Kenyons

2012-02-05T15:48:00.001-06:00

Mysteries of Faith (or why you should not attempt to explain Transubstantiation to a four-year-old)

We ended up in the front pew today as someone else was sitting in our usual spot when we arrived just before Mass started. The boys were extremely well behaved (a welcome change from last week!) and Daniel was paying more attention than ever before--kneeling when I was, standing when I was, etc. In the front pew, you get to watch the entire congregation file past for Communion, which gave Daniel some time to think.

D: Mom, is that a cookie?
M: No
D: What is it?
M: Bread
D: What kind of bread?
M: Well, remember when Fr. John was holding it up high and saying a prayer?
D: Yeah
M: Well, when he says that prayer, the bread turns into Jesus.
D: The bread is Jesus?
M: Yes
D: (ponders for two or three beats) Well, what part did you get? Head? Middle? Feet?

Um....yeah...so, not exactly an easy explanation there. We ended up with "the bread is a symbol that reminds us that we have Jesus in our hearts." Which led to, "Jesus in our heart is what helps us make good choices." Which led to, "You mean when I make a bad choice Jesus leaves my heart?" And then, "Jesus is always in your heart. He helps you know when your choice is good or bad."

2012-01-27T16:50:00.000-06:00

This week Edward celebrated his 100th day of kindergarten. I had heard of this milestone from the experiences of Edward's older cousins, but I didn't fully appreciate the gravity of the occasion until Edward's experience. He was WAY into it. Each kid was asked to bring 100 of something from home--suggestions included 100 Cheerios on a necklace or 100 paperclips in a jar. Edward decided on 100 Legos (Lord knows, we have enough!) so we set about sorting 100 identical sized pieces in all different colors. I thought this would be the easiest visual representation of 100 and also the highest likelihood of all the pieces returning home.

Edward told his teacher his plan, and she said he'd have more fun actually constructing something out of 100 pieces. So we carefully substituted pieces of various sizes to our original set-aside stash as he built this: a school and playground. Kind of hard to see the playground here, but there's a red slide, a horizontal bar (white/blue) and a bench (yellow/blue) behind the school. Inside the school, he finally had a use for one of the three square pieces that have simple arithmetic on them, which, in fact, are relics of one of the only Lego sets I owned as a child (separate from my brothers' stash): a school.

Each kid also brought 100 pieces of something edible to combine into a big snack mix. Apparently there were lots of mini-marshmallows and M&Ms, cereal and goldfish crackers. We sent candy corn, as I had a bag stashed away that I'd picked up for 50 cents after Halloween this year. At the time I had bribery on the brain, but this was just as useful.

While the 100th day was Thursday, Edward was equally excited for today, 101 day. This stuck me as odd at first, but the note home explained that many kids this age think the way to continue counting from 100 is to jump to 200, 300, 400, and so on. Thus the equal emphasis/importance of 101 day. It had a dog/dalmatian theme.

Next up, groundhog day next week! Not really a celebration day, but it happens to be Edward's turn to bring snack that day and he asked if he could bring something groundhog-related. I was not sure such a thing existed, so I turned to my trusty friend Google to search for "groundhog day snacks." I was horrified to discover that the results included recipes for ACTUAL GROUNDHOGS! O.M.G.

There were a few ideas for kids snacks, but they appeared to be primarily cupcakes with chocolate chip and/or raisin eyes, which I found less than inspiring. I had Edward convinced that we could make Chex mix "puppy chow" and call it "groundhog chow." But then in conversation with his teacher, she suggested honey and chocolate teddy grahams, which they will affix to regular graham crackers with frosting--the honey teddy is the groundhog, standing in the snow (frosting) as the groundhog and the chocolate teddy lays flat as the shadow. You know, there's a certain creative genius possessed only by kindergarten teachers.

2012-01-23T13:20:00.000-06:00

Rising temperatures and lingering snow created the first opportunity of this winter for a snowman. John and the boys did not let it go to waste. I love how Daniel is leaning his cheek on Frosty here.

Unfortunately, he'd probably benefit from a cool snowman for his cheek today. He came down with a stomach bug and is now sleeping off a pukey morning. He didn't eat much at breakfast (unusual for a boy who usually wolfs down one or two bowls of "mixed up" cereal) but was otherwise acting just fine. He didn't hesitate to get dressed and walk to school, but when we got there he said he had a sore tummy, but "not the throwing up kind." I thought he might actually be hungry from his abandoned breakfast and went on to work. I was no more than a mile away when the school called to say he'd thrown up. Unfortunately, I had to get another mile away before I could turn around and come back as I was on the bus headed in the opposite direction at the time.

John was able to get to school quicker than I could get the bus back home, get the car and go back to the school. So I met them back at home, sent John back off to work, and got Daniel settled on the couch because, "you get to watch extra TV when you're sick." (His words; wisdom gleaned from Edward's sick day last week. That was a low-grade fever that Daniel never shared; here's hoping Edward won't pick up this bug.)

The snowman didn't last the night. Steady rain brought him down and left behind a thin layer of ice all over. We're expecting mid- to upper-30s the rest of the week, so I wonder if we'll have any snow by the weekend? We've had some fun with sledding the last two weeks, both after school and on weekends. Best new developmental milestone of the year: both boys can carry their own sleds back up the hill. Last winter one of us usually had to ride along on each run or else trudge down to the bottom to help Daniel back up. This year we can just stand at the top, watch and cheer. Even better will be when we can just send them out the door with their sleds and stay warm and cozy at home. But that's a few years down the road!

2012-01-22T11:50:00.001-06:00

Seven years ago today, two professional writers faced the cruelest, yet most important assignment of their lives.

This is what they wrote.

At the time each minute seemed to last all day and a single day seemed an eternity. Now there is a strange dual sensation that this day was both yesterday and a lifetime ago.

Today we march forward as always, pushing aside the "would have/should have been" and focusing on "what is." We launch our annual March of Dimes fundraising effort in memory of Will and in honor of Edward and Daniel, two beacons who continue to light the darkness in our lives.

If you read this blog, you're already a part of this journey with us. We thank you for your love and support and invite you to continue with us in whatever way suits you best--joining us in person in Iowa City April 14, participating in your local March for Babies, donating to Team Kenyon, or offering your support and encouragement.

2012-01-16T13:31:00.001-06:00

On Daniel's birthday, we started at the doctor's office, but never fear, it was for well-child checkups, which confirmed that both children are quite well. Edward continues to be quite average for height/weight (near 50th percentile for age) and Daniel is tall for his age (90th percentile) and proportionate for weight. No wonder he feels like a tank when you pick him up. Also, no wonder people ask us all the time if they're twins. Only about four inches and six pounds separate them.

Thankfully, neither of the boys needed shots at this visit. When I made the appointment, the receptionist asked if I was sure I wanted to schedule it on Daniel's birthday. Our doctor only sees well-child patients on Tuesday mornings so as difficult as it is to get appointments, I decided to run the risk.

After that it was off to school and work and then quite a busy afternoon, as I attempted to get the cake baked and the soup prepped for dinner before picking up the boys from school. Then, as it was amazingly warm (55 degrees!) of course we had to stay and play for a while on the school playground. I told Daniel it could very well be the only time in his life he plays outside without a jacket on his birthday.

Then it was home to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa who came to celebrate the big day. They kept the boys busy playing while I made dinner. Daniel requested "bacon soup" for his birthday dinner--a favorite recipe, but one that can't easily be made ahead of time. (Note: it's actually baked potato soup, but at one point Edward declared that he wouldn't eat it because he didn't like potatoes. We rechristened it "bacon soup" and both boys have devoured it ever since.)

At one point while I was cooking, Daniel came into the kitchen to report, "Mom, Grandma's playing with my garbage truck, and I didn't want her to!" Oh, those dastardly grandmas and their garbage-truck-stealing ways!

Another gem that was loud enough for me to hear from the kitchen while the boys were playing pirate in the living room: "Arrgh. You can not chop off my head. It's my birthday!"

When John got home it was (finally!!) time for presents. Daniel had been asking all afternoon, but I assured him that Dad would not want to miss him opening presents. Once he opened this present from Gram and PopPop, there were no more vehicle disputes with Grandma--his-and-hers garbage trucks.

He did learn not to play too rough with it though. Shortly after it was removed from its box he managed to yank hard enough to pull off the back tailgate. As he held the truck in one hand and the piece in another, he said in his best crestfallen Charlie Brown voice: "Broken on my birthday." Never fear. The toy is actually designed to withstand this type of preschooler aggression and was fixed immediately.

I did take out the fancy champagne flutes again for birthday dinner and my prediction almost came true. Daniel took his first drink and set the glass down, but ended up with the base of the glass on the rim of his plate, sending it toppling to the table. I made it worse by trying to catch it, which ended up splattering milk all over the kitchen. But at least the glass stayed on the table, so it was only milk to clean up and not shards of glass and a devastated birthday boy.

After being in charge of the lights while Daniel's birthday candles were lit, Edward said he was too full for cake and ice cream and bolted for the living room. What he really wanted was time to play with Daniel's new toys (including aforementioned garbage truck as well as a car transporter from Grandma and Grandpa) solo. We were impressed enough with his maturity and relieved he wasn't freaking out about Daniel being front and center that we did not hesitate to send him off. Daniel himself ended up eating his ice cream first along with a treat bag of M&Ms from Grandma and only had about one bite of his own birthday cake. He was serious about those M&Ms though. When one dropped on the floor John made a move like he was going to try to grab it. Daniel leaped down from his chair and literally body checked John to beat him to the rogue M&M.

The night after his birthday, I was "telling his day" (our calming ritual before bed) and included the detail that we ate left-over birthday cake for dessert. "I really liked my cake, Mom," he said, which was very sweet. (It was chocolate with pink frosting--cherry-flavored.) But then he was worried that Gram and PopPop didn't get to have any and suggested that we "put it in a box with lots of wrapping so it won't get broken and send it to them." He accepted my alternate plan of stashing half a cake in the freezer until their next visit. Will be interesting to see if he remembers.

These are not birthday stories, but still vintage Daniel:

Distracted at dinner, he was clinking a glass and plate together and delighting in sound of "metal." Told that these two items are not, in fact, metal:
D: "Well, what are they then?"
M: "Um, the glass is GLASS, and the plate is, I guess, maybe ceramic?"
D: "What's ceramic?"
M: "It's, well, it's kind of like clay."
D: waits a beat "Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of CERAMIC!" HA HA HA HA

One Tuesday afternoon, as I was helping him gather his things to take home, he stopped to tell me about one of his art projects, which involved dissolving sugar in water and then making crystals on a tinfoil-covered paper plate. He asked if we could do it at home and gave a very specific, step-by-step account of how they made them. While he was talking, his teacher, who was cleaning the classroom as the other kids and teacher were on the playground, stopped what she was doing to listen. When he was done and I'd exclaimed over the beauty of his creation, she said, "You know, Mary, we did that project on Friday." She was amazed at how much detail he remembered four days later.

Final quotable moment requires some back story. When we were visiting my parents after Christmas, we stopped in at my mom's library one afternoon while she was working. A friend of hers who is a fan of this blog and thus eager for the opportunity for in-person interaction with its heroes, came up to the Children's Department to visit. She's a tech specialist, so when Daniel selected a DVD to take home and "watch with PopPop" she invited him to her office to ensure it was clean and smooth for best viewing.

Out of the blue one afternoon while walking home from school last week, Daniel asked, "Mom, what was the name of Gram's friend at the library?"
"Becky?"
"Yeah! Becky. Remember when I got to go to the basement with her to clean the DVD of Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer? That was fun!"

Speaking of fun, we finally have snow and the boys enjoyed an afternoon of sledding after school on Friday. Woo hoo! They also learned the finer points of walking to school in a snowstorm, including when the wind is blowing directly in your face, look down at the sidewalk since the top of your head is better able to withstand the chill. Only their eyes were exposed, as both boys got these facemask hats for Christmas, which they promptly dubbed "ninja hats." (I actually think they kind of look like hijabs, but regardless, they're warm!) Edward also had trouble with foggy glasses. Life lessons.

2012-01-09T22:59:00.003-06:00

Let's go all the way back to Christmas Eve now. Here we have a whole Saturday stretching before us and a few last minute errands to run sans kids. Given the option of running the errands (three different stops) or taking the kids to the Children's Museum, John opted for the museum. This might be a good time to mention that the Iowa Children's Museum is AT THE MALL! I worried that it would be a horrific experience for all, but apparently they got an easy parking spot and walked right in, unperturbed by the last-minute shoppers.

Later in the afternoon, we all headed to Grandma and Grandpa's to kick off the Christmas festivities with dinner and presents. A huge success on both fronts.

Here are the boys with their shared gift for this year, a large red barn. (Gift for Mom and Dad: Grandpa put it together--woo hoo!) Then each of them unwrapped a tractor, pick-up with animal trailer, some animals and fence pieces to make a full farmyard scene. Definitely a hit.

Daniel is still in the stage where any gift is a thrill to open--even if it's new socks (which it was.) He also loves to help others and was ready and willing when it came time for the adults to dig in to their piles.

On the way home we decided to drive past a legendary Coralville home, which has outdoor lights to end all outdoor light displays. Real trains on two different tracks, animatronic Santa's workshop, more than 100 Santas, including three on the roof, including two that were mechanical popping in and out of chimneys. It was a sight to behold. We actually couldn't see from the car because so many people had gotten out to stand on the sidewalk for a better look. We had to wait for traffic to clear and then drive around the corner to park and walk back. The boys had changed to pajamas at Grandma and Grandpa's to facilitate quicker to bed when we got home so they were not wearing shoes. We briefly considered digging them out of the bag and attempting to put them on over the footie pajamas, but opted instead to carry them. BIG mistake. These boys are HEAVY. Back-breaking. On the other hand, they LOVED the display, so that erased some of the agony. Next year we're wearing shoes and going on a week-night well before Christmas though. WOW!

Here's what it looked like after Santa had visited:

This video of Christmas morning 2011 is probably the kind only a grandparent could love, and even they might be hard pressed to stick with it for three-and-a-half minutes. I tried to edit, but just couldn't bring myself to do anything but trim a few seconds here and there. Forgive me, blogosphere!

The last segment of the video is Edward opening his "secret present," which was a snow globe. It has a light that fades from one color to another but is dim enough to make a good night light. About a week after Christmas I went into his room before heading to bed myself to turn off the light (batteries, people!) and it wasn't on its shelf. Upon closer inspection, Edward's bed was glowing. He was curled up with it in his arms like a stuffed animal. Yeah, I'd say it fit the bill.

Other Santa treasures were a firefighter tool belt for Edward and a pirate get-up for Daniel.

Once the flurry was over and the wrappings collected, we had some playtime before getting dressed for 9:30 Mass. (Boys were up at 7 a.m., a reasonable hour by our standards.)

As soon as we got home, it was time to put the Lego together. John helped Edward with the Star Wars Landspeeder and I helped Daniel with the Lego Duplo Mac semi. I definitely got the better end of that bargain, but the boys persevered until the Landspeeder was ready to cruise.

Now I'm seeing that my erratic blogging is actually working out well because the next post, while written first, actually picks up where this one leaves off. Christmas is over and its time for the big birthday!

2012-01-09T22:13:00.000-06:00

The chronology of this blog is gonna be all wacky for a bit here as I try to catch up. First order of business--Edward's sixth birthday (under the gun to get it up before Daniel's 4th tomorrow!)

Here's the birthday boy playing taking a break from playing with the new Christmas toys to mug for the camera. Per tradition, Santa came while we were sleeping and we opened those presents before heading to Christmas morning Mass at 9:30 a.m. Afterward, Lego construction was the order of the day, with John helping Ed and me helping Daniel.

Since it was (relatively) warm and sunny and we didn't feel we should force a rest/quiet time on the birthday boy, we headed out for a bike ride after lunch. The boys were sporting their new face-mask hats (Christmas Eve gifts from Mom and Dad) which fit pretty well under bike helmets. Edward also decided he needed his new firefighter goggles to complete the ensemble.

In addition to riding the bike path, we were also able to test out two Christmas presents--walkie talkies from Santa (impressive range over a very large park) and rocket balloons from our Arizona cousins. After losing a surprisingly high flier to our neighbor's roof, we thought the open park offered a better launching spot. The wind caught one though and carried it to the top of an extremely tall tree. It was impressive while it lasted, but I guess they're meant to be indoor toys (no worries--there were 30 in the package, so the loss of two was not devastating.)

Edward had requested "vanilla cake with blue frosting and Buzz Lightyear" so this is what my meager skills (and an Amazon search for "Buzz Lightyear cake topper") allowed.

Presents! Again, with the theme, here he's opening a Buzz Lightyear sleeping bag with the Buzz Lightyear Lego from Grandma and Grandpa in the background.

After a birthday meal of bbq pulled pork with peas on the side, it was time for the big moment.

He went to bed VERY happy, but we were totally exhausted. I always thought a Christmas birthday would be hard on the kid, but at least so far he hasn't seemed to mind a bit. I think it's really the adults that draw the short straw.

2012-01-01T20:15:00.000-06:00

This was our New Year's toast (which we had to specify did not involve bread)--7-up at 7 p.m. I will note for posterity that after a few unsuccessful attempts to get both boys smiling in the same photo, John finally coaxed these simultaneous grins by suggesting they say "Bappy Boo Beer" instead of "Happy New Year." Oh, the hilarity!

The fancy flutes garnered oohs and ahhhs from the boys and a quizzical look from John, who could not believe we owned such a thing. Never mind that they were a wedding gift from 11 years ago. This may only have been the second or third time they've ever been used. It definitely will not be the last, however. The boys were already plotting how they could get to use them again. Edward asked if he could drink from one for his birthday, which I affirmed, but then reminded him that his next birthday is a year away. Daniel jumped right in though and suggested that he could have one for his birthday which is right around the corner. Not to be bested by his little brother Edward piped up, "Well, there are two, so maybe I could also have one for Daniel's birthday!"

Anyone want to place bets on whether these glasses will last another 11 years? We may be lucky to get another 11 days out of them, though they are packed up again for now.

Our day also included a "Noon Year's Eve" celebration at the Children's Museum, including a balloon drop at noon. It was chaotic enough that Daniel was momentarily separated from us. He hooked up with a museum staffer though, and after a few frantic minutes once the crowd cleared and I realized he wasn't in it, I found him at the front desk. He did not seem worried, which was good. I was almost certain that no one would let him actually leave the museum, so I was not as crazed as the last time one of my children was lost in a crowd. Still, glad to have the episode behind us and make our escape back home.

After some quiet time in the early afternoon, we headed out to enjoy the beautiful 50-degree weather. It actually was not as warm as we expected, since there was quite a strong wind (which only got stronger overnight and through New Year's Day.) But the boys ran off some of their energy at the school park and we came home to have a pizza dinner with Grandma and Grandpa.

They stayed through bath and pajama time in order to join in the 7 p.m. toast. I may be in the daughter-in-law doghouse for posting a picture of grandma, but I thought this was cute. (It's also the only photo in this post that isn't blurry--darn those constant-motion kids!)

Christmas and birthday updates to come.

2011-12-24T22:33:00.005-06:00

We love getting Christmas cards from friends and family, and we're especially grateful to remain on those lists despite not sending a card ourselves in at least four years. I am even beyond thinking, "Well, there's always next year." I think I've moved safely into "My blog is my card." So here's a greeting from our house to yours:

Merry Christmas from the Kenyons!

We hope to see as many of you as possible in 2012.

2011-12-20T14:42:00.001-06:00

Christmas is coming. School's out in 30 minutes. The boys are already beyond whacked-out with anticipation. I do not know how they will survive the next five days. Is there any way to avoid a let-down when an event is this hyped in their minds? Especially when Edward seems to be changing his Santa list by the hour and the one thing he finally said out loud to the big man is not, in fact, awaiting? (At least not the specific Lego set he happened to mention; fingers crossed for an acceptable substitute.)

On the other hand, I'm hoping for a magic moment when he discovers the item he told his teacher he wanted from Santa but was not planning to tell Santa himself or anyone else but the beloved Mrs. Smith. She sent me an email, which sent me scrambling to make the magic happen; said item has been procured. (Funny that she said, "Sometimes I'm like a bartender--privy to all sorts of things no one else knows!") There is also the possibility that Santa and the Tooth Fairy may visit on the same night as Ed has a couple more loose teeth. When questioned, Santa denied knowing Ms. Fairy, but Ed said, "I hope they talk to each other loud enough to wake me up so I can see them!"

Note the even distribution of ornaments all over the tree this year. I am surprised at how much I miss the "only at kids eye level" decorating style, but Edward took the initiative to get a chair to hang ornaments at different heights. Daniel attempted to follow suit, but was returned to low ground when his efforts almost resulted in him doing a face plant into the tree. Just for my own record keeping, I'm noting that we purchased and decorated the tree the weekend of Dec. 10/11. Even this far in advance, only a small selection of trees remained at our favorite tree lot (fundraiser for the local Optimists.) We've been burned before by waiting too long, so I'm glad we went against my "week before Christmas is plenty of time to have the tree in the house" instincts.

And in case you were wondering about my level of school-break neurosis, No, I do not have an activity grid for the two week break. The boys and I will spend part of that time with doting aunts, uncles and grandparents, so that takes some entertainment pressure off the parents. Otherwise, we have baking, library visits, movie(s), and friends to invite and are hoping we'll emerge unscathed in 2012.

2011-12-08T21:46:00.001-06:00

Will's tree is decorated for the season. We invite any friends and family who stop by our house during the holiday season to take an ornament from the tree and remember Will as you hang it on your own tree. All the ornaments are the same, except that Edward found a stash of left-overs from previous years and couldn't resist adding a few for variety. It's an evolving tradition.

The other innovation in this year's tree decorating was Edward's careful apportioning of the ornaments to be sure each boy had exactly the same number to hang on the tree. The main pile is in the middle and here you see "One for Daniel, one for me..." (You also see a pile of random clutter, but please try to ignore that.)

(Special shout out to our AZ crew for today's wardrobe selections :-) )

2011-12-08T20:25:00.001-06:00

Sunday afternoon, a friend and I took our kids ice skating in an effort to fill an afternoon with some fun physical activity. We'd been once before and the boys enjoyed it. They weren't terribly mobile, but they didn't seem to mind the slow stagger and frequent tumbles. This time we were better prepared with snow pants to cushion the falls and fend off the freeze. Daniel was quite the go-getter, scooting out in front of all of us requiring neither an adult hand, nor the wall for support. When he fell, he just got right back up and kept going.

Until he didn't.

I looked up from helping one of the other kids when I heard him scream and saw him splayed out belly down on the ice. I attached the other kid to the wall and skated up to assess the damage. He was screaming so much I didn't know what exactly had happened. I thought at first someone might have skated over his hand. But he finally screamed, "I twisted my ankle!"

