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.