Chatterboxes

My boys are not only active little fellas, they are talkative, too!  M started first, but N is never far behind and this fall, he's really ramped it up.  They've been saying so many funny things I thought I would compile them into a post.  Here's what comes to mind right now:

Banana: "Um-BLA-na" M says.  When he doesn't want whatever we are eating for dinner, he sees the fruit on the counter and asks for an um-BLA-na.

Helicopter: "OWIE-clop-ter" We have these tinkertoy type building pieces and their favorite thing to build is a simply a circle with sticks stuck out of each hole.  They call it an "OWIE-clop-ter," despite it looking more like a sunshine on a stick.

Grape Juice: It's a recent introduction to their diet and they love it, but they just don't connect that it's from grapes, so it's "Black Juice" no matter what we tell them.

When we are really desperate, like we are on airplanes, we allow them to play games on our iphones (did I ever mention that I got a new phone this fall?  It's amazing how well things work when they work well!)  One game is called Lunchbox, and there is a monkey that dances when the child gets the question right (i.e, which fruit starts with Q?  That's qumquat, however, spell check is telling me that's wrong.  Ironic?)  However, since they see us using our phones daily, they now think whenever we use them, we are playing their favorite game, "Monkey Dance."  So they dance around whining, "Monkey Dance!  Monkey Dance!  I wanna Monkey Dance!"

Update: Hubby says Q is for quince.  He knows this game VERY VERY well, better than me, clearly.

Talk to me!  Yesterday, M asked his Daddy a question but Daddy apparently didn't answer in the appropriate amount of time (like 2 seconds) so M grabbed his face and said, "Talk to me!"

What are you eating in the mouth?  M's favorite question to determine whether it's worth asking for or not.

We used to read "The Going to Bed Book" everynight, but it disappeared for awhile.  Now that it's back from the dead, they like to not only read it, but randomly recite it throughout the day.  I'll be in the van and hear behind me, "They hang their towels on the wall/and find pajamas big and small" when the other brother chimes in "With some on top and some beneath/they brush and brush and brush their teeth!" 

This morning M was upset because he couldn't find his lovie (at 6:30 am!) so N jumped into his brother's bed and rooted under the covers like a truffle pig, triumphantly jumping up and shouting "I found the lovie!"

When they are upset about something - which could be anything, like returning the correct nightlight to the correct bedroom, where it belongs - both boys put the offender in time out.  They shout to me, their Aunt, their Daddy, their brother, their toys, their bears, their chairs, you name it, "You go time out!"  Now we are working on a different tactic, reminding them Mommy and Daddy are in charge.  So far, no good.

FOR-et: In an attempt to entertain them, I've been trying to build them forts in their play room.  It's not going too well because they just want to rip the blankets off, but every now and then, they will ask me to build them a FOR-et.

BLOC-li  the flowery green which went down the hatch so well for so long is no longer acceptable.  Last night neither of the boys would eat their BLOC-li.

Cookie Dough: They boys used to be TERRIFIED of my hand mixer, then my ancient Kitchenaid, but less so of the new red Kitchenaid that Santa delivered early to me this year. Thank you Santa!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!   I managed to keep them in the kitchen once by convincing them that what I was making in the mixer was cookie dough.  They stood with their backs glued to the refigerator while I added ingredients - much better than when they would run crying from the kitchen.  When the dough was finished, I allowed them to eat a bite off the spoon.   While I solved one problem, I created two more: they both think anytime I touch the Kitchenaid, I'm making cookie dough!  Does N look one bit afraid the mixer this morning?  I think not!

N can't resist taking a peek at the cinnamon roll dough!

Pizza Party

I had a brilliant idea to let the boys help make pizzas for dinner because, theoretically, kids will eat food they help prepare.  It started out great!  The boys had a lot of fun

N spreads the sauce on ours

M spreads the sauce on theirs

N's photo of M sprinkling cheese - it's pretty good!

N tests the pepperonis before adding them...ick.

The making of the pizzas was fun!  Even the watching  of the pizzas in the oven was fun.  The actual eating of the pizzas?  No, thanks.  We barely got them to taste one slice! 

Maybe it's because M burned his finger on the stone and insisted on wearing these all night afterward.

