Guess what we did this week.

Played ball, of course. I am happy to report I am no longer the tee. Thank goodness for paper towel tubes ("trumpets").

But is this a golf tee or a t-ball tee?

"T-ball!"

The morning after this game of t-ball, Gus woke up requesting to play t-ball with Jonathan. When they went down stairs to play, Gus put the crown back on. Apparently it is part of the t-ball uniform.

But the crown was not around when Gus discovered that gates can be used as tees. And hair brushes, bats.


But not even Gus can spend all his time playing ball. Sometimes a boy has to count balls on the ball.

"One, two, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven!"

Weekend with Chloe

Here are a few pictures from our visit from Chloe and Kate. I did not take enough pictures. We were having too much fun to find the camera. I wish I had brought it to the junior jazz concert at the Please Touch Museum. Gus and Chloe were adorable. Both very serious at the start and then the last ones dancing at the end. I also wish I had whipped out the camera when Chloe was performing surgery on Jonathan with Gus's tool kit. By the far the best moment was when she instructed Jonathan, "Don't be scared," and then drilled his hand with the play power drill. It also would have been nice to have captured the kids playing hide-n-seek. This is the way they played. They stood next to each other, covered their eyes, counted to ten, and yelled "lets go" and then ran into a different room together.

Snow in the garden

It snowed today! Monday was great, but I like February with snow.

Snowball?

No, it is a baseball. It is spring training.


Gus did take time out from his game to help me build a snowman. Look! Mittens! Finally he wears them and his scarf. I brought the scarf out for the snowman and Gus decided he wanted it.


Theo wanted to help us and tried to wiggle his way to the door.


Poor guy. He has a cold so I did not bring him out.


But he watched us (and I watched him).


And for the record, Gus picked the "Boston" hat over the "bird hat" today. It may look like I picked it (it does look nice with the red jacket and blue snow pants), but I had nothing to do with it. I would have picked something warmer.

T-Ball and Hockey

The ball games never stop around here. (I found a really neat pattern to make a dollhouse out of cardboard and pictures from H&G magazines, but no. It is just ball, ball, ball, morning, noon and night.) This morning Gus invented a game similar to T-ball except I held the ball and the bat was a piece for my vacuum cleaner.


It is scary being a tee . . .


and a stuffed animal . . .


but Theo was safe . . .

behind bars and dressed appropriately.

This evening Grandma and PopPop came and played "hockey."

Broom vs. drumming bear.


Stopping fast.

Good shot?

Is it in?

GOAL!!!

GOAL!!!!!!!

Cake in the garden

Playgroup was small, but so much fun today. Evan was sick and did not make it to his and Gus's joint playgroup birthday bash, so I, who am totally over birthdays, decided to just skip any birthday rituals and let the kids enjoy their cupcakes (which Kelly had made and dropped off) outside in the garden. It was really warm today for February.

Jake, Gus, Ellie and Phillip

Gus was so happy with the weather an to be in the garden with his friends that he danced a little jig.

"CHEESE!"

Phillip enjoying his cupcake after digging in the dirt.

New ball game

This morning while I was getting ready for playgroup, Gus invented a new ball game. It is like baseball but better (and easier). You need a tube from a party pack of playdough and a ball made out of playdough. You put the playdough in the tube . . .


and then you swing the tube and scream "I whacked it," while the ball goes flying. And I do meaning flying.


It took me a while to figure out these rules. I was not playing close attention so I thought he was actually whacking the ball. When I took a few seconds to throw the ball to him he did not do as well.

This did not hit him in the head.

This is a potentially dangerous indoor game, but it is so much fun.

Hanging with Theo

Theo is spending a lot of the time hanging on the floor these days. (He can sit, but not for long stretches and he needs a spotter.) Here are a couple of recent cute pictures.

2.16.08

2.13.08

Look at those legs! They are something.

The party (cake #5)

We finally celebrated Gus's birthday with his buddies today. Was it everything he (me) thought it would be?

We had very large party hats. My paper skills resemble my knitting skills, not good with fit. And we had pin the tail on the donkey. I think the other parents at first thought I was crazy with the donkey game, but the kids liked it. But of course we did not try to blind fold them, or keep score, so they were really only putting tail stickers, and when those ran out, other stickers, where ever they pleased.

