DCM

We don't often go to Children's Museums, because I forget they exist and because, quite honestly, I hate kids.  Not usually my OWN kids.  But other people's kids.

But today at DE Children's Museum they had a special class on "Being an Engineer."  So we took the kids and packed some snacks and headed to Wilmington for the afternoon.  Dex was a little hesitant at first in the Be an Engineer class, but he thought the electricity demos were cool, and he got to build a roller coaster for a marble and shoot a ping pong ball out of an air compressor.  And he and Daddy made a wand.  Which he adores.  So I do believe it was a success

Mid-wand

Erin and I entertained ourselves with a little engineering of our own while the boys were building wands.  There was a big room filled with all different kinds of blocks, so we explored in there for a long time while we waited for the boys.

Erin's idea of engineering mostly involves carrying a green LEGO around with her everywhere she goes.

Mostly she practiced her climbing skills on some huge blue blocks

She LOVES stepping up and down stairs like a big girl.  But she needs to hold my hand.

Quite honestly, I am surprised we got Dex in to the Engineering class at all, as he had to bypass this big climbing thing to go to the class.  And he was decidedly NOT happy about that.  He was delighted to climb it a few million times after the class, though.

Erin and I found a cool slide, and after sliding twenty seven times while holding my hand, she braved it on her own.  First big girl sliding!

Sprinting back to the slide.  She LOOOVED it.

Click on the above for video of the sliding child.

Much time was also spent playing with water.  And playing with and in trains.  Which I don't have any pictures of.  Because, trains.  Yeah.  We got some.

Mmmmmm.  Chlorinated water...

It was a successful afternoon, capped off by a good dinner at Joe's Crab Shack.  The kids are passed out.  The adults are heading that direction.  And it's a terrible night to lose an hour of sleep...

The Young LEGO Nerd

Since Dexter got his LEGOs for Christmas he's been fairly well obsessed with some LEGO tutorial videos on YouTube, by the self-proclaimed LEGO Nerd.  He watches them every single morning.  He knows the sizes and the name of every LEGO piece.  He talks to himself in LEGO nerd fashion while building.

Saturday he went to a birthday party.  And scored a LEGO Creations set that builds three different kinds of cars.  He was very very excited to open them and play with them for well over half the birthday party.  When he got home he and John built the first car they had directions for.  And Dex made his own LEGO video.

For comparison purposes, you should watch a couple minutes of the LEGO nerd's tutorial first.  I know, I know.  I'm sorry.



And then please to be watching our very own young LEGO nerd.  It is eerily similar.  Sorry for the length.  There's no good way to trim it.  Just watch a couple minutes.  It's cute.

DEXTER'S LEGO VIDEO (CLICK TO PLAY)

PS - We have no school today, because it's snowing.  Again.  Some more.  Guess what Dexter is currently watching on his IPad?

Runny Babbit Day

Nast light Dexter and Daddy discovered a bew nook, which I had re-discovered on Dexter's closet shelf that afternoon.  Runny Babbit.  A billy sook by Shel Silversteen.

I didn't realize it was Runny Babbit Day until Nexter Dorman got a kug and a hiss from Daddy when his big old brain was being inflexible.  Now that Runny Babbit Day has begun, it cannot be stopped.  Nexter Dorman has declared today, and today only, Runny Babbit Day.  Tomorrow we have to go back to nalking tormally.

We do need to call Candpa Growan and tell him about Runny Babbit Day, though.  He will be very excited.  Because EVERY day is Runny Babbit Day in his house.

I need to read this book, I think.  So I can find out about cair huts at the sharber bop.  And other thilly sings.

Happy Runny Babbit Day!

On Talking 16 Month Old Babies

This whole talking baby thing is such a foreign concept to me, as Dex didn't talk at all til he was almost two.  But Erin has a lot to say about everything, and while most of it is babbling gibberish she actually has some understandable words.  Behold the list of words the baby has mastered:

Hi
Mama.  Incessantly.  All the time.  Always with the Mama.  Between her and Dex, meal time is a sea of "Mamas"
Daddy
Dexter.  Kind of.  It's kind of more like Deh-ehr.  And she doesn't say it often.
Book.
Ball.
BOO!
Cheese.  It sounds like Che.  She has, occasionally, used this same word for Aunt Jeanne.  That's my girl.  She also calls pizza "che."  Perhaps because that's the only part she eats off the pizza.
Cracker.  It sounds like Ba-ger
Apple.  It sounds like Bapple
Shoe.  It sounds like Shhh.  Or, sometimes, Ooosh.
This.  Is sound like Dis
That.  It sounds like Dat
Eye
Truck.  It sounds like Buck
She says "T" for teeth and for toes.  Not really a word yet.  But close.
Uh-oh.  A popular word in the house.  Both children find it hysterical.

