gym

We hit the Little G for their Back to School Bash! There were donkey kicks, monkey hangs, and parachute saunas - Something for everyone! It hit the spot after pizza pies at Orso topped off by a tiny batch of lemon donuts with nutella cream. KC's best buddy Lucas was there for some dual circle crawls and twinkle twinkle parachute cheering. Yay! Way to kick off the weekend!

dinos

Grrrr, TGIF after the first week of school!

back to school

We managed to shake some sillies out before the first day of school...in these photos. Better get this crazy bunch back on schedule! I hope that every morning will be as smooth as this first day. We walked Aiden to his class and KC gave him a big goodbye hug and he trotted right in to his new cubby. See Mr. Second Year Primary Montessori acting like a smiley robot:

games

We finished out the season with the Lake beach games!  Such a major change chasing KC around this year, but it makes it even more fun!  He can't wait to get in on the penny pile someday. Aiden is at the young age for most of the races still, but he sure does want to get in there and compete just like his daddy ;)

mirror

Sometimes things are more fun than expected and that was the case for this Enchanted Dragon Mirror Maze! It wasn't more than a 1,000 square feet but there were more mirrors than walls. You were supposed to enter and search for the dragon eggs and then the dragon! The reflections were fun and also pretty disconcerting, so much so that both our boys were literally bouncing off the walls. I have to admit that at times if you were looking at a reflection around a corner it was hard to figure out which image was the actual person and which was a reflection. It was pretty easy to not quite know if there was a mirror in front of you. Tricky and fun!

interview with ab

Every month my little boy gets closer to big kid-dom, and boy oh boy at four years, ten months we are teetering on the edge of that little kid mountain range.  There are peaks and valleys, but I genuinely try not to miss a minute. Although I'm glad that school gives you your own outlet and given how you just charged into your classroom you are excited to get back to work. You even started arranging your own work at home as soon you came home from welcome day.

One word to describe you would be: Some people call me Dog!
Why do you like being a kid? Because I don't need to be away from home a lot, I'm talking about working.
If you could be any animal, which one would you be and why? Lion because I'd be fierce and I like being fierce!
Tell about a funny time in your life. When you were tickling me all the time to make me dance!
What is your favorite thing to do? Why? Playing swords with Daddy and Keaton because I like to be a ninja for Halloween
What do you love most about your sibling? I love him because he's cute and chubby, I like those chubby cheeeeeks!
What was the nicest thing you did for someone? Once I helped you build my Playmobil Vet.
What do you think you will be doing 10 years from now? I will be using my words to tell people to stop being mean.
What is the grossest thing you can think of? Not boogers, toots!
What is your happiest memory? I liked going to the Cave-ren when the bat that wasn't even scared of us wanted to fly by us.

cavern

We headed to one of the many VA caverns that has tours on this rainy labor day weekend. Aiden was pretty wide eyed amazed and it is so fun to show him new things like this. We printed their scavenger hunt online before we left so he was all ears listening to the tour guide and looking for things to check off - the Snoopy shaped rock being the most important and exciting. KC cooperated and walked a lot of the almost mile and half path through the cavern. At one point, J asked KC if he saw the white rocks and he responded, "I seeee!" It was all fun and games until a live bat showed up to swoop over our heads in a narrow spot (the tour guide said he'd never seen one even though he'd worked there since last March!) J also couldn't resist poking me to pretend like the bat had landed on me.

17 months

Hey Keaton Carter,

This month was full of Ready SET Go!  You would say 'Set' with the cutest little low voice. The same voice that says 'Cookie' in a way that makes you think of a melty chocolately perfect cookie.  You love saying words in twos, 'WaWa,' 'Ball Ball,' and 'Tickle Tickle'...  You will talk some serious gibberish sometimes, which usually ends in you stomping off muttering 'Wickie Wickie' - I wish I knew what you were saying.

