Catching up from a long weekend!

Ethan:

H: "You're my favorite two-year-old."
E: "My cat eats cat food."
Which immediately reminded me of one of my favorite Ralph Wiggum quotes, "My cat's breath smells like cat food."

Tonight we were eating broccoli and Ethan said, "Broccoli is like a little tree."

Several weeks ago, I stepped on Ethan's hand. It was a proud parenting moment. He was climbing up the stairs with his hands and feet and I was coming down the stairs fast because I had just run up to get a sweatshirt for him...it left a mark and he's still talking about it..."Mommy stepped on me. She didn't know my little hand was there." Nice.

I may have mentioned this one before...Ethan talks about some of his little cars as his "littles"...it cracks me up.

The other night I said to Ethan, "Give me a kiss on the cheek." and he replied, "You can give yourself one." Sass.

Another one I may have mentioned, because he's been calling me this for awhile, but Ethan calls me Gummy and Guppy sometimes...pretty much only at bedtime. If Daddy is bringing him up to bed, he will say to me on his way upstairs, "Goodnight Gummy. I love you Guppy"...or some combination of that. I don't know where it came from, but I absolutely love that he has a nickname for me.

Ethan had his first skinned-knee of the Summer recently. He let me put a Sponge Bob Square Pants band-aid on it (the first band-aid I put on him was on a blister on his heel, and he freaked out!) and then wanted one on the other knee as well, so they would match.

Speaking of "matching"...Ethan head-butted me in the thigh a few mornings ago. Daddy had a talk with him afterwards...I was too busy trying not to cry. This kid has a HARD head. I got an instant bruise and it was/is nasty-looking. I showed Ethan to show him that Mommy can get hurt too. He said, "Oooooh" all sad, and then got a huge smile on his face and said "We have matching owies" while pulling up the leg of his pants to show me his skinned knee. Do you think he got the message?

Ethan has been trying out the potty a lot, and talking about all sorts of potty-topic things...no need for detail. He tries to go on the potty himself a lot, without prodding or bribes. He's very excited about it. I think we'll be there before the end of the Summer...maybe sooner. I've heard that letting kids run around naked helps them be more aware of when they need to go...Summertime and playing outside will make that a lot easier.



Dylan & Owen:

I finished their baptism frames today! That's one week and one day past their baptism. Beats the two years plus it took me to get Ethan's done but whatevs.

Size recap: Reminder, Dylan and Owen are 6 months on June 8th

Dylan is solidly in to 9-month sleepers...I think he could fill out a 12-month in some brands. He is girthy, yes, but it's that he's SO long!! His clothes are all 6-9 months, but he doesn't fit the 6-month sleepers...they are too short for him.

Owen still fits some 3-month sweat-pants. Most of his clothes are 6-month...some are 3-6 month, but the 3-6 month onesies are getting tight. He's also a little too long for the 6-month sleepers, but he's still in there for now. He's catching up to his younger-by-one-minute-brother. He's definitely filling out a little bit in the face....there are some rolls in his thighs.

The 6-month well-baby check is on June 11th. Now that we are done with Synagis shots, I don't get the monthly weight update and I just can't wait to see what they're at. These boys are HEALTHY!! We're still just doing rice cereal before bedtime...but I'm getting ready for the next step. I recently bought some teething biscuits (I hate that, sounds like they're dogs or something), puffs, and am ready to order some food storage containers because I'm going to attempt to make my own baby food for them with our food processor. If anyone has any tips on this, please share!

Dylan is rolling all over the place. I swear, any day now he will crawl. It is exciting and makes me nervous as well. The days of being able to run into the kitchen to grab something quick are almost over...they move so fast once they get mobile.

*****

I'm still thinking about the great room-swap. I picked out 4 blue-paint samples to let Ethan pick from. I may let him pick...I have a favorite too. At some point I will get organized enough to do this. There will never be a perfect time, and it's complicated by the fact that my husband thinks it's unnecessary, and he's probably right. But I really want to give Ethan a big-boy room, and if I'm going to go through the effort of re-doing a room, I might as well switch him into the room that works best for the big brother.

We are building a garden this Summer. I picked out lots of flower seeds, because Ethan wants to plant flowers and nothing else...primarily Sunflowers. I got lots of different flowers, because I want variety...Andy and I are going to try and sneak in some vegetable seeds as well. I'm also going to plant some tomato plants in some beds where some hostas didn't transplant well a few seasons ago. Andy also bought a few lilac bushes for a corner of our yard, 4 dogwoods, and two birch trees. We've spent the last couple years (4+) in our house just trying to get the yard into shape because it had been a serious mess, but now it's time to spice it up!

I brought all the kids down to Northfield on Saturday morning for the Annual Carleton Rugby Alumni game. The weather wasn't ideal at first, but we had come prepared with a tarp for underneath our blanket and set up camp in an area well off the pitch. As I unloaded the car, I realized that I must be crazy to bring the kids to this thing...the first game started at 11am...it was right around lunch and would run over naptime. It went pretty well...my Mom helped me out while Andy played and Grampa Pete showed up and walked around with Dylan and Ethan while Owen napped in his carseat. I drank a beer or two. After awhile, the kids and I went home...they all crashed out in the car on the way home...the sun came out. Later, my parents told me that their friends remarked at how in control and calm I was handling all 3 of them...it's good that I look that way on the outside!!

We had a great Memorial Day weekend...it was 4 days for me since I had Friday off also. My parents were in town...we had lots of fun and also some time to hang out as well!! Pictures from one of our afternoons in the backyard are on my new homemade banner!