Adventures with Flat Stanley

Brady has been talking for weeks about Flat Stanley. Apparently, they read the story at school and hi preschool class is taking turns bringing home Flat Stanley on the weekends. Flat Stanley has his own journal, where we're supposed to document his activities.

We got our turn last weekend. It started off well. Flat Stanley came with us to volunteer at the SPCA. We got to visit "our kitties".

That night, we realized that Flat Stanley forgot to pack his pajamas. He had to borrow some of Brady's baby pjs.

The next day, we took Flat Stanley to run errands. He was so good that we took him out for ice cream after.

Unfortunately, things went poorly for Stanley on Sunday. Rudy tried to steal Stanley out of Brady's hands and managed to nearly decapitate poor Stanley. We called around to all the neighbors until we found someone with a piece of posterboard. We created a Stanley clone and took him to be laminated.

We did not write about Flat Stanley's demise in the journal!

Climate Change

Monday morning, we had a picnic outside for lunch, because it was about 65 and sunny. We had all the windows in the house open until about 2, when it started cooling off.

Tuesday morning, we woke to a couple inches of snow on the ground. After we took Brady to school, Rudy and I built a snowman.

By the time Brady got home that afternoon, it was in the mid-50s. We had a snowball fight in the "warm" sunny weather.

Dollars and Sense

A year and half ago, when Brady started preschool, we started giving him a small allowance. We explained that it was his "job" to go to school and do his best, so we thought he might be old enough to get "paid." However, we also said that he had to remember to ask for his money on Saturdays. If he forgot, then he wouldn't get it that week. We also decreed that a portion could go in his new wallet for spending but some would also have to go into savings and some into charity.

He enthusiastically collected. For about 2 weeks.

Sporadically after that, he would remember or we would remind him. Between Christmas and his birthday recently, he had a fair amount of cash in his wallet. I took him to the bank to deposit it, explaining that we could get it out if he found something he wanted to buy but that the bank would keep it safe for him.

Last week, I asked him he wanted his allowance.

K: What day is it?
B: Saturday.
K: What happens on Saturdays?
B: What?
K: Do you want your allowance?
B: No.
K: If you don't get it today, you don't get it this week.
B: I don't want to.
K: Why not?
B: I don't want to give any away.
K: What do you mean?
B: If I get it, I have to give some away and I don't want to give it away.
K: What?!?
B: I don't want to give it anyone. [I assume he means the bank and/or charity.]
K: But you still get to keep some. If you don't get your allowance, you don't get any money.
B: OK.

Apparently, we're not quite there yet!

Go Steelers!

We are all very excited for the Superbowl tomorrow! The boys have been randomly shouting "GO STEELERS" around the house.

Of course, tomorrow will probably turn out like the playoff game - the adults tried to watch football, while the kids played Wii (we brought down an extra TV and set it up so they could play during the game).

Rudy, in his Steelers shirt, taking a break for story time.

Brady was the only family member without Steelers clothing. I found this sweatshirt on sale at Penneys and bought it about 3 sizes too big, so hopefully he'll get a few years out of it.

We're in charge of dessert for the party tomorrow. We were planning a Steelers-colored trifle, but found a really good deal on this really awesome looking cake. We spruced it up a bit with some Steelers colored. I'm reminded again of my ineptitude in the cake-decor department. :)

Rudy

Rudy has been very insulted lately on weekdays, when James goes to work.

R: Where's Daddy?
K: He's at work.
R: Why??
K: Because that's where he goes 5 days a week to earn money.
R: I don't want him to go. I want him to stay home with me. I love him. I want to see him.

Rudy was in desperate need of new shoes. I was in the market for sneakers, which they don't seem to sell in his size in our town for less than $35. We did find these "Lightning the Queen" shoes for $5. I'm not a fan (at all!), but he loves them and the price was right!

(I did manage to find some new sneakers in a nearby town today for a much more reasonable price!)

Story time for Blue Angel

I found Rudy reading a story (Click Clack Moo) to his Blue Angel jet...