Of course we were at the far opposite corner of the rink from the exit, but thankfully the hockey team pens (or whatever they're called) were just a few feet away. I managed to scoot him over and get us both to the bench and get his skate off. I noticed the laces had come loose from one of the upper hooks. I held him for a little while thinking he'd calm down after the initial shock. Nothing doing. He was simply screaming. I didn't think I could carry him across the ice on my own skates, and was a bit at a loss for what to do. Luckily my friend noticed that there was a non-ice exit from the other hockey pen, so we scooted over there and got out. I tried taking off the other skate to see if he could walk and he just crumpled to the floor.

With help from Edward and my friend (who also had her own kids to help de-skate) I managed to get him out to the car, where I called John and asked him to meet us at the urgent care clinic near our house. There the P.A. was able to manipulate the foot up and down and, noticing no bruising and only limited swelling, was confident that we did not need to head to the ER for an x-ray. We took him home to rest, ice and elevate.

Monday morning he still would not put an ounce of weight on the foot so he obviously couldn't go to school. I decided it was worth a trip to the pediatrician for further examination and possible x-ray. But again, he did not indicate excessive pain from pressing at any point on his leg or foot and allowed his foot to be moved in all directions. So we went home to continue rest, ice, elevation ( P.S. How on Earth does one entertain an immobile child whose life's work is centered around dashing from one place to the next? Lots of books and games and much more TV and computer time than is standard around these parts.)

On Tuesday, the frustration level ramped up as he still would not bear weight. If he had been slowly improving, I would have been more patient with waiting, but I was almost ready for the tough love approach. Still, I had that nagging doubt: "what if it's really broken." I would feel horrible if I forced him into that kind of pain. So I took him back to the doctor to request an x-ray, just to be sure. Thankfully, the x-ray showed no break. John met us at the doctor and took Daniel home while I went to a meeting that was impossible to reschedule. My meeting ended just as his began in a building across the street so we met in the hallway to exchange the kid & stroller. (Note: I loved pushing my babies around in the stroller, but I am SO glad not to hassle with it on a daily basis any more!) John had a chance to tell me that he and Daniel had been practicing walking at home, heavily supported. This did not happen under my watch, but the next morning, it was tough love, baby: back to school whether you like it or not.

My back was screaming from lugging his 43 lbs. around for three days so I tried to force him to walk from the car to the school door. Inside, an elevator awaited, but this was not enticing enough. I ended up carry/dragging him up the walk and through the door, much to the horror of the head of the school, who stands outside each morning to greet the arriving children. She's not aware that Daniel's favorite attention tactic is to scream "Owie! Owie!" regardless of whether any part of him is actually afflicted. I explained that he had hurt it on Sunday (this was Wednesday) and that he'd been to the doctor three times and had it x-rayed. He would be fine. She did not seem convinced.

His teachers, on the other hand, were fabulous. The whole Montessori program is about fostering independence, so they were fine with letting him get around by whatever locomotion he chose, which turned out to be crawling for most of the day. (This apparently was a bit disturbing to several of his female friends, whose parents stopped me in the hall the next morning to get the full story after hearing dramatic tales from their daughters.)

He made it through the day and then seemed to be more willing at home to try putting weight on it. I should say that through all of this, HE was totally convinced that he could not walk. This was not a "milking it for attention" situation where he'd walk if there was something he really wanted and then turn around and pretend he couldn't. I'm sure it was a combination of actual discomfort and memory of the pain of the original injury that made him afraid to risk a step. He would push against our palm, and bend his foot in the up and down motion of walking. But actual walking was simply out of the question.

When he started taking steps again on Wednesday night, we made a BIG deal about it, cheering and jumping and high-fiving. I also reminded him that once he was all better and walking on his own we could celebrate by going out for ice cream. This morning he crawled out of bed, but then once downstairs was willing to take some tentative steps. He did much better at school until he slipped in a puddle and hurt it again (though not as badly.) I think he'll be back to normal by the weekend. Such drama!

2011-11-27T14:45:00.001-06:00

Another Thanksgiving weekend is (almost) in the books, and I can honestly say we've had a great weekend. This has not always been the case. But this year, I was determined not to let the long weekend get the better of us. I actually made a 5x3 chart with Wed-Sun. down the left column followed by columns for morning and afternoon each day. In this way I sketched out some ideas of activities to fill the days. And, yes, I felt a little silly making a chart about my holiday weekend, but it really helped to have planned ahead, knowing which friends were in town for the boys to play with, and which activities such as movies or roller skating were limited to certain times.

Here's how Ed came home from school on Tuesday (should have taken the picture sooner--the beard didn't start out quite so bedraggled. Nothing says Thanksgiving quite like a kid in a paper pilgrim hat.

On Wednesday we made pies for Thursday. Ever since we read Amelia Bedelia for the first time, the boys have been asking for lemon meringue pie. And of course they had to have pumpkin too. Both pies were consumed with gusto after Grandma's delicious Thanksgiving feast on Thursday. (P.S. we skipped the meringue and went with Cool Whip instead, which led to Daniel's hilarious quip when I was persuading Holly to keep some of the leftover pie as we were leaving. "We don't need all this pie," I said. Daniel didn't miss a beat: "But we DO need all the Cool Whip!")

On Friday we took a trip to Davenport to visit the Putnam Museum, where our membership gives us free entry and also included four IMAX movie tickets. After spending the afternoon exploring the permanent exhibits, we took in a late afternoon showing of Puss in Boots in 3D.

This part of the museum was focused on the river. We were a little worried that there wouldn't be enough to occupy them until the movie started. Little did we know they'd spend an hour climbing in and out of this boat and attempting to walk around wearing the flippers, pretending to be sea divers.

We didn't know if Daniel would look up from his slushee long enough to see the movie, but in the end it did hold his attention. The kids didn't really like wearing the glasses, but still enjoyed the show. We also managed to get our outdoor lights hung and take a family bike ride on Thursday morning, since it was a 60-degree Thanksgiving day in Iowa this year. What a treat!

Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon we had friends over to play. Two words can be used to describe foul-weather playdates for boys: loud and messy. OK, three words--add "fun." Saturday evening the whole family went roller skating at the community center. At dinner before skating, Daniel was being quite squirmy and ended up tumbling out of his chair. He seemed quite perplexed when he landed on the floor and declared, "These are NOT my good falling-down pants!" We attempted to stifle our guffaws enough to inquire as to what the qualities of good falling down pants were. He said he thought his sweatpants would be better because they're soft. (He was wearing jeans, which is unusual, as the button/zipper is problematic for someone who ALWAYS waits until the very last possible second before dashing to the bathroom to take care of his personal business.)

We will have to remember to wear "good falling-down pants" for the next roller skating adventure, as you can see in this video John prepped. Be sure to stick around for the grand finale of our holiday weekend: Edward's first loose tooth falling out.

2011-11-17T16:28:00.001-06:00

Scene in a grocery store during a quick after-school run for milk, bread, bananas and the first clementines of the year

Edward bites into a banana (store offers kids free bananas while parents are shopping) and exclaims, "Mom, my tooth is crooked! This one right here on the bottom!"

"Oh, really? Is it loose?"

(feels with fingers) "No, it's not loose, but it's slanting back." (begins mild panic)
"And it hurts!" (wailing, loudly, middle of store bakery)

"Edward, I think you might just have a loose tooth, let me see." Teeth appear to be in alignment, but further exploration with finger (eew...in banana mouth) reveals that one is indeed out of alignment from the tongue side of the tooth (insert appropriate dental term if you must.)

Gently pinch tooth with thumb and forefinger to demonstrate wiggle. "See, Edward. It's a loose tooth. It's your first loose tooth, isn't that great?!" (Attempting to shift panic to joy. Maneuver successful.)

Continue through rest of brief trip discussing how weird it feels to have a loose tooth. And, of course, when Daniel can expect his first loose tooth. (Sorry, buddy. Gotta wait about two more years on that one. Blame the "borner.")

2011-11-13T18:38:00.001-06:00

When we moved into this house, I hated the kitchen color, but we had other priorities, like preventing rain in our living room, eliminating floods from the basement and keeping the screen porch attached to the house. Not to mention, we had an eight-month-old & a two-year-old, I was taking the most difficult course of my MBA and working half time. So in the grand scheme of things, a hospital-green kitchen just didn't make the project list.

A few times since then I've thought, "Maybe I should tackle that," but inertia is a powerful force, my friends. I loved my sunny yellow kitchen in the old house, but sometime in the last year I read that orange hues are good for kitchens as it is an "appetizing" color that makes people feel like eating. So when I decided this would be the weekend for the project, I went searching for an "orangey-yellow."

The boys had the day off Friday for teacher conferences (more on those reports later) and we thought it was a good opportunity for a sleep-over at Grandma and Grandpa's. Nearly every time we're there to visit the boys ask if they can stay overnight. However, they simply have not been good company in the evenings since starting school. Exhaustion is not a good playmate. But without a full day of school to suck up all their good behavior, we thought they might be acceptable house guests.

I dropped them off Friday morning, went to the conferences, and came home to paint (John had a conference to attend in town.) The first coat went on well with no major mishaps or spills. But it clearly would not be enough to cover the evil green. So after a lovely dinner & movie date Friday night, I steeled myself to do it all over again on Saturday. John headed off to Daniel's school for a fall clean-up day, and I got started on the second coat. By the time I was done, the gallon of paint was gone (truth be told, it was gone before I was done, but I really scraped the bucket, hoping against hope that it would be enough.)

Alas, as it dried, it was clear there were still places where that blasted green was showing through. So I picked up another can of paint on the way to retrieve the boys from Grandma and Grandpa's (where all reports indicate a good time was had by all.) It was a lovely day for mid-November, so we decided to hit the park before going home (also allowing John some much-needed down time after his morning work.)

John graciously agreed to pinch hit on the project, as I clearly could not face the prospect of a three-peat. In return, I kept the boys out for four hours today (church, followed by the Children's Museum and lunch), giving John time to himself after he finished the paint. So that's probably more than you ever wanted to know about how our kitchen went from this:

To this:

My photography skills are apparently as lacking as my painting skills, so the lighting isn't really helping to showcase the two colors. Trust me, it's a big improvement.

2011-11-06T21:11:00.001-06:00

We managed to come out on the other side of all the Halloween hoopla without a picture of just our kids in their costumes. It was just that kind of year. Edward's school celebrated on the Friday before Halloween with K-2nd graders participating in a costume parade through the school hallways before retiring to their classrooms for treats. (Older kids had the party without the parade, but a highlight of the parade for Ed was getting "high fives" from the older kids lining the hallways as observers.) Here he is in his classroom, lining up to start the parade. You'll note the "hose," which was only determined to be an integral part of his firefighter costume the moment we were attempting to leave the house that morning. The nozzle alone just did not suffice. He had to have a jump rope taped to it for total verisimilitude. A frantic two minutes led to a happy firefighter.

Daniel's school celebrated on Halloween itself (Monday) also with an in-school parade and treats. How thoughtful of the schools not to expect me to be in two places at once! Here is Daniel with his friend Opal, whose mother spent more than two minutes on her firefighter costume--fashioning it from sweats and reflective tape.

For trick-or-treating, Ed opted for his knight costume, which was just as well, since we had another little firefighter with us--Daniel's friend Xander from school. His mother created a hilarious moment in the parking lot the week before when she breathlessly came up to me saying, "Did I talk to you about trick-or-treating, or did I just dream that whole conversation." So, we hadn't previously discussed it, but apparently the idea was deep in her subconscious. It hadn't occurred to me to gather a posse for trick-or-treating, but it turned out to be a great idea. Along with our neighbors, whose son is a year younger than Daniel, we had four kids and six parents strolling through the neighborhood. Well, parents strolling, kids dashing. They collected an impressive haul in just under an hour and three blocks (both sides of the street.)

Over the weekend in between the school celebrations, we traveled to Evanston for the occasion of my 20th high school reunion.Our class had never quite gotten it together to organize a reunion before, so for most of us this truly was the first time we'd seen each other in 20 years. It was shocking how easy it was to recognize these adult women whom I'd last seen when we were teens. It was a fun night, although not much chance to get into conversation any deeper than "Married or not? Kids or not? Employed or staying home?" with most. I was one of the few to travel from out of state. Most of those who attended still live in the area. Several out of town classmates wrote to say they couldn't make it back.

Since the reunion was only Saturday evening, we took the opportunity to use our reciprocal member benefits at the Field Museum on Saturday morning. Thank goodness for our membership at the Putnam Museum in Davenport. Without it, it would have cost our family $100 to go to the Field, in which case we would not have gone, since we knew at the outset that we had about a one-hour attention span to work with. Here are the boys, dwarfed by "Sue," the Field's famous T-Rex.

We learned right away that while most of the bones here are real, the actual head is too heavy to be supported in this display, so we had to look for it elsewhere in the museum. By the time we got there, Daniel was in over-stimulation mode, but Ed was still interested.

They actually were really into exploring the permanent collection of mammals and birds (shudder) though at first it was all a bit too real for Daniel. He went dashing ahead of us into a display that included some large bears, stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to run back to cover when he heard what he thought were real birds chirping overhead. That made him think all the animals were alive. It's nice to know that he still thinks we'd offer some sort of protection against a 9-foot brown bear.

Even though I laughed about the absurdity of taking our Iowa kids to Chicago to play with corn, this "Kid Zone" activity was a favorite. It was a mock-up of a Pueblo where the kids could "plant" and "harvest" corn and then take it in the hut to "cook" in a large pot for meal.

Our strategy of arriving when the doors opened at 9 a.m. worked well so that we never felt crowded. We left by 11 or so and headed back to Gram and PopPop's for lunch, where Aunt Nora joined us in between two social engagements that day. Then the boys and my parents went across the street to the fall festival at the local elementary school, and John and I sneaked in a quick run to the mall. (And I do mean quick--we were gone less than 2 hours and it takes 20 min. each way to get there. I do hate shopping, but sometimes it's a necessary evil.) When we got home, the boys and PopPop were vegging out to some SpongeBob Squarepants. Life can certainly be exhausting when you're three and still physically need a nap, but are stubborn enough to refuse at all costs. (Note he's not actually sleeping here, just watching TV.)

Surprisingly, he took not one, but TWO naps this weekend, but as I did not join in his slumber, I'm losing steam so will wait 'til the next blog post for the exhausting details.

2011-10-24T15:48:00.003-05:00

On Saturday I ran another 5K (WHO am I??) this one in Cedar Rapids with a friend from work. It was kind of a goofy affair with a Halloween theme and a few kids activities, so the boys wore their costumes and hung out with John while I ran. It was a cross country course, so a little different than what I've been used to. But a beautiful day and a lovely run through the park and Usher's Ferry Historic Village.

Since we were going to be in the area, we planned a trip to Bloomsbury Farm in nearby Atkins. I'd heard lots of friends talking about it as a great fall family activity. I knew it was an all-day adventure though and in past years we really haven't been "all day" people. Since naps have mostly fallen by the wayside (shedding a tear for those bygone days) we thought this would be a great way to spend the afternoon. Grandma and Grandpa even joined in the fun.

It's hard to describe, but basically, it's a family's working farm where they've carved out a section for a whole host of kiddie entertainment including a big slide made from some sort of agricultural tubing (tiling?), hayrack rides, pumpkin patch, pig races, animal feeding/petting, a big barn of hay for jumping, pedal carts, a corn maze, a haunted house, a fun house (more goofy than scary) and the piece de resistance, a HUGE jumping pillow. Holly was looking up the directions on Google maps and this pillow is big enough that it can be seen in the satellite image.

After a lot of jumping and falling, Daniel discovered that it's even more fun to let others do the work. His giggling was so infectious, you can hear the adults joining in.

Of course, our kids wouldn't be our kids if they didn't eschew a whole new realm of fun activities in favor of playing on the most mundane, everyday item in the area,

but we were able to persuade them to take in the rest of the fun.

We even ran into some friends (it's a popular weekend activity for Iowa Citians) so the boys had friends to play with in addition to each other. Edward has been begging us to take him to a haunted house ever since he missed an opportunity at the county fair when the "ride" operator wouldn't let me send them through without me, and I was unwilling to use all of our tickets for all three of us to go through. I promised him then that I'd take him to a "real" haunted house, and he has not let me forget for a second. The impulse may now be quashed however, as he did not like the loud noises or the uncertainty of finding our way in the dark. And this was a very tame haunted house with no monsters jumping out and with daylight peeking through the cracks in the walls.

If the boys and I have our way, we'll be back next year for another photo:

2011-10-20T20:17:00.001-05:00

The boots I ordered the boys from Lands End arrived today, so it seemed like a good opportunity to take inventory of our winter gear. Edward's recent growth spurt probably means the coat I thought would last two years will need a mid-season replacement (which is already in his closet since I ordered it at the end of last season on super clearance,) and Daniel's general bulk means he's wearing the snowpants Ed wore last year (Lord help me if they ever completely catch up in sizing--our family economy is based on hand-me-downs!) But it looks like we're in good shape.

Putting on the snowpants triggered some sort of sense memory though because as soon as I was done with my inspection, they both raced up the stairs to slide down (extra fast) on the slippery pants. This occupied them without need for parental participation for more than an hour this afternoon. They did have to stop at one point due to excessive heat. But they solved this on their own by running upstairs to trade their sweats for shorts and jump back into snowpants action.

I was in the other room, listening in case of fighting or injury, and close enough to veto the idea of sending their large metal Tonka dump truck down the stairs to give their stuffed animals a chance to join the fun. I kept hearing things about "tractor" and "car" but I knew there weren't any actual vehicles involved. It wasn't until John came home, witnessed the spectacle and doubled over with laughter that all was revealed.

I give you

TRACTOR

CAR

and just for a bonus, here's TUMBLE (unplanned and, ultimately, unscathed)

P.S. I started the season a little annoyed at Lands End for eliminating 2/3 of their kids' boots selection, leaving only the most expensive model. But I emerged victorious when they marked them down 30% for the Fall Sale and my Parents magazine came with a coupon for $10 off next LE purchase plus free shipping. Ended up with quite a steal #pattingselfonback.

2011-10-19T20:53:00.003-05:00

Overheard in the bathroom this evening:

Edward: "Awww, COOOL!!! Daniel, come see this!"

Daniel races to the bathroom, "What is it? Oh, cool!"

Edward: "See how great it smells. It's like Gram's!"

Daniel: "Yeah, it smells GOOD! And it's pink!"

We got new soap in our bathroom. Pomegranate Mango hand soap from Target. And people wonder why we don't bother with big events and flashy toys for our children.

2011-10-18T10:44:00.001-05:00

Happy birthday to me! I'm sitting at home waiting for the delivery and installation of my fabulous birthday present...wait for it...a new garage door opener!!! WOO HOO! Man, I know how to party. Whew, just exhausted myself right there.

Before John starts getting blog hate mail, I should specify that it was only coincidence that our ancient opener happened to conk out last week and that the first available time for replacement was today. I was already planning to take the day off with a simple goal of quiet "me" time, so I went ahead and scheduled it. I'm sure there are other lovely presents from my boys in my future. Though the youngest two of those boys did not at all understand why they couldn't stay home from school to help me celebrate. I mean, if you could spend your birthday doing this

why would you choose anything else?

While the boys don't totally grasp the concept of "someone else's birthday" yet, they sure are into the other approaching October holiday. I may have fed the frenzy a bit when a trip to the consignment store turned up the fabulous viking hat along with another set of plate armor so they can now both be fully outfitted for battle.

Edward is definitely a multi-purposer when it comes to costume items, as seen below where the knight helmet doubles as a fire fighter's air mask and construction goggles are added for extra protection. I'm surprised he hasn't figured out how to add the Harry Potter cape to this ensemble.

The only downside from the consignment treasure trove was that the 5T frog costume doesn't quite fit both boys. I thought it would be a little big for Daniel, a little small for Ed, enabling them to share it. However, it's basically a perfect fit for Daniel and a pants-splitter for Edward (literally--it's already required repair, though I can't say for sure it wasn't like that when I got it.) Ed has a bit of costume envy on this one, but luckily he has plenty of other items to distract him.

And while we're looking at that cookie picture, let me just say that allowing Daniel to handle the food coloring for the frosting was a serious rookie mistake. I can't believe I could have fallen for it. I mean he so earnestly wanted to help, and I thought, "What a great lesson in color mixing--red and yellow make orange!" So, subtle and delicate are two words I would never use to describe either of my boys, but especially Daniel. And after all, I did neglect to specify that the dropper should be pointed down when squeezing out those three drops. He may have squeezed hard enough to empty about half the bottle all over the table and my hands thrown up in self defense against the onslaught of red dye. And it may be three days later and my hands are still stained, but you know, they had a great time and they love deliberating over which shape to choose at dessert time. So we'll chart this one as a qualified success.

2011-10-09T14:24:00.000-05:00

My sister Nora inspired me to start running late last spring when she ran her first 5K on her 32nd birthday. I've always loathed running, never could fathom the concept of a "runner's high" since it always made me feel like I had a knife in my gut and a constrictor around my lungs. But I followed her footsteps through the "Couch to 5K" training regimen that starts you out slowly and then builds on your strength and endurance each week. All along I had the annual Run for Schools as my goal. I actually snuck another race in at the end of August, but this was the first timed race and the one I was really ready for. I can hardly believe I'm saying this, but it did feel great to be out there with all those other runners (and walkers, whose leagues I've joined many times for this event) and to know I could do it.

John and the boys were busy handing out water at mile marker 1, and I waved as I passed, but didn't stop. They were done with their work in time to get back to the finish line just after I crossed, but my parents, who were visiting for the weekend, were there to cheer as I crossed. My running mantra is "slow and steady finishes the race." Today's time: 36 minutes. The men's 10K winner finished about three blocks ahead of me, and at one point while I was running, I got passed by a guy pushing a double stroller. Well, we all have our own strengths.

Daniel needed a fall picture to share at school this week, so on Tuesday after dinner we raked a small pile of available leaves for jumping. Looking up, we knew it was an exercise in futility.

By Saturday, the entire back yard tree was bare and almost no grass was visible beneath the carpet of leaves. This kind of surprised me since we've had an extremely warm week (high 70s and 80s--beautiful!) and I usually think of leaves falling in response to cooler temperatures. Guess our overnight lows have been enough to prompt the cycle.

I've mentioned before that we often stop on our way home from school to play on the playground at one or both of the boys' schools. I am amazed a their abilities and determination NOT to use the equipment as the designers intended. Not just climbing up slides instead of sliding down, but attempting to shimmy up over the top of a covered tube-type slide and climbing up over the tops of the railings. These are things that are against the rules during school hours, but we allow a bit of flexibility after hours. I never have a camera to document the acrobatics, but I remembered to grab one for a trip to our downtown playground on Friday afternoon. My brother-in-law who teaches elementary school music and pitches in with playground duty says it's the monkey bars that "separate the men from the boys" in kindergarten.

