Rock Rock Silly

All the colors

2012-02-06T22:56:00.002-06:00

This week we are painting the inside of our condo. The living room, hallway, and kitchen, to be exact, although they all blend in together and are kind of the same big room. It took me weeks to pick out the paint colors, and when I finally decided on paint colors I didn't even bother to paint some test squares on the walls, I am that confident in those colors. Also lazy. I am so lazy. Charlie and I together are so lazy that we just spent 15 minutes talking about the merits of just keeping the kitchen the same color it is now, just so we could put a fresh coat of paint over the same color without priming it first.

In the end though, we decided to go with the new color. It's hard to be lazy when my parents are driving 6 hours to help us paint. It's also hard to imagine the four of us getting this all done in three 5 hour days.

I'm nervous about the cutting in. Charlie just looked at the kitchen ceiling and commented on what a crappy job he did cutting it in 8 years ago. Uh-oh. That was me - I did the cutting in last time and I have to do it again this time and painters tape is nothing against me and a paint brush.

This week we'll be painting brown (coconut grove 1029 Benjamin Moore) over red, white (bone white) over brown, and gold (chestertown buff) over amazon blue, heaven help us.

It was an ALL CAPS day

2012-02-01T00:05:00.004-06:00

It's been a long time since I last posted. Now that the boys are in school all day I have ridiculously high expectations of what I'll accomplish all day while they are gone, and I run around like a crazy woman trying to get things done. It is no fun at all and part of me wants to yank Kai out of all-day montessori preschool just so my to-do list can go back to being what it used to be:

1. Play with boys.
2. Laundry.
3. Feed boys.

Instead, my to-do list looks something like this: Doalllaundry,cleankitchenbathroom,vacume,lookforjob,raisefundsforboys'schools,returnphonecalls,makelunches,
makedinners,buygroceries,findjob,updateresumeandallsocialnetworkstofindjob,cleanroom,dust,cleancloset
pickupboysfromschoolpacktheirsnackshelpwithhomeworkchangethesheetsreadbookswithboys....you get the idea. But today my to-do list turned in to this:

1. Pick up boys from school.
2. Try not to freak out.
3. Vent on phone to sister, mom, and friend while kids play 90 minutes of wii.

Yes, yes. First there was the full-day kindergarten issue. Then there was the toilet paper issue. Now there's this.

Today was a miserable school day. I picked the little one up from school and was told by his teacher that he just wasn't himself all day and he was scratching his back end all day. ALL DAY. She told me it was ALL DAY at least 4 times. She told me they kept having him wash his hands. She said she thinks he's getting sick. She told me I should look at his bottom when I get home because maybe he has that thing that her niece had and her face made it look like it wasn't that disgusting but you know she's just being polite because whatever her niece had totally grossed her out.

You know what took me two seconds to figure out? He had a bathroom accident that morning AND HE NEEDED TO CHANGE HIS CLOTHES. It took me another two seconds to realize that he was uncomfortable, embarrassed, and scared of punishment ALL DAY because the 3 adults in the classroom had never figured it out.

I thought this stuff didn't happen in Montessori.

I am royally pissed and trying to figure out how my conversation with her is going to go tomorrow after school (straight up, I asked her for a meeting). I think it might go something like this:

THERE ARE THREE ADULTS IN THIS CLASSROOM AND FOR 5.5 HOURS NONE OF YOU REALIZED THAT MY CHILD WAS UNCOMFORTABLE, EMBARRASSED AND SMELLY AND NEEDED A CHANGE OF CLOTHES?! HE IS ONLY THREE. HE SUFFERED ALL DAY. YOU SHOULD HAVE CALLED ME.

I am going to try not to talk in all caps BUT I MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO HELP IT.

Then as I'm dealing with that fiasco I get a call from a mom from the older one's school and she says she is watching my son on the playground. Jett and her son have had two play dates together over the past 5 months and I talk to this mom on the playground sometimes. So she calls to tell me that she has Jett on the playground and imagine my surprise because Jett is supposed to be in art club.

WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE OR PERMISSION HIS TEACHER RELEASED HIM TO THIS PARENT WHO DOES NOT NORMALLY PICK HIM UP FROM SCHOOL AND WHO IS NOT ON MY "OK TO PICK-UP" LIST. THEN THE TEACHER LET THIS PARENT CALL ME TO TELL ME ABOUT IT.

I don't care that this is a nice, trustworthy parent who had all the best intentions in her offer to watch Jett. That is not the point. The point is in all caps BECAUSE IT IS THE POINT.

No one I have talked to seems as upset about this as I am, although my mom, my sister, and my friend all put in very good efforts. I am so mad about this breach of trust and safety that I can't sleep.

Still, I really like Jett's teacher so instead of confronting her face to face I sent her an email. I tried to make the tone friendly but direct. I'm not very good at direct but I'm very good at friendly so I made sure to send it while I was still angry so my writing didn't dissolve into phrases like, "I'm sure you meant well, but....." and "It's not that big of a deal..........".

Because no matter what anyone says it is a huge deal and meaning well doesn't matter and I am the mom and I get to decide.

Welcome back, Blog.

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Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T22:44:00.011-05:00

Since when did Halloween become the start of the busy season? Between friend's parties, school parties, work parties, and neighborhood parties, I hardly had time to finish up Kai's costume, let alone sleep. The boys loved wearing their costumes and I loved seeing so many friends. Here is our Halloween, in pictures.

The annual Halloween party with friends. We met through a play group at the neighborhood park three years ago and we're still together.

On Friday the boys didn't have school so we went down to Daley Plaza to watch the Midnight Circus. It was so awesome. Thirty-minutes of acrobatic stunts. Jett loved it so much that we waited an hour and a half to see the second show too. During the bicycling act Jett even covered his eyes because the stunts were so daring. It was already a great day, and then Jett saw kids sliding down the Picasso statue. Bonus! You slide really fast when you sit on your coat.

On Saturday Cultural Care Au Pair held a trick-or-treating event near the zoo for our host families. The boys helped me pass out candy. Here is the only picture of Kai in his Zurg costume. My mom sewed the purple skirt and I sewed the gray banner across his chest. It is supposed to look like armor, but at midnight one night I accidentally sewed the red trim to the wrong piece of his shirt. I spent over an hour stitching that thing by hand at midnight only to figure out days later, after puzzling over it for days, that I sewed the piece I meant to throw away, and threw away the right piece. Honestly, when his whole costume (except the part my mom sewed) starting falling apart at the zoo, I was relieved. His "armor" looked ridiculous. Next year I'll talk my mom into sewing the whole thing!

Sunday was the Roscoe Village parade and another awesome party

and then pumpkin carving at Zack's annual party.

Monday was the big night in Evanston with the cousins. Kai tired out and took to the stroller, but Jett ran the whole way. He ran away from every porch calling out to us what new candy he had. Then when Ellie caught up to him he went back up to the candy bowls with her to see what she selected, give her suggestions, and point out new candy they hadn't collected yet. He was so excited - and very helpful!

After trick-or-treating Charlie told the kids they could only eat one piece of candy.

He was serious.

I am not kidding. I complained so loudly about it that I almost ruined Halloween. But while the adults ate dinner, all four kids watched The Great Pumpkin in silence, eating their noodles and corn bread without complaint. They didn't even dump out their candy on the floor to bask in the glory of it all. I was incredibly disappointed.

However, the next morning the aliens returned my kids to their bodies so after Charlie left for work I let them eat chocolate for breakfast.

I Need a Genie

2011-10-18T22:14:00.001-05:00

I entered a very cool contest over at Making It Lovely. I hope I win.

I hope I find a stuffed parrot to sew on the shoulder of Jett's pirate costume.

I hope I figure out a way to create a headpiece for Kai's Halloween costume. Kai is dressing up as Emperor Zurg, Buzz Lightyear's enemy. (Kai is very excited about dressing up as a bad guy). I'm thinking a kid-sized viking hat that I can paint purple. Or a purple knit cap that I can glue styrofoam horns to. How would you do it?

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Kai Making Friends

2011-10-17T21:40:00.003-05:00

One unexpected consequence of sending Kai to a (public) montessori school is that most of his school friends are 4 and 5 years old. Montessori classes combine 3 years in to one class. Kai's class is 3, 4, and 5 year olds (preK and kindergarten). Elementary 1 is 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades. Elementary 2 is 4th, 5th, and 6th grades, and then 7th and 8th grades make up the last class. I have no idea if this grouping is more beneficial than traditional grades or not. So far the main consequence for us is that Kai (who I consider a "young" three) is making friends with a bunch of kids who are Jett's age.

He talks about four kids in particular - "his silly guy David" (the only 3 year old he mentions), Sean (4), Charlie (4), and Belicia (5). He wanted his buddy Charlie to come over after school one day, so Charlie's mom and I made it happen. But I knew that if Jett was home Charlie, who is 4, might end up playing with Jett instead of Kai, so I arranged for Jett to go to a friend's house during Kai's play date. Do I have to be this strategic with every play date from now on? Yikes!

Belicia is the classmate that Kai seems to really love. To be honest, I love her too. Those few weeks when Kai resisted walking in to school, Belicia took his hand (or tried to), encouraged him to walk in the door (although he didn't always listen), and played with him on the playground before school. She endeared herself to me the first time she took Kai's hand, weeks ago.

Today Kai's school held a fundraising walk-a-thon during the school day. I was there to help out so I got to see Kai and his friends in action. Oh it was so cute.

Kai's teacher had the kids walk (outside around the school) in pairs. I don't know if she assigned partners or if the kids picked their own, but Kai and Belicia were walking buddies. They walked for 30 minutes and held hands the entire time. At one point another girl joined them, so Kai held her hand for a while. But even during the last block, when I walked with Kai, he kept holding hands with Belicia, even while holding mine. Tonight at dinner when I asked Kai what he was thankful for he said he was thankful that he got to walk with Belicia at school. I think I have another play date to set up.

A Letter to Charlie

2011-10-15T22:13:00.004-05:00

Dear Charlie,

If you thought we could go to Michigan this week and not turn in to Lions fans, you were wrong!

You know the boys look awesome in blue. It is their color! And the name on the back of Jett's jersey is Johnson! It's perfect! Plus considering their record over the last number of years, the Lions are really an underdog team compared to the Packers, and I know you love rooting for the underdogs. So go Lions! Here us roar!

OK, ok, settle down. Jett said that even though Uncle Rich turned him in to a Lion's fan, when the Lions play the Packers, he will root for the Packers. Yes, yes, I'm sure this is true. Sit down, sit down. I am sure this is true. Here's why:

One our drive to and from Michigan we saw a lot of green-leafed trees turning yellow. Jett and Kai call these trees Green Bay trees.

As we drove down Western Avenue today I listened to the boys identify stores as we drove by them. The only stores they identified were ones that had signs or awnings with green and yellow on them. Those were the "Green Bay" stores. The boys kept shouting, "Green Bay! Green Bay!" block after block.

Even this evening, when you insulted Jett's intelligence and he rolled his eyes at you, he was just defending his Packer expertise. Yes, he rolled his eyes at you. I have never seen him roll his eyes before and he did it tonight, for the first time, at you, HIS DAD. I always thought it was the moms who inspired eye rolls, but tonight it was YOU. This is what happened:

The boys and I were at the dinner table and out of nowhere Kai calls out, "Go Green Bay Packers!" Jett replies with confidence, "Go Aaron Rodgers!" From the kitchen, in disbelief, you exclaim, "Nice one, Jett! I didn't know you knew Aaron Rodgers or that he plays for the Packers!" Well. Jett turned toward you, lowered his chin to his chest, and hid his eyeballs in his forehead. It was hilarious.

So no, I don't think you have to worry about Jett's allegiance. Maybe the eye-rolling though....

Love your tolerant wife,
Amy

Cheering for Motown from the hometown

2011-10-10T19:53:00.002-05:00

Go Tigers!

Even if I didn't grow up with Sparky Anderson's voice drifting into the house from my dad's radio in the garage, Jett and Kai would root for Detroit just because their cousins do. Wouldn't you?

Wedding!

2011-09-29T12:46:00.005-05:00

Uncle Dave and Aunt Megan got married on Martha's Vineyard and we all flew out there to see their first wedded kiss. Just getting there was part of the adventure, as it required a car, escalators, elevators, a plane, a bus, a car, a ferry, and a car all in one day. The boys loved it. I somehow came home without one picture of the bride and groom and no pictures of Charlie and I. But I made up for that in pictures of the kids. Here are my favorites:

On the plane. Notice that I am the lucky one with the seat across the aisle.

We were lucky to get a direct flight to Boston AND that our friend Pete woke up at 4:30 am on his birthday and drove us to the airport. Thanks, Pete!

Hallelujah! Papa has arrived!

Cousins striking a pose, and then a hug at the "welcome to the island" cocktail party.

A horse ride at the rehearsal dinner!

Who can resist a little girl with flowers in her hair? So pretty.

Never dress a kid in khaki pants for a wedding. It's like begging for grass stains before the walk down the aisle. Orange bow ties are perfect though!

Throwing rocks into the water at Aquanah Cliffs.

The entire week was wonderful, but I think my favorite part (besides the reception, which included babysitters!) was staying at this house and letting the boys tumble out barefoot onto the grass every morning and wrestle around like puppies half the day.

It was glorious. What a wonderful way to start. Congratulations Dave and Megan!

Victories

2011-08-30T22:00:00.004-05:00

1. The toilet paper dispenser at Jett's school has been lowered so the 5 year olds can reach it now.

2. For the first time in three weeks, Kai walked in to school without crying.

3. I made a friend - a friend! A FRIEND! at Jett's school who has offered to watch Jett on the playground after school until I arrive from picking up Kai at his school, which ends at the same time and is 6 blocks away. And even if she didn't offer to watch Jett on the playground, the fact remains that I made a friend! At our new school! A new school friend!

