Am I Really That Predictable?

This morning it was really quite cold here in Charlotte... probably around 30 degrees or so when I left to take the kids to camp/preschool around 8:15. As I usually do, I opened the garage door about 5 minutes prior to our departure. As Ben climbed into the car he started complaining about how cold it was and the fact that I had opened the garage door, making it even colder.

I opened my mouth to remind him that we used to live in Massachusetts and how cold it was there, and I think I was going to throw in something about how we didn't have a garage then either and our car had to be chiseled out of a block of ice every morning in the wintertime, but I hardly got the chance to say a word because as soon as I opened my mouth and began with "Well, you know--" Ben interrupted me with, "I know, I KNOW! We used to live in Massachusetts!"

Play Date

I dragged Ben away from his video game and Becca away from Backyardigans for a play date yesterday at the park with one of Rebecca's friends from school. The weather was mild and sunny, and it was a great day for the park! One thing I must say about raising girls vs. boys, watching little girls play together is so much cuter than watching little boys play together! At Rebecca's age, Ben's idea of a play date was to throw a tantrum over who got what truck to push, and then run around with his friend like a maniac. One would lead, one would follow, every once in a while they would switch, and barely a word would be exchanged unless it was to squabble over something.

Rebecca on the other hand, played so cutely with her friend Amelia, sliding, climbing, playing peek-a-boo, and not a tantrum was had by either party. Yeah! Girls rock!

Great Wolf Lodge

The kids and I left for Great Wolf Lodge yesterday during a torrential downpour. I was very proud of Ben, who talked calmly to Rebecca during the at-times-harrowing drive, reassuring her. Rebecca hates going through the car wash, and driving to Great Wolf Lodge during this rain storm was at times exactly like driving through a car wash. For 35 minutes, at high speeds.

Once we got there it was a bit tricky logistically, since we had to unload the car and get our bags up to our room, with me being the only adult to shepherd the kids and lug the bags since Joel was meeting us there after he finished at work. Once again Ben stepped up and helped as best he could with the bags and holding Rebecca's hand for me. Way to go Ben! What a mature little man he's becoming.

Great Wolf Lodge was huge, and all decked out for Christmas with trees and lights and a snow show in the lobby at 8pm followed by story time (the "snow" was actually little soap bubbles but that didn't stop Ben from trying to catch them on his tongue).

Joel met us at the water park about an hour after we got there, which was good because Ben wanted to go on all the water slides and I couldn't take him because of Rebecca. Joel went on a bunch of slides with Ben and then we "switched" and Joel stayed with Becca at the wave pool and the little kid splash park area, and I went on the slides with Ben. They have some really big, like four story, water slides that you go down on a raft or two person inner tube. It always seemed to end up that I would be the one going down facing backwards around all the twists and turns, which delighted Ben to no end and made mommy dizzy!! There was one slide called the "tornado" that we weren't brave enough to attempt but we did most of the other ones multiple times. The best thing about it was that there weren't really any lines, or only very short lines, to get on the slides. So we got a lot of sliding done.

After the afternoon in the water park, we were all hungry (climbing up and down the stairs for the slides was quite a workout) so we got changed and went to one of the Lodge's several restaurants for dinner. The kids were STARVING and since they had a kid's buffet we wasted no time in filling their plates so they could start eating. We didn't care that by the time we got our food, they were almost done. We just went back up to the kid's buffet and filled two bowls with Fruit Loops and the kids were quite happy to munch on fruit loops and watch what was going on in the water park below through the big windows in the restaurant.

Dinner was followed by about an hour and a half in the arcade, where Ben and Joel played a lot of games and Rebecca climbed on and off the seats of a lot of games, and then seemed to find her "calling", which is inserting tokens into the slots for the games. She followed Joel around begging for tokens and then would sit down on the floor to carefully insert them into whatever game Joel and Ben decided to play.

Following the arcade we went to the lobby for the aforementioned snow show, and then headed up to our room. Joel left at that point because he was on call and we were all sharing one room so his pager going off in the night would have woken everyone up. Becca was pretty keyed up so getting her to fall asleep was challenging; I ended up having to leave the TV on for her softly and it took about an hour before all of a sudden I heard her snoring very loudly. Ben, from his bed, piped up "Mom I think she's asleep now - you can turn off the TV!"

This morning we had breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts followed by some more time in the water park, though without Joel it was not so fun for Ben, since I wouldn't let him do the slides by himself even though when we entered, the attendant on duty pronounced him tall enough to be allowed in all areas of the park. I said, "No he's not, he's only five!" She seemed to think I was joking because after a moment she asked, "Is he really five?" Ben contented himself with playing in the wave pool but after an hour or two he came over to me and announced, "Mom, this was really fun but I think I am ready to go home and play Lego Star Wars [one of his video games] now."

So we did.

All in all we had a great time, and I would definitely like to come back again though next time with Joel for the whole time, and maybe to stay for two nights instead of one. There were a lot of things we didn't get to try, such as a high-tech scavenger hunt called MagiQuest where you get a "magic" wand and then have to find "magic" objects all over the Lodge to accumulate points. There were kids running all over with magic wands pointing them at pictures and statues, and if they were magic ones they'd light up and speak a message or something when the wand was pointed at them. At one point we were sitting in the lobby eating our breakfast this morning and we happened to be next to an ordinary-looking carved wolf statue and a kid ran up and pointed his wand at it and it starting talking - Rebecca nearly jumped out of her skin. "Who saying that? Who saying that?" she kept asking. Ben would have loved to do the scavenger hunt but we didn't end up having time.

Pictures below, though not so many of the water park as I would have liked since I was more occupied with making sure my kids didn't drown ;)

Movies, Magicians & Chinese Food

I had the day off from work today. There's usually one company holiday a year that I have off and the kids don't, and today was it. It's not even a full day either because the kids got out a little early, but I took full advantage of it. After doing a couple of errands in the morning, I headed over to the bookstore for some coffee and browsing. Joel was able to get off early, so he met me for a quick lunch and then we headed to the movies to see Up In The Air. (Two thumbs up).

After the movie we headed to the JCC where I dropped Joel off for a quick workout, collected Rebecca from preschool, and met Ben's camp group at the magic show that they had scheduled. Ben was happy to see me and I was happy to get to see the magic show with him, but Rebecca for some reason was petrified for the first 10 minutes of the show, which involved some lights and music, flowers into birds and bunnies out of hats, typical magic show stuff. At one point when she was upset Ben leaned over and gave her a kiss and a hug and she said tearfully, "thank you, Ben!" Always minding her manners, even during a meltdown.... She finally calmed down and was fine but didn't pay too much attention to the magician. Instead she ate a lollipop and climbed on and off the auditorium seats. But at least she stopped screaming her head off so I considered it a success.

After the show finished we retrieved Joel from the fitness center, made a quick pit stop at home, and then headed out to meet Joel's parents for Chinese food. Apparently a lot of other people participate in the Christmas Eve Chinese food tradition because the restaurant was packed even though we got there shortly after 5pm.