Well, let's just say that Ed is still a croaky-voiced adolescent. This set was particularly challenging as it did not go straight across, but had some vertical variance as well. He couldn't quite swing himself up when the next bar was higher, but even as recently as August, he couldn't move from one bar to another in a straight horizontal swing, so there's some progress.

We're looking forward to another beautiful fall week here in Iowa, soaking up every last ray of sunshine and ounce of warmth. The boys are starting another four-week session of swimming lessons, which they love, but have noted the contrast to their summer experience: much colder getting out of the pool these days (even though it's an indoor pool and heated to the point of serious discomfort for the fully clothed and dry!)

Another major milestone for Edward: he's nearly up to current in our reading of his favorite series of books, The Magic Treehouse. With the extra reading brought on by a visit from Gram and PopPop he's now down to just two published books to read. (It takes us about 4-5 days reading aloud 2 or 3 chapters a day to finish one of these books.) After that, the next book won't be published until December, so we'll be on the hunt for a new series. He really loves the historical characters and time periods he's been introduced to through Jack and Annie's adventures. I wonder if he'll re-read the series when he's a fully independent reader? Right now he can read simple books and will ask about certain words on the page as we're reading to him, but he's not ready to dive in solo just yet.

2011-09-25T16:57:00.001-05:00

It's been a trying weekend for little brothers. Yesterday an exasperated Daniel asked me, "Why did Edward have to get born first?" "Well," I replied, "That's kind of just the way it happened."

"Well, whoever made Edward get born first," he said, "I don't like that 'born-er' anymore!"

This morning, while visiting a local church for its pancake breakfast, Edward elicited the usual, "Look at that beautiful red hair" comments from the senior set. When one varied the script and asked, "Where'd you get that red hair," Daniel quickly replied with a huff, "He's had it for a LONG time!"

Given how the world revolves around him, it's tough to imagine any sort of attention deprivation, but apparently he feels the need for a bit more personal focus. Luckily, today was the day for his school's annual fall festival so we all went to enjoy food, games, and a peek at Daniel's world. Now we're in a bit of a state though because the party was from 2-4 p.m. so we've had zero downtime for the whole day. Headed for early bedtime!

2011-09-21T14:35:00.005-05:00

On Monday I had a late-afternoon meeting at work, so John picked up the kids from school. (School day is 8:30 am. to 3 p.m. and my usual work day is 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.) Later in the evening, he marveled, "Can you believe we didn't get home until 4 o'clock?!" Well, yes. Yes, I can. I've learned that kids' short legs have a dual impact on their walking speed. 1. Shorter stride means it takes more steps to cover the same distance as an adult; and 2. Short legs leave you much closer to the ground where there is no end of items in need of closer inspection. Acorns, crab apples, leaves, sticks, worms (wiggling or dried out), rocks, sidewalk cracks, etc.

So even though Edward's school is four blocks away and Daniel's is only another two blocks from there, the walk home is never expeditious and rarely direct. Sometimes we stop to play on the playground at one or both schools. Sometimes we stop for an impromptu picnic of whatever is left in their lunch bags. Sometimes we stop to pick up items of interest to add to the collection of pine cones, acorns, sticks, bark strips, et. al. on our front porch. Sometimes we stop to have meltdowns about brothers who won't let us be first.

Thus, we rarely make any plans for the after-school/before-dinner hours. With nowhere to go and beautiful fall afternoons that beckon us outside, we're wide open for bike riding, frisbee throwing or even the latest obsession, front porch pulley.

What? You mean your kids don't use their jump ropes to string your lawn chairs up to your porch ceiling?

2011-09-10T20:27:00.003-05:00

We had a battle of the wills tonight at the Kenyon household, and I believe the readers of this blog are the ultimate winners.

When Mary asked the boys if they wanted baths or showers tonight, Daniel declared that he would be taking neither. He had been contrary all day. Tired of it, I offered a third option that involved him in our backyard and me with a bucket filled from the hose. I had hoped it would convince him that a warm shower sounded pretty nice; instead, he thought the backyard bucket wash sounded perfect.

As the evening drew to a close, I thought he had forgotten. But when he got undressed and went into the bathroom where Mary waited to give him a shower, he said, "I am not taking a shower, so you can turn that water off right now!"

My bluff called, I grabbed some soap and a towel, and followed my naked son down the stairs and out onto our screen porch. He stood on our (secluded) patio and waited while I filled the bucket. I let him feel the water coming from the hose, and while he agreed that it felt cold, he said he still wanted a bucket wash. Edward tried to warn him as well, but he would not be denied.

I poured a little on his head, and he giggled. I poured more and really soaked his head, then asked if he was done. Nope. So, I poured enough that it cascaded down his back. He let out a "whoah!" and shivered a bit (keep in mind that it was about 80 degrees at this point). I told him he needed to look up so I could pour water on his front to get the rest of him wet, but he would not do so. Finally, Mary asked if he was ready to go in and take a warm shower. "Yeah," he said, padding into the house wrapped in a warm towel.

He certainly held out longer than I expected, just another sign that we have a very strong-willed (and tough) little guy on our hands. The next few years should be very interesting.

2011-09-05T09:34:00.007-05:00

The boys have been asking to go camping for a long while. I have been camping a lot – first with my folks when I was a kid, later in Boy Scouts and more recently with a handful of high school friends on annual canoe trips – so I have equipment and a general fondness for it. Mary, not so much, so any camping experience would involve me and the boys.

With the onset of cooler weather (and earlier darkness), I thought it might be a good time for a backyard campout. I located my tent and our sleeping bags and then, while Mary set the mood by helping them to make s’mores over the grill after we cooked some burgers for dinner, I got out my tent without comment and began setting it up.

“What is that, Dad?” Edward asked. I told him it was my old tent that I had found while cleaning the basement, and decided to set it up to air it out. He and Daniel were wide-eyed. I heard them ask Mary if they could sleep out in it. I feigned reluctance. “I don’t know. That’s a big thing to do…” I finally let them convince me and we began planning our campout.

Because it was only 7 p.m. and still very light out at this point, we headed back inside. They put on sleepers and then we watched some DVDs for the next hour or so to let them calm down (ha!) and let it get dark out. About 8:15, we headed out. We read a few books by the light of our battery-powered lantern (exciting in and of itself), then turned out the light to sleep.

Trip back inside #1: I forgot about Ed’s glasses, so I took them inside for safe keeping.
Trip back inside #2: Daniel had to go to the bathroom.
Trip back inside #3: They wanted their “guys:” stuffed animals they sleep with.

Safely back inside by 8:45, we then hunkered down for an hour of stories, songs and goofiness. This is where an actual campsite with a fire would have come in handy. Instead, we were shoulder-to-shoulder in my pup tent, too hot thanks to very well-insulated sleeping bags (and their sleepers) and completely wired with excitement. They finally calmed down shortly before 10 after I told them they had 5 more minutes to settle down before we’d go back inside.

Once they calmed down for good, they fell asleep instantly. Nothing woke them: the neighbor kid who decided to start practicing drums at 10 p.m., the same kid who gave that up after 5 minutes (short-lived thanks) before starting to play basketball outside for another 15, the concert wafting through the air from Regina High School a mile or so away.

They each work up a couple of times because of cold or because a brother’s leg was on them or simply because they didn’t remember that they had fallen asleep in a tent.

As the night progressed – along with the tension of the knot in my back – I checked my phone to see the time. 4:20. 5:40… at this point I got through by telling myself we’d go to the new donut shop in our neighborhood when we got up, then wondered how early they opened.

“Dad!” I awoke to a hint of light coming through the walls of the tent. I turned over to see Edward wide-eyed next to me. “Look! It’s morning!”

After willing morning to come for the past few hours, I now was in no hurry for it to arrive. I told Edward that the first hint of morning light didn’t mean we had to get up just yet, but a tickle fight between brothers quickly put an end to such foolish thoughts. So, at 6:34 a.m., the brave adventurers emerged from the tent to proudly stride across the backyard in their footie sleepers to head inside the house.

“Dad, if you could do it, we would do that every night,” Edward said as we walked inside.

I was thankful for that qualifier, knowing he knew this was a rare treat. Once inside, they were amped and wanted to play. The first thing they requested? The indoor tent that has been in storage in the basement for months. It seems they hadn’t quite had their fill.

2011-09-04T12:02:00.000-05:00

I know it's common for kids to have imaginary friends. But what should I think about Daniel's ever-evolving story about his pretend playdate with our crossing guard?

In the first week of school, we asked what the kids call him so they could call "Hi, Mr. Smith" or whatever as we walked past. Both of our kids, but especially Edward, are really into names. He seemed surprised and in fact at first said, "Well, nothing!" when asked what the kids call him. Then he regrouped and told the kids to call him Ben. Then he showed them his name tag and explained that he worked for the police department, even though he's not an officer. They liked that.

The next morning, after he let us cross the street, Daniel started telling me a long, detailed story about "One time? When I was at Ben's house for pretend?" He told me about the toys they played with (many trucks), the snack Ben made (eight different kinds of juice with crackers) and Ben's backyard (big for running.) I found it all very entertaining and kept pumping him for details. Eventually I went too far because he trotted out his new standby "I won't tell you any more. I will tell you tomorrow morning." (This is frequently his response when we ask him about school.)

I didn't bring it up again, but the next morning after Ben let us cross, Daniel started telling me a new installment. Every few days he thinks of something new to add, sometimes when we've just seen Ben, but sometimes out of the blue.

In the meantime, Ben is a very friendly, conscientious crossing guard who never fails to greet the boys with a cheerful, "Hi Edward! Hi Daniel." He admired Daniel's painting on Tuesday and Edward's cicada on Friday. This is the cicada Edward picked up at his school, carried to Daniel's school, showed to Daniel's friends and then carried all the way home, despite the fact that he realized about a block after he picked it up that it was a stink bomb. Or maybe because of the stink. When we got to Daniel, Edward held it out and said, "Here Daniel, smell my cicada." Daniel was quite revolted--nearly to tears, "Edward! Why did you make me smell that. It's P-U stink!"

I'll close this post with another Daniel gem. Yesterday I invited him to the basement to help me with the laundry (he considers this a treat, not a chore) but he informed me, "Dad and I already took stuff out of the 'wetter' and put it in the dryer."

2011-08-21T19:42:00.004-05:00

We spent a great weekend in Evanston, where all five of my siblings managed to gather in the same place at the same time for the first time in two years. The six of us live in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Arizona, the District of Columbia and Brazil right now, so it's not hard to see why our get-togethers are so rare. Even better, the stars aligned to make this gathering happen on my mom's birthday on Saturday. We were missing two sisters-in-law, three nieces and a nephew, but otherwise it was a perfect weekend.

And to top it all off, Edward learned to ride a two-wheeler! We'd brought his scooter and Daniel's bike and the Wisconsin cousins brought their bikes too. Seven-year-old Maggie was cruising up and down the block on two wheels and Ed wanted to give it a try. Her bike was a little too big, but luckily my parents had a slightly smaller (yet still purple) bike on hand in the garage (perhaps left from summer visits from the now pre-teen Arizona cousins?) My dad pumped up the tires, and we took a spin.

I could tell right away that it wouldn't take long for him to be riding on his own, but I never would have predicted how fast he picked it up. Once my Dad showed him that if the bike tipped to either side he could immediately put his foot down and not fall over he was full of "confidence," which Maggie told him was the most important thing about learning to ride a bike. I ran up and down the block holding the seat to keep him steady about five or six times and John took a couple of runs as well, but honestly, he was on his own within about half an hour.

And I must say that every rider should have a 23-person cheering section for his first ride. Many of my aunts, uncles and cousins were in the front yard for my mom's birthday party so there were lots of cheers and shouts, which you'll hear in the video. (His tutor/cousin Maggie is seen running along side in the third segment and says, "That was awesome, Edward," at the end.) My mom was thrilled to bequeath the bike to Edward--she's all about removing things from the house/garage. Now I just hope some little brat doesn't give him a hard time about it being a "girls bike." He LOVES that it's purple!

2011-08-18T09:27:00.003-05:00

First day of school! Edward bounded out of bed at 6:11 a.m. and ran into our room (I was in the shower, John was still in bed) shouting, "It's the first day of school!!" Wish we had a recording to play back to him when we're dragging him out of bed in high school.
I got in trouble because taking this picture required me to step down off the curb into the street. The boys were shocked. Never mind that it's a quiet suburban side street that only one car drove down the entire time we walked the block. It was sprinkling lightly when we left, but pretty much tapered off by the time we got to school.
John managed to capture the 1.2 seconds of uncertainty Edward displayed upon arrival.

This was the dominant emotion of the day--Ed bursting with excitement; Daniel not quite so sure about this new arrangement.
Parents were welcomed into the classroom for the first few minutes. Edward hung up his backpack, deposited his lunch in the proper bin and handed his star to Mrs. Smith, who exclaimed over its beauty as only a kindergarten teacher can. Here he is sitting next to his friend David, who lives down the hill from us, and coloring his "Lucas Mighty Hawk," the school mascot.
Daniel was most excited about the umbrella opportunity. But after about a block he decided it was too heavy and let me carry it.
Edward's school is a block closer than Daniel's so we dropped him off first and then headed over to Willowwind. We were a little late and didn't stop to take a picture out front. Perhaps this afternoon. I did end up walking into the classroom with Daniel to help him find his cubby and hook for his backpack (this seems reasonable on the first day, despite the preference for parents to stay in the hall.) I had a tube of sunscreen for him to give his teacher, so that was the perfect separation tool. I said good-bye and stepped out while he did that, and then John and I watched through the hallway window to see that his teacher helped him select a water-pouring activity. His favorite! A good start.

2011-08-17T19:52:00.002-05:00

Edward needed a family picture for the center of a star he was asked to decorate and return to school on the first day. The five points were to be decorated with his interests--he chose Lego, Titanic, riding bikes/playing outside, vehicles and knights/castles.
They played Pomp and Circumstance for the graduates this evening, but no tears here. Perhaps it was a good idea to spend the whole day leading up to graduation one-on-two with the children, whose idea of a fun day was riding buses all over town and then not taking naps. I wasn't feeling very sentimental. I almost lost composure when I saw two other moms crying because I pretty much always cry when I see other people crying, but I looked away and held it together.

Each graduate received a special award/gift from the teachers, personalized to their interests. Edward's was the "Sir Edward" award in recognition of his knight fascination and the fact that he started most days in the classroom fashioning personal chain mail from a set of some sort of linking building blocks.

Boys are tucked in now and getting ready for the big day.

2011-08-16T20:25:00.003-05:00

Back to school night! Both boys' new schools held ice cream socials to welcome the kids to the new school year. Yes they were at the same time, but luckily they are only a block apart (one of the reasons for moving Daniel to a new preschool) so we managed to take in both events. Since they were both in the 5-6 p.m. hour, our kids basically had ice cream for dinner. Nothing like a healthy start to the new school year!

Ed insisted on carrying his own school supplies. This lasted less than half a block before he handed off the extra bag. He made it about another block before handing off the back pack. Thankfully it won't be so heavy most other days.

On Friday afternoon, we went up to the elementary school playground and Ed noticed that the kindergarten windows were open. He looked in and the teacher came to the window.

"Well, hello," she said. "You're Edward, right? Your favorite color is pink and you like castles." My heart instantly melted for this woman, but we didn't know officially until tonight that she would be his teacher. Mrs. Smith, prepare for some Edward-style adulation!

Daniel's school will be quite different from his current preschool/daycare. The Montessori method seems very deliberate--all the elements of play are designed to stimulate the senses and prepare the kids for reading, writing, learning. They're also all about giving the child independence so parents are not encouraged to come into the classroom except for specified visits or volunteer time. In the morning we're supposed to stop in the hall for goodbyes and let them go through the door on their own.

I took vacation time this week so we could have a few days of fun activities before schools starts. Also, this way I'm not in a rush to get to work while dropping them off for their first days. Yesterday we went with Edward's old class on a field trip to a nature education center. Today we visited The Playstation in Cedar Rapids (indoor climbing/slides/etc.) A few weeks back they offered a Groupon for half price admission so I thought that would be a fun back-to-school treat.

Tomorrow, the boys want to ride the bus "for the whole route." That is, they want to see where it goes after we usually get off. Daniel also wants to ride a Coralville bus, and I haven't figured out a way to get out of that yet. That's a lot of public transit for one day. We'll end the day with Edward's preschool graduation and then come home to get ready for the big day.

Oh, by the way, Edward received a gift from the Lucas Elementary Parent-Teacher Organization tonight: all kindergartners get a t-shirt that says "Class of 2024."

2011-08-09T18:52:00.003-05:00

John was sick all weekend, but didn't realize it was a sinus infection until Sunday when his mom, dad and I all told him he had to go to urgent care. He'd had a fever since Thursday and despite ibuprofen and acetaminophen he was alternating between shivering (in sweats and fleece under blankets when it was still 90 outside) and sweating. Even after a couple of doses of medicine on Sunday he still was feeling lousy enough to stay home Monday. (He also stayed home Friday. In the 15 years I've known him I can not recall another time when he missed two days of work to illness.)

When the boys and I got home around 1 p.m. he opened the door for us and Daniel immediately said, "Daddy! You look so handsome!"

We had a great laugh. It was so out of the blue, but a true testament to how much better he was feeling/looking.

He's not up to full speed yet, but managed to go back to work today and then mow the lawn when he got home.

The biggest bummer of the illness was that he had to miss his grandpa's 91st birthday celebration on Sunday. But the boys and I went to Chariton and had a great time with the whole family and then meeting Grandpa's friends from the apartment building who stopped in to share some cake.
Daniel was so pleased with his party hat that he wore it all the way home, asleep in his car seat. Unfortunately my phone does not transfer pictures to the computer, but ask me about it next time you see me. It's priceless.
The other milestone of the trip was Edward's introduction to the iPhone. His eight-year-old cousin Ethan was entertaining himself with his dad's phone and Edward sat himself down for a tutorial. At one point I left my cake-cutting post to check on him and saw him holding the phone.

"What are you doing with that?" I asked.

"Angry birds," was the gleeful reply. (I can't begin to explain this, so if you're not already laughing, try this link for additional background.) Looks like even more pressure for me to upgrade my circa 2005 flip phone. My sisters are lobbying for me to finally learn to text.

2011-08-08T19:42:00.005-05:00

Sometime back in June Edward asked, "Mom, when are we going to Gram's beach?"

"Hmmm," I thought. "Good question." I started mentally considering our summer calendar and realized how quickly it was filling up. After consulting with my mom, we settled on the last weekend in July for a visit. As we were driving from the Interstate to Evanston it became clear that Daniel thought we were heading straight for the beach. He was not at all pleased to learn that this was to be our Saturday morning activity. And he let that be known. Loudly. At the end of a four hour drive during which he slept for about 25 minutes. Not our finest travel moment.

Luckily, he was easily distracted upon arrival and spent the next two hours along with Edward bouncing from one zone to the next, as if every time he started playing with something he suddenly remembered something even cooler and abandoned the current activity in favor of the newly-remembered one. Not to worry, because the abandoned would soon switch places with the newly-remembered and on and on all afternoon.

Since the boys are early risers, we ended up arriving at the beach by about 8:45 a.m. (it doesn't open with lifeguards until 10:30 a.m.! My mom said that as she was enjoying the morning breeze and watching the boys play she was thinking to herself, "I wonder why it's not more crowded on such a beautiful day?" Then she remembered it was not yet even 10 a.m.!) The water was calm and shallow and warm enough for the boys to just jump right in. The rest of us were more comfortable wading up to our knees.

My Dad saw a school of fish and held the boys still long enough to see them without scaring them away.
And of course, self burial is an essential part of beach going.

This is what you look like after about an hour of submerging yourself in sand. We ended up leaving just after the lifeguards arrived at 10:30, but not before the boys stood at the foot of the lifeguard chair, mouths agape in pure awe/admiration of the mighty guard. They also wanted to help dig the sand into a pile at the foot of the chair to cushion the jump down, but we persuaded them that they'd just be in the way.

The other item on Daniel's wish list for the weekend was riding the subway. We've ridden the "el" a few times, but have never gone all the way downtown to go underground. This was the time. Aunt Nora met us upon our return from the beach (and may have been scarred by the discovery that I'd stripped the boys and wrapped them in towels for the drive home. They still lack even a modicum of modesty so when the towels fell off while dashing from the car to the hose, they did not hesitate for a moment, leaving two naked boys dancing around my parents back yard.)

After lunch, the five of us headed for the train with PopPop's advice to "sit in the front car so you can see it going down into the tunnel.

The ride from the suburbs downtown was a bit longer than they'd bargained for with too many stops for Daniel's taste. Leave it to Aunt Nora to turn it into a game though--she soon had the boys counting down with each stop, how many more until we go in the tunnel. It was all so dramatic!

Once downtown we came up to see the skyscrapers, walk over the drawbridge over the Chicago River, stop in the very middle (on the crack!) and admire the boats.
We kept walking another few blocks in search of ice cream before the return trip. We found a frozen yogurt place and decided it would have to do. The boys were pleased with the "serve yourself" set up. The adults were less than enamored of the chemically taste of the fake ice cream. But it was a good stop since the trip home was just as long and without the eager anticipation of the subway tunnel (though we did sit in the front again so we could watch the climb out into the light.) We said good-bye to Aunt Nora at her Addison stop and continued on.

No time for naps amid all this excitement, which led to some truly exhausted boys. We left them in excellent grandparental care for dinner and bedtime and took advantage of the opportunity for a dinner/movie date.

In anticipation of our arrival, my mom unearthed a huge tub of Lego that had belonged to my brothers, and Nora brought back a box of random pieces my mom once sent her for one of her students. Thank goodness professional ethics prevented her from giving them away because her box contained several pieces vital to the building of Edward's long-desired fire station. Luckily there were several sets of building instructions, including one for a fire station. He wanted it built immediately and had no patience for the need to sort through thousands of pieces in search of the ones needed. He contented himself with a few small structures and vehicles, but once we got it all back to Iowa it was time to get serious.

Hundreds of TINY pieces were scavenged and within 24 hours of our return he had the beginning of the structure--enough room to park two of his existing trucks. Over the next several days we did lots more hunting and sorting (Daniel was quite exasperated with us on several occasions.) When we went to Target for Edward's kindergarten school supplies, we also picked up some organizing bins, which ultimately led to this taming of the chaos.

Now we're waiting for him to be inspired to build his own creations. Also holding our breath a bit to see if he'll modify his Lego wish list or if he still thinks he needs the 2011 version of the fire/rescue station. Could cause a bit of a "debt ceiling" issue for Santa.

2011-08-04T21:43:00.000-05:00

It's possible I may have overexerted myself with eight posts in June since I only managed two in July. Or it's possible that this never-ending heat has just sucked my will to blog. Either way, I'll try to get back on course.

