Wednesday, October 2, 2013

2.5 years!

Dear my two and half year old KC,

It can hardly believe that you are 2.5 years old!?  This month you begged for a big boy haircut and it transformed you into such a big kid in minutes.  I said, "I can't believe it!" the other day and you responded with "Believe it!"  It made me laugh, and made it even harder to believe that you were just a wiggly worm in my arms 2.5 years ago!


Baa baa black sheep is your favorite song.  You hum it to yourself especially as you are falling asleep.  I can hear you from behind me in your car seat slowly fading away with a baa baa here, there a baaaaaa...  You loved heading back to your favorite big room in the Rec Center for your fall music class.  The parachute time is by far your favorite and you love to sing along underneath it.

"I had a purple dragon bunny rabbit!"  This new habit of saying lotsa names I think comes from one of your favorite books, Hoppameleon.  Your other favorite potty time book was a randomly chosen: Toad Makes a Road book.  You like to see that truck full of friends come up the road at the end.  There was a froggie theme in your favorites lately.

You love reading books, but you are in charge of the pages.  You say, "No, I do reading pease!"  There are many times when you skip some pages and then want to go back to hear them later.

You had a fun time with your dad and brother on a boy's weekend while I jetted to Ohio to photograph a wedding.  There was a whole new collection of Super Friends Imaginext when I returned and many kudos to fun Target visits.  The only glitch was an attempt to eat out that you weren't feeling, but you did make it back the next day.  

When daddy headed to work one time you said, "Bye dad and have fun at Monster University!"  You think he works at a place just like the movie.  We went down to the Georgetown waterfront again this month for the pirate cruise.  So I think you think daddy works at a really fun place full of monsters, fountains, cupcakes, and shopping.

You are fairly clear in your speech, but there are few tricks that you like to throw in the mix.  You like adding -y or -ies - these are my lippies!  You also slow words down and break them into parts.  Like if you declare, I need some binoculars = knock ee lures - You are always excited when I figure out what you mean.

Thanks to your bath tub games and just general little brother behavior, the sound track to my life sounds a lot like rockets blasting - shhhswooshboom! There is always some sort of sound effect.  You like to cuddle close and make zurberts on my neck - especially when I'm trying to have a conversation.  Then when the zurbert makes a funny noise, you say, "Mommy, excuse you!"

I still wonder where you get some expressions.  Like when you were getting help climbing the wall at the playground - "It's burning! My muscles burning!" You like to try to mimic the big kids and really climb all the way to the top with help.  Now if I could figure out how to get you down easily - go, go, gadget arms Mommy!

You seem to get that Aiden was around in our family before you were born.  You even explained to Aiden, "you've been to Arizona before KC?!"  You are looking forward to our trip this month.  Or we will go to a place we haven't been for a while and you will say, "OYa, we here when I was a little guy!?"

You got a hand me down lobster costume to add to the dress up big.  The minute you saw it you wanted to head to PB Jacks because of the ocean rug.  You knew that you'd fit right in with the octopus, whale, and crabs.  There was another kid that called you a crab, and you declared,  "I'm not a crab cake!"

You have a "pine cone friend" hanging right outside the window of our second floor family room.  You wave at him and ask when he wants to come "downstairs" off the tree.  You saw a sneaky squirrely friend headed towards your pine cone and you tried to shoo him away.



You've started playing more games on your own.  You're also a good teammate.  You love playing Break the Ice and it lasts more than one round - since you used to just smash it all at once.  You sorta play Toot and Otto (essentially you think putting them in the slot is how you play) and giggling when a letter T is upside down.  You love this fun doggie bingo game where when you get three in a row you yell woof and grab the doggie friend.


You make my laugh when you ask for privacy - "pie-vi-cee" - on the potty.  You like to insist on taking a bath, so I've even let you water play clothed in the bathtub to appease you.  You love to wear the big boy elbow and knee pads and your bike helmet.  It think sometimes riding a bike is just an excuse to wear your helmet.

"Surprise! Here is my dot art!"  As you are making your dots you are yelping out "surprise!" with a certain kind of joy bug expression.  Then when you get the blue paint on your fingers (probably mostly on purpose since you are usually pretty careful when you want to be), you put up your blue pointer finger and say "I have an idea!"  