Tomorrow I'll have a busy morning of packing/ getting ready for our "mini vacation" and then we'll head up to Great Wolf Lodge around noon and returning Saturday night... Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Miss Patti, Master Hip & Some Tall Tales

1. Rebecca's preschool's parent-teacher organization was raising money by selling copies of a CD by the school's music teacher, the famous Miss Patti, so I bought one, thinking how nice it would be for Becca to be able to listen to her favorite Miss Patti songs in the car. She LOVES music class of course. The first time I put it on for her in the car it was very cute, she peered around cautiously as if expecting Miss Patti herself to pop out from under the front seat or something. What I didn't figure into my calculation was that Ben, also familiar with Miss Patti from his two years at CJP, would be equally enthusiastic about the CD and now every time we get in the car both of them immediately start chorusing "Miss Patti! Miss Patti!" And when we get where we're going, and I turn off the car, Rebecca cries. No lie.

2. Ben has decided that he needs a new nickname. "Your nickname is Pudgie," I told him in response to this revelation. I started calling Ben "Pudgie" in the car one day on the way home from his one-month doctor visit, and somehow it stuck. For the first couple of years I called him Pudgie more often than I called him Ben, and five years later he still gets called Pudgie now and then. "Pudgie is not cool enough," Ben informed me with a straight face. "I want my new nickname to be Master Hip. Tell Daddy, okay?"

3. As we were getting ready to eat dinner tonight, Ben confided something to me. "In school," he said, sounding quite troubled, "we have to write about what we did during the weekend, and I can never remember what I did. So I make it up. Is that bad?" "What do you write about?" I asked. Ben's writing assignments are exercises in heiroglyphics and very creatively sounded out words. They are usually 2-3 sentences each and it's a very good day if I can make out half of what he's written. "Last week," he said, "I wrote that we went to Qdoba for dinner and we saw a rat there." I explained to Ben that he should try to remember something about his weekend to write about, but that if he can't it is fine to make something up as long as he doesn't pretend it's the truth. He seemed quite relieved that I wasn't mad at him. His teacher, however, may never go to Qdoba again.

Friday Update

1. We celebrated the final night of Chanukah tonight. As the days have gone on the kids have stopped demanding their presents (probably because they got all the good stuff the first few nights). Tonight after dinner they retired to the living room to watch tv and I had to REMIND them about their presents. Ben got a game for his Leapster, which he promptly decided he didn't like because it was "a learning game". I guess the Leapster's time has passed. Becca got scrub-a-dub dogs that have "dirt" spots on them that come off in hot water. Well, Ben thought this was the coolest thing EVER. Who knew? He is in the bathtub right now playing with them. Becca seemed only mildly interested. Guess I got that one all wrong.

2. Today was Ben's last day of school before the two week winter break. It was "pajama day" so he wore his pajamas to school. Why they can't do pajama day in warmer weather is beyond me. Even in his warmest pjs he was shivering at the bus stop this morning. During the break, Ben goes to winter break camp at the JCC. They have all sorts of fun field trips and activities planned for the kids. He is really excited about it and to be off from school for two whole weeks!

3. Since we'll be in town for Christmas - Joel is working and I have to save my vacation time for Baby Robinson's arrival in (I hope!) January - I booked a "mini-vacation" here for the kids and I (and Joel hopefully will be able to meet us there after work since it's only 35-40 minutes away). We'll go on Christmas day and come home the day after. I was looking for a little getaway close by where we can have some fun and this seemed to fit the bill.

4. While everywhere north of us is bracing for a winter storm, we're getting RAINED on. There is nothing worse than 34 degrees and raining, with a wind chill. Ugh. It is the most miserable weather. Ben has been hoping it will turn to snow but so far not even a hint of changeover. I'd take snow over this weather, and you all know how I feel about snow!

That's all the news for now...

More Chanukah Pictures

Did I hear someone ask for more Chanukah pictures???

If Only Someone Had Wiped Her Face

Another parent took these pictures of Becca at a class function that I was not able to attend. Despite the dirty face, I think they are cute anyway!

Like That Scene From The Godfather, Only Cuter

Chanukah, Night #4

The kids got their presents from Grandma and Grandpa tonight -- Becca wasted no time in giving hers a hug and then settling down for a ride, and Ben decided his was better for wrestling with. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

At Least We Got Him Out of His Pajamas

Since we gave Ben the GameCube and about 8 games on Friday night he's been pretty much glued to it. We decided to let him "get it out of his system" this weekend, and the weather's been cold and rainy and we haven't really had anything else to do this weekend anyway. In fact Ben, Rebecca and I have not been out of the house all weekend yet. Ben stayed in his pajamas until 3:30 yesterday when I finally made him get dressed since we were having a party. Of course during the party, he introduced his friend Jared (who was over for the party) to the GameCube, so the two of them didn't make an appearance downstairs until it was time for dinner/candle lighting/presents and went right back upstairs after dessert.

Today has been a slight improvement - Ben only stayed in his pajamas until 1:30. Nanny and Papa arrived shortly thereafter to celebrate Hanukkah night #3 with us, and Ben wasted no time in introducing them to Super Mario Smash Brothers. Though by the looks of things, Nanny needs some practice.

Chanukah Party

We had some friends over for a Chanukah party last night. The kids helped to get ready by running around in circles as fast as they could. Though they did stop long enough to pose for a picture, right after I told them for the 100th time TO STOP RUNNING THROUGH THE KITCHEN. We all had a good time (and we hope our guests did too!) The kids topped it off by sleeping until 8 (Ben) and 9 (Becca) this morning. YEAH!

Go... Raiders?

A certain Aunt and Uncle sent Becca a Raiderette outfit for Hanukkah and have been anxiously waiting to see a picture of her in it!

Chanukah, Day 1

Aside from some issues this morning -- Ben sulking and almost missing the bus, and Rebecca causing me to wrench my back trying to get her into her car seat because of all the I-want-to-do-it-myself squirming -- we had a nice beginning to Chanukah 2009. Oh except for that the kids whined all through dinner for gelt and presents. The kids seemed to enjoy their presents, especially Ben, whose present wasn't even new -- we gave him an old GameCube video game system and some games we bought used at GameStop. He played Super Mario Sunshine for two hours and when we informed him that it was time to go to bed he burst into tears and threw the controller. He could only be pacified by the promise that he'd be allowed to play again tomorrow AS SOON AS HE WAKES UP. I am bracing myself for an early morning awakening. I think we're going to need to establish some ground rules with this video game stuff.

Sometimes, They Can Be So Sweet...

Lately the kids have been having their share of sibling rivalry issues -- Ben has declared on several occasions that he doesn't want a baby sister (a little too late for that I told him) -- and Rebecca is making up for her laid back first year or so of life by being anything but. "Strong willed" and "dramatic" are words that have been used diplomatically to describe her, recently at school. This morning was typical; Rebecca took off with Ben's underwear while he was trying to get dressed, and he pursued her half naked through the whole house before finally cornering her and taking them back.

