Little did I know that our Halloween treat-or-treat extravaganza would be our last fun for a while… Within 18 hours, I was sitting in the doctor’s office with Fred. He was treated for croup and we were sent on our way. I thought we were done with illness after that. Oh….I was so wrong. Then came the sluggishness and loss of appetite. And sniffles. And headaches. Then the congestion. Then the coughing. By the end of the week, Jesse was home from work and sending me back to bed every time he looked at me. Then it was his turn. We traded germs and rotated through symptoms in quarantine for a solid two weeks. I pulled Ben from preschool for 8 days. It was gross. Any pictures from November 1-15 look pretty much like this:

The boys filled their screen time quota for the year in about 2 days. Oh well. You know it’s bad when the preschooler is totally content to be wrapped in a blanket and left on the couch for a couple hours at a time in the middle of the day. Slowly we got back into trains and eating and playing. We were just slow for a while…

We did make two exceptions to our house-bound state. I took the boys with me to vote. That might have made me sicker, so we went to the church sanctuary to pray about our health and the state of the world. Whew! The second trip was to the medicine aisle of Target. Good thing they provide cart wipes. Sorry to be out with my germ monsters, but we REALLY needed to leave the house for a minute and restock on some supplies.

Then things finally started getting back to normal. My parents visited, we made a triumphant return to the zoo (and saw the baby rhino!!), parks, the library, and the world in general.
  

After staying inside with two snotty, wonderful children for so long, I was ready for a date night!!  WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO! Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them did not reach Harry Potter amazing status, but it was a good show with some magical fun.

Thanksgiving was a nice treat of visiting with family at Great-Grandma’s nursing home and then attending Disney on Ice! So much fun. Ben was at the perfect age and loved the music and lights. He enjoyed Peter Pan flying, but later assured Jesse that “ropes helped him”. Ha! We had another Thanksgiving dinner with my in-laws on Saturday. It was some nice family time.

We also checked out the Festival of Trees. It was a very nice event and fundraiser. It won’t be added to our “must do” holiday list in Des Moines, but it was definitely worth checking out. After all, there was a train to ride… and Santa. Obviously my boys loved Santa.

Recently there has been a baby boom in Des Moines. I’ve been lucky enough to get to snuggle some fresh babies, but I’m also reminded that babies are HARD. Haha. It’s great to be living in these exciting toddler/preschool times. I would gladly pause time for a while right here…

We continue to be zoo members and I just love it as a half day activity. We can usually breeze through it in 2 hours or less, but this summer they have an exhibit featuring Curious George. Ben spent two hours in there one day, hopping between the activities. He’s just at the perfect age for it. However, I learned that the building they keep it in turns into a sauna when the temperatures climb, so I will have to use my powers of distraction to keep him out of it during the heat of the summer.

In fun news, though, Fred is now allowed out of the stroller to check out the exhibits, and Ben finally likes feeding the goats. “IT TICKLES MY HAND!!”

The other night I cried.

Okay, so that’s nothing new. I’m 10 months postpartum and weaning my giant baby. I cry a lot.

But this time I just got emotional as I appreciated the pure innocence of my three year old. He was sitting there in his pajamas…..playing with a pirate ship.

At this stage in life:
I know all of his friends.
He tells me everything he’s thinking and feeling.
He doesn’t know any swear words.
He doesn’t know any pop culture lyrics.
A trip to the local zoo is exciting and all the vacation he desires.
He doesn’t know any celebrities other than cartoons.
He doesn’t know anything about politics.
He thinks pirates share and help each other.
He hasn’t had to grieve a death.
It is super obvious when he lies.
His biggest problem is that his brother spits on his toys.

I am soaking up this summer. Before preschool, other kids that I don’t know, and teachers. Before he’s really a big kid instead of just saying he’s a big kid.

I am in love with this time in our lives and am really trying to enjoy the ride. I know it is just a moment in time, so I’m keeping this childhood innocence thing going as long as I can. If you need me, I’ll be having a parent-child conference in my office. (Yes, we both fit in here. That won’t last long either!!)

It’s one of those months that my self-imposed deadline has passed and I’ve started the entry over 5 times. So I’m going to play “lightning round blogging”. Lots of pictures, bullet points, and sentence fragments. It’s time to get this done. Enjoy!

First thing’s first: Look at this NINE month old!

Fred…

• is 20 lbs 9 oz and 29″
• sleeps better than he used to but still peppers our nights with screaming sessions to make us appreciate the good nights
• CRAWLS like a champion
• pulls himself to his knees and is very proud of himself
• sticks out his tongue and says, “a blah blah blah”
• wants to eat everything

And look at this handsome 3 year old…

Ben….

Likes: playing outside and on playgrounds, helping around the yard, “reading” and being read to, riding his scooter, puzzles, singing to himself and creating stories featuring Peter Pan, playing sports with his own rules

Dislikes: coloring for more than 5 minutes, getting in the bath, getting out of the bath, stopping play time for silly things like “potty time” or “sleep”

Common phrases: ‘hind ya (behind you), Yo Ho Let’s Go!, PIZZA CAKE PIE (yelled for no reason), 10 HOURS LATER (yelled for no reason), PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICH (yelled for no reason), “Mom! Dad! Please move Freddy!!”

