The "Simple" Explanation ....

Tom posted an easy(ier) to understand explanation of the nation's financial issues at my request today on his blog if anyone is interested... and it seems a lot of you are. (ignore the bit about me getting into heated arguments with people because that's a bit of an overstatement. LOL!)

Read his post here.

Simon...

I realized I haven't posted much about Simon lately. He's just busy being 16 months old, I guess. He likes to dig in the dirt. (see above) I am forever scrubbing dirt out from under his little fingernails.

He also likes these new orange things that have appeared on the scene. We call them pumpkins. He calls them "Ball balls" Everywhere we go, he sees them and points, "Ball ball!". And if they're within reach, he must hold them and throw them around. The one sitting next to him in the above pictures was a decoration inside one of my neighbors' outdoor lanterns... he made short work of it. Thankfully, it wasn't destroyed and we were able to return it safely to its lantern home before we went inside last night.

He is saying more actual words these days... but they are the kinds of words only a mommy can translate. ;) He tries to imitate what we say a lot more now and will contort his mouth in really funny ways to try and say words we say. Mostly though, he just speaks Sanskrit. You know,that phase where they say something like, "aba glob dibba ya ba DAH blah blah doo bah!!!" and then they look at you like they've just said the most profound thing ever and why the heck do you not understand him?!

Two new teeth just popped through, both on the bottom -- a molar and one of the middle ones.

He's currently on an eating strike. I think he's put himself on a diet so at his 18-month appointment in a month and a half, the doctor won't call him fat. ;)

Oh, and he's got SUCH a mean streak lately. There are a group of younger brothers and sisters who are at school drop-off at the same time we are. I usually like to just let Simon run in and play for a minute while I get Ben situated in his classroom... but it's difficult because if another baby comes within a foot of him and what he is doing, he will SHREEEEK and then take a swat at them. Luckily, seeing as all those other babies are younger siblings too, they can both take it AND dish it back. But still... not cool.

Otherwise, he's every bit as sweet as he looks. I promise. ;)

In the Words of The People at My Husband's Office...

"It's time to go buy guns and 4-wheel drive vehicles."

I can't believe the bail-out didn't happen. I know it didn't seem fair to bail out selfish, greedy people and people who made poor financial decisions to begin with... but the general public just doesn't understand how NECESSARY the bail-out was. I am actually very, very afraid of what this now means for our country... and you should be too.

I should get my husband to write a post here later explaining why the bail-out was necessary because honestly, until he explained it to me, I really didn't think it was fair either. I watched local news coverage today and they are doing a PITIFUL job of explaining all this to people. My husband knows things about the ramifications of all this that seriously will scare the pants off of you and make you want to just go build a bunker somewhere.

Do you know that RIGHT now at this very second you can't walk into a bank and get a loan of any kind? No mortgage. No car loan. Nothing. Banks aren't letting cash out of their doors because they don't have enough of it.

Do you know that different banks, during normal times, lend cash to each other every single day? Now? That's totally frozen. (hence, why cash isn't leaving by way of loans)

Do you know that the government, during normal times, pours cash into the U.S. banking system. Do you know that for the last week? They have been pulling it out... every. single. day...

Without the bail-out... or some other plan (?!) NO ONE will be able to buy a home or a car unless they have cash. How many of us have that kind of money laying around?

Those are just a few of things Tom told me the other night... I wish the news would tell people this! THIS IS SCARY, PEOPLE!

Both Inspiring and Deflating...

I recently found an old school friend (we're talking elementary school) on Facebook. She was always an artist and I can remember seeing her drawings on the walls of the art room at school when we were 8 and 9 years old. She now does child photography -- and all I can say is, "Wow."

I have been scrolling through her photo blog archives and it's SO inspiring... she does amazing things with light and her pictures are just outstanding. On the other hand, I know it would take years upon years (if ever!) for me to ever have the skills/knowledge/eye to enable me to take pictures as amazing as hers.

I would just LOVE to take my kids out to her studio but GAH, so expensive!

Go check her out!

He Flipped for Gymnastics!

Ben's first gymnastics class today and it. was. awesome. He LOVED every minute, except for the part where they put stamps on his feet, he didn't so much like that. But I told him next week to just say, "No, thank you." ;)

Anyway, I watched through the gym window the whole time and he flipped and flopped and bounced and ran the whole time. They helped him do a pseudo-back walkover with a big barrel and a kickover on the bars. He was a pro on the balance beam, swung upside down on the rings and bounced his little heart out on the trampoline. It's absolute Ben heaven.

