2009- Quarter 1

2009- Q1
Yes i have gotten lazy and now do only quarterly posts. Get over it. This Quarter's Top HighLight: after 2 years of trying, Andrew can not roll him tongue. It's only uphill from here.















Art
This month’s art collection covers winter, assorted odds and ends. We started off the year with a Christmas Reindeer, and then what I assume is the Chanukah or maybe Kwanza Bunny. Then we moved to Snowman-made-from-can bottoms and the Season of the Sneaker. The sneaker was actually one of Andrew’s finer pieces of work, aside from the Super Scary Hairy Orange Spider that bears some similarity to a chicken.










Pre-sleep rumble
I thought bath time was supposed to calm kids down? It seems to be the quiet before the storm. One night the underwear spontaneously flew from the drawers and landed all over the room. James bravely weathered the storm, then passed out on the floor.









Another night I hear a big THUD and come in to find the humidifier in about 10 pieces on the floor with about 2 gallons of water quickly absorbing into the carpet. After re-assembling the humidifier, with most pieces, several weeks later I entered their room, unannounced, to find them sitting on the dresser, daring each other to push it off. Little do they know that the humidifier is the only form of medication they receive when they get colds. We can thank an overzealous media for that.




One night I THOUGHT I heard them making a racket (do I sound like a parent now?) and I just opened the door, looked at them with my German Face, turned off the lights and closed the door. The boys looked stunned, then I heard Andrew say "James… we weren't doing anything?!"

Sleeping Arrangement
Can someone remind me why parents go to the effort of purchasing (or in my case swapping furniture within the family) a bed? We have 2 beds and 2 boys, yet James chooses to take over Andrew’s bed. Some how Andrew got pushed to the foot of the bed like a puppy dog.









Then James chose to act out the Monkey Jumping On The Bed book.









They soon grew bored of the bed and chose to lay out every blanket we own on the floor on the bedroom. They seem to be just as comfy sleeping on the floor….makes sense since I slept on the floor for about 4 years as a kid.











Closet Melee
I did not realize just how many clothes out children owned until they decided to clear the closet one night. Andrew thought it was great fun, until I made him stay up to SORT the hangers. After about 2 hours he passed out, and so did I. The next evening we spent 4 hours together with him handing me each and every piece of clothing and color coded hanger to put back in the closet. I thought this was punishment, but he seemed to enjoy it way too much. The closets are now on lock down. And when I asked him if he would do it again he said “It’s Mommy’s fault. You forgot to lock the closet”. I have been outsmarted by a 3 year old….again.

Career Move
If Naked Customer Service becomes a career path, Andrew is all set.








Pinball
The Pinball machine’s future looks a lot brighter now that the boys are playing. It has been removed from the Endangered Species list for the house.










Potty Time
I am happy to report that young James is giving potty training a whirl....again. He has the mechanics of it figured out, but does not understand the schedule…..as in get naked and sit on the potty before opening the plumbing pipes. I have been pee’d on more times than I care to remember.

Andrew has now decided that peeing in the corner of the bedroom makes him little brother laugh hysterically. Andrew likes to entertain, and has had repeat performances several nights in a row to mommy’s chagrin. Unfortunately our cat is not taking to Andrew marking his territory, so we have a battle of the boys raging. Is this really my life?

Roo pictures
Give a 3-year old a camera and this is what he takes pictures of.

The glaring sun picture is the ceiling fan, also known as ‘sleeping place of beanie babies’. Andrew said he tried all night to get the 2 dogs stuck up there. Good thing he did not turn on the ceiling fan and watch them fly off.

I said “Take a picture of yourself” and he photographed his feet.

I said “take a picture of your brother” and he takes a picture of his hand.

Andrew does not just think outside the box, he can’t even see the box and does not even know it exists.

Naptime
Sadly naptime for Andrew has come to an end. We no longer try to get him to nap on the weekends, but sometimes he falls asleep on the sofa in the afternoon with whatever he is playing with. This day it was the (unused) orange toilet plunger. This Home Depot $4.98 item has been a favorite over the years.





Dress code
The boys must not have gotten the memo about wearing pants. It just cuts down on the laundry.






Our Alpha Dog
At daycare Andrew has taken to sneaking up on the smaller kids in the class and roaring at them, causing them to crap their pants.

At daycare Andrew has started watching his teacher with an Eagle Eye. Whenever she turns her back, he runs and hides. When they can not find him, they have to call the office, declare a Lock Down, and his teachers and 3 directors go on a hunt for Andrew.

When Andrew is misbehaving, his teacher calls the director's office to have her come talk to him (this is new since he used to go to the Director's office which he enjoyed way too much). Once the call has been made, he goes from a spazmaniac, to a sweet little boy sitting on his cot for the pretty lady to come talk to him.

Alpha Dog has been so active at daycare that I know have monthly meetings with 2 organizations and the daycare to coral his behavior. The March meeting was spent covering “Why it is not appropriate to moon your classmates”. I see many Parent-Teacher-Principal conferences in my future.


Random Conversations

Germs
James dropped his cereal spoon on the floor. Andrew exclaims "Quick Mommy, pick it up before the germs hop on'.

Why We Need Make French Toast
One Saturday morning Andrew was explaining why I needed to make French Toast for breakfast:
"You and Daddy went to Kazakhstan to get me, then you went to Guatemala to get James, so we need to make French Toast now." Odd logic, but surprisingly accurate. We never ate French Toast before the boys.


Football
When the Eagles were playing the Cardinal in the playoffs Andrew said he saw red birds and white birds. I asked him which bird he liked more and he said "the more better birds". I'll leave it up to the reader to decide which bird that was.

Boo Boo Buddy
In a frenzy of active play James ran head on into the corner of a family room pseudo padded chair. He then headed right to the freezer to get the frozen Boo Boo Buddy. Andrew beat him to the freezer, snatched the boo boo buddy and they had this exchange:
Andrew: "Where's the hurt?"
James: Point to his forehead
Andrew: Applies boo boo buddy to his cheek for about 2 seconds then asks "All better now?"
James: "Nope"
Andrew: Applies boo buddy to his chin and then proclaims "You all better now"
James: "Ok"
They run off to play.