4. I got both boys to school on time.

5. Jett is starting to read!

6. Both boys let me brush their teeth tonight.

7. I bought a great dress at Akira.

5 yrs and 2 months

2011-08-25T01:51:00.005-05:00

You know what else happened this summer? Jett turned 5. Five!

Ever since all of our pictures look like this. I may never take a family Christmas photo again.

One of his favorite presents was the web shooters. First they shoot silly string. Then we've you've used up the silly string, you can shoot water. As soon as he opened the shooters he donned his Spiderman costume, put Kai in his super hero cape, and talked Charlie in to taking him outside. They boys used up the silly string in 30 seconds, almost before I had time to run outside after them. We put on quite a show for all of the church-goers who attend church at the school across the street. The trees over there have never looked so colorful!

Jett wanted to go to the zoo for his birthday, so we did. We had a hard time tearing them away from the ducks on this pond, but we eventually made it around to see all of the animals on Jett's list and ride the carousel too.

a proper birthday lunch

We couldn't avoid a stop at Chuck E. Cheese. He did turn five, after all.

It was really one of the best days of summer. Happy Birthday, Jett! We love you!

School is Hard

2011-08-18T22:09:00.002-05:00

The toilet paper dispenser for the boys' bathroom in Jett's school is attached to the wall outside of the bathroom. If you need toilet paper, you have to get some from the dispenser before you walk in to the bathroom.

Below is a real email conversation I had with Jett's principal today.

Dear Miss XYZ and Mr. ABC,

My son is too short to reach the toilet paper dispenser that is outside of the boys' bathroom at the bottom of the stairs near Miss XYZ's classroom. Today I sent him to school with toilet paper in his pockets. Not all of his shorts have pockets, so.....can the toilet paper dispenser please be moved lower so the five-year-olds can reach it? Until it can be moved, can you please, today, make sure that those students who can't reach it can still get toilet paper when they need it? Maybe you can put a step-stool or chair under the dispenser for a short-term, immediate solution.

Also, until today [9 days in to the school year] my son did not even know where the toilet paper dispenser was. I had to walk down to the bathroom with him this morning and we looked for it together - it was not that easy to find. Can you please make a point of showing the new students where the toilet paper dispenser is in every bathroom that they might use during the school day?

On a side note, Mr. ABC, I hear that you are working to make pick-up and drop-off less chaotic and safer for the students on the playground. I really appreciate that. Thanks.

Thank you.

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Hello Ms. Johnson,

Thank you for your email. I will touch base with Ms. XYZ to make sure that all of her students are aware of where the washrooms are located, as well as, the dispensers. In addition I will let her know to keep an eye on your son to make sure he has what he needs in order to use the restroom. I will also talk to your son and reinforce the idea that he can always ask his teacher for assistance.

Thank you for the feedback on pick-up, its still a work in progress, but I am confident we will get it down to near perfection very soon. Thanks.

Sincerely,
ABC

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Thank you, Mr. ABC. It still seems there must be a way to make the toilet paper accessible to all students without the students requiring special assistance from their teacher, but as long as someone is available to help him, I guess the problem is mostly solved.

Jett really enjoys being in Ms. XYZ's class. We are enjoying it too.

I thought pick-up today was a huge improvement. Thank you!

See you at school,
Amy

PreK Wrap-Up

2011-08-15T12:59:00.008-05:00

Jett had a homework assignment last week, which I remembered on Sunday, just in time. He needed to make a collage about himself. The idea was to include things like your favorite color, favorite book, what you like about school, etc. I wish I had taken a picture of Jett's collage before he brought it to school today. The things he put on his collage were:

1. His favorite color - green (heavily influenced by the Green Bay Packers).

2. His favorite TV show - Wild Kratts.

3. The names of everyone in his family (Jett, Kai, Mom, Dad). I ordered him to write our names on his collage in red and followed by a red heart.

4. A photo of him playing his favorite sport, soccer.

5. A photo of him and his friend taken at preschool last year.

6. A photo of his preschool class from last year.

He also asked me to print out a picture of his preschool teachers, although in the end he decided not to add that to his collage.

The end of preschool was sad for me, but not as sad as last year. Last year I was sad because it looked like he and his friends, although returning to preschool, would be in different classrooms, and our first year together had been wonderful and we wanted the second year to be the same. In the end we got all of the kids back in class together and had another terrific year together. This year, although all of the kids were "graduating" from preschool, I wasn't quite as sad, because we were all getting scattered to the wind, split up among various elementary schools. Somehow knowing that almost everyone is splitting up wasn't as hard to take.

Anyway, the last week of preschool was filled with parties, treats, and special events. These are some of my favorite pictures from that time.

Dress Up Day

Another spirit week day - I think it was dress like your favorite decade day.

Counting on the abacus.

Working Hard

Performing one of their many dance routines for the last time (sniff!)

I loved all of that singing and dancing. Do you see Kai in there?

The last day of school they took a walking field trip to a nearby park.

We loved preschool!

First day of School!

2011-08-08T10:21:00.004-05:00

I know it's the middle of summer, but Jett and Kai started school today. Kindergarten and PreK! Don't the boys look great?

They are both in (different) public schools. They are both Track E schools (which start in early August and have longer breaks throughout the year) and they both require uniforms. I am not a fan of uniforms but there is something a bit charming about the white and navy look.

Charlie took the day off of work today to help with school pick-up and drop-off, so the 4 of us piled in to the car at 8:30 this morning and drove the 1.5 miles to Jett's school. Parking was an absolute circus. I know parking is an issue for most schools everywhere, but schools in the city don't have parking lots, so I think it must be even crazier here. Thankfully Charlie could just hop out with Jett, and Kai and I could be on our way.....

...and 6 blocks down the street is Kai's school. By the time I parked (with flashers on, in front of a fire hydrant), Kai and I only had 5 minutes to spare. Thankfully he had stopped crying ("I want Daaaaaaddy to take me to school!") by the time we got out of the car. He put on his big backpack, grabbed my hand, and walked me across the street to school. We made our way through the chaotic playground of older kids and parents, and found the door where the three-year-olds enter. The door was open, kids were inside, so he dropped my hand and walked in. Just like that! I had to ask his assistant teacher to bring him back to me so I could say good-bye and give him his backpack (which I was now holding). Kai dutifully walked back to me, put his arm around my neck, and let me hug him and kiss him. Then I handed him his backpack and he walked back to where he was supposed to sit. He is so CUTE.

Where he was supposed to sit was on this very high bench in front of the drinking fountains. I know you can barely see him in this picture, but if you can make him out, look how small he looks! Three year olds are amazing.

middle of the picture, on bench, white shirt

So all of the kids sit on these benches, organized by classrooms, and wait until it's time to go to class. Their teachers are with them. Parents are not supposed to go in to this room - we say good-bye at the door. The doorway, of course, was crowded with parents taking pictures, peeling off their kids, teachers coaxing children in, big bags of school supplies being handed over....I hovered there for a few minutes and then spent the last few minutes squinting into the room through a dark window. I saw Kai line up with his backpack on and walk out the door with his class, and then he was around the corner and out of sight. I tried to picture which window was his and I couldn't and I felt a little sad. Then I remembered that I had parked in front of a fire hydrant and rushed to move my car.

Charlie dropped Jett off and was walking to Kai's school to meet me, so I walked back to the playground and stood by myself amongst many small groups of parents talking and laughing together. I busied myself with my cell phone and thought about my preschool mom friends and wondered how long it would take to make friends at this school. Then a mom walked over and introduced herself and her three friends and I felt like a puppy waiting for adoption. I hope they come back and buy me tomorrow.

Now Charlie and I are home and the house is wonderfully quiet and it's already 11:00 and the day is going by so fast already and I hope it's going by fast for the boys too and I hope Kai isn't hungry because he barely ate breakfast and I hope Jett isn't sweating because Charlie said his classroom was really warm and I hope they both eat a good lunch and aren't disappointed that I didn't put a cookie in their lunch bags but they only get 20 minutes to eat and I was afraid that if I put dessert in there they'd eat it first and wouldn't have time to eat the healthy stuff and how am I going to make the most of the few hours I have left because I'd sure like to relax and Charlie and I want to go for lunch and I should get some groceries and unpack from the weekend and clean out their toys and organize the closets and look for some freelance editing work and update this blog with a million more posts about the summer and and and but wait. They go to school every day. Every. Day.

Whoever invented school was a genius.

Friday Freakout: Full-day Kindergarten

2011-06-23T15:15:00.002-05:00

You might think that since I haven't posted on a Friday (or on any day) in so long that I have nothing to freak out about. Oh, but you would be wrong. I have a million things to freak out about: Jett's graduation from preschool, his 5th birthday, his soccer team, Kai's total disinterest in potty training, his upcoming full-day preschool, their school uniforms, oh the list goes on and I'll post all about it soon. For now though I'm freaking out about kindergarten.

In the fall Jett will start kindergarten at a public school not too far from us. Like most elementary schools in Chicago, they accepted 40 kindergarteners but then were funded for only one teacher. Thus kindergarten is shortened to a half day - one morning class and one afternoon class. This is disappointing for a lot of reasons, mostly because there are so many academic benefits to full-day versus half day kindergarten.

Thankfully there are some energetic kindergarten parents at Jett's school who have started a fundraising campaign to raise the money to hire a second teacher (so there would be two full-day kindergarten classes). We need at least $85,000. The school and the fundraising committee already donated $30,000 to the cause, so the parents of the incoming kindergarteners are left to raise the remaining $55,000 +. The money needs to be raised by June 28th. We found out about this last week. Amazingly for a school with a poverty rate of 83%, we have raised the majority of the money in a week. We still have about $15,000 left to go.

This process of having to raise money for kindergarten leaves me frustrated. But I'm excited that Jett will be going to this school that seems to have such committed, action-oriented parents. We'll know by June 28 (the deadline for raising funds) if we've raised enough or not, and then I can really start freaking out (or hopefully not). Either way, you'll hear all about it!

If you'd like to donate to full-day kindergarten at his school you can do that here.

Time Out Just Got One Minute Longer...

2011-05-22T21:03:00.007-05:00

In other words, Kai is three!

That belly, that hair, those eyes, those legs, that squeal, that look. Kai has Three perfected. I mean, just look at him.

He's one big bundle of Little Kid. He doesn't want me to push his tricycle up the curb, but he wants me to carry him up the stairs please, and thank you very much. He doesn't want to go to bed, but three hours later he crawls in to my bed. He doesn't want to take a nap, but he will if I lay down with him. He'll eat blueberries (frozen) and pears and maybe peas. He opens up his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and licks all the good stuff out. He wants to go to school without me. He pushes the kitchen chairs into the kitchen, crawls onto the counter top, opens the cupboard door, pulls out the cereal box and pours himself a bowl without spilling it - while I'm in the shower. Some of these things I could do without.

In the last couple of months Kai's language has exploded and every time he speaks to me I give a silent cheer. He speaks in full sentences, two or three or four in a row and it's thrilling to finally know what he wants and what he thinks and where he wants to go. Usually he wants to go to his friends' houses, his grandparents' houses, McDonald's, or home.

Kai is taking a gymnastics class with Jett. It's his first class without me. I park right outside the building and I let Jett and Kai run in with the other families while I pay the parking meter. When I get in the building, 2 minutes later, they both have their shoes off and stored neatly under a chair and Jett is usually in the process of helping Kai get his coat off. When their instructor opens the door for class Kai runs in after Jett without a glance back at me.

For his birthday he requested dinner at McDonald's with his friend JP.

He still does his fair share of waiting for and watching Jett. He sat in my lap for an hour once a week, watching Jett learn how to swim. Jett sat on the side of the pool and kicked his legs, while Kai sat in my lap and did the same. Jett moved his arms in circles along side his body, and Kai did the same. It was awfully cute. Kai is awfully cute.

He plays with the big kids. When Jett gets out of school and his preschool class runs to the playground, Kai does too. Sometimes the preschoolers make Kai the "monster" and pretend he's chasing them, which he is. Kai loves it. Sometimes he pushes the preschoolers (in play) and sometimes they push him back (gently so far) and he laughs and laughs.

Kai laughs and laughs and laughs. He sneaks a treat and giggles. He runs, screaching, out the door instead of waiting. He pulls his diaper off and collapses with belly laughs. He splashes me from the tub and guffaws.

He likes to snuggle by holding my face in his hands. He still likes to sleep with his arm around my neck. Sometimes he falls asleep after we drop Jett off at preschool and he'll stay asleep when I transfer him up three flight of stairs and in to bed, then 2 hours later he continues to sleep while I transfer him back to the car, into the school, and out on the playground. He'll stay sleeping in my arms, his head on my shoulder. Holding him hurts my back and ruins his bedtime but that kid is heaven in my arms.

His favorite song is "I've Got a Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas and he walks around the house, sits in the grocery cart, sits in the bath singing, "Tonights gonna be a good, good niiiight."

Dancing at music center in Jett's preschool classroom on Sibling Day.

He likes to spit. He's started biting. He won't stay in time out. He whines and whines and whines. But he's started doing Jett's old puzzles, and he sits by himself and looks at books and builds block towers that he is so proud of. He walked around all week singing "Happy Birthday to Kai-eye-eye." Best of all he treats his brother like his best friend.

Here is Kai on his birthday. Jett is showing him how to open his new Batman water bottle. He's wearing his new Spiderman shirt. Spiderman is his favorite super hero. He requested a "Spiderman Birthday Party". We didn't throw him a party, but nearly every present he got had Spiderman on it. He loved it!

He's full-on three and we love every bit of him. Happy Birthday, Kai. We love you!

Busy

2011-05-15T22:58:00.003-05:00

Wow, I've been busy. Charlie's spent almost the entire weekend with the boys because I had a meeting with the au pairs, book club, and my favorite - dinner tonight with the preschool moms and teacher. I have a lot of posts rolling around in my head plus a really cute picture of Kai to post. But for now please be satisfied with our culinary craft adventure I wrote about here. Thanks, and I'll be back later this week!

Love those Lessons!