He didn't even complain when it was time to sit in the circle and listen to the teacher.

He also says he wants to go back every day and is extremely upset that we can only go on Saturdays. ;)

Yay! I picked a winner!

I'm Not Even Sure I Should Blog This or Not...

But it was so funny, it made me snort water out of my nose... so I figure I want to remember this one.

The Scene:
(this afternoon)
Benjamin comes down the stairs decked out head to toe in one of his costumes. This one was a suit jacket, a clip-on tie and an Indiana Jones hat.

"I'm going to work!" he yells...

"Okay!" I reply. "Have a good day!"

"Okay, I will!" he answers.
(pauses)
"I'll bring home beer!"*

I haven't laughed that hard in a LONG time.



*please know that we are not ridiculously heavy beer drinkers over here. Tom has bring bringing home various microbrews lately trying to find one we both really like. ;) We share one a couple of times a week. ;)

Now THAT'S a Wrong Number...

We just had a wrong number with a country code attached to it... I googled it? Lithuania. Weirdness.

Things on His Mind...

From the mouth of Ben out of nowhere this morning... as if he had been pondering this for quite some time.

"I don't know who will be the ring bearer in Georgia's and my wedding!"

Kids...

So, as has been blogged to death, I've been spending a lot of time at Ben's school lately. Between stopping in to take random pictures of children who are not mine, to dropping off Ben and getting there for pickup a little early so Simon can watch him play on the playground... I'm just there a ton.

Honestly, I've never really been all that comfortable around kids... weird, I know, right? I'm a mom and I'm such a kid myself! But truthfully, I was never much much of a baby holder until my own came along. I feel pretty natural with my niece, and around kids I've known for awhile... but otherwise, meh. I'm kind of standoffish and I always feel a little silly.

But all this hanging around Ben's school has made me realize that yeah, kids don't so much notice that you feel like an incompetent idiot. If you give them even an ounce of attention, they are your friend until you escapeleave.

It started off that the ones from Ben's class from last year would see me with Simon and run over, "Hey! You're Ben's mommy!" The little girls love playing with Simon, so they'll say hi to him through the fence, play peekaboo, or tickle his fingers until he giggles. Now the ones in Ben's current class know us and talk to us everyday, "Miss Erin! Miss Erin! We played with scratch and sniff paint today!" (I get more out of these kids about what they did in school than my own) It's mostly the little girls... maybe it wouldn't be so strange having a daughter after all?

Anyway, so I spent the afternoon there last Friday on the playground with a bunch of them... just taking pictures and following them around. A group of them were catching crickets in buckets. To all but three of them, I was a perfect stranger when I arrived. They'd catch a cricket, show me their bucket, wait for me to say, "oh wow!" and then run off, giggling. Eventually I somehow became a swing pusher, a shoe tie-er, a "where's my teacher?" finder. Some of them asked about the camera. Another wanted me to play hopscotch. On one hand, I was charmed by it all... on the other hand, as a mom, I was a little frightened by the fact that I was a perfect stranger and these kids were just ready to follow me anywhere. (now, in fairness, they saw that I was talking to their teachers and some knew I was a mom... but still...)

I also had a front row seat to watch the difference between 3-5-year-old boys and 3-5-year-old girls. NIGHT AND DAY. The boys are just so simple... "We're digging! In the sand! With trucks!" and the little girls are so much more complex. A group of girls were just having a wonderful time getting their bodies traced in chalk and then coloring in all the tiny details. I couldn't get Ben to do that for a million dollars. There were a few crossovers here and there... but the boys' attention spans were obviously much shorter. Very interesting to watch.

I'm off to take more pictures of different kids this morning... it's supposed to rain today so it should be fun to watch them all bounce off the walls indoors. ;) Wish me luck. I wonder what new friends I'll make today?

Benjamin is 4-1/2!

Six months from five and here's what he's up to... :) List from 4-1/4 copied, pasted, updated and edited where appropriate. :)

Likes: (in no particular order)
Spiderman
Iron Man
All other things Superhero-related
Costumes -- princess dresses at school. ;P
His school friend, Georgia
Riding his bike down hills very fast
Running
Going to Panera for a chocolate chip muffie and a milk
Food! (Yay!) Broccolli! (yay!)
Jumping off of high things
Playing outside with his friends
Digging in the dirt
His brother (about 85% of the time)
His cousin, Anastasia (100% of the time)
Ramona books
School
Instruments and music, especially piano and vioin, neither of which he can actually play anything on, but he likes to try. ;) Right now, the kazoo is more his speed.

