winter

It was nearly 60 degrees yesterday and will be around 70 this weekend - did we move to AZ and forget to tell everyone?! Nope, it's just miiiiild winter #2 in VA. These photos were taken at the park yesterday after we picked Aiden up. It's warm, but still dry so KC's feather hair was sticking straight up because of the slide - the sun gleaming through it made it look like an LED wire hat or something.

zip

This Xmas present was a hit (the boys say thanks!). Aiden literally got sweaty from jumping around and chasing the marbles. I got sweaty worrying about the little glow in the dark marbles being eaten - not something I want to fish out of a diaper! Luckily KC doesn't mouth things that much anymore and he just loved trying to put it on the track himself (without knocking it off its careful placement)... He's been such a big boy lately - even visiting Aiden's class while I helped setup a craft and cooperating so well... Even when it was time to go! Woot!

fly

The Building Museum was also hosting some indoor airplane clubs.  There were little remote control planes zipping everywhere.  They were fun to watch from above too.

The boys watched them land in front of us, zip right over our heads, and spiral around. The Great Hall is such a cool spot for this type of fun.

airplanes from LB on Vimeo.

build

The Building Museum has a new exhibit (which replaced the giant legos, which I thought would be hard to beat) which is really fun.  There are tons of different building materials and even exhibits of some historic materials (including the first legos - kiddicraft automatic building blocks from the 1940s).  Aiden seemed most excited by the animated wall with blocks falling and making shapes on your outline. You can see it in action in the video below.  The giant bricks of the imagination playground were familiar and extra fun with a wall to build against.  Aiden used the tiny foam bricks to make a "pokey back dinosaur eating kibble shapes."  

pow from LB on Vimeo.

museum

We've officially paid for our Children's Museum membership. It was fun to meet up with some best friends and even see Elmo! They had a little kid's show about going to the zoo where Aiden loved guessing the animals and KC sat mostly mesmerized by the big reactions. Aiden played at the fire truck with another big kid friend for a good half hour taking care of that fake window fire. The museum is pretty straightforward but is more fun paired with lunch with friends ;).

interview with AB

This month I will remember you being pretty excited that Santa brought you Dinosaur Legos AND a Playmobil Castle, although there was a little Santa doubt going around.  The computer video message from Santa brought back some of the Christmas magic since you were amazed that he remembered all these details about you.  You kept the librarians happy as you read up a storm and finished "the best books" in one sitting.   Your Anakin Skywalker/Paul McCartney hair was getting pretty long and started peeking from underneath the slightly too big, old military surplus store hat you say is "made with real teddy bear fur"...

One word to describe you would be: Disco!  Wait, can you do, I like to Disco?! (dancing arms)
Why do you like being a kid? I think because I like having friends and going to school.
If you could be any animal, which one would you be and why?  I would be a dinosaur because they are my favorite animal in the world.
Tell about a funny time in your life. Right now, because I'm discoing in the dark - Lalalalalaaaa!
What is your favorite thing to do? Why? Building legos because my favorite toy is Lego because my favorite company is the Lego Star Wars and Superhero company because they are the best in the world.
What do you love most about your sibling? His chubby cheeks, but I think I like to play with him especially hide and seek.
What was the nicest thing you did for someone? Help myself build legos because I'm helping myself by using both of my hands.
What do you think you will be doing 10 years from now? Everything I'm doing right now like building lego, ego, eggoooos!
What is the grossest thing you can think of? A baby slobbering on me!
What is your happiest memory?  Getting this Darth Vader headlamp for reading my books in the dark

resemblance

I used to think that Aiden looked a lot like his PopPop, then KC was born and he took that resemblance a step further!  Look at this photos of my dad at just about the same age of KC right now.  Incredible genes.  I'm working on scanning a bunch of old photos and it's fun to see family resemblances.

xmas snaps

Here are some of my favorites from the giant batch of photos from Christmas.  The Hex bug arena had KC absolutely psyched.  The bigger bugs were surprisingly creepy when they jiggled all around. The best auntie was teaching Aiden all about his Harry Potter legos.  KC occasionally agreed to get out of his stripey jammies.  The glowing thumbs are a magic trick that came in Aiden's stocking.  My mom had joked after she saw the Starry Night DC I painted in that class a few weeks ago, that she was hoping they had a Cleveland Starry Night, so I used some of the boys paints (not as fancy) to whip one up for my folks as a 40th Anniversary present.  The video gives you a glimpse at some more Christmas magic - which was my joke whenever something went awry... like when KC almost face planted into the lighted candle luminaries on Christmas Eve... but we'll stick to the la la lovely moments here ;)  Magic!