One thing that is really clear is how much you love your family.  You give real kisses with cute closed lips and a real mwah sound.  When you aren't giving us an earful of baby babble, you are usually trying to imitate us.  You liked to try to copy my cough or sneeze when I was sick this month.  You looked out for me.  You learned how to blow your own nose loudly into a Kleenex (better than I can).  If anyone in the house is putting on their shoes and getting ready to go, you want to put your shoes on to and join in the fun. You also still love wandering around as the one shoe wonder stomping around with one shoe.

You now like calling your brother AE or AD and you are working on getting is closer to Aiden. You insist on using a fork over a spoon just like your brother.  You both will sit in the back seat with a flap book each while we drive around town.  You love to get that dancing arm out when there is a song you like on the radio.  You are so excited to dance in the car with your brother.

The mischief maker in you came to visit a bit this month.  You started playing and hiding in the curtains (even when not prompted by your brother). The most disconcerting is when you climb up on everything usually trying to get to the window sill or the tippy top of the perilous edge of whatever it is you've managed to slink up onto... Oh, my, that smile of pride when you got up on the couch on your own the first time was almost worth it.  Then after a short cuddle, you try to jump around on the bouncy cushions... I think you've managed to learn that couches are for sitting now, but I must have repeated that 500 times this month.

You enjoy 'cleaning' with the broom which is really dragging the broom around until it bashes into something and you can't push it farther.  Then you get mad but not nearly as mad as if I try to take it away to clean it up a bit because playing with a dirty broom is so much more fun.  You also take playing with the kiddie laptop very seriously.  You will set it up on your 'desk' and there is lotsa stomping and pacing in between careful tapping and mumbling.

We trimmed your baby curls this month.... and by trim I mean the lady at Cartoon Cuts hacked them all off and stuck them in an envelope to make me feel better.  She was genuinely nice, but I have her as a villain in my mind because she didn't even hesitate as I asked whether we could save some of the curls - meaning save some of the length... Ug, every time I see an old shot of that messy crazy professor hair that I just loved, I think that I'm never cutting it again!

The screamy guy phase is sorta becoming a long phase.  You are now screamy when you are mad more often than when you are excited.  The frustrated screamer is sometimes being told that he isn't allowed to jump on his brother in the bath, or crinkle up the pages of his book.  You will sometimes get feisty when trying to sit on a chair as it backs up and pushes away from you. Although, I've seen that you can float mid air in a squat as the chair tumbles away.

You like to tell us animal noises.  My favorite is the bunnies go hop hop hop.  I think it's fun when you call for your the dancing gorilla toy by running around going "aaa, uh, aah!"  You saw the neighborhood fox out the window, ran and grabbed your stuffed fox and held it up against the window saying "See?!"  "Uh oh" is also now in full effect, especially when you intentionally drops something.  Your little voice asking for "Cheese, Pease!" is my favorite.

Singing into the toy reverb microphone and the unplugged mike for the Wii Singit is one of your favorite things. You will find a bunch of toys and try to see if they will do the same thing that fun microphone will.  When it won't you keep digging through the box looking for the one that will make your voice funny.  If something isn't quite right you say "boke, ix!" and when I help you fix whatever is broken, you will respond with "Tada!"

You used to be a little scared of the vacuum with a big preference for the broom, since you could be the dust pan helper.  Now you clap to the vacuum roar.  You seem like you are cheering on your brother as he cleans with the little dust buster handheld vacuum.  You even want to swipe it across the floor yourself.  Best purchase ever - family cleanup time!

Aiden thinks your favorite dance move is an original.  He will yell out, "do the baby bounce!" and we all bend our knees and drop our 'bottoms' with our dancing arm in the air.  I call your right arm your dancing arm because it is always grooving first when a good song comes on the radio in the car or when your brother busts out the 'youtubey' music videos on the play room computer.

