There Are No Tea Parties at Our House

Christmas 2009

This Christmas we made our first gingerbread house. Unfortunately, Jayzilla broke the first one and we had to rebuild. (It was actually my fault--the house joints weren't quite dry and the frosting was across the table from him.) The replacement was delicious!

Jay also had fun wrapping the presents. Cousin Leo was the lucky recipient of this one:

Wrapping was so much fun, he just couldn't stop! (In case you can't tell, the taped-up object is his pair of scissors.)

The boys couldn't wait to see what was in this big box. It was the Geotrax airplane, which is a nice addition to our Geoland. Cole still loves his Geotrax.

Transformers were also big this year. Unfortunately, it wasn't clear online that there are different levels of difficulty and I bought the most difficult. Even an engineering background didn't help with this one. Santa must have seen Jay wrapping presents. He knew exactly what the boys needed.

Cole was very happy with his new Gears kit.

Jay's Time Saving Idea

Jay had a brilliant idea for when you have a runny nose and are too busy to keep wiping it. I think he may be on to something!

Halloween 2009

Yes, it is a Halloween post in June. Since I've started selling Usborne children's books, I have even less free time. But I love to do it. I set up book fairs in preschools and elementary schools and get to talk about my favorite thing--books!! I decided to start because I wanted to get a discount for myself, but once I started selling, I realized I really like it. (My website is www.theUsborneAdvantage.com.)

This Halloween, the boys were Spiderman and Optimus Prime, otherwise known as "Octimus" Prime, which Cole insists is his name. The Spiderman costume had puffy chest muscles, and when Cole saw them, he said, "Spiderman has boobies!" I bet Spiderman's creators never imagined those words would be said!

This year, Yingy was visiting, which was great fun. We were lucky enough to score a ride on our neighbor's golf cart. A lot of people in the neighborhood have golf carts, and we made quite a procession. The boys lasted a lot longer without having to walk, and they were thrilled to be able to cover more of the neighborhood. Some people really get into the spirit and dress up and decorate their houses. It was fun to be able to visit all those houses, which would have been impossible on foot.

As soon as we got home, the boys began planning for next year!

Our Native Son

We have been a little concerned about Jay's speech. Sometimes we find it difficult to understand him and often have to translate for other people.

Rob found a program through the school system that evaluates kids for free. It seems to be designed for the diagnosis of learning disabilities, but they also do speech analysis, so Rob brought him in.

They found Jay thoroughly delightful and said his vocabulary is very advanced (apparently "suddenly" isn't a word typically used by four-year olds). They also determined that his intonation is at the proper stage for his age. However, one lady commented that he had a "little southern twang."

So now we wonder if that is why his Yankee parents don't always understand him!

That's My Boy!

I am so proud of Cole! He had an issue with a boy at the Pirate Park and handled it beautifully.

He and Jay were playing pirates with a boy they met there. At one point, they climbed up a tall structure with a long tube slide. Suddenly, Cole flew out the bottom of the slide on his belly and landed face first in the sand. Poor guy was gagging from all the sand in his nose and mouth and could barely see with sand in his eyes. While I was comforting him, the new friend came over and admitted he had pushed Cole down the slide. When I asked him why, he replied, "A zombie was coming." After mildly scolding the boy (his father was close by, but didn't seem like he was going to do much), we went to the car to get water and wipes.

After a while, Cole asked if we could go back to the park. I was surprised that he still wanted to play. As we walked back across the street, I heard him whispering under his breath. When we got there, he walked right up to the boy.

"Are you still gonna play?" the boy asked.

"Yes," Cole replied. "But I don't want you to push me down the slide unless I say it's ok."

The boy agreed and they continued to run around like crazy pirate boys.

It turns out the muttering I heard was Cole rehearsing what he was going to say to the boy. I'm so proud of the mature way he handled it. Times like this make all the hard work of parenting worthwhile.

(We left when the kid found a discarded plastic golf club and began swinging it at the boys.)

A Typical Night (Right Before Bedtime)