Way back in late May (yes, we are a bit behind in our posting), we drove down to Washougal, Washington (just across the river from Portland, Oregon) to visit my extended family and meet up at “Auntie” Joanie’s house.  My cousin Gina, her husband Paul, and two son Caetano and Felix, were in town from Portland, Maine, visiting her folks in Portland, Oregon.  Anyone confused yet?

Anyway, this was a perfect opportunity to see if 1) the boys could survive an extended road trip (3.5 hrs) and 2) if Joel and I could survive an extended road trip with the boys (in preparation for going to Michigan in September).   Needless to say, we all survived but it was very tight that last 1/2 hour.  Oh, I wasn’t sure who was going to break first, Nicky or me.  On the way down to Joanie’s house, we stopped at IKEA in Renton and let the boys run wild.  This is where we picked up the hippos you’ve seen in other blog postings.  We were then lucky enough to have the boys sleep for the next 1.5 hours.  That left us with around 1.5 hours of entertaining and like I said, it was a close call at the end.

Joanie lives on a farm with cows.  This was the first time Nicholas and Dexter has seen a cow.  The fence you see behind me in the picture below was a barbed wire fence.  Nicholas was bound and determined to crawl under it in order to get up close and personal to a cow.  We had a series of “NO” conversations.  I won in the end.

Of course, the boys tried every trick in the book to get to the cows.  One of their tricks was to throw the ball into the pasture.

Pictured below from left to right is Paul,  Caetano (who will be 3 in November) and my brother Ryan.  The golf clubs were presents from Grandma French to the boys, but the “big boys” (Ryan, Paul and Scott) spent most of the afternoon trying to make a chip shot into the water fountain.

Here you have my uncle Jon helping out Cae with Nick and Dex looking on with interest.  I wonder what he was showing them?

Nicholas wonders what is that weird circle thing that cousins Scott and Susan are tossing around, and why can’t they catch it.

Seriously, it is really a big necklace.

Cousin Gina and Ryan take Joanie’s 4 wheeler out for a ride.  I think everyone took it for a spin except Joel and I.

Nicholas definitely wanted to take it for a spin.  He cried every time someone drove by and rushed to get on.

Here Susan is teaching the boys how to blow bubbles which is always a favorite activity.  You’ve got to watch out though – if Dexter’s hand gets wet from water, food, soap, etc…. – he will immediately start to wash his face.  Soap + eyes do not equate to a happy Dexter, mom or dad.

Gina and Felix (mini-Paul).

The 4 boys together.  I think we had 20 cameras going and no one captured all of them looking the same direction at the same time.

Case in point……

It was a fantastic one day trip.  (Yes, we drove home that night – the boys slept through the return trip peacefully.) Everyone had a great time.  I loved meeting Felix for the first time and catching up with Gina and Paul, along with everyone else.  Hopefully, one day, we can meet and take a trip together like our parents did.  That would be so much fun.

I’m embarrassed about how long it has been since our last post.  Let me just state, that we have been dealing with a lot of issues as of late and it has taken much of our energy,  not to mention enduring a 4 day camping trip.  But, I’ll write about that later.

Lately, the boys have been very intrigued with animals.  If any of you have seen the Pixar movie UP (which I highly recommend), you’ll remember the scenes where if the word “squirrel” is shouted, all dogs stop what they are doing and look intently for the squirrel!  I have to say, I’ve used that same trick on the boys.

The boys LOVE dogs.  They go crazy for them and yes, we will eventually get a dog but not right now.  I’m not up for picking up any more poop then I have to.  Anyway, Nicholas and Dexter love dogs.  Joel, the boys, and I went for a walk one night and I encouraged Joel to leave us and go to the home owners association meeting.  One word comes to mind – STUPID.  As soon as Joel walked away, Nicholas REFUSED to leave the street corner we were standing on.  Yep – I was actually walking with the boys – no stroller in sight.

