life-size gus

 

Ta-da! This is the first art project that Gus has brought home from school that he has shown any enthusiasm for. In fact he destroyed all but one of his other projects while riding home in the stroller. I wonder if it is the size or the subject of this piece that makes it so appealing? Either way, it has found a permanent home on the wall beside his bed.

spiderman

I guess this was also kind of an art project that Gus enjoyed. When I picked him up from school a couple of weeks ago, he ran up to me and said "Teacher Rosemary turned me into Spiderman!" I was so happy that I did not have to guess what he was. Sadly it turns out that face paint and Gus's skin do not mix well.

pictures

courtesy of Amanda Hall Studios

We spent a very early morning at the park with my photographer friend, Amanda Hall. I think she took some beautiful pictures of us, which is really quite difficult. You can see some of them at her blog. Next step is to have some printed.

baltimore in philly

 

We spent Father's Day cheering for the Orioles at Citizen bank park in some excellent seats courtesy of Jonathan's company. Raj, another Orioles fan despite his former gig as a team doctor for the Phillies, joined us since we did not really need the fourth seat for Theo. Having Raj along kept the boys entertained longer than we could have alone. We thought we were in trouble when Gus asked in the top of the first, "Can we go home yet?" but he and Theo made it to the bottom of the sixth before I had to take them to the ballpark playground (yes--crazy amenities at these new ballparks.)

We also thought we might be in trouble when some die-hard Philly fans witnessed Theo throwing a tantrum in the parking lot because we made him leave his baseball bat in the car, and started yelling at us that he was crying because we had him dressed in a Orioles hat. But that was the closest we came to getting into a fight or something.

 
Gus liked watching the big screen.

 
Theo and "the sticky." Both boys loved their first taste of cotton candy.

 
Theo watching the big screen. Clocked a lot of screen time.

trophy day

 

Trophy Day festivities were rained out but that did not dampen Gus's excitement. He was a little upset that his middle name is not on his trophy but loves it. Much time is being spent "polishing" it and keeping it safely away from Theo.

 

puddle jumping

 

 

 

 

the pizza lady give it . . . and take it away

It has been a long week in swine flu land. To celebrate being healthy, and our last night of having Jonathan home for supper, we decided to eat at "the special blue awning pizza restaurant," also known as Mamma Palma's. Gus loves Mamma Palma's and Mamma Palma (or maybe her daughter) loves Gus. He is always so well behaved there. And though we have not even taken Theo there a handful of times, he has the place figured out, too. As soon as we sat down he piped in "I want pizza. Pizza. Pizza. Pizza."

Tonight we were seated just after a party of 9: four kids and two parents and another set of parents with one kid. As you might guess, they were very loud. As Mama Palma was seating us, Gus said to her "Those kids are so loud." She agreed with him, cooed over Theo's eyes, and left us at our table.

We ordered our food, tried to talk to the boys, but the party of nine was getting louder and louder. It was obvious that Mama Palma was not happy with them. She kept going "SHHHHHHHHH. SHHHHHHHHH." But they were so loud, and farther away from her than we were so I do not think they heard her. All of a sudden Gus turns around and yells to Mama Palma, "Why are those kids so loud?" And she yells back, "Because they are obnoxious!" My jaw dropped opened and Mama Palma gave a big shrug as if to say, "you know it's true." Then she brought out the polenta bread we ordered and told us it was on the house because our kids are so good. Go boys! Way to earn some free food.

But that is when the trouble started. Theo, was not impressed with polenta bread and started whining "I want pizza. Pizza. Pizza. Pizza." We tried to explain that the pizza was in the oven and would be out soon. Then our salad came out, which escalated the volume of his screaming for pizza. I picked Theo up to show him the brick oven and explained that his pizza was still in there. He was not satisfied and continued to whine and cry and refused to eat any salad or bread, or goldfish.