Tonight I witnessed a more mellow moment -- Ben read Rebecca a bedtime story and then as I put her in her crib She threw her arms over the side of the crib and called, "Ben! Come give me a hug!" Ben obliged and they gave each other a big hug. As Ben and I left the room, he turned to me and said, "That was really sweet, wasn't it?"

Thank You and Goodbye!

Last night we went out to dinner with our friends Joanna and Eric, whose son Jared goes to school with Ben, and their other son Evan goes to school with Rebecca. We went to a hibachi restaurant, which I was really looking forward to since we hadn't been to one since moving to Charlotte.

Since Rebecca had never been to one, I was pretty sure she would freak during the cooking part, and I was not disappointed. She jumped into my lap and buried her head in my shoulder the whole time our food was being cooked. When the chef was done and was saying goodbye, she stood up on my lap and said tearfully, "Thank you! Thank you! Goodbye! Goodbye!" At least she was polite about it. She kept waving and saying goodbye until he had packed up his supplies and left - a not-so-subtle hint. But every time the waiter would come over to take drink orders, etc, she would jump into my arms again until they left. So she did not have the greatest time. The older boys, Ben and Jared, thought it was great, and Evan (a year older than Rebecca) watched the cooking while peeking through his fingers. I had steak and shrimp, and it was delicious!

On the way home we stopped at the grocery store so Joel could run in for some ice cream. The kids and I waited in the car, and Rebecca dropped one of her toys on the floor. I asked Ben if he could please find it for her, since he was out of his seat. He leaned over and started feeling around the floor for her toy, finally having to get down on hands and knees to get it. As he reached under the seat to get it, I heard him grumble, "I'M TOO OLD FOR THIS!"

The Truth Is Out There

Tonight while he was doing his homework Ben said very casually, "I don't know why, but I keep dreaming about going to see the knights, yesterday and today. I had the same dream."

"Knights," I asked, "like knights in armor?" Ben doesn't usually talk about his dreams.

"Yes," he answered. "Knights with metal fingers. They stick them in me."

"Umm," I said, "where do they stick them....?"

"I'm not telling you!" he giggled, "It's gross!" Then, changing his mind, he leaned over and whispered, "IN MY BUTT!" And then went back to happily coloring patterns on his homework sheet.

From my years of watching The X Files, I of course immediately drew the conclusion that OH MY GOD MY SON IS BEING ABDUCTED BY SPACE ALIENS!!!!!

I do, however, take some comfort in the fact that he at least seems to think it's funny...

Post-Thanksgiving Recap

My apologies to all of you eagerly awaiting my blog posts. Okay I guess that is probably just Mom - sorry Mom! We have been busy entertaining the "Quincy contingent" -- Aunt Abby, Uncle Mike, and cousin Charlie, who arrived Thursday and are departing bright and early tomorrow morning. So here's the recap:

1. Successful turkey cooking with the help of Switchin Kitchens for all the side dishes, so the actual meal preparation was not nearly as arduous as it could have been.

2. The cousins have been getting along well for the most part -- Charlie idolizes Ben and is very possessive of him so the only issues we've had in that respect have been when Ben has tried to play with someone else... Charlie yelled at one of the neighborhood kids when she tried to come over to play ("That's MY Ben!") and threw sand at one of Ben's school friends who we happened to run into at the park. He just does not want to share "his" Ben. Becca follows the two of them around trying to compete for some of Charlie's attention -- "Hey Chah-yee! Hey Chah-yee! HEY CHAH-YEE!" (No response). There has also been some toy sharing issues between the two of them. Okay, a lot of sharing issues. But overall, lots of good cousin fun.

3. Friday we took the kids to Monkey Joe's and then Abby and I went out to dinner and a movie, and Saturday we went to the Schiele Museum enroute to which Joel got a $380 traffic ticket for failing to get out of the right hand lane when passing a police car conducting a traffic stop on the shoulder -- I didn't even know there was such a rule -- so I will call that excursion not terrifically successful. Sunday we went to Freedom Park and the Nature Museum, and today (with Ben and Becca back at school) Abby and I did some shopping.

4. tomorrow it's back to business as usual, but I shall leave you with a hodge-podge of random pictures taken over the last five days....

To-Do List

My day-before-Thanksgiving to-do list looked something like this:

1. 9:30 a.m. appointment with cleaning service to do a walk-through & estimate
2. Occupy Ben somehow, off from school today, while working at the same time
3. Pick up pre-assembled side dishes for tomorrow's meal
4. Drop Ben off at the hospital so he could hang out/have lunch with Joel (who had a half day today)
5. Be back by 2pm to supervise delivery and assembly of an elliptical machine (while working)
6. Fix dinner, start the turkey brining (while working).

This was all totally screwed up by Ben, who very early in the day started complaining that his ear hurt. I took him to the doctor in time slot #2 above, which of course screwed up the "while working at the same time" part. #3 above was done while Ben howled in increasing pain, and #4 was replaced by "take Ben to the drug store for tylenol with codeine where he howled in pain and begged for medicine for the entire 20 minutes it took to get the prescription filled". Numbers 5 and part of 6 were with the addition of "while Ben howled in pain because the tylenol with codeine wasn't working".

Finally the medicine kicked in and he happily played computer games with Joel, allowing me to get some of my to-do list done in peace! Turkey is not in the brine yet, and I am going to be finishing up some stuff for work later tonight, but it's all good... I think...

Totally psyched to see Abby, Mike, and Charlie tomorrow!

I Finally Have my Old Kitchen Back!

Back in, oh April sometime I think, Joel decided he wanted to paint the kitchen. He primed a couple of walls, put some paint samples up, and then did nothing.... for months... Eventually he decided he didn't like any of the paint samples he'd put up and didn't feel like painting the whole kitchen, and didn't feel like hiring someone to paint it for him, so he decided he was going to re-paint the kitchen the same color it was before.

By this point I'd been living with paint-smeared kitchen walls for like half a year, and I didn't care what the hell he did as long as MY KITCHEN WAS PAINTED ONE SOLID COLOR BEFORE THANKSGIVING.

So here we are, a couple of days before Thanksgiving, and Joel finished painting the kitchen! The exact same color it was before. Only it wasn't even just as easy as that because he didn't have enough of the original paint, so had to go buy some, which turned out to be the wrong finish, so then he had to go buy some more.

Let's all make fun of him now.

Bonus Room

(Minus elliptical, which is arriving Wednesday).

It's a Good Thing She Has a Hard Head

Becca ran full speed into a table while we were out doing errands this morning. It was out on the sidewalk in front of a store, and rather than go around it, as there was plenty of room to do so, she ran straight into it even though she appeared to be looking where she was going. She hit it right between the eyes, so hard that it knocked her over flat on her back on the sidewalk. I, walking a few steps behind her, was absolutely horrified, but after a few minutes it became apparent that she had no other injuries except the one in between her eyes which Joel assured me is a very thick part of the skull! She is fine now. She just looks like she, well, ran full speed into a table.

Deceptively Angelic

Kathleen was kind enough to send me a picture of Becca she took last weekend. I especially like the halo effect.

