Busy Days

Our weekends are always busy. Even days like today, when we have nothing planned, they still seem to fill up with activities. This afternoon Will and Gene got haircuts and played at the pool while Henry and I did the grocery shopping and cooked dinner.

I think this is the first picture I have of Will getting his hair cut! Gene said he did really well (you never know, really), but he still doesn't like the clippers.

After dinner and baths, the boys came back downstairs to watch a show. As you can see here, Henry has a love affair with pillows. Seriously, he has every pillow in the living room piled up on the sofa!
Gene was tired after his long day. And since Henry had every single pillow in the living room on his sofa, Gene had to take his rest on a big ducky. Busy days mean tired boys!

A Bug's Life!

Will is fascinated by insects and spiders and all things creepy-crawly, so we read books about insects, visit the Museum of Natural Science to see butterflies up close and in person, and study Will's insect flashcards incessantly! Yesterday's bug "lesson" got a little more hands-on.

Gene and I found this cicada shell stuck on the side of a building after we had lunch yesterday, so like any good parents of bug-loving children, we scooped it up into a plastic bag and carried it home to show Will!

I didn't tell Will about the cicada right away when I got home. Instead, I pulled out Are You a Dragonfly? by Judy Allen and Tudor Humphries and we read it together. Dragonflies molt just like cicadas do, and this book has some awesome drawings of dragonflies pulling themselves out of their skin. It's written for preschoolers, so this series of bug books is just perfect for Will. Then we pulled out his insect cards and found the one of the cicada so he could see what an adult cicada looks like. Then I took the bag with the cicada shell in it outside and Will got to really look at it closely. He loved it!
Weezie was curious too!

Next Will had to pick up the cicada shell and compare it to his picture of a cicada.
When we came back in (with our cicada shell carefully preserved in a plastic box), we looked up pictures of cicadas online so we could learn about the molting process. If you don't know much about cicadas, here goes: the nymphs live underground for up to 17 years (depending on the species) and eat tree root sap. When a cicada nymph emerges from the ground, it attaches itself to a upright support, splits its skin, and molts. Then it looks for a mate, which is why we hear their loud buzzing or clacking mating songs in the summer. Interesting fact: adult cicadas do not eat! I found a cool set of photos showing the cicada molting process at http://emlado.com/cicada.htm. Check them out!

So, that was Will's impromptu bug "lesson" of the day, but it didn't stop there because Will turned into the teacher himself. Once Henry woke up from his nap, we climbed in the car to run errands, and Will wanted to take his bug cards with him. During the whole car ride, Will held up a card to Henry, told him what it was and a little bit about it. For example, Will held up the termite card and said "Henry, this is a termite. They eat wood. We don't like termites." Henry would look at the card and either say, "Mine don't like termites" or "That's mine favorite one!" Henry has lots of favorite bugs. And so does Will. Actually, it appears that we are just one big, bug-loving family! Who knew?

Again

Henry loves to do the same things over and over again, whether it is reading the same book four times before bed or repeating the same circuit at Gymboree.

So on Father's Day, Henry invented this little game and played it over and over again. He was pretty proud of himself! First, he pulled out the stool from the powder room, climbed up and over the sofa, and tumbled head first onto the ground. And then he did it again...and again...and again!

Henry's recipe for happiness: climb, tumble, giggle with your grandmas, and repeat!

I want to be a Daddy too!

Gene is such a good daddy to our boys. He plays rough and tumble with them, loves to take them places individually (gym class, nature class), and gives me breaks whenever I need them. Weekend breakfasts are Daddy's domain, and they are awesome. We are so lucky to have such a great daddy, but perhaps the best compliment Gene could receive came from Will yesterday. I was asking Will if he wanted to be a paleontologist when he grew up, and he said, "No, I want to be a cook. But first I'm going to be a daddy." Okay, we'll work on the job-parenthood order, but still, I love that he wants to be like his daddy! And I know with such a great daddy of his own, Will will one day be a fantastic father too!