Snow Day!

The weather was the talk of the town yesterday. Everywhere I went, people were talking about the winter storm. So far, it's ended up being a bit of a dud, but we still managed to have a good day!

Brady's school was cancelled, James worked from home, and I skipped my work session in town this afternoon. We started a couple of crafts, baked cookies, and tried out our new sleds. We got these sleds from LL Bean - $20 for four sleds. They're tiny - about the size of an adult tush - but fast and fun!

Haircut

Note to self: Do not use popsicles as a bribe for haircuts in the future. Sticky face + wet hair = yuck! (never mind the fact that all the artificial dyes in the popsicle have semi-permanently stained his nose!)

Basketball

Brady had his basketball practice and game today. It was an utter and complete disaster...this is one of those posts that just doesn't do justice to the afternoon we had. All of the pictures are when he was actually smiling. I didn't take pictures of the screaming, sobbing mess that Brady was for most of the basketball practice and game. Oh my - let's hold out some hope that next week will be infinitely better!!

Rudy, on the other hand, had a great time trying to crash the basketball practice and also racing his cars.

Childhood politics

Between talking about Martin Luther King at school yesterday and watching the inauguration coverage, we had some interesting conversations with the kids yesterday. Two in particular stick in my mind:

Is it broking? - First, let me preface this one by saying that Rudy pronounces "broken" broking. I had the TV on a lot yesterday. It's a pretty unusual occurrence for it to be on that much around here, but Rudy still didn't seem that interested. When it came time for Obama to speak, I told Rudy that I really wanted to listen. I can't remember exactly how the conversation went, but it was along these lines:

R: Why?
K: Because he's our new president and I want to hear him talk.
R: Why we have a new pres-dent?
K: Because the old one is finished.
R: Why? Was he broking?

Well...I'll just leave THAT with no comment!

Which team? - Brady told us that they talked about 'Junior Martin' at school yesterday. He told us all about how there used to be white signs and black signs on the playgrounds and black kids couldn't play on the white kids playground. He thought that was a pretty silly policy. We took the opportunity to talk about all the progress in racial equality.

He really seemed to get it - which is great. I have to say though, that I was a little disappointed. Up until the lesson in school yesterday, he thought that white guys were anyone wearing white shirts and black guys were anyone wearing black shirts. We even had a few potentially embarrassing experiences in public where he would refer to "that black guy" - meaning only some man in a black shirt.

I thought it was so amazing, though, that he didn't even NOTICE the color of people's skin. I knew he'd figure out that difference eventually, I guess...

Angel turtles

Rudy needed a "guy" for his tinkertoy airplane this afternoon, so Brady took him upstairs to find an 'angel turtle." I really couldn't figure out what it was they were looking for, until Rudy came back down with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

Really, who wouldn't rather have an angel turtle anyway?!?

New Traditional Christmas present

James and I decided that we wouldn't get the boys new toys for Christmas; instead we "gifted" them with a family adventure. We embarked on that adventure this weekend and all four of us agreed that it's an excellent beginning to what we're going to make a Christmas tradition.

First, we rode the train to Baltimore. This is definitely the way to travel. I'm willing to sacrifice some on-time issues for the comfort of 1 - not driving and 2 - the kids not being strapped into car seats. I guess it works best when the destination is a city like Baltimore where you don't need a car anyway.

The boys loved the train. We need to plan another trip for the summer, when it doesn't get dark so early.

We got in pretty late on Friday, but everyone was still in a good mood and we were hungry. I'd actually been organized enough to buy certificates at restaurant.com so we took Brady and Rudy out for tapas at the Inner Harbor. We let each of them pick out one of the plates; Brady picked bacon-wrapped steak bites and Rudy picked Spanish meatballs. How cool is it that our kids are willing to try so many new things?!?

The next morning we went to the Maryland Science Center. We got in for FREE with our membership from our local kids' museum (that thing has got to be one of our best investments!). We only had two hours at the museum, which was about a third of what we needed to really see everything.