We paced back and forth, the boys and I, for 10 minutes before a person walking their dog walked by.  ”Quick boys, let’s follow the dog.”  This was how I was finally able to get the boys to leave that corner and start walking home.  ”Let’s see if we can find another dog.  This way.”  It was quite an ordeal, let me tell you.  Never ask your husband to walk away from the kids – lesson learned.

The other day, my mom was over watching the boys.  A blue jay was eating bugs in our backyard.  WOW – a bird.  Nicholas and Dexter stood at the window and watched for a good five minutes before Nicky got the bright idea to pull all the clothes out of the dirty laundry bin and throw them all over the floor.  This cracked Dexter up and soon it was a game – put few clothes in, pull all clothes out.  Then, all of a sudden, I yell “Look at the bird.”  Immediately they stop and run to the window to look.  I’m not proud.  I do what I must to keep order.  ;)

Here you can see the boys watching a real squirrel out on our deck.  I call him George.  If he sees Joel, he begs for food at the sliding glass door.  Joel gave him a Dorito once, 5 years ago, just after we moved in, and George remembers.

It’s Sunday, and we are going camping on Thursday to celebrate Joel’s 30th birthday.  So what do you think we did today?  YES, that’s right – we took a trip to Costco where we spent an enormous amount of money on two shopping carts full of stuff.  I’m slightly embarrassed by that fact – two shopping carts and the boys aren’t even teenagers yet.  And these are not small carts but super sized carts.  Oh, and for the first time, the boys each had their own cart.  You’d think they would have been happy with the arrangement, but no.  After 15 minutes, Nicholas demanded to sit next to Dexter and they then spent the rest of the trip fighting over holding food, a pocket mirror, and Trouble, the stuffed dog.  (I have to say, I understood when Katie took a principled stand as we were leaving the van, and she presented Dexter with two choices for toys to take in with him, and he refused to decide, so she said “fine” and left them both in the car.  I understood, but dear god, couldn’t she just have hidden one in a pocket?  It’s not like Dexter has ever sat still for more than 15 minutes in his life (excluding times when Thomas the Tank Engine is on, or he has a shape sorter-Joel)

The trip, not so interesting.  The fun stuff came afterwards.  You see, it was 11:15am when we finally made it through the check-out line which coincided with the boys’ lunch time. (I had to rip open a bag of string cheese while in the checkout line to appease our 2 year olds.)  The line was short to their food court.  Joel suggested I pick something up for lunch.  He figured we’d take it home and eat it.  I bought food to eat there which of course, Dexter rejected.  Oops.  We parked the carts, left the boys strapped in, and attempted to feed them.  Nicky was fine munching on the pizza but Dexter was not.  We drew some odd stares from the other patrons as I started to rummage through our purchases, looking for food for Dexter, opening one box after another.  In the meantime, Joel made a HUGE BLUNDER.  He fed the boys Coke.  They LOVED it.  Who wouldn’t?  It’s like pure sugar.  Anyway, I caught him in the act and asked kindly for him to stop.  I tossed Joel a Gogurtand be both fed one to the boys.  Joel had a bit of a problem learning how to administer yogurt in a tube to Nicholas and the tube erupted twice in a lovely display of flying yogurt before he finally got the hang of it.  Our lunch ordeal finally ended and we headed back to the van to get warm.

When we got home,  Dexter refused to get out of his carseatso I left him there with the van door wide open and proceded to help Joel and Nicholas unload the van.  It took one trip before Dexter decided the car seat wasn’t his best option for fun.  While Nicholas pushed and carried an assortment of items into our garage (he is such a good helper – at times – he was very eager, running back and forth from the van to the shelves, carrying one item after another.  He set each one down just behind the one before, so when he was done, he was only walking 2 or 3 feet into the garage), Dexter explored Kanga (the van). 

With Kanga unloaded, Joel let the boys have free reign of the van.  Kanga was the best toy EVER.  Dexter started by latching the car seat harnesses, and then yelling for dad to “OPE, OPE!!” them again.   As the back became empty, He started to explore, and looked uncommonly proud of himself when Joel first came around the side door to find him sitting in the back row.  Both boys started climbing in and out of seats, opening and closing compartments, and then finally making it past the center console and to the “cockpit”.  They discovered how to eject CDs.  They figured out how to turn on and off the hazard lights.  They sat in Malin’s seat in the third row, played in the driver’s seat, ran all around the van and figured out how to shut the side door and lock the van.  Good think we had the keys or they probably would have taken her for a spin around the block.