More Pee, And Some Other Stuff

1. Rebecca peed on the potty AGAIN tonight! This was her second straight successful peeing attempt. This time she sat down on the potty with a very determined look, and refused to get up until some pee was forthcoming.

2. Ben successfully tested for his yellow belt at Tae Kwon Do yesterday. Of course, being the absent-minded guy he is, he forgot to tell me about it beforehand. So I MISSED GETTING TO SEE HIM BREAK A BOARD! Okay, it was less board-ish and more small-piece-of-balsa-wood-ish, but still! So proud, so proud...

3. Joel spent his week off buying me a 50 inch Samsung plasma TV for our bedroom, which is replacing the 46 inch Sony LCD we had in our room, which is going (has gone already I should say) up into the bonus room. He also bought me an elliptical trainer, so that I can work out in the bonus room while watching a very large TV. Way to go Joel!! Quality way to spend vacation time, I must say. Neither purchase is actually in-house yet, but we are hoping to have them both before Thanksgiving.

4. In reference to #3 above, Joel moved the 46 inch Sony up to the bonus room today. After dinner tonight Becca headed into our bedroom to demand we put Backyardigans on for her (as is her usual after dinner habit) and when she went into the room she stopped, looked all around with a very puzzled look on her face, and yelled, "WHERE MY PEEDEE GO??"

Pee Pee on the Potty!

A milestone -- Becca peed on the potty last night!! Not intentionally, really; she just happened to be sitting on her potty seat naked while waiting for me to get her bath ready, and some pee came out. She was quite surprised, and I don't think she really knew what it was. She looked in the potty and said, "Water! I got water!" and then she immediately tried to lift out the potty seat to dump the pee -- where? not sure because I quickly took it from her ;) I called for Joel and Ben and we all gave her a round of applause. She beamed at her accomplishment, though still not really seeming sure of what exactly the fuss was about! No pictures, as I'm not really one of those photograph-bodily-fluids kind of type... as I am sure you'll thank me for...

You Can't Put a Price on Fun in the Snow

Or, maybe you can... apparently it's $35 per person age 3 and over, for two hours. So it is at SnowParkUSA which opens at Symphony Park (about ten minutes from here) next Friday, and stays open through March. It sounds awesome, if not a little bit pricey... I mean, what could be better than getting to enjoy playing in the snow, without the hassle of, well, you know, snow? I am sure we'll check it out ourselves at some point this winter, despite the steep price tag... if we can get in. Looks like it's pretty much sold out through December already. Mittens? Hats? Do we own such things??

Becca's Pirate Dance

Weekend with Uncle Mike and Aunt Kathleen

We've had a busy and fun weekend hosting Uncle Mike and Aunt Kathleen! They arrived Friday, at about the same time as the weather miraculously cleared up, and we could not have asked for a more gorgeous weekend! Today was sunny and in the upper 70s, and yesterday was sunny and mid-70s. Yesterday we took the kids to the North Carolina Renaissance Festival, and later Nanny came over to babysit so we could take Mike out for his birthday. We went to Chima, a Brazilian barbecue, and ate vast quantities of meat which later woke me up at 5:30 a.m with a stomach ache. But totally worth it!

This morning we enjoyed some more gorgeous weather -- Kathleen and I took the kids for walk at the Greenway -- and this afternoon the kids went to see Sesame Street Live with Nanny and Papa. Joel and Mike watched football while Kathleen and I shopped and went out to dinner. Who could ask for a better day???

In the next few posts below I have put some pictures and video from our weekend.

Ben Evens The Score

Ben Plays D

Ben got to play a lot of basketball with his favorite Uncle this weekend. Good defense Ben!!

Renaissance Faire

Saturday we took the kids to the Renaissance Faire. The weather was beautiful, the Faire was extremely crowded, and the kids were somewhat grouchy, whiny, and coughing and snotting profusely. We did manage to squeeze a little bit of fun and a few good pictures out of the event before deciding to call it a "semi-failed experiment" (as Uncle Mike put it) and head home.

It Has Been Raining For 48 Hours Straight

Not the subject of this post, necessarily, but true. It has also been cold and windy - in the 40s today. YUCK!! Uncle Mike and Aunt Kathleen arrive tomorrow, and according to the forecast the weekend will be warm and sunny, in the 70s. Hooray for Mike and Kathleen, miraculous changers of weather!

Let's see, what's going on... Ben had off for Veteran's day yesterday, and spent the day with the JCC's J-Team program bowling and swimming. Thank goodness for that! It is nice to know that he has fun things to do with friends on days off from school rather than watching TV all day while I work. Rebecca's first parent-teacher conference -- if you can call it that -- was yesterday, and her teacher confirmed what I have known all along... that Rebecca is an awesome kid! ;)

Remember how I mentioned whenever Rebecca sees a particular picture of a starfish in one of her books and calls it a cookie? Well last night Ben was "reading" to Rebecca and he accidentally called a picture of a snail a cinnamon roll! I guess it did kind of look like a cinammon roll.... he was very cute and sheepish when I pointed out (after I finished dying on the floor laughing) that the picture was not of a cinnamon roll.

This morning on the way to preschool Becca was looking out the window at the other cars on the road, and she noticed (I guess for the first time) the exhaust coming out of the tailpipe of the car in front of us. Since it looked like steam (especially in the cold and rain this morning) she said, "Oh God! Look! That car is hot!" I have NO idea where she gets "Oh God" from -- I don't say it -- but oh god, it's cute!

Cake Cake!

Yesterday I took Rebecca to a classmate's birthday party at Plaza Fiesta. I had never been, but had heard of it, so it was neat to go. They have a two story indoor playground - picture a McDonald's Play Place on steroids, perhaps? Rebecca wasted no time in climbing all the way to the top (with me close behind her). Once up there we chose to go down one of the big corkscrew slides -- not a very well-thought-out decision, as it was a bit scary for me, let alone for poor Rebecca on my lap. She seemed slightly traumatized after that and preferred to stick to the smaller slides thereafter. She had lots of fun running around with her little friends, but was very impatient during lunch (waiting for birthday cake). Who could blame her? Tres leche birthday cake.... Mmmmmm....

Ben had his last soccer game of the season yesterday, and cupcakes afterwards, though I missed out on seeing his final game because I ended up having to work yesterday afternoon (BOOOO...). After soccer we had birthday Chinese takeout and MORE CAKE! to celebrate Nanny's birthday. Rebecca got lots of practice with her "Happy Bah Day to You" song and eating "Happy Bah Day to You cake", as she calls it. Or sometimes just, "cake cake".

Although she doesn't know it yet, she will get to sing Happy Bah Day to You AGAIN this weekend when Uncle Mike and Aunt Kathleen visit, and we celebrate Mike's birthday! YEAH! More Cake cake!

Boy Vs. Food

This afternoon during Rebecca's nap Ben and I were watching Man Vs. Food on the Travel Channel. We happened to catch the episode where Adam takes on an ice cream challenge -- to eat two gallons of ice cream with whipped cream and toppings in under an hour. This was the first time Ben had seen the show, and he was totally sucked into it. "Will we get to see him throw up?" he mused. (If you're wondering, he did not throw up, and he did successfully complete the challenge).