Black Out
Do you have any idea how hard a 2 year olds head is? One night I was leaning down to James’ forehead to give him a good night kiss and he decide to sit up uber fast to surprise me. Our foreheads slammed, I saw a bright flash of light and a head ache emerged. After recovering from the stunning I tried again to give him another kiss good night and WHAM he does it again. Another flash of light and then I blacked out for a couple seconds. Andrew watched all this and was quite concerned and said “Mommy, you need to go to Dr House.”

Fine Arts
The boys' exposure to the fine arts is limited to the Disney Channel, but has recently branched out to Nickelodean. We have maanged to escape the evils of Elmo and Barney. This is what is gobbling up our Tivo space:

• Bear And The Big Blue House
• My Friends Tigger And Pooh (includes Tigger Movie, Piglet Movie and the 1970's Pooh movie)
• Handy Manny
• Yo Gabba Gabbaa
• Mickey's Clubhouse (borders on annoying as Barney)
• Little Einsteins (ok, but sure is no Handy Manny)

Next Quarter.....the boys take Walt Disney World by storm.

December 2008

Christmas
The boys thankfully slept in to the ripe old hour of 6:30 on Christmas morning. They still don’t totally get Christmas yet, so we all had a chance to enjoy opening the presents at a leisurely pace. James was quite proud of his backpack, which was a big as he was. And Andrew’s need to help disassemble electronics was curbed with a Handy Manny TV Set you can take apart. The creators were kind enough to make the screws loosen the part allowing the part to be removed without the screw actually coming out.





After presents it was time to move on to breakfast, French Toast again. Here’s a picture of Andrew last year and this year.












By mid afternoon we had moved on to snacks. I could not get the pomegranates opened fast enough for them. The bowl never made it to the table, they just sat on the carpet by the sink and ate them. They also started to peel off their clothes by noon. By the time uncle Scott and aunt Peg arrived, they were in their underwear.






Door
The boys were excited with the first snow. They like to look out the front door to check out snow, girl scouts, the young nurse across the street, the garbage truck or incoming visitors. Here’s another picture from April of this year.











Snow
The first couple times it snowed the boys were very excited. The snow was mixed with ice which meant daycare would close early. The boys were excited about driving home in the snow and wanted to go outside as soon as we got home (but not before Mommy stopped in an empty parking lot to explain "donuts"). James got dressed in snow boots, snowpants, a sweater, gloves, scarf, winter coat, and hat. After 5 seconds outside, he decided his Guatemalan blood was not meant for the cold. Meanwhile, Andrew was in jeans, t-shirt and his winter coat, refusing to wear hat, gloves, scarf or pretty much anything that would keep him warm. I had to drag Andrew in after an hour, but not before we went for a ride down the driveway on our sweet new sled. Sure, you might see it as a plastic recycling container, but to us it is a sled. This caused much confusion on Trash Day when Andrew asked what the men were doing with his sled.

Pellets
The wood pellet stove has been keeping the house warm all winter. Andrew is vigilant in making sure James does not touch the hot glass doors. James got a wee bit too close one day……that will be the first, last and only time that will happen. With the pellet stove comes bags of pellets, and lots of them. The boys are now using their sturdy Rainbow Lion as a work horse to help haul the 7 or8 40-pound bags we go through each week. If you make anything sound fun, they will be glad to help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88F5nE6fD6E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXGIrReVfRA





Tub
Rub a dub dub, two boys in a tub means lots of interesting moments. Do you know how loud 2 boys can scream in the tub just for the fun of hearing the echo? Did you know what water can be splashed about 6 feet up and over the shower door? Have you ever seen a ‘bubble’ contest in the tub? After this month I can answer all of those questions. Andrew is the same wild and crazy man outside of the tub as he is in. Here they are now, and this time last year.

Things I Thought I Would Never Say In Regards To Tub Time
7. No Sword Fights
6. Who made those bubbles?
5. No Belly Flops
4. No Wrestling
3. Use a washcloth. Don’t lick your brother clean.
2. Don’t spit water at your brother “private part”
1. Don’t giggle when your brother spits water at your “private part”


I am now sure that was going through their heads when they put the ski caps on, but this can't be good.









Andrew found some sunglasses on clearance at the supermarket. There was a huge out-of-season display made of cheap cardboard that looked as if it was about to topple over and he was drawn to it like Pooh Bear to Honey. Two foosdtore workers nearby kept a close eye on him, ready to pounch when he knocked the whole thing over as he randomly yanked sunglasses off the display to try them on. Without incident, he picked these "Gidget" glasses, then gently placed them into the cart, instructing me not to 'mash them' them with the bag of salad. The store workers finally were at ease and went back to their work.


Potty Time
With 1 boy potty trained we hoped the other would not be far behind. Recently James has decided that he does not need to wear a diaper; he takes it upon himself to remove his pants and diaper, place his diaper in the toilet, put his pants back on, then flush the toilet. There are several flaws in this plan, which I will leave up to the reader. Andrew also has the desire to Go Commando as he removes all the warms jammies we put on his after bath time. Forget the dilemma of boxers vs. briefs, these boys prefer to go au natural. They are really taking this ‘go green’ to reduce laundry a bit too far.

Art
Here is this month's sole art project that was blog worthy. It's a Turkey Hat, just try telling me it's not cute.










Moments That Make You Go “Hmmmmm”
From a daily daycare report: "Andrew made some better choices today. However, he emptied a bag of glitter and sequins on a friend and on the floor. He did help clean up. This is great'.
James dropped his cereal spoon on the floor. Andrew exclaims "Quick Mommy, pick it up before the germs hop on'.

At daycare Andrew has taken to sneaking up on the smaller kids in the class and roaring at them, causing them to crap their pants.

At daycare Andrew has started watching his teacher with an Eagle Eye. Whenever she turns her back, he runs and hides. When they can not find him, they have to call the office, declare a Lock Down, and his teachers and 3 directors go on a hunt for Andrew.