Dislikes:
most veggies
Going to bed
Injustice (or, what appears to be, in his eyes)
Bare feet
Having to go inside
When one of the little girls at school gets to the pretty dress before him
Any shirt other than a selection of four that he has determined look like Peter Parker's (Spiderman's) shirts

Fears:
Bees
Spiders
Dogs
Any number of other things that may change on a daily basis... you just never know
That something red on his plate will turn out to be something other than ketchup like, *gasp* marinara sauce or BBQ sauce

New Skills:
Coloring in between the lines!
Cartwheels
Buttoning and unbuttoning, zipping and unzipping
Getting himself dress ALL the time and in a reasonable amount of time and with his shirt backwards only about 25% of the time.
Getting his own shoes on ALL the time and in a reasonable amount of time and on the right feet! (Hallejuah!)
Successfully climbing the rockwall at the nearby playground
cleaning up toys (sometimes)

Pic coming later if I can get him to sit still!

God and Kids. And Kids and God...

**warning... religion discussed... if this bothers you, bail now**

So, it occurred to me during bedtime one evening recently that my four-year-old knows more about Spiderman than he does about God, which, frankly, is not cool with me. We have been church slackers since Christmas, mostly thanks to Simon's nap situation. Our goal is to get back regularly in the next month or two once Simon solidifies the one nap after noon thing.

It's not like he doesn't know *anything*. We've broached the topic, we've read Bible stories, we pray with him at night. But trying to get Ben to pay attention to anything he isn't 100% interested in is a challenge and, to be honest, I/we haven't really felt up to that challenge and we haven't exactly been consistent. But I mean, how do you even START with such an abstract concept with a little kid? Obviously, it can be done because I can remember being three and saying bedtime prayers and talking to God. I knew most of the basic Bible stories and pretty much got the idea (as much as a three-year-old can) of God/Jesus/Holy Spirit and the very rudimentary ideas of what it meant to be a Christian. This is where I'm thinking our irregular church attendance has really killed us... because I think this is the main difference.

So yesterday, I ventured out to the bookstore and picked up a new kids' Bible that makes more sense than "The Toddler Bible" (which is just strange) and a book called "How Big is God?" that I'm hoping will start him asking questions and maybe begin to wrap his little four-year-old head around the concept.

What do you talk about with your kids when you talk about God? How do you get them be interested?

4-1/2 years...

That's how long it took Ben to finally get hungry.

The child has been a non-stop eating machine for a week now. I have heard the words, "I'm HUNGRY!!!" more times in the last week than I have his entire life prior to this week. He's not even all that picky. He cleaned a plate full of mac and cheese, broccolli and turkey kilbasa a few nights ago. Add to that, he has been eating multiple breakfasts, wanting to eat as soon as he gets out of bed in the morning and BEGGING for lunch at 11:30, and I'd say we have a growth spurt going on.

Either that, or a tapeworm.

At any rate, maybe he'll finally grow out of his 2T and 3T pants this year? I have a drawer full of brand new 4T's that fall off his backside and drag on the floor when he walks, so that'd be nice.

A Day on the Links...

We took the kids mini golfing this morning... it was a Spirit Week kickoff thing for the preschool but um, other than us, our neighbors, and two other families, we didn't see anyone else there, so really, it was just us and the kids having fun playing mini golf.

Anyway, here are a few pics. Ben and Tom actually played. Simon just ran around with a golf club and a ball and I tried to take pictures.









Also, for all you experienced photographers... I am still having white balance issues when I take pics outdoors. (yes, even on the auto setting) Sometimes, even when I set it on daylight on bright sunny days like today I often end up with this effect: What is the RIGHT setting for a glaringly sunny day if not "daylight"? Auto white balance almost always screws up too...

2020 Summer Games, Here He Comes... ;)

I just signed Ben up for gymnastics on Saturdays for the fall/winter.

It's something I hemmed and hawed about for two years and finally took the plunge. Just from talking to friends, it seems like age four is the year to start doing rec sports and whatnot for fun and just to get a taste of a sport/teamwork and that sort of thing. Most kids we know are doing soccer, but Ben has ZIPPO interest in the sport, or in ball playing in general. I mean, he'll play a little with Tom outside and with his friends, but as far as the patience/interest to play on a team and actually learn the rules? Notsomuch. At least not right now.

But I wanted SOMETHING for him to be able to direct all of his crazy amounts of energy to during these cooler months coming up and I really think gymnastics might just end up being his thing. He's tiny, he's (physically) fearless, and the child has somehow taught himself how to do cartwheels and handstands already. (it's really frightening and I'm always worried he is going to hurt his neck, which is another reason I think gymnastics will be a good thing.

