Me Help You!

Why are they so helpful when they are really too young to do anything? Here is Kai trying to help by insisting on holding the hammer while Charlie nails a hook into the wall.



Kai also wants to get his own glass of water from the fridge - but he overflows it until it spills all over the floor. He wants to brush his own teeth - but never gets the back ones. He wants to buckle his own car seat, but he isn't quite strong enough. He wants to put the DVDs in and out of the DVD player, but he scratches them. He wants to feed me all of his peas instead of eating them himself. I guess that one I can understand.

Happy...

...rough-housing.

Happy footballing.

Happy gingerbread-house-making.

Happy taking the gingerbread-house-making very seriously.

Happy handprint-turkey-making.

Happy snoozing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Genius...

...just took a test to see if he could get in to any of the gifted or classical schools in Chicago. Will this ability help his chances?



The tests took Jett about 30 minutes, and since I had to stay in the waiting room, I don't know what was involved, but at least he walked out happy. I do know that the test examiner asked him to say the alphabet, because Jett told me that he told him all 5 ABCs. All five? Oh yes - the Sesame Street one, the slow one, the fast one, the loud one, the quiet one, and the Signing Time one. I think Jett sang the ABCs to that guy five times in a row - and did it in sign language too. My funny little periodically-overachiever.

Bunks

Kai's last night in his crib. He likes to hold one of our hands as he falls asleep, the sweetie. He also likes to have his blanket covering his legs as he falls asleep and this has gotten much easier now that he's graduated from baby blanket to big kid blanket. He also asks us to rub his back as he falls asleep, but then he gets mad when we actually do. We haven't figured out how to solve that one yet, except to just hold his hand. But enough of the crib....

...the bunk beds are up! For some reason I feel compelled to explain that they aren't typical bunk beds. It's really the reversible bed from IKEA, in the high position, with a mattress on the floor for Kai. We went with the reversible bed instead of a bunk bed for a few reason. First, it's awfully cute, especially with that canopy it comes with. Second, it's not as high as a regular bunk bed. The top bunk is below my shoulders, meaning I can stand next to the bed and I'm still taller than Jett. This is important because I like to assert my authority in every possible way. Thirdly, this small bed fits in their small room.

Charlie and Jett built the bed on Monday night. They built it from 7:00 until 10:00 at night, which was awesome, because Kai and I were having a great time running around them in circles, throwing the screws they dared leave on the ground, and picking up the wooden pieces and swinging them like a baseball bat. It was especially fun because Charlie had to build the beds in their bedroom, so none of us could go to bed even if we wanted to. It was fantastic.

Jett helped a lot. That kid can work an alan wrench. Have I mentioned on here before that once I gave Jett an alan wrench and let him take apart his kid-sized table and chairs? He can take them apart and put them back together again and all I have to do is hold the pieces steady. Anyway, what I want to remember about building the bunk beds is how proud Jett was to help. At one point everything was done except screwing in the wood slats that his mattress rests on. Charlie, the boys and I slid them all in to place and Charlie started screwing them in. That is when Jett realized that he could get his little chair, put it in the middle of the framed bed, stand on the chair, and reach the wooden slats - and maybe screw some in - himself. The look on his face when he stepped up on to that chair and stood higher than the slats - the look on his face was just super cute. His little lips curved up like a comma on one side, squinched together on the other side, trying not to smile. He was a proud little kid trying to play it cool and it came off completely charming. Three inconsequential seconds I hope I never forget.



So the beds got made and at 10:30 pm, 2 1/2 hours past his bedtime, Kai climbed in to the bottom bunk like he had been sleeping there all his life. Jett climbed up the ladder and under the canopy and laid down, and after about 27 books, backrubs, and made-up-stories, both of them fell asleep.

Two hours later they woke up, and they didn't sleep again for two days.

