Nothing

Nothing like a fistful of yogurt. MMMM!

First Movie

I took Griffin on a date to see his first movie in the theater yesterday. We went to see Horton Hears a Who because it had been recommended by some other friends. Griffin was pretty excited about the theater and popcorn. He LOVED the previews...Speed Racer is coming out in May and that was pretty cool. As for Horton, Griffin just didn't get it. I think it was kind of slow for him and had too deep of a message for him. I was kind of bored, but he started asking to go home and take a nap about halfway through. I think he wasn't feeling too great so that may be part of it. So it wasn't the perfect experience but we will try another movie soon.

That's Notsipital

"That's Notsipital" is Griffin's latest phrase. Basically I think it is his personal rendition of Mommy's famous line, "That's Not Acceptable", when he is doing something naughty. Needless to say, Gray is hearing a lot about how "notsipital" his behavior is along with the dog and his toys and anything else that is not working the way he wants it to.

Sprinkler Kind of Day

Today was BEAUTIFUL- warm, sunny, in the 80's. Griffin found his fire hydrant sprinkler last weekend and has been asking me to turn it on. Today seemed like a good afternoon for it since it was so hot. Gray had a wonderful time just splashing in the water, waving, and clapping. Check out his physique- he's a solid little guy.

Griffin preferred to jump and run through the sprinkler.

Dazed and a little confused.

All smiles again!

Curl reduction

On Monday Gray got another haircut but this one was more substantial. His crazy hair has been bothering Brent for awhile now, so I got the ultimatum..."take him to get his hair cut this week or I will cut it myself". I don't trust Brent's hair cutting skills yet so I took Gray to Pigtails and Crewcuts. I asked the girl to clean it up but leave some of the curls. She took off a little more than I wanted, but the curls are still there. He looks pretty cute and more like a little man.

Pretend Birthday

Because Griffin has a summer birthday, his preschool lets them pick a day for a "pretend birthday" so they can celebrate with the kids in his class. He doesn't really get this at all, but he was happy enough to eat some cupcakes at school with his friends. Here he is with his birthday crown:)

Car distinction

For anyone who is around Griffin regularly, you are already familiar with this. He is really interested in the differences between all types of cars specifically SUVs, minivans, and station wagons (AKA "mom mobiles"). He wants to know which ones have "swipers" on the back and knows that pick up trucks do not have swipers on the back. He is constantly talking about what kind of car everyone drives. The other night he was watching out the front windows and started yelling, "Mom, Brent's green sedan is here!". Funny to hear that coming out of a 3-year-old's mouth. It is also challenging to come up with a good description of what makes a car a sedan or station wagon. Then we also have to discuss jeeps and why some have tires and "tire bags" on the back and some do not. I will keep working on it.

Soccer

Griffin's team had soccer pictures this weekend. I took a few myself. I can't say that he loves soccer but he is participating a bit more. He really likes practicing before the game where everyone has their own ball. Then he really gets upset when the team doesn't play with his soccer ball or when they use his ball and he is not the one kicking it. Not getting the sharing thing down. And he still says that the kids are fighting with the ball. When I can get him out there, he does pretty well. He scored two goals last weekend but there was really no defense to speak of from the other team.

Monkey see Monkey do

We had another great day on Saturday. Griffin and Brent did some yardwork together. Since then we have had 2 days of torrential downpour rain so we may need the yard mowed in another day or two.

Park Picnic

On Friday our playgroup went to Crump Park for a picnic. It was a gorgeous day. Before we left, Griffin packed his own well-balanced lunch complete with a Caprisun, yogurt, 5 trains, 1 lego, 1 firetruck, and a spinny toy thing.Luckily for him I repacked his lunch with some more edible items like grapes, strawberries, and turkey rollups. Anyway this park was really great because it kept both Griffin and Gray entertained. They have all these vehicles (car, train, firetruck) made out of playground equipment. It is really cool. Gray enjoyed climbing on the cars and it kept him from rolling in the mulch.

Carded

For the first time in about 4 years, I got carded today. Yay. I went to the neighborhood wine store and the guy was ringing me up. He was almost done when he looked at me a little suspiciously and asked to see ID. It felt good. Of course I had on my Dylan's Candy Bar tshirt and wasn't wearing my rings and I didn't have the kids in tow. I am pretty sure those three elements worked in my favor.