He was very excited when I told him what we were doing because we've been to two gymnastics parties recently and he has had a ball. We'll see how it goes! I had the choice to sign him up for either a class of 4-1/2-6-year-olds who meet in the bigger gym or the class for 4-5's who meet in a smaller, preschool-type gym. I decided, since he IS so tiny and because he's never taken a class there before to put him in the younger class. But maybe by spring he'll be ready for the big gym... we'll see! :)

Photo Dump...

My grandmother came to visit the boys for a bit yesterday afternoon...



Simon on the neighbor's bigwheel...


Sometimes, you just need to take a break...


Ben and some of the 'hood friends...

Long Day...

This morning, I went to breakfast/coffee at the home of the room mom for Ben's class. Yes, as far as room moms go, she is rather gung-ho! She's awesome and has lots of plans for the year. Most of the moms from Ben's class were there, so I got to get to know everyone a little.

After that, I took Simon home to eat lunch and take a nap. My mom was coming at 12:30 to sit with him while I went back to the school to take pictures for the back-to-school-night slideshow.

The picture-taking was an interesting experience... I wandered out on the playground and it occurred to me that perhaps I should let the teachers know why I was taking pictures of children who were not mine. At least one admitted to me that she did think this was a little weird until I said something. Once they realized what I was doing, they were pretty tolerant of me stalking them and their classes. One teacher did ask me to PLEASE not get her in the pics, especially from behind,
and I assured her that I was only taking pics of the kids. ;) I still feel weird and self-conscious walking around snapping pictures of random children, but I suppose I need to get over that if this project is going to turn out well! One set down, two more to go.

When I was finished, I meandered back into the school to find Ben, who had been there for lunch and for extended day. I found him in one of the back classrooms with two of his classmates and another random child. I knew the new scenery probably meant new dressup opportunities and was not surprised when I walked in and found this:

Yes, it's Snow White playing with playdough. And here he is with his princess friend, Taylor. They are both wearing fairy wings and pretty shoes.


Everyone I run into at school, moms, teachers, EVERYONE, (because now Ben has a reputation) seem to think I need reassurance that it's really quite normal for my little boy to be trying on dresses. I don't know how many ways I can say, "Really, I'm cool with it." so they'll believe me. I'm not even googling "gender issues"... really. I promise. He just likes to dress up and he thinks it's funny.

Anyway, all dress-talk aside, Ben REALLY liked staying all day (even though I kinda ruined it by taking him home a little early, just because I was already there and ran out of things to do waiting for 3p.m. to roll around). So I think we'll use that pretty regularly, and at the very least, we'll do Lunch Bunch because that extra hour would just be nice.

So that was our busy day... Simon's napping, Ben's watching Spiderman and I'm trying to catch up on all things internet-related before we lose our connection yet again. ;)

The All About Me Box...

Ben got to take home the All About Me box from school on Wednesday. They are supposed to fill it with things that tell about them (as much or as little as they like as long as it fits in the box). They take out everything one-by-one and talk about it with the class. As you might imagine, his box is heavy on the superheroes. ;) But I tried to encourage him to diversify a bit. Anyway, it's very cute.

The contents:
- One spiderman figure
- One batman figure
- One batman mask (I let it go, despite the batman figure already being in there, because he could talk about how he likes to dress up... and hey, look! Not always in princess dresses!) ;)
-One copy of Ramona the Pest
-One stuffed Curious George
-One plastic fish
-One picture of him with Simon
-One picture of him with his neighborhood friends
-One recorder

I took pics, but today is the beginning of a rather long and busy day, so I'll put them up this evening. I also have pics from my grandmother's visit with the boys yesterday afternoon. :)

p.s. My internet seems to have made a recovery overnight.

I Apologize in Advance...

(still no internet... but anyway...)

I'll be changing my blog password soon. I'll do my best to email everyone when I do it, since most of you contacted me through my gmail account back when I first put a password on. But, if you don't get an email from me and can't get in one day, please drop me an email. I have a stinkin' blog stalker. It's rather annoying. He/she, who sometimes seems to go by "Ronnie" lives in Miami/West Palm Beach and is apparently obsessed with both Ben and his hair and really had themselves a wonderful time looking through my August and September 2005 archives this afternoon, in addition to leaving yet another creepy (and this time, anonymous) comment about Ben's hair.

I don't know how he/she got in in the first place since I have a decent record of everyone who has ever asked for the password. I've also blocked every IP he/she has ever come from, but every now and then, he/she gets back in through another computer. Eventually, I guess I'll have all of Florida blocked. But whatever. No worries. New password should fix it...