2011-05-10T23:35:00.003-05:00

This morning he told me that he was going to jump in without holding on to anyone's hand and without anyone catching him. When we got to the pool he changed his mind. Then he changed it back. See in the last picture his instructor is holding out only one of his hands - not catching him. We are so excited for Jett!

Two minutes later he jumped!

2011-05-03T23:27:00.003-05:00

Jett's the one at the end on the left, holding the instructor's hand. He held his hand while jumping in, but as Jett reminded me, he only held ONE hand! He also told me that he doesn't want to sit on the steps (the ladder into the pool) anymore. That is where he's spent the beginning of each class, while the other kids splash about and hang on to the wall. The water is cold and he doesn't like getting splashed and who can blame him? But two weeks ago he wouldn't get off the steps and today he jumped in. Way to go, Jett.

Wordless Wednesday: Cousins on Easter

2011-04-27T03:52:00.000-05:00

Friday Freakout: Apology

2011-04-14T23:25:00.003-05:00

We haven't had to write one of these for a while. Roll on, Spring Break!

Dear Paul, I am sorry I hurt you on the playground yesterday. Jett

(mostly) Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-14T07:04:00.000-05:00

Jett and his friend Jackson - suddenly old enough to play Tic-Tac-Toe on their own (more or less). Another milestone!

Brother Boost

2011-04-10T19:55:00.002-05:00

This video is one and a half minutes long. It's from this past October when Kai was too little to climb up the McDonald's play land tunnels by himself and Jett had to help him. Sometimes Jett is the sweetest big brother. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-06T21:46:00.001-05:00

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-29T22:26:00.003-05:00

Freak Out Friday: Kindergarten and Preschool

2011-03-24T23:29:00.002-05:00

In my post last Friday I talked about waiting for those crazy school acceptance letters. The letters came and this is where we stand:

Jett qualified for the 6 gifted/classical schools that he was tested for, but like most kids who qualifiy he did not get a spot in any of those schools because there simply aren't enough seats for everyone.

Of the 20 "regular" schools that we applied for, Jett got an offer from one. He is on the waitlist for the other 19. I was hoping that he would get in to the school he attends right now, although I knew it was unlikely. He didn't get in and has no shot at it - he's number 346 on the waiting list.

But we're really lucky. Some of my friends didn't get in to any schools (so they have to go to their neighborhood school). The school that offered Jett a spot seems to be a good school, and is only 1.5 miles from our house.

Some background information: Jett goes to preschool at a public school, but the preschool doesn't feed in to that school. Also, the school he attends now is a neighborhood school. This means that they accept every child who lives in their neighborhood boundaries first. Then if there are spaces left they start taking students who have applied from outside of the neighborhood. Some neighborhood schools in Chicago are really fantastic schools filled with really involved families. Some aren't. That is why Chicago Public Schools allows families to apply to up to 20 schools. The problem is that there are not enough spaces in those good schools for all of the kids who apply. Finally, I should explain that students outside of the neighborhood get accepted to schools by random lottery. It's all just luck.

Kai was accepted to three (public, free) preschools. The school that Jett currently attends accepted him. A school near us accepted him. A public montessori school accepted him. I'm not really considering the school near us, mainly because it's in the opposite direction of the school that accepted Jett and they won't let me observe a class before I sign Kai up.

We are going to have trouble deciding between the montessori school and Jett's current school and teacher, who we know and love. I wrote a long paragraph debating the pros and cons of each school in fine detail, but I ended up deleting it because it sounded so ridiculous. I have two friends who didn't get in to any schools. Debating between two top-notch options just doesn't feel right.

It will probably feel right in about a week, because it's kind of stressing me out.

I also look down the road and have to wonder how long we are going to live in this condo. It'd be nice to walk to school, to know our neighbors, to go to school with our neighbors. We can't do that where we live. Selling our place would be hard. Should we consider renting in a 'burb? Should we consider renting in the neighborhood of Jett's preschool? How long will we be there? It would be so nice for Jett to start kindergarten in the school that he will finish in, years from now. It would be nice for all of us.

We have some decisions to make, and the possibilities are keeping me up at night. Still, we are really lucky. Jett got in to a good school and we have two fantastic options for Kai. I didn't think I'd be able to say this, but I really think everything is going to be fine in the end.

Friends

2011-03-24T14:57:00.007-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I dropped Jett of for school about 10 minutes late. That happens sometimes when you don't have your own parking space and walk, with your kids, all the way around the block trying to remember where Charlie said he parked the car.

Jett's class was already outside when we got to the school, so I pulled up next to the lawn where they were playing.

When I opened my car door I heard a kid yell, "There's Jett!" Then another child yelled. Then all of the kids seemed to be echoing each other. "There's Jett!" "Jett's here!" I opened Jett's door and he heard it too. He stood in the car and put on his hat, scarf, mittens, and coat, smiling all the time. By the time he stepped out of the car, his entire class was lined up, standing along the fence, chanting, "Jett! Jett! Jett!"

I told Jett that it sounds like his friends are really happy to see him. He looked at me sheepishly, gave me a half-smile, shrugged his shoulders and replied, "yeah." Then he busted out of the car and ran to his friends.

I wanted to hug the whole world.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-23T06:00:00.001-05:00

Basketball: Taking After Uncle Nathan

2011-03-20T23:07:00.004-05:00

For the last year, we've spent most Saturday mornings at a neighborhood park, along with four of my friends and their families, and a few other kids. The boys have cycled through t-ball, soccer, and now basketball. It seems like they're finally starting to get the hang of listening to their coach and not sitting down and asking for a snack every five minutes. Progress!

Running with his good friend, Jackson.

For me, those Saturday mornings haven't been too fun. It's been difficult to get the boys up and out of the house on Saturday mornings, and when we finally get to the gym, half the time they don't even want to be there. I spent most of my time herding them away from the foosball table and the ramp leading down to the women's bathroom (every kid loves to run down a ramp) and back in to the gym. Then when I did get them back to the gym, they usually wanted a snack. I didn't get to socialize with my mom friends like I wanted to, the boys didn't run around like I wanted them too, and by the time we got home for lunch we were all kind of crabby.

Except for Charlie. Charlie played soccer on Saturday mornings at a different park, so he felt great.

Sort of listening to Coach Bobby.

When basketball came around I told Charlie that I wasn't going to do it. Then his soccer schedule changed, so Charlie took on the role of Saturday morning basketball dad and I got the morning to myself. Hurrah!

Coach Bobby, Jackson, Jett, and Kai warming up.

Yesterday was their last basketball class, so I went to watch. I was amazed at what I saw. Jett can dribble the ball, make a pass, catch a pass, and shoot a basket. He made so many shots I couldn't believe it. He followed directions (mostly), goofed around with his coach, and had a great time running and doing the drills with his friend Jackson. As his mom, it was thrilling to watch.

Dribbling!

Kai did great too. He ran around with the older boys and stuck to Charlie like glue. Sending the boys out to basketball every Saturday was a great idea. T-ball is next. With any luck, I'll get to sit that session out too, and show up at the end again amazed by everything the boys can do.

Two points!

Friday Freakout: School Acceptance Letters

2011-03-17T23:19:00.003-05:00

Next year Jett will start kindergarten and Kai will start preschool. Here in Illinois there is a preschool option called Preschool For All. It's free preschool, 5 days a week, 2.5 hours a day, in a public school. Jett is in the program now and we love it. As you can imagine, it's a very popular program and we were lucky to get Jett a spot through the lottery system. This past December I sent in applications for Kai for preschool for all and for Jett for kindergarten.

I applied to 18 preschools for Kai and 20 kindergartens for Jett, plus 6 applications for the gifted/classical schools in case he qualifies. These are all public schools and our only hope is to get in through a lottery system. If the boys don't get in to one of those 18 or 26 schools, they can go to our neighborhood school, which would be...............fine. I think.

Two years ago when I was applying to the free preschools for Jett, I applied to 18 schools and eventually (via waitlists) got accepted in to 4. This was astoundingly lucky. Most people I know got accepted to one. Many people didn't get accepted to any at all.

CPS Obsessed says the acceptance letters are in the mail, but we haven't gotten ours yet. Actually I know that no one has gotten theirs yet, because I've checked the discussion board on NPN. That thing is going to light up when the letters hit the mailboxes.

This letter is the key to our summer and beyond. It will determine how far I drive every day, how much time the boys spend in the car every day, how far apart the boys' schools are (which in Chicago can be quite far, even when they are close) or - fingers crossed - if the boys will get in to the same school. It will determine whether or not we start to think about renting out our condo so we can rent a condo in a neighborhood with a better school. (Since your neighborhood school has to take you, it's not uncommon for families to move to a neighborhood with a good school if their kid doesn't get in to it through the lottery). Or maybe we'd rent an apartment in a 'burb and leave this craziness all together.

This is a really important letter, and if you think I'm anxious about it now, just wait until we actually get the letter and have to start making decisions. i'll keep you posted.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-15T22:43:00.006-05:00

Cheeky

2011-03-13T23:39:00.005-05:00

----------------------------

In case anyone is wondering, Charlie and I were able to convince the boys to go out for pizza Saturday night, and it was one of the best family dinners we've had. The four of us don't go out to eat very often, but the evening went so smoothly you would have thought that we did it all the time. We ate at Pete's Pizza Family Restaurant. The pizza was delish, the service was fast, and the kid's meal, which the boys shared one of, came with an ice cream sundae for dessert. Perfect. It was a really nice night.

--------------------------------------------------------

Kai spends half of his day with his hands on my face and it is the sweetest thing. He crawls in bed with us at night, and rests his hand on my cheek to fall asleep. He puts his hands on my cheeks to wake me up. I walk to the kitchen in the morning and Kai is already in his highchair, eating breakfast with Charlie. He reaches for me and says, "Mama, I want you." He reaches his hands up to hold my face.

When I carry him to the car (he always wants to be carried) he puts his hands on my cheeks. When we pick Jett up from school Kai cradles my cheeks in his hands and leans his forehead against mine to tell me that it's too cold. He wants to play in the car.

Sometimes when I'm holding him he instructs me to lift him higher, and he actually climbs up my side until he can rest his cheek against mine.

I just love those little cheeks!

Saturday Night Negotiations

2011-03-12T17:31:00.002-06:00

Charlie and I are trying to talk the boys in to going out for pizza for dinner and it is a ridiculous chore. They want to go to McDonald's for dinner, they don't want pizza. We tell them that we can go to McDonald's after dinner for ice cream cones, if they are good, but they keep whining that they want chicken nuggets from McDonald's, not ice cream. It's ridiculous. We hardly ever go out to eat and this week has been so busy the boys have had pasta for dinner almost every night. Why aren't they jumping up and down with excitement to go absolutely anywhere but their own kitchen table? Now Charlie is trying to get Jett to change out of sweat pants and in to jeans....it's ridiculous around here. The next time you'll see us at a restaurant is 2015, I think. Oh happy night!

Freak Out Friday: Main Street Update

2011-03-10T21:41:00.003-06:00

I haven't talked about our life on Main Street for a while, and I thought some of you might be curious.

Last April Charlie accepted a temporary position with a non-profit organization. It was supposed to last 6 months but instead it lasted until now, which was 11 months. Recently he accepted a permanent position with the same organization, and started in the position last week. We're thrilled, with reservations. He used to work in for-profit and now he works in non-profit, and you know, it's called a NON-profit for a reason. They aren't pocketing any extra change and neither are we.

What's funny is that I continue to feel like I have money to spend on any old thing. For example, there are a set of bookshelves that I want for our living room and I keep talking about what I will put on them once we have them. But I'm not going to buy those book shelves. My friends sign their kids up for activities that I can't afford, but I still gather all of the information about the classes. I check the schedule and see if Kai is old enough to do it too, I ask other parents if they are going to sign their kids up...and then I never sign up. I do this over and over again and I can not help it. I guess old habits die hard. It's like my body and brain are operating on an elaborate system of muscle memory, moving and thinking the way they learned, regardless of what has been true for the last 2.5 years.

When I consider the classes or the bookshelves or whatever, I feel like I'm trying to be someone I'm not. Like maybe I don't belong in this social circle any more, this circle of people who buy shelves for their living room and sign their kids up for classes outside of the park district. I start to think that I have to find new people. This is ridiculous, of course. I've got a great group of friends.

I feel like an imposter, but it doesn't make any sense because we do spend money on non-essential things. I bought a book. Charlie bought me flowers. We ordered indian food. I got my hair highlighted. The boys are in a bunch of classes through the park district.

Spending money on non-essential things is a slippery slope though. I buy a book and get dinner delivered and I start to feel like I've got spending money for other things too. I say something to Charlie like, "Let's go away to a water park for the weekend!" Then he looks at me like I just asked him to ride a hippo across the desert and I remember that we have a new normal, and it doesn't include a water park and I better return those new shoes.

Darn it. I hate making returns.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-09T08:10:00.001-06:00

Raving Lunatic vs Neighborhood Idiots

2011-03-06T22:44:00.005-06:00

Before I was a mom I seethed silently when strangers made me mad. Now I chase them down the sidewalk to correct their misbehavior. In fact, in the 4 1/2 years that I've been a mother, I've chased three people down the sidewalk and followed one neighbor in to his house, screaming at him. I hate the term "mama bear", but I think the term might apply here.

Dog poop.

When I can't walk three steps in the grass in front of my building without stepping in dog poo, I get a little mad. When I can't lift my kid out of his car seat and stand him up in the grass without stepping in dog poo, I get madder. When someone walks their dog in the grass in front of our building, I am the person looking to see if they have a plastic bag in their hand. I usually don't see anyone without one, but I know those bag-less dog walkers are there because I've got the poo to prove it. Finally I saw my target and moved in. A teenage boy let his dog take a dump in my grass and didn't pick it up.

So I asked him where his bag was. He said he forgot it...but...shuffle foot on ground...shift weight from one foot to the other...dig hands in pocket...he'd go back to his house to get it and come back and pick up the poo.

