Robots for Papa

"Robots" built especially for Papa, because according to Noah --"Papa really likes robots!".

Are you reading this, Grammie and Papa? We miss you!

Rainy day...

and play dough and pop corn. I found another great play dough recipe, by the way.

http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/cooked_playdough.html

A day spent inside- creating, eating with my guys.

Good stuff.

Hope you all enjoyed your day.

Off to school

Yesterday was my first "helping day" at Noah's Cooperative nursery School. Henry got to have a special morning at home with Daddy, something he does not often get to do.

I think I was more excited than Noah, to get an opportunity to see what my boy does in the big world without me. He especially likes his backpack, taking it off, putting it on himself.

Man, did we get here fast.

Thanks for sharing your morning with me, little man.

Chalk Art

Me: "Noah, tell me about your drawing."

Noah: "It's the letter Love."

Ma Mornin'

Henry is using new language every day, it is so cool to watch this process unfold. He was walking around the house this morning greeting everyone with "ma mornin'". Ma mornin', Mama, ma mornin', Wowa. When he greeted Noah he walked over to him and placed his hand on his head. Very cute.

Ma mornin', everyone, and Happy Autumn!

Touche

Pete Seeger quote

"I like to say I'm more conservative than Goldwater. He just wanted to turn the clock back to when there was no income tax. I want to turn the clock back to when people lived in small villages and took care of each other."

Ollie...

We had a sad afternoon at our house yesterday, our cat Ollie was hit and killed by a car. Thankfully our neighbors found him and put his body in a box for us. They came over to tell us the news when we returned from some afternoon errands. I found myself in tears in front of these neighbors I barely know. Ollie was a very good cat. He liked to play fetch, he had a beautiful soft coat of fur. Peter and I found him and his sister, Annie, at a farm in Illinois before we were married. He was very friendly and affectionate, part dog, we used to say. We buried him in our "forest", covered with some bright yellow sunflowers, we each put one on his box before covering it with dirt. The thought of him being hit is just so awful, but my neighbor tried to reassure me that he went very quickly. I just pray that this is the case. Bye, Ollie, we will miss you.

A Boy's Work...

You may wonder what exactly he was up to. I wonder this many times every day. There was some cleaning involved, he was "making rocks" in the basement. Sand and water had spilled. The science experiments never end in our house. I believe the dish rack was being used to help lay pipes, or something along these lines. He is a very busy boy.

Boys on Bikes

The boys out for a ride on their bikes, one of their favorite things to do, like their Daddy. Helmets, check, goldfish crackers, check...

Beautiful weather here yesterday, very autumnal.

Whew...

This was quite a day. I should have known where it was headed first thing this morning when I applied my perfume oil stick to my face rather than my Burts Bees Tea Tree Oil. It took me a good 5 seconds before I realized what I was doing. I was very tired. Five seconds is a pretty long time to be rubbing perfume oil on your face without even noticing.

Noah is struggling with his Bronchitis/Asthma cold symptoms and had a rough night's sleep last night. Nursery school did not go well today. He was very tired, I should have kept him home, but he really wanted to go. Mistake. Let's just say that there was some spitting involved and leave it at that. Oh, and don't even get me started on the mouse head I found in my yard today... right next to the mouse body.

Henry and I had a very nice visit to the playground, surely one of the day's highlights. He is so full of joy, he has an almost calming effect on me. My sweet baby boy...

The Stand-Vander

Sorry, this creation cannot be found at a store near you. But it does have a name. It's called a "stand-vander".

For those of you who have not been to our house, this is our play area, in a section of finished basement. Perfect for this kind of active creativity.

Brotherly love

Henry and I were having an early Sunday morning snuggle this morning, and he started singing one of his favorite songs. The Noah song, we call it. It goes something like this. Mmm, mmm, mmm, wo, wo wo, Wowa (Noah). He'll sing on and on like this for minutes, a long time when your 1.5. Henry loves his big brother like no one else, seeing this is one of my greatest joys.

Mouse House

We had a very nice day today, visiting with Grandma, unpacking yet more boxes, cleaning up dead mice. Rather than being grossed out like his mother, Noah, in his ever so sensitive tendency, decided that the best approach to handle such issues was to build a special bed for the "lost" mice. This way, they would have a nice cozy bed to sleep in, food to eat, water to drink, and they would not die. And he really does come up with all this stuff on his own.

He then began the thoughtful process of building the house. An old basket of Mama's, fabric he cut from some left-overs Grandma brought us, a pillow, and pop-corn from our snack. I will digress slightly here when I tell you that he also included a small syringe filled with water. This tiny syringe actually fed this very boy, when he was a wee 4 pound fighter in the Special Care Nursery at MGH and was too small to drink his Mama's milk independently. I would cradle him and slowly drop my milk into his mouth, my tiny bird. Of course he remembers none of this. To him it is just a cool play thing. Not that simple for me.

I love my boys endlessly, so much that I think it actually bothers people sometimes. For this I offer no apologies. I think them spectacular.

Mama's milk what seems like just yesterday. And yet nearly four years later...a mouse house.

Baking with Daddy

I returned home today to find my babes, all three of them, in the kitchen. One of their very favorite places. Hard at work baking some delicious crackers and cheese-mushroom calzone. Yum.

It was an especially nice activity for my middle babe as he was very disappointed to have to miss his friend's birthday party today because of his cold.

CCFC

Way to go, France!

http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/babyvideos/babyfirsttv.htm

Grateful Mama

I am thoughtfully trying to decide what to write on this day, such a day. September 11th. I am left with so much, and nothing quite right. So I will leave it at thank you. Thank you, Lord, for this life of mine.

Tree Hugger

I guess he comes by it naturally. We returned home yesterday from a very nice visit with GG to find our neighbor felling some trees. I excitedly pointed this out to the boys, assuming they would find it so, as well. Not so much. After watching for a minute, Noah walked over to me exclaiming "This is terrible, Mommy! They are cutting down the beautiful trees. I'm going over there right now to move those trucks!". Or something very closely to this effect. And he's only three.

I remember being quite outraged as a Junior High School student when the local corner store posted a sign stating that no more than 2 people under the age of 18 were allowed in the store at a time, without an adult. Clearly age discrimination in my eye. I was fuming for weeks. I think I may have been ready to contact the ACLU but was discouraged, or brought to my senses (depending on who you ask).

I wonder at what point I might find him sitting in a tree, in protest? I do know one thing, I'll be right there sending him up sandwiches. Rock on, tree huggers.

Welcome!

I hope to use this blog to keep my friends and family up to date on the goings on in our house, and to keep myself entertained. One of the things I don't do nearly enough in my current Mama life is write. Don't get your hopes up, I promise nothing spectacular, in the way of writing, that is. Now as far as stories of my boys go...