This week and last we went back to our afternoon work/school schedule to accommodate another round of swimming lessons, this time in Iowa City's outdoor pool. This has been another rousing success (except for one blip for Daniel where he spent last Friday morning having a meltdown about not wanting to go. I finally told him I needed to talk to his teacher about why he would be so unwilling when he always loved the water before. We arrived at the pool with him still saying he was NOT going in the water. I walked to his class meeting spot and sat with him while they discussed pool safety. They they announced they were getting life jackets so they could practice jumping in the deep end. That was all he needed to get back in the swing.)

Although I thought the boys would enjoy the novelty of outdoor swim lessons and the MUCH bigger pool, I failed to take into consideration that the observation of said lessons would also be outdoors. Some days it's taken all my self control not to leap fully clothed into the pool myself. It truly has been a miserable late July. I usually feel we can turn the air conditioning off if daytime highs are below 90 and nighttime lows are below 70. This has not happened in at least three weeks.

Unfortunately, this unremitting heat coincided with the Johnson County Fair, which is usually some good, free fun for the kids. Climbing on tractors, petting bunnies, seeing sheep shorn, watching for cow pies underfoot while secretly hoping a cow will produce one before your very eyes, yes, this is the stuff of little boys' dreams.
Daniel, our diehard chocoholic, accepted a free sample of homemade (hand cranked) vanilla ice cream and declared, "This is the BEST ice cream I've ever tasted!" The only disappointment was the absence of one of their favorite firefighters--someone we've seen at these events for the last four years and who remembers them like old friends. They decided the firefighters must have been on a call--nothing less would cause them to miss the fair, right?

I said this is a free event, which is mostly true. Now that they're old enough for the rides, we do have to buy tickets for those. At least none of this year's rides seemed held together with rust and duct tape, and although several of the operators were smoking while holding the gates open and helping the kids with their seat belts, at least most of them had a full mouth of teeth. (I know that's snarky, but seriously, last year's crew might has well have come from the cast of Deliverance.) There was no scary "roller coaster" for Daniel to have to feign bravery to ride. They jumped in a bounce house, rode a "train" and climbed through a pirate ship. Ed also took a ride down a very tall slide, which Daniel claimed he wanted to ride, but then changed his mind while standing next to it appreciating its full height.

Diversion turned out to be simple: "Daniel, if you think we can be done with rides after Edward's slide, then I'll buy you a sno-cone." SOLD!
They shared pretty well, but I have to tell you, if you have never witnessed the spillage the last third of a five-year-old's first cherry sno-cone, then you have never truly seen despair. While passing it back and forth, one of them squeezed a bit too hard and the slushy remains slopped out onto the ground. Edward stared for a moment, clearly calculating whether salvage would be possible, and then burst into inconsolable tears when the reality of the frozen slush mixed with dirt sunk in.

It was very sad. And I told him so. There was no way around it (and I certainly wasn't about to buy another!) We just had to agree it was a sad thing and that it was just time to take our hot, tired, hungry selves home. Home where Dad was waiting to make us dinner. Oh, did I not mention that I undertook this trip solo? Yeah, wife of the year, right here.

For a number of reasons I didn't get very good photos, but I enjoy this sno-cone series and hope you will too. I had already put the camera away by the time of the cone's demise, and I won't deny that it crossed my mind to dig it back out of the bag, but in the end, comforting my child in his time of grief ruled the day.

2011-07-18T19:12:00.003-05:00

Edward is back in a knight phase thanks to the latest in The Magic Tree House series, in which the brother-and-sister heroes travel back in time to save Camelot for King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Daniel is more interested in participating now than he was during the first obsession last fall. However, he may soon be known as Sir Daniel of Anachronism. This afternoon he told me, "I have a horse and a car but they're both at the mechanic so I'll take my motorcycle."

Yesterday, while playing with John, Edward was barreling through blocked doors with this decree: "I am Sir Lancelot! In the name of King Arthur and Camelot I command you to open this gate!" John of course was quick to comply. Next up was Daniel: "I am Sir Percival! I do not command you to open the gate because I am going to pick up a pizza. Bye!"

Tonight they were playing in the living room while John and I were getting dinner together in the kitchen. We heard Daniel start to cry and waited a bit to see if they'd resolve it on their own. John eventually had to intervene, and when he asked Daniel why he was crying, Daniel said, "Because Edward banished me from the castle forever!" John had to explain that knights do not banish each other and that he, John, was King Arthur, the only one with banishing powers, so Daniel was most definitely not banished. Then it was back to the game.

I don't have any pictures to accompany these tidbits of daily life, so instead I'll share this first harvest from our green bean plant. These went from plant to dinner table in about 15 minutes and were quickly consumed with gusto.

You can see it's not a great quantity, but we didn't plant many seeds. We're still limited to container gardening (large pots in the sunny corner of our yard) because I just couldn't quite work up to building a raised bed this year. The soil here is not conducive to vegetable gardening (too much clay.) We have two bean plants, one green pepper, two tomato and two basil. The boys enjoy helping to water and harvest (they water themselves while tending our plants) so it's nice to have something manageable.

2011-07-16T14:19:00.005-05:00

The corn is high in Iowa--not quite up to an elephant's eye, but our boys were impressed that it was "taller than our car" as we drove past cornfields on our way to pick blueberries this morning.
We had to go at 8 a.m. to beat the heat--sweltering weekend and week ahead. Luckily, there was cloud cover while we were there and a nice breeze. It was quite pleasant.
Daniel's interest was not sustained, but he busied himself with sampling the merchandise while Ed and I kept picking. Ed declined to lighten his load by dumping his bucket into mine, so when we were done he got to weigh his own--a whole pound!
These berries are so delicious. We simply can not stop ourselves eating them. It's a sad, sad thing whatever happens to them on the way from the field to the grocery store. Even in season, store berries don't even come close.
From there we went on to the Iowa City Book Festival, where a parade of characters was scheduled for 10 a.m. Again, the clouds were our friends, saving us from the intense heat. We met several of our favorites and then stuck around for a hilarious puppet show. I should note that the hilarity was indirectly proportional to the age of the audience, as it should be. John was invited to speak on a panel about book reviewing, so he was in the air conditioned university library rather while we were pursuing our fictional friends.

(The girls are our friends Eva and Franny who met us there.) Having spent the entire morning outside, I have no guilt about staying in the air conditioning all afternoon. If we're ambitious, we may hit the city pool after 5 p.m. (half price!)

2011-06-27T18:31:00.002-05:00

Daniel "opted out" of tee-ball tonight. (Actually his lack of listening during and after dinner forced us to make good on the "if you don't listen you won't go with to the park" threat, but it could be argued that this behavior was all in the service of a bit of one-on-one attention: mission accomplished.)

He serenaded me with the following:

2011-06-25T10:59:00.002-05:00

Conversation

Mary: "Hey, Edward, do you know what today is?
Edward: "Ummm...Uncle P.J.'s birthday?"
M: "No, that was Thursday. Today is June 25."
E: considers a moment "I'm five-and-a-HALF?!"
M: "You got it!"
E: looks down and gives himself a slow toes-to-head once over "I think I'm a little taller!"

2011-06-24T21:36:00.003-05:00

We've been trying to help Daniel deal with frustration/anger without hitting. This mostly involves using a calm voice to ask what made him so angry, followed by asking what he should do with his anger. Correct answers:
a. shout "I am SO angry"
b. stomp feet
c. pound floor with hands

Basically, it comes down to anything that doesn't involve touching other people or hurting himself.

For a few weeks, whenever things aren't going his way, he shouts at the perpetrator (usually Edward or me), "Fine, then you're not coming to my next birthday party."

I have to say it is difficult not to laugh, but I try to calmly respond, "OK, Daniel. I'm sorry I'll miss it." When my own frustration level is high, I must admit to responding, "I really don't care!" Mature.

Yesterday when he was sent to the stairs to "think it over" (aka Time Out) after hitting Edward (more than once) he resisted until I threatened to take away his bike. Then he stomped off to the stairs saying, "Fine, then I'm taking off all my clothes." Within seconds I had an underpants-clad boy half-way up the stairs.

I had to leave the area so he would not see me doubling over in laughter. When the three-minute timer beeped, he returned to playtime with his emotions under control. He did not put clothes on for the rest of the night. But I did not take a picture go go with this post.

2011-06-14T19:40:00.004-05:00

I am sort of a slave to my schedule: mornings at school/work, afternoons for nap followed by playtime, dinner when John comes home, bedtime 7:30-8 p.m. It's been working. For five years. Until this week.

Iowa City's summer swim classes are only offered on weekday mornings, daily in two week sessions. I wanted Ed to take lessons last summer, but didn't see how, given our schedule. I must be loosening up (or preparing for the upheaval fall will bring) because this year it was so clear to me: just switch to afternoons at school/work and have playtime/swim lessons in the mornings. So that's what we're doing.

I must say it is quite lovely to "sleep in" until 7 a.m. Even the boys are down with this (helps that it's been dark and rainy.) Lessons are at 9:45, so we have no rush through breakfast, no "hurry up and get dressed." We play, we swim, we come home to hang the wet things and play a bit more, then off to school in time for lunch at 11:30.

Daniel asked why we couldn't just go to swimming lessons in the afternoon, and I explained that the teachers are only there in the mornings. "Well," he said emphatically, "I wish there would be swimming teachers in the afternoon so I wouldn't have to do so many things!" By which he meant, "so many changes" because he listed off "not eat breakfast at school, take nap at school, eat snack at school, not play at home after nap." None of this is in any way onerous, just different for him and he's not entirely pleased. He does love to swim though so I think he'll make the sacrifice.

The parent viewing area at the pool is well to the left of the pool and has a terrible glare in the morning light, so it's hard for me to watch. Today I stepped into the pool area a few minutes before the lessons ended and was so excited to see Edward "swimming" face down in the water, kicking his feet, propelling himself about two body lengths before sputtering up and starting over. It was just so amazing to think that less than a year ago, he considered it a MAJOR accomplishment just to dip his whole face in the water. He always resists our attempts to support a front or back float and yet here he was showing the first signs of independent swimming. It totally fits with his personality though--he won't be told how or what to do, but must approach with caution, observing, attempting and finally mastering and then endlessly repeating.

Maybe we'll see something of the same with t-ball. John and other parents have found that it's best if they switch kids when playing catch before or during the practice sessions because the kids get tired of hearing instructions from their own parents.

When John posted this pic on Facebook last week, a friend commented on the juice-stained shirt. Just for the record, this was from an afternoon snack of fresh cherries, and he hasn't quite mastered the fine art of pit removal. He was digging them out with his fingers and then of course (a la Uncle Joe) wiping his juicy fingers straight across his shirt, ignoring the napkin right in front of him.Daniel and another player's three-year-old brother have made fast friends on the sidelines. Ed, in the line of t-ball kids is practicing his "ready stance." The coach (in blue shirt) is amazingly patient with this group of ten 4- and 5-year-olds!
Thus a very Ed-centric post ends with a Daniel pic.

2011-06-08T16:05:00.014-05:00

I finally had a chance to go through our vacation photos and put together a selection for your viewing pleasure. As you scroll down, you might question my use of the word "selection," but trust me, there were more. And be glad we're in the digital age and you're not forced to sit through an entire slide carousel of "Our Missouri Vacation," (ahem...Quito!) (Geraghty family inside joke!)

If you'll recall the Facebook-style vacation summary, this first set was right after the "what's open at 8 a.m. question." We eventually were directed to the local fish hatchery, which, as it turned out, was not officially open until 9, but brought us to an area near a lake where the kids could run around until it opened.
For a quarter, you could buy fish food and feed the thousands of trout thrashing around in these pools, helpfully covered by strong wire. This was deemed highly entertaining by the five-and-under set. Later, they saw the ranger net a couple of trout and feed them to a huge turtle inside the park building. This station is maintained through the fishing license fees anglers pay, which makes sense, since they raise the fish that eventually get dumped in the fishing lakes and streams.

We stopped riverside for a bit to watch the fishing action. This was just downstream from a huge dam, which was letting out a higher-than-usual volume of water due to heavy flooding in the area. The boys were eager to get all the way down to the river bank, but the way the water was rushing, we kept them up on higher ground. A very chatty fisherman who appeared to be mostly an observer, allowed the boys to handle some of his gear.

Being rained out from this mini-golf wasn't the worst thing in the world, given that our kids were more interested in seeing how far they could throw their balls than in attempting to sink any putts. Of the dozens of area mini-golf establishments, this one was selected for its knights & castles theme. Turned out it had hosted the U.S. mini-golf open just the week prior. We don't mess around!

Even with all we saw and did, there's no doubt that the highlight of each day was our late-afternoon swim. Since the average age of our fellow hotel guests was around 70, it's safe to say we basically had the pool to ourselves. Daniel is quite the jumping dare devil, assisted by inflated arm bands (muscles.) Edward mostly eschewed the floatation devices in favor of the weighted sticks he could throw to the bottom of the pool and dive down to retrieve--a very new skill. He did not seem to feel any affect of the constant belly flopping from the pool steps (first swimming pic above.) Perhaps he doesn't have enough stomach surface area...

Who knew when we accepted this trip offer back in September that Edward would develop a Titanic obsession and that Branson would be home to a Titanic Museum? It was obviously fate. To cement the experience, one of the two "boarding passes" he and John received upon entering the ship was for Captain Edward J. Smith. John quickly handed it to Ed, who was the hero of his tour group.
These two pictures stitched together might make a nice shot of John and the boys, but unfortunately we lacked the time and patience to capture one with both boys actually looking at the camera. This was outside the Talking Rocks Cavern.

This was inside the Talking Rocks Cavern. It was VERY wet and we were glad to have accepted the ponchos the guide offered as we entered the mouth of the cave. I had dressed the boys in pants thinking it might be chilly inside and gym shoes for better climbing traction. Needless to say they were pretty much soaked to the knees by the time we emerged. It was cool, but difficult to take pictures in the low light.
This is one John managed to capture--this formation is described as "cave bacon." Two weeks ago I might have been able to tell you how it was formed, but alas, that tidbit did not stick around long.

Outside the cave kids could mine for gems (after the parents purchased a large bag of sand with gems hidden inside.) John got some really great close-ups of this activity, so forgive the long-ish series. (Again, be thankful you're scrolling at your own pace!)

They gave us zip-loc bags for the kids to carry their gems home as well as a card to help identify the stones. We didn't quite get around to that level of detail, but perhaps some rainy day that will be our afternoon activity.
I take a lot of heat for sticking to a strict schedule of afternoon naps (which is morphing in to rest/quiet time) but truly, our boys were not able to function for an entire day of this trip without a break in the afternoon. It was difficult to get them settled with all of us in the same room, but this was an important part of all of us being able to last through dinner in one piece. Vacation naps also were later in the day than home naps, followed by swimming and a late-ish dinner (7 p.m. is a late meal for us.) That allowed us to stay up later all together, which somewhat mitigated that whole "nothing to do before 10 a.m." deal--though we were still always at breakfast by 8!

Everyone who rides The Ducks receives a quacker souvenir. Oh, lucky, lucky us. These were immediately banned from the car and hotel room and eventually just stashed in the bottom of the suitcase until we got home. Thankfully they have been of limited interest since then. I had thought the boys would really delight in the surprise of the truck driving into the lake so we didn't tell them what these vehicles were when we drove by a few times before our own ride. They took to referring to them as "those car-truck-bus things." The boat surprise was a bit less dramatic as the driver was required to make a safety speech about life jackets and such before we entered the lake. Also, with the flooding, there was no big splash, since he had to ease the boat down a ramp that was covered in water and through a stand of trees that should not have been submerged.

They did a good job taking turns at the wheel and allowing a few other passengers to do the same. Daniel actually had started to fall asleep on the drive out to the lake and I had to shake him awake with a promise that he could drive the boat.

Here is Ed trying a mini-bowling game at the "Chuck-E-Cheese"-type place we went to on the last night. This is where Daniel's vacation diet got the better of him (#underwearintrash) so he missed this activity while we quickly returned to the hotel for clean clothes. Edward had gotten a foot scrape at the pool that his sandal was rubbing, hence the attractive socks/sandals look (to reappear later due to unexpected chilly weather.)

This is the Jack and the Beanstalk climbing exhibit at The Magic House--St. Louis Children's Museum. Fantastic place!

Our children's museum does not have a water exhibit so our boys were thrilled with this opportunity.

They also both enjoyed the mechanic shop, complete with a roller bed for sliding under to complete repairs.

Top of the Gateway Arch.

Bottom of the Gateway Arch.

John's best attempt at a Gateway Arch family photo. The elevator to the top was deemed a "spaceship" and is probably one of the things you'll hear about if you ask the boys about the trip.

Our final stop was the St. Louis City Museum, an attraction that defies easy explanation. It was simply, amazing. I can not recommend it enough for kids and adults alike. Our kids were a bit on the young edge of the spectrum, as we were a bit nervous sending them climbing into tunnels for which we could not see the exit. Luckily they (Edward) knew enough to turn around and come back if he couldn't find us at the end. Or simply stand above and shout out "Mom!" or "Dad!" John and I marveled at being able to identify and locate the sound of our own children's calls amid the absolute caucaphony of hundreds of kids and teens. (MANY school groups were there that day!)

I've been telling people it's basically a huge old downtown building or warehouse that an artist converted into an indoor playground, complete with three-story slides, caves and tunnels, a "skateless skate park" (kids slide and climb on the ramps), a series of outdoor climbing mazes, and a rooftop with more slides, a Ferris wheel, and a school bus perched over the edge.

Inside the school bus.

Edward climbing up to the rooftop slide.

To give you a perspective on the climbing (Ed is the tiny dot of blue shirt just to the left of the mid-climb tree.) The sphere and point you can see just beyond is

this structure for more spiral climbing. And when you're all done, you simply

slideondown.

It will come as no surprise that this was all quite exhausting. But very fun and great to have the time together for a new adventure.

2011-06-07T14:51:00.002-05:00

Even though they're usually focused on trucks and other loud passions, I'm so glad the boys still enjoy the quiet contemplation of blowing bubbles. This was how we spent some outdoor time yesterday without expending all of our energy in the 95-degree heat. It didn't last long--inevitably the bubbles were spilled and alas, I've yet to purchase this summer's gallon of refill.

Thankfully, Daniel has abandoned last summer's habit of treating the bubble wand like a lollipop. This summer's idiosyncrasy is keeping the bike helmet on as long as we're outside, even after the bike has been left aside for other pursuits. Leads to quite the sweaty head, but at least I don't have to help him take it off and on a million times as his whim changes.

2011-06-04T20:13:00.003-05:00

Quotable Daniel:

Leaving a birthday party, Daniel asked, "Why did Alex have Spiderman cake and Spiderman plates?"
M: "Well, I guess he must like Spiderman. Do you like Spiderman?"
D: "No."
M: "Why?"
D: "Because I don't want to get all webbed up."

Arriving home after a barbecue after aforementioned bday party, half-lidded in his car seat: "I'm just so tired I could close my eyes right now. But first I want a peanut butter sandwich."

2011-06-02T19:26:00.004-05:00

John took Edward to buy a baseball mitt before dinner tonight. T-ball starts Monday. Which one of them do you think is more excited about the prospect of stuffing the new mitt under Ed's mattress to help soften it up?

It's a low-key parks & rec program for 4- and 5-year olds in the park down the street. He won't need cleats, but I'll have to persuade him to put on socks and gym shoes. John probably would cringe at the thought, but I hope he retains his instinct to duck away from a ball coming toward his face. Broken glasses are not in the summer budget.

2011-05-28T14:47:00.008-05:00

I don’t have a smartphone, so even though I sometimes think in Facebook status updates, I don’t have the ability to post them as I go. Which is probably not a bad thing. I also didn’t want to broadcast the fact that we were out of town, so these thoughts and observations languished in my head over the last week. Here is our vacation, Facebook style:

Car packed and on the road, 15 minutes ahead of schedule!
May 22, 8:15 a.m.

Dear Missouri, When you post a detour requiring people to turn right, it would help to use an arrow pointing right instead of straight up. The rest of the world thinks that means to continue straight. Love, everyone.
May 22, 10:30 a.m.

15 minutes into a stretch of winding, hilly country road: “I hope the kids don’t get carsick.” 2 minutes later, “Mooommm! My stomach hurts!” Open window, pass the barf bag and a pretzel rod, turn off DVD and advise passengers to look straight ahead. Equilibrium restored. The travel gods are smiling on us. #flatlanders
May 22, 11:15 a.m.

Surprised to pass through Mexico and Lebanon on our way to Branson.
May 22, 1:30 p.m.

Daniel just fell asleep listening to Mickey Mouse Club March on CD. @Maureen Geraghty will be so proud.
May 22, 2 p.m.

Thank you, Mom, for teaching me to pack a separate bag with all the swimming gear. 10 minutes after hotel arrival, kids are thrilled to be in the pool.
May 22, 5 p.m.

Glad to find “old downtown” Branson Landing on first night. Reassured to know that there is more than neon and asphalt here.
May 22, 6:30 p.m.

Did not expect to spend first night of vacation in bowels of hotel during tornado warning.
May 22, 8 p.m.

Emerged from shelter to learn of the storm’s devastation 100 miles west in Joplin. #feelingverylucky
May 22, 8:45 p.m.

Kids wanted the hotel entertainer Kenny Parrott to sing “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” at breakfast. He replied kindly, “I’m sorry that’s not in my repertoire.” They were shocked he didn't know it and asked me if they should teach it to him.
May 23, 7:45 a.m.

Blank stare from hotel clerk after asking what might be open at 8 a.m. #bransonnotkidfriendly
May 23, 8 a.m.

Morning mini-golf rained out. Too early for lunch. #whatthehelldowedonow?
May 23, 10:20 a.m.

Dear Summerwind Estates, I agreed to a 90-minute “vacation ownership” presentation in exchange for this low-cost trip. Don’t be surprised when I’m annoyed as we approach the 3-hour mark.
May 23, 5:15 p.m.

Afternoon frustrations drowned in kids’ giggles in the pool.
May 23, 6 p.m.

Kids again request “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” and when Kenny replies that he doesn’t know it, Daniel stands in front of the stage and sings it for him. #seniorcitizenscharmed
May 24, 8 a.m.

Edward over the moon after visit to Titanic Museum with John. Daniel's and my visit to Dinosaur Museum was less thrilling, but Daniel entertained himself for 40 minutes on a driving video game without depositing a single quarter. He also used the guns from the adjacent hunting game to "fill the gas tank." #simple
May 24, 11 a.m.

Just paid $20 for 5 minutes of go-karting. #rememberthegleefulgiggles
May 24, 11:30 a.m.

How can a kid who fights me daily about taking a nap, fall asleep on a loud, windy, bumpy Duck Boat ride? Shook Daniel awake with a reminder that he could have a turn driving once we hit the water.
May 24, 2 p.m.

No one in Branson can believe we have no intention of going to a single one of the 100+ shows in town. #notcountrymusicfans
May 24, 2:45 p.m.

I ♥ GPS! John’s phone directed us to a great playground for post-dinner energy burning.
May 24, 6:30 p.m.

Oops…stayed too long. #mosquitofeast
May 24, 7:45 p.m.

