A little something to remember him by...

Ok, Zach, you left your mark. The other night Sophia took off all her clothes (undies too) and pranced around our bedroom announcing she was a boy. I guess that is what boys do, eh? Then tonight, while getting ready for bath, as soon as Dylan had his clothes off, he ran into Sophia's room. He kind of patted his diaper, indicating to me that he thought it should really be off too. Anyway, he then proceeded to frolic and roll around on the fur rug in the middle of the room as Zachy loved doing. Thanks for the memories, little buddy! :) Now, if only you could leave your mark in the sleep department. What I would give to have Dylan sleep until 6, these days even 5 has been looking good. It has been going on 2 MONTHS now that Dylan is waking before 5, as early as 4. There have been a few BRIEF stints where he would wake between 5 and 5.30, but those were short lived.

Dylan also turned 2 today. Ok, not technically, however, emotionally, yes. He has become VERY fond of the word no. Not just saying it, but saying it with attitude. His little lip thing that he does seems to have more attitude with it now too. It is as super cute as it can be frustrating.

Oh Happy Day

It rained all day yesterday. Cold, drizzly, wet, yuck. And yet I ended the day so happy a tear started to form in my eye. Ever since Jenny's wedding I have had a knot in in my stomach every time I thought about the ring my Great Aunt left me. Jenny had mentioned that the bridesmaids could wear diamond earrings with their dresses. I had Ethan go through my drawer before he left to get them. He went through it all and couldn't find them. I thought he just didn't look in the right place. Then, over the past couple of years I have looked through that drawer myself in hopes of finding the ring AND the earrings she gave me for my undergrad graduation. Each time, I would come up short and be sad again. Last night I gave it the ol' college try and there they were! At the bottom, NOT in any sort of box, just floating around. I can't believe I wouldn't have been so careless. Maybe they fell out of a box, who knows. I am just so happy they are found.

So, yesterday I did the impossible. I re-sprained/ twisted my ankle WHILE SITTING DOWN. Not sure how it happened, but DO know it hurt a lot. Now the ankle is a lovely green color with a nice splash of red in one little spot. Yay me.

Mama down!

Decided to take advantage of the free babysitting while the kids napped and go for a run to the gym. Got about half way there and then was flying down the long hill when - WHAM. Out goes my ankle - GRRRR. Thinking to myself: Walk it off, walk it off. These things usually hurt most on impact and ease up. I had half the hill to decide continue to the gym or just head home. decided on home and know that was the right call. A mile is long enough to walk on a sprained ankle. Waaa. Luckily there is help here, phew!

Spring Fever

I think the kids are sick. I mean beyond the cough and runny noses. They are going squirrelly. One would think I stick Dylan in a closet all day and let him out when Ethan comes home the way he clings to me and needs to be held and carried around. Then there is Sophia who will meltdown at the drop of a hat, or in tonight's case at the mother's not dropping everything to come downstairs and hold her hand to walk up (instead letting her dad carry her up). Oh, and there is Dylan waking up before (some days WELL before) 5. What the heck happened to the whole clocks leaping forward thing?!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Firefighter Dylan keeps us safe around the house.

Dylan loves to imitate and do everything everyone else does. The other night I was sitting on the couch with my bowl of grapes and Dylan came barreling over with his bowl and scrambled up on the couch and sat right at the back like me. Then he looked at my legs and saw they were resting on the table (yes, the same table I once banned from feet touching it). SO, he scooted up and well, you can see the result. I thought this was hilarious.

This photo just amuses me. Good thing the cupboard is nailed to the wall...Sophia never ceases to surprise me. She has a really good memory and remembers the littlest things. I will tell her something before her nap and that will be the first thing she says to me after the nap. Today, for instance, I told her I hope she has a good nap because she is sick and sleep is good for helping you to get better. She woke and first thing she said to me was "I'm not sick anymore, mama!" Even I had to think what she was talking about at first and then remembered our conversation. She is quite good at finding Lamby - in obscure places that she was playing with him last (thank goodness for that!)