So yeah... that's that.

Why Did I Shut the Door in the Face of That Verizon Fios Guy Two Days Ago?

Still hating Comcast over here. When we had this issue two weeks ago and I called and complained, they claimed it wasn't their fault, that it must be our wireless router. Yet miraculously, WHILE I WAS TALKING TO THE COMCAST GUY, our connection was restored and was pretty much perfect until yesterday. Also, our router seems to be doing a perfectly fine job of transferring TiVOed shows to Tom's laptop without interruption. (something that doesn't require the cable modem) So yeah, me thinks that's not the problem.

SO ticked.

The Fios guy was JUST here and, actually, the price for tv/phone/internet is about $30 less that the awesome price we just got on the Comcast Triple Play. But I turned him away.... why? Oh wait, I know. It was because he was going to door to door at dinnertime in a neighborhood that has a shiny, can't-miss-it NO SOLICITING SIGN at the top of the street. Anyway, I think I'm finished punishing them for that now. and I think I'll be calling them soon...

here's hoping this kitchen window signal holds up long enough for me to publish this post...

Not Comcastic...

INternet has been down all day... I'm leeching the intermittent open wireless I get from my kitchen window to share this with you. If you don't hear from me/haven't heard from me... this is why. I HATE Comcast.

There's a World Outside of the Preschool?

Between the three days Ben is at schol this year and me working on the website and the constant stream of emails that accumulate in my inbox from various members of the school board (when are people going to realize that sometimes "reply all" is not necessary?) I feel like I live and breathe preschool these days. I'm enjoying the busy-ness and the atmosphere -- I've made a few new friends and I'm SO thrilled that Ben is seriously having a ball there this year.

What I'm not enjoying quite as much is that every project I work on is pretty much by committee so with every move I make on the website, there are a hundred and fifty thoughts/opinions/suggestions/criticisms/additions/subtractions and, of course, emails about it. I liked it better when I was just working one-on-one with the director. Oh well, it's adult conversation, which is nice, and I'm getting to dust off my professional skills, which is always nice. While I never plan to reenter the corporate world, it's good to know my skills are still relevant.

Ben is staying until 3p.m. on Friday and he's SO excited. This will be our first forray into extended day... I just hope he doesn't decide he's tired at noon.

So yeah, preschool, yada blah blah blah... it's one of my few topics of conversation these days. Luckily, the people I converse with most often are into the topic too. ;)

Pics with Your Coffee?

I honestly don't have many words this morning for several reasons. The main one is that I am trying to wrap my head around the fact that they apparently found a guy wandering the school/church property on Monday (while Ben was there). They also found toys and candy in his car. Stranger danger talk anyone? Hoping to find out more this morning...

Anyway, pics...





Poppy and his boys

Tubby Boys...

I've needed a new picture for my bathroom frame for quite awhile now. The one in there now, I took when Ben was about Simon's age and way before Simon was even two lines on a pee stick. Today's ALMOST worked... I screwed up the focus and Simon is a little blurry. But otherwise, I thought it turned out cute. I only wish I had thought to spell out their names in tub letters behind them. We'll give it another try tomorrow. ;) I figured I shouldn't put it off TOO long because how long is Ben going to want to take a bath with his little brother?



ETA: This is why I heart Photoshop. ;) I'm still going to retake the pic, but I just wanted to see if I could do this...

Tuesday, A Day With No Plans...

(and the ONLY day this week I have no plans...gah)

Anyway, to quote my husband, "all things considered, yesterday wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be." It helps that it appears some other large banks might not be far behind the one that went down yesterday. That's not good news for the economy, but it at least makes it look less like Tom's company made a bad call and more like ANY call would have been a bad one. These are not good times for anyone in the industry...

So onto more interesting things... uh... yeah, I got nothin'. I've been busy with projects for Ben's school, mostly. That, and keeping the kiddos outdoors because it's temporarily not hot and humid.

OH and today is the day I have to fill out Ben's kindergarten application. KINDERGARTEN, PEOPLE!!!! We've pretty much abandoned the idea of private school because, while doable with one kid, and possibly even two... I'm not seeing three kids in private elementary school as being a financially sound scenario. So public it is, for now, which is fine and probably best in our situation. I'm just trying to get him into the nearby magnet school, which has a great reputation. (hence, the application... it's a lottery thing) But even if that doesn't pan out, he'll be going to a really nice school and will be on the bus with one of his friends from the neighborhood. He sees the bus pick her up every day when we leave for preschool and has started asking me incessantly when HE gets to ride the bus and go to kindergarten.