Finally our pizza came out, but it wasn't double sliced so I asked the server if she would take it back for slicing, totally forgetting someone had been singing a chorus of "Pizza, pizza, pizza." Theo started screeching and crying and when our pizza returned a minute later he pushed away the piece I quickly gave him. He was spitting mad and Mama Palma was staring at us. So I scooped up Theo and took him out of the restaurant, and he screamed even louder. The people eating outside were now looking not so happy. I did not know what to do. I had never had to remove a screaming kid from a restaurant before.

Luckily, in a way, Theo took matters into his own hands and kicked his way out of my arms and then marched right back into the restaurant still crying but becoming more composed with each step. He let me put him back in his chair, and he then ate the bottom two-thirds (he has a very broad idea of what constitutes crust) of four pieces of pizza. After he took his last bite Theo put down the upper third of the pizza and demanded "Home. I home. Home. Home. Now. Home. . ." until Gus finished and we payed the bill.

A little preview of the tyrannical twos? Yikes!

zoo with chloe

 

We had a super fun time at the zoo with Chloe and Kate today. And it was by far our longest visit with the animals yet.

 
We got a close-up look at a tiger, but unfortunately not a good picture.

 
We ventured into the reptile house for the first time.

 
Aaaggh!!! I did not like the snakes, but Theo did.

finally! bedbugs vs. ants

After months of practice, the Bedbugs finally played a real game. The Ants were intimidating, see one of their cute stars above, but the Bedbugs held their own.


Jake had the honor of batting first, and he took it very seriously.


Gus on deck. He was pretty excited so Jonathan had to hold him back.


Jake running to first!


Gus at bat.


He also made it to first. He had a little trouble finding second (it was hard with all the adults in the way) and went straight to third, and then got tagged out on his way back to second. But he stayed anyway, and was very happy two hits later when he ran home.


Ants hustling to get the ball. I must admit they were much better in the field than the bedbugs (more on that following).


Coach Mike's son Mikey presenting a flower to an Ant.


Theo getting in on the action on the sideline. (At dinner he told us "I play ball. Blue bat. Gussy's team. Wear hat.")


Coach Mike's strategy: Instead of outfielders, everyone but the second baseman will line up between first and third. Every time a ball came all the kids, but the one that "caught" it would have a melt down. Gus is crying in this picture.


Jake in this one.


Luckily a plane flew by and distracted the bickering Bedbugs.


At Gus's next at bat he hit it "really far!"


And took off to first. (Note that yellow ball is not the one he hit. His went "really far" to the left.)


At the appropriate time, he ran to second. . .


and arrived without the second baseperson noticing.


Almost home . . .


"Home Run!" Not really, but that is what he called it.


Gus heading out to celebrate his run with Theo.


Mikey running home with the guidence of his parents.


The second inning in the field quickly turned into a picnic.


And then they lined up to shake hands. Gus did not want to do this, despite us reminding him that Tiger Woods always shakes hands at the end of a match.


I think he just wanted to get to the donuts. It was a good first game.

friday night walk season

 
Friday-night-walk season is officially here. We have resumed our weekly pj-clad (just the kids) jaunts for slush (more commonly referred to here as "water ice"). Gus so loves our "walks in the dark" (we are usually home before it actually gets really dark) that he runs all the way to our favorite slush store which is over 10 blocks away. This is the kid who will not get out of the stroller at the park until I push it right up to the jungle gym. Not to be left out, Theo has started actually walking to the slush store as well. This makes for a very slow trip. And after about five blocks, Theo just sits down on the sidewalk. If we pick him up he kicks and screams. If we let him walk, he goes about one house-length and sits down again.

After eating a kiddie-size slush Gus has even more energy and "rides" his skate board home (he holds out his arms and chasses down the sidewalks). This is extremely tiring. I skateboarded with Gus for a block and felt like sitting down on the sidewalk Theo-style. Jonathan also can attest to the difficulty of imaginary skateboarding. What a good dad he is to dance down the street with Gus! Maybe this week I will bring their bike helmets and the video camera.