Thanksgiving Shots

Here are a few from Turkey Day!

First Skate

The boys skating lessons will be once a week, 45 minutes long. Dena, who was with Thomas, said she thought they did well with balance while on the ice. They both cried a good deal of the time totally due to mommy separation. The coaches tried to stay separated too because the boys were also making each other cry. I am with them 99% of time so this is really good and they learn to skate in the meantime! I was really happy with the manner in which the coaches dealt with the boys. Very gentle and they even wiped their noses! The earliest they teach the kids to skate is 18 months.

Thomas is surprising us with words! He came into the kitchen the other night, set is cup on the counter and said "more". I asked him if he had a dirty diaper and he nodded is head and said "yes". He has been right about this enough times that I know he is aware of it. I think Nathan knows too but when I ask him (and I know it is dirty) he won't answer me.

I handed Nathan a cup of water the other day so that the handle was intentionally in his right hand. He very carefully rotated the cup around so that the handle was in his left hand and then took his drink. He is consistently doing things with his left hand, like throwing a ball.

Yesterday at the library, a baby was playing with a ball and it rolled away from him. The mother asked her little girl to get it and Thomas was already on his way and grabbed it. The little girl took it from him and returned it to her mother even though the mother had changed her mind and was trying to let Thomas have it. I was right there and I said that likely Thomas was just going to bring it to her anyways. The mother sort of smiled at me and was probably thinking "yeah, right, lady...wishful thinking!" But it all happened again a few minutes later and sure enough Thomas ran and got it and gave it to the lady. He probably has no idea that was a polite thing to do, but both boys have always been really good about getting things that drop for me or each other.

I expected to upload video of the boys ice skating, but, they couldn't got because of their colds...

This is from this morning at the playground.

Happy Thanksgiving!

style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; display: inline; float: left;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5479/1420/320/IMG_5280.jpg" border="0" />

We have a small playground we've been biking to periodically. I had been going down the slide with the boys but realized they are quite capable of doing it on their own! The first picture is Thomas looking down to see if Nathan was done and Nathan in the second picture decided to take it on his belly. That's Nathan in the fry pan and Thomas with the tea cozy on. Finally, in the last picture, we captured Nathan in total concentration. He purses his lips like that a lot! In the video, you can see Nathan wiggling his tongue. He also does that often. I don't know if it is all concentration or maybe boredom?

They are quite the kissers! In fact, the other day, we suggested they give each other a smooch which they eagerly did 3 times! It's so nice to say "Mommy wants a kiss" and then get a noisy kiss on the cheek.

We start next week with ice skating lessons! We got the skates today and we are all set with snow pants and gloves. I hope they like it.

The word uh-oh seems to have reached an all time high. Both boys say it any time something gets dropped or hurt. I accidentally bumped Nathan with the vacuum wand the other day and he looked up at me, said uh-oh and burst into tears! Broke my heart.

They seem to be using words appropriately, like when the phone rings or Daddy gets home they immediately say Dada. They try very hard to say banana which usually comes out nana. They (Thomas, especially) are very proficient at yelling at Doodle using his name when he barks at the neighbor dog. We have fun getting them to repeat words. One time when the boys were getting to close to the hot oven, I said "hot, hot, hot, hot!" escalating my voice up. Nathan has taken the liberty of copying me and using it often.

Halloween Details

The Thursday before Halloween, Hudson, the next town over, had a trick or treat walk. All the stores along Main Street were handing out candy. We walked down to see the sites with the kids dressed up and ended up collecting quite the bag of candy! We had to get a picture of the boys in their stroller to compare to last years photo! Nathan made an adorable pooh! See his belly? It was padded and made him look chubby! The Saturday before Halloween, we carved 2 small pumpkins with the boys help! Everything we do, they want to be right in the middle of! That's part of it! The last picture is from Halloween night; we drove over to Indian Head Farm (here in Berlin) to view their 100 or so carved pumpkins.

How about Video?

Here is a little test to see if video will work here...

Here are a some of Nate and Tommy this morning...

Copy Kats and Friends

In the first picture, Thomas is quietly reading his book. As soon as he got down, Nathan climbed up with his book. Very typical. What Thomas does, Nathan will soon copy. Not to say that Thomas doesn't check out Nathan once in awhile but it is usually the other way around. The other day, I gave them each a spoonful of frosting and Thomas looked to see what Nathan was doing with it before he tried it.

I love to see them reading. Nathan has taken to "reading" the books out loud, pointing to things on the page with a running commentary. I guess that's what I do!

This past week, we had a few different friends over, mostly kids that are just a little older, but it's been good for the boys. They do enjoy playing with playdoh. Can you see Nathan is sticking some in his hair? That's because a couple of days before his Dad was putting large chunks of it on his own nose to enhance his features! They do watch and remember.

In the last picture, they are playing in a large plastic tub. Had I known how entertaining this would be to them, I would of bought one ages before! You just never know what it will be that catches their interest.