Some Dad Updates

Well, I don't know what happened to winter, but it certainly has wimped out in the last few weeks. We got a whole night and day of snow right before Pete came and it was pretty much all gone by the next day. We're pretty much outdoor creatures so Grandpa Pete was treated to tennis in the cold February air and an excruciatingly cold and windy fishing trip while he was here, both of which he handled with great aplomb.

We had an excellent visit which Marisa detailed in her post. Now that I am sufficiently recovered from my posting frenzy while she was gone, there are a couple of details that I want to memorialize as well. Speaking of trips, I am out on business trips twice in March....I better not get any grief for being gone.....

This is a picture that we took of the boys in the park a week or so ago that I just love. Their relationship is starting to develop it's own nuances that are really interesting to watch. Tanner wants to do everything that Jake does and is a willing participant in anything Jake wants to do. This includes; going upstairs to get clothes, putting toys away or going to the bathroom. Jake yells," Tanner, do you want to do XYZ?" to which Tanner excitedly yells, "Yeah!". The only difference is movies. The boys alternate days picking the morning and evening movies. Tanner loves it when it is his day (and he can watch any permutation of Shrek that he wants), and makes sure that he rubs it in his brother's (who can't stand Shrek at this point) face all day long. First thing in the morning, from bed, "Dada, my pick, movie?". "Yes, Tanner your pick movie." "Jake, MY pick movie". This conversation is repeated down the stairs, to the couch and until the movie starts. We then start fresh while I am unloading them from the car after school.

They also have begun being boys more by; fighting, wrestling and farting. Jake gets very frustrated with Tanner sometimes, and as boys (and older brothers) are wont to do, sometimes pushes or hits Tanner. He gets time out for this. Tanner retaliates by hitting or pushing Jake, trying to get him in trouble. Tanner is a great love, but he can also be a little sh*# sometimes when he wants to be. He LOVES to antagonize.....Both he and Jake love a good fart or burp and laugh and laugh....so glad we have 18 more years of that to look forward to.

Faithy is a beautiful little girl. She is getting so big, but is starting to have to hold her own against her brothers. She sometimes has the audacity to sit on the floor in the middle of a catch or kickball game, or in front of the pitch back screen. Her bothers, who love her so much the rest of the time, don't seem the slightest bit concerned for her safety as the balls go whizzing by her little head, or she get's knocked over during a touchdown run. Things here are getting a little rough...Faithy needs to learn to walk just to survive.

We are really looking forward to visitors over the next few months and Grandma Cori moving to Idaho (she bought a house, literally, right down the street) as well as birthdays for Faith and Jake. Also, Jake just got his own email address, so if you get an email from him, it is really from him and he's tickled to death whenever anyone replies.

It's getting onto springtime. I just bought my fishing license for the year and am looking forward to the sun. Hope to see most of you soon.

Papa Visits

Papa's arrival was met with a variety of responses: Jake was very excited and ran into his arms asking if he could play; Tanner was shy and refused to look at him for the first few minutes, but then quickly warmed up to being Papa's best buddy; and Faith screamed bloody murder upon seeing him, then continued to cry each time she was left alone with him.

It was a GREAT visit. Tanner charmed Papa to no end with his knock knock jokes, baseball and "Perfection"skills, dedication to his sister, and his impish character; while Jake entertained him with game after game of tennis,baseball, basketball, football, etc... Faith watched him warily the entire time with the funniest look on her face, clearly not too sure about who he was or why he was there, despite his many attempts to "make nice". Apparently she is entering the 'stranger anxiety' stage- sorry Dad! That should make the impending arrival of both grandma's, Auntie Sue, and the Evans' clan next month really interesting!

Dad was so patient with the chaos and so good to the kids. He was a great play buddy for the boys and both were sad to see him go. Tanner keeps asking, "Where's Papa?" and when you tell him that he had to leave he looks down sadly and says, "Ohhhhhh!" (I wish I could put inflection into an email because it is classic.).


Some Updates:

Faith still has no teeth. One has been trying to pop up for months but to no avail. She is still walking while holding onto a truck, but has no interest in trying on her own. She turns one in 9 days and I can't believe how the time has flown. And I certainly can't imagine our family without her.