Yesterday I took stock of the situation. First I took off the flat sheets, since Jett had been waking me up multiple times a night to come and fix his sheets. They've never slept with flat sheets before, because they don't make flat sheets for crib/toddler bed mattresses. Secondly I took off that super cute canopy. Whenever I was in his room and attending to Kai, Jett would whisper/scream down from the top bunk, "Are you still here, Mom? When are you leaving the room, Mom? Are you going to rub my back again before you leave? Are you still here?" It finally dawned on me that if the canopy wasn't blocking his view he could see what was going on and maybe he could relax. Finally, I took the boys to Target and let them pick out their own comforters. This went against the design I had in mind, but I am a sucker for happy boys who sleep all night. Now we've got Spider Man on the top bunk and Buzz Lightyear on the bottom bunk and it really doesn't look that bad. It looks like two kids sleep there. And now they do.



Currently their little room is stuffed with the bunk bed and the crib. It's a bit packed. Once I get the room arranged to my liking I'll take a picture of the finished project.

Charlie was hogging the computer all night so this was all I could come up with

I would have posted pictures of the bunk-beds tonight, but Charlie has been hogging the computer trying to find us all new doctors. Blue Cross and Blue Shield has decided not to deal with any of our doctors anymore, so we have to find new ones. We just chose these doctors about 6 months ago and paid $60 or something to get copies of the kids' medical records transferred (by me) from our old doctors to these new ones. It's a big pain, like these things are. I am not ashamed to say that our insurance was better when we were being funded by the state. We kept our original doctors (who we still miss), we didn't need referrals, and we didn't have any co-pays. Also it was free. For me, not for you. Although we did have to go through this, and we did have to keep ourselves from melting in to the floor every time the pharmacist yelled out, "MEDICAID!"

But that was long ago. Tonight we selected our new doctors. We'll now be driving north to Lincolnwood or some other northern land to see a new pediatrician, and down to Bridgeport to visit our pediatric dentist (who is awesome, but more about that later). At least Charlie and I found an office close to home. The best thing about this is that Charlie's job ends in January, so we might get to do this all again in just two short months. That will be fun.

So that is that. Tomorrow I'll post some pictures of those nifty bunk beds and the cute kids who sleep in them. Although I do like it when Tio Chris resorts to texting me reminders to post pictures of the boys. But I think he's just feeling nostalgic for bunk beds and brothers and I KNOW he just wants to know when Jett is going to start jumping from the top bunk. Well Chris, it has already happened. Stop cheering!

(At least we've selected his doctor).

More to come!

On Sunday....

We bought the boys bunk beds! (More details to come). And I did this.

Halloween....

was fun! Was it really so many weeks ago?

Our first party was at Jett's preschool, where there were two Spidermans (including Jett) and two Buzz Lightyears (including Kai). Kai tagged along with me (and I tagged along with Jett) to preschool for the party. Kai loved it, and I tried to not create more work for all of the parents who were actually helping. Funny that I thought I would be able to help with the party. I should have known that I would spend my whole time trying to keep Kai from running with scissors.

Our second party was at our friends' house, where there were again two Spidermans and two Buzz Lightyears. Here is the web that kept trapping all of the Superheroes. Also, my parents were in town and they dressed up for the party (as a pirate and as an m&m). Aren't they good sports? Also, a funny bit of trivia, I also later discovered that the monk I had talked to at the party was actually the drummer from Wilco.

Finally, on Halloween night we headed up to Evanston to trick-or-treat with the cousins. It was a little chilly, so I suited Kai up in the cozy bear costume. The cousins got a lot of loot. In fact, halfway through the night Kai decided he'd rather do it the easy way - stay on the stroller and start noshing. It was a delicious night.

One tip I hope I remember next year: dress the boys in a costume that is less exciting, less heroic, less likely to inspire leaping and fighting. Jett didn't just put on a costume, he put on a persona. Invisible webs flew all over our condo. Spidey lept from tall buildings as high as the back of our couch. He dared Buzz Lightyear to cross his path, and then made it impossible for Buzz not to. To be blunt, Spidey and Buzz were out of control. Next year they are going as butterflies.