Duel

What I woke up to the other morning: Owen bringing swords to my bedside to tell me he wants to have a sword fight. The sword in his right hand was for me. The one in his left was for him. Say what you will, but Little Man knows a little something about strategy...

Dangerous!

The new word of the day for Owen: Dangerous!
"It's too daaangerous, Mommy!" with a wag of his finger.

Gee, I wonder how he learned that word?!

Owen, don't go across the monkey bars by yourself it's too Dangerous!
Owen, don't run so fast down that hill - it's Dangerous!
Owen, look for cars in the alley - it's Dangerous!
Owen don't stand on the chair like that...don't jump off the couch...

danger, danger everywhere...

Monkey See, Monkey Hear

I see you....
Wait, Natalie, don't scream into Owen's ear with that thing!!

Oh, never mind...it appears not to bother him...

Magical 5

I love the age of 5. I'm aware that some, perhaps many, of the precious moments of childhood pass by me so quickly that I don't take the time to appreciate them in the chaos of the background noise. Right now, however, I am savoring Natalie at the age of 5. The age when her body is stretching out, tall and lean, her face has shades of the woman she will become, her hair is the longest it's ever been, and yet she still maintains that sweet 5 yr old innocence. There are still words that she pronounces so adorably incorrectly. She has the ability to get lost in a fantasy world of her own making (and what I wouldn't give for that myself, some days). And she still has the naivete to believe just about anything.

She was super excited last week about the Tooth Fairy visiting preschool. The Fairy visited last year as well, and Natalie remembers her well. Not once did she question why the Fairy hands out toothbrushes with the same logo as our pediatric dentist. She just talked on and on about how the tooth fairy has a purple wand, wings and fairy dust. She explained it all very earnestly to Owen. She does love it when she knows something and he does not. After this year's visit she told me very matter-of-factly that "The fairy last year was a fake, because this year we had the real one." So I'm assuming the dentist hired a new fairy. I hope there wasn't a fairy falling-out.

Then a few days later Natalie was the belle of the Ball, going to the Daddy/Daughter dance with Jim, and she seemed so poised and elegant. It made my stomach flutter nervously, picturing her as a teen or adult, primping to go out. For now, she was simply so excited to go out with her Daddy. Aaahhh I love the age of 5.

Hockey Boy

I can't recall if I mentioned that we are taking a hiatus from gymnastics. This happened in the Fall - November or so. It's funny, because the amount of guilt I felt over this was ridiculous. Like there was actually some part of me that thought I was doing Owen, and the world at large, an injustice by depriving them of his gymnastic fabulosity. Really! He did enjoy it, after all, and he has a natural strength for that kind of stuff. But the fact is, it was killing me. Owen listens well sometimes....and in certain situations, typically around groups of other children, not so well at all. To be fair, I do remember Natalie having similar (if not so extreme) issues in gymnastics at that age as well. But chasing Owen around and fretting about him sharing the gym equipment was stressing me out so much that it had turned the whole experience into a very negative thing. Owen got in trouble, I got angry, and then I would feel bad when I would invariably lose my temper. The next level for him would have been the 3 yr old class - one he would do on his own with me watching from behind a glass wall. I just wasn't sure if he would listen better to a teacher than to me (though that seems the case in preschool) and he needs to be potty trained (topic for a different post, but suffice to say it's not going well) for that class. So we quit. And I felt such relief. Yes, somehow I did get over the worry about depriving the world of his gymnastic prowess at age 3. Someday I think he will go back.

He does still need a lot of....let's say...exercise. His favorite thing outside (and inside until he gets too crazy) is hockey. The boy loves hockey. He loads himself up with pretend equipment (pretend skates, pads, helmet and mask), even asking me for help putting it all on. He has informed me that his skates...pretend, invisible skates...are not tight enough, and has taken issue with the pretend mask/cage I put on. He must take after Jim, being so particular about his uniform - even when it's pretend. He also has a game called Monster Hockey, where he wants me to be a hockey-playing monster trying to take away his puck. One issue with this is that he tends to think it's OK to beat the monster with the stick (the stick and ball/puck are real). So I spend a lot of time telling him his only course of action is to take away the monster's puck with his stick...and never taking my eyes off him lest he bludgeon me from behind. He enjoys the game a LOT.

We've taken him skating twice now. The first time he didn't spend much time on the ice because Jim threw his back out trying to hold Owen up while he pretended to run and wouldn't stand. The second time he spent the first half crying and didn't want to even try, which is really not typical Owen. Then Jim put a hockey helmet on him (real, not pretend) and skated him around, running him into the boards like he was body checking him. Luckily no one called Child Services. Owen loved that! So then I took him around and tried to get him to stand and take small steps (understanding that small, slow steps are not natural for the boy). Instead he crawled across the ice and intentionally banged his helmet into the side boards...repeatedly. He thought it was such fun. Crawl, crawl, bang, bang, bang, and then fall down like the hockey players do. Silly boy. But it led to him getting to his feet on his own, and standing up with a huge smile, saying "I did it! I'm skating!" Well, maybe not exactly skating, but he did start taking steps while holding my hand. Definite progress was made. And he was very happy afterward about his "skating." Look out Ovechkin! I wonder if hockey players need to be potty trained....

To Shag or Not To Shag

The hair, the hair. What to do with the hair.

We've always kept it simple for the boys - short and sweet. And they look so cute in short hair. But it seems that the styles for boys these days tend to be a bit more shaggy...and Liam has actually said he doesn't want his cut. We could overrule him, but honestly, Liam doesn't usually express much of an opinion on his personal style. Then again, I never did either growing up, and some (Jim) might say that I should have been protected from myself when I DID have an opinion. Perhaps... But I still hate to squash his first foray into his own personal style. I may have to ask him where we are going with this look. I'm hoping it's not all the way to Bieberdom. Not a fan of Justin Bieber hair. So right now, I'm not sure if we are in the middle of a new do, or if this is it and it just looks like it needs to be cut. Only time will tell.

And Owen...yes, his is longer too. Not that he asked for that, but I thought he looked cute with it a bit longer (and his last cut wasn't a great one), and it seemed to fit his personality. Right now it is killing Jim, with the raggedy hair in the back and over the ears. Of course, Jim was the one who wanted to give him a mohawk a year or so ago, and that is one thing I will veto.

I have a sneaking feeling that someday soon the boys will go out on a miscellaneous errand and come back with close cropped hair again.

That Groundhog Better Be Right

I think I've made it back to my happy place. School should be open tomorrow.

Being stuck in the house for days on end with no school and no way to get out had me a little squirrely there for a while. I'll admit it, it was me and not so much the kids this time. They didn't mind so much being house-bound. It helped that Liam has some friends who live very close, so he could go off on playdates. I fired up the Bounce-o-lene from last Christmas, but it has several leaks so it isn't quite the same. Still, bouncing can be a good energy burner. We made banana bread (but I hate to bake because I am the ONLY one who eats any of it, and that's just no good for me). We played board games. They played outside even when it was just an ice rink. Liam thought it was funny to try and get Owen to run across the patio. Owen fell off the top of the playfort outside again, but apparently his winter clothing was padded enough that he didn't notice. I ran outside all worried, and he was on his feet already and seemed surprised when I showed concern. He said "I got off." Yes, you got off. Rather quickly.

Everything considered, the kids were good. I couldn't ask for much better. I think they will be glad to head back to school this week though.

I was cheered to know that the snow boots and snow pants from the Canada trip are getting put to good use. I usually hate to spend too much money on that stuff because there are so few days they really need them. This year I am very glad that they have the winter clothing.

So now, when is Spring coming again?