Whenever we meet your buddies at the playground you run up for hugs, and then you do this shy guy face when you back away.  The face seems to say that you meant to play it cool but you were too excited to see them.  You are a good year younger than most of them, but in some cases you would never know because you're a pretty tall guy.  You really want to hang with the big kids, your brother being the ultimate big kid.  You want to do everything he does, including wanting to use the potty before bath and successfully getting a dribble in every so often.  Trying to copy your brother, the zurbert monster, you usually end up just pressing your slobbery teeth against my arm. You even took your first bounce in a bouncey house where your tongue wagged around even more than your feet.

You are pretty good at not putting things in your mouth anymore, so we can let you check out Aiden's cool toys like the hex bugs that bounce all around.  You like holding those vibrating bugs up to your ear and cheeks especially when you had your sinusy respiratory virus.  You were such a big boy sitting on my lap in the hospital bed while we waited for the doctor and even getting an xray to check your chest for pneumonia.  

We tried out a Mandarin class recommended by your neighborhood buddies.  You stuck with it, but you were immediately bummed that your brother wasn't there.  You kept going to the door yelling Aeeee?!  The teacher managed to keep your attention, but I'm not sure you really liked it all that much.  You were mostly just interested in cuddling up against me and trying to nurse.  You did get the idea that wasn't going to happen, but I think your little gums are welcoming new teeth and that sure must hurt.

You love slides!  You were especially smiley down the water slides at the waterpark this month.  You were even excited when I biffed it at the end of the slide and we both dunked under water.  I guess those swim lessons that taught you to go underwater were valuable because you held your breath.  You can ride slides all by yourself at Mobu, on our little slide in the basement, and even Aiden's school with the steep slide.  During the start of school last year you were all curled up in your Moby against my chest, and this year you were sliding and stomping all around.  You were even pulling up and chair with your own work right across from your brother.  You sure are going to miss him when he goes to school in the mornings.

You are genuinely feeding yourself now and you can even poke your favorite strawberries with a fork. You are a fruit lover one hundred percent.  You will gobble down just about anything if you're hungry and you seem to like just about any texture.  The only thing you aren't game for lately is anything that resembles baby food, no purees period, no applesauce even!  Your favorite seems to be noodles and the messier the better.

All of our names ended in 'y' this month.  Mommmy and Daddy are so cute in your little voice.  The tired mommy cry could melt anyone.  It's so sweet and sad at the same time.  I like to call out to you with your full name because it sometimes makes you giggle out of the blue.  In addition to using eee sounds all the time, you like to make a growly low noise.  All puppets like to growl at each other lately.  We're ready for another month full of new noises, plenty of squeals, and even some growling...  And we'll see if you like pumpkin treats as much as the rest of us.

Love, Mommeee

routine

As we approach the beginning of the school year, I'm getting a little bummed... I am not someone that craves routine.  I think I'm actually going to start a list and try to do something new every week.  But what I'm going to miss most of all has become a bit of a routine.  After my little guys have finished breakfast, they really want to beebop in the living room to whatever music they come up with... usually we can pull up anything direct from what Aiden still likes to call You-tubey.  I guess KC and I can still groove together, but I'm pretty sure it won't be the same without KC's Baba/Aeee.  Maybe we will just have to pull out the baby bounce after lunch?! In the meantime, here are some grooves from the fair a while back (seeing KC's baby curls makes my heart hurt) - We are off for the intro day at Aiden's class!

forts

We haven't quite mastered the art of the fort, but we are practicing ;)

hmm

Well, this may fall into the what was I thinking category, but as I was planning fall activities and thinking about what Aiden likes to do, I found a choir that rehearses nearby. Only tricky part was this choral group had a 5-8 year old age bracket. I figured I would ask if Aiden could join even though he's not quite 5 yet. They asked if he could read and I said yes, so they said he could come in for an informal voice check, all he would need to do was sing Happy Birthday according to the low key email. When we arrived there were big audition signs and a little girl before us dressed like a flower girl, I immediately felt silly and a little nervous. The good news is that Aiden had a good time copying the director and playing her rhythm games. He did not have 'another song he'd like to share' after his rendition of Happy Birthday, but he did squawk out one stanza of His Turkey Tango song. I do think he would enjoy singing with a group, so we will see 'how he placed' in their programs... I sure didn't expect it to be so serious, but we can always try again next year... And maybe I'm just being pessimistic because he wasn't dressed in his mini tuxedo... But at least I didn't feel like a stage mom ;)