Fast forward to tonight after dinner, when we stopped into Ben and Jerry's for dessert. Ben almost never finishes ice cream, so I thought it was vaguely unusual that he was polishing off his kids cup of cookie dough ice cream with gummy bears and chocolate sprinkles with a singleminded determination... Then he set down his empty cup an announced, "Man vs. Food... MAN WON!!"

Thursday Update

I seem to be doing a lot of "Thursday updates" lately, huh... it generally means nothing particularly interesting is going on but if I go any longer without blogging, someone will call or email to ask why I have fallen off the face of the Earth. However, that is too long of a title for a blog post so "Thursday update" will have to do.

1. We let Ben stay up for the first hour of each of games 5 and 6 of the World Series. Upon learning this morning that the Phillies lost, he announced, "Well, I wanted the Yankees to win anyway." To which I replied, "Don't say that to your father!"

2. I have received some unusual items in the mail this week, including a framed drawing of a deer that I drew when I was 5 years old and home sick from kindergarten one day -- I do have a vague memory of drawing it; I think my mom's point in sending it was to say that Ben's inability to draw does NOT come from my side of the family. My sister-in-law also sent me 5 boxes of Japanese curry, which I think is her way of saying that I need to fatten Ben up and Japanese curry will be just the thing to do it. Thank you Mom, and thank you Miki! I think we will be having curry for dinner tomorrow...

3. I was forced to make my bi-yearly pilgrimmage to the opthamologist this morning, thanks to a letter from the DMV stating that they needed to periodically review my ability to safely operate a motor vehicle. For the honor and privilege of being poked and prodded for two hours (and I didn't even let them dilate my pupils -- told them I'd come back for that later) I had to shell out $112. $35 copay to see a specialist, and $77 for the visual field acuity test they gave me, which is not covered by insurance because it is not a medical requirement (only a DMV requirement). I will add this to my mental list, which I have been keeping for 33 years now, of why I do not like eye doctors.

4. Plans this weekend include three birthday parties (Ben is an invitee to two, and Becca to one) which I think might be a birthday party record. We've done two in a weekend before, but never three I think. Ben also has his last soccer game on Sunday, and I think an after-soccer party also. Party overload! I am sure it will be fun though (if tiring).

That's all I've got...

Becca Sings ABCs

Here she is folks, at only 2 years 1 month, singing her ABCs... though she did get a little confused at the end... clearly a prodigy nonetheless :)

Ben's New Room

Today, pre-Halloween festivities, we moved Ben's room into what was formerly the guest room and moved the guest room into the bonus room, which had been Ben's room... Why Ben had occupied a 20 by 20 square foot domain in this house when space is at a premium, I am not quite sure. It had something to do with the fact that Joel wanted a "dedicated guest room" and I went along with it because I was convinced I was having a boy and that the bonus room could be the bedroom for both boys and all their toys, leaving two extra rooms upstairs, one for the guest room and one for my office. Of course, we all know how that turned out, and two years later my office was still in my bedroom and I was beginning to complain loudly that we needed to do some rearranging. So today we finally made it happen. Now Ben has a much more appropriately sized room, and the bonus room is now home to the guest bedroom furniture, a futon which is serving as a couch/extra bed, and little tv which will eventually be replaced by another big screen tv. Soon my desk will make the move up there, and eventually it will be joined by an elliptical, the aforementioned new tv, some video game chairs... and we'll have a nice multi-purpose room.

Halloween 2009

The kids went trick or treating with their friends Jared and Evan this evening, and did not seem to notice that it was RAINING though mom and dad sure noticed... Rebecca did not want to put on her bunny costume, and it was too warm for it anyway, so we settled on tutu and bunny ears. She was not scared at all of the halloween decorations/ trick or treaters, and ran up to every house saying "I want candy!" Some pictures below, though I had to put my camera away after a while when the rain started really coming down.

Anniversary Dinner

Not only did Joel's parents babysit for us last night, but they also gave us a $100 gift certificate to one of my favorite restaurants, Blue. I had the poached pear and baby arugula salad (which is the best salad on the entire planet), the duo of wild boar ("Grilled tenderloin and crepinette of shoulder braised with porcini mushrooms over chestnut risotto, served with rainbow Swiss chard and black currant marmalade"), and for dessert we shared the cake di chocolat (a molten chocolate cake) and the creme catalana (like an orange flavored creme brulee).

I really liked the wild boar tenderloin, but not so much a fan of the shoulder. Everything else was excellent though! Joel was not so fond of the duck entree he ordered, which was unfortunate, but otherwise we had a great meal. There was live music and a masquerade ball going on there, which made for good entertainment ;)

The kids, as usual, had a great time with Nanny and Papa! Thanks guys!!!

Thursday Highlights

1. Today was a teacher inservice/ conference day (as is tomorrow) so Ben did not have school. The JCC offers day-long programs for occasions such as these, so today Ben went with them on a field trip to a corn maze and went swimming in the indoor pool among other activities. Tomorrow he goes with them to Space Kidets, an indoor playspace with inflatables, arcade, etc, and swimming again. He is having a nice break from school!

2. This morning I stopped in at the book store and found some materials to help Ben practice his writing. I got some cards that are dry-erase-board material on one side, with a dry erase marker. I got a set for practicing numbers 1-30, uppercase letters, and lowercase letters. You practice tracing each letter, starting at the circle and ending at the star and following the directional arrows. You can erase it and draw it over as many times as you want. And there's extra room on the cards to practice free-hand as well. Tonight I showed Ben the number set, since he'd been telling me he wanted to practice writing numbers with me. He seemed to enjoy being able to easily write and erase as much as he wanted. I am rather baffled by the fact that he can draw a perfect figure 8, but the number 3 stymies him even after I explained that it's just like a B without the straight line, and he can make a perfect capital B. During the course of our practice, Joel discovered that he writes his own "5" and "7" improperly. So Joel needed some remedial work as well. Ben helped him with his 5's.

3. After I picked the kids up this evening we were playing in the cul de sac before dinner, and Ben and our neighbor Miller found a snake in the street. As they were watching the snake a car came down the street and ran right over it... the car was going very slowly, since it's a dead end street, but neither me nor the other adult present really wanted to pick a snake up out of the road... so unfortunately we all just stood there and watched the poor snake get run over. Poor thing. The snake was rather mangled after the event, but still alive! Barely. Ben and Miller were beyond fascinated with this event, and kept riding their scooters over to look at it. "Look! Look! It moved! It is only a little dead! Are those it's guts?" Rebecca walked up to it, bent over with her hands on her knees, and said "SQUISHY! Yuck!" Shortly thereafter Joel came home from work, and inadvertantly put the snake out of its misery...

4. Rebecca looked up at the moon in the sky tonight and said "Look! Banana!" I am a little concerned about what's going on in that head of hers that she thinks a banana could be up in the sky. It reminds me of this book of hers that we have, and every picture in it is of some kind of animal. And every time she gets to the picture of the star fish (no matter how many times I have told her it is a star fish) she says "COOKIE!" I think she might fail all those tests where you have to single out which thing DOES NOT BELONG WITH THE OTHERS.