And then I turned 34 yesterday.  Here's my birthday snuggles with my little boys last night.  They love this book, "My Little Train," and ask for it every night.  They know all the words.  Here, they are shouting, "To my pocket!  To my pocket!" which is where the little kangaroo wants to be dropped off by the train.  They are so fun (when they're not testing my patience)!

Uncle?

Last summer, I made a Shutterfly book with pictures of all of our extended family members so that the boys could see all of their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins whenever they wanted.  I thought this was such a stroke of genius! 

While I sometimes believe that my boys are also geniuses, yesterday I determined that they are not.  Because we picked up this "Trucks" book at a garage sale over the weekend and for some reason they think "construction worker," the guy who drives the bulldozer, is named "Uncle." 

Neither my brother nor any of my brothers-in-law work construction!  By they're pretty sure this guy is their uncle.  Go figure.

Snowed In!

What do you do when you're snowed in with two 18 month olds?

Brush your teeth in the tub!

Snuggle and read!

Try on Grandma's reading glasses!

Play 'n' Poop

Pray

And take the plow driver cookies and hot chocolate when he clears your driveway! Fun times tomorrow, here we come!

To Daddy

Dear Daddy,

Good Morning!  We surprised Mommy by staying quiet until 7:30 am.  Then we surprised her again when we EACH had diapers full of green, smelly poo.  She didn't feed us peas again today, so our plan worked!

Good Afternoon!  We were very good boys with Mommy and her friend at the Mexican restaurant.  She even let us try the beans - they were okay, but we're glad she had Cheerios we could throw on the floor eat instead.  Then we read our library books this afternoon.  She reads to us, but we prefer turning our OWN pages, thankyouverymuch!

Good Night!  We were making Mommy a little crazy by 5:00 because we only slept one hour this afternoon, so we Skyped with Grandma.  Since we BOTH wanted to see Grandma on the computer at the SAME time - and we'll have you know we made that VERY clear by wailing and whining and pulling at the computer cords under the desk if one was not on her lap - Mommy invented this game where we can both see Grandma.  This is what Grandma saw while Skyping.  Pretty cool!

We love you and can't wait to see you soon!

Love, Nathan and Matthew

"I did it!"

That's Matthew's phrase lately. He loves to make the "D" sound: Da-da-da-da, Heidi, I did it. It's so sweet, especially when he whispers under his breath, "I did it, dada, I did it." MAYBE I'm hearing things, but of course I think my sons are absolutely brilliant in every way! Especially Nathan, who's been saying "Mama." It melts my heart.

Here's a snapshot of something they both DID this morning while I was cleaning up their breakfast trays. They're on the bottom step,

Matthew is on the second step and Nathan follows suit. I tried recording it with the digital camera but am currently failing to upload it. They both got to the second step and Nathan to the third before I carried them back down. I'm getting pretty busy here these days.

Today was storytime at the library. Our librarian, Miss J, knows them by name now! I guess me and the limo stroller filled with these little darlings ARE quite memorable. They LOVE to listen to her tell stories! When I read to them at home, I get mobbed, the book gets ripped out of my hands and eaten. Perhaps 20 or so feet would be a better distance for reading! We always have a good time at the library, but today was extra special because each family went home with a new book:

It's a bit out of our league right now, but we'll put it away and read it later. In the meantime, we checked out some new board books to read at home.

AND I just have brag a little on myself because "I did it!" I put up the room-darkening blind ALL BY MYSELF. My wonderful hubby would have done it, but after the SECOND trip to Ace to get the blind cut - and it STILL wasn't cut right - it became personal.

Kim vs. The Blind.

Matthew, Nathan, The Blind and I made yet another trip to Ace yesterday to get the blind cut for the THIRD time. Fortunately, the Ace Hardware guys were happy to see my fellas again, and even joked that they would get the boys little red vests, putting them to work. My blood pressure started falling upon hearing that, as well as upon watching The Blind be hacked in the saw again.

While daddy took over dinner duties last night, I attacked the window treatments yet again. And this time, I won! It ain't the purtiest window blind ya ever did see (hence, no photo), but it'll do the trick. The boys slept till a blissful 7 am this morning, thanks to The Blind.

And Mama's handiwork.
I did it.