Little Gems of Little Man

When Little Man wouldn't move over so that Peanut could sit on my lap too.

Mama Bear: Little Man, you have to share Mama with Peanut. You know that.

Little Man: Mama, you aren't a toy. You know that.

While playing grocery shopping with his friend Kate at a playdate.

Kate: I am the mommy and you are the daddy

Little Man: I am the Big Daddy

Kate: Ok, come on Big Daddy

While discussing Baby Girl - although obviously the gender is still in question in one of our minds!

Mama Bear: Are you excited to meet your baby sister?

Little Man: Yes! I hope she is a boy!

Because he is really training to be the perfect husband for some wonderful girl one day.

Little Man: Mama, you look super pretty today!

Mama Bear: Thank you so much, that makes me feel happy.

Little Man: I will tell Papa to say you are pretty so he can make you happy too.

Reminding Kate of their planned secret rendezvous at the pool when she was sad about their playdate ending.

Kate: I don't want to go! I want to stay

Little Man: But remember (nudge nudge). It's ok, remember.....

Kate: Oh yeah!

Summer Cuts

Today was Haircut Day. Typically, to both save money and time, I give the boys their haircuts. I can handle trims and bangs and touch-ups - but they needed overhauls so we went to the semi-professionals at Hair Cuttery. Peanut was not impressed with their facility or their smiles. He cried/whimpered and clung to me the whole time making quite a mess out of both of us. Little Man, a pro a hair cuts, was adorable in his flirting with the stylist and giving her pointers as she went. I know, why are hair cuts at this point blog worthy. Well, it is mostly in the Peanut world that it is blog worthy. My baby and his curls are now an almost dirty blond little boy that makes me do a double take. So grown up and boyish in his charm that if it weren't for his baby fat chubby cheeks that jiggle when he walks or his roll of beautiful fat beneath his knee I would probably cry at the loss of his littleness. It is just so wonderfully difficult to watch them grow and become little boys because I know that they will soon (much sooner than I am ready for) become men and I want to keep my baby boys little forever. So the next over haul hair cuts might not be for a while. Here are my handsome little boys.

We are doing cartwheels here....

Little Man had his first gymnastics class this week and it was a huge hit. He loved every second of it from warming up to the high bar to the cartwheels. He has never been so much in his element as he was at the gym. We are looking forward to the next 7 weeks of his class. Below is a video of him practicing after his first day.

In This House...

We don't always the proper utensil to eat our cake...

We encourage late night naked swims instead of baths whenever possible....

We don't always make it upstairs before we fall asleep...

We aren't afraid to show off our cream cheese mustache and awesome bed head...

We love to dress up as robots

We sometimes are allowed to play with our food

and fire...

We may not follow your rules, but we follow ours and that is what makes us a special and unique family.

Little Man's First (Scheduled) Dentist Visit

Little Man loves the dentist! I know, can you believe it? Papa Bear took him to the dentist for his first scheduled cleaning. I make that distinction because we had to take him twice before he was 1 when he did a face plant on a concrete step and a toy respectively and chipped his front teeth. But this time, it was just a routine check/cleaning and he was amazing.

He brought George with him, which is something we rarely allow, so that was a treat and George got to sit with him in the chair. The dentist told us that they would just get him acquainted with the equipment and check his teeth. They would only do a cleaning if he was relaxed and content since it isn't absolutely necessary at 3. But Little Man was not just a trooper, he was an excited happy guy. They did a cleaning with raspberry toothpaste and even gave him a fluoride treatment. He did everything that the hygienist asked of him the first time and never seemed scared or reluctant at all. We are proud to report that his teeth look great, even the ones that he damaged when he was little and he has no cavities. He was so excited to brush his teeth before bed and came to tell me all about it before Papa Bear carted him off for stories.

A major success in this household and anxiety relieved. I won't lie, I dislike going to the dentist immensely and am happy that my Little Man has none of those fears or anxieties. Maybe it is because he got to get a special toy from the dentist, something he calls his Boingy Thing or maybe it is just because he is a special wonderful little person with more sense that some adults :)

Papa Bear's Fun Day with Peanut

Today Papa Bear discovered that Peanut is at the age where an errand can open a door for one-on-one fun time with Peanut. It has always been easier to imagine doing things like that with Little Man since he is older and more communicative. So when Little Man and I were napping in the afternoon, Papa Bear took Peanut to get our van serviced. While they waited for the car to be done they walked a few blocks to a park and played around. There was some peek-a-boo behind trees and just some general hijinks between Papa and Son. Then they went and got ice cream together ( I should note that Papa Bear did try to bring some home for my but my piggy wiggy of a Peanut ate it all before they made it home). Peanut sat in a chair of his own eating ice cream after shunning the idea of eating his ice cream while in his stroller. He is much to much of a big boy for that now. So he ate at the table and had himself some awesome Papa Bear alone time with ice cream and park fun. It just goes to show how much he is growing up. Papa Bear has probably mentioned how much fun they had 4 or 5 times which is so adorable to me. I love that he takes such joy in his time with his boys!

It's My Blog and I will Brag if I Want To!

I have got some great kids, no really, I mean it they are just really great kids. Today wasn't supposed to be this totally awesome day with so much fun and well behaved kids, it was supposed to be a dragging day that at best wasn't awful. But because of my two boys it was a superb day.

Papa Bear had a project to do at a super secret government location that started at 3:00 in the afternoon so you know what that means? Late project at a super secret location with no cell phones and no idea how long it will take means a super long day for me. I wasn't psyched about it and moped around a bit in the morning. But then Little Man says "Mama, can we go to the soft play room today?" And boom, I was inspired to turn my long day into a super fun day for the kids. In fact we decided to call it our Mystery Adventure Day because I knew it was going to be packed with adventure but it was going to a choose your own adventure a few minutes before you take off on it type of day. So Peanut blessed us with an early nap and off we went at 10:30 to the soft play room. The boys loved it. Little Man was doing forward flips (I really mean forward flips, I have to get this boy in gymnastics) into the ball pit and Peanut was running around the room laughing and falling and getting up and sliding head first into the ball pit. After a little over an hour I called a halt and packed up into the car. I gave Little Man a choice, home for lunch or to the pool to play. There was a resounding "to the pool" chant in the backseat. So I extracted a promise of good behavior and willingness to go when I said it was time and off we went. I had packed the pool bag just in case so that we didn't have to pause in our Mystery Adventure Day. The boys were angels. They hadn't even had lunch so I gave them some snacks of yogurt and fruit and they splashed and played happily in the pool for almost 3 hours. When it was time to go I got no complaints or meltdowns, just cheery words of "Yes Mama!" when I asked Little Man to pack it up. Home for naps (very late naps but sometimes you just have to roll with it) and Peanut had gotten his 5th wind at this point and decided he wasn't tired. So he toddled around my room taking everything out of my drawers while I laid down and rested for a few minutes. Finally he wound down too and both boys were sacked out. I had to wake them at 5 so they would sleep tonight and then Papa Bear surprised us by getting home way earlier than expected and helping with dinner, bath and bedtime routines. I couldn't have done it without my boys wonderful attitudes and awesome behavior. It was an amazing reminder of why I love being home with my kids and how you can turn a potential bad day into the best type of day with just some fun and attitude adjustment. I love it when a plan comes together!!