I did record a few snippets for his daddy to hear.  You can see he was having a good time when he gives me a thumbs up around 50 seconds.   Before it was his turn he was a little excited, but he wrangled in the goofball and followed directions well.   We will see.... but here are some snaps of what PopPop calls his barricuda smile boy getting all jazzed up for "his choir practice"... He was mostly just happy I told him he could have Lucky Charms for dessert.

Update:  Good News!  The choir director confirmed that he got a spot in the choir for this season starting next week!  Whew, I am excited for some cute little concerts ;)

live

The live action version of angry birds created with water balloons that were launched in the tub ;)  Then later in the week we continued by drawing some with chalk and launching them out on the driveway.  I prefer the live action excitement over the iphone frenzy... but he does make fun sound effects as I'm trying to get KC to sleep for naps ;)

computer

I've had some freelance hours in the works lately, and if KC catches me on the computer he runs and grabs his own. It's good to hear the familiar sing song tunes from our kiddie laptop from Lulu a long while ago - thanks again!

fall ball

Fall soccer kicked off today for 'Big Legs' and his team. His coach cheered him on and told Mr. Big Legs he gets the spirit enthusiasm award for today's practice. He was very excited to be back with some of his old teammates in what is now considered the kindergarten league...we will see how this goes! But he is having fun already... and those legs really did get longer this summer. Whoosh, slow down long legs! Little legs wanted into the action, but he was happy to have some fun on the playground instead.

booonk

My best bud from college, affectionately our collective nickname is still Bonk, came for a visit all the way from LA. He brought a new version of the color spinner he remembered from his childhood and a Big Bird that bust out some dancing moves with us. Both a huge hit! Thanks! It was so great to see you!

going postal

Turned out this was a surprisingly cool museum a bit off the busy path in DC.  They were running a kid's program for you to create your own stamp and sift through a huge collection of stamps to create your own collection.  Aiden created a collection of Australian stamps.  He then created a stamp with a flag and fireworks on it.  The Republic of Keaton stamp was showcasing the classic KC abstract.  Both boys loved the display where you could practice delivering your own mail with huge mail vehicles, tricky sorters, techy scanners, and fun postmark stamps.  Owney, the stuffed postal dog from 1888, was a hit with our dog lover.  They had a comment board where you could write on a post-it what you thought - Aiden wrote "Cool!"

ted's

We were off on a try-new-stuff-kinda day and I remembered hearing about this DC institution that had "the best milkshakes" - well, I would add fresh tomato soup and handmade pop tarts to that list! The cinnamon buns and meatballs - both rumored to be bigger than your head - are on the list for next time. The rich milkshakes were truly decadent (both oreo and pb choco) The pop tart list included a peanut butter filling with bacon sprinkles that I took to go. Out of control delicious! This place put everyone in a good mood.

waves

We hit one of the county water parks at the end of the week. This one has a Caribbean theme and tons of water slides. We ran into Aiden's buddy Hiro and they were excited to get some water slide runs in together. KC was asking to ride the slides right from the start.

green

Green Springs Park will only be green for a short while longer. We found lotsa signs of Fall while we crunched fallen leaves with a few bright yellow leaves in the mix. We marched around exploring to Aiden's hut-one-two--three-four with KC humming along trying to keep up. When both boys agreed to rest together on the bench I decided to snap some pictures. I'm glad I did get some brother shots, including Aiden trying to direct KC by turning his head in the right direction. Eventually the heat (only mid 80s!) creeped in a bit and we left with another half of the park to explore another day.  The only bummer is that there weren't any geocaches to be found...