Gene really is a great husband and father. He worked all day on Father's Day to make it a special day for his boys and all the grandparents. Everyone else got a nap, but not Gene! He was too busy fixing computer problems, mixing up his special mini-burgers, and setting up the outdoor toys. In the end, Father's Day was exactly how I imagine a Father's Day to be. All the grandparents came over and we grilled out. Really, what could be better for Father's Day? (Okay, Gene might want to see some relaxation in there, but hey, it was fun!)

Father's Day started off with presents for Gene. Gene loves Tabasco, so the boys helped me pick out goodies from the most recent Tabasco catalog. Our order almost didn't arrive in time, even though I placed it in May, because Tabasco lost of the order. Fortunately, it arrived with two days to spare and the boys had fun showing Gene his goodies. Really, they can put Tabasco on everything, even peanuts!

After our normal, busy Sunday morning routine, we put the tired little boys down for naps and started to cook and prep for dinner. The grandparents all arrived in the late afternoon, so the boys spent loads and loads of time with them. And, of course, I grabbed my camera to try to get some good shots!

Henry and Grampa (aka Hanka)

Three generations!

Henry and Pop

Such goofballs!

Henry with the other three grandparents

We had the best time celebrating Father's Day with three of the best dads I know!

Inside Games

Can you guess what game the boys are playing here? Peek-a-boo?

Nope, not peek-a-boo! They're playing hide-and-seek. Henry is really good at counting to 10 and shouting out "Ready or not, here I come!" He's just not so good at staying in his hiding spot. Will counts, Henry hides, Will gets to 10 and Henry comes running out! Then Will tells him to go stay in his hiding spot. When Will hides, Henry doesn't really look for him. He just runs around shouting, "Where's Will?" So Will helps him by saying, "Here I am, Henry!"

It's pretty cute to watch them play.

Happy boys!

Who replaced my babies with big boys??

I'm not sure how it happened, but suddenly there are no more babies in my house! Everyone has gotten so big! Will and Henry actually "discuss" this issue quite frequently. This is how a typical conversation goes:

Will: Oh, Henry. You're such a good little baby.
Henry: Mine not baby. Mine big boy, Will!
Will: You'll always be our baby, Henry.

Henry: Mine not baby. Mine Henry.

Here's a little summary of what our big boys are up to these days.

Henry is almost 27 months old and talks all the time! He has so much to say. He does substitute "mine" for "I" and "I'm" most of the time. It's really adorable. He also still drops the beginning sounds of words sometimes (saying "at" for "cat," for example.) But, he's getting better with that. If you get him alone for a few minutes, the kid will talk your ear off! He especially likes to notice things about people and make comparisons. For example, he likes to notice the "Mommy and Henry have green eyes" and that "Daddy and Will have brown eyes." If something needs to be matched up, he's the kid for you!
Henry also love books. I love reading with him because he has certain parts of his books memorized and he also loves to fill in the story. His favorite books right now are by David Shannon and Sandra Boynton, as well as any counting books. If he doesn't like a book (say, one that we're reading with Will), he'll try to close it and say "The End." We're working on taking turns with books, especially at bedtime! Henry does love it when Will "reads" to him, which fortunately happens quite often! Like his brother, Henry also loves music and sings along with his favorite songs.

Henry is very busy too. He loves to run and climb and play. His favorite game is to "go up Mommy's nigh-night bed," which just means he likes to be in my bed. Both boys use their imaginations to turn our bed into a nest for birds, a rocket ship, a boat, and so on. One day recently they were pretending to be fire ants, and another day they were making "holes" in the bed because they were moles!

And now here's big boy Will, who will turn four in just two months! He recently decided he wanted to eat an apple whole. I wasn't sure how that would go, since he doesn't normally like the peel, but he did really well. You can kind of see the apple, sans peel, in this photo.

