Nathanisms

The first picture is of the boys listening to a story by their grandpa...the phone is sitting on the counter between them. The others from our special meeting visits.

Nathan has been saying and doing some really cute things lately. He often puts his boots on the wrong feet and when we tell him they are wrong, he crosses his feet. Not that he can walk like that, but the boots look right. We were at a restaurant for Matt's birthday and I was waiting in the stall with Nathan while he did his business. He told me soon enough he would marry me. I guess it was a proposal of sorts! I hope he doesn't try that line on a girl someday...she might not like the presumption. It was really complicated to him that he couldn't marry his mother....I mentioned too that I happened to already be married! Awhile ago and then again today he mentioned that when he dies and goes back into my belly...today he said maybe he would come out a girl next time. I forget what he said last time of what would happen back in my belly. We often tell Nathan to eat up so that he will grow and he is quite aware that Thomas is bigger and heavier. He came into the kitchen and told me how he could catch up to Thomas. He told me that we could just not give the good food to Thomas. I started to laugh until I saw the tears in his eyes and realized how earnest he was. He told me that he wished he could of been firstborn and bigger. We had a little talk and a little snuggle to let him know he is just right how he is.

Today, we stopped at the Wayside Inn grist mill on our way home from meeting. The miller was there and let the boys open the water gate to the wheel. It was fascinating to watch the process. If you come between April and November on the weekends, we would love to take you! Unfortunately, I never thought to bring my camera as it was a spur of the moment happening!

Birthday Fun

The boys turned 5 this month...these pictures are from their day. It was special and I think they enjoyed it. Tried something new this year....we had two cakes, two sets of candles and two birthday songs. I liked the idea that weren't lumped together though perhaps it bothered me more than it bothered them.

From lips of Babes

Nathan told me yesterday at the grocery store that he wishes I was still a little girl because he wants me to be his girlfriend. Then Thomas told me last night that I was his sweetest girl. Wow! Hope this lasts awhile longer!

Singing and Sleeping

Last week, I tried to upload a clip of Nathan singing but it never finished loading no matter how long I tried (hours!). So you'll have to ask him to sing for you. It is Nathan who is really singing right now. Thomas hums songs but Nathan says the words. He totally took me by surprise the other day when he did the entire alphabet song. For some reason both boys sing the song skipping from G to Q every time, so I was impressed to hear all the letters! Nathan also loves Yankee Doodle, Twinkle Twinkle and Jack and Jill. I'm so not a memorizer so I'm glad to hear Nathan able to do this.

We rehung the children's guitar in a location that the boys can reach, so we are often serenaded by young Nathan. It's great. Both boys express a desire to learn this instrument. The other pictures are from the Children's museum in Easton. Second time there in less than a year...but just wanted to give Nathan a chance to play with Isabelle without Thomas around. Probably the best part of the day was finding a playground after lunch and just letting the kids do their thing. We are all just loving these mild days. I can't say enough good things about these public playgrounds. Not only are they free, they are exercise, fresh air, learning to take turns, etc....love them! Have a great one in Sudbury across the street from where we swim.

Thomas the last few weeks has taken up this crazy joy of hiding every time he hears Nathan coming. It's hilarious as his hiding places are usually the same every time....like under my bed. Nathan plays along too....where's Thomas....I point under the bed and Nathan grins and dives under.

Nathan has had major issues with sleeping in his bed the last month or two. He wakes up as early as 11:30 and hikes to our room, pulls out his mat and curls up there. All would be fine other than the horrid teeth grinding he does when he stirs in his sleep. So, Matt conjures up this story at the table last week that he plans to stop at Target to get a monster for the office (the room in between theirs and ours) to keep little boys from traversing the hallway at night! Ugh, I couldn't believe he was suggesting this! But! that very night and the following, Nathan stayed in his bed! This week while Thomas has been with his grandparents, we have let Nathan sleep in with us at his request. So, we bought him a mouth guard at the hockey store which he really doesn't want to use (he'll only use it when he is wide awake) but wierdly enough, I noticed he wasn't grinding his teeth as much! How can this be? Is his subconscious telling him to stop grinding? The saga continues!

Goggle Brothers

We had terrific rain last week and weekend so we have a stream that runs down from our garage, across our driveway, across the side lawn and down a small ravine. This stream has provided many hours of little boy entertainment. The pictures show them playing just before the stream goes off the side into the ravine. They love it! We also have "new" goggles for swimming which during their novelty were worn around the house. I say "new" because we went to buy them at Sudbury pool (they have a small reasonably priced display) and the receptionist told us to raid the lost and found bucket. So, we did and they are new to us. Nathan's is so funny because they are so big and blue! They are demonstrating that the goggles also work for any eyes found on the back of one's head. Thomas can carry Nathan around! Go figure! Nathan is 34 pounds and Thomas is 42 pounds with lots of muscle!

Thomas is so aware of what goes on that I really must be careful not to alarm him. Last Sunday when we arrived home in the evening, Thomas (who always accompanies me) and I went up to the chicken coop to close it up for the night. I noticed large tire marks that went clear up to the garage that hadn't been there before we went to meeting. I pointed them out to Thomas and wondered out loud who had been at our house while we were gone. Of course, there was a bit of concern in my voice. He worried right along with me. I felt bad that this concern would go on his small shoulders. It isn't right for a child to feel this. They should only know of safety with their parents and in their home. Here is another example, we have several times limped into the gas station with the wonder how did we make it? The other day we were getting on the highway and he pipes up from the backseat, do you have enough gas? By the way, I figured the tire marks was the tree company coming to get a rope they left here.

More Snow Pictures

This snowman was entirely their creation....usually they enlist me and I end up doing it so I stayed out of this one! Thomas wanted prunes for the eyes. We used prunes but within a few minutes, one of the chickens came and stole one eye to their chagrin. Nathan absolutely loves popcorn(yes, Uncle Tim!). While at a hockey game, we bought a bag of popcorn which Nathan ate almost entirely. Since then, I've been trying to make it a bit more as it sure is an easy snack! The boys are also really into Richard Scary! They sit and read his books for 20 minutes at a time. The library in Hudson doesn't seem to have them and it wasn't until we branched out to the Marlboro library that we found them. They also love the Berenstain Bears and Franklyn series of books.

In the car on Sunday, Thomas used an expression that we don't use in our house so we branched into the discussion that there are words that they will learn at school from their friends that are considered dirty. Matt explained how his Mom used to use soap and water to clean out their mouth when a dirty word came out. We tried to explain how nasty this was and that this was something they didn't want us to do. So the next day, Nathan was saying something to annoy Thomas and Thomas informed him to just stop as it was a dirty word (it wasn't! but he thought it would end Nathan bugging him). Then yesterday, I was writing up some bills in the office and the boys came in with soap stuck in their teeth. They just had to try this out to see how it felt to wash their mouth's out!

Sledding

We've had a few good sledding days this winter but mostly we've just had good ice skating. Here are a few from sledding on our backyard hill with Isabelle and Lillian. Thomas took the picture of Ellie and his train track.

Yesterday we met the new children's librarian at our little town library. She wrote down our names to remember us. So she took Thomas' information first. She asked him his last name so he immediately spelled it. He couldn't think of the e so skipped to the last r and the librarian suggested e to which he was affirmative. I was so impressed! Nathan usually writes his last name now when signing cards, etc. Thomas doesn't take the time to but obviously he has been paying attention to the details of it. We can't go any where without questions of what this sign or that sign says--love it! They are very interested in words. I was noticing a few weeks ago the first time Nathan was reading the letters off his shirt....he was correctly recognizing them upside down! I think they are brilliant! : )