When Andrew is misbehaving, his teacher calls the director's office to have her come talk to him (this is new since he used to go to the Director's office which he enjoyed way too much). Once the call has been made, he goes from a spazmaniac, to a sweet little boy sitting on his cot for the pretty lady to come talk to him.

And here’s one that made me cry. We were sitting at dinner one night and Andrew asked where Mommy’s Mommy is, to which we replied “Heaven”. Andrew instantly says “I go see her sometime?” How do you reply to that ?

October/November 2008

School Picture Day.
Of course we have to dress them alike, it's our rights as parents. By the time pictures rolled around James' hair was not as stylish, but the photographer was able to get some nice pictures.

Potty Time

I am glad to report Andrew is pretty much done, with the exception of night time. However, if he puts socks on at night, that seems to cure the problem. James is catching up fast with the potty scene. He's been trying for a year, but now he almost says the word before tottering over to the potty, stripping diaper, pants and socks then defying gravity and climbing up on the seat himself. I am glad to report James did not have the adventurous spirit Andrew did with "Distance Shooting" from a seated position on the potty. James is a bit more challenged with which side of the pants the underwear goes on....and which way is front.

Flu Shots

Fall means Flu Shot season. To lessen the blow the day Andrew had his appointment we went to Dunkin Donuts for a pre-visit meal. The nice gals at our local DD are quite liberal with the cream cheese. This year we did the FluMist instead of the Flu Shot. Andrew screamed bloody murder, and James giggled through the whole thing. They are 2 different sides of the same coin. In case you are wondering, Andrew kicked off the cream cheese and left the bagel behind.

Autumn

A couple weekends in a row in October our daycare had outings to pumpkin patches. The first one was well attended and had hayrides through corn fields, pumpkin patches, rides, food and ponies. The following weekend just Andrew went to the other pumpkin patches and there were about 100 less daycare kids.....Andrew was the only one. Lucky Andrew had 2 teachers and me to entertain him. The teachers were awesome, one from his current room and one from his previous room. They are such sports they even rode the tricycles with him. They are the greatest.

Halloween

Halloween brought another set of cool glasses. They match Andrew's super-cool Yo Gabba Gabba Broby jammie outfit.

I tried to make the boys' Halloween costumes this year, and I totally struck out. My grand plan was to make Andrew a Laundry Basket (any stereotypes of Asians and Laundry was purely coincidental) and James would have dirty laundry pinned all over himself. Well, the boys took one look at my "home made" costumes and went into a screaming frenzy. Apparently no amount of candy or stray coins were worth the embarrassment. Andrew would not even come close to the laundry basket, but I was able to lure James into the laundry basket with stray candy. We settled on James being a Hockey Referee and Andrew going dressed as himself. We were out for about an hour on foot, and stopped in at 1 out of every 5 houses we passed. Apprently Andrew has some sort of advanced candy detecting device I am unaware of. After our attempt at trick or treating we went to my friend Brenda's house where they sat on comfy charis, watched TV and grazed Brenda's Candy Bowl. By 9pm they were in a chocolate and Sponge Bob induced coma. They are not safe from future embarrassment.....the Laundry Basket has been put into storage.

Birthday

November James turned 2. We celebrated with our old neighbors, and as seen in the photo, some prunes, beer and an ice cream cake. This year was a step up from last year when we bought an Entenmen's cake. It doesn't look like he grew much taller, but be no longer has a pumpkin-round head, and he grew a neck. Here are the pictures from both years. If you a not figure out which photo is his 1st birthday cake, you are ready to apply for a position in the presidential cabinet.

A Handful

Since we never had kids before, we used Andrew as our barometer for what little boys are like. James is quite a bit more mellow, aside from eating small children and getting kicked out of his first day care in under 7 months. But the new daycare is great for both boys. They have been very patient with Andrew's 'spirited' personality and 'opportunities to make better choices tomorrow". It seems that young Andrew will be the Zack Morris of his school time. After several challenging weeks/months at daycare I met with the teachers (and director) a couple times. They told me that "all the kids want to sit next to Andrew because he is so much fun" which translates to "We need to do something about his behaviour". They have been very helpful as we try to reign in his Kazakh Spirit and 'craftiness'.

Let's Go!

One morning Andrew was in such a rush to get to day care (it was Muffin Day) that he grabbed every one's coats and my purse and headed out the door.

Rob makes the boys' juice before leaving for work and one day he left the fridge open which caused it to start beeeping. Eagle Ear Andrew heard this from upstairs, froze in is tracks and and spouted out this stream of conscience thought pattern: WHAT DAT SOUND. ME CALL DADDY. THE MONSTERS AT THEIR OWN HOUSE EATING BREAKFAST AND WATCHING TV,GETTING NAKED, GETTING MILK. EVERYTHING IS OK

Here are some attempts at getting a Christmas Card photo after bath time one night. Didn't get one of the official Christmas Cards yet? E-mail me (euuayya @ yahoo . com )

Art

The past 2 months have given us more 'hand and foot art', along with what I thought was Jesus on the Cross. Turns out, it was just a scarecrow. November closed out with this a nice kitty cat, oddly enough holding a clothespin. As always, the art work is priceless to us, but recycling material to the rest of the world.

August/September 2008

August & September 2008

The summer closed with a bumper crop of 'art' work. We found that daycare workers are quite creative when it comes to animals based on a 1-year-old's hand. It's a whale, no wait, it's a porcupine! Not to be outdone by the poisonous overly happy bug eye'd frog.

Andrew goes a bit more abstract. When a teacher takes a piece of green construction paper, draws a leave and tells the kids to "cut the leaf", only one child chose to cut the leaf in half....mine. And what goes with a leaf? A lady bug with movable wings.

Potty Update

James has been watching Andrew sit on the potty fro a while now, and decided he'd like to sit high atop the throne as well. We got our hopes up that he might potty train a year before Andrew did, but we think it's just a fascination. But any diaper avoided is a pleasant gift. Here's James this month, and Andrew on the same throne when he turned 1.

And what necessitate the need for the potty....how about a nice bucket 'o prunes. We found out what happens when a child eats 10 prunes a day or 2 day, then eats 2 boxes of raisins. I tried to blame the 'accident' on the floor on the kitty cats....then I realized James processed all the prunes and raisins at one. We haven't come this close to barfing in quite some time.

