Getting Ready for Christmas

So, back on December 20th, I was trying to get a few nice photos of the kids together while the tree was being decorated. Did not work. The Boy was having none of this (get closer to your sister! no, closer... no, you're not close enough..). So, I decided to take some photos of the Little Girl by herself on the Boy's chair. "No! I want to sit on my chair!!" was the Boy's response to this. I said, ok, here ya go!

The Boy's method for hanging ornaments was really innovative - hang the ornaments from each other! We had quite a few bundles of ornaments hung around the low branches of the tree. Most of these were moved to the upper branches within hours, as Anya discovered these awesome bundles of what she figured were cat toys. All night long I heard jingling and rustling..

We had a lovely Christmas, although the Boy is still asking about presents in his sockin' - which has been put away. He has not quite gotten the idea that presents are only for special occasions. Little Girl got many sets of new clothes and the Boy has way too many toys. Actually, he had too many toys prior to Christmas, but there is so much fun stuff out there!

Sedona, June 12 2011

Napping on the Kitchen Floor

Back in September.

Skype Call with Grandma from Girl Thursday on Vimeo.

..when his hair was shorter. And the weather was warmer. Although, in fact, he's running around without a shirt right now.

This video is long, but at least the beginning is really cute. The Boy is quite animated here! I have not edited this yet.

Dancing in the Kitchen

There's actually a better video, but apparently I can't edit that sort of video file on my computer. Thus, I can't edit it down to a short enough thing for Flickr. Yet. But, here's the shorter dancing video from last month:

Books and Reading

Checking out some books while in costume on Halloween

While we were out doing some grocery shopping today, the Boy decided he'd have a look at a Cars (you know, the Disney/Pixar movie) book. It's one with several different stories, rather thick, and has PAPER pages, rather than those board books he usually gets to read. He was entranced with this book for hours. All through Costco. Carried it into the grocery store. And we read one story out of it before bedtime.

He just looks so much OLDER "reading" such a big book! He has a lot of the stories memorized, I would guess, since he can almost always finish the line you're reading. Recently he's actually been mistaken for an older child quite often. At the My Gym Halloween party, one mother thought he was close in age to her own child - who is FOUR. Seriously? Four? I don't think so. Others have thought he's got to be at least three. It's true he's rather tall for a two-year-old, but he still uses his pacifier, and has been known to throw tantrums in check-out lines. Not that older kids don't do that. A woman at the garden said she'd thought he was older because he speaks so well.

Well, that may be the case, but, honestly, I don't understand half of what the little dude says! I'm really amused that he's started introducing himself to everyone at stores - "I sa shude and this is elmo." Sometimes he'll tell them that "this is mommy," too. Nobody understands "Isa Shude." Probably just as well.

'Struction Worker for Halloween

Dressed up as Bob the Builder for Halloween

Helping to plant a Pansy at the Model Train Garden

"posing" with daddy before heading to the Garden

As dressed up as we get around here...

Bob the Builder has discovered the joys of Lollypops!

I attempted to do some actual dressing up for Halloween this year, since the Boy has become more cognizant of costumes and such. The weekend before Halloween weekend, our landlord asked him what he was going to be and the Boy said "Bob the builder!" I was startled, not realizing how much he understands, clearly. We had discussed perhaps doing Bob, mainly because I figured - hey, overalls, plaid shirt, hat, tools? I can do that! I didn't realize the whole idea had caught on, though.

So, off to get overalls, plaid shirt, tool belt... Not as easy as I'd hoped. As you can see by the photos, the plaid shirt was refused. It was fine in the store, but once I got it home "nope!" The Boy is quite picky about his clothing. He really likes "soft pants" and it was amazing that I managed to get the rough overalls on him at all. The hard hat is really cute and I like having different hats to try on... even though his lego bucket gets as much or more use as a "fire hat" or "struction hat."

We now have a ton of tools, since I picked up a tool + belt set in the days before Halloween... that of course did not fit. It's HUGE. I'm not sure how many years it will be before the belt fits! Three or four? No matter. I stuck the tools in his pockets. He promptly removed them.

Although we did not go trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, we did head up the the Botanic Garden for the last day of the model railroad garden until spring. I had no idea there would be treats! They had people stationed throughout with smarties, fake tattoos, and his absolute favorite - lollypops. Everyday since... "would you like some oatmeal or applesauce for breakfast?" says mommy, "ooooorrrrr.... Lollypop!" he'll say.

The garden also gave out flowers as treats - and the Boy got to "help" put the Pansy into a pot with soil. We headed home right after getting our plant, since it was very chilly, getting late, and the little dude hadn't really had a nap. So, no trick or treating, but I'd say still a successful first Halloween celebration.

This evening at home...

The Boy has noticed the camera...

More grinning from the Boy

He might take after his mother.

Why no color photos, you ask? Well, the lighting was awful and for some bizarre reason, the Boy didn't look at the camera when I used color anyhow. So, here we've got a couple black and white shots! The Boy is really into whatever is on TV right now - Caillou perhaps? We were definitely watching the Sprout channel, but it could have been any number of weird shows.

I need to start weaning him off the TV, since he's become a little obsessive about watching it. He wants to watch bee-oh (video) even when he sits down for lunch or dinner. I suppose he is learning some from the TV (this evening he stood up on his dresser, started singing and said "Wiggle"). Currently the Boy enjoys Thomas (still, of course), Bob the Builder (I build it! Yes he can!), the recently discovered Handy Manny (hanny mundy), and Caillou. Elmo is fun, too, but since Elmo is not the whole of Sesame Street, it's rare that he'll sit and watch the whole thing. Oh, and he's usually happy to watch baseball.