Rudy loved the dinosaurs. He's showing me the big one in this picture, but he was really taken with the smallest skeleton (compsignathus) because "he's wittle wike me."

We grabbed a quick bite for lunch and then changed clothes before heading over to the Hippodrome for the weekend's big attraction: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. As in, the live theater musical. We were really nervous about taking a 5-year old and a 2-year old to the theater, but they really couldn't have behaved any better. They were absolutely enthralled with the whole production; both declared that their favorite parts were the dogs and when the car flies.

We had an unexciting dinner at The Cheesecake Factory that night, where Rudy promptly fell asleep in his chair.

Sunday morning we headed to the aquarium. I think the dolphin show was probably the biggest hit there. We spent the entire day checking out the new Australia exhibit and the sharks and rays.

Finally, we got one last snack before heading back to the train station. It was cold and Rudy's hair looked like this every time we took his hat off!

It was really a great trip! They boys were so well-behaved the entire time and it was just the right amount of activity - kept us busy but not totally exhausted. (Although we were joking by Sunday evening that they had used up all of their good behavior and we'd up all of our patience...)

So, now the big question is...where to next year?!?

FIVE years old

I can't believe I've got a five year old! Everyone says it...but really...where did the time go? Since we're all usually a little burned out after the holidays, we do most of Brady's birthday celebrating on his half-birthday. So, we save all of his presents and his big birthday party for the summer. He's perfectly happy with this plan because then he gets to have a pool party!

We still tried to make today special though. We continued our "birthday pancake" tradition (pancakes with food coloring and sprinkles) this morning; James stayed home for breakfast as an extra treat. Brady got to help James make his special IHOP pancake recipe.

Brady was supposed to have special friend week at school this week. We postponed it because he was sick on Monday, but we still got to bring in snacks all week and I got to do story time today. He picked out ice cream snowmen as his special birthday snack for school. They were a big hit, but my hands were freezing after making 18 snowmen!! I read Happy Birthday Danny and the Dinosaur for storytime; we took in props (a rescue hero as Danny and a couple dinosaurs and balloons) and Brady got to help "act out" the story.

This afternoon, we went to Bella's house for cupcakes and then came home for Brady's birthday dinner. His special request was English muffin pizzas for dinner.

We didn't have a birthday cake, but I we still managed to turn regular fondue into "birthday fundue". (We'd been planning fondue for New Years Eve but decided we didn't want to share a pot of chocolate with him and his cooties that night. He thought it would be fun to have it tonight.)

We finished off the day with a family game of CandyLand and family story time with Brady's baby book. He loved looking at all of the pictures and hearing the stories of his first year!

And - how's this for perfect timing - he lost his first tooth today! It's been loose for a few weeks and we noticed that the new tooth was coming in. I've been teasing him since it was first loose that I was going to pull it out with pliers. He showed me how loose it was today and I asked if I could try to pull it out. He wasn't thrilled at first, but the tooth practically fell out as soon as I touched it. He's told everyone that he lost it and that the tooth fairy might not come tonight because she's pretty busy!

OUCH

This is what happens when a two year old "dances" in new Elmo slippers near sharp corners:

Sleepy-time routines

This is what I found when I went to check on Rudy during nap time...

We've rearranged his room so his workbench is at the foot of his bed. He got new Bob the Builder tools for Christmas and apparently decided to get some work done before falling asleep. I love the construction hat on Simba :)

I've been meaning to write about our sleepy-time routines with both kids. This seems like a good time to document Ru's!

Naptime

I worked hard this summer to push his nap time to later in the afternoon. It was nearly impossible to keep him awake until after we got Brady home from school last year. It's worked well and he's happy until at least 1 or 2 now. He can actually get by with out a nap, but it generally leads to a rough hour or so in the evening.

Since he's convinced he doesn't need to sleep, he usually has a lot to say on the way upstairs: Me not go to sleep! Don't sleep me mommy! Me not take a nap!