Seven Years Ago Right Now I Was In Aruba

(Sigh).

Thank you to Jon and Carolyn for finding some wedding pictures for me... at some point I will buy a new scanner and re-scan some pictures, since my scanner broke and I couldn't find any of the ones I'd scanned oh so many years ago...

Ben's First Report Card

This afternoon Joel and I had Ben's first parent-teacher conference and received his first report card of his public school career... a very momentous occasion... there really were no surprises. The grading system up through second grade is a number system of 1 through 3 for each category with 3 being the highest and 1 being the lowest. He got "3"s in all of the reading subcategories, "3"'s in all of the math, science and social studies categories, and in the "character development" section he got "2"'s for "takes care of materials", "completes tasks", and "works independently". These are all related to his absent-mindedness (losing pencils, forgetting things in his cubby, leaving his backpack on the school bus, etc, as well as his fine motor problems (discussed below).

Writing does not get graded in the first quarter, but we had an in-depth discussion about his writing skills. Basically, he is improving, but doing his letters and numbers and free-hand drawing are much more difficult for him than for other kids. His teacher said she's thought about referring him for occupational therapy but wanted to hold off since she has noticed he is improving and that when he puts his mind to it he seems to be able to do it. She showed us some examples of his work, and on a couple of pages I had to unfortunately point out to her that he must have gotten someone else to do parts of it for him! I felt bad saying so, but in one picture it looked like he had drawn some trees, the moon, a night sky... all fine and looks like Ben's ability... but then there was a picture of a bat and a bird and I am sorry but there's no way my son can draw a bat or a bird. As Joel put it, "That's a better bird than I can draw right now."

On a positive note, she said that when she tested his reading comprehension, he had one of the highest scores in the class. He was able to answer questions about a story that was read to him, and make inferences about things that were not explicitly stated such as the time of year, character motivations,etc, and retold the story to her in great detail.

So, overall a good report card, and we're just going to keep an eye on the writing/ drawing issues and see if he continues to make improvements.

Seven Years...

Three states of residence, one apartment, two houses, five jobs (seven if you count Joel's moonlighting gigs), five cars, three big screen tvs (just had to throw that in), AND THE TWO BEST KIDS IN THE ENTIRE WORLD later... HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME AND JOEL!!! Wondering what the next seven years will bring... thinking no more houses or kids, but maybe another car and another big screen tv... lol ;) I am trying to find a digital copy of one of our wedding pictures to post but having some technical difficulties. Since our anniversary falls on a not-so-good day of the week for going out, we're waiting until Friday night to celebrate.

Pumpkin Picking

This morning I took the kids to Hodges Dairy Farm to do the obligatory fall pumpkin picking/ hay ride activities. Joel was working, and Ben had a 1:15 soccer game, so we had to find a pumpkin patch that was open on Sunday morning, and close enough so that we could get there, not be too rushed, and get back in time to eat lunch and get over to the JCC for soccer. We did a pretty good job, despite my initial misgivings about the whole idea. Ben was very insistent about wanting to pick pumpkins, since our planned outing last weekend got rained out. So at the last minute I gave in, hastily found one that was open, and off we went.

It was actually pretty fun, if a bit chilly and windy this morning. We picked a couple of pumpkins, did a hay ride, saw some farm animals, wandered around in a corn maze (well actually I think it was grass not corn), and slid down a hay stack (them not me). With the aid of the drive-through window at Burger King, we managed to make it home to eat lunch and get to soccer on time. Below are some pictures from our pumpkin-picking extravaganza.

A Quick Run-Down

So I just noticed that I haven't posted in a few days so here's a quick run-down:

1. We got our new kitchen table on Tuesday. In case I forgot to mention it, we bought a new kitchen table the other weekend. I had been campaigning to get rid of our old one for about two years now and finally managed to convince Joel. The new one is not fancy but hopefully sturdy enough to put up with the kids' abuse. Most happily, the new chairs do not have any padding on them, which means they won't get disgustingly dirty like our old ones did.

2. Rebecca spent the day yesterday home with me with a fever, albeit a low one, and after a dose of motrin she was her usual happy and pesky self all day which made getting any work done rather difficult although I managed. I was worried she might be getting the flu, but her fever never really spiked... the highest it got was 100.7 and it was back down to 99.9 this morning. I took her to preschool this morning, but made an appointment for later this morning to have her ears checked, since now I think the culprit might be an ear infection.

3. Ben has been doing well, among his activities this week have been school spirit day at Chick-Fil-A, which he dragged me to for dinner Tuesday night so that he could get his attendance taken and hopefully win a treat for his class... the place was mobbed with kids from his school, and of course when asked what he wanted to eat Ben said, "a hamburger." I patiently pointed out the name of the restaurant to him, and explained that they only have chicken. As if he has not been to Chick-Fil-A 50 times. He also had his school book fair this week, and came home yesterday with some predictable titles -- a Ben 10 book, a book on dinosaurs, a book on spiders, and a book about all different animals' teeth and what they use them all for, which we read last night and was actually pretty interesting.

4. Joel is in Chicago for a conference, he left Tuesday and comes back tonight. So he has missed items 1, 2, and 3 above.

5. Go Phillies! Though I will admit I fell asleep at the beginning of the 7th inning... though the Phillies seemed to have everything in hand at that point... I woke up just as the trophy thing was being awarded. On to the World Series... Maybe I can make it through some of those games without falling asleep... but probably not.

Chuck-E-Cheese, Where Joel Can be a Kid

Yesterday we were supposed to go pumpkin picking but the weather did not cooperate so we met a friend at Chuck E Cheese for the morning. I think at some point I did inform Joel that those ceiling tunnels are not supposed to be for grown-ups...

Dinner At The Movies

Last night Joel's mom awesomely offered to babysit and Joel and I went out to dinner and a movie. Or more precisely, we had dinner at the movies. We went downtown to the movie theatre at The Epicentre, which is really cool because it's got this fancy restaurant inside it called The Mez and you can order from the bar and then go into your movie with a pager, and they page you when your food is ready, and you go get it and bring it into the theater with you. The theater has bigger than normal seats with a little tray built into the arm rest that you can put a plate on. Now, I wouldn't order something that you needed to eat with a knife and fork, because that might be a little bit of a challenge technically, but I ordered a pressed cuban sandwich and Joel ordered a barbecue chicken pizza, both of which were perfectly suited to eating while watching a movie. And delicious I might add.

So, it was a neat experience to get to eat dinner (and drink beer!) at the movies... and it is a good solution to the problem that when we go to dinner and a movie I usually either feel rushed during dinner, or feel like I am going to be out way too late. So... now I know I can do both at the same time :) The movie we saw was Zombie Land, which was a bit gross in parts, but very funny. And I hate zombie movies. But zombie comedies are I guess OK in my book.

