good imitation of a chicken strutting, and Davey got into the act as well.

When it came time to pick pumpkins, AJ chose a small one that he wanted to make into pumpkin pie and Davey choose two big ones, one for him and one for Julia (at my request). Julia's is very lopsided, but I didn't want to reject his choice for his sister, so the lopsided pumpkin made its way home to our front porch. It is a funny little bunch of pumpkins--one little, one big and one lopsided. We will see what our carver can get out of this. We could use a little help from our master carver from last year, Papa.

Grumpy + Here's Davey!

The other day, AJ had this observation on the way home from daycare:

AJ: Mama, today my teacher had to repeat herself five times and that made her a little grumpy. People get grumpy when kids don't listen!
Me: Tell me about it!

And not to be outdone, Davey's teacher reported to me that one day on the playground he announced to everyone "Ding Dong! Where's Davey?" and then flung his arms wide and dramatically said "Here I is! I'm at school!" Later that same day when changing classrooms, he entered his new room and announced to the new group of kids "Here's Davey!" as he graced them all with his presence. Perhaps a future in television? Reminds me of the "Heeeeere's Johnny!" line from the Tonight Show years ago.

Two Brains

Here is a little snippet of conversation from Friday morning that made me laugh. I hope it gives you a good chuckle as well. AJ and I were standing in the downstairs bathroom combing his hair and brushing his teeth before leaving for daycare and work.

Me: Your hair is really sticking up today. It has a mind of its own.
AJ: Then I must have two brains. One for thinking and the other for poking my hair up where it is not supposed to be!

Pillow Pets

Our nanny gave each of the kids a pillow pet as her good-bye gift to them, and they are officially obsessed with these things. I don't know if it is because they associate them with Linda or because they just love them, but they are dragged around the house from room to room and are a required item in the bed at naptime and at night. When Linda gave the gifts to the boys, she told them that if they were ever at daycare and missed her, they could just hug their pillow pet and it would be like getting a hug from Linda. Perhaps I am just a little sentimental with the move, but this brought tears to my eyes. AJ has been requesting a pillow pet for more than a year now and even once said to me out of the blue in the car, "Mama, I want a pillow pet. They are great for travel and machine washable, too!" Who ever said advertising didn't work? When Linda gave it to him, AJ said "I have been waiting for this for 50 million years!"

Summer Slipping Away

It seems like the last month of summer just slipped away as I was trying to wrap up one job and get ready for the move and a new job. We had an absolutely gorgeous August this year, with weather that felt like the May we never had this spring. And oddly, July did a good stand-in for August, so we were ready for a break from the heat. Flowers that I thought were goners in July returned and bloomed again in the perfect 70's that we had during August. And it was great to enjoy some of it with the kids when it was nice enough to go to the park without feeling like we would die of heatstroke. Here's to the end of summer with some pictures of Julia enjoying my sunglasses.