“Early bird” discount for touring Talking Rocks Cavern before 10:30 a.m. We’re all over it!
May 25, 9 a.m.

It takes several days for the ground to absorb three days worth of rain. #stillrainingincave
May 25, 10:15 a.m.

Just paid $20 to ride an elevator up about 10 floors to an observation deck to observe the tops of trees. #touristtrap
May 25, 11 a.m.

Hungry + tired = crabby family
May 25, 12:15 p.m.

Ah, the reviving power of a family nap. And once again to the pool!
May 25, 3 p.m.

Daniel’s GI tract is rebelling against the vacation diet. #underwearintrash
May 25, 7 p.m.

Had fun. Ready to leave. No need to return.
May 26, 8:30 a.m.

Thank you Rolla, MO, McDonalds for not giving us any static about letting our kids play in your Playplace without buying your food. I was much happier giving them the PB&J with yogurt offered at Panera a mile up the road. #thankyouGPS
May 26, 11:30 a.m.

Thrilled to use our Iowa Children’s Museum membership for reciprocal privileges at The Magic House Children’s Museum in St. Louis. #happykids
May 26, 2 p.m.

I ♥ Drury Inn. Dinner & 3 drinks per adult included in price of room. #anotherchardonnayplease
May 26, 6 p.m.

John and boys shared pool with about 15 fifth-grade girl scouts from Olathe. Edward, king of subtlety, kept sticking his head underwater to observe them through his goggles. #goodthinghe’sonly5
May 26, 7:30 p.m.

I ♥ Drury Inn. Popcorn in lobby until 10 p.m.
May 26, 8:30 p.m.

Boys watching two Little Einsteins episodes before bed. #tootiredtoenforceTVlimitsorbedtime
May 26, 9 p.m.

Boys awed by St. Louis Gateway Arch. Think elevator/tram is a spaceship to the top.
May 27, 9 a.m.

Definitely saved the best for last--St. Louis City Museum is AWESOME!
May 27, 10:30 a.m.

Loving City Museum even more. Boys so exhausted they slept for 3.5 of the 4.25-hour drive back to Iowa City. #worthEVERYpenny
May 27, 6 p.m.

2011-05-15T11:16:00.002-05:00

Daniel (protesting being sent to his room for not listening): "But I don't want to go to my room!"

John: "I know you don't, that's why it's called punishment."

Daniel: "Why is it punishment?"

Edward: "It's like peppermint, but with an 'ush.' "

2011-05-14T20:29:00.003-05:00

Four days ago we had record 92-degree heat. Two days ago I wore a summer dress and sandals. Today the mercury did not even hit 50.

And it rained. ALL. DAY.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. After dinner, I heard Daniel giggling and accepted his invitation: "Mom, wanna see something?!" Stepped out to the bottom of our stairs and watched him scoot down on his butt. I saw no reason not to kick it up a notch, so I got out his snow pants and had him try it again. Edward then wanted in on the action. This is the result.

We did get out of the house this morning or we might not have made it through the day. We attended the annual 4-H Ag-Fest at the county fairgrounds, inadvertently arriving 30 minutes before it officially started. But those friendly farmers didn't bat an eyelash. The boys were both fascinated and terrified to see a baby pig getting a scrub down with one man holding it up by the hind legs while the other scrubbed its back, all the while the piglet was screaming for all it was worth. There were also baby sheep, goat, ducks and hens, a small merry-go-round and three different "plant a bean" stations--two involving wrapping a bean seed in a wet cotton ball and placing it in a tiny zip-loc bag with a string to wear as a necklace.
Daniel was very frustrated that the hens and ducks did not hold still for him to pet them, walking all around this small enclosure trying to catch up with them. Eventually I think he did get a feel of feather.

From there we hit the farmer's market and the library, so I'd say we had a full day before noon. After lunch, naps all around!

2011-05-13T14:49:00.003-05:00

This is a repeat for those of you connected in Facebook-land, but I sometimes get in trouble for the lag between what I share on FB and what gets posted here.

John reports that the boys were "super awesome" at the commencement ceremony this morning. Lots of snacks and backpacks full of books helped, but I think the key was probably four grandparents to help out. That's fitting, since all of them were so key in supporting me all the way through the five-and-a-half years it took me to complete the degree. (It was actually six years ago next week that I started my first class, but since I finished coursework in January, I'm calling it a 5.5.-year degree.)

The most exciting moment came at the brunch after the ceremony when Daniel managed to get himself stuck in his chair. Thankfully it was not his head, but it did take three of us to extricate him. He remained calm throughout, alerting us to the need for attention with a simple, "Help, please!" Afterward, he returned to his meal, which pretty much consisted of a huge chocolate dessert. He might have also eaten a strawberry. Edward returned to the buffet for a second dessert. Yeah, it was that kind of day.

All in all a lovely celebration!

2011-05-10T20:07:00.004-05:00

Not even a week since my last post and lots to catch up on.

Thursday afternoon I took Edward to Kindergarten round-up at Robert Lucas Elementary. I did not think it was possible to increase his Kindergarten excitement/anticipation level but this definitely jacked it up a notch. Or five! He loved every minute, begged to stay longer and then insisted on staying at the playground even though it was chilly and damp. I was a little dismayed that one of the first parent questions was, "What is the process for accelerating past Kindergarten and right into first grade and how often does this happen?" The principal handled this very well, explaining that there is a district-wide process in place, but that it rarely happens, since so much of what is learned in Kindergarten is not about reading and math.

The other parent comment that caught me off guard was the description of attending three or four of these round-ups before selecting a school--shopping around, as it were. Hmmm... We do have open enrollment and on our side of town we don't have issues with crowding so people have some leeway in choosing a school. Also Lucas is on the Federal "schools in need of assistance" (SINA) list, so the district is required to allow parents to enroll their children in another district school. Even so, it never occurred to me not to at least start out in our neighborhood school. Every school in Iowa City is a great school--award-winning teachers, plenty of resources, dedicated staff. I guess I just have confidence that my kids will thrive, and that I'll know if something is amiss and just cross that bridge if we come to it. As a friend of mine commented, "Nothing like parents to ruin a kid!"

On Friday we attended our first baseball game as a family. We're not talking Wrigley Field here. Or even the Class A Cedar Rapids Kernels. No, we took in a University of Iowa baseball game on a beautiful Friday evening in Iowa City. It was dollar hot dog night and kids are always free. As my dad would say, "A bargain at twice the price!" It was the annual "pink game" for breast cancer awareness so the boys got pink wristbands, which Daniel quickly learned to use for a very dramatic sweat wipe (it wasn't even hot, but he loved the concept once it was explained to him.) They also loved that the players were wearing the same bands!

I also was paying close enough attention in the first two innings to complete their "baseball BINGO" cards (marking off things like "single," "fly out to left," "strike out--called," etc. early, which enabled them each to take home a prize t-shirt. These are size adult L, so they're even too big for sleeping shirts, but they were still thrilled with the prize!

Grandma and Grandpa joined us for the game. Beyond the BINGO, none of us was really closely following the action. The Hawkeyes are in dead last in the Big Ten standings, so we were not expecting much. Luckily, the Nittany Lions gifted us with eight (8!) errors, putting the Hawks up by 10-4 at the end of the fifth inning. That was 90 minutes of baseball, and plenty for us. A good time had by all (well, maybe not Grandma, but she's a good sport for hanging in there!)
(Side note: too bad we're not related to these Kenyons, whose significant $$ gift led to naming the football practice facility after them. It's next to the baseball field.)

Saturday we all got together in Chariton for John's grandma's 90th birthday. It was very festive, with a huge cake and cups of ice cream for all the family plus the other residents of the nursing home. The boys stood on either side of her wheelchair and sang happy birthday, eliciting smiles and claps and a big hug from Great-Grandma. Edward knows she likes his red curls, so he insisted we delay his haircut until after the party. (Now Gram has weighed in with her desire to admire them as well, so another week...)

Mother's Day Sunday started out lovely with John making waffles, scrubbing the kitchen, doing three loads of laundry and washing my car. Unfortunately, the boys had some strange notions about good behavior so the afternoon/evening was a bit rocky. John says maybe he put too much pressure on with the "We have to be extra nice for Mom on her day" speech before I got up. "Maybe you just shouldn't tell them about Father's Day," he suggested.

On Monday I took the boys to the Shrine Circus, which was out at the County Fairgrounds. I guess it was intended to be totally outdoors, but a significant morning thunderstorm led them to set up in one of the show barns, which made for quite a cramped viewing area. We were jammed in together in bleachers with peoples knees in our backs and a huge Dora balloon (ill-advised purchase by the parents behind me for their 4-year-old) bopping my head. It was no Ringling, but just about the perfect size/speed/length for our boys, who absolutely loved it.

Ed says his favorite part was the acrobats. Daniel was very impatient waiting for the elephants, which were the last act of the show. He was pleased with a clown whose tears squirted far enough to land on his shorts. There was a tiger act, but at that point the boys were still just as interested in the barkers' sno-cones and popcorn. I had a snack stash in my purse, but we did have to buy a drink as it is unseasonably hot this week (after last week's unseasonable cold!) We also skipped the opportunity to ride an elephant, as I was sure it would not be worth whatever they were charging. Plus we might have lost our seats!

Busy weeks ahead with my commencement Friday, a work trip next week, and then a family vacation. Didn't get a Mother's Day pic of myself with the boys, so perhaps a cap-and-gown shot will be in order. Although they did fall on the floor laughing when I modeled the academic garb for them. Oh, boys!

2011-05-04T14:59:00.002-05:00

We have a beautiful rhododendron at our front door. Even with our frosty spring, it's in full bloom, and I had the thought to take this photo to compare with one we took in our first spring in this house.
I don't think I took one last year so we won't have a complete set of year-by-year shots, but I still like the concept. We had to wait a few days after it bloomed last week for a day warm enough to go out without jackets. We've had overnight frost the last two nights, but things are looking up in the days ahead.

I was also going to share a non-kid photo showing our recent kitchen improvements--new stove and dishwasher! But alas, our streak of buying homes from people who have not embraced their own home-repair incompetence as we have continues. We pretty much call a professional for anything more complicated than a light bulb change. Other people apparently aren't so tied to actually having things done right. The dishwasher installer discovered that the electricity was oddly rigged and in no way up to code, so we have to have an electrician come out to fix it before he can finish the installation. Luckily the crazy old connection never caused any other problems. Luckier still, I called the electrician this afternoon, and he's coming out tomorrow, immediately followed by the return of the dishwasher man, so we should have a gaping hole under the counter and a new dishwasher randomly stashed in the corner for less than 24 hours.

Both appliances had previously been on life support as we held our breath hoping they'd last until we could afford to replace them. Lowes helped us out in that regard with an 18-month no interest deal in the last week, so between that and our tax refund, we were ready to take the plunge. It's really quite something to cook in an oven that actually heats to the temperature you set and then maintains it throughout the cooking period and whose burners heat all the way around! It truly is the simple things in life that give the greatest pleasure.

2011-04-29T14:55:00.002-05:00

Some may recall the rather dramatic entry Lego made to our home at Christmas. I'm pleased to say that it did not take long to get from the wailing "But I didn't WANT Lego!!" to this:

"Mom, nothing is better than Lego. Lego is the coolest!"

We think perhaps Santa may have passed info to the Easter Bunny, who brought a Lego fire truck along with this year's stash of jelly beans. (The police helicopter has been around since Christmas.)

Edward received his first "Lego Club" magazine in the mail yesterday and is even more enthralled, which we would hardly have believed was possible. It includes a few sets of directions for smaller items as well as pictures of kids with their own creations. Edward is eager to get building, but reluctant to take apart any of his current items (some put together according to instructions, others self-invented.) I guess we need more pieces. My mission for the summer is to find out what happens to Lego when kids outgrow it. What do people do with the tubs full of little pieces? I've seen some selling it by the pound on eBay. I'm curious to find out if the same is true at area garage sales (saving the shipping.)

Edward's teacher also thinks that the time spent manipulating the small pieces has strengthened his hand muscles enough to improve his writing and drawing. He has much better control in the last few months and has begun to draw recognizable figures (a wrecking ball, a castle, Thomas the Tank Engine.) We're not talking Rembrandt here, but more than just a few squiggled lines on a page, which was about the extent of the "art" he had been bringing home.

2011-04-17T20:29:00.003-05:00

I'm totally guilty of erratic blogging, with four posts in one week after quite a long silence. I will try to do better.

This one just deserved its own entry rather than being tucked away at the end of our March for Babies post below.

This morning on the way to Palm Sunday Mass, I was attempting to explain Holy Week to the boys. Edward remembered the palms from last year's service. At our church, they have all the children gather at the back of the church to form a palm-waving procession after the "entry to Jerusalem" Gospel is read. Edward is also more than a little bit interested in the idea of the Crucifixion--Why would anyone want to kill Jesus? I've simplified it by saying that some people were afraid of Jesus and the things he was teaching.

So we moved on to Holy Thursday and the Last Supper, Good Friday (why is it "good" if it's the day Jesus died?") and finally Easter Sunday and the Resurrection, leading to the inevitable question, "How can someone come back from being dead."

"Well," I said, "that's pretty hard to understand, isn't it. Even grow-ups don't really understand it. It's just something we believe even though we can't see it for ourselves. That's called 'faith'--when you believe even though you can't see it."

Then a moment of quiet in the back seat until Daniel started singing, "Grandma got run over by a reindeer..." Which seemed like quite the non-sequitur until he got to "You can say there's no such thing as Santa, but as for me and Grandpa, we believe."

So there you have it. Theology according to a three-year-old.

Oh, and Edward came back from the children's liturgy with the answer to the question about Good Friday: "It's 'good' because when Jesus died he opened Heaven for all of us. Before he died none of us could go to heaven."

I guess that's why I keep taking them back week after week, even when it seems like the only thing they're paying attention to is their fruit snacks.

2011-04-17T20:09:00.004-05:00

Except for two years in Washington, D.C. after college, I've lived in the Midwest my entire life. I know that spring is more a state of mind than an actual season. I have memories of snow as late as my sister's birthday on May 1. Yet I was still not fully prepared to wake up yesterday morning to a snow-globe view from my kitchen window. Yesterday. The day we would March for Babies.

Having known all week that the weather would be less than ideal (forecast was for rain and low 40s) I'd been in touch with all Team Kenyon members to assure them that we were tremendously grateful for their support and would not dream of dragging them out on a Saturday morning to take a walk in the freezing rain.

Most of them listened, but a few intrepid souls still made their way to the park and hiked the four-mile route with us. And by "us" I mean John and me. For although we got the boys outfitted in boots, snowpants and winter coats before pulling their over-sized March for Babies t-shirts over the top, we had no intention of pushing an 80-lb stroller through the wet streets. I do wonder when they'll be strong enough to walk the route with us, but this was certainly not the year! My wonderful parents were in town, and when the walk started, they took the boys back to our house to wait in warmth.

In the end, I have to say, I think the snow was actually less unpleasant than rain. We've walked in the rain before and found the snow to be a less soggy experience. We were dressed for it--in the layers we usually don for winter sledding. We even resorted to winter shoes/boots, which aren't the most comfortable for distance walking, but kept our feet dry.

So we filed it under my dad's famous "this is what memories are made of!" category as well as "it's nothing compared to what Will endured" and called it a day. To date Team Kenyon has raised more than $3,000 and donations are still coming in! We can't say Thank You enough to our wonderful family and friends who have been with us every step of the way on this journey. You fill our hearts!

2011-04-14T14:36:00.003-05:00

I call this "exhaustion defeats determination."

Daniel has been fighting naps for weeks now. I try not to engage in the battle, but insist that he must at least have quiet time in his room from about 1:30 to 3ish. And I remind him that no nap means he'll have to go to bed at 7 while Edward stays up later. Usually by about 2:15 he's calling me to rub his back until he falls asleep. Yesterday, he never napped and almost crawled to bed at 7--didn't even ask for me to read to him after John got done with his book.

Today he told me, "It's OK, I'll go to bed at 7," so I left him to play by himself. I heard him take a trip to the bathroom and then noticed it was much quieter, so I went up to peek. He was sitting in this chair, head nodding, but said, "Mom, what are you doing?" I told him I was getting my book and asked if he wanted me to rub his back. "No, I'm just waiting in my room until quiet time is over." Two minutes later I went back and snapped this picture. Hope he won't be too stiff when he wakes up!

Side note: even approaching four months after his 5th birthday, Edward still reliably naps five or six days a week. Usually once over the weekend and sometimes once during the week, he'll forgo sleep and just read or play with his Lego in his room. But he never fights about it or refuses to go. I realize this is unusual, and may be an issue come late August. He's even given me sort of a "raised eyebrow" look when I tell him that his kindergarten school day will go until 3 p.m. But they do have a rest time. We'll just see what happens through the summer and hope for the best.

In other exciting news that I forgot to share yesterday, the spring temperatures have also prompted a transportation change for us. I've thought for a long time that we should be taking the city bus to daycare/work since it does not add time to the commute (route is exactly the same as our driving route) and would cut our parking and gas expenses significantly. (Well, parking more than gas since it's only 2.5 miles, but with prices climbing toward $4/gallon, even 5 miles a day is not insignificant!)

So when the weather turned, I bit the bullet and signed up for a monthly bus pass, which the university subsidizes as an inducement to keep people out of the parking lots. For $10/month we can have unlimited rides on all city routes. I don't think it will come as a surprise to anyone who has been reading this blog through the years that the boys LOVE this turn of events. They positively dash out the door in the morning with barely a "Bye, Dad" over the shoulder as they race around the corner to the bus stop (three blocks away.) We have instituted a "stop at least one sidewalk square away from the corner" policy so that I have time to catch up.

We have had to negotiate days of the week for each boy to be in charge of pulling the cord to signal the driver to stop, but we've pretty much worked that out. Edward also has to be reminded to stay in his seat. The morning route is quite crowded as we get closer to downtown so he's seen other riders standing. On our way home (much less crowded at mid-day) he thinks he's quite the daredevil attempting to ride standing up.

So I'd say it's working well. You won't see us standing out in the rain waiting for a bus, but when the timing and the weather are in sync, we'll be there, doing our part for the environment and the family budget.

2011-04-13T14:43:00.004-05:00

Take a good look at these signs of spring because we're plunging back into winter this weekend.
Just in time for our March for Babies--rainy and low 40s. Sounds like a great time to be outside! We're trying to gently let our friends off the hook, but it's kind of tricky to say, "It's OK if you don't come" without making it sound like, "We'd rather you didn't come," which isn't our intent at all! I just feel bad dragging our friends out in the cold for our cause. I suppose I should just trust that they're adults and they wouldn't do something they didn't want to do. On a positive note, Team Kenyon has already surpassed last year's fundraising efforts, closing in on $2,500, and there's still time for additional contributions to roll in. Woo hoo! And THANK YOU to everyone who has supported our efforts!

While they last, we're enjoying these warm sunny days with walks to the park, backyard sports and al fresco dining.
Perhaps we're having a bit too much fun, judging from Daniel's shins:
The soccer pics above show a bit more enthusiasm than was generated for the actual Saturday morning soccer program the boys tried out this spring. It wasn't a very well run class, but all the same, Daniel could not sustain attention for more than the first 10 minutes or so, partly because he knew that just outside the gym was a delightful new-to-him playground to be explored. So, John and Ed stayed for the soccer and Daniel and I headed out to climb. No big deal--it was a low-key (low-cost) class, that I mainly signed them up for as a way to ensure some running around burning off energy time in the last weeks of winter.

Now I'm trying to decide whether to sign Edward up for summer t-ball. I suppose if nothing else, it gets us out to the park with other people twice a week, and if he decides he doesn't actually want to play ball, we can just hit the playground. There's definitely a fine line between helping your kids develop enough skill to make playing the game fun and pushing them into something they're not interested in.

2011-03-22T22:10:00.005-05:00

If ever there was proof that Edward and Daniel are all boy, witnessing their absolute glee when I told them that we were going to watch a building being knocked down by a wrecking ball certainly sealed the deal. These two spend so much time reading books about construction equipment (or rather, having said books read to them), playing "construction guy" and generally building up and knocking down things that I knew a trip that involved a wrecking ball would be a hit.

I learned of the event thanks to a press release from the University of Iowa, which advised that members of the media that wanted to witness and/or photograph an old building on an outpost of campus being torn down should report the next morning at 8. The boys aren't members of the media (yet), but I didn't figure anyone would kick them out. Sure enough, while they were the youngest witnesses by a couple of decades, everyone seemed charmed that they were there.

The prelude to the wrecking ball's debut was almost as exciting as the main event. In the space of about 10 minutes while we waited, the boys saw a train, two diggers, a dump truck and a tipper truck (they can explain the difference) a police SUV and a police car and a police officer (who they spoke with). When the wrecking ball was put into action (by which time Grandpa Kenyon, who lives about 2 blocks from the excitement, had walked over to join us), it was actually a bit anticlimactic. They dropped it on the roof of this three story building, and it made a dull "thud" and kicked loose a couple of bricks. The boys were riveted nonetheless. Soon, the ball was doing more damage, and Edward, despite complaining of cold feet, vowed to stay until they "wrecked down the windows." That accomplished, we headed out.

The various media representatives who were there all seemed to suddenly realize that the most photogenic element of the day was taking off, and shutters soon started whirring (or whatever digital cameras do). The boys and I ended up in the Cedar Rapids Gazette in a huge photo (seen at the end of the post linked above), and Edward's quote about "wrecking down the windows" was captured for history. A student from the college paper tried to interview them on video, but she has yet to learn the trick about interviewing children under the age of 8 or so: Don't. By all means, take their picture, especially when they're as cute as these two, but Art Linkletter's prowess to the contrary, kids give lousy quotes (particularly when you ask them questions that can be answered "yes" or "no"). She kept asking them if they liked seeing the wrecking ball, and they would nod. Not even a soundbite from these two. Alas, they were left on the cutting room floor.

As I drove them to school (all of this taking place before their day truly began), we recounted all of the things they had seen and experienced so they could remember to tell their classes. After reciting the litany of vehicles and such they had seen, I reminded them that they had been interviewed and photographed by people from the newspaper. "Oh, yeah," Edward said, with all the gusto of someone reminded he needed to clean his room. Is it any wonder the media is dying?

Mary, claiming she was looking for a way to kill an afternoon but surely not-so-secretly jealous of our super-cool morning, took the boys back out a few days later, this time with their construction hats as accessories. They again had a great time ("there were TWO wrecking balls, Dad!" I heard when I got home) and wanted to make sure the "worker guys" saw that they, too, had their hardhats on. They also played at a little park near the building. Note that they kept their hardhats on then, too.

They're going to knock down some more university buildings soon. What are the odds we'll be there?