Washer Mania

Another lesson of having boys, you will wash, and dry, a lot of rocks . This was one day's stash of rocks, that were discovered at the END of laundry day. We tried our best to convince Andrew to return his rocks to their friends on the playground, but no dice. instead we put them in a ziplock baggier so he would carry hem around for a week or 2. He might as well treat them well, after all they were sanitized and steam cleaned in the Whirl Pool.

HeadGear

James is the king of odd head apparel. One day he came home from daycare sporting the princess party hat from a birthday party, and then later that week he chose to wear Andrew's seasoned Lightning McQueen underwear as a French Beret.

August was Magical Month at daycare, and he came home with this awesome crown, and a magic wand. Andrew still prefers his Kazakh hat, although he has not worn it since he was 1 in this picture.

Shoes

What happens when you don't buy a lot of toys? The kids play with shoes. One day I told Andrew to line up the shoes. In my head of I was thinking to put like-shoes next to each other, Andrew chose to line them up in a mirror image. What does that say about his thinking patterns?

Cabin Fever

After week's of trolling through Craig's List for a playhouse for the backyard, we found a used Log Cabin. It's almost 15 years old, and on it's 3rd family, but it seems to have weathered the storm well. And some nice lady 20 miles away offered to take it apart and drive it to our house. She was either really eager to get rid of it, or truly a kind hearted person that we are glad still exist. I sent her the photos of the boys playing with it and she said she cried with happiness. Life is Good.

Andrew prefers to call it "My Chip's Farm House" since the neighbors moved to a farm house.

Kitty Time

Andrew is still making friends with his kitty. Although he plays a little rough, Tigger is a sport about it. Andrew's new job is to feed the kitties....which he remembers to do once every 2 weeks. Here's Andrew with Kitty now, and 2 years ago.

Mommy Mistake # 4912: 16 oz. of Red Juice = 60 minutes of Spazakh

Mowgapalooza 2008

Our summer parties have changed quite a bit since they started about 10 years ago. One frequent flyer, Anatoly, remarked that in the early years there was lots of beer and late night lingering, then there was the year with the inflatable jousting ring, then a couple years of Dodge Ball, and now the post-nap time mid-afternoon party was filled with water balloons being filled by the Chef. Andrew had a good time, and at bath time was crying because he did not want his party to end.

Beach

We spent a week at the beach in September. Atlantic City might be known for it's buffets, but James prefers the 8-Mile Buffet Of Ocean City. When we was not screaming he was using the shovel to stuff sand in his mouth. Four hours later we found out that sand is the Colon's Exfolliant. It rivaled the Prune Incident.

We were lucky enough have have 3 Boys And their Momma join us for a couple days. With a whole ocean of water, they chose to play in the puddle the hurricane left behind from the day before.

When they had enough of the sand, the beach house provided enough entertainment. 2 Bunk Beds + 5 boys and 1 ceiling fan is a recipe for disaster.

And when that entertainment wear out, the trash trunk is always good entertainment.

James is usually a man of few words, but when we foolishly experimented with putting 4 of the 5 boys in 1 bedroom one night he said, clear as day "Get Me out". we later found the 2 3-year olds had taken over the pack'n'play.

We finished out the week with one last bike ride on the board walk. Andrew saw a car on the boardwalk and freaked out. He proceeded to spend the next 20 blocks yelling "NO CARS ON THE BOARDWALK" and James would follow with "NUH CUH" (No Cars). This was funny for the first 10 blocks....but as I said, he rode for 2o blocks. We look forward to more fun, same time next year.

Yo Gabba Gabba

We recently discovered the most bizarre show on Nick Jr. called Yo Gabba Gabba. We were all transfixed the first time we saw these guys. Forget Sesame Street, these oddly shaped guys are hilarious, they are the Muppets of the new millennium.

Time Out

Andrew continues to be quite the energetic little boy and we do what we can to keep hm well-behaved. One day we ran out of ideas and told him the The Sheriff from the Cars movie was watching him. It seemed to work, and still does work. A couple weeks later when we picked him up at daycare and we asked how his day was, the teacher just shook her head. We told her to say "Sherrif Is Watching". She thought we were crazy, but the next day she hugged us. We don't understand the power of the Sherrif, but we are not questioning what works.

Rock On

On a recent trip to Pittsburgh we were lucky enough to be serenaded for an hour with the Good Bye Song from Bear And The Big Blue House. James tries his best to back up Andrew. The footage is a little choppy because we were moving at about 80 mph.

July 2008

July 2008

No other picture captures the personalities of the boys like this one. Mellow James and Spazful Andrew. It’s no wonder James tries to climb out of the tub. You can imagine what night times are like now that they share a room again.

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Draft

The great Draft Act of 2008 has been enacted. We now have monthly Toy Drafts were we empty the toy basket (yes, we have stuck to the 1 toy basket rule 2 years later) once a month and go to the reserve cabinet to draft a new round of toys. This month’s lucky draftees were the Backyardigan’s guitar (courtesy of Schanna), John Deere tractor (once again, Schanna) and assorted Matchbox cars from the Car’s movie. For teh record, Matchbox cars are waaay nicer than hot Wheels. The draft is working well and we plan continue the monthly draft wher ethe boys do the drafting. The only draft dodgers we have are some really annoying battery operated toys that we shipped off to Canada. One item which made the draft of stuffed animals for the bed was Lufty, the trinket the stewardess gave me while Andrew was screaming his way to the US back in 2006. James has taken a keen liking to Lufty and tried to eat the landing gear, but Daddy sewed him up in mommy's absence. Yes readers, Rob did SEW! When James cries, Andrew fetches Lufty for hm to try to calm him and says 'It's ok James, here's Lufty". It's times like that, that even ou tthe beating they give each other.

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Songs

Andrew likes to end his day with a warm bath, story time, then butchering of our childhood classics. He may butcher them, but they are cute. He has chosen to change the words to "Old McDonald Had a Farm” to “Old McFarmy had a ” saving both time and effort by combining 2 lines into 1. But if he saves time with one song, he has to even out the time somewhere. He has stretched “The Wheels On The Bus” to having no less than 40 verses, which brings us to our Top Ten List and clearly a crowded bus.