Mr Helpful

I am sure this will all end soon, but I am going to enjoy it while it lasts. Griffin has been so cooperative and sweet lately. Pretty much doing everything I need him to in a relatively timely manner. We have been working on a lot of new things too. We have been having him practice dressing himself more, and he is finally getting the hang of it. He wants to do more things independently so we are working on making his bed, brushing his hair and teeth, clearing his plates from the table, packing his backpack for school, and buckling and unbuckling himself from his carseat. In some ways it takes more time, but I am hoping that soon it will save me some time. He is really proud of himself. Today he helped me feed and water some of our plants. He insisted on filling up the water pitcher ("after you put the poison in"= AKA plant food) and dragging it around the yard himself. It is nice to have a little helper rather than fighting with him on every issue.

Budding Musicians

Since we got back from my brother's wedding, both of our boys are OBSESSED with guitars. When we spent some time at Andy's house, he let them mess around with his one guitar and he played some songs for them. When we got back home, they suddenly developed an interest in their dad's guitar. They both try to play it and Griffin even knows how to use the pick. I have to be really careful with Gray because he can pick up the guitar off the stand and chuck it down on the floor. He's my little Hercules.

Chapter books and cocktails

Last week I decided to start reading some simple chapter books to Griffin. He has seemed bored with some of his other books and has memorized so much of them. I didn't really know where to start so I found this worksheet from a previous mom's group presentation that had Top 20 Chapter Books for Children from Read Aloud VA. I picked one called Dominic because it was about a dog and supposed to be good for younger children. It has been an interesting experience. The first night we started reading it and I realized that some of the vocabulary (ubiquitous?) were a little more challenging for the average 3 year old. I have simplified some of the pages in the story and Griffin is enjoying hearing the big boy books. Last night Brent was the one reading to him. After he finished up, he came downstairs and said, "Great book you picked out for our son" with the slightest hint of sarcasm. When we had left off the previous night, Griffin and I were reading about how Dominic had a visit with a sick pig. Apparently in the next chapter, Dominic and the pig drink brandy and the sick pig dies. Griffin was concerned about why the drink was burning Dominic's throat. Oh well, maybe not the best book. Thanks to Julie I have some suggestions for what we may try next...Nate the Great and Frog and Toad series.

Picture of Pobo

Gray was really funny this morning. While he was in his high chair, he kept pointing to our hutch in our dining room and "talking". Since he doesn't really say much, it was kind of funny. Just a bunch of gargling speech but he was very emphatic about it. We couldn't figure out what he wanted. Finally we picked up a picture of his great-grandfather, my Pobo, who he his named after. He was so thrilled with this picture. He was carrying it around and just talking to it. It was very cute.

Eight Years Late- Pinot Noir and PBR

Last night Brent and I celebrated both of our birthdays (big 34) and our 8th wedding anniversary. This is our picture that goes in our anniversary book- got it as a wedding present and you put a picture of the two of you each year and write a little about big things that happened during that year etc. Anyway Joey babysat the kids for us and we went to dinner at Lulus in Shockoe Bottom. Our neighbor, Mark, is the manager/business partner for the owners so we have been planning on going there for awhile. It was a cute place with a good crowd. It has a lot of open space with exposed brick walls and ductwork. We ordered some drinks while we waited for our table. Since it was a special occasion, I opted for a glass of wine (pinot noir to be exact) and my darling husband counters with ordering, PBR. Not that I have anything against PBR, but it seems a little weird to order on your anniversary. Anyway the food was great- I got a wonderful tomato, basil, and gorgonzola soup and then we had beef tenderloin and tandoori chicken. We talked to Mark for a bit and he gave us some free drinks (yay, Mark). It was kind of early so we decided to go somewhere else for dessert. So we went to Carytown and hit Can Can. MMM, we ordered the Taste of Chocolate. Highly recommend that one- it even had Baileys Chocolate Ice Cream on the side. So good.

All in all it was a good night. It was almost the date that wasn't after my darling husband stood me up on Friday night. We were supposed to do this date night at church on how to maintain a great marriage when he bailed on me about 5 minutes before I was about to leave the house. He was so busy at work that he hung up the phone on me. I was not happy. So when he got home, I told him that he was rude and I was not in the mood for an anniversary dinner on Saturday. Luckily for him he surprised me with Coldstone as a peace offering and was very apologetic all day Saturday. He even did all of our major yardwork projects. So I guess life is good again.

Cutie Patootie

Today was such a beautiful day- sunny and 80s. I took some pictures of Gray playing out on the back deck. He seems like he is getting closer to walking by himself. He is wanting to play with his push toys and walk behind his toys.