2011-03-17T12:46:00.005-05:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Look at these two little leprechauns! Have you ever had this much energy at 7:30 a.m.? Thank goodness for warmer weather. These walls just can't contain us anymore. We were reduced to this for the last few weeks:

Riding bikes in a circle around the pool table in the unfinished basement. Boy do we know how to party! The boys actually loved it. Coming in from some outside play on Monday, Ed said, "Now can we take our bikes to the basement?" I however, was going a bit stir crazy. Never in a million years when we were considering buying this house did I think I'd spend time in the basement other than to do laundry!

Following up on the last post, Daniel got over his fever but remained congested through all of last week. Toward the end of the week he was occasionally saying his ear hurt, but it didn't seem to be slowing him down at all, and I know that most doctors don't automatically treat ear infections with antibiotics anymore. On Monday morning he actually woke up talking about his ear so I called in to report the symptoms and duration to see if he should come in. They gave him an appointment for 4 p.m., but when 3:45 rolled around and he was still napping, I called to cancel. Last thing I wanted to do was wake him up! But the afternoon was difficult--inconsolable wailing with a rage-like quality. I kept asking if his ear hurt, and he'd just scream NO!

Once John got home he tried to make some headway, but to no avail. Finally, around 6, Daniel said Yes when I asked if he wanted the doctor to look at his sore ear. (I had to promise that there would be no shots involved.) So I took him to urgent care, where they diagnosed an ear infection. He still had no fever and was actually at the height of his cuteness in the doctor's office (perhaps his good mood had something to do with me entertaining him with the only accessible item in the exam room--a flip book of the digestive system. He LOVED when I showed him, "This is where the poop comes out." Oh, my goodness.) But the NP said it was red/bulging and even if it was viral to begin with, the fact that he'd been talking about it off and on for several days led her to prescribe amoxicillin.

This turn of events might also explain why he was sort of indifferent to our Sunday evening swimming adventure. We spent the day with John's family in Chariton celebrating his grandparents' 70th wedding anniversary. Wait, just stop to think about that for a second. Seventy years! They are truly an inspiration to us all! On the way home, we stopped at a hotel about 20 miles from Iowa City that has an indoor waterpark and charges half-price admission on Sunday nights. It wasn't as grand as the park we've been to in Dubuque, but still, we thought the boys would be more excited about it. We found the ventilation to be poor--Daniel was coughing quite a bit even though he hadn't coughed otherwise that day and didn't cough after we left. They must have been aware of this issue because the overhead fans were blowing, but that made it pretty cold to wait for a turn on the big slides. We only took a few slide turns and spent most of the rest of the time in the (crowded) pool or in the zero-depth entry kiddie splash area. When we left, the boys were gleeful saying it was "Super fun!" but we probably wouldn't go back. We can have as much fun in our local pools for less than half the price!

I'll close with this picture of the lovely anniversary couple.

P.S. John owes you a description of taking the boys to see a wrecking ball demolishing a campus building last week. Feel free to harass him electronically until he shares the experience.

2011-03-04T15:50:00.004-06:00

Poor, sad Daniel has been sick since Wednesday afternoon. (Picture at left is to remind us of his goofy normal self--it's from our blizzard day last month.)

Germs have been rampant at daycare the last few weeks, so basically, it was just his turn. But whereas Ed had a fever last Wednesday afternoon that broke sometime overnight leaving him feeling fine (if a little congested) by Thursday, Daniel has had the fever off and on for three days now. It's gone as high as 102.5 (and we measure under the arm, which is supposed to be low compared to orally.) We thought he was over the hump this morning after a rough night, but by nap time the temp was climbing again. Could be a long weekend.

But even when he's not at the top of his game, he entertains through his direct and literal observations and pronouncements. For example, on the way to pick up Edward from school (Daniel in a footie sleeper w/coat because he just couldn't bring himself to get dressed or even put on shoes, and who was I to argue?) announced from the back seat, "I'm getting angry because my window doesn't have a windshield wiper!" It was raining and he was not pleased to observe the world through the drops.

To distract from this anger, I pointed out a guy standing high on a billboard preparing to install a new sign. We talked about how he got up so high and what he would do up there. Daniel thought we'd see a new sign by the time we were coming home (he was right.) As for how it would be installed: "Well, he has a hammer, so he's going to 'ham' the pegs."

No wonder I'm so worthless when it comes to all things home repair. I never knew I was supposed to use a hammer to "ham!"

2011-03-01T14:31:00.003-06:00

Ever since half his class went to kindergarten last August, Edward has told anyone who asks him about school, "Next time it's August, I'M going to kindergarten!"

Today in the car on the way to kindergarten registration, a small voice in the back seat said, "Mom, I think when it's August and it's time for me to go to my kindergarten school I might be a little scared."

Oh, my melting heart.

So we talked about how things that are new and different sometimes seem scary but it doesn't take long until the new things are fun and familiar. I imagine we'll have many versions of this conversation in the next six months as we count down to August 18, 2011.

While I was filling out the paperwork, Ed seemed to be taking it all in--"huge" cafeteria, new kids, different adults. After I was done, we walked down the hall to see the kindergarten classrooms (there are three this year.) We stopped to see the gym, pointed out the bathrooms, peered through the window of the library and art rooms. Two of the three kindergarten teachers were in their rooms and very welcoming. Today is a teacher conference day so no students. We were lucky to walk by while they were between parent meetings. (Later this spring they'll have a kindergarten round-up with plenty of time to see everything, meet teachers and other kids.)

The rooms are sunny and inviting and both boys were ready to make themselves at home. We also saw the mom of one of Edward's preschool friends, so he'll know at least one other kid on the playground, even if they aren't in the same class together.

Daniel, never one to believe he can't do every single thing his brother can do, said, "Mom, I want you to sign ME up too!" When I told him he had to be five to go to kindergarten, he said, "No, Mom, three-year-olds can go to kindergarten too." Later, when we walked by the drinking fountain, we discovered that Ed is tall enough to get his own drink, but Daniel still needed a boost. This seemed to be the most persuasive argument in my favor.

Oh, and we already had to visit the school lost and found because Daniel left his hat in the cafeteria.

2011-02-25T14:22:00.004-06:00

We had four days of no snow this week (no boots, woohoo!), but another inch or so overnight covered everything back up. Maybe we'll all stay healthy enough for some sledding this weekend. I was down for the count last weekend--fever, congestion, sinus pressure, ugh! John was basically a single parent for most of the weekend. Except the part when I got up on Sunday and decided I would still make the navy bean soup I was planning for dinner. Then I said I'd give John a break from kid duty and took them to ride bikes in the basement, forgetting the soup, which burned on the stove top. A double batch. Inedible. Oy. Well, actually, we did eat it that night; Daniel slurped it up, Edward said he liked non-burned soup better but it was still good, and John had seconds. Based on that, I put the leftovers away. But when we tried to eat them later in the week, the burned taste was even more intense (once again, Daniel didn't notice, but the rest of us did.) So down the disposal it went. So sad.

By Wednesday, the cement-block feeling in my head was gone, but then Ed woke up from his nap with a 101-degree fever. Stayed home Thursday and never had a fever all day, but he still has a stuffy nose and cough. We'll see what the weekend holds.

In other cold-weather activity, our whole family tried ice skating two weeks ago--three of them for the first time. I used to skate often enough as a kid that I usually had my own skates, but John says there was roller skating, but no ice skating in Des Moines when he was a kid. Our kids have seen the rink at the mall and been intrigued, but we hadn't taken the plunge until the Children's Museum offered a special "Healthy Families" event that included free skating on a Friday night. The (little) boys actually did surprisingly well. At first they were very clingy, and let's just say that while I can hold my own in the rink, my skills are not sufficient to keep two people upright. Acting on the advice of the instructor leading the museum program, we had the kids try a kind of marching gait, that actually worked pretty well. They were excited to be able to move on their own, though they still spent quite a bit of time on their butts. We all had a good time and the boys have been asking to go again.

During our annual February thaw the week of Valentine's Day, we took the opportunity for some outdoor play, despite the lingering snow.
At the beginning of the week, our sidewalks weren't clear enough for bikes, so we walked a few blocks to the creekside path to expend some energy. The boys were thrilled to be on wheels again (hence the bikes in the basement when the winter temps returned at the end of the week.) We thought it was funny to juxtapose the bikes with the snowy background.
Our attempts to capture a festive Valentine's picture devolved quickly from this:

To this:
And here's a little video John pieced together over the weekend.

2011-02-11T14:43:00.005-06:00

Well, we survived the great Blizzard of 2011 and its aftermath of arctic temperatures. Hard to believe we might actually be pushing 40 this weekend. I told the boys this would be our last "super cold" time of this winter, guessing that we've seen the last of these sub-zero weeks until next season. I hope Mother Nature doesn't turn me into a liar.

I am well aware that winter is far from over. We'll surely even have more snow, but let's leave the rest of the arctic blast to the Canadians, eh?

I sometimes feel bad when my blogging doesn't keep up with my Facebook posts, but here's a little something just for you loyal blog readers:

Full disclosure: John was shoveling the driveway while I was trying to clear the three foot drift from the front porch/door. The boys took off across the front yard and soon we heard Daniel calling but couldn't quite make out what he was saying. Amazing how the snow muffles sound! I worried that he was calling "my boot my boot" as in "my boot came off in the snow" but luckily he was just calling "I need a boost!" Rather than immediately boosting him out of his snowy snare, I captured this video so you could share the moment.

This snow also enabled us to employ some of the knowledge we've gained from reading The Magic Treehouse series by Mary Pope Osborne. In one of the stories, our heroes (7- and 8-year-old sister and brother Annie and Jack) travel to the Arctic circle and encounter polar bears. They get caught on some thin ice that begins to crack, but by observing the polar bears they learn that if you lay down on your belly your weight is more evenly distributed and you won't break through. The boys employed this trick to get across the front and back yards when walking was simply impossible as the drifts were up to their waists. (I think our official storm total was only 10-12 inches, but the winds really piled it up in places.)

We all had a snow day on the Wednesday of the storm. John worked hard to clear the driveway even through the snowplow berm and then I took over later to dig out our front sidewalk. Usually we can count on a neighbor or two to help us out with a snowblower, but this storm was too much even for the snowblowers--at least the small ones our neighbors have. Most of them were out with shovels and snowblowers, taking off a layer or two before trying to plow through. Pretty incredible stuff!

We were back in business by Thursday though and even managed a Saturday afternoon sledding excursion with Grandma and Grandpa before the deep freeze set in this week. We don't have photographic evidence, but full props to Grandpa who executed a tremendous dive/evasive maneuver when Edward was headed straight toward him after he took Daniel on a downhill ride. It only took us a few slides though to realize that the adults were inhibiting the sledding. The kids riding solo with their lighter weight were able to go much farther, much to their delight. Of course that meant a lot of trudging up and down for Mom and Dad, but it all burns calories, right?
It was a little bigger hill than we've been to before. Daniel's first reaction: "I put on my scared face because I was scared...but it was FUN!" It was getting dark so the pictures aren't the best. When Edward bundles himself up for outdoor fun you can barely tell it's him with just eyes and nose poking out from his hat/hood so no pics here.

Here's the last time back up the hill to the car. John's so warm from the exertion that he's removed his hat. Daniel's so tired he begged John to pull him up. He still had to "polar bear" part of the way as it was too steep to pull, but we made it and a good time was had by all.

A few more blizzard pictures for posterity:
"Helping" John clear the driveway.
Loading the front porch snow into our yard cart to haul away because there was no more room to throw it to the side of the walk.
Sitting on top of our headless snowman (head had fallen off a few days before the storm.)
A cool "wave" snow drift in the back yard, where drifts were as high as our first floor windows.
Snow exhaustion. (Note: they put their snow gear on over their pajamas and ended up never getting dressed the whole day.)

And finally, I feel I must share a moment of motherly vindication. You may recall my description of the Christmas morning meltdown from Edward ("but I didn't WANT Lego!") I'm happy to report that he is now fully obsessed with his Lego and constantly begs John and me to help him recreate the pictures in the book that came with his set. We were worried that we were doing too much, but he clearly was picking up on how to translate the pictures to reality because he created this set entirely on his own:
The book showed numbers 1, 2 and 3, but he took it all the way to 10 on his own, with only a little guidance from John on how to make the 7 stable enough to stand with the rest. I find this particularly interesting because I think he'd be hard pressed to write these numbers as his dexterity is still pretty limited. He shows little interest in coloring or any sort of writing and has taken pains to limit his requirements in this area by reducing his "signature" to Ed.

2011-02-01T21:29:00.005-06:00

My mom objected to my characterization of my older son in the last post. I think I was clear that his behavior was nothing unusual for a kid watching his brother get all the attention, but she claims I overstated the need for physical restraint. I'll just have to say that a mother and a grandmother view/remember the same scene quite differently.

However, this post will focus on the more commonly displayed Edward attitude--exuberance.

We hosted his/our first "kid" birthday party on Jan. 8, and I would say it was a success. For several reasons, I deviated from my instinct that the number of guests should equal the age of the kid and invited his whole class plus a few younger siblings who are Daniel's age. Edward has been invited to SO many parties over the last two years that I really felt we owed a lot of people a return invite. Plus we were not having it at our house, but at our community gym so there was plenty of space for the kids to just run around and be kids. Plus it was only for 90 minutes, 10-11:30 a.m. I figured we could handle it. We did, though I was definitely glad a few of the parents hung out to chat and to help corral the kids as needed.
The gym was full of bikes for the kids to ride around plus two inflatables for jumping and sliding.

We had this part for the first hour and then moved to a separate room for cupcakes and juice/water. I had warned John in advance to be prepared to lead a few games of Simon Says since I was sure the cake would not last the remaining 30 minutes of the party after we left the gym. We were totally unprepared for the cake/drinks to last three minutes. Literally by the time the last kids were getting their cupcakes the first ones were done and ready to move.

We had specified on the invitation that the kids' friendship was the greatest gift and were very happy that people respected this and did not bring gifts. However, that left us with time to fill. John jumped in on Simon Says, but then Edward wanted to be Simon.
Then EVERY kid wanted a turn, but their attention span wore out before we could get to everyone. Then we moved on to the hokey pokey, which was a hit (and I'm told has been reprised on indoor play days when it's too cold to go outside at school) but again, didn't last long enough to get us to that magical 11:30 hour.
It kind of devolved after that and the kids ran around a bit, collected their party bags and left. One kid's dad thought it ended at noon so was late for pick up (luckily he was the one who left his cell phone number when he dropped of his son, so a quick call and he came right over.) While we were waiting, the kids had a second cupcake.
Edward had fun and it really was pretty easy, all things considered. But I'm definitely reconsidering the idea of celebrating with friends on the boys' half birthdays. Something about the June/July time frame just seems to offer so many more possibilities for energetic boys.

Speaking of Edward, he floored me last night with this question just as I was turning out the light for the night: "Mom, why did a very angry man shot Abraham Lincoln?"

WHAT???

He always uses probing questions to extend the bedtime ritual, but usually they're about what we've just read or something we've done that day. This was totally out of left field. I asked him where he'd heard about that and he said, "From a book at school." I told him it was a long, complicated story ("what's complicated?") and that we'd have to talk about it more in the morning and maybe get some more books from the library.

This morning I had him show me the book at school. It was a book about "young Abe" but the last two pages dealt with his presidency, the Civil War and his assassination (all in about 50 words, so, you know, nuance is lost.) In fact, the page that said he was shot was actually a picture of Civil War soldiers pointing cannons at each other, so Ed and his classmates thought Lincoln was shot by a cannon in a Civil War battle.

I braved our blizzard to dash quickly to the library before picking up the kids from school and checked out a few other books on Lincoln, but even though they're the same series/reading level as some of the Titanic books we've been reading for the last month, the concepts are way over his head (pioneer times, government, elections, etc.) We'll see if we can make any sense of it for him.

Speaking of the blizzard, this apparently is supposed to be one for the record books. At last a foot of snow (including thunder snow with lightning, which I just heard/saw) driving winds and the arctic cold. Public schools are closed tomorrow. Not sure yet about our daycare, which tends to follow the university's lead on closing. So far UI classes between 4:30 p.m. today and 10 a.m. tomorrow are canceled. Staff are supposed to report for work, but I can easily take vacation time if daycare is closed. We're grateful to be far enough north to avoid the inch of ice that is the southern edge of this storm (down toward St. Louis.) I'm not sure about a snow day with no power/heat! Thank goodness for a warm house (even with our drafty windows and front door!)

2011-01-30T17:04:00.004-06:00

Just getting in under the wire here--pictures from Daniel's birthday while it's still his "birthday month."

Daniel's birthday (Monday, 1/10) was the first day of my week-long final MBA class. I was a little worried he'd get short shrift, but I got home in plenty of time that day to order the pizza he'd requested for his birthday meal. Once again, following Dad's lead (recall our Christmas meal was pizza, for the same reason.)

The night before his birthday, Daniel was lucky enough to celebrate with all four of his grandparents. My parents were in town for their babysitting gig (they watched the boys the first two days of my class week) so they and John's parents joined us for some presents, pasta and pie. Daniel decided more than a month ago that he wanted cherry pie for his birthday dessert.
We're really not sure where he came up with the idea, but he never wavered. I suggested other options, but he stuck to his guns, and I think he was pleased with the outcome. Even if he didn't like the pie, he was thrilled to run into one of his favorite firefighters at the pie store. (Firefighter Mark, who also drives a cement truck on his off days, and who we met last summer when he was pouring a driveway next door.) We've also seen him on our visits to the fire station, and he happened to be one of the crew assigned to the truck that visited the daycare this fall. So, yeah, he recognized us as soon as he saw us. He was leaving as we were coming in and was patient enough to stop for a chat with his adoring fans. The boys were a bit curious about why he didn't have his fire truck with him, but we tried to explain the concept of "days off."
The day before that (Saturday), we had Edward's first friend birthday party, to which we invited several of his friends' younger siblings who are in Daniel's class at school. So I guess I shouldn't have worried about short changing him since he basically got a three-day extravaganza for his birthday.

In fact, it's possible that the only person who wasn't pleased with Daniel's birthday celebration was Edward.
Even with the very helpful arrival of his birthday present in the same shipment from Arizona as Daniel's, meaning he had something of his own to unwrap, Edward really could not deal with the focus being on his brother. I believe this meltdown was because it was not enough to play with his new "lights and sirens" fire truck and insisted that Daniel should hand over his new ambulance as well.
You'll also note here that I am physically restraining Edward to allow Daniel the honor of opening his own presents. None of this is a surprise of course. It's hard to let your brother be the center of attention. I remember talking about this in advance of last year's birthday, but probably need to make that an annual conversation to achieve better mental preparedness on his part.

2011-01-26T16:35:00.003-06:00

This afternoon Daniel came out of the bathroom, frustrated, with his pants and underpants twisted from his attempts to dress after peeing. He walked in to the room where I was folding laundry pulling on his pants and grunting from the exertion. Finally in frustration he yelled out, "No, thank you, Bob!" His underpants were Bob the Builder.

Also yesterday he wanted me to rub his back while he fell asleep at nap time. I promised I would come back to do it after I read Edward a book and settled him for his nap. It only took about 10 minutes but by the time I came back in he was flat on his back, eyes struggling to stay open. When I reached under the cover to rub his belly, his shirt was already raised up to his armpits. He'd belly-rubbed himself into a catatonic state.

The picture above is from a few weeks ago when he insisted on getting out his new stamps from Aunt Nora first thing in the morning. He'd wanted to do them at bedtime, and when his repeated requests fell on deaf ears we finally agreed he could do them in the morning. I should not have been surprised that he remembered.

2011-01-16T20:12:00.002-06:00

Did you hear that scream on Friday afternoon? That was me finishing my last MBA class.

WOO HOO!!!!

It's been five and a half years and there definitely were times I questioned why I was torturing myself, but it feels like a great accomplishment. Just please don't ask, "So what are you going to do with it?" I don't know. I don't have any immediate plans to change jobs, as there are few, if any, that would offer me the flexibility I have now. I started the program to fill time and space at a time when I needed distraction. I continued it because I figured even though it would be a slow slog, I didn't want to ever find myself shut out of an opportunity for lack of a master's degree. The right opportunity will present itself, and that's enough for now.

This last class was just one week, but 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (ish) each day. My parents came out to hang with the boys on Monday and Tuesday, John's parents picked them up from school and kept them for the afternoon on Wednesday and Thursday, and John took Friday afternoon off to be with them. A fitting end, as this group has been supporting me all the way through this program.

John and the boys were prepared for my arrival home. John had taken them to pick out some festive balloons (pink and purple were required colors, and they wanted one that said "Mom"--not necessarily an easy purchase in January, but John called around and found one.) John strung up a banner in the kitchen and baked a celebratory oatmeal pie.

So I know I'm way behind on the blog right now, but let's just let this one stand alone. I'll have time in the days ahead to catch up on the rest.

2011-01-05T15:08:00.003-06:00

Wow, more than a week later, we're still not up to speed on the birthday/Christmas extravaganza. I'll try to get all caught up since I'm headed to class next week and won't have time to come up for air.
After much deliberation and soul-searching, Edward finally settled on chocolate cake for his birthday. With Lightning and Mater. Yes, around and around we went with varieties of cake and pies, until we ended up in exactly the same place as last year. Oh well, at least I already knew how to do it. Apparently though, I don't know how to read the expiration date on a cake mix because the first cake of the day did not grow to more than about half an inch thick. I briefly considered just frosting it and moving on, but couldn't bring myself to do it. The only other cake mix in the house was white cake, so to the cookbooks I went to find a recipe for which I had all the ingredients. A quick reminder of how to make a substitute for buttermilk (regular milk with a Tbsp of lemon juice), and we were back in business. (The non-rising cake went into the freezer for use on a less festive, but still dessert-worthy occasion.) John's best comment of the day after learning of my cake plans: "You can DO that????" As in, make a cake without a mix. Yes, this is the level of our culinary expectations.

The next crisis came when I discovered that the number 5 candle had somehow broken in half inside the package. ARRGH! I was about to head out to Walgreens, which remained open 24 hours through the holiday, when John hit upon the idea of using the wax from a regular birthday candle to melt the two pieces together. It worked! At least long enough to light and blow out, which was all that was required.

Edward's other birthday meal request was for pizza--like father, like son. (It's on Daniel's self-selected menu as well.) I offered home made but he said, "No I want the pizza guy to bring it." Well, Edward, sorry. No delivery on Christmas. So instead, we went to a local family-owned pizza place that preps and freezes pizzas to bake at home. Worked pretty well, though it did result in the third smoke detector blaring of the day. (Recall the overflowing monkey bread from earlier in the day. Hard as we tried, we couldn't get all that sugar off the bottom of the oven. Really smokes up when the oven is at 450 for pizza!)

But aside from my kitchen foibles, I think it was an all around good birthday. Here is Edward in the Christmas gift knight costume opening knight Legos from his Wisconsin cousins.
And here he is with the castle gift from Grandma and Grandpa (with 130 PIECES!)
We did manage to get it put together, but it took all four adults!
This should be good for hours of indoor winter fun until it's warm enough to hit the sidewalks with this gift from Mom and Dad:
He's tooled around inside a bit but you can't get up much momentum from one side of the living room to the other.