I wish we had thought about snapping pictures of their adventure because Nicholas and Dexter had a grand time.  Lots of squeels of delight could be heard from the van.  Another adult oasis gone.  Seriously, the boys are like the Huns – they just keep conquering one territory after another from us.

While it’s somewhat odd to think of Malin’s departure as imminent, it is nonetheless definitive, and we’re currently in the process of preparing our application for a new Au Pair, presumably to join us next January.  For the last two years, we’ve had Laura and Malin watching our boys while we work, and joining our family in their off hours, and without a doubt this has been the best possible arrangement for us.  Initially the boys simply couldn’t have handled the germophilic environment of daycare,  and having an Au Pair has certainly enriched Katie and my experience.

But as we were working on preparing our application, Katie mentioned that it was possible that we could put the boys into the Boeing daycare next January instead of immediately bringing a new Au Pair into our home.  I hadn’t really thought about it before, so initially I was very cool to the idea, but she’s kept at it and so now we’re in full evaluation mode.  The boys are normal (ish) 2 year olds, with boundless energy and curiosity.  We’ve heard nothing but positive things about the Boeing daycare center (run by Bright Horizons).

Financially, it’s pretty close to a wash.  It might be slightly cheaper to have an Au Pair, but the Boeing Daycare means that Katie could (if she chose) work full time again, and that would more than offset the difference.  It was a different story when they were younger (more expensive for infants), and would be different again if we had another child, but for almost 3-year olds it’s pretty much a wash.

For Katie and I, the primary differences would be a) having to get the boys up and out the door in the morning instead of leaving that to Malin, b) having to scramble to cover for the daycare when the boys get sick (which presumably they will, a lot), and c) no longer having an Au Pair with us in the evenings or weekends, or on family vacations or outings.

For the boys, I worry that Nicholas especially will have trouble with being dropped off in the morning.  He cries for Mama whenever I’m alone with him (which really, really sucks – it’s hard enough just to see him so had and not be able to help, and more than a little difficult to avoid feeling inadequate), thought apparently Malin says he only cries for a short while after we leave.  They’d also be in a much less controlled environment, which is inevitable, but kind of scary to contemplate as a parent.  At home, we have absolute control over who they play with and what they do, but we’d lose that in the daycare setting.  And we love and trust Malin, and know she’d protect the boys as if they were her own – and while I’ve no doubts regarding the competence of the daycare staff, the relationship wouldn’t be as strong.

On the plus side, they’d get to play with other children every day, something we simply haven’t been able to accomplish with our current arrangement, which would certainly help with their social (and language) skills.  Second, since they’d spend a lot more time out of our home, they might not be quite so bored with it (and with their own toys).  I think they feel cooped up at home sometimes, and while playing with trains is fun, how many days straight can it last?  In general, I think they’d be much better stimulated in daycare, with more projects, more activities, and more variety.

Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?  Do you think they’re old enough for daycare?  Or should we be looking for another au pair, and be working hard to arrange more regular playdates, and memberships or enrollment in other groups or locations (as we currently have with the zoo and the children’s museum)?

And dumb as it may seem, I can’t help but feel like we’re losing their childhood.  I mean, I know we’re already outsourcing some of their development to Malin, but once they enter daycare if feels like they’ll be entering “the system”, and school would be just around the corner, and we’re only parents for a few hours in the evening and on the weekends.  And even so, I can’t seriously contemplate staying home with them.  I love them to death, of course, but I can’t come up with enough things to keep them stimulated (let alone myself).  I think Katie’s in a similar place herself, and if she stayed home, I think she’d feel like she was losing the inertia she’s built behind her career in the last few years, and I think she’d go a little bit nuts with the loss of constant adult interaction.