All too soon... ALL too soon. (cry)

I'm Glad I Didn't Have Those Wedding Invites Printed...

Benjamin announced on the way home from school today that he is no longer going to marry Carly. Poor, poor, adorable, spunky little Carly.. It seems there is another woman.

It actually went something like this.

"I'm not going to get married to Carly anymore."
"Oh no? Why?"
"Well, I still LIKE Carly and I still want to be her friend."
"Well, that's nice! But no wedding?"
"No, because now I'm going to marry Georgia. She's really nice! She wore the LONG-sleeved dress today, which is the one *I* wanted to wear though. Hmph."

So yeah, out of sight, out of mind, it seems, with my fickle four-year-old. All it takes is another cute little girl who wants to play costumes with him... and bam! His heart belongs to another. ;)

So, It's Monday Again....

I spent the weekend following this with Tom. Normally, I pay zero attention to anything related to Wall Street or what my husband does for a living. (not because I don't care, but because it's just way over my head) Anyway, so yeah, that little story will affect my husband immensely (and possibly our family) because nearly all of his clients had investments with the company that just filed for bankruptcy. Also, it's such a HUGE deal that this 158-year-old company is going under, that this may very well be the worst day the stock market has seen since the beginning of the Great Depression. Obviously, those are not my words since I am not informed enough about such things to come up with that on my own. But my husband, he knows what he's talking about, and for him to be as worried as he was this weekend, really rather concerns me. Only time will tell. At the very least, Tom is going to have perhaps the most awful day at work he has ever had. :(

So anyway, yeah... on that note. Trying to go about our Monday... get Ben to school, straighten up the house.

And here's a pretty and sunny picture of my niece that makes me smile. :)

Here...

I'm here, I'm here. ;) We've just had a busy weekend. Yesterday we had some errands so run, then I got to have a nice, long, child-free lunch with my SIL's and then we had a birthday party for two of the kids in our neighborhood.

Today is more of the same (errands and whatnot) until late afternoon. :)

I'll try to update with something more interesting later. :)

Want Some Eggs with that Ham?

This is his Indiana Jones hat he's been wearing since yesterday. (which he has somehow incorporated into his Peter Parker/Spider-Man getup)



Here's the full ensemble...


p.s. Krystyna, does that second picture remind you of anyone you know? ;)

Simon is 16 Months Old!

Dear Simon,

Today you are 16 months old. Too old to tell people you are "one", but not yet 1-1/2... so 16 months old it is.

This has been the month you have learned about cause and effect -- specifically, the cause and effect of light switches. If you see a light, you will not rest until someone has turned it on for you or picked you up to flick the switch yourself. You say, "Oh" for "on" and "aw" for "off". You also like ceiling fans. I've decided this must be a gene from your daddy's side because this phase seems all too familiar. Which reminds me, we are overdue for a field trip to Home Depot's fan and light aisle and to pick up our free fan catalog. ;)

Your temper has become more and more evident this month. You scream like a banshee when someone takes something from you or when you are removed from a situation from which you did not want to be removed or when you are not allowed to do something you really want to do. Your lungs are functioning well, I might add. You have no problem defending yourself or what's yours. If you are holding a toy and someone else even looks at you, you will hug it close, turn around, squeal and run away from them. You are also not beyond pushing or swatting at people who invade your territory, which is something we need to work on.

In contrast to your temper, you also have such a sweet nature. So cuddly and loving, always with a kiss or hug for us. One of your favorite toys right now is your Cabbage Patch baby, who, like a lot of things, you call "Bah." You carry him around under your arm, you love to feed him his ice cream cone, give him your puppy and lately, you've been asking to have him in your crib during naptime and at night. When I check on you, you always have one arm draped over him. He's your little baby buddy. :)

You also love to hold hands. When we are all walking together, you will reach up and grab the hand of whoever is next to you. I especially love when you hold your big brother's hand. :)

One of your other new loves this month, is your morning dose of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. The first thing you do when you come downstairs in the morning, after getting your cup of milk, is run to the tv, point, say "oh oh" (for on) and then "mah!" You laugh your head off when Mickey comes on the screen. I think you and your cousin have something in common you can talk about now. ;)

You are such a silly little guy and do things just for laughs sometimes. Lately, you like to hold your hands over your ears until someone notices and gives you the laugh you are looking for. Speaking of laughter, you also have this great new laugh that I call the "Jolly Giant" laugh. We hear it a lot when you realize you have managed to successfully communicate something to us... it kind of sounds like a booming "HAH HAH." Very funny!