You loved running the Honey Lemonade stand with your brother.  You stuck with it for the entire two hours.  You sported a dragon costume to try to attract customer's attention and made your little lines and dots all over the chalkboard sign.  You love to run around the house picking things up and saying, "that will be fifty dollars!"  Sometimes you will try to measure things with a ruler and say that those are fifty dollars long.



Jumping up after you finish your frozen yogurt to help the other people that just walked in, mainly because you are hoping to mooch more gummy bears off them.  You love groovin to the tunes in the yogurt shop after you finish your cup and your brother still has a giant bit to eat.  You know all the Beatles songs and if one of those comes on you are especially excited.


You understand that "medicine makes me better" which I realized when you had slight fever on the first day of school.  You even know to ask for a puff if your chest feels heavy after just a few weeks of this asthma control.  You have allergic asthma and you were so brave for the scratch test to figure out what your triggers are.  You had one of the strongest reactions the allergist sees to dust mites, and two more reactions to cats and mold.  Luckily all the outdoor allergens you were clear on, but it's still a bummer.  They did a followup chest X-ray and the tech said you should be called Mr. Cooperative the super kid! She said you were the happiest and most cooperative two year old in her career.

We went to your new music class and you nearly lost your mind at the giant bin full of monkeys she brought.  You helped your monkey play the cymbals while marching around.  You like to point out the "little cute ants marching just like me" across the patio.  

You visited your new school for the first time for your new Step into Preschool one day a week class.  You can start now that you are officially 2 and a half (according to the fire marshall's rules they can only have so many children under 2.5).  You came home and told your dad you teacher's name in the cutest voice - My teacher "Mrs. Kig-lee" (Quig ley)  You loved meeting the class caterpillars and "sharks" (actually little goldfish) and you announced that they were growing.  I think it's going to be a great opportunity for you and I look forward to spending a lot of time in your classroom as a coop parent.

This was a good month to settle into a good routine, and this upcoming month we plan to mix it up a bit with some fun trips and a new school for you.  I am really looking forward to a fun month ahead...thanks for sharing those smiles and surprises with me!  
Love, Mommy





luau

It was an uber calm day out on the lake to celebrate a birthday with a luau.  There was something about being back on the beach that made Keaton seem so much older.  I didn't need to hover as much and he could take care of himself.  Keaton was happy to see some old familiar faces.  Aiden cruised in from another party at the end and collected plenty of sand to somehow accidentally dump in our bed later on - That dirty playground is a fun novelty ;)

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

pirates

These sea dogs were so excited to join the crew of the Boomerang out of the Georgetown Harbor.  It could be that they were hopped up on the Baked and Wired cupcakes we couldn't resist after 
parking right nearby.  These scurvy guys were ready to cruise and especially excited when the captain revealed that the key to the treasure chest was stolen and he needed their help recovering it!  The water cannons were blazing aimed at the pirate in the smaller boat that circled around waving the keys in the air.  They had pretty good aim, but the wind picked up at one point and sprayed the water back on all of us!  Once the bad pirate surrendered the keys they celebrated and danced and then enjoyed some of their candy booty!

Monday, September 30, 2013

lemonade

This was on my summer fun list, but I kept putting it off because who wants to sit out on the sidewalk in 90 degree weather?!  It was a beautiful crisp morning for the community wide yard sales and for the Brennan Boys' Honey Lemonade shop.  Their first customer was a sweet mom who gave them each a dollar!  This was after almost a half hour of waiting, waving at nearly every car that drove by, and drinking about a quarter of the lemonade (I was the lucky recipient of many cups).  Those boys danced around with those dollars!  Then another half hour went by and the only action was from people trying to buy our bench (not for sale).  The boys tried to attract attention by running around in costumes and even putting a Mickey Mouse drawing on their chalkboard. Aiden kept changing the price which started at 10 cents, then was free (donations welcome!), and then up to $7, then he settled on $1 a cup, but he gave deals (like I heard him sell to these young girls, "It costs a dollar, but I'll give you two cups for 25 cents!")  Then all of a sudden business picked up with some window service as the hot ticket.    They ended up making $6.25 in about two hours which means they paid for all the lemonade and the cups with leftovers to enjoy. 