Top Ten things On The Bus

10. The Goat on the bus goes Baa baa baaa.

9. The jacket on the bus goes zip, zip zip

8. The jeans on the bus go on and off, on and off, on and off . Hmmm, me thinks high school will be a challenge.

7. The king on the bus goes I Rule You

6. The elephant on the bus goes “bbbbbruuuuugh”

5. The van on the bus goes zoom, zoom, zoom

4. The butt on the bus goes fart, fart, fart

3. The cake on the bus goes “eat me now”

2.The toilet on the bus goes flush, flush, flush

1. The giraffe on the bus goes “ “, “ “, “ “ . That last one confused him, but he went with it.

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Birthday

Andrew had this 3rd birthday, and we celebrated in typical Taylor style: a cake from the food store frozen section, and guests we ran into at the supermarket that morning. Here is Andrew displaying the 3 Stages Of Embarrassment when people sing to you: Denial, Trepidation then Acceptance.

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Words

Andrew is talking a lot more and it’s odd to have ‘conversations’ with him at the dinner table. They typically revolve around the cars from the movie Cars and what Doc, Sheriff, Lightning and Wingo think. But every once in a while he lays a new phrase on us. Lately it has been when we ask him to do something he says ‘ok, sure”. And now he likes his bagel toasted in the morning “like Daddy cooks it”. When he has left over food to asks to “save it for dew-morrow”, as if the crumbs of a bagel will hold over night. Andrew confuses some phrases; one day at nap time he "liberated" all of the pages of Llama Red Pajama from the confines of the book. Momma LLama was not happy and Andrew said "that's ok mommy. you're sorry". So now the book has about $15 worth of tape piecing back the Frankenstein book. Along with the good words, are a few more choice words which he obviously is picking up from the daycare kids, or PBS after-hours.

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Art

Another month and another set of art work to confirm the notion that there are no popular Kazakh or Guatemalan artist icons across the age of time. We have the mystical paper plate neon flying saucer, Rare one-eyed paper lunch bag owl, sun that sort of looks like a stick man, and cow with odd rhombus spots that looks like he had too much whacky weed out in the field.

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The Happy Star Flag (apparently the USA has only 1 really happy state now) and the ever creative fireworks display. I thought that one was really creative on the part of the daycare teachers.

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But my favorite this month was an art revelation I had. Upon first looking at this one I thought James drew a butt with his hand prints on the cheeks. Then Rob was quick to point out it is a butterfly, or as I shall ever think of it now, a Butt-erfly.

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Cars

Before we had kids we thought movie-tie-in products were a bunch of crap. Now that we are the proud owners of 2 Sheriffs (Radiator Spring and Dirt Track) and no less than 4 Lightning McQueen’s ( race car, Radiator Spring, Radiator Springs cruising and Cactus) and about a half dozen other car characters, I can say that we are now believers….and we are the ones who got sucked into the aisle at toys R Us to buy them because, after all, they are cool.

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.Potty

I am glad to report that our first potty trained child has been achieved, with the exception of sleep times. We will now stop filling the land fills with our massive diaper load which made up 90% of the weekly trash. On a low note, Andrew now knows what corn on the cob looks like coming out—he was fascinated.

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.And for Megan M., here is the action shot of Daddy cutting up the raw chicken wings for Andrew's birthday BBQ. Safety first.....note the Lysol wipes.

Rock On
For our Audio portion of the blog, we feature the jazz ramblings of Andrew on the harmonica. Sadly, he plays better than I do.

May And June 2008

May and June were chock full of excitement. In April I got ‘packaged’ from work and got the boot (no tears shed there), then in May James got the boot from daycare and I got a new job,

and in June we headed to Chicago for Kazapalooza.

Tasty Human Morsels
We switched daycares due to James’s tendency to eat small children. Seems the kids at his first daycare were a bit dim and would extend their arm to see if he would really bite. Have you seen the size of his belly? Of course he will sink his teeth into your North American white meat you foolish young ones, at least Andrew is now quick enough to move before being consumed. The kids, and us, really love the new daycare. Who would not love Muffin Wednesday where the early arriving kids mix up muffins and us late rollers get to eat fresh muffins! They are geniuses at the new daycare. And they will be opening their new site less than a mile from our house this fall. Rock on!

School Bus
In May be niece graduated college, and where else would I take a rammy 2 years old? To an uber boring graduation of course. No offense Megan, you are an exciting Aunt but the rest of your fellow graduates are not up to the excitement level of Cousin Megan. Andrew’s primo highlight was riding a school bus from the remote parking to the graduation. It lived up to his highest expectation. The only thing to top it was the following weekend where he got to use power tools with Uncle Scott.

Art
The 2 months were light on artwork as we switched daycares. Apparently this month was Alien month, or maybe it was Outer Space week, and Andrew brought home this anorexic one-eyed creature. The teachers sure are creative.

Our other artistic offering remained a mystery to me for several weeks as I let it lay on the kitchen counter until I could figure it out. Then I realized I had it upside down…..it is a watering can.

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BedTime
Ahh, bed time, that peaceful time of day. Occasionally it starts out as 2 little smiling boys crawling into bed and falling asleep within minutes. Then the other 364 days of the year it ends up like a cage match (yes, they are back in the same room) which we break up when we hear the little one squeal. Eventually they quiet down and we open the door to see the carnage that has ensued…..stuffed animals strewn about the room and James sleeping onto top of the pillow on his beat half hanging off. After a month of battling with the ‘closet’ wars where the contents of the bottom rack and half of the top rack lay on the floor like casualty of the Civil War, we finally removed the door knobs from the closet doors. As if that were not enough we installed bi-fold door locks so they could not wiggle their little paws underneath and open the doors for quick emptying. Perhaps the door knobs will return when puberty arrives.

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Cheap Toys
Andrew’s love of no-frills gun continues with playing Bucket Head with James. They like to put the buckets on their heads then run into each other and the walls. Good times.

