For the birds

Here are the boys working together to fill the new bird feeder today. 

At the park today ...

3/20/14

"Mommy look at me! I'm doing something DANGEROUS!"

Jake was a little independent climber, going up the play sets and down the slides all by himself. Everytime an airplane flew over he shrieked with excitement and pointed up to the sky, squinting but not letting the sun get in the way of his pure joy at looking up to the sky. Anytime he heard the sound of a truck go by, he turned and waved in its direction. (In the past week, he has even started waving at toy trucks at home. Soooo cute!)

Of course there was some brotherly love going on because Benjamin is always full of love and hugs and kisses for his brother. After this picture was taken, he took both of Jacob's hands and kisses them and told him he loved him. 

After we got done playing, Benjamin went in for his Musikgarten class, and I fed Jake a clementine. This is him signing "thank you". 

Springtime

I love Spring days with our two little boys because there are lots of magical moments like this as they explore the world around them, one dandelion, leaf, footprint, cloud and bird at a time. 

After school

It was a beautiful day today, and the boys wanted to play on the playground at school before heading him. When the sun is shining, a cool breeze is blowing, and a happy 4 and 1 year old ask politely if they can play for a while, the answer will always be yes :)

Swim class

When Ben went in for his swim class today, Jake pointed after him and fussed a bit. I asked him if he wanted to go into the pool area to watch Ben and he got a huge smile and said "huh-HUH!" It's really precious to see Jacob not only forming his own opinions, but finding a way to express them and then get excited when we understand him. He proceeded to sit still in his stroller for 30 min watching big brother swim.

The Greatest & the Smartest

Right before we took this picture, out of the blue Benjamin looked up to Jeff and said "Daddy, you are the Greatest! And the Smartest!"

And then he jumped on the arcade motorcycle at the restaurant :)

Incidentally, he's been wearing the rainbow sunglasses all day every day for the last week. Stylin dude. 

Dentist Visit

Benjamin did SO well at his dentist appt today. He was very interested in the Boy Scouts magazine in the waiting area, as it had "large mouth bass" on it. He told me he could tell that because of the fins. He was very polite, introducing himself and me to the office staff and hygienist. Something like " My name is Benjamin" (points at chest). "...And this is Mommy" (holds his hand out, palm up, towards me ... Because I guess pointing is rude? How does he know this?!) "... and I'm 4 years old" (holds out 4 fingers and looks at them as he says it) "...and I'm almost 5 years old. I'll be 5 years old on my birthday, and that's A-semptee (December) 25th on Christmas." This is how many exchanges go these days. Obsessed with our polite, thoughtful, smart, articulate, confident little man.

Jacob's first day of school

Jacob walked up the sidewalk to class giggling and gasping with delight this morning, as he knew where we were going. He climbed the stairs, walked across the porch, and into the classroom without hesitation. A moment of pride as our little bird spread his wings for his first trip away from the nest. A new chapter begins, full of adventure and promise. 

At breakfast with Mommy and Daddy before my first day at school!

Jeff and I went around to the classroom observation window and saw Jacob doing extraordinarily well in his new environment. He sat in Ms. Cristel's lap as they changed into his indoor shoes, he observed fish in the tank for a while, and then saw the bookshelf nearby. He picked out a book and sat in a chair to read. He flipped through the book a bit and Ms. Cristel, I think surprised and pleased with the moment, got a camera to take a picture. He gave her his best "aw shucks, me?" smile and hugged his book tightly as she snapped away. He was curious about everything around him, and did not seem fazed by the crowd of toddlers who gathered around to watch every move of this new young classmate. 

After the book, Ms. Cristel took him to a shelf to receive his first official lesson the the classroom, the ring tower. This is a favorite of Jacob's at home, and though he went to a table out of our sight, we saw the flash of Ms. Cristel's camera as we walked away from the observation window ;-)

Going to pick him up now! We love you Jacob and we are so proud of you!!!

Three Things

A few nights ago, I was with Benjamin as he got ready for bed. He was having trouble focusing (i.e. He was frolicking around his room nekkid instead of getting in his pajamas), so I left the room for a minute, telling him he needed to be dressed by the time I returned, otherwise no stories.

When I got back to the room, I found him dressed in his pajamas, walking around his room talking quietly and counting on his fingers. "What are you counting?" I asked. "Three things Mommy," he replied. "There are three things I always need to remember: Work hard. (1 finger) Play hard. (2 fingers) And Always. (3 fingers) Believe in. (4 fingers) Myself! (5 fingers) That's FIVE things Mommy! Five things I always need to remember."

As if that wasn't enough, after he climbed into bed and we were done with stories, songs and prayer, I was kneeling at his bedside. He reached his little hand out, cupped my cheek, looked right into my eyes and said, "Don't worry Mommy, I will always breetect (protect) you. From predators." And he proceeded to go into great detail about situations where we might be in a field and a predator might come after me and how he would "breetect" me. 

Once again, I acknowledge to myself that it simply doesn't get any better. 

Seen around the house today ...

We are remodeling part of our kitchen. Jacob has seen our contractor Johnny using a drill a lot today. Tonight after he was done with dinner, Jacob went over to his basket of toys, picked this out and walked over to the kitchen. He held it out towards the contractor and made lots of precious baby talking sounds. 

This morning, I asked Ben if we could sing some Christmas songs, and suggested my current favorite "Sleigh Ride". He countered with the suggestion to song "an M&M song" (as in the candy, because he is very into trail mix right now, but only the M&Ms part - LOL). So I said "just hear those M&Ms jingling ring ting tingling too..." He laughed, and without skipping a beat, HE made up on the spot and sang - in perfect melody of the song - "come on it's lovely weather to eat M&Ms with you!" The song went on with him changing parts to make it about M&Ms, all in harmony and perfect rhythm. I'm not sure the true genius of the situation comes through in writing, but he (and all of us) were laughing with joy and wonder at his creations. 

This was super-fun bath time with Grampa. "Thomas the Toothpaste" and brushing Grampa's thumb make for the best bath time ever!