Sunday, September 29, 2013

haircut

KC has been begging for a haircut ever since Aiden's back to school cut.  I was hesitant because there isn't a kiddie place nearby and the humidity still occassionally made some little curls.  But as fall started the stringy long bits where taking over any baby curls that remained.  This big boy waited patiently for over 40 minutes to get this cut - there was no way we could leave after we entered since he was so excited.  The guy who cut his hair was surprisingly sweet to him even though I thought I'd heard a noticeable sigh when he entered his name in the system.  Turns out it could have been because he thought I named my little boy Kitten?!  Well, Kitten was giddy in the chair and sat nice and still.  This giddy guy looks so grown up!

Saturday, September 28, 2013

shrek

The straight to DVD "Scared Shrekless" (is that appropriate?!) brought out these kid meal favorites at Wendy's.

lobsta

Get me some warm butter STAT!  Look at these yummy lobsters:

Friday, September 27, 2013

ole'

We can't get enough storytimes especially the outdoor variety.  This was a  story hour celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month.  She taught them the Mexican Hat dance, told a cute version of the gingerbread man named the Tortilla Man (KC was the chicken that the tortilla rolled away from), and two more stories where Keaton was a guitar player and Mr. Wind.  This was an extra fun morning because daddy joined us!  High five daddy!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

clowns

These clowns seem to collect random clown/Rudolph noses that appear at random times - I think these goofs could make anyone laugh in one of these noses.  

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

apples

The field trip to the apple farm was a hit this time around.  The farm was slightly closer to school and it was the perfect day for a trip to the farm.  The apples were plentiful (unlike last time when they were picked out and the only ones were over on the other side of a creek).  The fun included a bumpy hay ride, a big hill slide, and a bounce pillow.  It was especially fun for our little brother tag along.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

cuddles and cameras

My weekend was full of cuddles and cameras.  Doesn't get much better than that!  My boys enjoyed a guy's weekend full of playgrounds and new action figures in the dirt.  

Thanks to my dad, aka second shooter, for all his help with the wedding - I have hundreds of photos to play with now from a rainy, yet beautiful wedding day!

I miss my cuddle bug nephew already!  Paging Dr. Cameron, the mini surgeon:

Monday, September 23, 2013

abc buddies

I love these brothers - our little brother and their big and little brothers have had lotsa chances to play during the school day.  Here's to more chances to fine tune their Abc melody (wish I had the first run though recorded since they veered off track on this snippet)

Sunday, September 22, 2013

storytime

We have a new favorite storytime that is outside in my favorite shopping area, the Mosaic.  This particular time the first story was Crictor. I missed a shot of Keaton being asked up to peak in the box that held the snake. She asked him what it was and he said "a blanket!"  They then counted camels in a story about a Sultan, and had an entire version of Brown Bear with big cutouts.  Mr. Sharky Shoes loved the songs this time too. 

Saturday, September 21, 2013

creature power

We went over to our favorite nature center for an afternoon.  Those costumes are always a hit.  But this visit Aiden was all about talking about all the "creature powers" a la Wild Kratts, his favorite show.  My two brothers wish they were those Chris and Martin guys ;)

Friday, September 20, 2013

weeee

Sliding into another weeeeekend!  TGIF!

Thursday, September 19, 2013

brothers

Still finding plenty of time to get some good brother time during the school year.


Wednesday, September 18, 2013

snow white

It was a Snow White Ice Cream Dance party for Aiden with some of his old and new classmates to celebrate his friend Ella's birthday.  The stomp rockets and castle decorating were a treat in their enchanted forest.  They couldn't have ordered a better day for a backyard party.  

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

dulles day

The bouncy houses were as big as the planes!  Keaton kept up with his big brother with lotsa brotherly encouragement to get to the top of the big slide.  The police had some extra uniforms for their new team miniature squad members.  There were miniature planes that looked especially small next to the huge planes out on the runway.  There was also a whole section of old cars, and Aiden just loves an all red interior.  My favorite event was the Pull a Truck they had set up for the kiddos.  Aiden was really excited that he managed to get the dump truck rolling with the help of his team - They are cheered to kick it off and Keaton ran away because his cranky hungry belly was in charge. Aiden made sure everyone got a big jumping high five afterward.  We got some good 'ol fair food for lunch while listening to the band.