21 months

Dear Keaton,

This was such a fun season to celebrate with you! Most of the photos I have you are wearing your favorite stripey matching jammies with some sort of noise maker hanging out of your mouth.  I can still hear you repeat 'open, open pease' after you unwrapped every present. You were so excited by some christmas gifts that you wanted to body surf on top of them.  At the beginning of the month, anything Christmas related was described as HoHo.  For instance, Santa=HoHo guy, the Christmas tree=HoHo tree.  By the end of the month, you could clearly say "Hey, dare's Sanda!"

You are a jokester.  You love playing high five and saying "too slow" with a giggle when you move your hand away.  You tell the same nonsensical knock knock jokes  - Who's there? Santa - Santa who? Ho Ho  One of your favorites: Knock knock - who's there? - Dada - Dada who? = Dada Mama!  Then you laugh like an old man with a cough.

You are so sweet with your brother and if you bump into him you will say "Sodrry!" and look at him with those puppy dog eyes for a huggie - you might even try to bump into him again for a some more attention.  If you are wrestling in the pillows together it just sounds like a chorus of "Sorrrries!"

You seem to have the little pleaser polite guy gene that your brother seemed to have at this age too.  You moved from saying 'thanks daddy/mommy' not just with a signs.  When you say thank you, you expect to hear a cheerful you're welcome... or you might ask for it.  If you are holding a book that closes on your finger, you will ask it to "Stop it!"  sometimes kinda fiercely.  If I ask you to use your gentle words, you will screech "Stop peeeease!"  You like to say "all det" (set) instead of no thanks... which I can tell is you imitating me.

You are a copy cat kid.  There are certain phrases you pick up quicker than others like a really quick one was, "M&Mie pease daddy?!"  When you try to feed me a bite of your food you ask "Isd it good Mama?"  Then you take a bite and prompt me to ask you also.  You like to put on your coat only if others are - "Coat, coat, me too!"  When you are playing outside you like to copy what you're brother is up to... a favorite is stomping around in the bushes yelling "I'm going to get you!"  You will remember that your brother said giddy up with his horsey and repeat it when he is a away.  You sometimes copy exactly what your brother just said with "bored!" being the most memorable, clearly pronounced new word.

You keep up with your brother's games. Your brother pretending you are a bull trying to poke him shouting "Ole!" Then you charge at him yelling "Poke!"  You realize that your head is your biggest 'weapon' and you will cram it against your brother to move him out of your way.  You are lucky that he still thinks you have an infant head and is pretty careful around your "soft skull" (I'm just going to let him believe you are fragile for as long as possible.)  

I imagine one of my favorite memories of your and your brother's childhoods will be picnicking with your hippo friends.  When you say Hippo for some reason it sounds like you are saying Apples!  You love helping put out the plates and organizing the food, which means kicking it across the blanket at whoever "needs moore!"  

You are becoming more and more of a crafty guy.  You helped make a bunch of baking soda ornaments and you actually stuck buttons and beads into the dough pretty carefully. You and your brother love tracing your bodies onto extra packing paper and the roll under the easel.  Your careful line drawing with chalk and marker on that easel is constant.  You even wrote your own santa letter with a bunch of those careful strokes covering the whole page.  

You still love sweeping and vacuuming.  The recent helpful guy routine is trying to help with the laundry by wanting to put everything on at once.  Anything you recognize as yours, you wanted to put on immediately.  It's like you're in some Double Dare (that old tv game show) skit and you want to see how many articles of clothing you can wear at once.  

