Max's third birthday

Max, Ella and Madeline have been anticipating this birthday since Ryan's three months ago.  Ella climbed in my bed, already dressed to inform me, "Mom, it's Max's birthday today.  What are we going to have for breakfast, and for lunch and for dinner".  Birthdays evidently yield more exciting foods in our home.  

Madeline and Ella hung signs around the house, specially drawn for Max.  They also handed him and paper towel tube which contained their present for him, drawn pictures of various dinosaurs rolled up inside the tube.

We had a fun day.  Fruit Loops for breakfast, McDonalds for lunch, and Mac n Cheese for dinner.  We ate cake and sherbet and then played with Max's new toys.  We told everyone what we remembered of the day Max was born, which invoked many memories of Richmond

I think I should always start off a birthday with Tennis in the morning.  Just an idea, but the rest of the day seemed such much more delightful, having spent an hour playing in my league.  

I told the girls to watch for the crocuses as the first sign of spring. In Richmond, we watched for the daffodils, and it is always a thrill to see the first green shoots coming from the ground. Yesterday, we spotted crocuses all over our yard, like they sprang from nothing, even after being burdened by winters harsh kill, and the 60 inches of snow.

Yesterday was a balmy 57, so we were out in short sleeves. When he's outside, Sam spends as much time as he can manage over at our neighbors house, watching the dogs, and running away when they come to close to him. Max, Madeline and Ella are so happy to be playing with our neighbors again. Sunday, all the children in the culdesac were outside with their parents flying kites. It was lovely to see the sky throw about the colorful kites and watch the kites maneuver them.

Two weeks ago, Madeline, Ella and I started our eggplant, pepper, cilantro, basil and parsley seeds. The girls each pick a pack of flower seeds they wanted to start, and we planted those as well. Yesterday, I started tomato seeds, including some heirloom seeds that I tried to save a few years ago from Chris's grandmothers tomatoes. I hope they work out.

Ella has started a Pokemon trading card company on her Kindergarten bus.  She doesn't own any Pokemon cards, or didn't, as of a few days ago.  Now she owns five, given to her from various boys and girls on her bus.  She trades those cards, and seems to always acquire more through her endeavors.  Whereas before, she begged me to not have to ride the bus, now she is the first one out the door, and is content to ride the bus home as well.

Madeline told me she is more excited about planting this year than she is about anything, including horses.  I knew I needed to get the seeds started when I heard this, because all I hear about from her, is how she wants to take horseback riding lessons.  She also wants to learn to yo-yo, as she has been reading Sheila the Great, and Sheila good friend is the best yo-yoer in town.  I think Madeline likes the idea of being the best in town at something.  

Max spends a lot of time ON TOP of the dining room table (the one we don't use).  In fact, he has moved in there.  He has his dinosaur puzzle on the table, he takes it apart and redoes it several times a day, always informing me that "he really needs my help".  He brought all his dinosaurs in and lines them on the table daily.  They are placed  alternately between viewing the puzzle, or to look outside, maybe watching for Ella's bus to arrive.

  I cleaned the dining room one day, much to the dismay of Max.  The next morning, he found me immediately after he came downstairs to check on his dinosaurs, and told me he needed my help to find all his dinosaurs and "fix" them.  I helped him get them out of the toy-box, but apparently one m wasn't there, so we had to search until we found it downstairs.  Then he needed my help to find the dinosaur puzzle.  I decided it was in my best interest to deed the dining room table to Max and his dinosaur effort.

Sam is a bundle of joy and mischief.  He loves cookies, I think introducing GS cookies to him was a mistake. He is delightful and exasperating at the same time.  

We all enjoy Ryan's company.  Madeline often request that he wake her up early so she can eat breakfast with him.  Ryan and I have been playing in separate tennis leagues, and it's fun when we can go play together. Now that the weather is changing, we hope to spend a lot of time there.

Ella's Honors Violin Recital

Madeline Honors Violin Recital

Someone left the cinnamon on the table after breakfast.  It went unnoticed by all but one.  A very important One indeed.

aah, curiosity combined with the ability to climb on top of anything makes a trivial oversight a timely task.

The feel of such finely ground cinnamon is much better than sand, and much harder to get up as well.

Now that it's empty, let me close the lid.

Madeline and Ella were invited to participate in an honors music recital.  The best part was that their dad got to play the piano accompaniment for them.  The worst part is that I was left with Max and Sam and the video camera.  Sam was pretty true to form.  We sat down and he immediately started the, "Let me go" grunt.

Next, I took him to the foyer, and walked him around, where he instantly spotted the dessert table, and started lobbying for a "cooie, mommy".   I took a cookie and decided to give him piece by piece slowly.  He was highly offended by my idea, and and started grunting and kicking.  He even refused to take the 95% of the whole cookies remaining.

