What a Show!

The little guy insisted on putting on a show before we could eat breakfast this morning, which is why you hear the baby protesting so loudly during the video.
He's such a ham!

In other news, poor Beau isn't doing as well as we'd like him to, so our vet asked me to listen to his heartbeat with a stethoscope and report what I heard (like I know what I'm doing...). It turns out that we do have a stethoscope!

Weather Fail

We went for a walk after dinner tonight… it was gorgeous outside, and it's supposed to storm overnight and be cold and rainy tomorrow.

Well, apparently "storm tonight" meant "unbelievably sudden torrential downpour beginning when we're two blocks from our house" because that's what happened. See the red? That was our walk.

We ran all the way home (Eric carried the bike) but were still wet through. All five of us toweled off and snuggled up to watch an episode of Pingu. I'll check the radar before suggesting we go on another walk (sorry, Eric).

Snuggles and Snacks

The boys had a nice time watching football today. I think they were happy to not be at the game.

The baby loves the chalkboard Eric built, except she keeps eating the chalk! If I tell her no, she just shakes her head no and keeps eating it.

Kitchen Happenings

Well, the little dude has figured out that we always have ice cream in the freezer.

CHEESE!!!!!

Meanwhile, the baby has figured out how to open and close cabinets.

Uh-oh

She even pulled out a cookie sheet!

Oh, hi!

Firetruck?

After the firetruck parade, the little guy got out his scooter and added a light (a maraca) and a ladder (a broom) to it. He's been wheeling all over the house... and he's kind of a menace.

The baby likes the broom, too. She is also a menace.

Eric and I went out tonight leaving the kids home with a sitter. The little guy asked if she would play trains with him, and we said sure. He was asking about all kinds of stuff, so I told him "The sitter is going to have to play with the baby, too, FYI." He said "FYI?" and cracked up! I guess I'm already embarrassing and out of touch. I thought I was hip to the lingo these days. Oh well.

Bridges

The little guy built one of the most rickety bridges ever tonight. He successfully crossed it a few times without needing to go to the ER, so that's good. You can tell I'm not too trusting from the look on my face in this photo...

In other news, our new nephew was born today! (Not only that, but we're waiting for news from some other friends who went to the hospital to have a baby this morning, too.)

Variation on a Theme

How would you like this guy to pour water all over you while you try to relax in the tub?

Yeah, she didn't really like it either.

We do manage to go whole days without horrifying this poor child, I promise!

Skating lessons!

Hockey Player Baseball Player Football Player Silly Goose (which seems to be what he wants us to call him these days) had his first of four skating lessons today.  It was a sweet little class and all the instructors have the patience of saints.  There were two other boys Goose's age in the class and all the other kids were older.  Sadly, he was the worst.  He survived without any aches or pains though, but that's mostly because he was doing this the whole time.

However, because of his reluctance to stand, he monopolized the time of the college girl who was helping teach the class.  Here she is (lower right) trying to get him to stand up the way they taught them.  (Like a puppy, one foot here, now stand!)  Maybe I should add "Sly Devil" to his ever growing monicker.

He did get standing a few times (albeit with someone's help) so not all was lost.

Three more lessons to go so we'll keep you updated.

Baby Girl just slept the whole time bundled up in a fluffy blanket.  She was probably the warmest of anybody there.

Traumatized

The little guy wanted me to read him stories before bed tonight. Usually Eric does it, so I was honored and excited. He let me pick one, so I chose "Are you my mother?"-- it's a great little story about a baby bird who hatches when his mother is away from the nest. He searches for his mom, asking all the other animals if they are his mom and they all say no. The little guy got really quiet about halfway through. His eyes were as big as saucers and he was REALLY UPSET about the missing mother and the poor bird who doesn't have a mom. I think he got his hopes up for each animal, and was just as disappointed as the stupid little bird when the cow wasn't his mom. Whoops! I tried reading really fast to get to the happy ending... but I think I traumatized the poor kid. No wonder he prefers Eric at bedtime.

I didn't take a trauma-photo, so here's one of our calm, quiet evening at home.

Please note the foolishness in the background.

Mooch

The little dude is a sneaky sweet tea fiend... he drank a bunch of it tonight while we weren't paying enough attention. Now that it's his bedtime, I'm really hoping the tea wasn't caffienated.

Count!

I don't know if it is good parenting technique or not, but the booger gets a countdown whenever he needs to do something.  He's often just slow and needs a little prodding.  Like, "Pick a pair of pants, buddy.  Come on man, we gotta go.  Alright.... One.... Two....."  Luckily we never really get to three.  

Sometimes he'll even ask us to count when we're not in a hurry.  Maybe he's just like his old man and needs a deadline.  Here's a video of a new game he made up today.  I'm not sure why he needs a count or what I'm counting to, but whatever floats his boat.

Two Peas

The little booger and Beau are turning into two peas in a pod.

Two peas in a pod full of danger, that is. Why can't the little guy copy our dogs' good habits? Habits like... um... well... that might explain everything.

Naturally

The little guy was SO EXCITED to see the tree this morning! Apparently he thought we'd stolen it from daycare because he kept asking to see the ornaments they have. I was pretty self-congratulatory about putting all "touchable" ornaments at the bottom of the tree... so of course he did this when he got up from nap time:

Of course he did.

Big Jump

The little dude spent a long time tonight climbing to the top of the step-stool and jumping off of it (he used to use it as a little desk). Here's an action shot:

And here's a video:

We shouldn't be left alone. I clearly can't handle the responsibility.

Action Shot!

Here's the little stinker trying to hurt himself last weekend:

He survived without even a bruise!

Guard(ian) Dog?

Poor Sadie tried to keep the little booger from climbing down the stairs today (the baby-gate is coming soon!) I swear she looked at me like "I tried to stop him, but you know how he is."

Mean Mommy

I wouldn't let him drink Coke tonight, which was clearly a HUGE tragedy.

Boo, hiss.

Uh-Oh

The little stinker can reach the doorknobs.

This probably isn't great.

Safety First?

The little stinker loves to look out the window but he's too short and really heavy. I put a step stool in front of the window so he can look out (while being carefully supervised) without breaking my back. Here he is kneeling on that step stool and reaching for the outlet covers.

I used to think child-proofing was a thing that you did, but it seems to be a never-ending process.

Accident-Prone

So I think this video might explain some things.

We are clearly terrible parents, but the little booger has hilariously poor judgement.