She has animal sounds:
Woof for a dog
Whistle to call Buddy (mostly she just blows out of her mouth.  "Mama?  Phhhhhhhh."  That means "Mama, please call Buddy over here so I can giggle and try to hide from him.")
An under her breath "meow" for a cat
Blowing a raspberry for a horse
Baaa for a sheep
Moo for a cow
La-la-la for a pig (thanks, Sandra Boynton)

Sleeping in Buddy's bed.  Oh, yes.  She also does a snoring sound.

And, finally, her newest word:
Mahna-manah

What?, you say.  Yes.  I know.  Please watch the video below to have the Mahna-Manah song stuck in YOUR head for all of eternity.  Both kids have watched it.  Both kids find it hilarious.  Both kids sing the song all day long.

At Erin's 15 month well visit a few weeks ago (she was 16 months old) she was 32.5 inches tall.  92nd percentile for girls.  She was 21.2 pounds, which is 44th percentile for girls.

She finally got all four molars in.  That only took a week of waking up in the middle of the night screaming.  She just (like 2 days ago) barely broke through one of her bottom teeth, on the left side.  Still no sign of a bottom tooth to the right of the middle.  But something is going on in there, because she slept for crap again last night, too.  Damn teeth.

Some day soon she is going to be speaking in sentences.  And we will never shut her up.

On Being Five

A few weeks ago the little man turned five.  He was very excited about his birthday, not tremendously excited about people singing the Happy Birthday song to him, very excited about eating cake for breakfast, and has said he wants to be five for two years, because when he turns six he has to stop sucking his fingers at bed time.  Which, by the way, might happen sooner than that.  The dentist said a couple weeks ago that his teeth are starting to get loose, so he might have to stop sucking his fingers before the age of six.  Our deal is when his grown-up teeth start coming in, the finger sucking has to go.

Anyway.  Five.  Dexter is FIVE.  Today he told me he wants to celebrate his next birthday at midnight on the day he turns six.  With, you know, all the family and people who are going to be here to help him celebrate.  I told him good luck with that, I shall be sleeping...

At his five year check-up last week he was 46 inches tall, and 43.5 pounds of muscle, bone, and brains.  He needs four vaccination updates before he can go to Kindergarten in the fall.  He chose to have 1 shot last week, and then go back in three more times and get 1 shot each time.  He freaked right the hell out when he got his one shot because "it was a lot more pointy looking than Erin's shot."  But afterward he decided it was much better than he thought it would be, and the rest of his shots (on the next three trips we make to the doctor in the next five months) are going to be fine.

I thought it would be fun to take a look inside the brain of Dexter at five, so he answered some questions.  He has already asked if he can do another one when he is six, and he is already deciding his answers.  For example, his favorite color when he is six is going to be pink.  Please, be shocked...

1. What is your favorite color?  RED (I, quite honestly, believe he is making this up)

2. What is your favorite toy?  TRAINS (I know, I know.  It's surprising)

3. What is your favorite fruit?  APPLE  (or, as Erin calls it, BAPPLE)

The boys have to taste test before they decorate their cars.  You know, to be sure the candy isn't poison.

4. What is your favorite tv show?  Curling (we've been watching the Olympics)

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? TUNA (and olives.  Mostly he enjoys the olives)

Unfortunate car crash

6. What is your favorite game?  ANIMAL UPON ANIMAL

7. What is your favorite snack?  CHEESE

8. What is your favorite animal?  CROCODILE

9. What is your favorite song?  NO! (It's actually called "Tantrum."  It's on one of Sandra Boynton's albums)

10. What is your favorite book? Your Body (great book, from Usborne, about how your body works.  So, yes, Dex can tell you where urine comes from.)

