What's My Name?

Paul announced to me today, "Your name is Melissa!"

A few minutes later, I walked into the kitchen, and he said "Your name is Chef Mommy! Let's cook together!" We then spent some good quality time baking our first banana cream pie, totally from scratch (even the freshly whipped cream, mmmm!)

But tonight when I tucked him into bed, he said "Goodnight, Mom!" Huh? Mom? You can't be old enough to call me "Mom"!!!! Heck, I still call my own mom "Mama" and I'm almost 30!

The Zoo! (and no I don't mean my house)

Paul and I went to the zoo on Monday morning, and had a blast. We saw lots and lots of animals, rode the carousel, and had a picnic lunch.

Here's Paul by the black bears "Mommy--it's the Chewy bears!"


Here he is just chillin' on the polar bear statue.

I let him go for two rides on the carousel--the first time he chose to ride a polar bear. When we were getting off, he said "I can't wait to ride again! I want to ride on a Tapir!" So here he is, very excited to be riding a Tapir.



At the end of the day, I decided to buy him a little treat from the lady selling ice cream. I told him he could pick out whatever he wanted. He wanted a popsicle. She gave him the world's largest popsicle, which he loved for about two minutes until his hand started to get cold, because the stick was so short his hand was up against the popsicle. Here he is having a love/hate moment with his precious popsicle.

Why people shouldn't pretend to be soybeans......

We were at Mcdonalds last night (we always go on Monday nights after swimming lessons, because it's right across the street and lessons run right up until dinner time). Sam had his usual chicken mcnugget happy meal, and Paul decided that he'd rather have a salad. So I bought him the asian chicken salad, and he ate everything but the lettuce. He especially loves what he calls "the little green things". Sam asked what they were and I told him that they were edamame, another word for soybeans.

A little later they were playing in the play area, and Sam was trying to get Paul to chase him. Paul wasn't really paying attention. So Sam said "Paul, I'm a soybean! Come and get me!" The two of them ran around the play area for a few minutes, with Paul chasing Sam. He caught up to him at one point, at the bottom of the slide, and Sam said "Okay, you caught me, so now you can eat me! I'm a yummy soybean!" The next thing I know, Sam is whining that his ankle hurt. Why? Because Paul took him up on his offer, and bit his ankle! We had a little talk with Paul about not biting people, even if they're pretending to be food. And a little talk with Sam about not pretending to be food.

Eavesdropping

I've heard some funny conversations going on in my house over the past few days.

The first one was after Sam and Paul had played a game (Whac-a-mole) together (just the two of them)
Sam said to Paul "Good job Paul! You got third place! And I mean that in a nice way."

The second was yesterday morning.
Paul said to Sam "My name is Paul. S-O-E-X-Y-Z-2 1/2. That's how you spell Paul."
Sam said "Um, run that by me again?"
Paul looked at Sam like he was nuts.
Sam said "That means say what you said again."

The boys did some planting this weekend, getting ready for the garden this summer:

Monsters, Inc.

This morning we decided to walk Sam to school. I surprised the kids by bringing them each a cookie (Paul and I baked ginger cookies yesterday, using Mok's recipe--because everyone loves them!) Paul sat happily in the stroller eating his cookie, and actually said "Mommy, you make the yummiest cookies in the world!" I thought he was so cute.

A little while later we dropped Sam off at school. As soon as we got across the street, Paul had a total meltdown. Didn't want to ride in the stroller, didn't want to walk, didn't want to do anything other than kick and scream in the middle of the sidewalk (at least I got him across the street) He ended up screaming the whole way home.

You've gotta love two year olds--they can turn from cookie monster to a scary monster in a matter of seconds!

An exciting day!

On Saturday, we met my parents (aka "Mok and Pa") in the Wisconsin Dells for the day, to celebrate Mothers' day. We all had a blast. The boys both got to go on their first roller coaster ride (granted, it was a small indoor "family roller coaster" but it still had some pretty sharp turns) and they loved it!