New words are coming fast with Dylan. Most are just intonations and mimicking what I say and then never repeated, but tonight he said quite clearly " garlic" as I pointed to it in a book. Ahhh, what a good little Ukrainian!

Baby's growin' up...

Ok, I think Dylan is a little too young to have learned how to stall at bedtime. Sophia was at least 2.5 before she even STARTED this act. He has been starting to ask for wa-wa, abbol and nana at story time. Tonight was the longest he as gone on. And he doesn't take no for an answer. Normally I would be excited he was asking for healthy food, but bed time is no time for a day ending meal.

Hard Knock Life

Dylan has had a rough day. Started this morning when Sophia deliberately pushed him down 4 steps from the kitchen to back door while he was on his truck. I am not sure where all this aggression is coming from in Sophia and need to figure out how to get her to be more gentle with her brother and well, others. Anyway, he ended up with a banged up face. Then after dinner he was running around and tripped and cut his lip with his teeth. OUCH! He is such a trooper that he didn't cry for long at either incident.

We split up the kids late afternoon as we had two birthday party invites. Sophia and Ethan hit Paula's 7th b-day party at a gymnastics club and D and I went to Alba's 1st b-day party here in Quincy. Sophia is still in her shell and has difficulty participating in activities with other kids. I have been feeling guilty about having her in "school" lately as she has been crying when I leave, but then when she is in these situations, I get frustrated as to what I can do to get her more comfortable with other kids. Hmmmm.

Reading to Dylan at night has been fun (more fun) the last couple nights. He has been quite interested in the alphabet. I started by putting his finger on each letter as I sang it. He found this fun and would hold his hand out each time to get me to do it. Then the last couple nights he has been repeating back about half the letters and really seeming to like this exercise. What a little smarty pants!

You have this one, Dylan

This is Sophia's latest catch phrase. No matter what it is it seems, the second Dylan picks something up Sophia comes over and offers him something else so that she can take what he has. Kind of funny, and a little frustrating as Dylan is usually taken advantage of. He is so sweet that he usually just goes for the swap. Sometimes he digs his heels in and then major battle ensues.

I am now at the end of day 4 of my spring cleaning effort. Was supposed to be one room a day, however, there are many drawers and cupboards in the kitchen and that room is most used. This cleaning thing I am doing involves emptying all drawers, cupboards, etc... and wiping, ridding and reorganizing everything. Unlike most other times when I clean, there are a lot of shoving things here and there to "tidy up" the place. I don't often go around the house to put things where they REALLY belong, hence the junk drawer, can of "stuff" on the island... In my kitchen run through, I found I had a bunch of doubles of things being stored in different areas. Got rid of a lot of stale crackers and what not. The kitchen actually feels a little more decluttered - yay! Two days of it, though. Think I need an easy room next.

Are you gellin'?

Ethan has been having fun gooping up Dylan's hair with gel. He is Soooooooo gellin.

After an embarrassing weekend of guests and an extremely messy house, I have decided it was time to start some spring cleaning (despite the foot of snow that was falling). I decided to to one room a day so that it wouldn't feel too overwhelming. I started with the living room as it is the one we "retire" to each night and I was hoping it would make me feel a sense of accomplishment and inspire me to carry on the next day. So far so good...

Lions, Tigers and Bears, oh my!

Ok, maybe no tigers or bears, but March is coming in like a bit of a lion - more snow and cold wind. Brrr.

February was tooth month for Dylan. 4 incisors popped through. Ouch. Maybe he will start sleeping better this month now that they have surfaced. Or not.

Celebrated Ethan's birthday yesterday with me-mere, pe-pere, Jenny and "baby" Erik. I don't think I saw Erik withOUT a smile the whole time. One happy little guy! Sophia and Dylan, on the other hand, have spent most of the morning fighting and crying. Sigh...