Tanner's knock-knock joke repetoire is expanding daily. He is quite the little comedian. He has a newfound interest in music. His favorite song is one about infidelity by Martina McBride. He asks me to play it constantly and then sings along happily. Most kids choose "I've Been Working on the Railroad" or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Not my boy- he croons about "lipstick on his collar and the smell of cheap perfume". Again... not sure I should be proud of this fact, but I am.

Jake is reading! It has been so interesting to watch. He just took off earlier this month and is reading lots of little phonics books to himself and some British readers that Grandma Joan gave him last year. When the boys woke up early on Sunday Brian and I heard Jake find a book called Superdad and read it aloud to Tanner. Naturally he is quite proud and asks me to type all the books he can read and send them to various grandparents and family members. He starts T-ball next month. Currently we have a pitch back net in our living room- which he purchased with b'day money
from Papa. I guess we figured we already let the kids play football, baseball, hockey, kickball, soccer, and volleyball in the living room- why not practice pitching? Although I am looking forward to spring so I can get access to my couch back!

Everyone is doing well. Brian and I are looking forward to all the visitors we have planned in the upcoming months and enjoying planning our big Roadie to Minnesota this summer. Hardly seems possible the school year is already down to 3 months left!

The Joy of Boys

Granted, they are not nearly as much fun to buy clothes for, but the games are so much more enjoyable than Barbie and Princess! Although Football is still the latest obsession for Tanner and Jake, with practice sessions in the living room with dad becoming a nightly event, sword fighting has recently been added to the mix. They play "Pirates" and point their swords at each other, muttering, "En Guarde!" Sometimes Brian needs to intervene and help Tanner fend off his older brother, and recently Faith has even gotten into the fray.

Kid Catch Up

Faith has started to walk-holding onto and pushing the wooden truck that grandma gave to Jake when he was her age. She is VERY proud of herself. She also will walk holding onto one finger. For awhile we thought she may walk before her first birthday, but that date is creeping up on us pretty quickly. Still no teeth (and very little hair), but at least she is not as annoyed about it as she was earlier in the week.

Tanner has taken to telling knock-knock jokes. As you can imagine, they are hysterical (to him, that is).

Example:
"Knock-knock"
"Who's there?"
"Nana"
"Nana who?"
"Nana HOME!!!" HA HA HA HA!!!!

This is oft repeated with the word Nana being replaced with "orange". We don't know why.

Jake has his first crush. He came home and announced it to me the other day. Apparently little Chloe in his class is quite the heart throb. When I asked him what a "crush" meant, he told me that is means that you want to marry someone. He made me swear not to tell anyone at school. When I went to watch his dance class on Friday I watched him scramble to get Chloe for his partner for the "ballroom dance" section of the instruction. He turned bright red and, I have to admit, it did break my heart just a little bit to see how Chloe was obviously interested in little Caden, not Jake.Jake ended up with Zoe instead- and blushed again when he had to hold her hand. Too funny.

We've had a little bit of spring weather the last few weeks (meaning temperatures above 40!) and we have taken advantage of it. Last weekend we went to the zoo. Tanner's favorite was definitely the monkeys, despite Jake warning him repeatedly that they would throw their poop at him if he bothered them. They all liked the penguins, and Jake loved the giraffe slide. This weekend Brian pulled down all the bikes and pumped up the tires, attached the trailers, etc... and we went for a neighborhood ride wearing ski caps and mittens. I'm sure people thought we were crazy.

Strep Throat, Vomit, and Coughs... Oh my!

If it's not one, it's the other. I am lucky I haven't been fired yet.

Jake was home with strep throat yesterday. Today he is fine, but on our way into school I got a call from daycare (literally five minutes after I dropped TJ and Faith off) that Tanner had thrown up all over the breakfast table and could I please come pick him up immediately. I swear I thought I was on candid camera. I'm not sure that I have spent a full week teaching since before Christmas break. My partners should be ready to kill me, but the (very real) tears they saw me shed this morning as I broke the news that, no, I would not be back today, but instead would be staying home with another sick child, made them very sympathetic instead of homicidal.

Is it pathetic that the only thing I am really looking forward to is that there is a new "Lost" on tonight??? Actually, I can answer that myself.

By the way, lest I seem nonchalant about my children's various illnesses, let me assure you that Tanner is JUST FINE, happy as a clam, and watching Shrek 2 as I type this. I am just waiting for the phone to ring to tell me that Faith spontaneously combusted or something. Send chocolate. Please.

