"you keep using that word. i do not think it means what you think it means."

As I put Max's jacket on after school, he said, "I want to go potty." Reeeally? So I asked his teacher, and she thought perhaps he had witnessed an older kid get a chocolate reward for using the potty, and what he really wanted was the chocolate.

Fast-forward an hour or so. Liam yelled from the bathroom that he was using the potty, and that he thought he might poop. (Yes, it's charming, I know. Come summer, when the windows are open, everyone in the neighborhood will know when Liam has to go.) Anyway, Max thought about it for a minute, then said, "I want to poop on the potty." He was very sure about it. So we hauled out the old potty chair, and Liam modeled how to sit. He even went and got a book for Max. And Max sat there, alternating between being upset at the prospect and just enjoying his book. He didn't go, but surely this is a step in the right direction.


Meanwhile, lest you think we're neglecting him, Liam's been hard at work filling boxes with things, transporting the boxes, unloading, and starting over. He's a regular moving company. Lately he's been very upset because he thinks that spring will never come. Which distresses him because he keeps asking to go to the playground, and we keep telling him that we'll go once spring comes. To a lesser extent, he's worried that summer will never come, but that's mostly because he wants it to be his birthday coming up, and not Max's.

cookie maxter

diy marathon: in which i make friends with bernina

First, a snippet from the other day when I was picking up the boys from school:

Teacher #1: How was your day?
Me (rolling neck): I spent the whole day sewing and now I'm a little stiff.
Teacher #2 (suddenly very interested): Wow! You sew?
Me: No. But I needed curtains.

And that's about the way it went. I think I've got cabin fever, or spring fever, or a nesting complex, or something. Possbily it's just boredom. In any case, I've been back at work on the house. Wednesday I braved the basement and made some pantry shelves with some wood that we've had for a while. But the big action started bright and early Thursday morning, when I arrived at my mom's house ready to make curtains.

You may know that my mom is serious about her sewing, and that's reflected in her basement sewing lair. There's a custom cabinet with a counter to hold the surger and laptop (for designing; also used by Bernina) and other accessories. Off to one side is a sewing table for Bernina herself. There's a cutting table with mats, various measuring devices, and rotary cutters. The ironing board is always set up, and boasts a cover with a measuring tape built into the design so you can just plop your fabric down and measure as you press. There are shelves and shelves and shelves of fabric. In short, over the years she's set it up to be the most convenient place for any kind of crafting.

So, the curtains. First I cut the fabric to the right size, then surged the ends to avoid all kinds of pesky hemming. Then it was back to the ironing board to use the guage to fold over and sew the top pocket and bottom hem, and voila, curtains! In practice it was a little more work than that, seeing as I spent two full days in subterranean sewing mode. But along the way, I made a new friend: Bernina. To be perfectly frank, Bernina didn't so much embrace me as put up with my slow sewing (my mom called me "Put Put" a couple of times) and clumsy attempts at changing her bobbin. I had to call my mom at work a couple of times for guidance, and each time she answered not with a cheery hello, but a more serious "Is Bernina okay?" And she was. Better than okay, I would say.

New curtains are now complete for the playroom, master bedroom, and master bath. And plans are even underway for more sewing projects that will really coordinate the playroom. I wouldn't say I've been bitten by the sewing bug or anything, but I'm having fun imagining the results.

liam: "max is my best friend!"

big plans

Over dinner tonight, Liam gave me a list of things he will do once he's big. Here they are:

* drive a train
* drive an airplane
* cook his own food
* lift up a full gallon of milk
* drive a car
* clean up the kitchen
* still be bigger than Max

I'm sensing a theme here. I should note, however, that when I asked him if he wanted to get his own house when he gets big, he replied emphatically, "No! That would be silly." Huh.

scarves!