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Pool Time
Before we left for vacation we had a major heat wave and the boys enjoyed their kiddy pool. You can see we spare no expense with pool toys: old water bottles and plastic plant pots.

We also multi-task and water the plants with the sprinkler along with the kids.

Here's a picture of Andrew sitting on the patio chairs by the pool 2 years ago, and now.

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Potty Training Update
The magic day was arrived. Andrew switched daycares, along with James, and Andrew’s new teachers are miracle workers. Within 2 days they had him ready for underwear. He had a couple accidents the first week, but Andrew is doing a good job when he’s awake.

I was prepared for the long haul and ordered some potty training ‘aids’ from on-line. These things called PODS are meant to ‘catch’ little mistakes in the undies before the flood occurs. When they arrived I realized I had paid $20 for a package of Maxi Pads with 1980’s technology. Yes, I do have SUCKER tattooed to my forehead.

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While in Chicago we had a couple ‘accident’s. But I must say Andrew did a surprisingly good job holding it for 10 hours on the travel days. He must be part camel.
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The first day we were walking down the street and Andrew said he had to go so we bolted into the first store we saw, The American Girl Store. After navigating through hundred of awestruck girls and much pastel décor we found the bathroom, but Andrew had stage fright. On the way out we found the manliest thing in the store to take him picture with to commemorate the moment: American Girl Motorcycles.

But when he has an accident he goes all out, however I must accept most of the blame. Andrew’s Colon Clock is set for 6:15pm, regardless of time zone. I made the mistake of keeping him out past the bewitching hour and we were not at the hotel with his ‘cushy seat’ and he has not mastered public potties for the solid evacuations yet. You can image what ensued. As I stood in the handicapped stall trying to comfort a freaking out little boy I was stuck with a pair of undies that were in desperate need of attention. Then I remembered my mother saying when she had cloth diapers she would hold them by the edge in the toilet and flush a couple times to ‘pre-clean’ them. Awesome idea! I was a genius! Problem Solved!

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Unfortunately the public toilets in Chicago have a herculean flushing force and in a flash the undies were gone, snatched from between my thumb and fore finger, jetting through the sewer lines of Chicago. Andrew and I stood there dumbfounded, blinking and all I could do was laugh. We made the quick 2 block walk back to the hotel to recover while Daddy finished dinner with the rest of the Kazak families who undoubtedly wondered where we vanished to. In those mere 2 blocks Andrew found no less than 20 people to tell “Mommy flushed my Lightning McQueen underwear”. Not one of my prouder moments, but it does restore faith in the flushing power of American plumbing fixtures.

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Lounging.
Andrew digs just lounging about….no need to buy the whole sofa, he just sits on the edge.

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Eating: the Good, The Bad, The Ugly
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Why does Andrew eat with socks on his hands? Duh! Because he can.
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When I asked Andrew to go to the closet to pick out what he wanted for dinner he returned with

Waxed Paper….because it had a cookie on it. He was upset that we could not eat it, so I had to open it to show his there in deed were no cookies in the ENTIRE roll. In this picture he appears to be displaying his Good Fella's Gangster face.

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How’s this for a cool looking plate for dinner? Oddly, it looks like a meal I had in Kazakhstan: chicken, potatoes (tater tots), pickles, veggies and ketchup. BTW, we bought the plate at Disney World—it’s a Mickey Hand.

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Bibs, who needs 'em, we have a Stema Washer now.

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Another good chocolate chip cookie day.

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One night at a restaurant Andrew entertained himself by pouring water from one cup to another, then we added a third to really confuse him. Unfortunately 3 cups of water do not fit into two cups. Fortunately it was an outside restaurant with a mesh table so it was an easy clean up.

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Yogurt is good for the skin.
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I can’t say the same for Chipwich ice cream sandwiches on a hot day on jeans.
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Andrew has almost mastered the eating skill and comes up pretty clean.

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No, the water bottle is not that giant, but James likes to hug it.
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Chicago
We spend a week in Chicago at Kazapalooza with about 20 other families that adopted from Kazakhstan. We learned to appreciate that Andrew is not more of a spaz than other kids, it’s just in his blood. Chicago was a really nice place to visit: lots of trains, cars, buses, ambulances, fire engines, parks and dogs to keep the boys entertained. It puts Philadelphia to shame.

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One of the first things we went to see was the BEAN which is a giant shiny kidney bean that reflect the city: peculiar but a lot of fun.Chicago also sits on a beautiful lake, and this is the only picture of the lake I took. Trust me, it’s bigger and nicer.

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Of course we had to go to Wrigley Field, and it happened to be Father Day. And some guy’s family loved him so much they wished Jeff Morrison a Happy Father’s Day.

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There’s also a nice river running through town, but once again those pesky kids got in the way of nature’s beauty. In the background is a freaky round building with a parking garage on the bottom and condos on top. Parking there would freak me out.

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One afternoon we met up with another family that adopted the same time we did. Andrew was so excited to see his old roommate, Marlon, that half way through lunch he curled up in the stroller and crashed for the afternoon. You will notice the stylish tile floor of Pot Belly, where we ate several lunches. They rule.

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Chicago Bulls
On our visit to Chicago we seemed to run across bull after bull. And where else for a nice family picture but in front of a bull with the boys looking a the pretty girls walking by. I must say that Chicago is one of the friendliest towns I have even been to (although we have not been to a hockey game where I tend to find the meanest people God created), a stranger walking by offered to take our picture even though she had 2 small kids in tow.
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Our second bull shot (you had to see that one coming) was outside an Irish restaurant. What do you think of when you think Ireland? Beer? Potatoes? Heck no, cow! Andrew was the only one who made it into this picture as we had a little “quiet time” away from the restaurant to re-center on what acceptable behavior is. You will notice he has no shoes on….he lost them when he abused his shoe privilege at the table--- don’t’ ask, he’s odd.
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Fire Engines
Daddy was more excited about the fire house across the street from Wrigley field…..until the fireman came out and let Andrew climb up inside. Fortunately this time he did not find the button for the lights and sirens.

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Hugs
Andrew likes to give his brothers hugs…James prefers to give his brother head butts.