Liar. He was wearing a hoody. He looked at the ground when he talked. His dog was huge and probably takes a dump on every walk. It was raining. He didn't forget the bag and he wasn't going to come back with one. I thought about running in my house and getting a bag for him, but I knew that when I came out he'd be gone, the poo would be there, and the joke would be on me. I told him he was lying. Whatevs. He doesn't care what I think. I'm sure his dog's still pooping on our "lawn". Confrontation FAIL.

Fire.

Jett was a baby, eating dinner in his highchair. Without warning he pukes up his entire dinner. He starts to cry, it smells like stink and it's running everywhere. We clean him up until he's finally clean enough for me to lift him out of his high chair and comfort him. He pukes up again all over me, still crying. Charlie and I hear commotion on the fire escape. Covered in puke, holding a puke-covered, crying baby on my hip, I open our back door and see...

two-feet-tall flames standing up out of the grill, reaching the wooden stairs of the wooden fire escape. (Don't try to reassure me that the wood is pressure-treated to be resistant to fire. It was freaking scary).

Our neighbor Rufus is using a charcoal grill on a wooden fire escape, and he is not watching the flames. I call out to him and his wife Chandler comes out. She calls out to him and he yells from the other end of the condo that he's watching it. I think he must mean that I'm watching it, because I am watching it, covered in puke, along with my puke-covered crying baby, and he is no where in sight. So I yell to him to come out and take care of it. He walks out and I go inside.

I go inside and immediately look through the peep-hole of our back door and the dude is already gone but the flames are still there. I think I yell something to Charlie like, "Are you bleeping kidding me!?" except without the bleeping and throw Jett to him at the same time. Then I'm out the door. Conveniently, Rufus's back door is wide open, so I storm into his hallway like I have a search warrant, yelling like I've never yelled at anyone in my entire life, because he is definitely not watching it. My baby is sick and crying, baby puke is all over me and you're going to burn down my damn house, Rufus? I don't think so, Rufus. You're not watching the grill, Rufus. The flames are twelve feet high, Rufus. It is against the law here to have a charcoal grill on a wooden fire escape, Rufus. Also, your wife's name is Chandler and your dog's name is Destiny.

Chandler, meanwhile, was pleading with Rufus to watch the grill, to stop the flames, to stop grilling all together she doesn't even want the food anymore. I heard her say that she just wants to be a good neighbor. I remember feeling bad about that and trying to reassure her that she is a good neighbor, it's just her husband who's such a jerk. I remember feeling like I was thinking clearly, I had full clarity, and I couldn't understand why Rufus was being so stupid about the flames. It was like one of these dreams I have some times where I am the only one who is making any sense and I wake up frustrated that no one in my dream understood that they could have stopped the train if only they had sung the Star Spangled Banner three times backwards.

Rufus ended up putting water on the coals. But I remain peeved about the whole event because later I knocked on his door and apologized to that moron. I apologized for yelling at him and he muttered something I didn't understand and then shut the door in my face. Still, I made my point. Our fire escape didn't catch on fire that night, and he never used that grill again. Additionally, I was able to educate him about the grilling laws in the city, and the dangers of using a charcoal grill on a porch made of wood.

Later that year Chandler and Rufus divorced and Chandler got the apartment, a really hot boyfriend and the dog. Confrontation: WIN.

Cigarette butts

Just last week I parallel-parked in front of my building and saw two young women leaning against the corner of my building and smoking. The boys were asleep in their car seats, so I figured I wait a few minutes and see what happened. I was feeling feisty and I knew those women were probably on break from their job at the hospital across the street, where it is illegal to smoke. I wondered...where are they going to fling their cigarette butts?

I didn't really wonder that. I knew exactly what they were going to do with their butts. They did, and I ran out of my car like a lunatic.

They walked quickly so I actually had to run after them and call to them down the street, "Excuse me! Excuse me!" After shaking my head "no" to everyone else on the sidewalk who looked at me expectantly, the two women, who were across the street now, turned around. I said, "You were just standing in front of my building smoking?" (I hated that I said that as a question, when we all knew it was a fact). "Yes," they nodded. I said, "You threw your cigarette butts on the ground?" (Again with the question!). "Yes," they said. I said, "This is my yard, that I have to mow." (That's a lie, Charlie mows the grass). "My kids play here" (truth). The two women apologized. They walked back, nicely, and looked at the grass, which was strewn with cigarette butts. I told them to just "pick two. They're all over the place." They each bent down to pick up a random cigarette butt when I saw one that was still smoking. "This one is one of yours. It's still smoking. Get that one." They did. Confrontation: WIN.

Underwear. This one is my favorite, probably because my mom was visiting.

One night, after dark, my mom and I were sitting on my couch. I heard a noise outside so I looked out the window to see a car parking across the street, in front of my building. The people in the car, probably in their 20s, were drunk and giggling. They tumbled out, opened the wrong doors, opened the trunk for not apparent reason, and helped each other stand upright. Then one of the women, in a short little skirt, took off her underwear and dropped it in the gutter.

Come on, girl. My MOM is visiting! This is embarrassing. How would you like it if I got drunk and took my underwear off and threw it in the street in front of your mom?

It just made me mad. This is my street, this is my house, and I'm not raising kids next to floating underwear. Plus my mom is here, and what will she think if she knows I live in a place where drunk 20 year old girls throw their panties in the gutter?

The partiers were walking away so I acted fast. I ran down my three flights of stairs and out onto the sidewalk in my pajamas and socks. I called after the group, "Excuse me! Excuse me!" All but one of them turned around. I called out, "I think you forgot something!" One girl, bless her soul, asked what they forgot. Proudly I yelled back, "Your friend's underwear!" The drunks fell onto the sidewalk in fits of giggles.

I was undeterred. "I saw your friend get out of the car, take off her underwear, and throw it in the gutter. That's gross! This is my street! This is my home! My mom is here!"

The girl who spoke the first time, who was probably the most sober and who I hope had been driving walked back to their car and picked up the underwear with finger and thumb. Holding it out in front of her she walked to the alley and threw the underwear in the trash.

I thanked her and they all tottered back to their apartment, leaning on each other and laughing.

I felt a million years old that night, but victorious. My mom was completely speechless. Confrontation: WIN.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-02T07:00:00.002-06:00

Flying

2011-02-27T22:48:00.003-06:00

If he would have jumped just a little higher, our ceiling fan would be clean right now.

Tio Dave did this, by the way. It's like he's never had downstairs neighbors before.

Just kidding, Uncle Dave!

This weekend Charlie's brother Dave came to visit (along with my soon-to-be-sister-in-law!). Dave slept in Kai's bed (the bottom bunk) and I set up the boys to sleep side-by-side on our bedroom floor. Wow those boys look cute sleeping next to each other, but boy was it hard to get them settled down to sleep!

They couldn't stop jumping off of my bed. They did it with me before Tio Dave got here, and they did it with him when I wasn't home. They couldn't stop flying through the air.

When we put up the bunkbeds I bought each boy a new comforter. Jett picked out Spiderman and Kai picked out Toy Story. What I hadn't realized was that bunkbeds, having no box spring, aren't really big enough for a regular twin-sized bedspread. There is no place for the extra fabric to hang down off the sides, so the bedspread is crazy-messy on their mattresses, the extra material all bunched up. It was crazy-messy that is, until I started folding the comforters in half. Now each comforter fits perfectly on each bed, but the boys can only see half the picture on each one.

So when I spread out Jett's spiderman blanket on my bedroom floor, he saw that giant Spidey target, and morphed in to Spidey himself, leaping from my bed, over the bench, and landing in Spiderman stance. It was fun and noisy, and I'm thankful that my neighbors never complained!

P.S. I've also been busy over here.

Demolition

2011-02-03T21:09:00.002-06:00

This video that Charlie took and emailed to me while I'm off visiting friends truly captures the spirit of our household on a daily basis. Some days I can't keep up with it and it drives me crazy. But viewing this from many states away, I love it. It's only a few seconds long. Take a peek.

Snowtastic!

2011-02-03T08:00:00.003-06:00

Lucky for us, Charlie's office was closed too. We were all home all day and we just took it easy.

After playing Uno, Zingo, and Candyland all morning, we finally got outside about noon. Jett was totally in to the shoveling, but Kai wanted to get out the bikes, the t-ball set, the hula hoops, and the beach stuff.

A few of our neighbors were out shoveling their cars - and our neighbor Rene had mustache-cicles!

There was just so much snow. At one point I was following Jett through the snow drifts and I sunk up to my waist. I had to dig out my phone and call Charlie to have him come and get Kai, who was absolutely miserable at that point. (You can see Kai clutching the t-ball tee in his hand below). Mostly though the boys reminded me of puppies in the snow. Roly-poly and happy.

Our alley. This is what the streets look like too. Charlie and I pulled the boys in sleds while we walked (with difficulty because the snow was so deep) down the middle of the street.

I think Charlie and Jett played 247 games of Uno while Kai napped. It was a great day.

Good Mornings

2011-01-25T22:21:00.000-06:00

Some days I come up with good projects for the boys, and by good projects I mean anything that keeps them from fighting and keeps the TV off.

We bought these lego candy blocks at Suckers Candy Store months ago. So far Jett has been content to eat just one block per sitting, which is why, months after buying them, we still have enough to play with.

I can't really claim this as a project that I came up with, but trying to walk in Charlie's boots occupied Kai for a while. Really I'm just mentioning this because I needed a reason to add this picture to the blog. It's a classic - diapers and all!

This was the best project by far. We had some interesting packaging that looked like castles. So we got out the paint and did some home (I mean castle) improvement. It finally dawned on me that if I gave the boys only two colors to paint with at a time, the paint would actually mix together prettily and not turn in to a big brown mess. So they started out with blue and yellow, then red and yellow, then blue and red. Smart move, Amy!

The only problem with these castles is that now that they've painted them they don't play with them, but when I tried to recycle them they threw a fit. Now they sit on our kitchen table and I have to move them every time we eat. Still, one peaceful morning is totally worth it.

Packer Weekend!

2011-01-23T21:37:00.007-06:00

It started with a Friday morning play date with a Bears fan.

JP has been known to call Charlie just tell him, "The Packers are going down!" I had to prep Jett for this play date by explaining to him that talking smack about your team is fun, not fighting.

Saturday morning we drove up to Green Bay for a little bowling.

Strike!

For the most part Jett refused to use the sled, and instead opted to throw the ball down the lane himself. Once he rolled a strike. Once he threw the ball so hard it caught air and got stuck between the bumper and the other lane.

Finally it was game day!

How did a Bears fan make it into this family?

The cutest fans.

Go Packers! And......

Happy Birthday, Grammy!

Cookie Party

2011-01-17T13:14:00.000-06:00

The holidays came around and I got the itch to host a party. But hosting a party for adults seemed sort of overwhelming. What to serve, how to decorate, who to invite, and where were they all going to sit? Then I had a fabulous idea: host a party for the kids!

So a few days before Christmas I hosted a cookie-decorating party for Jett, Kai, and about 15 of their friends. I was really excited about it. We started making snowflakes to hang on the windows. I bought cookies and frosting. I baked. I sent out the invitations. Realizing that kids were going to be decorating and eating cookies on the ground, I furiously scrubbed my floor. Three days later we had a party.

We had 5 stations: pretzel sticks (dipped in chocolate and rolled in sprinkles), decorating tiny gingerbread men (Jett insisted on having gingerbread men), decorating big cut-out sugar cookies, frosting Nutter Butters to look like snowmen (complete with coconut to look like snow), and cutting out Rice Krispy treats with holiday-shaped cookie cutters. Thankfully every parent there was willing to man a station as the kids, for the most part, traveled from one to the other.

We did the Rice Krispy treats on the floor because I ran out of tables.

My most brilliant idea of the day was to give each child a paper plate and crayon and have them write their name on a plate as soon as they arrived. Every time they finished decorating a cookie, an adult would take their cookie and put it on their plate for them. The plates were set throughout the room wherever we had space - on top of the TV, on our fireplace mantel, and on the window sill.

Just a few samples that Jett made.

At the end of the party we moved the tables to the side and all of the kids sat down for cookies and milk. I would have loved to have gotten a picture of this, but Jett, who had really enjoyed the party up until now, was at his wits end not being able to get a break from so many people in our house, so I sat with him and ate a cookie instead.

That's the one thing about hosting a party: I kind of lost track of my kids. I didn't realize that Jett was losing it until he had already lost it. (He recovered quickly). Kai roamed around from table to table eating all of the goods. Well-meaning parents handed him cookies to decorate at each table. He took each cookie and stuffed each into his mouth. While I refilled bowls of sprinkles and washed cookie cutters I caught glimpses of Kai out of the corner of my eye, walking around from table to table, mouth full, cheeks covered in crumbs, clutching a cookie in each hand. He didn't decorate a single one, and he loved every minute of it.

The boys and I had so much fun, we can't wait to do it again. The clean up wasn't so bad either because 1) some of my friends found a way to sweep up the floor even though there seemed to be a million little toes standing on it and 2) all of the remaining sprinkles left my house on everyone's socks. Perfect!

.....and then it's morning.

2011-01-15T13:06:00.004-06:00

Last night Jett asked me to sing him a lullaby while he fell asleep.

Laying on his back on his bed, Kai wrapped his arm around my neck, pulled me closer to him so that my cheek rested on his and said, "Mama, I want to feel your cheek."

This morning Jett woke up and crawled into our bed. Kai woke up and went straight to the cupboard and pulled out of bag of dried fruit. Jett heard him struggling to open it, got out of bed, and opened it for him. Then he got them both bowls, poured the fruit in the bowls, laid blankets on the floor, and turned on the TV.

Thirty minutes later one was mad and the other was crying. But the previous 12 hours were heavenly.

The New Year Celebration

2011-01-07T08:31:00.004-06:00

My whole family came in to town for New Year's Eve and the boys were ecstatic to have everyone at their own house. They were thrilled that their cousins Megan and Owen were spending the night crammed into our cozy condo. Even Uncle Nathan made it, much to Kai's delight!