Post Script: I finished typing this exactly two minutes ago. The phone just rang. You guessed it.
At least there were no flames involved.

Oh, yeah.... HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Plumber Butt

Tanner has thinned out considerably from his "football" days last year. Now he struggles to keep his pants up- even the 18 month size.

He is fascinated with the potty- especially the urinal at his daycare and asks to wear "undies" so he can "pee in the urnal". If only he would actually do it. Instead he just sits on it, or stands in front of it, and flushes the toilet repeatedly.


Our champion sleeper is no longer. Tanner has taken to waking up EVERY NIGHT sometime between 11 and 1 and screaming bloody murder until Brian or I goes in to either sleep with him or bring him in our room. This started when he was sick, so we allowed it without comment. But now, 10 days into a healthy boy and he is still doing it. Plus, because he shares a room with Jake, this wakes Jake up, at which point we generally have two overtired and crying/whining little men to deal with (not including Brian). Let's suffice it to say that Brian and I haven't slept in the same bed for an entire night for close to two weeks. I have become very familiar with all the OTHER beds in the house, however. As frustrating as it is, I have to say that with them growing up so quickly I try to take advantage of the time when they will still cuddle and sleep with Mom and enjoy it. Still, it is getting old fast, and another bout of "crying it out" is going to be in store for Tanner soon!

Faith's Teething Experience Thus Far

Enough said.

Snowy Days and Superbowl Saga

Here's the view out of our front door on Superbowl Sunday. It's been so much fun lately. The average snowfall for January over the last 30 years in is 4.2 inches. This January we had 11.5! This has some definite advantages:
I have learned how to drive in the snow with relative ease; have mastered the art of bundling up for recess treks outside (Key #1: You just can't care how you look); and we had a snowday last Wednesday (No SCHOOL!). Jake loves it- especially "ice skating" on the icy sidewalks. Tanner, on the other hand, always likes the IDEA of the snow, wanting to be bundled up, but once he steps outside and (god forbid) actually feels the stuff on his hands he cries and wants inside again.


Here's a picture of Jake taking a snowmobile ride with our neighbor Greg around the block- another clear indication of the amount of snow we have here this year. Greg likes his toys and it was either this, a boat, or a motorcycle. I personally was rooting for the boat, hoping to get a few lake trips in with their family this summer, but the gigantic snowmobile won out.

The Superbowl build up around our house was BIG. Jake watched most of the playoffs and was really excited to see "his" team make it to the big day. He has been practicing routes (or as Jake calls them.... "fades") in our living room for weeks with Brian and Tanner. We were all hoping to see New England go 19-0. We greeted the event with a multitude of fattening snacks, a sign made by Brian and Jake, and high hopes. We also greeted the event with NO NAP- not for Jake and not for Tanner. Tanner fell apart at around kickoff, so I spent most of the game chasing after him as he: hit his sister, drew with sharpie on my desk, dumped cups full of water out of the bathtub onto the floor, and generally was just a gigantic pain in the butt. Faith practiced walking- holding onto her push truck- and rolled around the floor charming both her dad and me with her full face grin and giggles.


Jake held out until the 3rd quarter then actually told us he was ready to go to bed, but made sure we set up the DVR to record the rest of the game. After putting the boys to bed, Brian and I settled in to watch the recording of the fourth quarter and that's when it got interesting. With 25 seconds left to go, the recording stopped. Apparently the DVR thought the game was over so it just stopped. We were left wondering who won, knowing that it was probably NY but hoping against hope that it was the Patriots. (No, it's not that we are that big of NE fans, but neither one of us wanted to break the news to Jake in the AM that his team had lost.). So, after uttering some choice curse words Brian went to check the final score and get details of the final 25 seconds online.

To his credit, Jake handled the loss well. When Brian told him he said, "DOH!" (Very similar in inflection to Homer Simpson) and let it go. He was just excited to watch the end of the game.
We warned him that we hadn't gotten the last 25 seconds, but he was relatively OK with that news, too. But when we went to play the recording for him before breakfast it turned out that Brian, in his annoyance/anger/frustration over missing the last 25 seconds- had accidentally ERASED the entire 4th quarter. So, not only did Jake's team lose, he didn't even get to see the end of the game. There were a few quiet tears, but he managed to buck up, put on his Patriots jersey anyway, and head to school with me to face the music from his peers and teachers (most of whom were rooting for the Giants).

Better luck next year.