Dog issues

We are having dog issues. I am not sure how else to state it. As some of you know, Elvis (our Italian Greyhound), is kind of a special needs dog in the first place. He is a rescue dog who is extremely shy and pretty anti-social. But he is gentle, sweet, and loving too. Over the past 5 years, he has made tremendous progress. He has gone from not taking treats from us or wanting to be in the same room with us to curling up on the couch next to us and warming up to our friends and family. He is not normal but he is a good pet. Very quiet and generally no problem. Over the past 6 weeks he has started yelping pretty frequently. I am talking loud painful-sounding yelping that makes you jump out of your seat. I took him to the vet a month ago and they could not get him to show any kind of a pain response to anything that they did. I have been keeping track of when he yelps and there is no distinct pattern. He does it when he jumps off the couch, he does it when I sit on the opposite end of the couch and am 4 feet away from him, he does it when he gets spooked, and he is starting to do it in his sleep. I thought it might be his teeth since he wouldn't eat his Greenie last week. So I went back to the vet on Monday. She looked at his teeth but did not think that they looked too bad. We did another exam including an Xray of his spine and found out nothing. So now he is on some medicine to get his thyroid back on track before we do a dental cleaning. Kind of in a holding pattern.

This morning I let Griffin go downstairs when he woke up and I tried to rest for a few more minutes. All of the sudden I heard Elvis doing his loud yelping sound like he was in pain. He did this for a FULL five minutes. When I ran downstairs, he was huddled under the dining room table and he was shaking. Griffin was crying hysterically. I still have no idea what transpired between these two. Griffin says he was "trying to get Elvis to play cars" with him. I don't think he hit Elvis since he is always very gentle with him. But I could see him maybe driving a car by Elvis and maybe bumping him. I know something is wrong with Elvis but I can't figure it out. This afternoon I even heard him yelp as I was unlocking our front door to come home. I am starting to wonder if some of it is anxiety. As to why he does this when he sleeps, who knows? I just feel so badly that he may be in pain and we can't figure things out.

If anyone has any suggestions (Jessica?) let me know!

A Ditty for His Sick Mimi

Overheard from the other room, Griffin was singing...

"Oh NO, Mimi is so sick.
She is coughing a lot.
And she threw up in her bed.
That is a big problem"

Mimi is actually sick with bronchitis. I hope she starts feeling better soon, but I did think that Griffin's little song was funny. Feel better soon, Mimi!

Cherry Republic and Chopsies

Doesn't Griff look all GQ in his little church outfit? My mom got this for him and we needed him to wear it before the weather gets too warm. He is really into being "twins" with his Daddy, so he decided it was okay to wear since Daddy wears clothes like this to church too.

Yesterday I went to a big craft fair called The Bizarre Bazaar with a friend. I bought a few things including a cute sock monkey shirt for Gray and a few jars of Cherry Republic salsa. I am in love with this stuff. It is kind of sweet and a little spicy. Very good- I highly recommend trying it if you haven't.

Last night we took the boys out to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse. Gray was a little worried about "the show" and the big flash of fire when they were cooking, but otherwise, he enjoyed it. He forgave them quickly once he figured out how good the food was. Griffin loved his chopsticks which he called a variety of things, including "chopsies", "chopsters", and "chopster sticks".

We got a few cute shots of the boys this weekend. Here is Griffin with his mohawk in the bathtub. And one of Gray too.

Random

Griffin just came downstairs and was kind of walking funny. He put matchbox cars in his socks and refuses to take them out. So random.

Still sleepy

We are still catching up on sleep today. This busy weekend has wiped the boys out. I had to wake Griffin up at 8:15 so we could try to make it to school by 9. That didn't happen, and Gray is still in his pajamas. Griffin was so sweet when I woke him up this morning. I told him that I had his breakfast ready, and he asked, "Did you make it with lots of love?". OF COURSE I did. It is a great thing when you wake your kids up and they aren't grouchy. Right now I am just enjoying a few moments of quiet while the boys sleep (or at least pretend to sleep) for their naps. I keep hearing Griffin drop cars on his floor but at least he is not yelling for me.

We are having our front porch rebuilt this week. The carpenter, Paul, (who Griffin calls "Mr. Porch") is doing a good job. Now that most of the floorboards are in, I am more aware of how badly they needed to be replaced. He should be done tomorrow or Thursday, and it will be nice to have the house quiet again.