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Chicago Children’s Museum
One of our better museum choices in Chicago was the Children’s Museum. The kids were a bit timid with the water fountain at first, but after a while they were fearless.

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Once inside Andrew cooked a couple pizza in the faux oven. Andrew was issues with wearing bracelets, so his admission bracelet got stuck to his shirt.

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Next it was on to the plumbing display. We hope James' use of the water pipes is not a foreshadowing of of teenage years.

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Museums
Chicago has many fine museums, most of which are not appropriate for kids. Did we care? Of course not, even when the grumpy old man made several snide remarks about bringing kids to an art museum. Hey old man, Andrew’s going to outgrow diapers, I can’t say the same for you. Unfortunately James’s prunes did not kick in time to add to the musty art museum aroma.
At the museum Of Contemporary Art there were many fine, and not so fine pieces of art. Andrew preferred to talk to the fish. This was preferred to what he did at the Chicago Museum of Art, which was to yell at the pictures in a vain effort to get them to talk back. However one gallery was closed as they re-painted the walls, which the boys found exhilarating and watching the electric scaffolding go up and down.

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Next it was on to the Field Museum, also known as the Museum of Dead Stuff. Yawn. There was a big reassembled dinosaur, but hardly worth the price of admission. I can see that on the Flintstones.

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Parade
Fortunately for us we were in town for the Puerto Rico Day Parade, so it felt just like being at home. The highlight of the parade for the boys was the 150 busses that arrived hauling people from remote parking areas. Holy cow, it was like a never ending see of busses that amazed me. And the 4x4 police vehicles excited Daddy.

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Parks
Chicago Is full of parks, which was great for 2 growing boys.

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This month’s movie portion brings us 2 short movies of Andrew’s Adventures with A Stroller and 1 of the boys running n the park in Chicago. You will notice that James has his shirt on inside out….that is what we do when one side gets too messy—no need to change shirts!. Thanks to Schanna for providing us with the Stroller that brings hours of entertainment.







Hopefully the rest of the summer will be as fun.

April 2008

April 2008
You know you are a Daddy when you have reached this level of Fashion Faux Pas. How many other hip Dad's out there wear shorts, black socks and black shoes to grill dinner on the patio?

OK, you can put your hands down now.

Hair

Andrew's dislike of getting his hair combed continues. I think in the past year I have combed his hair less than a dozen times in the morning. But I think we might have found the trick. One night one of our friends, Lauren, was coming over for dinner. I asked Andrew if he wanted to comb his hair, which he replied with an immediate and emphatic "NO!". Then I said "Lauren is coming to see you". And we came running over and said with a sweet little boy shy voice "Comb hair please". when Andrew is not running from hair combing, he hides out under the sink with his brother, and their favorite orange plunger.

Words

James is still the quiet one, although it is a challenge to get a word in edgewise with chatterbox Andrew. He now points to the kitty cats and says "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" which is James-Speak for "Kitty". He is a man of few words, but he does like his broom.

Worms

Sometimes the rough and tumble boy in the dirt has girlie moments. One morning after a night time rain shower we walked out to the mailbox. The driveway was littered with worms. He squealed like a little girl when within 5 feet of a worm, demanding they were chasing him. OK, I can understand being afraid of mice because they move fast. But a worm? You need to be real patient to watch them move, let alone believe they are attacking you.

Chow Time

No one ever said meal time would be pretty with kids. James has taken to strategically wearing his food, like this "banana shoulder" day. And there is no finer sign of a good meal than showing off your belly.

One night Andrew had waaaaay to much to eat and his belly was quite large. At bath time when he stripped off his clothes he looked down and said "Hey! Where did my p*nis go ?" The next morning after his tummy had processed dinner, he found his dear old friend.

My Money

Andrew's fascination with coinage continues. Here's are some action shots of discovering a coin, then safely stowing it in his pocket. Unfortunately he would take the coins to daycare and we have received several notices that he is not to bring coins to daycare....and they tape the offending coins to a 3x5 card, tormenting Andrew since he can see the money, but can not touch it.

Potty Time

We had major milestone this month. After a dinner chock full of Bush Baked Beans Andrew delivered his first yule log on the potty in over a year. This anomaly was met with much joy, celebration, high fives and hopes that more will follow in the near future. Andrew was just as excited as we were. Although when I said "Andrew Poop In Potty", he quickly returned with "Noooo, Andrew Poop on Mommy". Not a pleasant image for anyone involved. Most of the time we catch Andrew squeezing one out under his table with a quite concentrated face.

Two weeks later, he had another potty delivery. I am trying to contain my excitement.

Girl Watchers
A while ago when Girl Scout Cookies were in season, the boys would run to the door when the doorbell rang. They were delighted to see the Girl Scouts and would watch the little girls walk down the driveway....then down the street.....then around the circle.....then up the street. they would not say a word, they would just watch them from afar.

Rocks

With spring time comes the much awaited "outside time". At the mention of the "O" word, James will run and get his shoes and got and hop up and down. I thought only puppies behaved like that. With all of the rocks we have in the backyard now, there's not much need for toys, except maybe a dump truck to haul the rocks.

Books

Recently we went through the book archives from the books we had as kids. I can honestly say they just don't have books like they used to. I ran across the "Ice Cream Cone Coot" book which one of my sisters used to read to me. Andrew is fascinated by the drug-inspired art work and verbage from the 1970's. Apparently the book was a favorite among other kids too, and some whackos think it's valued at over $200.

Until Next Month, the Taylor Brothers Say Bye.

March 2008

March 2008

Another month and the boys continue to keep growing. James can now get up to the play table by himself. One day we caught them playing nicely together....for about 15 seconds. But as long we have a camera we can freeze these moments in time.

James is getting bigger and stronger and can now hold his own against Andrew, and we are finding James initiating the wrestling bouts with Andrew more and more often.

They must have been watching some college wrestling because we see James take the Wrestling stance on all fours, allow Andrew to try to hold him down, throw him off, and then when they get too far from the starting point, they return to the place and stance that they started. Better they wrestle the real way than that goofy WWF stuff, but i will draw the line at wrestling tights.