We ate dinner at Hackney's on Lake and then spent the rest of the night swimming in the pool at the hotel where my parents were staying. Aunt Heather showed Jett how to blow water out the end of a noodle, so he spent the majority of his time in the pool trying to splash all of us in the face. Thanks, Aunt Heather! When Kai got splashed in the face he took it in stride, thank goodness. He spent most of the time in the water trying to get Owen with the noodle. I spent most of my time in the water looking longingly at the hot tub.

We swam until way past the boys' bedtime, and then had snacks and champaign in the hotel lobby until my boys started asking to go home at about 10:30.

The next day we drove back to the hotel for more swimming and then opened Christmas presents while we watched Michigan State get clobbered in the Capital One bowl. Sigh.

We spent the rest of the evening playing games and eating pizza.

Kai's favorite game was hiding his new dominoes in his shirt.

It was a great start to the new year.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-05T14:57:00.004-06:00

The boys were really excited about Christmas this year. Jett in particular LOVED counting up everyone who he would be spending Christmas with: Grammy, Papa, Uncle Chris, Sabrina, Uncle Dave, Megan (soon to be Aunt Megan!), Aunt Jenny, Uncle Brian, Ellie, Baby Colin, Uncle Will, Mama, Daddy, Kai, and Jett. That's 15 people. FIFTEEN! Fifteen is his new favorite number. He loves his Johnson family and he loves counting to high numbers.

However, Jett had only 5 items on his very first Christmas list:

1. Iron Man Costume
2. Hot Wheels Race Car Track with 4 Loops
3. DVD
4. CD
5. Violin

This race track was the favorite.

He and Kai made a big and loud impression with their Iron Man costumes. In the photo below Jett is posing for pictures in his costume. While their cousin Ellie sat quietly rocking her new babydoll, Jett and Kai ran circles around the house playing superhero. For those adults who could stand it, it was actually pretty cute. Kai developed his own "superhero run". He bends his arms to the side like you might see in a cartoon, eyes you with his mischevious eyes, flashes a grin, and pounces.

We also got the boys The Incredibles DVD, and now Kai's new favorite expression is "That'd be AWESOME!", while Jett runs around our couch pretending he is Dash. It's too bad we didn't get him the violin instead.

We would like to get Jett a violin, and as a former piano-player, band geek, and orchestra failure I'd love to see him pick up a musical instrument, but we didn't have time to figure out lessons and sizes and stuff before Christmas. I didn't know that violins come in different sizes so they can "grow with you". How confusing. Plus that bow would be a weapon in our house. We're going to have to hide the super hero costumes before we bring a violin and bow in to the mix.

Anyway, we didn't just open presents on Christmas. We also did some arts and crafts. One of the 11 fabulously-attentive adults in the house must have helped him with this one, although Jett does wield some wicked cutting and gluing skills.

Of course the cousins lined up to watch Frosty!

But you know Christmas isn't only about presents, artwork, and TV specials. It's also about Advent. Waiting.

Waiting until church starts to need a diaper change. Waiting until the the last hymn of the church service before you can eat that last cookie your mom stashed in her purse. Waiting until your mom says it's finally morning. Waiting until everyone wakes up to open the presents. Waiting until it's your turn to open your present. Waiting to get the batteries in to the race track. This was the first Christmas Eve that Jett really understood that he was going to be getting a lot of presents the next day, and so this is the first year that I realized how much patience this holiday demands of kids and their parents, and perhaps every adult within hearing range. All the kids I was with that day did great. I was so proud of them and so relieved and once they finally went to bed I even relaxed.

It was a noisy, happy, entertaining Christmas to share with the 15 noisiest, happiest, and most entertaining Johnsons I could ever be a part of. I hope your Christmas was wonderful too.

Quickie

2011-01-03T22:54:00.003-06:00

A quick picture and a promise of more to come.

Also - Congratulations to you two!!!

Happy New Year, Everybody.

Arts and Crafts Save the Day

2010-12-03T08:02:00.000-06:00

Up until about a month ago, the only way for the boys and I to have a really good day was to go outside and play. They needed (or more accurately, the oldest one needed) to run around, jump off of high things, pedal his bike, run as fast as he could, and yell at the top of his lungs in order to stay in a good mood the rest of the day. Of course going outside to play didn't guarantee a good mood, but it made it more likely. It was always, always worth a try.

It would be an easy thing to do every day if I wasn't so lazy.

Sometimes I want to stay in my pajamas. I get bored with the thought of going across the street to throw rocks down the big grates - again. I don't want to walk all the way to the park. Sometimes I haven't showered and so I don't even want to walk around the block. Sometimes it is raining and I don't feel like doing all the laundry that comes after jumping in puddles. Sometimes I just want to stay inside. Sometimes I think they will be fine if we spend the morning inside.

I always get burned.

The worst part is that not only do I end up having to deal with the meltdowns, but I also feel guilty that they are so grouchy and miserable because I know I had a good chance to prevent it and I didn't. So then we eat lunch grumpy and I truck Jett off to school grumpy and he doesn't want to stand in line and he yells at his friends and I stand there feeling guilty and embarrassed. And also resentful that we can't just have a nice relaxing morning at home. Don't most kids have nice relaxing mornings at home? How does that happen?

And then my kids started doing this.

They started doing arts and crafts all morning.

All morning long. Then again after school. Then again after dinner.

I hope this arts and crafts phase lasts all winter.

It's their little secret

2010-12-01T07:58:00.000-06:00

The best thing about the bunk beds so far is that I keep catching the boys being friends.

Me Help You!

2010-11-29T07:49:00.000-06:00

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...

2010-11-27T20:23:00.008-06:00

...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...

2010-11-21T11:03:00.005-06:00

...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

2010-11-18T20:40:00.004-06:00

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

2010-11-16T23:38:00.005-06:00

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....

2010-11-15T17:07:00.000-06:00

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

Halloween....

2010-11-14T15:46:00.004-06:00

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.

The Newborn Bermuda Triangle. (Or) I am allowed to be sentimental once in a while.

2010-10-28T21:06:00.005-05:00

Some good friends of mine had a baby this morning, and they live miles and miles away. In fact, as of 9:04 this morning, their distance from me increased by about 10,000 miles. Because when someone you love has a baby, you just want to be there. I want to hug my friends, hold the baby, and then cook a bunch of dinners and put them in their freezer.

If you've had a baby, you want to be there because you know what it feels like. You're in that hospital room and nurses are walking by outside the door, traffic is moving on the street below, someone is calling your cell phone for the 2nd time, and it doesn't matter. Without trying you've become a master of meditation. All the unessentials float right on past without interrupting your state of mind. They disappear. All of your attention is in your arms, or in the crib next to you, or with the most important person in the world who is sitting next to you, holding a part of you.

You sit in the bed and hold the baby while he sleeps. He sleeps and sleeps and sleeps and you miss his eyes because you've only seen them twice since he was born 4 hours ago. Then he stirs and maybe he cries and you hold him this way or that way and it comforts him and you're amazed. A little while later he cries again and you hold him this way or that and he quiets again and you are still amazed. He cries a third time and again you hold him this way or that but he keeps crying and keeps crying and this time it takes you 10 full minutes to comfort him. The heavy burden of parenthood drapes itself around your shoulders. You feel unqualified.

Your baby cried for 10 minutes, but then he stopped. He stopped crying and looked at you and you looked back while the world waited. He is quiet now, and gazing at you. You introduce yourself and tell your baby your first name. You still feel more like his guide than his mother. You bring him to your cheek and you feel cautiously, hesitantly, powerful.

Your baby is still gazing at you. His expression is so serious that he looks like he is putting a curse upon your house. It freaks you out a little because it really looks like he is sending you a message with his eyes. You laugh out loud to break the spell and the nurse brings your lunch and your cell phone rings again and you turn on the TV and you remember that other people's days are half over by now.

You've been awake for 22 hours and for the first time in a long time it doesn't matter what time it is. You have no where to go except two steps over to the crib. You have nothing to do but sit in bed and hold the baby. You sleep when you're tired and turn the lights on when you're awake and the only reason you look at the clock is to check to see how long ago the baby ate. You didn't expect the hospital to be so comfortable but you think you might stay for as long as you possibly can. You think that this is the easiest it is ever going to be and you are right.

The baby is sleeping so you do too. When you wake up two hours later you panic, not knowing what you've missed. But there is your husband, holding the baby. He looks at you and laughs out loud. The baby is putting a curse on me, he says. The new day begins.

It's Fall

2010-10-24T22:24:00.005-05:00

and we've been doing Fall things.

lining up dominoes in the shape of a ghost - he did this himself!

oh yes, Kai has a costume too.

Sweet Daze

2010-10-21T21:56:00.003-05:00

I caught Kai watching Sesame Street the other day. This is the expression he wears every time Elmo's World comes on. I think he's in love with that little red monster.

Shopping and a Question

2010-10-16T15:54:00.000-05:00

Do you remember a few months ago when I did that giveaway to CSN stores? (CSN stores is a collection of online stores that sell a wide variety of products, like dining sets, pet supplies, and shoes.) They've contacted me again and asked if I'd like to review an item for them. I thought about it for a while and decided that, yes, I would like to review an item for them. This was heavily influenced by the fact that they are sending me a $40 gift certificate to put towards the purchase of any item I choose to review. I'm still deciding, but I've narrowed my choices down to two things: dishes or sheets. Exciting, right?

These are the dishes we registered for when we got married. We have an odd collection of them - something like 6 bowls, 4 mugs, 6 small plates, and 4 big plates. It would be nice to add an item or two to our collection. I was pretty surprised to see that CSN stores carries them., because they've been hard to find.

I could also go with some blue bed sheets. We have a blue comforter and blue and green curtains and...red bed sheets left over from a very poor decorating decision. It looks kind of ridiculous, but we're on a budget over here, and new sheets haven't been a priority. But if you are offering me free sheets, they might rise to the top of the list.

This got me thinking of other things we need to buy - like a bed for Kai. At 2 1/2 I think he's starting to mentally outgrow his crib. Yesterday he tried to take a nap in Jett's bed, for example. It must be frustrating for him - every morning Jett wakes up, gets dressed, and comes in to our room. A few minutes later Kai starts calling to us to get him out of his crib. When they have trouble falling asleep at night, Jett gets up and comes and talks to us. Kai is left to call to us from his crib. Kai does so many more things than Jett did at his age - Kai tags along at preschool and he plays with the four and five-year-olds on the playground, but once he's in that crib, he's back to babyhood. (Which, by the way, is fine with me. I like to have at least one of them contained at all times). In addition to this, Jett wants bunk beds. I personally am not ready for bunk beds, because I'm afraid of Jett falling down the ladder when he wakes up in the middle of the night. But I've been doing some research and I've found something called loft beds. I'm sure they're not new, maybe you all have known about them your whole life. But I just figured out what they were, which is essentially a bed on stilts - that is not as high as a bunk bed. The loft beds don't come with a lower bunk, but couldn't I put a mattress for Kai on the ground underneath the loft bed? Then Jett wouldn't be so high off the ground but it would still be fun for him, and we'd save floor space, like you do with bunk beds. Or is there a reason someone shouldn't sleep underneath a loft bed? Do you know? Seriously. If you know anything about this, please leave me a comment. I need your help.

Now, finally, after you've slogged your way through this most exciting post, here is a picture for your viewing pleasure. The boys can be very snuggly at bedtime.

Pledging Allegiance

2010-10-13T23:09:00.002-05:00

First off, I feel compelled to say that if I had a flag of Chile we'd be waving that tonight. Just amazing.

-----------------------------------------------

Last week at preschool Jett had the honor of holding the flag while the class performed their daily ritual of saying the Pledge of Allegiance. He was so excited about this responsibility that Kai and I stayed to watch. Here is our proud little patriot.

Trucks

2010-10-12T21:44:00.003-05:00

One of my boys' favorite activities is playing in the car, which is a shame, because I hardly ever let them do it. I used to let Jett do it all of the time, but I'm a million times busier these days and am not content to sit on the sidewalk while the kids bang around in there, leaving footprints all over the seats and handprints all over the windows. So when our friends in the 'burbs invited us to join them at their neighborhood "Touch a Truck" event, we hurried right over.

Cue the lights, cue the music, the heavens just opened up, right over a mall parking lot.

The mall parking lot was full of more trucks than I have ever seen at one time in my entire life. Fire trucks, dump trucks, tow trucks, ambulances, snow plows, garbage trucks, trucks I don't even know the name of, and even a helicopter. Doors were flung open and the kids were all over the trucks, climbing in and out, sitting in the seats, flipping the switches, honking the horns, honking the horns, honking the horns.....

The horns were a problem. It was so noisy that Jett kept his hands over his ears, and would not take them off even to climb in or out of a truck. Those trucks are so big. BIG, people. I had no idea how big they were. A street cleaning truck doesn't look that huge from my third-story window. Climbing into every truck required climbing up at least two steps, and those steps felt taller than my shoulder.

Anyway, we clearly needed a solution for Jett, which was to stick a wad of tissue into each of his hears. Finally he was "hands-free" ad we could get down to the business of climbing. He started to relax. He started to get in to it. So much so that he stood quiet and still in a crowd of people under the blazing sun for 10 minutes - without even asking for a snack - waiting for the firemen to start their demonstration of how they rescue someone from an overturned car.

(Did I mention that Jett wants to be a fireman when he grows up? But not just a regular fireman. He wants to be a fat fireman. Go figure).

But as much fun as Jett had at this event, I think Kai really got the most out of it. He just looked so fantastically satisfied at it all. He spent 10 minutes in one truck without any other kids asking to come in, and he was completely content. At the end of the day he and Jett were both flithy- from the pavement and the sweat and the dirt on those huge tires that they had to keep running their hands over. Their little legs were indented with grids from the steps they climbed up and down - a foot on the first step, a shin on the other, careful, careful. They were in heaven....in heaven in trucks at the mall.

