Noah VS the Lorikeets

Last Tuesday daddy took the day off and we went to the zoo. It was a nice sunny day, although, a bit on the breezy side. Ok, it was windy. It was still a little chilly for some of the animals so we didn't get to see some of our favorites like the elephants and the giraffes. We did try something new this time, though. They have a lorikeet habitat that you can walk through. At certain times during the day they give you a little dixie cup of 'Jungle Juice' and you can feed the birds. The birds like this activity a lot as they are very social, friendly birds. Unfortunately, they might be a little TOO friendly for some little three-year-olds. He did really well getting in there and listening to the explanation of how to feed the birds. Daddy held him and it was fun for about 30 seconds. At that point, the birds started landing on his head and it was no longer fun. Not even a little bit. He flailed and waved and threw his feeding cup. (It all happened so fast I missed getting a picture of that.) Then he stood like this plastered to his dad's leg and screaming at the top of his lungs until Christopher was able to get him out. We figured he was traumatized for life but as we were leaving for the day we walked past the birds again and he told us he wanted to go in and feed them. Luckily there were no more feeding times that day so we didn't have to test him to see if he was telling the truth. He still brings it up on occasion. Sometimes he says, "I didn't like that." Other times he says, "Remember when those birds sat on my head? That was so funny. Silly birds." So, I guess only time will tell. My guess is we will just admire other people feeding them for quite some time.

Practice Flight

Sorry for the mass posts. I am trying to get caught up before we leave town. This Thursday we are headed to Texas. Christopher and I will be performing with our church choir and orchestra at the United Methodist General Conference in Dallas. Christopher attended college in Texas and has not been back since. I have never been to Texas so we thought this would be a fun family vacation. We convinced his parents to join in the fun so they can babysit while we are performing. Before the conference, we are going to San Antonio to try to fit in what we can in a day and a half. Once the conference ends, we are headed to Houston to visit the Rice campus and have some really good Mexican food (or so I have been told). Next Thursday we head back to Dallas stopping in College Station to visit one of my old professors. Friday the boys and I are flying to Michigan to spend a week with my parents. As you can see from the picture, the boys are excited about getting on the airplane again. Daddy is only excited that he does not have to carry the plane all the way to Michigan. (He is not at all happy that we are going to be gone for a week.) Mommy is trying not to spend a lot of time thinking about what she has gotten herself in to because there is no backing out at this point. So, if you think of us next week, say a little prayer that we are all surviving.

AND IF YOU LIVE IN MICHIGAN AND WOULD LIKE TO VISIT WITH US, PLEASE CALL US AT MY PARENTS'. THEIR NUMBER HAS NOT CHANGED IN 100 YEARS AND WE WILL BE JUST HANGING OUT TESTING HOW THEY DID IN CHILD-PROOFING THEIR HOUSE.

Bike Ride, Anyone?

Brushed off the cobwebs and pulled out the old bike trailer a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, it was still a little chilly. Crazy mom made the boys wear their winter coats. There was not enough room in the trailer for two boys in winter coats. Noah was still very excited about biking and had no problem sharing his space with baby brother. Benjamin was not so excited. He preferred playing with the safety flag on solid ground. I'm hoping once I figure out how to adjust their helmets so that they actually fit AND we don't have to bundle up it will be a lot more enjoyable for both of them. Good news is, once the bike started rolling, Benjamin did stop screaming. We will see what happens the next time we pull the bike out.

Opening Day(s)

It has finally returned! It was touch-and-go for a while and they were times we doubted we would ever see the day but, alas, baseball has returned. Fa-shew. Mommy and the boys did a better job celebrating than daddy. (Pathetic, isn't it? He didn't even remember to wear Royal blue to work!) We celebrated the season opener with our new baseball shirts from Aunt Cammie. We had hot dogs for lunch. After that, we had to make some adjustments. Instead of apple pie, we just had apples for our afternoon snack. And instead of watching baseball, we watched Baby Signing Time. But we did play a few quick games of living room stick ball.

We celebrated the Royals' home opener with our best Royals duds. That was really all we did that day. Daddy tried to watch a little of the game when he got home (the Royals were winning, after all) but that lasted about 4 minutes. I'm sure someday his boys will be as interested in watching the game as their daddy.

Did I already tell you about the boys playing ball? When we have played with Noah in the past, daddy or I will hold the ball and he swings the bat to knock it out of our hand. Well, as he is now playing with his brother, he assigned Benjamin the part of the tee. Benjamin is just thrilled to be playing with his big brother so he does whatever he is told (yes, this concerns me) and laughs and laughs as he chases the ball to pick it up for the next hit. Thank goodness for Nerf, that is all I have to say.

Sleeping

Random pictures of our angels in bed. Noah got this snake from Aunt Cynthia for his birthday. He has since stopped requiring it to go to bed with him but this is how it looked for a while. Yes, I was completely certain that he would strangle himself with his fake, rubber snake. No, I did not break his heart and take it away from him. Now if I could just figure out how to get it to fake-bite him to get him over his interest in snakes before he starts asking for a real one...