You were doing well with your Ralphie (from the Christmas Story movie) imitation all bundled up with layers and snow pants in the Ohio blizzard snow.  You know the difference between "uppie and downy" and you wanted everyone to throw you up in the air while your tongue hung out trying to catch snowflakes.  Then you wanted to timber straight into the snow to get a few munches of the white stuff.  Then you would ask for help up.

You were such a big boy watching your brother's entire choir concert.  Your dad had a water bottle and crackers on hand to keep that muncher busy.  You could sometimes not hold back your excitement and at the end of one song you belted out an extra loud Yay!  The conductor gave you a special smile and wave.  

Your dad jokes about when you grow up and open your own mint making business named Spicies!  You had trouble not constantly asking for mints during our long drive to/from Ohio.  You even got a special wrapped tin of your favorite Spicies! from your great aunt ;)  You love strong flavors.  You can't get enough tomato soup especially when you can dip your bread in it.

You are more and more aware of characters.  You especially love Mickey Mouse whenever you see him in a book.  I think it started with this Mouseketool book we have that has doctor's tools attached that make noise.  You see Mickey everywhere now.  Your brother drew you a picture with the iconic three circles and you immediately cheered, "My Mickey!"  We are hoping to find you a mickey blanket or something for you to cuddle up to at night with Mickey on it.  

At the new children's museum, you were so excited to see Cookie Monster in person.  The kind of excitement were your feet won't stop moving even when your dad picks you up. You have a love for your new toy cash register that carried over to the museum's grocery setup.  Your brother likes to ask you what you see, and you like to reply with a joke.  You will tell your brother that his red shirt is blue to make him laugh.  If I ask you what color is this?  You reply that everything is blue.  

You like to sit and read books and point at what you see.  You learned the difference between puppy versus doggie from Aiden showing you.  You like to count socks as you watch other's put them on, "one, two!"  If you count higher you skip around to five and back to two.  Two is definitely your favorite.  You are continuing your habit of telling everyone you are two years old. 

You went through a growth spurt and all your pants were too short or too saggy.  The growth spurt I think also meant that there were some growing pains.  Those growing muscles were calmed with a good bath.  You would take a bath after every meal and possibly all day if you could.  You sometimes float on your belly like such a big boy.  I suppose we need to get you back to swim class.  

 You are so funny when you are running with your oversized hand me down buzz jammies on with your wings out arms extended out to the back.  I got your brother a new bigger pair and you were ecstatic to inherit his beloved jammies.  You don't care that they are faded a bit, you think those jammies have super powers!  You love to borrow Aiden's "real teddy bear fur hat" which is even big on his head.  Oversized hats are too darn cute.

We have fun even in the cold weather when cruising the mall with your buddy.  My friend pushed you around a store for a bit and she commented that you were really good about asking to look at something and then handing it right back and saying bye bye after getting a look.  You aren't too grabby and I'm glad that I can trust you to let go of whatever you are interested in.  It's a good trait because it means I can show you stimulating things and not worry that you will have a fit when it is time to let go.

Whenever we say I love you, you almost immediately throw kisses with your good throwing arm.  You  are prompted every time you see the camera pointed your way to run at me to see the photo right away, sometimes before I've even managed to take a picture.  Crimping my photojournalistic style, kid!  I guess I shouldn't be too worried about the number of photos we are capturing ;)

It's so refreshing to have you point out exactly what you notice.  I feel like you are moving past toddler now that you concentrate on more than just toddling and moving around.  It's such a fun transition and I'm so grateful to witness every new interest.  You have a habit of pointing out the moon everywhere you see it, in a poster at Barnes and Noble bookstore, high up in the sky, in a video, or in your brother's big kid books.  I hope you know I mean it when I tell you I love you from here to the moon!  I think you get it, since you giggle and run at me with huggie arms.... must be the reason you look for those moons everywhere. 

I love you to the moon, Mommy

brothers

These guys loved the new matching slide whistles and jumpy wire bug from the Arizona grandparents - Thanks! The whistles even match the favorite matchy jammies ;)