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!