You've learned the sign for "please" and you use it liberally. It's very hard to resist giving you something when you are standing at my feet saying please over and over again and looking at me hopefully with those big eyes. And yes, you have learned the kind of power this cuteness has over us. (sigh)

You still shadow your brother like he is a god among men... you have even taken to raiding his costume closet and putting things on yourself. It's very cute and heartwarming to see you learning so much from him. :) You know too much for your own good thanks to him though... so I haven't yet decided if this is a good thing or not. If you start potty training sooner than he did, we'll say it's a good thing. ;) (you are obsessed with Ben's bathroom habits and almost never miss when he heads in there)

You are still my little snuggle bug and we spend our wonderful quiet time before bed. You love rocking with mommy, reading your bedtime stories and then getting to turn the light on and off a few times. Then you put your head on my chest when you are ready to go to sleep. :) It's my favorite time of day. :)

Happy 16 months, Little Dude. I'm so glad you are you!

Love,
Mommy

Here's the 16-month side-by-side. Same outfit this month!

My Little Cross Dresser....

I walked Ben to his classroom this morning and, in the short time it took me to go find and retrieve SImon (who had taken off and secured himself a spot at the train table next to the other younger siblings) and take one last peek into the classroom before I left, he had put on the fairy princess dress again. (sigh)

At this point, he has heard us laughing about it to so many people that I KNOW he is doing it for the attention (and the fact that he just loves wearing costumes). And, as much as I personally really don't care what he dresses up in, I also don't want him known around school as "that little boy who always wears the dress."

I took some boy costumes in for his teacher for her classroom, but I am under no delusion that this is going to stop Ben from putting on the dresses for awhile because it's become his thing. He has gotten WAY too much attention from it... but at least there will now be at least a few boy-type costume selections to choose from in there when he does get tired of it. ;)

We Ran out of Dandelions...

We only found one little patch and Ben showed Simon how to blow the seeds off of them. Before we knew it, they were gone. How is it possible to have a dandelion shortage?!

The Time Has Come...

After many months in size 4 diapers, I think the time has come to move Little Big Dude up to the 5's. I seriously think he has been in the 4's since he was nine or ten months old. And I was hoping to at least get through the box I JUST bought, but the child has leaked through at least eight diapers in the last three days. And the nighttime leaking is just a given. His pajamas are soaked every morning!

Maybe I'll just get a case of the 5's and use them at night and the 4's during the day until they are gone. Either that or I guess someone is going to score big with my 3/4 of a full case of Luvs Size 4's! ;)

This has been kind of sudden, so I put him on the scale yesterday and he's up to 27.5 pounds. Add pants, a shirt, socks, a half-full diaper and two heavy walking shoes to that and I'm sure he's pushing 30. He is SUCH a load to pick up all the time! And he is still at the "dead weight" stage where he just doesn't help at ALL. Ben actually is easier to carry around these days, which I find amusing.

A quick look at big brother's baby book says that at age 2-1/2? He was 26.5 pounds. Lordy day. What will Simon weigh at 2-1/2? I think maybe I better go with the Radian 85 instead of the 65 when I replace HIS carseat someday. ;)

The Year I Lost Control of the Halloween Costume...

Benjamin picked his own costume last year (firefighter), but with my guidance as to what would be "totally cool!!"

This year, try as I might, I can't convince him that he wants to be this for Halloween. (how cute would this be?)


Instead, he will be being this: (Iron Man, for those unfamiliar with Superhero lore)


I suppose I should just be grateful, given the last two days at school, that he is not asking me for a pretty princess dress.

Oh well, time to focus on the child whose costume I CAN still dictate. ;)

Today's Tidbit from School...

I don't get MUCH from Ben about what went on at school. But occasionally, he throws me a bone. Today's?

"I wore a dress again today and mine was prettier than Georgia's."

(shakes head)

Three Things That Are Going to Be Annoying About This School Year...

1) Simon REALLY wants to stay at school. He SCREAMS when I drag him out of Ben's classroom. Then he screams again when I drag him away from the lego table/fishtank/climby stuff in the big room. Then he WAILS and tries to dive from my arms when we walk by the playground on the way to the car. This poor child. Next year can't come quickly enough for him. And have I mentioned, he's very heavy and rather strong? Yeah. He's also loud.

2) Monday/Wednesday/Friday is WAY more crowded than Tuesday/Thursday ever was. I knew this and was dreading it. I almost always get to school by 9:05 or so, which, last year, meant we were the only car in the parking lot besides the teachers. This year? It means we MIGHT get a spot in the lot instead of on the lawn.