It seems like forever that Benjamin has had an affinity for pillows. As a baby, he did not have one in his bed, of course, but whenever he saw one, he knew right what to do with it. This became quite an issue when he would start taking Noah's pillow off his bed and laying down with it on the floor. Big brother did NOT think that was an okay thing to share. (He still doesn't...) So Grandma Bonnie made Benjamin a pillow of his very own. We tried to find his favorite subject for the covering but it turns out they don't sell a lot of grapes material. So we had to settle for kitties. He was extremely pleased to say the least. Soon as he gets in his bed he snuggles right up on his pillow - with his 6 pacifiers in hand, of course. He also loves to be covered with blankets. (Noah still will not use any covers.)

It's Like it's My Birthday...

My new best friend Rodrigo just called. He's the manager at Chipotle. It appears they drew my name out of their business card bowl for free lunch for 10 of my friends this week. Where did I get a business card, you ask? Well, I comment to Christopher every week about how he really needs to put his card in there because there are never very many. But every week, he 'forgets' to bring one. Last week they had a little fill-in-yourself card next to the bowl. So I filled it in and Viola! Chipotle here we come. Tomorrow. Lunch. 11:30. It's on me.

Roomies

The boys are officially roommates now as they have the same exact sleep schedule. (Benjamin naps in the guest room because Noah is still inconsistent with his naps.) It is fun to listen to them giggle themselves to sleep. Their favorite thing to do is to wake the other by laughing as well. Really, it is more of a high-pitched screech that one does until the other laughs. It might not be the way mom and dad would prefer to be waked up, but they seem to like it just fine. Noah will sometimes ask if Benjamin can nap with him. I gave in the first couple of times because I thought it was a sweet request. I set very firm rules that he was to stay in his bed and be very quiet so that Benjamin could rest (secretly hoping that he would get bored to sleep as well). I came downstairs and could hear Noah up running around. I then started to hear some of their stuffed animals making noises. I went back up preparing to reprimand Noah only to find him stretched out on his bed and Benjamin sitting in a crib full of toys with the biggest smile. Noah told me that Benjamin needed something to play with. Now how could I get mad at that? My other favorite story happened the other morning. I heard the boys awake but jumped in the shower before I went to get them out. When I came out I heard this conversation:
N - Benjamin, what does a sheep say?
B - BAAAA! (He learned this at the farmer last week.)
N - Good! Benjamin, what does a cow say?
B - BAAA!
N - No, Benjamin. A cow says, "Mooo." What does a duck say, Benjamin?
B - BAAA!
N - No. A duck doesn't say, "baa", a duck says "quack". Benjamin, what does a pig say?
B - BAAA!
It went on for some time and I was cursing myself for having no way to record the conversation right at that given moment. Noah never raised his voice, he was just talking so soft and politely - and that is not always the case. And I was so proud of him for trying to teach his little brother something. It was really cute. And now, I am going to start keeping the video camera in my room so I'll be prepared in the future.

And in case you are wondering where Benjamin has been sleeping for the last 16 months... I am ashamed to admit that once we realized their rooming together from the beginning was not going to work out, we did not get right to work on getting him his own room. He has been sleeping in the pack-n-play in the guest room. I know that sounds horrible and the only thing that lets me sleep at night in regards to that situation is that his future wife, Ella Grace, will be two in July and she has been in a pack-n-play her whole life as well. (When they grow up and realize what a king size bed is, they will think they have died and gone to heaven!)

On the room decorating front, the guest room furniture is now history. Once the room is completely cleared out, we will be moving the boys in to that room so I can start painting their space ship room. Once that is completed, we will make the guest room in to the new nursery and the baseball/office/storage room will become the new guest room. We have 17 weeks to complete these tasks. I would LOVE to have it done before July comes so we can just cruise that last month. Think it will happen? Me either...

Being Boys

I think it is safe to say our boys are finally friends. As Benjamin continues to get older, he appears to be more fun for Noah to interact with. Their favorite game at the moment is 'Crash'. They each get a similar object in their hand and then run at each other from opposite ends of the room. When they meet, they crash their objects, fall to the ground, and laugh uncontrollably. It is pretty fun to watch. Unfortunately, Noah is also continuing to grow and has really taken a liking to wrestling and tackling. Little brother is not so fond of this game and spends a lot of time on the floor or hiding out in mom and dad's laps. In this particular set of pictures, the boys were sitting and playing together for an extended period of time. (This is not a normal occurrence, so I had to document.) I almost hated to put them down for naps because they were enjoying themselves so. They were taking turns driving their cars on each other's backs. Hopefully you can see the glee in their faces. (The fact that they were hidden behind the train table only added to the cuteness, I thought, so I didn't try to get around it too much.) Hopefully, this is a good sign of things to come.

Return to the Farmer

April 1st has finally arrived which means the farmer is open for another season. HOORAY! While a nice spring day would have been appreciated, we braved the weather and set out to see our old animal friends. I did not tell Noah where we were going - only that it was a surprise. He has asked about the farmer almost daily since it closed in November. I think he got used to the fact that they were closed so when we headed in that general direction, he didn't ask incessantly if that is where we were going. But you should have heard him squeal when we pulled in to the parking lot. In fact, you probably did hear it and just didn't know what it was. He started talking immediately about seeing the goats. While he did humor us and let us see the rest of the animals, the petting zoo was once again his favorite hang out. They had some lambs in there that he took to right away. He chased them a little and let them chase him. Our next door neighbors went with us and Jessica agreed that Noah could live in that pen and be perfectly content. I think instead I will just take him to visit often. 3.5 hour nap today, thank you very much. Let's just hope it is warmer than 40 degrees soon! (Friends are Claire and Lauren, respectively.)