Benjamin Milestone - Stairs!

I didn't realize that this would be a big milestone for me but today I realized that I now have two kids who walk down the stairs by themselves. And that we haven't used our baby gates for their intended purpose in quite some time (they will not be coming down yet because they are extremely useful to keep kids where I want them and not a floor above or below!).

But the key words in the second sentence above are two kids who walk down stairs by themselves. Benj has been walking down the stairs while holding one of our hands for months but when he went by himself he has always slid down backwards or gone down sitting.  However, a couple of days ago I went to take his hand to walk down and he declared that he was going to "do it MYSELF." And so he did and has since. 

Thankfully (for my nerves at least) he has been going slow and saves the jumps for the last step. 

(or maybe two)

January Roundup

A few shots of our January so far:

New tubbie toys!

Happy New Year!

bundled up on the beach for the penguin plunge

post tubby time

our first snow-cream (ice cream made from snow!)

morning cuddles and books
(Benj is "reading" Mr. Popper's Penguins)

Heard Around Our House - Julia Edition

Julia was playing in the sink with Benjamin and I handed her bowl to rinse out.
Me: Julia, can you rinse this for me please?
Julia: yes, Mama
Me: thanks
Julia: Benjamin, please move out of the way. I need to rinse this bowl for Mom. (pause... then in a low voice, shaking her head) My work is never done.

Both Benjamin and Julia's birthdays are coming up so we've talking a lot about parties and presents.
Me: Julia, what would you like for your birthday?
Julia: huh?
Me: Is there a specific present you would like for your birthday?
Julia: a box of bananas
Me: what??
Julia: a box of bananas
Me: no, really. we want to get you something that you want and would like - can you give us any serious ideas?
Julia: yes... a box of pom-poms and a box of bananas.
Me: ok then.

Heard Around Our House

from Benjamin:

"I don't like it. P.U." (the "PU" is said with his arm flung across his face covering his nose!)

he says this multiple times, daily... about everything from food he liked yesterday to toys he doesn't care for to getting his diaper changed! I haven't been successful yet in getting it on camera.

While it's pretty funny, hopefully it will be a short-lived phase as it can also be rather annoying and inappropriate. And yes, we are working on not encouraging it but it's one of those things that is difficult not to laugh at sometimes!

Ice Skating

Last Sunday was a very exciting day for me - we had our first family trip to the ice skating rink! Julia has been wanting to try it out for awhile and I love to skate, so we found a rink that had a parent/child skate time open and decided to give it try.

The venue may not have been the best choice as "parent/child skate" apparently means "adult/younger person hockey practice" but it turned out pretty well. I was happy that neither Julia or Benjamin was phased too much by the hockey players and pucks flying around us. (Andrew and I were a different story and made sure that Benjamin, at least, had on his bike helmet.)

I was surprised that they did not have double blade skates but they did not. So Julia used a pair of regular figure skates.  She started out a little uncertainly but we found her a milk crate to push around and after 10 minutes or so of that she gained a lot of confidence - enough to try and succeed in skating to me unassisted!

Benj also got in on the skating. He was gliding around on his sneakers for awhile but also wanted to try on the hockey skates that they had given us for him. So he did and while he couldn't stand up on them I think he was happy he just got a chance to try them out!

We skated for about half an hour of forty five minutes before Julia said her feet were getting tired. I wanted to make sure we didn't end up with blisters on our first attempt so we called an end to the skating but everyone agreed that we need to go again soon!

Snow Day

We did not have a white Christmas this year but the week before we did get some snow. Not a ton but enough for Julia and Benjamin to get bundled up, build a snowman, make some snow angels and of course, enjoy some hot chocolate!

Happy New Year!!!

New Year's Eve 2013 

It was a whole day of anticipation as the kids woke up to find the kitchen and family room ready for a party - complete with a balloon drop. It was a long morning as Andrew worked a half day and I tried to keep the kids occupied for the morning with a couple of crafts and lots of books. There was a lot of excitement which manifested itself as random screaming, running, and jumping around! 

We tried to focus that energy after Benj's nap with a New Year's dance party in the living room as we watched various countries ring in the New Year. 

I had mentioned to Andrew the night before that maybe the kids would have lost the excitement about the balloons after 12 hours of having them hanging there without being able to touch. I was wrong. We were asked about every 10 minutes all day: "can we drop the balloons? can we drop the balloons?"

When the balloon drop did finally occur, coinciding with midnight in France and Germany (both have great fireworks!), there was pure joy and fun!

We followed with a toast of sparkling apple juice, chocolate and berries for dessert, and bedtime!

Welcome 2014!