Our personal playground

2010-10-09T20:51:00.003-05:00

The other day the boys and I took some balls to the school yard across the street and spent an hour running after them. The balls were all at least as big as my fist, and some were bigger. Nevertheless, Kai thought one had slipped through the grates, and he spent an unreasonable amount of time peering down into the darkness, trying to find it.

We've been playing in the school yard since Jett could walk, and I've written about it a few times (here, here, and here, for example). I don't think I've mentioned the various safety hazards we have to watch out for, like an enticing but probably bug-and-litter ridden sand pit and raised rectangles of grass surrounded by brick walls that would be perfect to fall from. There is also a big wooden deck, serving no obvious purpose, that is full of jagged holes and rotting boards. The deck would be perfect to play on if it was safe, because it is right next to the giant grates that the boys like to throw rocks through, but we've always had to keep them off of it until now....

...because now it is all gone! Excellent! Getting rid of that wooden platform gives me one less thing to say "No" too. Thank you, CPS.

On a side note, the other day Charlie, the boys, and I were reading a book about animals that live in your backyard. I mentioned that we don't have a backyard, and Jett piped up, "No, but we have a school!" Right on, kiddo. Right on.

Appendix:1 Wardrobe Challenge: 0

2010-09-09T15:22:00.002-05:00

I spent Saturday in the ER, got my appendix taken out on Sunday, and I've been in leisure clothes ever since. I pulled the boys out of the challenge because I'm relying on Charlie and my mother-in-law and my mom to dress them, and making them remember that they can only wear 15 items, and to plan accordingly, is more of a burden than I care to put on a care taker. I suppose I'm technically still in the 15:30 challenge because loungewear doesn't count against your 15 items, but my belly is so swollen from surgery, I don't know when I'll be back to wearing regular clothes. Actually, now that I think about it, I've been wearing the same 3 items since Sunday, so I guess I'm conducting my own, tougher wardrobe challenge - except of course, I haven't left the house.

Currently Kai is crying in his crib while my mother-in-law and I try to nap and Jett is at school and my feet are freezing and I try not to sound too cranky on the blog, but there it is. Blegh.

Kai wants me and I can't pick him up and he doesn't know why and I'll be better soon but in the mean time it's plain depressing.

15:30 Challenge, Day 3

2010-09-03T20:14:00.003-05:00

Here is a picture of the boys at the park with their cousin, Ellie. It's hard to see the details of what they are wearing. Jett is wearing a t-shirt that he painted himself, and Kai is wearing a t-shirt from Threadless. The picture of me is totally blah, and I took it at the end of the day, so you get no picture of my tired* face, but a lovely view of our bathroom sink. Like I said, the hardest thing about this challenge is posting a picture of myself everyday.

Why am I so tired. you ask? Well, the long story is.....prior to the Hall Family Vacation Jett was sleeping on the floor of our room every night. We got in to that habit because it was just so easy to get him to bed if we let him sleep in our room. He fell asleep within minutes of laying down in our room every night, with all of the lights on, even if we were folding laundry, or working on the computer, or cleaning the closet. He just fell asleep, it was so easy.

But part of us really wanted him to sleep in his own bed.

At one point Charlie started talking to Jett about one day having bunk beds. Jett started telling Aunt Heather about the bunk beds he would have one day, and she mentioned that he had to sleep in his own bed first, if he wanted to get bunk beds. And that was all it took. After vacation he started sleeping in his own bed. (Just another example of the influence my sister Heather wields around).

The only problem is that every night between 3 and 4 a.m., he wakes up and comes in to our room and asks he to rub his back. So I follow him back to his room and rub his back for a minute and he falls back asleep. Kind of like a newborn. Sometimes it takes me half an hour or an hour to fall back asleep myself. Then he's back at my side between 6:00 and 7:00 in the morning, whining, "I want to plaaaaaayyyy with you. I want to plaaaaaayyyyy with you." Mornings are difficult because if I'm really tired I turn on the TV and then we have to battle over that later. And if I agree to play with him I'm more sleepy than attentive and kind of crabby, so he gets crabby. I'm not sure how to get him out of the back-rubbing habit, because I don't want to upset him in the middle of the night. He's always kind of out of sorts, plus he shares a room with Kai, and I don't want to wake Kai up.

And that's the story of why I'm so tired and therefore unwilling to put my face on the internet tonight.

I will write about more interesting things soon, promise.

Good night!

15:30 Challenge, Day 2

2010-09-02T20:50:00.004-05:00

So far the hardest thing about this challenge is taking a picture of myself that is good enough that I'm willing to post it online. Jett took my picture today.

Our outfits today were very basic, because I thought we'd be playing in the rain. Thankfully after we went to the dry cleaners and Trader Joe's, and after the air-conditioner repairman was finished repairing the a/c, the rain stopped. We spent the late afternoon playing in the space between the puddles and the sun.

It was an especially good couple of hours of playing outside. The boys were both in great moods. We played across the street in the school yard for two hours with two balls, two hula hoops, and their bikes. Plus there was a dad with his baby and, separately, two high school girls hanging out at the school. We all must have thought we were living in the south, because we chatted and talked the whole time while the boys played around us. Every now and then even Chicago feels like a small town.

15:30 Challenge, Day 1

2010-09-01T22:52:00.004-05:00

It's the end of the first day and Jett has Nutella all over his t-shirt. I don't think that kid is going to make it on 15 items of clothes for the month. I wore shorts all day, but changed into a dress for a work meeting in the evening. Three items of clothes worn on just the first day. However, the good news is that I picked a dress to wear to the wedding this weekend, which leaves me one more item of clothing for a total of 15 items. I chose a black ruffled tank with sequins.

Here are the outfits for the day. I think they may be the most out of focus, unflattering pictures I've ever posted on the blog. In fact, I'm not even posting the picture of me because it is so bad. (I wore a blue button down short sleeve shirt and khaki shorts most of the day, and my brown dress in the evening). Good thing the kids are so cute no matter what kind of picture I take. By the way, Jett's t-shirt made the cut because he painted it himself and he loves it. Plus if he had to go a month without wearing one of his painted t-shirts, we'd lose the challenge on the first day. Wait until you see his other painted t-shirt that made the cut.

15:30

2010-08-31T23:22:00.003-05:00

The wardrobe challenge. It's all over the place these days. The first time I heard about it, the challenge was to wear only 6 items of clothing for an entire month. It counted pajamas and work out wear, everything. Pretty extreme. Last week my sister forwarded me an easier challenge that a different blogger gave to her readers: wear only 15 wardrobe items over the course of 30 days. It's a little more relaxed, but not entirely easy. Less puritan, more realistic. So...I'm taking the challenge, and so are Jett and Kai. I'm doing it myself because it's something fun to do long-distance with my sister. I'm making Jett and Kai do it to keep it interesting. Here are the rules:

1. Select 15 items from your closet: These can include shirts, trousers, jeans, cardigans, dresses, etc — in short, clothing. Make your final selections by August 30th.

2. Use unlimited accessories: Remix your outfits relying on all of your jewelry, shoes, scarves, outerwear (blazers/suit jackets do not equal outerwear!), and belts.

3. Captain Obvious: your pajamas and lounge-at-home clothing do not count, undergarments do not count, gym clothes do not count.

4. Make the COMMIT LIST: Document your list on your blog, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, loose-leaf paper, etc. Feel free to snap photographs of the items, list them — get creative! This is your commit list, and you can’t stray from it. Stain on shirt? DEAL WITH IT. Cat ripped your pants? Get a SEWING KIT.

5. Keep a diary: Document your outfits each day, whether it be via an “outfit of the day” photo or a log of what you’ve worn and how you’ve mixed it up.

6. Ask for help!: Call your friends, pen a blog. Don’t be afraid to ask friends for help on creative ideas on keeping your wardrobe fresh!

15 wardrobe items only for 30 days! Can you do it? Yes you can!

I just spent the last 30 minutes picking out my 15 items. I don't really like my wardrobe right now (a symptom of living on Main Street and having no natural fashion sense), so I spent the entire time trying to decide which items of clothing I hated the least. It was kind of depressing, and I'm less excited about this challenge than I was before. On the other hand, I've pretty much cleaned out my closet for the season, so that's something.

To keep it interesting, I am committing Jett and Kai to the challenge. They each get 15 items to wear over the month of September. This will be much harder on me than keeping to my own 15 items, since they are so messy and sweaty and I generally change their clothes at least once a day already. Add to that Jett's new habit of chewing on his shirt until it is sopping wet, and his preference for picking out his own clothes, and you've got yourself a challenge.

Wondering what I picked out? Here are the pictures.

Amy: 2 khaki shorts, 2 jeans, 5 shirts, 1 dress, 1 cardigan, 2 lightweight sweaters = 13 items. I'll add one or two more items once I figure out what I'm wearing to a wedding this coming weekend.

Kai: 2 long sleeve shirts, 6 t-shirts, 2 jeans, 4 shorts, 1 sweatshirt

Jett: 5 shirts for school, 2 shirts for play, 3 shorts for school, 2 shorts for play, 2 jeans, 1 long sleeve shirt. I don't know if he'll make it through September without a sweatshirt, but I can't picture giving any other items up to make room for one.

I'll post a picture of our outfits every day, although now that I write it, blogging about it seems a bit vain....who cares what I wear? What? Oh, yes, that's right, I write a BLOG. About MYSELF.

Ahem.

I also have a handful of stories to share too, so consider this a kick-off to a month of daily blogging. Here we go!

Boo-boos: A discussion

2010-08-17T16:55:00.000-05:00

Although I'm sure no one finds this as charming as me, I wish I could upload the entire 4 minute video here. You'd see the beginning of their sweet conversation. You're probably thanking me that I only uploaded the 50 seconds that my phone edited for you.

Here are the boys, examining their vacation wounds.

Gymnastics

2010-08-15T16:44:00.000-05:00

This summer Jett took gymnastics at one of the local parks. He seemed to love it, but since the parents couldn't come in to the class with the kids, I never really knew what went on. Wednesday was the last day, and all of the parents were invited in to watch. Now I know why he is so sweaty at the end of each class! I hope to sign both Jett and Kai up in the fall.

On the balance beam.

Which one is the gymnastics student?

Washing Hands

2010-08-13T16:41:00.000-05:00

A picture tutorial.

Hall Family Vacation

2010-08-11T16:24:00.004-05:00

I highly recommend taking a vacation at Torch Lake, MI. You might spend your whole time trying to keep up with your four-year-old who rides a bike with training wheels - on the ROAD and isn't afraid of the water anymore. But one day your brother will take that kid down to the basement and teach him how to play video games, and you'll finally get a nap.

The lake was beautiful and the week was fun. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Aunt Heather brings all the best toys, as usual.

Just throwin' my arm 'round my brother.

Look who popped up in the fern prairie!

Ohmygawwwd, Mom! No more pictures!

Owen!

The scenic interlude. Look at how the lake changes to turquoise out there. Gorgeous. The water was as clear as drinking water.

Those are some cute cousins.

Just me, memorizing the weight of him.

What the ?

2010-08-10T09:14:00.003-05:00

I'm just wondering why did all of this language start? Like "stupid", as in "stupid mom" and "ohmygawwwd".

I send him to his room for saying 'stupid', so he has gotten clever. Yesterday he spent all day trying to say 'stupid' without having to go to his room. He kept insisting that he was saying 'supid, not stupid'. I told him that if he was going to try to be clever he should at least say 'cupid'. Now when he's mad he says, "Cupid Mom!"

Ha! I kind of like it, but I don't know how that's going to go over in preschool, OMG.

In other news, I've been busy doing a bunch of math over here. I'll be back later with vacation pictures - you know you want to see them.

Our first neighborhood picnic a success!

2010-07-25T23:28:00.002-05:00

I am one of two co-chairs of Chicago's Neighborhood Parent Network's West Town Club. Both my co-chair, Kelly, and I are are new volunteers. We've been emailing and talking on the phone for a few weeks now, and we finally met each other in person last week. Today we held our first neighborhood event - a picnic in Wicker Park.

A lot of families came, thank goodness. Kelly and I and our families were the only ones there for the first half hour, and I was getting a little nervous. But more and more families kept arriving and spreading out blankets and they were all so nice and talkative and friendly and best of all, live in my neighborhood. (Oh, to have friends in my neighborhood! Parent-friends!) Pretty soon the lawn was covered in blankets and the blankets were covered with parents, and the parents were occupied with their strollers, dogs, and babies.

Babies everywhere! Jett was the oldest kid there, and Kai was the second oldest by about a year. I had packed a soccer ball, bubbles, and temporary tattoos for the kids - and none of them were old enough to use them. Except my kids, of course, but they didn't stick around. They dragged Charlie from soccer field to playground, to farmer's market and back again, while I lounged on my blanket and talked with the parents.

A few new moms were getting ready to go back to work. Some were trying to breastfeed discreetly under blankets and blouses and covers. Dads were shaking bottles and bouncing babies. Some parents were trying to get their babies to nap in their strollers so they could stay and keep socializing. Almost all of the parents were looking for childcare and debating the merits of nannies and day care centers and home day cares, and au pairs.

I felt...experienced. I felt like handing out advice, but I didn't, because those are personal decisions and I'm still a stranger. I sat in the sun and listened to their conversation and.....I secretly rejoiced that at least I don't have to worry about breastfeeding and two-naps-a-day and maternity-leave-ending anymore. Everyone should have a chance to remember what they don't have to worry about any more.

Then I looked up to see that Jett had accidentally kicked his soccer ball at the back of a woman lying in the sun and Kai had spilled his bubbles all over his feet while he was trying to sneak away, and....well, silly me, for feeling so smug.

Anyway, I can't wait to see all those families at our next West Town Club event. I better start planning....

Gossip

2010-07-21T22:39:00.007-05:00

Psst! Did you hear my mom got a new job?

Part-time. Flexible hours. Works from home.

Yeah, that's 'cause she loves me.