We had "paper twinkle lights."

We had three friends:
Jake
Zach

Lara

and their respective parents, Nikki, Sheri, and Anna and Mischa.


And of course Theo and Jonathan.

After pizza and fruit salad and lots of spilled milk, we had birthday cake #5. I really wanted to make the train cake, and though I am better, was worried that the other parents might find it germ laced, so we went back to Wholefoods and picked out another cake.

This one was strawberries and cream. I completely forgot to serve the ice cream.

Gus received a cool remote control train, a subscription to a toddler wildlife magazine, and this amazing crown that Anna made

Note how nicely it fits. "Super Gus!"

I did not take many pictures. Truthfully, having a party for two-year olds is very stressful. I did not even take one group shot. Oh well. I will remember to do that on Monday when we celebrate Gus's birthday one last time with our playgroup. Yes, six cakes. You only turn two once.

But I think Gus really enjoyed the party. After everyone left he kept offering hugs to Jonathan and me, and he is not really so huggy these days. I asked him if he was hugging us to thank us for the party and he said, "Thank you for the party."

Happy Valentine's Day

While Gus is asleep . . .

Theo will play . . .

with his toys.

This afternoon while Gus was napping I changed Theo's diaper and then put him down on the floor in the playroom/guestroom/laundryroom so I could wash my hands. When I came back Theo had flipped on to his belly and was playing with Gus's Little People tractor and Chloe (that's what we named her way back when) from the bus. It was so cute to find him playing with these "big kid toys." I guess they are more eye catching than the organic teethers we keep offering him.




When Gus woke up we headed back to the doctor. Poor Theo has a case of pink eye. (It is a little visable in the picture above.) Gus was so funny at the doctor's office. (fill in story tomorrow--too tired now)

The two-year check-up

The fun of turning two continued with a visit to the doctor today. This was a very different experience from Gus's 18-month visit when he cried every time a health care professional looked at him. He welcomed the doctor into the exam room with a big, "Hello Dr. Crino," and did not put up any resistance to having his head measured or his blood drawn. He watched the whole procedure without a peep and thanked the nurse for the snoopy band aid. He was a little disappointed that he did not get to stand on the big boy scale. They had him sit on the baby scale. He weighs 27 pounds 7 ounces and is 35 inches tall, which means his adult height estimation is 5' 10". Not too shabby considering Jonathan and I are not tall.

The most exciting part of the visit for me was learning that Gus has graduated from Infant Tylenol to Children's Tylenol. We no longer need to keep a half dozen infant Tylenol's labeled with GTS and TBS all over the house. Gus did not understand my excitement about this. The best part of the day for him was watching the fish and playing with the dirty old toys in the waiting room.

Theo is five months!

Theo is five months today, and walking. Well, assisted by me and Gus. I hold Theo up under his arms, and Gus holds his hand, he takes little steps forward. He and Gus look adorable walking together. I imagine it will be so cute when they really do this, but I do not want that to happen too soon. Theo is still my little, little baby. And that's how I want it to stay.

No party . . . but cake number 4!

Gus is getting the hang of eating cake.

It made me really sad to do it, but we postponed Gus's birthday party. I am coughing up a storm and sound really sick (I feel pretty good). The boys have drippy noses and Jonathan's throat is sore, so someone is surely contagious, and friends don't like friends that make them sick.

Since we spent a good part of Saturday talking about the party, and the decorations are hanging in the kitchen, we thought Gus would be upset when the party did not materialize. We were going to go out for pizza (Gus often asks to "go to the pizza restaurant"), but with the cough, all the dripping and the 20 degrees temperature, I whimped out. Jonathan and Gus bought a cake at Wholefoods (cake #4) and we ordered pizza, which actually worked out well. This way the pizza guy could bring Gus his croquet balls with out three other kids around. Wooden balls, mallets and hungry children probably do not mix well.

Present from the pizza guy.

Croquet.

Gus was very happy with our little party of four. He did not even ask where the others were.

Self-timer photo experiment.