11. Who is your best friend?  I don’t have a best friend

12. Name one thing you do really well?  Play Animal Upon Animal (true - he is an excellent animal stacker)

13. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  BUBBLES

14. What is your favorite drink?  MILK

15. What is your favorite holiday?  Christmas

16. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  MOON (pillow)

17. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  TOAST

18. Where do you want to go on vacation? Grandma and Grandpa’s House

19. What do you want to be when you grow up?  A lot of things – drive trains, build houses (69,000 houses).  (Dex has frequently said he will live to be 200 years old, because he has a lot of things he wants to do.  He's going to start building houses next year, by the way.  And he has said he's going to need some help.  So if anyone needs something to do, you can help build 69,000 houses.  And apparently, add a hallway and a kitchen on to our master bathroom.)

20. What is your favorite thing to do with Mom or Dad? Play with you

Happy Birthday, Mr. Five Year Old.  We love you very much.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Skating

One of Dexter's friends had a skating birthday party this afternoon, so Dex and I went skating.  Me for the first time in a good 12 years.  Dex for the first time ever.  We were a little worried that he would get frustrated, from all the falling.  From not immediately being super awesome.  From all the people.  It turns out we need not have worried.  He was AWESOME and he LOVED IT and he WANTS TO GO BACK TOMORROW.

Waiting for his mini lesson

Gaggle of children, all equally terrible at skating

Mama!  I got a duck!  The teacher spread rubber ducks across the ice for the kids to gather and put back in a box.  And then go back to get another duck.  Simple.  Yet brilliant.

After cake we tried out the pushy thing.  We (I) decided it was not going to work out.  Dex was too tall, so he was essentially pushing down on it and skating in place.  Entertaining, yes.  Effective, no.

So we went without.  We don't need no stinkin pushy thing.

Always the engineer, Dex checks out how his blade works on the ice.

Skating was a tremendous success.  Dex was happy.  Mama was proud.  Daddy was happy to see Dex so happy when he got home.  Erin was grumpy because I think all her molars have finally poked through.  Not, mind you, her other two bottom front teeth.  But she's got some molars.  Mama is also VERY VERY tired.  With VERY SORE ankles.

Please be entertained by Dexter's skating video.  Yes, the child who skated for the first time today was JUMPING on the ice.  He's crazy.  DEXTER'S SKATING VIDEO (click to view)

An Unexpected Valentine

Dexter just gave me a totally unexpected Valentine, when he came upstairs and said he and Daddy were going to Dunkin Donuts for lunch.  And that he wanted Erin to come, too.  And so here I sit, on a Sunday afternoon, in an empty house, with Olympic ice dancing live on TV (holy crap, the live commentators are a little bit insane.  I think Tara Lipinski and that crazy ice skating dude whose name escapes me.  You know.  The swan costume guy).  It seemed, with this unexpected Valentine from Dexter (and Daddy, as really HE is the one who is doing all the heavy lifting there), an appropriate time to share some Valentines Day photos of the kiddos.  Who were home all day.  Because there was no school.  Again.  Some more.

But first, a quick photo of what we seem to be doing almost every evening before and after dinner.  Which is...  watching curling.  Yes.  Curling.  The non-stop, action-packed, highly entertaining sport of curling.  By the by, did you know there's Curling Nationals next month?  Fairly near us?  Might have to send the boys.

Enthralled.  With the Curling.  It is mind-boggling.

Valentines Day was not all sunshine and roses for Erin.  We went to a play date in the morning.  She only got one nap.  She has six (yes, SIX) teeth coming in right now.  She was a little less than happy about life in general.

Considering all his anti-Valentines banter, this one was really quite lovey on Friday.  He gave lots of hugs.  He made some Valentines.  He WILLINGLY took pictures for the holiday.  I was shocked.

He was my Valentine.  And I was his.

Today, as he was gobbling up Daddy's Bomboy's candy, he told me, "Mama, I am not going to ask you if I can eat your candy.  Do you know why?  Because I think you will say no."  And, really, the boy is not wrong.  I do not willingly share my Bomboys.

Erin, willing Dex to be HER Valentine.

Heart Breaker, indeed.  "What's a Heart Breaker?" Dexter asked on Friday.

VD overdose.  The kids needed a little nap.  In the front entryway.

It's hard work being a Valentine

No idea why Erin wants to wear Dexter's Crocs.  But she insisted.

The one blue Croc really completed the outfit, I thought.

The serious Valentine.

Hope you all had a nice Hallmark holiday.  Dexter is still anti-friend-Valentine for school.  Which is fine with me.  He will have a little VD party at new school tomorrow, with no pressure to exchange Valentines, but will be given the opportunity to make a Valentine for someone he likes.  It will be interesting to see what, if anything, he comes home with.