She does most of her work after midnight.

Shut up.

VACATION!

2010-07-19T21:55:00.005-05:00

We were at the Indiana Dunes. The weather was perfect and the Johnsons were...loud, hilarious, patient, and sandy.

Geotrax on the deck. Kai spent hours on the deck playing trains. Here he is with playmates Uncle Chris and second cousins Erin and Sean.

Second cousins, Erin and Jett. This was their 12,537th card game in a row, and Jett won every one. Thank you, Erin.

Uncle Dave! and Kai's belly.

Cousins Jett and Ellie, in one of their sweetest moments of the week, enjoying a chat before playing putt-putt.

Uncle Chris pitching. Charlie would like you to notice how Jett is lifting his foot, just as he is supposed to.

We really did spend a lot of time at the beach, I just couldn't stop to take a picture because I was constantly chasing Jett, who was suddenly much braver in the water than I was prepared for. It was a classic summer vacation full of sun, sand, and tantrums. Can't wait until next year!

Quiet in the House

2010-07-18T01:43:00.000-05:00

Capturing a few minutes of cooperative play.

Dancing

2010-07-16T01:37:00.002-05:00

The other day I took the boys to Millenium Park to see Miss Lori's Campus. The boys love her CD. When he saw her in person Kai started dancing in his seat, and was onstage by the second song. Look at him dancing!

He kind of stole the show from Miss Lori, and I wish I had more pictures of his attention-getting moves, but I spent most of the show pulling him off of the actual stage. The kid has aspirations!

Sometimes they are really sweet to each other

2010-07-15T01:33:00.001-05:00

Gazing

2010-07-14T01:30:00.001-05:00

Second Cousins

2010-07-13T01:28:00.001-05:00

All born two years ago within a month of each other.

Keegan, Kai, Cameron, and Quinn

I'm not saying you don't ever have to buy him another present....

2010-07-12T01:24:00.000-05:00

....but you're set for a while.

Aunt Heather and Union Station

2010-07-11T01:20:00.000-05:00

Having a chat.

There's no use in wasting this expanse of marble.

Their Shoes Showed Signs of Red Georgia Clay

2010-07-10T00:59:00.000-05:00

and oh how I miss that clay.

Well, not really. But I sure miss the people. So please forgive me for bragging that we spent the weekend with these old friends. They brought with them all the peace and adventure and humor that I remember.

(Sorry about the closed eyes, Moses. My bad!)

I don't know what Kai is doing in this picture, but I can tell you that he loved Mark, and spontaneously ran up to him (well, to his shins) for hugs.

Join me for a picnic in the park!

2010-07-09T00:34:00.001-05:00

If you live in Chicago, I can't think of anything else you should do on July 25th except come and meet me at Wicker Park. Buy lunch at the Farmer's Market, spread out a blanket on the south lawn, and then lose your kids in the playground. It'll be fun!

I am one of the new co-chairs for the Neighborhood Parents Network West Town Neighborhood Club. My co-chair, Kelly, and I have just planned our first event. Come on out and join us!

West Town Neighborhood Club
The West Town Neighborhood Club includes the neighborhoods of Bucktown, Wicker Park and Ukrainian Village. We have events once or twice a month at kid-friendly local businesses and area parks, providing an opportunity for parents and children to meet up, hang out, discover nearby places and make new friends in a laid-back, comfortable atmosphere. Our group attracts both working and stay-at-home parents, so we try to plan both weekday and weekend get-togethers.

When: Sunday, July 25th, 2010, 11:30 am - 1:30pm
Where: Wicker Park (south edge lawn), 1425 N. Damen Ave, Chicago, www.chicagoparkdistrict.com
Parking: Street parking - or take Blue Line to Damen stop
Who: Members, Non-Members and Children
Cost: FREE
Maximum # of Attendees: No limit
RSVP: Required on the Events RSVP Form.

Independence Day Recap

2010-07-08T00:01:00.004-05:00

This was the kids' first fireworks show. They loved it.

We spent the evening with friends in Oak Park. Our kids aren't together that often, and their kids are a few years older than Jett, but Jett loves those boys when he's with them. We walked to the fireworks separately, and on our way Jett decided that he would share his snacks with them. This is a significant sign of friendship for a four-year-old, at least for our four-year-old. Then he made sure to sit next to them on the blanket - and share his snacks, which meant dividing up his little bag of fruit snacks three ways (such sacrifice)! Midway through the fireworks display he exclaimed to me, "This is so much fun sitting here with my friends watching the fireworks!" I hope I always remember that line, and how he said it. He was completely thrilled.

Kai had a great time too. He spent the first half of the fireworks display cuddled up next to our friends, who he really has barely met. I guess he knows good people when he sees them. I could barely take my eyes off of him to watch the fireworks, because he was so animated. He raised his arms in the air and screamed and sighed, with the rest of the crowd, in delight. He spent the second half of the show alternating between my lap and Charlie's, and laughing his cute head off with every firework explosion. Also, hand that kid a glow stick and he will show you how to boogie, no music required. It was a great night. I hope you had a good night too.

Just look at this kid!

2010-07-06T23:45:00.002-05:00

I hope you all had a happy Independence Day. I'll write more soon!

If you don't have a kid in preschool you will think I'm crazy...

2010-06-22T01:30:00.000-05:00

...for spending so much time thinking about what class I should put Jett in and which class all of his friends are in. But that is because preschool doesn't make up most of your social life.

__________________________

On the last day of preschool we parents presented the teachers with a framed piece of artwork by the kids. Jett’s lead teacher was so touched that she started to cry. When I hugged his other teacher goodbye, tears welled up in her eyes. His teacher called our class “a breath of fresh air”. She said we were a family. She might have said that to all of the classes, but still, I think most of us believed her.

Our kids were signed up to be spread out between the different class next year. There are three different time slots to choose from, and most of us went with the logical approach. After much hemming and hawing, we chose the time slot that worked best for our own family. It all seemed fine on paper, until the last day of class. As I mentioned above, it was a little emotional. We were a little wistful. Some of us were teary.

Some of us wondered what the heck we were doing signing up for an earlier class when so many of our kid's friends had stayed in the late class. Some of us started to think that maybe what was best for our family was to get all of us in the same class again. This year was so much fun. We wanted our kids to stay with their friends. We wanted to stay with our friends.

So on the last day of school those of us who had signed up for the earlier class next year asked if we could get our kids back in to the late class, so we could be with all of our friends. We were those parents. I was that parent.

To explain, no new preK parent wants the late class. It messes up nap schedules and pushes dinner back to late in the evening. None of us wanted it last year either, but we were in it because we were the new families, and none of the second year families would trade down.

Now we know better. The late class has benefits. Our kids play on the playground after school and they are often the only ones there because school got out hours ago and all of the older kids have gone home. By the time we get our kids home, there's just time for dinner, bath, and bed. No more entertaining, no more scattering toys all over the house. The day is done. Plus, we don't have to be out of the house until the next afternoon.

Now we know better, so this year we traded down. Our teacher, bless her soul, made the phone calls at the eleventh hour and found families who wanted to trade. It was extra work for her, but we probably made those families' year. And vice-versa. School next year is going to be great.

Playing tag on the playground, with the help of a dad.

Walking in to school with his love interest.

Buddies

Last Day of School

2010-06-20T14:39:00.000-05:00

September '09

June '10

Yes, I planned it.

Jett is Four!

2010-06-18T14:18:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday, Jett! Now you are four years old!

You are so proud to be four. Or as you like to say, “Now I am almost five!” That’s you – always thinking ahead.

Things were pretty relaxed on your actual birthday. We took a walk with your new binoculars (!) and ended up at Building Blocks Toy Store, which was having a party of their own. You took a big step and let a stranger paint a butterfly on your cheek. I was so proud! Then you went to Letizia’s for lunch with Daddy. Later that day we went to a surprise birthday party for a friend of ours. You and Kai spent the evening running around their backyard in the rain. It was a good birthday.

You also dressed yourself that day.

We had two parties for you, Jett. Two! We would have liked to combine them in to one, but the parties were supposed to be outside, and our place is too small to hold the entire guest list if it rains. And boy, did it rain.

Your first party was with your neighborhood friends and cousins at the Do Division Street Fest, where we danced to Jeanie B and the Jelly Beans. It was fun and chaotic to throw blankets on the sidewalk in the middle of a crowded street festival. Then I busted out the art project for all of your friends to do, because it seemed like a good idea to add one more distraction to an already completely distracting event. But it went pretty well and you all had fun. Jeannie B sang happy birthday to you, as did every stranger standing around us. Jeannie B told me to lift you up so everyone could see you, and I did, with some hesitation. But you were fine! Last year you wouldn’t let us sing Happy Birthday to you and this year a whole street full of strangers did as I held you up in the middle of them so they could see you better. What a day! We ate subs and bounced in the inflatable castle and danced to the music and piled your presents in the stroller after you opened them. Then the sky opened up and we crammed the cupcakes down our throats and threw the blankets in the strollers and dashed for our cars/buses/homes – and still, we all got soaked, every single guest at the party. Maybe Kai most of all, wrapped up in Aunt Jenny’s arms the entire walk home (thanks, Aunt Jenny!). The presents stayed dry of course, as did the cupcakes. We had priorities, you know.

Dancing on the bubble wrap with Christopher

Baby Colin made it!

Your second party was with your school friends, at our house. You wanted to invite your entire class, and so did we, but thank goodness we didn’t, because it rained during this party too. We had 10 kids and 9 adults (including Uncle Nathan) in our little home, and you know what? It went great. We painted t-shirts out on the fire escape and decorated sun visors on our (new!) kitchen table. Then when you all started to get a little nutty I turned on some music – the same CD that you dance to at school – and you all hopped up and started to dance! It was priceless, watching you all dance the same moves to those songs, so uninhibited and confident. I loved it. You opened presents while everyone else ate cake, and then Pete busted out his guitar and sang some songs, and then the rain stopped so we went outside to hula-hoop. As you know, you are a hula-hoop star.

Painting t-shirts

Dancing

That is a “100” candle on your cake, as you requested, because 100 is your favorite number.

Kai isn’t too bad either.

We have really spent some serious time celebrating your birthday, Jett, and you’ve loved it. You told me that each party was “the best party in the wuld.” I totally agree.

Happy Birthday, Jett. We love you.

Walking on Egg Shells

2010-06-09T22:17:00.004-05:00

Jett wakes up at 6:00 every morning and wants to play. He doesn't want to watch tv or snuggle or read books. He wants to play. I used to wake up happy, so eager to see him in the morning, even though every morning he woke up grumpy. Now he is happy in the morning and I just want 10 more minutes of sleep.

__________________________________

I recently stumbled on a way to wake him up from his nap so he will be happy. (He naps in my bed. He still, as always, wakes up grumpy from his nap - that hasn't changed). I used to sit on the edge of my bed and talk to him and rub his arm and kiss his face to wake him up for school. He hated it. One afternoon I napped with him and woke him up by draping my arm across him, since I was laying next to him. He giggled. Now before I wake him up I just crawl in to bed next to him. He wakes up and he smiles and I breathe a sigh of relief.

___________________________________

Last week Sunday I was supposed to babysit for my friend the morning of Jett's third (of four) birthday party (pictures coming soon). I would have been watching my two kids and hers - all great friends. She had just babysat my kids all day the day before (Friday), and while I know Jett had a blast, he was still recovering from, I think, the effort of having so much fun. I was eager to help my friend by babysitting for her, but on Saturday I was concerned that Jett wouldn't be in good form by the time his birthday party rolled around Sunday afternoon. She was like, "Isn't his birthday party tomorrow?" And that's when I realized that other parents don't do this. They don't get so worried about their kid having enough down time in between play dates. Their kids get worn-out by a day-long play date. Mine gets stressed-out.

____________________________________

Jett's preschool gets out in the afternoon and a handful of the parents stay and let their kids play on the playground after school. It's fun for the kids and for the parents, and I love it. We stand around and talk at the end of the day while the kids run and play. If only I didn't have to stay within 30 yards of Jett the whole time. Because I'll just admit it, he is the first to hit/push/collapse in an angry heap on the playground.

The other parents seem to be able to stand on the periphery of the playground and talk and keep a sufficient eye on their kid. But I have to walk away in the middle of conversations because I lose sight of Jett and the kid can get angry in the blink of an eye. I've tried warnings, time-outs, sitting on the bench, taking a break in the car, but the fact is, after a little push we have to leave. His behavior doesn't get better. We just have to leave. I don't know any other parent who has had to leave the playground because their child was so aggressive. Sure all of the kids get in to tussles once in a while, but only one kid gets in to nearly every one, every time. I don't know any other parent on the playground who goes through this and so no one knows how much I hate it.

When he's really grumpy I can't take him to the playground at all. I hate missing the playground.

______________________________________

One of Jett's teachers told me that she thinks Jett gets aggressive when he doesn't have the words for what he wants to say. I accepted that but didn't quite understand what she meant until I saw a sorting exercise he did with his teacher:

Jett asked me to stay with him at school the other day, so I did. His teacher called him and two of his friends over to her table to do a couple of "exercises". She gave each child a handful of plastic shapes in various colors and she told them to each sort their own pile by color. Jett was the first one done. He stacked them in to one pile and put the yellow ones on the bottom, the green ones on top of them, then the red, and finally the blue ones on the very top. His teacher asked him to tell her what he did. He said something like, "There's the yellow, there's the green, there's the red, and the blue on top." Then she asked his friend to tell her what she did, and this little girl explained in vivid and precise detail exactly what she had done. She gave too much detail if that is possible. She wrote a novel right there on the spot. She easily spoke 10 sentences to every one of his.

Maybe it is a communication learning curve. Maybe it is more of a development stage than a personality trait. I mean, he is a really sweet kid. A sweet kid with a mean right hook.