<sigh>

Okay, this was really bloody weird. Nic woke us up this morning at 5am. That part isn’t weird. He does that. We’ve talked to him about it, but he still does it. I fine him, and his college fund is now empty, but he doesn’t seem to care. Oh well. Anyway, he woke us up, and Katie went and tried to rock him back to sleep. Still not all that weird.

I stayed in bed for maybe another 20 minutes, but couldn’t get back to sleep. So I got up, showered, checked on Katie, then went downstairs, unloaded the dishwasher (okay, that parts a little uncommon, but not “weird”), and mixed up the waffles (don’t worry, I didn’t cook them, I wouldn’t want to kill anyone with raw eggs).

Eventually, around 6:30, Dex woke up. Katie transferred Nic back to his crib, and brought Dex down. I’ve no idea why she rocked with Nic for that long, but she’s a mom and these things shouldn’t be questioned. So down they come. She hands me Dex, and says she’s going to go and try to get 20 more minutes of sleep. She started the waffles first, and I took Dex to change his diaper, thinking that he’d been in his nighttime diaper for 10 hours, so he was probably more than a little ripe. But then I took of his P.J.s, and things got weird. His diaper was bone dry. So I’m thinking, “how could he be so bloody dehydrated that he didn’t pee a drop overnight? What did Malin do to him?” But then I notice that he’s in a daytime diaper, not an overnight diaper (yes, they’re different – the overnight ones can hold a LOT more pee – kind of like a biggie size). I hadn’t changed him, so I asked Katie when she changed him, and she says she didn’t.

Well, maybe a Swede happened by his room in the middle of the night, heard him cry out and got to him before it woke Katie or I up, and decided to change his diaper. An hour or so later Helen, Peter and Malin came downstairs. Katie asked them which of them changed Dexter’s diaper. They all said that they hadn’t.

What the hell? No, seriously, what the hell? Who changed Dexter’s diaper? This has got to be the strangest thing that’s happened to us in, oh god, maybe even days…

Have we told you yet how much the boys love THOMAS THE TRAIN ENGINE?  For a brief period of time, Joel and I fell into the trap of, when arriving home and trying to get the boys to stop hanging on us, we would pop in a Thomas the Train DVD.  Episodes last 6 minutes and the boys could sit for about 3 episodes.  This would allow me enough time to get their dinner ready and get our started.

Then, after a day or two, the boys started to expect this event would occur EVERY day.  They would demand it.  They’d get in their chairs, or our big rocking chair and point to the TV as you can see Nicky doing below.  They’d point to where we should sit and basically say, “Sit”.  It’s cute and exasperating all at the same time.

Sometimes, the boys would sit quietly and intently watch the TV.  Other times, they’d play with the chairs, stand up, recline the chairs, and fall over backward – much to their horror.  After Nicky fell over backwards, we went back to backing their chairs up against the wall.

The 4th has come and gone, and by last check we had no hospitalizations or citations for public drunkenness, so things must have gone alright.  Saturday morning Karl, Andrew and I headed up to Boom City. Amy keeps trying to push our budget higher, but we stood firm(ish).  Of course our budget was entirely spent on legal decorations, like confetti pops.  We’re responsible upstanding citizens, don’t you know.

I spent the rest of the day getting our house ready for the party (i.e., saturating everything I could with lots of extra water and hoping for no errant sparks), while Katie prepped some of the food. Later that night, Malin’s mother Helen and Peter arrived for a 10 day visit.  If we haven’t mentioned it, Malin told us 2 weeks ago that she’d decided to head home in January instead of extending for another 6 months with us.  We’re sort of hoping that Helen will pressure Malin into changing her mind, so of course we were happy for them to visit.

Catrin had come over to visit as well, and the Swedes headed off for some shopping, and came back in vary patriotic garb.  This was only fair, since we had dressed the boys as Swedish football players (Sorry, Laura – we’ll get their Sharks gear back on them soon, but Swedish colors are the same as Michigan’s, so it’s kind of hard to resist).