The day after Christmas we took advantage of the Christmas Eve snowfall and went sledding at our local elementary school.
The boys had a blast, and John and I took a few turns down the hill as well. We steered clear of the "jump" some intrepid sledders before us had fashioned, but the kids thought it was fabulous. In the video below you'll hear Edward's "Oh, man!" when he misses it, and Daniel's giggles as it causes his sled to flip time and again.

John thinks this action shot is worthy of Sports Illustrated.
Next up, New Year's weekend in Evanston. More stories for another day.

2010-12-28T20:40:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas to all! We have many reasons to celebrate this time of year and boys eager to drink it all in.
I had some "help" in the kitchen before the big day, decorating cookies to take to neighbors and friends. This was a fun afternoon, but I'm sure I still have sprinkles on my kitchen floor, even after mopping! They seemed determined to pile as much on each cookie as they could possible shake from the shakers. I thought they'd never dry...but eventually they did. And they tasted great!

On Christmas Eve, John's mom cooked us an amazing feast. But before we could dig into the food, we dove in to some presents.
The boys were very patient, waiting for all the gifts to be stacked up for each person and then waiting and watching each other open packages. These costumes were the hit of the evening.

It snowed all day on Christmas Eve, piling up about six or seven inches here in Iowa City. During dinner, the boys had to take an intermission to run to Grandma's piano room window to watch the snowplows clearing the street and driveways. After that, they proceeded to eat about six desserts each, but what the heck...Christmas only comes once a year!

We had to hurry home to bed so Santa wouldn't miss us. This was our first year expecting Santa overnight, as in the past he's come while we were at 8 a.m. Mass on Christmas morning. Due to a schedule change, we couldn't go to Mass until 10 a.m., so presents came first. (Note: I'd much prefer to attend Christmas Eve Mass, but since I can barely get the boys through a regular one-hour service, there's just no way we'd make it through the extra pageantry plus the need to arrive at least 45 minutes early to get a seat!) The boys didn't get up until about 6:45, which we considered an acceptable time. You can see that Daniel was still a little bleary eyed.
They tore into the packages and were thrilled...
...until they weren't. The picture below is just before Edward wailed, "But I didn't WANT Lego!"

He was eagerly anticipating the semi trucks that carry the Cars vehicles (Lightning McQueen, et. al.) I had been coaching both boys to ask for Lego because they love building with it at school and at the Children's Museum, but didn't have any of the "big kid" kind at home, due to the tiny pieces. Daniel fell right in line and was thrilled with his Lego box. Edward, however, did not appreciate Santa's attempt at manipulation, giving one semi each to the boys so that they'd have to play together. Tears ensued--both Edward's and mine, my heart broken to see him disappointed on Christmas morning.Thankfully it didn't last long, and in a beautiful Christmas moment, it was actually Daniel who saved the day. He came across the room to the chair where I was holding a sobbing Edward and held out his red Mac truck saying, "Here Edward, you can play with it." What a great kid! Shortly after, they were both playing happily, and Edward had to admit that the new Lego allowed for the construction of much better garages and ramps for the cars.

In the meantime, I attempted to make a pan of monkey bread for a breakfast treat, but ended up setting off the smoke detector when the sugar boiled over and burned on the bottom of the oven. To stop the smoke I took it out five minutes early, so of course it wasn't cooked all the way through. We attempted to eat the outer edges, but it just wasn't working, so we waited for the oven to cool a bit, used the grill spatula to scrape as much as we could from the bottom, and tried again. We got it cooked through, but not without more smoke. And I still had a birthday cake and pizza dinner (birthday boy request) to cook later in the day!

2010-12-21T21:13:00.006-06:00

We're expecting another significant snowstorm just in time for Christmas so I guess I'd better hurry up and post the pictures from our first storm last week.
Other parts of the state had snow earlier, but this was our first real shovel event. It was much anticipated by the under-5 set in this house. So much so that Edward got up half an hour early so he could go out and help John clear the walks and driveway. He has a new shovel that he's been dying to try out (Edward, not John.) I must record this now so I can show Edward in about 10 years when we're forcing him out the door with threats of withholding the car keys (*shudder*)

When we got home from work/school, two of our (retired) neighbors were out chatting over their shovels. The boys had on boots but no snowpants and could not contain their excitement. They dived right in, running through the yards with glee. Oh well, I guess it's not such a big deal to take off the wet pants with the boots at the door and change for naps. After naps it was back outside where we stayed for more than an hour. First shoveling and then playing on the sled. I briefly contemplated a trip to a sledding hill, but it was already getting dark and they were fully content dashing through our yard and pulling/being pulled along the sidewalk.

We celebrated Christmas with John's extended family on Sunday--a much more successful trip to Chariton than our last adventure. This time we had a large room for our gathering and our boys were thrilled to play with their cousins from Omaha. Edward was even a good sport about losing his throne as Banana Slap champion. He always beats John and me, but his seven-year-old cousin proved to have even quicker reflexes and definitely was making a run for it until it was time for lunch.
We didn't leave until almost three in the afternoon, which is normally when they wake up from naps, so I think exhausted is not too strong a word. They slept almost the whole way home and were docile enough for the last half hour of the trip while awake, content to listen to the books on CD we checked out from the library the day before.

When we got home, it was time to trim the tree.
We'd managed to buy one Saturday morning, despite two out of the three places we tried being completely sold out. And it's not even a Charlie Brown tree. It may be the best we've ever had. I guess it's not a bad thing to walk onto a tree lot and only have to decide among about a dozen options. We definitely have some heavily laden branches down low, but I decided not to rearrange after the boys were done. This tree is true to who we are this year. This picture is also true to who we are this year. A little wacky, occasionally infuriating, possibly looking for trouble.
Finally, a health note: I've recovered from my double root canal, which now awaits a permanent crown sometime after the first of the year (in hopes that my new insurance will cover it.) I went back this morning for the endodontist to remove the temporary packing and place the permanent one. She told me today that pain studies have shown that root canal treatment on an infected tooth is the second most painful experience one can have. The first is getting shot in the knee with a bullet. What?! So yeah, I guess I really was justified in my weekend-long stupor and desperation for additional drugs.

2010-12-12T19:09:00.006-06:00

A friend of mine started a project last winter when she realized she had gone a whole month without taking any photos of her third child. Nothing like mom guilt to get you going. So she decided to challenge herself to take at least one picture every day for a year and post them on Facebook and her blog. It's been fun to watch the progression and to see what memorable (or mundane) moment from each day is captured.

I may have to take up this challenge myself as I have found fewer and fewer pictures on my camera and have let many of those "fun in the moment" moments slip away. This blog starts to get unwieldy when I think I have to catch up on weeks of updates all at once. Something to ponder in the new year. It would help if I had a better camera, but since I just gave all our money to a local endodontist, that's not in the cards.

I had a toothache last week that I tried to ignore and/or treat with ibuprofen. After five years without it, we decided to carry dental insurance again starting Jan. 1. We never have dental issues and for two cleanings a year it was actually cheaper to pay out of pocket than to pay the monthly premiums. Well, I believe I just caught us up on five years worth of monthly premiums with what turned out to be a root canal gone bad (and needing replacement); so bad it infected and killed the tooth next to it, which also then required a root canal.

The pain was so bad that even though the endodontist office said they didn't have an appointment until Monday, I just took myself there on Friday intending to beg for mercy, whatever was necessary to be seen and get started on ending the pain. Apparently I looked just pathetic enough to be fit in around their scheduled patients. I was so desperate, I actually stopped at an ATM on the way to the office so I'd have cash to offer any other patient in the waiting room who would be willing to trade for my Monday appointment. That turned out to be unnecessary, but I really think I would have done it. There is nothing quite like tooth pain.

The best I felt all week was when I left that office still numb on Novocaine. I couldn't start the real pain meds right away because I needed to pick up the boys from school and then get them back there at 4 p.m. for Edward's much-anticipated performance as a hummingfish in his class presentation of "The Lorax."
It was pretty much everything you'd expect from a preschool performance, and mercifully short. The kids had fun and we had a great laugh at the end when Edward stole the show with a very dramatic bow. In the picture he has his hand to his chest and is about to do a full body bend forward to receive his applause. Classic!

Earlier in the afternoon, we'd also celebrated the season with a great University of Iowa tradition: Holiday Tubas.
On the last Friday of the winter semester, all the tuba/euphonium faculty and students and any community members who happen to play gather on the steps of the Old Capitol in the center of campus and play a holiday concert. (If you click on the link above you can hear part of last year's concert.) This year we were lucky enough to have a near-40-degree day, so it was quite pleasant and festive. There are years when the concert has sort of a tag-team approach as players rotate in and out of the building to warm up their instruments and unfreeze their valves. Not this year. The boys were interested, but also able to run around a bit without causing too much disturbance. They also were thrilled to receive a candy cane at the end and even more ecstatic when I said they could eat it right then rather than waiting until a regular dessert time. Oh, life's simple pleasures.
Since we were on campus, of course there were many sights to see. Chief among them, Cambus after Cambus rolling down the street. The timing was such that it would have been tricky to get them home and settled for naps and then awake again in time to go back to school, so in a RARE departure from routine, we decided to skip naps and ride the Cambus. You would have thought I said we were going to Disneyworld. Again, simple pleasures.
This is the bus driving away after our ride.

Having children who appreciate the simple things can occasionally backfire though. When I last posted we were in the throes of a parents vs. kids battle over behavior and listening. We were quite surprised at how little they seemed to care about their missing toys. The first two days we rewarded good listening and then re-removed the toys for bad behavior in equal measure. Slowly they started gaining back more than they were losing and it seems in the last few days that we've really turned a corner. Of course we've been praising the good behavior until we're practically tripping on ourselves. Daniel had a bit of a relapse today, refusing to listen to us when we suggested it was time to go to the bathroom, resulting in three accidents. It's frustrating, but interesting to see how he uses this mechanism for control. But this weekend has been a bit topsy-turvy with me still being in near constant pain from my teeth.

I actually had to have the doctor paged Saturday and Sunday to discuss alternatives to the drugs she prescribed. Yesterday she told me I could take the vicodin/ibuprofen combo as often as every 2 hours until the amoxicilin for the infection reached a therapeutic level (expected today) which should have caused the pain to subside. This was a relief because waiting for the 4 and 6 hour mark on these two was agonizing. I was a bit nervous about pumping such high levels of drugs through my system, but it truly was necessary. Taking it that much more often meant that I'd run out by this morning so I had to call again to have her phone in a new prescription. She seemed surprised that the pain was still so strong and decided to also prescribe a steroid to help with the inflammation.

John ventured out into our arctic wonderland (today's high was about 7) to pick these up. The pharmacist warned that the steroid combined with ibuprofen is tough on the stomach. But I'd already taken the ibuprofen and needed to start the steroid ASAP to get the full day's dose in by bedtime. Ugh. Let's just say it was not a pleasant morning.

This is what passed for my attempt to entertain the boys while John was at Walgreens:
We were discussing snowmen, despite the fact that our predicted blizzard had not materialized overnight. Edward asked if we had a corncob pipe and seemed flummoxed when I told him we did not. We're very literal these days, and the Frosty the Snowman book we've been reading of course mentions this accessory. I told him that all Frostys are different, depending on who makes them. "Some snowmen wear black top hats and others might wear a red or blue hat," I continued. Then I remembered this hat stashed in our winter box and pulled it out to great effect. When I walked into the room wearing it, they could not stop laughing. Then they wanted to try it on themselves and it did not lose any of its humor value. This was heart-warming for me, as one of my fondest memories of my Grandma Ganey is her laughing so hard and so long that she nearly fell off the couch when these hats were Christmas presents for my cousins and me and we all put them on immediately upon opening them at our family gathering. I wish I still had that picture!

As I mentioned, we were expecting a whopper snowstorm overnight and thought since we'd be housebound today we should probably have an outing after naps yesterday. We headed over to the mall to visit Santa and have dinner. I've been eager to get the Santa visit done so that Edward's wish list would stabilize. He's been changing his mind so often that I've had visions of a Christmas Eve shopping trip.

Our dinner destination, a buffet restaurant called Pizza Ranch, provoked a great reaction from Daniel: "Pizza Ranch?! I LOVE pizza! AND I love ranch! Will they have carrots and celery to dip?" They do, and he did. A successful outing.
Our other Saturday project was decorating Will's memory tree. We were a little late in getting the ornaments this year, but now they're up and ready to share with any holiday visitors.

2010-11-29T20:16:00.003-06:00

What do you do when you've had all your toys taken away?Well, you play in the toy cabinet of course.

What if you end up going the whole day with no toys because you bounce from one end of the behavior scale to the other, winning an item back only to have it taken again?

You invent new ways to destroy the furniture. But on the plus side, the endless repetition of this cycle burns a lot of energy on a rainy November day.

Toy tally: Daniel won back his coloring materials (which Ed was desperate enough to play with even though I can't tell you the last time I saw him sit to color) and a "yellow and blue airplane" that is so rarely played with I didn't even know what he was talking about for five minutes.

Edward started out in the hole, losing his security blanket, "Teenie" for breakfast hijinks. He won it back at nap time, lost it at dinner, and won it back by bedtime. After further discussion, we've also installed a "good listening" sticker chart on the refrigerator. I told him it would take a lot of practice to become a good listener, just like it took a lot of practice to be able to make baskets at basketball. We remembered how in his first two weeks he didn't make any baskets. "Kind of like two days--yesterday and today--of no listening," I coached.

"How many baskets did you make the third day?"

"Five!"

So tomorrow's goal is five good listening stickers.

2010-11-28T19:49:00.002-06:00

It was ultimatum night at Casa Kenyon. The room above is our dining room A.K.A. playroom, which is a common backdrop for blog photos, but loyal readers may not recognize it as it hasn't looked like this since August 2008. While we have enjoyed some fun family time in this long, holiday weekend, it's been a near-constant battle of wills to get the boys to listen and do what they're told. The delicious Thanksgiving dinner John's mom cooked us was a circus, they were so naughty on our trip to Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma's on Friday that they were told there would be no dessert for a week, we had to leave church early when they would not listen to me and quit poking people's legs under the pews (among other things), and the final straw was tonight's dinner where all our calm but firm instructions fell on deaf ears and they finally saw their pasta dumped in the garbage and were sent from the table (in tears.)

But even that wasn't enough to make the point because they repaired to the living room and started in on two things that are expressly forbidden--taking metal trucks in the play tent and going in and out of the tent without unzipping the flaps (leading to strain, and eventual ripping.) John saw this from the kitchen and stormed in to take the tent down, telling them he was giving it away to kids who know how to listen to their parents. Ed did not listen when John told him to move away while he was folding it up and sending them out of the room just led to gales of giggles. (They're both nervous gigglers when in trouble, which is amazingly infuriating!) So they were sent to their bedrooms, doors closed.

While cleaning up dinner, I hit upon the idea of clearing out all the toys before inviting the boys back down to their new toyless existence. Luckily we had some empty boxes in the basement. What an amazing amount of crap!

After this was done, we called them down and told them to walk through. Upon entering the dining room, Ed said, "Oh! It's completely empty!" and Daniel echoed, "It's a-pletely empty!"

But instead of wondering where their stuff was or how to get it back, they started playing with the empty cube shelf (lower right in the picture above) so that John had to pick it up and take it out of the room as well. It was not the impact we'd hoped. They were sent back to their rooms, which led to pajamas and early bedtime.

Our plan is that as they demonstrate good listening they will be able to earn back one item (or category, as in, games, coloring, stuffed animals, etc.) We're not talking about overnight transformation, but not responding to every instruction with "No" or "Why" will be a good start. I imagine it will be two steps forward and one back for a while (forever?)

In a way, this is just a more comprehensive version of the stealth toy removal I've undertaken in the last few weeks in preparation for Christmas and birthdays. We are guessing that at least a quarter of what went to the basement will never be asked for and will not return.

A highlight of the weekend was the boys' overnight with Grandma and Grandpa Kenyon on Friday. We had planned it in advance but could never have imagined how much it would be needed after the frustrations they gave us on the trip. John and I enjoyed a lovely dinner at a new(ish) restaurant with NO KIDS MENU and slept almost until 8 a.m. Saturday (this is major, trust me.) When we went back to get them after naps, Daniel raced to the door with huge hugs for both of us. Edward was more nonchalant. But a few minutes after we got there, Daniel said to John, "You had to leave us at Grandma and Grandpa's because we were naughty in Chariton." Not exactly the message we were going for. John reminded him that we'd been talking about the overnight all week and that being naughty had nothing to do with it, but that may be lost in the world of three-year-old logic, such as it is.

We ended our night tonight with snuggles and stories and reminders of how much we love them. Here's hoping for a better tomorrow and week ahead.

2010-11-20T20:48:00.010-06:00

So, a week after Edward gave himself a fat lip, you'd hardly know he had been injured. It lasted longer than I expected, lingering into Tuesday or Wednesday, but by Friday, it had completely healed. That was good, because his burgeoning basketball skills, while improving immensely over the five weeks of our class, didn't keep him from taking a basketball or two to the face today. As they say on the court, no harm, no foul.

The class was called Start Smart, "the critically acclaimed program from the National Alliance for Youth Sports that helps kids prepare for sports. It’s a step-by-step approach that builds confidence, self-esteem, and makes sports fun. Parents will work together with their child in a supportive environment to learn the basic skills involved in sports."

That's a fancy way of saying, "for your $25, we can only afford to hire one instructor, so parents must contribute." That was fine, as it was better for me to work with Ed because I know his quirks. I know he's competitive and loves to count, so I could challenge him to do a few more of whatever it was we were doing than the time before: more dribbling, more shots, more passes. The class included drills on defense, passing, dribbling and shooting. He liked shooting best (as does anyone who has ever played basketball) and found his most improvement there. As he narrates when asked: "First two weeks: no baskets. Third week: three baskets. Last week: 10 baskets. This week (long dramatic pause): 20 baskets!

This was the set up and make for no. 16 of the day (that second shot is artfully blurry thanks to the glacial shutter speed on my smartphone). He really seemed to enjoy it, and told me tonight before bed that he was going to make 31 baskets next time... so we now need to find someplace with 5-foot baskets where he can go to practice.

He and Daniel are becoming quite rabid Hawkeye fans. They both know the fight song (Mary and I heard Daniel on the monitor last night singing it to himself as he tried to go to sleep) and have a lot of black and gold clothing. We and my folks took the boys two weeks ago to Carver-Hawkeye Arena for an exhibition basketball game to see the Hawks shellac the University of Illinois-Springfield Prairie Stars. They actually seemed to pay attention, with Daniel giving rousing applause at one point to a Hawkeye dunk.

The popcorn was also a big hit (and despite the fact that tickets were $5 and kids were free, you can see by the sea of empty seats behind them that the Hawks have their work cut out for them in their "Let's Be MAD Again!" campaign.

Today we took the boys on the Hawkeye Express, a train that runs from Coralville to Kinnick Stadium. For 99 percent of those aboard, that means an easy trip from their car to the game. For us 1 percenters, it meant a round trip taken simply to experience the train. The boys enjoyed it (this was their second time; my dad and I took them last year on our way to a game (Mary picked them up that time and took them to a park)).

Lastly, it hasn't all been athletics all the time at our house. Edward's (and by extension Daniel's) latest fixation is knights. He has read several books about them lately, and recently decided we should use our blocks to build a castle. Here is one of our grandest. That's Ed in what to the savvy eye is obviously a knight's helmet with the visor pulled down (to the less-savvy, it's a backward hardhat with the adjustable band pulled down in front).

I'll leave you with more exciting basketball action:

2010-11-14T18:18:00.003-06:00

Edward had a rough weekend. First he took a basketball to the face on Saturday morning, leaving his glasses askew. Then he slipped in our hallway in a dash to the lunch table today and bloodied his mouth. Inconsolable does not begin to describe the scene. Even spoonfuls of ice cream did not ease the trauma. He ended up going to bed without lunch and sleeping for more than two hours. (The picture is immediately post-nap. The swelling is down a bit now as we approach bed time, but still uncomfortable for him.)

It was a sad capper on a very fun weekend. My parents were visiting, he got to go to a friend's house for a long awaited playdate/birthday party, he skipped his nap on Saturday, he exhibited his best ever church behavior this morning and thus earned some pool time at Gram and PopPop's hotel pool.

In other weekend news, I finished my second-to-last MBA class. I have a paper to write this week, but no more class time until January when I make a sprint for the finish line with another accelerated format course. Anyone who is tempted to say, "Wow, that's great. It went so fast!" should talk to my Aunt Rita about the consequences of saying that to someone who has just completed an arduous academic endeavor.

2010-11-01T19:03:00.003-05:00

Last weekend we noticed Edward was squinting and covering his right eye to look at things. We asked him why and he said, "I see two things unless I cover my eye." We wondered if it meant the same thing to him as it did to us: double vision?

I called the pediatrician's office and was told that absent other symptoms (uncoordinated, fever, sore neck) we should probably just take him to our eye doctor, so I made an appointment for Friday after school. The eye-covering continued through the week.

John ended up taking the day off because he has many days to burn before the end of the year. Thank goodness he picked up Daniel and took him home because I would not have been able to keep him wrangled for the TWO HOURS we were at the doctor's office. John was freaking out by the time we got home, convinced that something was horribly wrong to take so long. But it just turns out it's really hard to conduct a standard eye exam on a four-year-old. He knows his letters, but couldn't quite follow the direction to read them straight across on the numbered lines. It was really hard to tell what he meant by some of his responses. The doctor wasn't even sure he knew what the word "double" meant when he was talking about double vision. Without getting into our daily conversations about "double bad choice" (e.g. smoking and not wearing a helmet) I said I thought he knew what it was.

Then we couldn't be sure the dilation eye drops actually got in the eyes. We didn't know the first set hadn't made it until we waited 20 minutes and nothing happened, so we had to repeat and wait again.

In any case, diagnosis: far-sightedness.

Prescription:The doctor said all babies are born far-sighted but it corrects itself in time and eventually will for Edward. He thinks the only reason it's become noticeable for him is that he's "an early reader." (He's not actually reading, but follows words closely while we're reading to him and is starting to notice familiar words around him--signs, buses, trucks, etc.)

2010-10-31T20:09:00.004-05:00

Halloween 2010 is in the books. All in all a good day, but I'm surprised to learn these last two years that it's actually easier to have Halloween on a weekday than a weekend. It's just too hard for kids to wait ALL day for dusk to fall marking the start of the sacred trick-or-treat ritual. It was however, a fabulous tool for achieving near-perfect church behavior. Amazing what the "no trick-or-treat" threat can accomplish.