Something new I've noticed recently is that the Boy is getting frightened of certain scenes in Thomas videos - "mommy, OFF!" - and he'll ask to get down out of his seat if he's strapped in. It's interesting because a few weeks ago, he was watching those same scenes without any problems.

See that last photo up there? He likes to pile things. And put them into bags or boxes. Especially bags, though. I wonder if that behavior is actually inherited? It isn't as if he's trying to hide the toys from anyone - he just likes putting them in bags and dumping them out. He also likes putting containers of all sorts on his head (fire hat! struction hat!). Oh, and all sorts of things are "rocket ship!" (such as, an old baby bottle he found). I think he learned that on Caillou.

Waiting for Chester

At the vet 2 weeks ago. This was awful! The boy was getting tired and kept saying "Right back!" as he tried to go down the stairs, into the restroom, or pushing the elevator button. We were there three hours.

And, no, we still don't know what's really wrong with Chester.

Diagon Alley

Apparently it's right by our local magic shop.

Apparently It's Fall

A couple of weeks ago the leaves on some of the trees started changing color and falling. How do they know it's fall? Hard to believe when it's 80 degrees out still...but we've been able to leave the air conditioner off for a while, which is wonderful.

Oh, slide!

Boy Friday has had quite a time saying goodbye to slides lately. This visit to Welles Park ended poorly. Now he asks to stop for the slides when we see them from the car.

Me and Him

Photo from mid-July at the Garden

A Trip to the Railway Museum

So, a couple of weeks ago, we thought it might be fun (or insane) to take Boy Friday to the Illinois Railway Museum for a Day Out with Thomas. Union, Illinois is more than an hour drive outside of Chicago, and in case you were wondering - you should use the restroom BEFORE you get on the tollway. Just saying.

All the kids loved this to climb on. (photo taken by V.)

It was fun to get out of the city for a while, but it was a LONG day - especially for the Boy. He hadn't had a nap, so it was difficult to tear him away from everything he found thrilling. He really enjoyed checking out all of the engines parked in the sheds. He kept saying "that way! that way!" back to the sheds. We got to ride on a Thomas-pulled train, which he found somewhat interesting. Thomas the train himself? Yeah, not so much. Hardly gave him the time of day!

The fun pile of sandy dirt. He just LOVED digging!

Unfortunately, we had to pass this pile of dirt to leave. Huge drama. Screaming, writhing, and yelling "oh, DIG, oh, DIG!" Yep, he was tired out. By the time we got back to the car, he scraped that Thomas tattoo off of his arm.

I think we all really enjoyed looking at the old engines. Some of the steam engines they have housed at the Railway Museum are so huge and amazing!

At the model train garden

Boy Friday is growing like a weed! At his 2 year appointment he weighed 28 1/2 lbs and is 36" tall. I think he's growing out of 2t clothing...

Today on Lincoln Ave

Posing by an Iron Maiden poster. You know, for fun. Because it was there.

Eating Breakfast

This morning, waffles for breakfast. Sorry, no, not made fresh! Fun frozen Eggo waffles. Prior to this was fun with throwing balls! Scared Tyger off from his food dish.

Botanic Garden, June 30th

Just a few photos for now. More to come & an update soon! Photos by V.

Boy Friday is now TWO years old and acting like it. Crazy, messy, and all boy.

and some photos of the kid, too.

Yes, I am aware that it is haircut time! Boy Friday is looking quite shaggy.

Friday apparently knows about half of the letters?! Of course, W is his favorite "da-doo-ee" - and there are quite a few that he just knows the object appoo for A. He keeps going into the kitchen and yanking the refrigerator open. The other day, he decided he wanted KIWI!!! Oddly, he hadn't had any kiwi in weeks. I hadn't mentioned kiwi either... so I'm not at all sure how he suddenly got it in his head that I had kiwi in the fridge. Had to go buy some. I left the kitchen a couple of days ago, only to return and find half the contents of the fridge stacked on the table. He exclaimed "blackie!" when he saw me {that'd be blackberries}. Friday is all about the fruit - no thank you on the vegetables. Except carrots. Sometimes he'll eat a carrot.

The choo-choo addiction is still in full force. We're watching choo-choos all day long here. Sometimes on both the TV and the portable DVD player at the SAME TIME. Boy Friday has favorites, but is learning all of the names - Bertie the Bus, Diesel, Percy, Toby, Thomas (those two both sound like Tibby), Gordon, Mavis (currently Me-me). He's now got three wooden Thomas trains (Percy, Victor, and Diesel), and he'll be getting a few more. Hopefully we won't get pulled into owning fifty trains and train tables and whatnot.

Here's one of the things Boy Friday likes to do:


He'll line them up on window ledges throughout the house. The one in the kitchen is especially bothersome, as it SLOPES and the trains/cars/trucks slip off continually. So he'll shriek. The shrieking is fun. The ledge he's using in the above photo?



Yes, he's standing on the back of the couch.

water's a bit high i'm thinking

water's a bit high i'm thinking
Originally uploaded by tygerlotus

Went to the Chicago Botanic Garden yesterday. Weather was lovely and cool with a nice breeze. Apparently, however, the recent rains have caused the river to rise a little. Some areas of the park were inaccessible - including the serpentine bridge going out to Evening Island {where the bell tower resides}.