Money
Andrew’s new fascination this month was money, more precisely coins. We were at Bennigan’s one night for dinner and he disappeared under the table (yes, our threshold for acceptable behavior has been recalibrated with children). He emerged with a penny and announced “money for college”. I guess every penny does count, no matter how far it goes. He put the penny in his pocket and checked on it frequently to ensure it was still there. Now before he goes to bed he takes out his ‘college coin of the day’, puts it on the bathroom counter, then retrieves it the following morning.

Store
Andrew is starting the connect the dots, sometimes to our chagrin. One morning I was pouring the Rice Chex (preferred 9 times out of 10 by Taylor boys over Cheerios) and ran out. Andrew looked at me and said “No more Chex? Need to get more at the store?”. So any time we run out of something, be it pellets for the wood burning stove, bath tub soap or vitamins he will say “Need to go to store?”. May not sound exciting to you, but to us it is thoroughly amusing.

Cheap Toys
The boys have once again discarded all of the purchased toys from China in favor of the most peculiar items. This month’s toys of choice are
10. Garlic peeler
9. Packaging for Garlic Peeler
8. Plastic Measuring Cup
7. DVD case
6. Colander
5. Stairs
4. Laser Pointer—they chase it like the cats
3. Bucket—placed on head
2.Magazine paper insert
1. Blanket

The blanket is quite a versatile toy. It can be used as a sled for rides around (and around and around) the whole downstairs, it can be used as a tent and it can be transformed into a Blanket Monster.

Horse
One day Daddy was trying to sneak out to the mailbox without 2 escorts so he told them he was going to “See a man about a horse”. I thought that was code word for sneaking off to the potty, but I did not question it. Andrew remained at the kitchen table, stunned as to there being a horse in the yard. When Daddy returned Andrew asked “Where’s the horse?”. Daddy told him it was in the barn, to which Andrew replied “Stuck in barn?”. This conversation went on for the rest of teh night. Poor little fella. Sometimes it’s just like torture to innocent young minds.

Hey Guys
I guess slang starts early. When Mommy and Daddy are being slow about rounding up the kids and Andrew wants to get going, he now says “come on guys!”. After dinner we often play “Run around the house and hide from the kids then jump out and yell bahhhhhr”. If we hide too well and Andrew can not find us he’ll just wander around saying “Guys?.....Guys?”. Again, cute, but torturous.

Potty Training
The quest continues. We think James will be leap frogging Andrew. One day James was standing at the coffee table and looked down at his crotch with a concerned look. I asked if he had to go potty and he tottered over to the bathroom and waited for me in front of the potty. Sometimes he will deliver and sometimes he will not. Andrew got wind of this action and now plays along without the delivery. So I have been trying to teach Andrew how to extract the APPROPRIATE amount of toilet paper from the roll and gently bunch it like a "fluffy cloud" in preparation for the day when he has something to wipe. He much prefers to make mashed down dense clouds that are destined to clog the plumbing in the coming months. Until either child masters the potty, the wall mounted toilet paper dispenser is just used as a handle for the egress from the toilet. So far one dispenser has fallen victim to the super human grip of Andrew. Take note of the heinous wallpaper I sleected years ago....Andrew refers to the wallpaper as "JAMES". No idea why.

RoShambo
To keep Andrew entertained while he passes time on the potty I have been trying to teach him Rock, Paper Scissors. He can make the 3 hand signs so far, but in his world, any of the 3 options can crush anything I throw out. Sometimes in the middle of a meal, car ride or swim lesson he will burst in with SCISSORS and make the hand sign. This thoroughly confuses the swim teacher Miss Penny. Oh what it must he like to let your mind wander and have random outbursts.

Cribless
James moved from the crib to the toddler bed, which he has already marked as his territory with hundreds of bite marks on the rails. I guess it is not intuitive how to sleep in a bed, as he chose a quite unorthodox position the first night. He also likes to gather all stuffed animals housed in his room and bring them into bed…then cry when he has no where to sleep.

Food
The boys have rediscovered fruit. They can each wolf down 3 adult servings of mandarin oranges for dessert. Peaches, Pears, Strawberries, Apples look out, you are about to become endangered species. Andrew's latest culinary adventure is to tear up toast, put it in his milk, then fishing it out and slurping the milk out of the bread and eating the bread.

Scare You
We have been putting Andrew’s improv skills to the test. Somehow Daddy started trying to “Scare” Andrew by saying boo. This morphed into “I scare you with a bat”, which Andrew replied “I scare you with a shoe”. These are the Top Ten Things Andrew Scares Daddy With
10. I Scare You With A….guitar
9. I Scare You With A….boat
8. I Scare You With A….brother
7. I Scare You With A….elephant
6. I Scare You With A….milk
5. I Scare You With A….plate
4. I Scare You With A….Bear
3. I Scare You With A….bus
2. I Scare You With A….tour bus
1. I Scare You With A….Poop

And he means it with that last one.

Personal Hygiene
Andrew’s disapproval of personal grooming continues. I have tried every trick in the book to clip his nails, but he screams bloody murder and after 20 minutes of screaming and only 2 nails cut I usually give up. As a kid I have absolutely no recollection of getting my nails clipped, so I have resigned myself to the notion that Andrew’s nails will just wear away on their own….or I will teach him to file them down on the tile grout lines in the kitchen. He is getting better with haircuts, but we usually wait until his hair looks like A Flock Of Seagulls to get it cut. For all of his lack of personal hygiene he is quite the hugger. He needs to hug his brother hello and goodbye at daycare when they part, when they wake up and before they go to sleep, and he will hug any female at daycare, including other kid's Moms. The hugs are nice, but we know their days are numbered as he gets older, so we take all the hugs we can get now.


Art

Another month and another bumper crop of Art Mysteries of the 21st century. Here we have a lady bug, which we can only discern from the colors. Next to the Lady bug is a white dinosaur, which I can only guess was inspired by the black fog monster from LOST.

March was Air Travel month at DayCare, which brought us this airplane and feathered creature. And what do you need to spot airplanes? Binoculars blinged out with colored tissue paper which Andrew is demonstrating.

Who says you need to wear a shirt or drive a car forward.

March 2008