We also walked around The Epicentre a bit, which was the first time we'd been there. It's a three-story collection of restaurants, bars, the movie theater, a bowling alley, and some retail stores located right in the middle of downtown. Pretty neat. We found a fancy asian restaurant there called Enso that we want to try when we have a chance-- we stopped in and checked out the menu. $21 for orange chicken -- that better be some mighty fine orange chicken!

Anyway, it was a good date night place! I am sure we'll be back.

Soccer Returns

Ben had soccer again today after a long hiatus because of all the Jewish holidays over the last month - every one of them fell over a weekend, so the JCC was closed pretty much every weekend of the last month. Today was picture day, and I have rarely seen kids looking less thrilled to have their picture taken... Here is Ben and most of his team (there were a couple kids out sick this week).

The last time Ben had soccer we were all sweltering in the heat; today we did not have that problem since it was about 55 degrees and cloudy. Becca got to skip her nap to cheer on her brother, but she kept trying to run onto the field and kick the ball. Fortunately Nanny and Papa were along for the game as well. There was a Family Fitness Fun Day thing going on as well, so Nanny and Becca checked that out during the second half of Ben's game. Ben's team lost to Nazareth United, but it was a good game. Ben had a couple of long drives down the field (do you say drives down the field in soccer?) but no goals.

Ben's cheering section:

All's Quiet on the Western Front

Okay, Southern front.

Rebecca, Joel and I do not have the flu yet. Now that I have written that sentence, I am quite positive that within the next five minutes one of us will get sick. But shouldn't we be almost out of the woods, since Ben's last fever was a week ago today? One would think... No... mustn't think... thinking will just jinx it some more.

Joel's parents and I attended the Richard Dawkins lecture at Queens University last night. It was quite entertaining. Since it is his book tour, he mostly read some passages from his latest book (The Greatest Show on Earth) and took questions from the audience. We did not hang around for the book signing, though we did buy his book, because the book signing line was so long. It was really quite a treat for me to attend, since I have been a fan of Dawkins since high school, when I read The Blind Watchmaker.

Of course, no lecture by an atheist/ evolutionary biologist would be complete without at least one Creationist outside the lecture hall handing out leaflets. Now, I didn't read the leaflet from beginning to end but some of the highlights suggested that believing in evolution will make teenagers commit suicide and encourage them to have homosexual thoughts.

It really doesn't deserve comment, so I won't...

For Those of You Who Think I'm Falling Behind On The Blog Because I Skipped One Day

(And you know who you are)...

Here are some Monday highlights:

1. Ben went back to school today. He seems back to his usual self, and has had no fevers since Thursday. We stopped at school Friday and picked up a folder of assignments he'd missed, so we've been working to get caught up. We did a few assignments last night and a few more tonight and I think we only have two left. He's been a good sport about doing his missed work. From what I understand, a lot of kids in his class have the flu -- six kids were out today. The rest of us are flu-free so far but every five minutes I tell Joel I think I am coming down with something. ("I think I am coming down with something.")

2. I took my car to an auto-body shop to have it photographed for the insurance company. The guy estimated the repairs to cost $115. Considering that my car took most if not all the damage, you can see this was a serious accident indeed...

3. Rebecca was a bit of a feisty girl tonight. She got put in time out twice, first for throwing a cup across the room and then for throwing her food on the ground and stomping on it. When she got sent to time out she didn't even cry. She just marched over to the corner by the front door (which is where we send her for time out), plopped down with her back against the wall and stared at the Phillies game on TV until we told her she could get up. She also colored all over her arms with magic marker even though when I handed her the markers and paper I told her SPECIFICALLY to only color on the paper and not on herself. When I scolded her for coloring all over her arm she looked mystified ("how did THAT get there?") She of course was ridiculously cute despite (because of?) the orneriness.

Daddy and Becca

They both have barbecue sauce on their faces but aren't they adorable??

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

So, y'all remember the other day when I mentioned I'd been in a minor fender-bender with a Ford Expedition... So minor it could barely be classified as a fender-bender? Well, I got a call from my insurance company today, who'd been contacted by AN ATTORNEY'S OFFICE who is representing the driver of the other vehicle, WHO CLAIMS TO HAVE BEEN INJURED in this minor fender-bender that didn't even damage his car... but wait... wait... it gets better... the driver claimed that his car that was involved was an early 90s model Ford Ranger pickup truck. While we were exchanging information, he mentioned to me that his "other truck" had been rear-ended the week before. So I can only surmise he is trying to pass off the damage to that truck, and some injury sustained in that accident, as having taken place in the accident with me. After I gave my statement to the insurance agent (wherein I emphatically made known that I had in no way, shape or form hit a Ford Ranger pickup truck, and that the car I hit appeared undamaged except possibly for a very slightly bent trailer hitch), I called the police department. They had a brief report of the accident, which mentioned the make and model of the car as being a Ford Expedition. I had them fax the report to the insurance agent. I also have an appointment Monday to have the damage to my car photographed (which so far as I can tell consists only of a broken front license plate holder thingy that has the dealer name on it where I bought the car).

Anyway, I am very pissed, at people for being so dishonest, and at myself for not getting out my camera and taking a picture of the other car when the accident happened!! But, hopefully my insurance company will be able to get to the bottom of it...

The Hottest Ticket in Town...

... If you're a geek like me, is to the Richard Dawkins lecture next Wednesday at Queens University. It's been sold out since it was first announced back in the beginning of September, but I scored tickets on craigslist just now... YEAH!!!

The Flu, Day 4...

Yes, there is a day 4... despite how chipper Ben looked in yesterday's video, he did spike a fever later on in the afternoon... so I kept him home again. For some reason today he has been able to occupy himself quite well with his Leapster (I bought him a Star Wars: Jedi Math game yesterday). I guess he's getting used to his quarantine!

The Flu, Day 3: Going Bananas

The Flu, Day 2

For Ulysses' sake, I hope that cats cannot get the flu! Ulysses has been Ben's buddy today. Ben seems to be feeling a lot better than yesterday -- his fevers seem to have subsided, though I am waiting for his morning dose of motrin to wear off completely, before I will really know for sure. He got a full dose of the Tamiflu this morning finally, after I mixed it with his motrin and coaxed him to drink it in between sips of gatorade. I think this afternoon will be the real test of how he's feeling though, because he just ate some chicken nuggets and has not had any motrin since this morning... so I am waiting to see if he will be okay or wilt before my eyes! Keeping our fingers crossed...

The Flu!!!

I had hopes that we would be spared... but of course that was wishful thinking. Ben woke up this morning feverish and nauseous, and by noon it was clear that he was pretty darn sick -- lying listlessly on my bed drifting in and out of sleep. His fever hit a high of 103 despite around-the-clock Motrin, and after conferencing with Joel we decided to check with his pediatrician to see if she wanted him to come in. She did, and gave Ben the rapid flu test, which came back positive. She said if I wanted Tamaflu, she'd write him a prescription despite the CDC's guidelines that it should be saved for people who have other health complications... so I said... GIVE ME TAMAFLU! And she did. Except for the problem that there's like one pharmacy in the city where the liquid Tamaflu is still available... but we found that pharmacy and navigated that hurdle. The pharmacy in question actually does home deliveries, and they were scheduled to deliver the Tamaflu to our door, but due to a delivery mix up (the prescription got left behind), I had to send Joel out for it anyway. But, it was a nice thought anyway... I am not sure how effective Ben's first dose of Tamaflu was however, because not only did he spit half of it out (apparently does not taste anywhere near as delicious as berry flavored Motrin), he also threw up a few minutes after taking it as well. Poor kid.