Highlights and Memories from April/May 2016:

The yard! Lots of work done. Lots of work to do. A mysterious Iris patch has appeared and has been beautiful this spring. I don’t know how they got there, but I love them. I finally started enjoying another random patch of things I didn’t plant – Mint! After 4 years of talking about it, I made mojitos. And they were delicious.

It had been way too long – so we were back to the library this month!

Good manners with some fits thrown in. One day, I parked at the #2 gas pump. Ben wanted to park at the #3 gas pump. Because he is 3.

Picnics in the yard and play times at parks.

Cloud gazing: Puffs of steam – like Thomas!

Lazy days at home. Measuring everything. Sharing with Brother. Walks around the neighborhood. May Day baskets!

Other than goodnight kisses, Ben doesn’t normally show much affection for Fred. One day he say by him and held his hand. I pretty much melted.

Ben will always have a place in his heart for Thomas and Lightning McQueen, but his latest love? JAKE AND THE NEVERLAND PIRATES. It started with the original Peter Pan movie. But once he saw the spin off Disney Channel show of Jake, he was hooked. He introduces us as his “pirate crew”. He introduces himself to people as Jake. Jesse is Cubby. I am Izzy. Fred is Scully – the parrot. The theme song is one of the only songs he sings willingly. He creates wild stories like Tinkerbell getting stuck in our pipes and Peter Pan coming to help. We race Captain Hook whenever we are in the car. It is a hilarious phase. A pirate’s life for me!!

Sundays still usually find us at Grandma and Grandpa’s house – it’s finally rope swing weather!

We thought the first time of perfect behavior at the dentist was a fluke. Second time is a trend!? He rocked it – even getting flossed!

The zoo membership keeps on giving. A very favorite spot for us for a morning out.

We took the boys bowling for the first time. Ben was SO excited. Then he was goofy. Then he was antsy. Then he was sad to go. We’ll definitely try it again sometime.

Bring on Summer!

It was one of those days. Blowout diapers, pee on the floor, no naps, crying, cabin fever, boredom, guilt about not “enjoying every moment”. I was in a funk. I was struggling. So I put on a movie – The Lorax – and sat on the couch. Sigh.

Suddenly, the truffula trees appeared, and Ben announced, “Mom! That’s like mine book!” He went upstairs on his own and brought down his copy of the Dr. Seuss story.

“Let’s read it, Mom!” Yep, my three year old wanted to pause the movie, curl up on my lap, and read the book instead. And when we finished, he turned to me and said, “Okay! Let’s watch it!” And we curled up with some popcorn and cuddled.

That is how my day turned around. That was nothing short of magic.

It’s sometimes difficult to know what Ben remembers, especially since he pretends not to remember directions from five minutes ago. But the other day I had the most beautiful and surprising conversation with him.

We finally set up the baby mobile. There is a button for music, nature sounds, and the whoosh-whoosh of a heartbeat. Ben was pressing the buttons and he stopped at the heartbeat sound and pointed to me. He announced, “Mom belly! Mom belly sound like that!” I asked him, “Ben? You remember when Fred was in Mom’s belly?!” And he just replied, “Yeah! Fred come out Mom belly! Fred like it!!”

It was so sweet because I loved when he heard Fred’s heartbeat at the doctor’s appointments, but I never knew what he was understanding. I know the memory won’t last, but I love seeing glimpses into what he knows right now.

They were going to be Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat. But yellow is not a popular boy color in October and it was becoming work.

I found an awesome deal at a consignment shop of a monkey/banana pair, but my monkey was too big for his suit. Fred made an amazing banana though! He wasn’t thrilled.

Then Ben got it in his head that he would be a ghost and Fred would be a super hero! Well, I figured this might be the last year I could totally take over the costume ideas, and with the inspiration (and Mickey costume) from Aunt Holly…..

Happy Halloween from Mickey and Walt!

It only took one sucker and a new cartoon to make this picture happen. Not bad! Well, that and several outtakes.

  
  

We love to trick or treat at great grandma’s nursing home. After a rather impressive melt down in the parking lot, we got Walt Disney in the building and had a nice time. He has recently become a champion at “thank you” manners and this gave him lots of extra practice. The boys were a big hit.

Haha! Oh boy! 

Just for fun, I wanted to compare the boys at the 2 month mark. I can’t believe Ben ever looked like that!

I obviously have a much bigger buddy this time around. In fact, Fred has a solid 5 pound lead on Ben at this point. Amazing! All went well with Fred’s check up, weighing in at 14 lbs 4 oz. What a champ.

When my husband was younger, he was SUPER into trains. We tried not to push Ben in any certain direction, but guess what he loves the most? Well, as he puts it, “CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

Ben loves anything plastic with wheels, but he has a special fondness for trains. Nina and Papa got him a Thomas the Train set last Christmas and he really latched on to it. Then came Jesse’s childhood Duplo, books and a play set at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, a Thomas pillow from Aunt Holly, and a pop up tent from Uncle Nat…..you get the idea. The kid is hooked. Whenever he sees trains now, he just makes the “Ch Ch Ch Ch Ch” sounds. Whenever he’s really excited, he bursts into the highest, squeakiest “Choo Choo!” I’ve ever heard. It is hilarious. He actually has quite the attention span for them too! Sometimes, he needs help hooking them together with a big, “AhHoo”, but he really enjoys playing with them independently and figuring things out. Here’s our little engineer at work!