Here they are all set to go, after a late afternoon visit to Coralville to show off their costumes for Grandma and Grandpa.
Edward was clearly pandering to his audience, as our neighborhood skews a bit to the senior citizen end of the scale, many of whom are dyed-in-the-wool Hawkeye fans. Plus after yesterday's trouncing of (former) No. 5 Michigan State, Hawkeye spirits are high.

Let it be noted that this is our third Halloween in a row with the firefighter costume. Edward has worn it the last two years and Daniel has been chomping at the bit for his turn.

Yesterday was warm enough for back porch pumpkin carving, which was good as I was in no mood for a kitchen disaster after spending my third Saturday in a row in class. (We have next weekend off and then one more Friday/Saturday blitz to the finish line.)

2010-10-26T14:10:00.011-05:00

What happens when you start a new MBA class in an accelerated format the day after you return from vacation? The vacation pictures languish and the blog goes dormant.

Our Evanston vacation in a nutshell:
five nights/six days, seven different parks, four cousins (three kid/one adult), two aunts, one uncle, one trip to the beach including waist-high immersion (for the kids), two real construction helmets, two articulated city buses, one el train, one fire station, one visit to Aunt Nora's apartment in the sky (a.k.a. "department") including use of the garbage chute and a rooftop view, one aquarium and one zoo. (Not to mention three concerts for John, one of which I also attended.)

Playing in the park with our favorite Wisconsin cousins. My sister actually captured better versions of many of these same shots of the cousins and posted them on her blog. A note about Daniel's combination of greens--it wasn't actually supposed to be shorts weather during our trip, but I threw in a pair for each boy at the last minute while packing, thinking we might be able to play in the sand at the beach. I didn't expect him to wear them otherwise. Not only was it warm enough for sand play, but they also soaked themselves from the waist down so that we had to wash the short while they napped so they could wear them for the rest of the warm afternoon. When the cousins arrived from WI, the boys were still sleeping, but we knew they'd had enough rest so we let Maggie and Katherine go to Edward's room to wake him up. A little while later they had not come down, but we heard giggling and went to check things out. Edward was standing on the bed shouting "underpants, underpants" while they all collapsed in giggles. We quickly retrieved Edward's shorts from the dryer and enjoyed an afternoon of fully-clothed fun.
Playing on Gram and PopPop's porch of toys. Some of these train pieces came back to Iowa City with us. Also, the castle in the background has ignited a new interest in knights and castles. The best literary discovery in this genre so far: Do Knights Take Naps? by Nick Sharratt, which ends with a decisive Yes! to the titular question.
Reading with Aunt Nora. True to form, Gram had a huge stack of books from her library just waiting for our boys. Some of them were so new they had not yet begun circulating to the children of Glencoe, IL. This one was an instant favorite--about a dog named Edward who wanted to be a firefighter.
We visited a fire truck park AND a real fire station. As usual, the boys just walked right in and made themselves at home on the trucks. This fire fighter was extremely friendly. Although we've made many trips to the fire station, this was our first time being there when they got a call. The boys were a little unnerved as we quickly scooped them off the trucks and ushered them out the door as the fire fighters pulled on their gear. However, we soon began to wonder if it was a real call or a "hey, these people have been here for 15 minutes, let's get them to move along" call because they were pretty slow to leave and then did not turn on lights or siren as they made their way up the street.

We were lucky our visit coincided with a "free day" at the Chicago Shedd Aquarium. Both boys were intrigued by the diver in the tank for feeding time and Edward was quite excited to be one of the kids who got to ask a question of the diver (via the microphone of the narrator outside the tank.) He asked why the diver wasn't wearing an air tank and learned that he was not really SCUBA diving, but attached by hose to an external tank. A later question revealed that the diver was in fact feeding peas to some of the fish. Daniel's indoor attention span ran out before Edward's so my mom and I took him outside where he happily ran around this fountain for about 45 minutes. Luckily we had a lot of pennies in our wallets and he threw them in with gusto. When he tried to fish them out again, I had to hold his shoulders so he wouldn't tumble in head first. (It wasn't deep, there really was no call for a full immersion experience.)

One exhibit the boys both liked was one about frogs with about five buttons to push to hear the sounds of different frog croaks. They giggled with glee, prompting another mother walking by to exclaim of Daniel, "That's the BEST giggle I've ever heard."

On another day, we visited Aunt Nora's apartment and took the bus from there to Lincoln Park Zoo. If you were 4 or 2, which part of this adventure would be most exciting: visiting Aunt Nora's 12th floor Lake Shore Drive apt (AKA "department"), going up to the roof sundeck of said apt, throwing a trash bag in the garbage chute and listening to it slide all the way down to the dumpster, riding an articulated city bus... and sitting in a seat in the bendable middle, or the zoo at the end of the city bus ride?

The answer to this existential pondering on Facebook was pretty much unanimous: the garbage chute. This seemed to make the biggest impression at the time, but upon further reflection, the most talked about item from this list has been the articulated bus.

I'm pretty much over taking pictures at the zoo. Until I become a more skilled photographer or get a better camera, I have enough pictures in which both the animal and the kid are so tiny as to be hardly recognizable. But we did manage this family snapshot while waiting for the return bus. I should probably tape it to my refrigerator to keep me from opening it so often. Oh, vanity!

More park time. As noted in the beginning, our total park count for the trip was seven: Saturday, Rochelle, IL for a picnic on the way to Evanston; Sunday, Robert Crown Park, our childhood park across the street from my parents'; Monday, Evanston's South Blvd. Park (which may have another name, but that's what we called it growing up), which had a fire truck; Tuesday--none; Wednesday, undeterred by morning rain, we hit three different Evanston parks; and Thursday, back to Robert Crown in the morning followed by the Iowa Welcome Center playground for a post-car-nap romp before completing the final hour of the road trip. (eight visits to seven different parks)

And in answer to the remaining questions from the initial description: the fourth cousin was my cousin Keith, who stopped by briefly on his way home to Reno, NV, from a weekend wedding in Wisconsin. And the construction helmets were actual hard hats liberated from my dad's downtown office (one was actually his, that he won't need when he gives up that office later this month.) Although they weren't initially as excited about them as he'd hoped, turning instead to favorite standbys on the toy porch, they were clearly a hit of the visit and morphed fluidly from construction, to fire gear to knight apparel and back again.

All in all a great vacation. I extended it by two days, not returning to work until Tuesday, Oct. 19, giving myself a fabulous birthday present in the process. TIME!

2010-10-05T15:02:00.007-05:00

We had a busy weekend with the Homecoming Parade on Friday, apple picking and leaf jumping on Saturday and "fossil hunting" on Sunday.

Pictures of the parade didn't turn out. I was trying to capture the boys with their hands over their ears as the band marched by, but my composition was seriously lacking. They enjoyed the pre-parade activities almost as much as the parade though. We were sitting right at the starting point where a squad car and fire truck were lined up waiting to move. The officer in the squad car was extremely kid friendly (his own kid was hanging out nearby) and let the boys not only sit in the passenger seat, but also press the button for the siren. Just quick taps, no drawn out "whee-oo, whee-oo."

Saturday morning was busy with errands and a library trip (Daniel insisted upon taking the bus) but in the afternoon we squeezed in a trip to the apple orchard. The boys didn't get up from naps until close to 3:30 and the orchard is only open until 5, so it was a bit of a whirlwind. Good thing it's only 15 minutes away!

The most important part of the trip of course is the wagon ride, especially when conditions are right for the tractor to pull it straight through a shallow creek that meanders through the orchard. A close second is the apple turnovers, which we somehow managed not to devour on the way home, saving them for dessert.

Earlier in the week I'd raked a big pile of leaves for some outdoor fun on a glorious fall afternoon. John added to the pile and then experimented with some settings on our camera, which we've had for more than two years, but haven't fully explored. He found one that helped capture a better action shot:
And one that did a sort of weird color-capture thing (which I'm sure has a photographic name, but I'm no expert, obviously):
The boys supplied their own goofy, no special camera setting required:
The floods of 1993 and 2008 exposed a large fossil bed next to a dam-created lake north of town and we've said all summer that it would be a good place to explore. Just as well we waited for a late fall afternoon though as the cool weather definitely added to the enjoyment. As it turned out the concept of a fossil was too abstract, even for Edward, but they had fun running on the rocks and dipping their hands in the rivulets. Daniel picked up every rock he could and shouted, "Here's another fossil!"
Then we hiked up a road under construction and from a higher vantage point could see playground equipment in another part of the park. So we headed over. It was a great set, likely fairly new, and with two super fast slides. A new park is always a good thing and this one was definitely a weekend highlight.

2010-09-29T14:35:00.002-05:00

The pictures and stories in this post do not necessarily go together. Let's just call it a random assortment of moments in the last few weeks.

With these smiling faces you'd never know that we were less than an hour away from Daniel being carried kicking and screaming from church after Edward declined to share his Goldfish crackers. Both boys had been offered the same snack choice before we left and Daniel had selected bunny crackers, but had some buyer's remorse when he saw Edward's. Should I have simply forced Edward to hand over his snack? Perhaps, though the way Daniel's fits have been escalating lately, it's unlikely it would have ended there. Instead, we left as fast as we could and I barely made it to the car a block away carrying a writhing, screaming, hitting Daniel. He then screamed all the way home and for half an hour buckled in his car seat (windows and garage door open on a cool morning) once we got home. This pattern has become all too frequent lately and we are absolutely powerless to intervene once he gets going. This one was actually better than most because at least strapped in his car seat we knew he couldn't hurt himself. Although we know that the best response to a toddler tantrum is to ignore/walk away, and we do employ this tactic in other situations, we don't feel this is a safe option during these episodes. He flies around the room crashing into walls, screams and hits whoever attempts to come near, occasionally sweeps entire shelves of books/puzzles to the ground, pulls out dresser drawers, etc. It's actually quite like a night terror episode, except he's awake. At night in the dark he usually isn't terribly mobile so we can just wait nearby until he calms.

But he does have moments of controlled anger, such as in the car returning from a picnic Sunday evening when he and Edward were bickering about something completely insubstantial. After several rounds of "No it's not!" "Yes it is!" Daniel finally shouted, "Edward I am SO angry at you. When we get home I am going to draw my angry face on the whiteboard."

Attempts to stifle the front-seat laughter utterly failed. And, just to show how innocuous it all was, it was entirely forgotten by the time we got home 10 minutes later and the whiteboard drawing never appeared.

And we must remember that although he thinks he can do everything Edward can and can talk as well as kids much older, he's still not even three so there's still a baby lurking as seen in his re-imagining of this photograph.

There's also plenty of goofy to go around.
This week at school each day has had a theme as they celebrate "Homecoming" in honor of the UI homecoming this weekend. Monday was "Crazy Hair Day" which was eagerly anticipated, despite our boys' cropped locks. After John fixed these 'do's, Daniel shouted as he came down the stairs: "Here comes Daniel in a mohawk!"
And this was a party favor at Daniel's first "friend" birthday party, which he enjoyed two weeks ago. It was fortuitous timing as Edward has suddenly been deluged with birthday invitations and Daniel has had a hard time understanding why he can't go to the parties. We've explained that Edward's friends invite him and when Daniel's friends have parties they will invite Daniel and not Edward. So even though the parents hosting Daniel's friend's party generously offered for us to bring Edward, we kept it strictly a Daniel occasion, which sort of helped when we explained Edward's departure for the next party.

Edward's brand of goofy included sprawling himself on the floor of a barn poking a long piece of grass with a sort of cattail on the end through a crack in the floor. "Barn" only applies to the general shape and location of this facility, which is used for parties. John noted as we walked in, "Wow, the floors in this barn are nicer than the ones in our home." Edward had been in the lower level to use the bathroom and wanted to go up a flight of stairs until he noticed that it led straight into the ceiling. It was a trap door from the party room above so I took him back up to show him the outline on the floor of the party room and how the door would open on its hinges if people weren't using the space for tables and chairs. He then spent about 15 minutes laying flat on his belly in the middle of the floor. We didn't know it was anything more than poking a piece of grass through a hole until I finally asked him what he was doing and he replied: "ice fishing."

This one is for Diana and Sean.

Sometimes it's easy to forget how literal your world is as a child. On a recent Saturday morning, John had to tell Edward not to bother Daniel, who was carrying a stack of books, because Daniel will have a fit "at the drop of a hat."
Daniel, looking at a book that has fallen off the stack onto the floor: "That's not a hat."

And to show that not all sleep disturbance is a scary night terror, here's what happened last night. On my way to bed I stopped in the boys' rooms to be sure they were covered as our nights are growing quite cool (though not cool enough to turn on heat!) and they both have trouble staying under the covers. Usually I can do this without them noticing even if I have to pull the blanket out from underneath them. But I must have caught Daniel at a bad time because about a minute after I left his room I heard him call out:
"Goldbug! Goldbug?" (This is a character in Richard Scarry's "Cars and Trucks and Things That Go" a current favorite, that John had read before bed about two hours earlier.)

I went in to find him standing in the middle of his room in the dark calling for Goldbug. I asked him if he needed to find Goldbug and he just stood there trying to form words. Classic sleepwalking/talking. I've done it myself--just ask John. He sat down cross-legged for a bit and I sat across from him waiting to see if he'd need anything. Then he just laid down on the floor and closed his eyes. I think he would have stayed there, but I picked him up and put him back in bed.

Edward started playing soccer two weeks ago and seems to be enjoying it. It's all 4- and 5-year-olds, once a week at a park near our house. They're spending the first three weeks just learning some of the basics and then will attempt "games" for the next three weeks, one of which he'll miss while we're in Chicago. I haven't managed any pictures as Daniel is not a good soccer spectator. As soon as Edward joins his team, Daniel makes a beeline to the playground. John may have one on his phone--he tries to stop at the park on his way home from work to catch the last 15-20 minutes or so. If he does, I'll have him post it later.

2010-09-18T15:26:00.013-05:00

We may be approaching a new record for delayed blog posts. This one focuses on an event that is already three weeks old, and I'm on my third day of attempting to complete the post.

As you can see from Daniel's leisurely pose, we took a family trip to a waterpark the last weekend in August, taking advantage of our last year not beholden to the school calendar. The Grand Harbor Resort in Dubuque includes three large waterslides (one of which is navigated while riding on the tube Daniel is modeling, though his pose was for show only; the boys had to ride in our laps.) It also has a big climbing playground, for lack of a better descriptor, that includes lots of sprayers, buckets, and any other implement for playing with water that you might dream up. There's also a lazy river (though it wasn't working while we were there) and a smaller zero-depth entry pool with sprayers like the ones our kids have enjoyed at the splash pad this summer. The whole thing is a Huck Finn, steam boat theme (Dubuque being a Mississippi River town.) We were there when Edward was about 20 months old, but this was an entirely different experience.

It's hard to take pictures in an aquatic adventureland such as this one, especially when neither one of your children is an independent swimmer. Plus our camera isn't really good enough for action, so we never were quite able to capture the delight on the boys' faces at the end of a slide. Delighted they were, however, and so were the people who happened to be standing in the pool when John and Daniel came whooshing out of the tallest/fastest of the three slides. This slide had a separate set of stairs, much more intimidating than climbing up the "steam boat" playground area to the other two slides. It took Daniel a while to decide he wanted to try it. Edward had gone several times before he finally consented to ride. But when he came down: pure glee as he shouted, "I did it!!!" The other people in the pool could not stop smiling as John paddled the raft over to the side so I could help Daniel off as he shrieked with delight.

Another moment was a bit less gleeful. Even after his roller coaster lesson at the county fair in July, Daniel totally hasn't learned that he isn't big enough for all the things Edward can do. After a few trips down the two simpler slides, we suggested Ed could go by himself since they ended in only a few inches of water, not a pool. I went first, then Edward and the plan was for John and Daniel to follow. Waiting for Ed, I saw that by the time he got to the bottom he'd twisted around from the swirling slide motion and ended up sideways. Next thing I know, here comes Daniel, completely twisted around and on his stomach. It's not deep water at the end, but it is if you're a toddler laying on your stomach! I scooped him up and waited for John, who explained that Daniel had a total fit and insisted that he go by himself like Edward. Let's just say neither of them wanted to go alone again, which was fine.

Edward was very proud to practice/demonstrate his new level of comfort with getting his face wet. He wanted to be watched over and over dunking himself. Water play can be exhausting, and also a bit chilling for those without sufficient body mass (Edward) to keep warm. When we were not in the pool, we also had the opportunity to visit the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium, which is part of the same complex. The boys loved all the hands on displays, especially a water table set up to demonstrate water currents, lock&dam operation, water ecosystems, and other kid-friendly lessons. They probably didn't absorb too much other than the water itself, but they sure had fun.
Here they're "operating" a steamship boiler, inserting logs and then watching the boiler fire to power the ship. They probably ran around this display 25 times, retrieving the log and re-inserting it to watch the fire.Here we see that preschoolers do not pilot steamships for one of the same reasons they don't drive cars--they can't see over the wheel. But they sure can spin it. This boat would have had quite the seasick crew with these two at the helm.
Here's a nice lesson in teamwork. If you look closely, you can see that the barrel doesn't get much height with just one person on the rope. But working together:
Here they are looking for the shark (note Ed's wet shirt from his previous water table adventures.) In the aquarium displays we also learned that crayfish swim backward, which is sort of a Cliff Clavin ho-hum factoid, but I must tell you greatly enhanced by observing this phenomenon in close proximity to a curious preschooler.
The lizards were also a popular feature, though you can't quite tell from Daniel's expression standing next to this Komodo dragon. He liked the smaller ones a little better, especially an exhibit where you could crawl through a tunnel and stand up with your head in a bubble "inside" the habitat.
They also got to touch a fox snake.

Even with all this excitement, there was still time to play "firefighter" in the hotel room, using the windowsill as the truck. I'm not sure this is the approved uniform, but they improvised.

It was one of the first weekends with cool nights/mornings and we hadn't thought to bring sweatshirts for the kids. We were up long before the 9 a.m. pool opening, so they were quite the fashion bugs with their pajama shirts and swim suits taking a riverside walk at 7:30 a.m.

It was a really nice get-away, even though it did confirm my assumption that it's WAY more work to take a vacation with kids this age than to stay home. But also more fun.

2010-09-12T20:32:00.003-05:00

Today we attended our third "Move It! Dig It! Do It!" event sponsored by the Iowa Children's Museum. (In looking up the blog links for the previous two years, I discovered that two years ago Edward was wearing the same shirt Daniel had on today. Oh, hand-me-downs!) It was a new location this year, but the same concept--a field full of trucks for kids to climb on, pretend to drive, honk horns, etc. It was clearly a case of "how will we decide what to do first?" when we arrived shortly after it started at 11 this morning. But emergency vehicles are always a safe bet, so we headed to the police and fire vehicles.
Of course, our boys are no strangers to firetrucks, having visited our downtown station at least half a dozen times this summer. It's only a block away from the farmer's market, and they always demand to "check to see if the doors are open." If so, they just walk right in and make themselves at home. Luckily, the firefighters don't seem to mind. I suppose this was a change of pace since it was a Coralville truck instead of Iowa City.

Police cars are a bit more elusive, though they have been in one since a woman in our neighborhood is an Iowa City Police Sergeant and sometimes stops home for dinner while we're out taking walks. When we first walked up to this car the front seat was full of kids, so Ed hopped in the back and made his best "criminal" face.Then they got a turn up front.
Another big hit was the snowplow. I can't believe how soon these guys will be trolling the streets again. But for today, the boys were intrigued to be able to stand right next to it to see how big it really is. They also got in and took turns driving and honking the horn. The garbage and recycling trucks were also popular attractions. They liked that they could each take a steering wheel--one on the left in a seat and one on the right side standing up.

This backhoe and road roller were a bit too close to the cement mixer, which had an air horn--a very popular feature, but still too loud for our boys. Daniel wouldn't even climb up to sit in the mixer after a kid pulled the horn while he was waiting for a turn. Ed climbed up, but stuck to the steering wheel horn. You can see him covering his ears in the photo below.

Another kid climbed into the seat next to Daniel in the Gator before Edward could make his move, so he settled for this riding lawn mower and was quite pleased to be able to move the levers. I don't think he understood that this offers the same function as a steering wheel, but no matter. John said that Daniel attempted perhaps the first-ever "lawnmower-jacking" when he tried to climb in with Edward. A quick lever pull would have sent Daniel tumbling down if Grandpa had not been there to catch him.

As was the case last year, the toys were as much fun as the real trucks. We almost couldn't get Daniel out of these cars (there were eight or ten and he had to try them all.)

However, we eventually drew him away to the "Dig It!" part of the event--a huge pile of sand.
Then it was on to lunch--better prepared this year with PB&J in a lunch cooler. The adults were wishing it was a full picnic, but we were equally glad not to have to stand in the long line to buy the food on hand at the event. I am quite certain that despite Grandma's hand-wipes, the kids ingested a bit of dirt with their lunch. Oh well. We were then exactly in the right place at the right time for a "cooking with kids" demonstration--making "dirt cups" (a.k.a. chocolate pudding with chocolate graham cracker crumbs topped with a gummy worm.) Perfect end to our outing. Everyone was exhausted, but we managed to keep Daniel awake in the car by asking him to sing his favorite song--Muffin Man. That led to others, and 10 minutes later we were home. Gulps of water, quick showers, books and naptime. Oh, the peace!

The other big event this weekend was the Iowa-Iowa State football game, which was in Iowa City this year with plenty of local excitement. Our family only saw part of one quarter, and the boys' favorite part was the Aflac duck walking across the bottom of the screen (they made John rewind three times and each time they giggled as if it were the first.) Our inattention notwithstanding, the Hawkeyes won, 35-7. We're there in spirit even if we don't have the attention span for the whole event.
Watch this space for additional updates as I attempt to catch up on the last two weeks. Next up, our report on a trip to the Grand Harbor Resort (water slide) in Dubuque.

2010-08-23T20:43:00.003-05:00

This is what passes for entertainment at our house. Tonight the whole family spent about 10 minutes in the smallest room in the house in fits of giggles. The boys found their attempts at body art highly amusing and we were laughing at their gales of giggles.

Edward was "putting on lipstick," which is interesting because I could probably count on one hand the number of times he's seen me do this so I'm not sure where he took his inspiration.

Daniel had himself completely covered, practically requiring a second bath. It rubs off very easily, but by the time they were done the water was kind of a dingy grey. Ugh.

They tried coloring on each other, but found they preferred to keep things more personal.

We got the mirror so they could see what they looked like. John was pretty proud of this "artistic" frame.

While I'm posting pictures, here are a few from our weekend festival, "Sand in the City" which was primarily a sand sculpting contest, but also included a huge pile of sand dumped in the street for kids to play in. The bath above was tonight, but an even more vigorous scrubbing was needed Saturday after this filthy fun.

There was also a bouncy castle.
On our way back to the car, the boys stopped to play "real music" at the outdoor piano on our pedestrian plaza. Earlier in the week they'd wanted to stop to play but someone was actually playing with sheet music and I told them it wasn't their turn because someone was "playing real music." Perhaps someday they'll have a "real" duet.