After that, we split up and the girls went shopping (woo hoo! Outlet mall!) and the guys went to find another adventure. They ended up riding on the Wisconsin Ducks. It turns out you don't need a drivers license to drive a duck. The driver stopped in the middle of a lake, and asked if anyone else wanted to drive. Sam was the first volunteer. He got to drive the duck around for a little while, and then Paul had a turn. They had a great time. At the end of the ride, Clark bought them some duck whistles that look like duck bills and make a loud quack sound. All in all, a great day.

A Friday Night Out

The chicken dance
Having Fun!

Disco dancing!



Doing the YMCA with Jane (yes Mellie, he did dance with a girl!)
You make me wanna shout!



On Friday night I got to take Sam to his first school dance. You may wonder (like I did) "do kindergarteners really belong at a dance?" Well, I guess the answer is yes! When I was a kid, school dances didn't start until we were in middle school (at least!) but times have changed. When I asked Sam if he wanted to go to the dance (halfway expecting him to say no) he informed me that not only did he want to go, but he learned how to dance in gym class. He then demonstrated the chicken dance, the limbo, the hokey pokey, and the macarena. (I guess they do learn important things in school now, don't they!?!)

So on Friday night we went out to the dance. We walked in halfway through a song, and Sam danced near me over towards the edge of the room. The next song started, and the deejay had all of the kids (and there were a lot of them) get in a big circle in the middle of the gym. Then kids could raise their hands, and the deejay would point to them. When you got pointed to, you would run out into the middle of the circle and dance for everyone to see. Some older boys (4th and 5th graders) did some backflips and other things. Some girls went out and twirled around. A few kids got into the circle, looked around at how many kids were watching and freaked out and just stood there. Towards the end of the song, Sam raised his hand. The deejay pointed to him, and he ran out in the middle and did his little funky kindergartener dance. He got some cheers, and thought he was pretty darn cool. To be honest, so did I. I've never been one to dance, but even if I was a dancer, I don't know if I'd have the guts to go dance in the middle of a big circle of people all by myself. He's quite a kid!

Although I think my favorite part of the whole night was later when a bunch of his classmates (and Sam) were all dancing to YMCA together. It was absolutely hilarious!

Christmas in May

We have a bedtime/naptime routine that we've done with both kids. It involves reading a book (or a few chapters of a book) and then singing a song. Sam usually requests the song "Baby Mine", which I've been singing to him since birth. Paul, on the other hand, isn't quite as predictable. His current favorite song for mommy to sing is.......Jingle Bells. So we've been singing Jingle Bells at every naptime. Although what can you expect from a kid whose favorite stuffed animal is Frosty the Snowman?

Farmer's Market Fun

Today is Thursday, one of my favorite days of the week. Back in college, it was my favorite day because Thursday meant eating oreos with my friends while watching Friends (back in the "will Ross and Rachel ever get together" days) and ER.

Now Thursday means afternoon farmers' market in Fitchburg. It's only a few miles from my house, and has become a fun activity for the kids and I. We've been going since Paul was a little baby in a sling, and it was a nice escape after spending the day cooped up in the house.

Our lives have changed a bit since then, now we go after we pick Sam up from school. Every week we go and visit "Farmer John" (our favorite farmer in the whole world) and eat samples of "squeaky cheese" (the kids' name for cheese curds) Then we buy a bag of them, and the kids eat them while we walk around and look at the other things for sale. Most weeks there's someone playing live music, and we take time to relax and listen to the music. (and usually do a bit of dancing too) Then we walk down to the pond and watch the fish. All in all, it's a happy, relaxing way to spend an afternoon. Who needs a vacation when you can have live music, a nice breeze, and cheese curds, all within 5 miles of home?

First blog entry, gotta just get it over with!

Okay, so I started this blog last week. And this page has been sitting open (and empty) in firefox for a full week. I haven't known where to start. So there. Now it's started. Probably the most boring first post in history (since I didn't actually say anything) but now I don't have to worry about posting a first message ever again.