Anyway, Ben will likely be home sick for the rest of the week. Trying to keep Rebecca, Joel and myself from getting sick is a daunting task... we've not let Rebecca near Ben at all today, and I've been compulsively hand-sanitizing like every five minutes, but I am sure both of us, if not also Joel, will be sick anyway in short order...

Touch A Truck

Today I took the kids to the Touch a Truck festival, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like... they have all kinds of trucks -- ambulances, fire trucks, police cars, construction equipment, a helicopter, boats, etc and the kids can climb on/ in them. They also had a bounce house, pony rides, food, balloon art, etc. To my surprise Becca got just as much enjoyment from climbing on all the trucks as Ben did. She especially seemed to like the ambulances, and at one point was sitting in an ambulance in between two paramedics, having a chat with them. Her favorite thing was probably the bounce house, which I shouldn't've let her go in because it was for ages 3 and up, but she wasn't about to take no for an answer. She sat down, took her shoes off, and planted herself firmly in line. So I gave in, since they were only letting a few kids in at a time anyway. When it was time to go we watched the helicopter take off, and the kids both loved that -- even with (Or maybe because of) the noise/wind from the helicopter blades-- they were jumping up and down in excitement as the helicopter took off.

It would have ranked as a pretty successful outing, except that on the way home I rear-ended a Ford Expedition at a stop light. I was traveling at an excessively slow rate of speed, and there was no damage to the Expedition and not really any damage to my car except for that the Expedition's trailer hitch went through the front license plate holder thing of my car. But I don't think any actual car was damaged. But, yes I have learned my lesson -- I need to spend more time watching the road and less time fielding food, beverage, toy, and radio requests from the back seat!

Here are some pictures from the Touch A Truck festival:

Two Year Checkup

Rebecca had her two year old well exam this morning, and when I told her we were going to the doctor first before school, she seemed very pleased. "I go doctor! I go doctor!" she kept announcing happily. I felt rather guilty but I wasn't about to tell her that she wasn't going to like it.

As usual she was quite happy until we were escorted back to the exam room. Then a look of "wait a minute, I remember this place...." seemed to dawn on her face, and she was her usual uncooperative self for the physical exam, ear check, throat check (she somehow managed to cry through clenched teeth which the doctor found very impressive).

After the doctor left and we were waiting for the nurse to come give her shots (flu and hepatitis A), Becca tried to escape from the exam room, crying "I want go doctor! I want go doctor!" as if not understanding that that's where we were... she seemed to think this was some torture I was inflicting upon her in lieu of the promised doctor visit. The shots, of course, were not received well, she was not appeased by the stickers that were offered to her, and then she threw a fit because she didn't want to leave.

That's right, she didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay and read books in the waiting room. So I had to carry her kicking and screaming out to the car.

The numbers--

Weight - 27 lbs (50-75th percentile)
Height - 35 1/2 inches (90th percentile)
Head circumference - 19 1/4 inches (75-90th percentile)

A Trip to the Gardens

The sun came out this afternoon so mom and dad and I took the kids to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens. The kids loved running around (especially through the water) and looking at the flowers and butterflies. All the pictures of butterflies and flowers in the slide show below were taken by Ben. And yes, the butterly on the woman's face was real!

It's a Birthday Party!

We were very lucky to have both sets of grandparents with us for Becca's birthday this year! We had a quiet party on Saturday with just the family, pizza, and cake... the cake featured Becca's two favorite animals, bunnies and monkeys! Despite it being a rainy day, we had a great little party.

It's a Birthday Girl!

9/25/07 at 9:25 am...



9/25/09...



We love you Becca!!! Happy birthday to the best little girl on the planet!!!

A Happy Bunny

I was able to get her into the bunny head by telling her it was a "bunny hat" (she loves hats). I imagine I will be able to get her into the feet by telling her they are "bunny shoes" (she loves shoes). I am not sure about the body though. We have a month to figure that part out.

No Cross Contamination, Here

It occurred to me suddenly, while watching Ben eat his dinner tonight, that lately he has been taking the whole "different foods can't touch each other on the plate" concept to a whole new level... it kind of snuck up on me and I didn't even really realize it until tonight that Ben cannot have his food groups sharing the same plate, much less touching each other. So here he is at dinner tonight, with a plate of chicken with dip, a plate of brocolli, a bowl of strawberries and a plate of cheese nips (somehow a compromise because he didn't want rice). Considering our liberal use of paper products in this household, Ben's new eating habits may single handedly be responsible for the destruction of a rain forest somewhere.

Bumblebee

The kids' Halloween costumes arrived today (for once I ordered them relatively early instead of panicking at the last minute). Ben was more than happy to model his Transformers costume, which was a gamble on two levels... first, I did not consult him before I ordered it since it was kind of an impulse buy, and second I didn't know what size to order but since he's tall and costumes usually run small I ordered him a 7/8... both gambles paid off, and he loved the costume AND it fits. Yay me!

It remains to be seen whether or not you'll ever see a picture of Rebecca in her rabbit costume. She was very happy to look at it in the packaging, but when I made a move to put it on her she cried, "no, no! no bunny!" and ran away. Halloween may be a bit rough for Becca, come to think of it, considering how afraid she is of mascots and that type of thing... it just might be genuine torture.

Future Black Belt?

I'll let you all be the judge!

Learning From Big Brother

Two examples of how Becca is learning from her brother:

1. Last night I was taking a minute to go over Ben's "magic words" with him for school -- he has a "treasure box" that he brings home once a week with new flash cards of words they are learning to recognize at school. By now there's about ten words in there. Becca saw me doing the flash cards with Ben and she came running over and climbed up on the bed. "I want play! I want play!" she said. So, after I did the flash cards with Ben I had to do them with her, too. For her of course I just showed her the card and said the word for her, and she repeated it to me. She seemed to think it was a fun game, even though it was just words, no pictures or anything.

2. This next example is a little more annoying! When we are in the car, Ben always asks to listen to a certain CD which is a compilation of pop songs sung by kids. Lately he's been wanting to listen to the track "Allstar" (from the Shrek soundtrack), which he knows all the words to and asks me to put it on repeat so I have to listen to it constantly. He calls the song "Shrek" because he associates it with the movie. Anyway this morning I put Becca in the car after Ben got on the bus, and the CD was playing with that song on from the last time we'd all been in the car together. Thinking that I would FINALLY get a chance to listen to something else for a minute, I put the radio on. Instantly from the back seat I hear Becca's screech: "I want Shrek! Want Shrek!"

So I had to put it back on, and listen to her hum/try to sing it the whole way to preschool.