Bubble Time!

Bubble baths are a rarity in this house (due to eczema issues with both boys), so when there are bubbles in the tub both boys go nuts! If you have ever sat in the "Splash Zone" at a marine life park, you have an idea of what it might be like to be within 100 meters of two exuberant boys in the tub. It's like frolicking with Shamu, only wetter!

The early summer is flying by and Matthew seems to have settled down a little. That might just be a cover, though, so he can get into more trouble when we're not looking! In the past month, he has eaten a coin (luckily the total tab we owe is only $150 for all the ER/ambulance copays), tossed his toys out of his second story windows more than once (we solved this problem once we realized our windows are double hung and we can lower the top window rather than raise the lower one), and has microwaved his remote controlled train. Did you know circuit boards will fry in less than three seconds when exposed to microwaves? And did you know that circuit boards smell REALLY bad when they're nuked?

Nolan is very close to walking, though he still prefers to crawl. He doesn't get into very much trouble yet, though unravelling toilet paper is the thrill of the century. And cat food still holds a special place in his heart (or stomach, as the case may be).

There are times that having two very young boys will make your hair turn gray, and then there are times that are golden. The best things that happened in June:

* Fireflies! Matthew was upset that he couldn't take them to bed with him.

* Frogs! Another creature Mom won't let in the house.

* Nolan saying "Uh" for "uh-oh."

* Matthew saying, "I love you, too."

* Nolan taking a single, solitary step.

* Flying kites. We actually got one up into the air for a while!

Here's to July being as wonderful as June was. If only summer could last forever!

Three Days To Go!

Grandma and Grandpa Lefler are arriving on July 3rd, and Matthew is quite excited about the event! We are going to have a very busy week with them, filled with a lot of "firsts." The coming week will include Matthew's first time ever:

* Ice skating! We have to get a bike helmet before we hit the rink, though.

*Fishing! We will be visiting Cook Forest State Park in Pennsylvania and they have a stocked pond for kids.

*Seeing a movie (maybe)! Matt's been obsessed with the Wall-E trailer, so we might try taking him to see the movie. Not sure about his attention span for the entire thing, though...

*Fireworks! That he remembers, anyway! We didn't make it to last year's display, since I was a bazillion months pregnant and Matthew fell asleep at 8:00.

We are also in the middle of a kitchen refurbishment (it feels SOOOO good to say goodbye to 1976), so we will probably be eating out a lot!

Father's Day at the Zoo

Sunday was gorgeous (sunny and not too humid) and Father's Day, so we had the perfect excuse to ignore all the house/yard work and take off for the zoo!

Matthew, of course, had other plans.


Mommy: "Matt, do you want to go to the zoo?"
Matt: "No. Go park."
Mommy: "The zoo has animals. Do you want to see the polar bear?"
Matt: "No. Go park."
Mommy: "The zoo has a park inside of it."
Matt: "O.K. Go zoo go park."


We had an exciting time, though Matthew wanted to run past the animals to get to the children's zoo section (and the associated park, of course). Nolan was rather oblivious to the zoo in general, but was fond of the meerkats and the polar bears. Many of the animals were sleepy due to the warm weather. We made it through the zoo (dodging the misters to keep from getting Nolan's hearing aids wet) and enjoyed the children's zoo and watching the train go by. When we left the zoo, I asked Matt if he was ready to go home. His answer?


"Noooooo! Go park! Drive! Go park!"


Apparently the playground in the zoo didn't count as a real park. Luckily he fell asleep on the way home and we didn't have to hit the local playground!

Exploration...

Nolan seems to be doing something new every day. Yesterday he climbed the stairs, which means we're entering a whole new world of exploration with him. By exploration, I mean the stage in which mothers get gray hairs and keep the pediatrician's phone number close at hand.

We had his well-baby appointment, and he is doing wonderfully. He is 17 pounds, 2 ounces and 28 inches long. A small little guy, but Matthew was also small at this age. He is starting to stand alone, cruises along furniture, claps, and is doing wonderful age-appropriate things. His babble hasn't changed much over the past two months- we have the same "da" "ldldldl" "ma" and "ba" sounds. He is starting to turn to his name with more consistency, but we still have times when he zones out on us. We also have a tooth, and another on the way.

The only concern I had at his appointment was a slight rash he had on his chest area. It was a light lacy rash that appeared about the same time that we began slathering on sunscreen in mammoth proportions (take one look at my kids: we purchase sunscreen by the vat). I was afraid he might have an allergy to the sunscreen, which would not be a good thing. Turns out that it was purely coincidental. He has Fifth Disease, a form of parvo virus that is pretty innocuous for the child (causes cold-like symptoms, then a "slapped cheek" rash, then a lacy rash over the body). Pregnant people are at risk from the disease - unfortunately it is only infectious before the rash appears. I don't think we were around any pregnant ladies during Nolan's infectious stage.

I set up his ONE YEAR appointment, but still refuse to believe my baby will be one soon!

While He Was (not) Sleeping...

Matt typically goes down for nap at 12:30pm. The schedule for today seemed to be perfectly on track... except the child NEVER went to sleep! At 2:30pm he was standing at the baby gate saying, "uh-oh. Help!"

Recognizing that 1) he was NOT going to take a nap today and 2) this probably meant some level of mischief had occurred, I wisely went upstairs to check on the situation.

Turns out the kid had pushed his screen half way out of his window and dumped all of his stuffed animals (and some of his books) out the window. Apparently it was great fun to watch everything fall two stories to the ground.

We gave up on naptime and headed over to Bemus Point for some play time and dinner. Matt did finally fall asleep on the way home- at 5:30pm! Things are not looking good for bedtime tonight...

Almost two AND A HALF!

I can't believe Matt is almost 2 1/2. He continues to knock our socks off with what he learns every day!

His most recent accomplishments:

• He can now take the "spinny knob" covers off the doorknobs.
• He can climb over the baby gate.
• He speaks in (sometimes intelligible) 3 and 4 word sentences.
• He can run, jump, stand on one leg, and pedal a tricycle.

His view on the world (in his own words, though I am totally correcting for his articulation):

Astronomy

"Where moon go? Where go? Clouds. Bye bye moon."

"Moon! I get it! Uuughhh (jumping)! Rocket ship!"

Entomology

"Shoo! Get away! Bee! Bee fly in eye. Fly in that eye. Shoo! Get away!"

"Cool! Bug. What bug? Ant. Bye bye!"

Driving

"Need key. My key. My tractor. Where key? Daddy key. I drive. I drive tractor!"

(Note from mom: the keys are put up and are out of his reach. All we need is a two year old joy-riding on our street).

Siblings

"MY toy! MY truck! Noooooo! No! My tractor! My car! My flashlight!"

"No eat cat food!" (said to Nolan).

For Luck...

I figured after the Wings lost game 5 to the Penguins (after THREE overtimes), they might need a little luck. Insert "good luck kid." Matt wore the jersey for a while the afternoon of game 6, sending good luck vibes the Red Wings' way. I don't think I need to say who won the Stanley Cup!