Will is really into dinosaurs and cooking lately. He can't decide if he wants to be a chef or a paleontologist when he grows up. This kid knows so much about dinosaurs! He can rattle off so many different kinds and can tell you what they look like and whether or not they're carnivores or herbivores. His current favorites are the velociraptor, spinosaurus, and T-Rex. We took the boys to the Houston Museum of Natural Science two weekends ago to explore the dinosaur fossils, gems, and butterfly center, and Will loved it! We bought a membership, so now we can go back whenever we want. It was the perfect place to be on a hot summer morning.
Last Sunday night, Will helped Gene make pizza. I know I have lots of photos of us cooking, but Will really likes to help us in the kitchen! He actually stirred the pizza sauce. Don't worry, the gas isn't on here!
Will is very serious about his cooking. He asks if I will come to his restaurant when he is big (14 years old, he says) and that he will bring me my dinner. There's a little place nearby that offers cooking classes for kids, starting at age 4. The classes are parent-child ones, so I'm hoping we can coordinate that for the fall. This kid loves being in the kitchen!

And of course, Will still loves books and music and learning. He can be pretty stubborn and likes me to help him with everything, but we are working on getting him to do things (like putting his shoes and writing his letters) all by himself. He can do those things, but he likes me to be around in case he needs extra help.

What happened to my babies? These boys have gotten so BIG!

A Sick Puppy

You know someone is sick when your usually non-napping child naps for two hours and then still goes right to bed at 7pm, without a fuss. Oh, and the fever of 101.7 is a dead giveaway too!

Doesn't Will look sad? He spent yesterday afternoon on the couch, sipping juice and watching TV. And right before bed, Will said, "Mommy, being sick really isn't fun." Nope, it sure isn't. Here's hoping the rest of the crew stays healthy!

Reading Books

Yesterday Gene recorded this video of Will reading to Henry. Apparently they "read" many books like this before bed last night. In this scene, Will is reading Do Lions Live on Lily Pads? by Melanie Walsh. The book asks the same kinds of questions: "Do parakeets live in a fish tank? No, but fish do. Does a hamster spin a web? No, but a spider does. Does a flea scratch? YES! Scratch scratch!" Are they adorable or what?

And the Beat Goes On

Last weekend, my friend Leigh was visiting from Seattle, so some of my girlfriends came up here for a yummy brunch prepared by Gene. After tasty treats and great conversation, we headed upstairs to Will's room for a concert. Will had carefully laid out all his instruments and he had a plan!

Will played us songs about bugs and moles.

And then he even invited us all to join in with our own instruments!

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of watching my friend's daughter Ainsley for a couple of hours. Will and Henry both adore her, and they had so much fun playing together. They dug for fossils, cooked up a picnic lunch, decorated for a birthday party, and ended the morning with a marching band!
Will's idea of a good play date (for children and grown-ups alike) is clearly one that ends with some great music! The beat goes on....and on....and on... at our house!

Two Bug Mysteries Solved

Mystery #1: Where is Weezie?

Weezie-bug disappeared last Saturday night and was gone for 54 hours. The mystery isn't completely solved, since we have no idea where she went, but she is home now! We do know that she escaped through this small gap in the fence near the corner of our house. Yes, we do have bricks stacked there, but she knows how to pull the top brick out to squeeze through the gap.
We (and an battalion of neighborhood friends) searched for her for two days. We wandered through our neighborhood, armed with a plastic container of food, because if you know Weezie at all, you know she loves to eat and comes running when you shake food. But for two days, we had no luck! Finally, Tuesday morning when I was getting ready for boot camp, I went out to shake the food and call for her from the front of the house. Two minutes later I heard meowing at the back door and there was Weezie!

Needless to say, we are all excited to have our Weezie-bug back home with us. The boys, especially, are thrilled! I just wish she could talk and tell us where she went. Gene thinks she just needed a little vacation, but I'm thinking maybe it was a crash diet! She does look thinner...

Mystery #2: Who's been eating our tomatoes?

We have three gorgeous tomato plants, but every few days I go out and find that some of our tomatoes are chomped to bits. I figured it was birds, since they are always out in our backyard, but this is what I discovered this morning:

This was one large caterpillar! And he was exactly the same color as the tomato plant! I literally didn't see him at first, but I did see the three tomatoes that he had mostly eaten. At least we are guaranteed yummy tomatoes from our CSA and the farmers' market, since ours are being devoured by the likes of this guy.
So, the bug mysteries are now solved. We have our Weezie-bug back home where she belongs, and now we know it was bugs, not birds, eating our tomatoes. You can just call us the bug detectives!