And, as if to prove it, he'll sometimes play for an hour before finally falling asleep. Sometimes, I have to go back in and tell him it's time to go to sleep. Generally, at this point, he'll let me cover him up and he'll go right to sleep.

He still wakes up and calls for me until I come get him. If I don't come soon enough, he lays on the bed and kicks the wall until I come in.

Bedtime

James and I trade off taking each kid to bed - two nights and then we switch. Rudy gets one book in bed (lately, Goodnight Moon is a favorite again. Other standbys are How Does a Dinosaur Say Goodnight and Casey at the Bat.

After the story, he says his prayer. (We start the lines and he finishes them. Often with his own twist - which I've put in brackets.)

Dear God, I thank you for your care
You've been right with me everywhere

At school and at play, you're by my side [by myself]
My special friend, my loving guide

With all I do and all I say,
Help me to walk in Jesus' way

Help me to do the things I should [do]
To be to others kind and good

You're always with me, not far above
Watch over me and those I love [you]. Amen.

After that, he sings ABCs with us and then we sing him Kum-Ba-Yah with the second verse as "Rudy's sleepin', Lord. Kumbaya..."

We give a kiss, a big hug, and an eskimo kiss before leaving. Generally, that's the end of it, but he's starting to test the waters to see how much he can get away with!

And, finally a couple funny bedtime stories from the last few weeks (long post, I know!)...

After reading Casey at the Bat:

J: There was no joy in Mudville, the mighty Casey had struckout.
R, after a moment of thought: Why Casey have a mighty struckout?

After being tucked in for the night...

R: MOOOOMMMMMMEEEE! MOMMMEEEEE!
He gets James instead.

J,at the door: What is it, Rudy?
R: inaudible whisper
J, now at Rudy’s bedside: What is it?
R, still whispering: I need a kiss.
J, after a quick peck and walking back out: Night, night, Ru.
R: another whisper.
J, back at the bedside: What?
R: And some pants.

His too-short pajama pants were up around his knees, so he thought he wasn’t wearing any.

J: You have pants on.
R, after further investigation: Oh.

Again, after being tucked in (a different night, thankfully!) After the initial hollering, the rest of the conversation was conducted in whispers.

R: MOOOOMMMMMMEEEE! MOMMMEEEEE!
K: What Rudy?
R: Come here!
K: No, Rudy. It's bedtime.
R: Come here!
K: No, Rudy, it's time to go to sleep. Good night.
R: Mommy! Come in.
K: Rudy, if I come in I'm going to spank your bottom.
R: Good night Mommy.

...a couple minutes later...

R: MOOOOMMMMMMEEEE! MOMMMEEEEE!
K: What Rudy?
R: Don't spank my bottom.
K: OK, Rudy. Go to sleep.
R: OK, Mommy. Good night.

Christmas is over

2008 went out more with a whimper than a bang in our household. We had family in town until the 31st and then we had to cancel our New Years Eve plans because Brady was sick for six days. He couldn't seem to kick whatever cootie he had, so we are still recovering from the holidays around here!

We spent last weekend at my parents house for our family Christmas. Everyone was trying to avoid Brady's cooties, so it was quite as much family time as usual. We still managed to squeeze in our gift exchange and the boys are having a great time now that we're home (and healthy) with all their new presents.



We've gotten most of the Christmas decorations packed up. Rudy keeps trying to tell me, "Christmas not over?!?" If I say yes, he says (quite emphatically!), "NOOO. Christmas is NOT over!" Generally, he stomps his foot for emphasis at the same time.

I LOVE Christmas (more than most sane people) but I'm definitely ready to return my house to some sort of order this week!

Oma and Papa got the boys slippers. Brady got it in his head that he wanted slippers after seeing Bella and Ben's. I thought he would never wear them, but he usually puts them on as soon as he walks in the house. They love racing around the house in their "svippers," as Rudy says.

My mom had packaged Rudy's slippers in a coffee can and then wrapped them. Rudy unwrapped the coffee can and exclaimed, "It's a drummer!" He was SO excited to have another 'drum' - so cute! :)