People started trickling in around 3:30, and we started up the barbecue in the back yard, with Carter on grill duty (have I mentioned how much we miss you, Laura? Carter’s good and all, but he doesn’t stick around afterward to clean the grill for us…)  We set up the play yard across our yard, to keep the boys back from where Andrew was displaying his sadistic pyro streak by mercilessly wiping whole regiments of tanks from the face of the Earth.  The boys had a fantastic time stepping on the little snap pops, and revelling in all the attention.

Eventually they were sent up to bed.  The Swedes left us to head downtown for the fireworks show, and Carter, Marilyn and Ryan headed home.  We few dedicated patriots remained – Katie and I, Karl and Tristine with Julien, Amy and Andrew, and Julie and Trevor.  Around 9:30 we finally headed outside.  The next hour before was very cool, with some beautiful explosions erupting all around us.  I had a chance to play with my camera for a little bit, which resulted in some fairly cool photos.

One of neighbors had decided to remain in town instead of taking his boat out on the lake to watch the show, and he’d made a timely run to the reservation for some explosives.  Man, our neighbor knows how to blow stuff up.  Eventually including our garage, as during the clean up afterward a cake was knocked over, firing fireballs in random directions.  The first three bracketed our house (one to the left, one to the right, and one above).  I ran toward the garage and scooped up Julien just as the last fireball exploded about 3 feet from us.  It didn’t hit anyone directly, but burning hot embers hit Julien’s toe (with no lasting damage), and Tristine’s lip (with a 2nd degree burn – terrible enough, but thank god it was her lip and not her eye).  Julie and Trevor had already left, and Katie was inside at the time, but I think it took a few hours for the adrenal to wear off for the four of us outside.  When Karl and Tristine got home, Julien wouldn’t get out of the car until their garage door was closed, because he could still hear the fireworks…But that was the end of the night.

We’re all a little ambivalent about what we’ll do next year.  Almost certainly we won’t be sticking around our cul de sac, which suddenly seems way too confined and dangerous.  Maybe it’s time to go watch one of the big displays.  At least we know that the snappers are fun though, right?

We busted out the chalk the other day due to the sunny weather and the fact that Joel wanted to work in the front yard.  Our adventure met with some success.  Nicholas scribbled on the side walk with chalk and demanded that I draw flowers everywhere.  He LOVES flower drawings.  Can’t get enough of them.  He’ll tell you “flower” which sounds a lot like “water” so I get a bit confused until he points to the paper, or the sidewalk in this instance.  If you don’t draw the flower in the right spot, he’ll guide the crayon to the appropriate location.  He is so cute about it.

Of course he wasn’t satisfied with just 4 pieces of chalk.  No, I had to open all 16 pieces for him to play with.

Now Dexter, he was more interested in walking past the chalk line I had drawn as a boundary point.  Not so interested in sitting down and drawing.  That kid is a boy on the move.

Here we see Dexter contemplating whether or not to stay put, like his mother strongly recommended, or to chase after the ball that had conveniently rolled out into the street.  Which path did Dexter decide upon???????

Who doesn’t love the smell of Play-doh?  Whether we’re crafting masks in order to keep our identity secret, or fake noses, in which to torture little boys through laughter, we have a grand time with Play-doh.  Although, I have to admit, since we installed our new carpet, I’m paranoid that bits of colored Play-doh will end up where we wish not to see it.

The boys will sit and play with Play-doh forever.  They have to touch each color and Joel is bound and determined not to mix the colors up.  They taste it over and over again and each time, come to the conclusion that it really isn’t that tasty.  If they happen to have their drinks with straws nearby, we will find Play-doh in their straws.   Nicholas ends up with more Play-doh in his chair than on his tray and Dexter clamors over and over again for “Ball! Ball!  Make me millions of balls!” (which he will promptly squash, and insist you remake)

Here you see super-hero NIC NAC keeping his identity a secret.

Low and behold, there is Super Dad looking a bit grumpy that we’ve caught him in the act of entertaining.

Yes, that is me, torturing Nicholas.  He was just tickled pink when I reshaped my nose and then tried to attack him with it.

It really is the little things that put huge smiles on their faces.