more firsts

Just in time for Christmas, Max has said his first non-mama or -dada word. He dropped his beloved zero (part of a number puzzle) and said "uh-oh!" And when I asked him to say it again, he did. We have language!

Also today, Liam wore big-boy underwear for the first time. They lasted about 15 minutes. It's a start, right? We also discovered that he can sing the entire ABC song. We knew that he knew all the letters by sight, but we had no idea he knew the song until he started singing it to us.

And a final music-related note. My birthday was last week, and Liam, true to his sweet-loving heart, sang "Birthday cake to you, Mommy" to the tune of Happy Birthday. That's my boy!

a taste of what's to come

The boys are ready to celebrate Christmas! Here are some pictures that didn't make the cut for our Christmas card (which will appear soon in mailboxes all over the country).





Only 12 more days!

something new

Both boys have done some new things over the past few days. Three days ago, Max started clapping his hands. And now he does it all the time! His new favorite game is patty cake. Two days ago, he stood by himself. Granted, it was for about five seconds and then he gave the classic cartoon look around. The expression on his face clearly said, "Hey wait! I'm not holding anything!" and he promptly fell down. He hasn't tried it again, but I'm sure it won't be long.

Meanwhile, last night was Liam's first night in a big-boy bed. No more crib for him! He's got a new bedroom with his favorite things (used to be our office) and he was excited to be there all day yesterday. He kept telling us all about his new room. We were a little worried that he would just get up and walk around instead of sleeping, but he stayed in bed all night long. This morning, he woke up, and I called to him from bed to ask if he was okay. "I'm getting up," he said, and got up and came into our (also new) room and climbed up to give me a hug.

And now they're playing nicely in Max's room. Full disclosure: I just broke up a giant screaming fight because Max stole one of Liam's beep-beeps, but they're playing nicely at the moment. For now.

O Christmas Tree

Sunday morning we packed up the boys and braved the freezing cold (no snow, though) to go to Hensler's Nursery and "help" my parents and sister get their Christmas trees. The boys seemed to enjoy looking around at everything. They each met Santa, but only Max would smile at him. To be fair, this Santa is particularly scary. Kind of like Bad Santa, but older and with a real beard. Liam wanted nothing to do with him, even when OBS (Old Bad Santa) offered him a candy cane. After meeting Santa, we explored the grounds. Liam and Klaudia bought some grain and fed a pony, which Liam really liked. We saw wild turkeys, a cow, horses, and reindeer. And then we trudged out into the field and chopped down the trees. Well, we watched my dad and brother chop them down. After the chop, my brother J gave us a primal example of man's domination over nature:



After we came home, we were inspired to start our own holiday decorating. Liam helped us with the tree...



...while Max did his part by "helping" with the stockings.



Happy holidays!