____________________________________

I went to talk to this organization that runs play groups and parenting classes. I talked to them on the phone 4 or 5 times before going in for an "intake" meeting. I spent over an hour with one of their staff members while my kids played in the preschool room. At the end of the hour the staff member told me the cost of the program. I thought it was $400 total for three months, but actually it was $400 per month, and so I did the only thing someone would do who no longer qualifies for the reduced price because after a year and a half her family is employed again: I burst in to tears. Then I went to pick up my kids from the playgroup to find them covered in cookie crumbs with their mouths stained yellow from frosting. wtf? I will not pay $1200 for you to stuff my kids with more sugar in 2 hours than I feed them in two days, thank you very much. Also, you didn't let me observe the preschool room before leaving my kids there. Also in 4 or 5 phone calls I think you could have made sure I understood the cost before charging me $30 for an intake meeting and wasting 2 hours.

___________________________________

One of Jett's teachers gave me some "cheat sheets" as I call them. One is a laminated sheet of paper with four faces on it, each showing a different emotion: happy, sad, tired, angry. The other is a flip chart of options that Jett can choose to help him calm down. She made one flip chart of options he can do at home (Take a deep breath, Count to 10, Get a drink of water, Sit on the couch, Play in your room, etc.). She also made a chart of options he can do when we are out and about (Sit on the bench, sit in the car, etc.). They are pocket-sized so I can take them with me. The idea is that when he gets out of control, I am to ask him what he is feeling (he can point to one of the faces) and why. This is to work on identifying his feelings, practicing talking about them, and finding better ways to manage them. Then I give him the choices of how to cool down. Jett was thrilled with this game, and spent the entire dinner hour pretending he was one emotion or the other, and then choosing an option to "cool down", and then leaving the dinner table to go do it (Play in your room was his favorite). By the end of dinner I needed to cool down. Sadly, chugging a beer was not one of the options on the chart. Still, I'm optimistic about the charts. Also, thankful for such a committed teacher.

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One day a couple of weeks ago Jett hit a little kid, who looked about two years old, who was standing on the playground in front of the slide. I jumped up there, carried Jett off the play structure and to the car, calling apologies to the other mom. Later I asked Jett why he hit that little boy. He told me he hit that boy because he was blocking the slide. I told him that he wasn't trying to block the slide, he was just standing in front of it. I asked Jett why he didn't just ask him to move. Jett told me he didn't talk to him because he didn't know him. He said it matter-of-fact, like of course - no one talks to kids they don't know.

So I reminded Jett that he didn't know any of his school friends until he met them on the first day, and isn't he so glad he talked to them? I told him he can talk to kids he doesn't know. I told him what to say if he needed to ask someone to move out of the way. I told him how to say, "Hi". Really, I told him how to say that and we practiced. We practiced saying "hi". We took turns being Jett, and being The Kid Jett Doesn't Know. It was goofy and we laughed, and we did it.

The next day we saw our neighbor, Rene. Rene is a nice man in his, I don't know, 60s say, and we have lived next door to him for maybe 6 years now. We saw Rene and out of the blue, for the first time in 4 years, Jett said, "Hi" to him. (Kai has been saying "Hi" to him for months). Rene was wonderful. He solemnly shook Jett's hand. I wanted to hug him. Now Jett says "hi" to everyone who walks by us on the street. Today he wanted our neighbor to walk by again just so he could say "hi" to him again. I'm thrilled, but holy crap, if I had known that all I had to do was teach him how to say "hi" I would have done it months ago. I had no idea I needed to teach him how to, or that it is ok to, say "hi". What else do I need to teach him? Isn't there a list of these things somewhere?

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Somebody who knows about these things told me he just needs more "modeling". She told me to make up stories of kids doing things he does - like trying to go down the slide first, for example, and in the story, have the kids work it out the right way. So I did, and she was right. He gobbles those stories up. He wants to know how they got down the slide. Who is going first next time? He is happy when they work it out and take turns going first. He tells me stories of similar situations in his own life. I can't believe it.

I finally, and accidentally, came up with two main characters for these recurring stories: two boys named Cory and Fossil. Although once Jett told me that Cory is a girl, so it really doesn't matter. (Also, if you want to know how I came up with the name Fossil, it went like this: I thought of the name Cory which reminded me of coral, which kind of looks like a fossil to me, and fossil kind of sounds like coral which sounds like Cory, thus Cory and Fossil). Cory and Fossil get in to all sorts of predicaments and their moms are always kind and fair. Tonight Jett told me a story of Cory and Fossil, which kind of corresponded to one of the arguments we had today, although it was probably just coincidence...or are things starting to come together?

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Tonight I picked Jett up from school and he was mad that he couldn't take a toy from school home, and then he hit his brother, and then we skipped the playground and went home, and then he kept hitting his brother and hitting me so he went into his room for a time out about a gazillion times and eventually he stomped angrily to bed.

I followed him in to his room and sat down next to his bed. He told me a story about Cory and Fossil and asked me to rub his back and told me he loves me this much (arms spread wide until they reached behind his back). I told him I loved him even more than that. That made him mad and he punched his pillow with his fist because he said I can't love him more than he loves me, because he loves the most.

Oh that kid!

Holiday!

2010-06-02T09:04:00.000-05:00

We love a long weekend. This time we drove up to Green Bay to spend some time with Charlie's parents and Uncle Will. It was a great weekend and the boys did everything they wanted to do:

Running through sprinklers? Check.

Playing in a sandbox with a bunch of other kids? Check.
Playing nicely with the new kids? DOUBLE CHECK!

Riding bikes? Check Check!

Using power tools? Check!

(He is a big kid now, operating the leaf blower, and he knows it. Just look at that sweet face).

Gardening? Check!

Celebrating birthdays at Happy Joes? Check! Check!

Thanks, Grammy and Papa. We had a wonderful time!

Bikes

2010-06-01T08:53:00.000-05:00

I love taking the boys out on their bikes. It feels so much more fun that just going for a walk in the stroller. If Jett would ride more than 1/4 block without stopping to look at the ants, we might even get some place.

Even city-kids get to run through a sprinkler sometimes!

Haircut!

2010-05-31T08:44:00.003-05:00

I missed the curls even before they were gone, but it only took one 90 degree day to convince me that Kai would be much more comfortable with a "summer" cut.

Still cute!

Why the Kitchen is Still a Mess

2010-05-28T13:14:00.003-05:00

Last night I was babysitting for a 4 year old girl (did I tell you I got a very part-time babysitting job?). So I was babysitting her and marveling at how well-behaved she is when it dawned on me: Of course she is wellsbehaved. I'm playing with her. I'm not multitasking or putting away laundry or talking on the phone. I'm playing. (Her little brother was already asleep, which helped).

I decided to spend this morning playing with my kids. We played Dragon (where I am the dragon), we blew bubbles, rode bikes, and ran through a sprinkler (the kids, not me). We drank hot chocolate (the kids were freezing from the sprinkler) and ate lunch and now they are napping - asleep. Getting Jett to take a nap meant I had to promise him I would sleep next to him the whole time, but that's fine. Here I am in my bed, laying next to my sleeping child who did not yell, scream, or hit all day. Sleep, little guy, sleep.

Kai is TWO!

2010-05-21T23:05:00.006-05:00

Today was Kai's second birthday. All I wanted was a nice quiet day to celebrate him.

Unfortunately, our day was really noisy. The whining, the yelling, the sound of Jett's hands slapping my legs because he was so angry that I let Kai turn off the TV when he wanted to turn off the TV, silly me.

Yes, so Jett woke up at 6:00 am, crabby on Kai's birthday. At one point, before any of us were even dressed, he had knocked Kai over, kicked him, kicked me, hit me, and called me "bad mommy". So I picked him up and put him in Kai's crib, which he promptly climbed out of. That's when Charlie told me I shouldn't be angry, so of course I thanked him for his sage advice and snapped right out of it.

With Jett whining about the sky being blue and Kai whining from hunger, I scrapped the special waffle breakfast and doled out Life cereal, the usual. As I slammed the bowls down on the counter, somewhere in the back of my head my rational voice reminded me that despite the general grumpiness, we had to give Kai his birthday presents this morning rather than tonight, because I knew already that the boys would be going to bed early. I sucked it up, salvaged what was left of my birthday spirit and handed Kai his presents.

Kai was very cute.

Jett was very excited for Kai to unwrap the present that he picked out for him, I wonder why.

It had that symbol - a picture of a baby face with a slash through it - that Jett understands to mean that no babies can play with it. (Don't ask me - I wasn't the one who let Jett pick out that particular gift for Kai). Jett seemed almost too excited to point out that, "No babies can play with this, Mama. No babies can play with this!" I would say that was very strategic gift-giving, wasn't it?

Thankfully Charlie had the quick wit to tell Jett that Kai isn't a baby anymore. He's a little kid now. What?! Not my baby?! Bite your tongue, Charlie Johnson! Jett was shocked too. He exclaimed, over and over, "You're not a baby anymore Kai! You're not a baby anymore, Kai!" Jett seemed genuinely thrilled by it. (Kai, you are still a baby to me, you sweet thing).

Sharing the race track went ok.

At one point I plunked the boys down in the chair to watch a movie so I could clean up the chaos of the morning. They sat so quietly that I took the opportunity to record Kai's feet, his fingers, his hair. Ah, the baby-ness of my sweet baby. I soaked it in. I started to relax.

But then we went outside to ride Kai's new tricycle (love it!).

We were outside 30 minutes and Jett spent the entire time yelling at me because I pushed Kai over some speck in the sidewalk that he wanted to ride over first. It was insane. I guided the boys back to our front door in order to go inside and start their naps, when Jett locked me out of the building. (Not really - I had a key to the door, but it didn't work the first 5 times I tried it, and Jett was certainly trying to lock me out anyway). OMG. Kai and I played it calm and practiced on his new bike a few minutes before I finally wrangled the door open, but I didn't feel calm. I felt like screaming.

When I finally got the door open I picked up Jett, took Kai by the hand, walked them to the car. I strapped them in their seat belts, put the bikes away, drove the car around to the alley, went upstairs and got the diaper bag and school things, and dashed back to the car. Kai fell asleep in 5 minutes, but I had to drive for thirty minutes before Jett drifted off.

Then we were on to the second part of our day - school. Today Jett's class took a field trip by walking to a neighborhood park. Kai and I joined them because I knew Kai would love it. He loved it, and so did I.

Really, he loved it.

Keeping with the pattern of the day, Jett knocked over some kid (who wasn't even in his class) and hit him while he was down. Jett's saving grace (and mine) is that his teacher saw it and not me - so she handled it. I would have been mortified, except I was beaten down so much already. (Oh Kai, it's your birthday and I'm spending all of my energy on Jett!)

The evening was slightly better. We had chocolate cake and Kai blew out his candle before we even started singing - he knew just what to do! We lit it for him four times, he liked it so much - and then we lit it again for Jett. Candles are a hit! So you know, there were some sweet moments in the day.

The boys went to bed early and fell asleep fast and tomorrow is another day. Happy Birthday, little kid Kai. We love you.

Of course they did.

2010-05-13T22:49:00.001-05:00

And the winner is....

2010-05-12T00:01:00.000-05:00

Stacey! Stachay, Stacey, you won! You can thank Jett, he drew your name. CSN should be contacting you shortly. Enjoy!

I had written more, but then our internet connection went out. Now I'm blogging on my phone, which is no fun. So I'll write more in the next post. In the meantime, I want to thank everyone who enetered by leaving comments. It was fun to hear from my friends who read this, and exhilerating to see comments from new readers. Thanks! It was fun!

Five weeks away from the big 4.

2010-05-10T22:52:00.003-05:00

Do you know how hard it is to plan a birthday party for a soon-to-be four year old who 1) has parents who were broke one month ago and have not yet recovered 2) wants to invite his entire preschool class of 20 kids 3) wants his party to be at a bowling alley and 4) 20 kids at a bowling alley costs $300!

Add in the lack of a backyard and well, it is really hard to plan a party for that. Everyone says, "Have it at a park!" but it's not that simple. What do you do if it rains? Rent a room in the park building? You might be able to entertain 20 four-year-olds in a small, empty room, but I start to hyperventilate just thinking about it.

I'm thinking of buying a couple of bubble machines and letting the kids run around on the sidewalk outside our building. If it rains we can just move the bubble machines inside. You know the kids would love having all of those bubbles in the house.

P.S. The giveaway ends Tuesday at noon.

Performance Art

2010-05-09T22:30:00.003-05:00

I had a happy mother's day, and I hope all of you did too.

At one point Kai turned off the TV, brought me one of his books, and sat down in my lap. He chose a book (and me!) over TV - a dream come true! Then when I was putting Jett to bed he told me that I was his bestest mom in his whole world and that Dad was his other best friend. Man, I love those kids.

Here is a short video of what I saw when I walked out of my room this morning. I taught him that. Isn't he great?

P.S. You can also still enter the giveaway.

$60 Giveaway!

2010-05-06T21:48:00.003-05:00

Last week Jett was playing on the rug in front of the couch when he said, "Mom we should get a new rug."

"What?"

"We should get a new rug. A red one, with blue. One that looks old."

What? Is my city kid going all Americana on me now? What is he going to to want to start changing next, our track lighting? Please.

Don't worry. There is no way I start soliciting his opinion on our interior design. Negotiating with Charlie is bad enough.

But perhaps you'd like to involve Jett in decorating your home. (Giveaway Alert!)

Like I mentioned in my previous posts, CSN Stores will send a $60 gift certificate to one of my readers. All you have to do to enter the drawing is leave a comment on this post. To get TWO entries in the drawing, leave a comment AND follow me. I'll put all of the names in a hat and have Jett pick the winning name at random. The contest ends Tuesday at noon. That's 12:00 CST. I'll announce the winner on Wednesday.

I should say that csnstores.com sells more than just home furnishings and decorations. They sell pencils and car seats and litter boxes too, and lots more. There may be shipping charges or in the case of Canadian readers, international fees, for certain products.

You all know that there are only about 2 people who read this blog on a regular basis, right? So your odds of winning are really, really good. Good luck!