3) Because of number 2, this also means the stairwell is also jam packed. Add a 16-month-old who wants to get down get down get down right now into this mix and you have ZERO fun. Today we didn't even GET to stand in the stairwell (last year, we were almost always among the first ones in line)... we were forced to stand in the entryway, which actually, given Simon's wanting to get down get down get down right now, this is probably a better option for us.

I hate crowds. Have I mentioned that? I am filing all this information away for when I sign Simon up for his classes next year and the following two years. We will be sticking to Tuesday/Thursdays exclusively if possible!

Need More Practice...

As it turns out, it's REALLY hard to get all the focusing/Fstop/ISO yada blah blah perfect when you are not in a situation to play with it for several minutes and take 40 test shots to get it just right. When my kids are just running around the living room, I have all the time in the world for trial and error. The same does not apply for 15 children running amok outdoors... of 59 pics last night, there are only about four that I thought were even remotely okay.

I liked this set of Ben and Trey giving each other a hug. I was hoping for two faces in one picture, but yeah, wasn't happening. I wish I hadn't moved the camera UP so far at the last second though. (I was not looking through the viewfinder when I hit the shutter button, I was peeking around talking to the boys)



Their friend Lucy... but Lucy is always a great photo subject, even with the worst camera. ;)


Trey trying to show me how many fingers he is now. I was HOPING to get him to hold up three fingers and then put the focus on the fingers and not his face. Would have been a cool shot... but this one is still kind of cute.


Yeah, so all the KEY pictures I wanted? Bday cake, pinata? They all sucked. I was always either too slow with my settings or in the wrong position (too close, on the wrong side, etc.) I need a LOT more practice... or slower children, but I don't think that's going to happen unless I decide I will only take pictures of newborns. ;)

A Funny...

So, apparently, Josh Duggar the eldest child of "25 Children and My Uterus Hasn't Fallen Out Yet" fame, is engaged. He and his fiancee have registered at Walmart. No, seriously... you must go check it out. Did YOU know you could register for beef jerky?

Sunny Sunday...

Hard to believe yesterday was wall-to-wall rain when it is sunny and cloudless today! Our only big plans for today are to walk across the street at dinnertime for Ben's friend Trey's 3rd birthday party. Otherwise, just relaxing. The boys are getting ready to watch football, bleh. And I may make a grocery store run all-bah-mah-sef. Woohoo!

Still playing with the new toy. I'm excited to get to practice on some different kids this evening at the birthday party, because my own kids are already getting tired of me being all up in their face with the camera. I have taken some more neato closeups of Ben that I like a lot, but I'll spare you, at least for a day or two, lest this become a photoblog. ;) Yes, it really is addicting.

Off to go change sheets and straighten the upstairs while the boys are being held captive down in the playroom. ;)

My Portrait Lens Guinea Pig...

Just playing with the other lens.Ben has been a good sport of a test subject. These poses were all him.

(here's this one in B&W as requested... I think this may be me new living room framed pic of Ben)





(blurry, but I liked it anyway)






We've decided that, with the serious look he is often sporting in pics, Ben is destined for GQ. ;) Uh... then again, maybe not.

Test Pics...

These are from yesterday afternoon... the only thing I really played with yesterday was the f-stop number. Now that I've read through the instruction book, I can try playing with some of the other manual settings today. Some of these were also taken on just the auto settings. It's absolutely amazing how crystal clear they are... you can actually SEE Simon's curls, for instance. Usually, they just show up as fuzz... I am SO happy with this camera. I can't thank you all enough for all your advice! :D (for those who missed the list post, I went with the Canon Rebel XTI) Oh, and THIS camera? Can keep up with Ben. THAT should be in their ads. If a camera can capture MY little blur... just wow. Woohoo!

Any of my real life friends who have children? Your kids are going to be my test subjects for awhile... get used to it. ;)








p.s. No, I did not just give Ben my barely-one-year-old and still perfectly great Sony Cybershot. I AM, however, showing him how to use it under supervised conditions. ;) He was having a ball yesterday while we were playing with the cameras. :)

Also, he wasn't being bratty in that last one, he really wanted me to take a picture of his hand. ;) And lastly, yes, he is in pajamas. They are Incredible Hulk pajamas, but I think he thinks they are the Green Goblin from Spiderman... to him, they are a costume, and he wore them all darn day after school yesterday. Yes, even to play outside. He also changed his clothes 12 times because his Aunt Debbie also gave him Iron Man, Spiderman and Batman jammies.