I put him on the ground to cool down, and he walked over to the glass doors and started head banging it, which hurt, so then he started crying.  He was still offended at me.  I took him outside in the 25 degree weather, and he lay on the cement and kicked and hit it for all he was worth.  I could stand to watch, so I walked inside.   Slowly, he came crying after me.  In the foyer, he agreed to take the rest of the cookie.

When it was close to time for Madeline and Ella to play, I got another cookie for Sam, and holding him, I held the camera in the other hand.  This lasted for Madeline's song, and shortly after Ella started playing, he finished his cookie and wanted down, which is not an acceptable option.  A friend saw me struggling to video tape and keep Sam afloat, and took Sam for the blessed remaining of the song.

Amazingly, three other people came to the back and told me what a cute baby he was, and he smiled, went to them, lay on the shoulder and cuddled as long as they would hold him.  Not for me though.  I think I"m being had by an almost 18 month old.

Madeline and Ella both played wonderfully.  They have worked really hard in the past year since the started violin, and they are proud of the results.  I had a really hard time when they started with the commitment that was involved on my end to practice with them every day.  I had to become more disciplined and organized, as well as enthusiastic and inventive to encourage them to continue practicing every day.  Ella in particular loves a motivator.  As we were preparing for this song, I would take a tbsp of hot chocolate, and when Ella played loud and clear, I would sprinkle it in a cup.  At the end, she would be able to drink her hot chocolate.

I've noticed that both girls are learning many values in addition to violin as they continue to practice and work hard.  I learned to work hard because I had 11 younger siblings when I was at home, and because I had to pay for college, mission, clothes, pretty much everything.  My children won't have either experience, so I'm grateful to see them developing this important characteristic.

Now, if only I could figure something out with Sam.

My day-time buddies

For a snack today, Max and Sam had trail mix, minus all the nuts, which not only did they not eat, but they relished throwing everyone off the table.  There are a lot of nuts in trail mix, so I asked Max if he wanted to pick them up by himself, or whether he would like me to help him pick them up.  He wanted help, so I picked up much of it with him and then left a small portion for him to finish. 

 He came over to me and said, "I sick, Mommy, I want to read these books".  He was apparently too sick to pick up the rest of the nuts.  "Ooh, that's so sad Max, let's lay you down on the other couch by yourself so you can rest. We're not going to read the books while your sick". 

 He quickly recuperated, "I not sick, mommy", he said, and without another word, he went over to pick up the nuts so we could read.  

Max really loves dinosaurs right now, a right of passage I suspect.  His favorite books are, Dinosaur Bones, and Dinosaurs.  He loves to lines up all the play dinosaurs from the T-Rex to the smallest. 

 He knows many of them by name, and will often say, "Mommy, you be Stegosaurus, I be Iguanodon", and we will have a dinosaur wrestle.  then "I be Tyrannosaurus and you be Apatosaurus", and we play again.  

I was excited to cook dinosaur chicken nuggets for his lunch last week.  He helped me get them out and lined up, but had not planned on having to cook the dinosaurs in the hot oven.  He begged me to not cook them.  Being the logical person that I am, I gave him a frozen nugget to eat, thinking he'd realize why dinosaurs go in the oven.  

He managed to eat a frozen chicken nugget just fine, and came over as I put the rest in the oven.  He cried and cried for me to take them out of the oven.  His big crocodile tears and sincerity of intent definitely made me question the morality of cooking dinosaurs, even edible ones as they were.  But what was I to do.  It was already done.  

So, I took him out of the kitchen and read him some books until the food was ready.  Now, he doesn't help me prepare the dinosaurs beforehand.

By far, the least destructive activity the boys enjoy, also happens to be the noisiest.  Max arranges his wooden train.  Sam also arranges his train, a Little People one that I tied a string around so he would stop fighting Max for his. 

I can hardly get a picture of them because they go do fast.

 They race their trains around the circle of hardwood floor in our house.  Around and around the go, if the radio is on, I just go ahead and turn it off, because you can't hear anything except pounding feet and racing trains. 

 Since it's not destructive to anything other than my sanity, I actually encourage this activity.  "ooh, Sam, we don't dump the dirt out of the plants, would you like to play with your train, or play with some cars".  Sam always chooses the train.

 Surely one of the things I will miss about Max growing up is the way he sits, the way he lays on his stomach to arrange his trains just right, and his precious little fingers.   He can be so focused on such fine points.  I can't remember any of my children lining things up the way he does everything.

Could cross-legged look any cuter than this?

Love those little baby fingers.