Nearly the end of January, and it's the first time I've come across a scarf for a little boy. Little girls? Sure, they've got all the scarves. You find those everywhere, but this was a rare sighting. And in the 70% off bin, no less! Guess the other parents of toddler boys had just as much trouble as I did finding them earlier in the season. Luckily (or unluckily), there's plenty of winter left!

braving the cold

After breakfast, we set off on a mission. We drove to South Bend intending to get a new hard drive for our computer (after six years, this one is starting to go bad) and use the Meijer gift card Mike got at his company Christmas party. We got the hard drive easily enough, but the boys started fussing while waiting in line. Mike took them out to the car while I made the purchase, and then I really pulled one over on Mike, who is usually not gullible. While we were looking for the hard drive, Mike couldn't find the price, but looking at the other tags he figured it would be somewhere between $128 and $180 (which really beats the cost of a whole new computer). Anyway, I get out to the car, look at Mike, and say, "I sure hope this thing is worth $250." Whereupon Mike gets this panicked look on his face, and I lost my straight face. Luckily for me, when he found out the thing only cost $71, the worst thing he did was flip me the bird.

I had barely stopped laughing when we arrived at Hacienda for lunch. It's not our favorite, but it was nearby and Liam loves eating there because he gets to dip his chips in ranch dressing (a habit he picked up from my mom and sister). Max got into the chip action too, and really wanted his dad to enjoy them as well.



And then it was time for the zoo that was Meijer. SO crowded! I've never been there before, and clearly Saturday afternoon was not the optimal time to go. We got a few things, and then joined the long lines for the checkout. The boys started getting impatient waiting, so I took them over to some benches with the intent of getting them bundled up against the bitter cold and taking them out to the car. But Liam foiled my plan when he spotted some coin-operated riding toys. He really had his heart set on the dinosaur, and it was only a penny for a ride, but neither of us had any change. Luckily, the little girl on the next ride (who was entertaining her little sister while they waited for their parents. Good thinking, Meijer!) gave us a penny. Liam really liked it, and Max realized halfway through that something was going on that he wasn't included in, so I lifted him up behind Liam. No pictures of that part, as my hands were full. Once Mike finally made it through the checkout, we left with a sigh of relief that we'd never have to go back there again...only to realize that we forgot to use the gift card. Doh!

show and tell: m

Friday was show and tell day for Liam's class. Each kid was supposed to bring in something that starts with the letter M. After considering his options all week long, Liam finally decided to bring...magnets! Specifically, he wanted to bring Johnny and Erin's save-the-date magnet and an Easter magnet we have with Max's picture on it. But on the way out the door that morning, we had a brainstorm. I quickly went through the cookie sheets and pots and pans until I found a pizza pan that actually had some metal in it, then we stuck magnets all over it to illustrate how magnets work. ("How Magnets Work"...hmm, sounds like it ought to be an article on some website or other, right, friends?) We used his original magnet choices, and added a magnet with his name on it, a fire-safety magnet, and a few Pez magnets I've had since college.


I'm happy to report that despite his tendency to get stage fright, Liam made a great presentation! According to his teacher, he told the class how magnets work, then they talked about his particular magnets, and counted them. Hurrah! As for the other presentations in the class? Liam reports that all of his friends brought monkeys, so it sounds like his magnet pick really stood out in the crowd. Now we just have to figure out what he wants to bring for "O" day.

friday already

This week has really flown by. All of us have been sick with cold/flu symptoms. Liam stayed home on Monday because he had a nasty hacking cough, but seems better now. Max has probably been the least affected of us all, which we're thankful for, considering how bad his "cold" got last winter. We're mostly on the mend, just in time for a bitterly cold weekend. Luckily, we don't have any plans so we'll be able to just stay warm inside and have Liam's favorite kind of days, where we all hang out together.

What with the sickness and all, I didn't mention our exciting news. Sunday night, Loni and Klaudia came over and watched the boys, and Mike and I went on a date! Yes, I know, perhaps not the most exciting news in the world, but it's a pretty big deal to us. Between parenting and Mike's nighttime job, we haven't had an evening together in a very long time. We took advantage of it by going to see Juno and having dinner out. As you may know, we've seen approximately four movies in a theater in the last six years, so it's nice when our picks pan out. Juno is really excellent. Go see it! And go out to dinner, while you're at it! Just don't follow that up by getting horrible colds.

While we were out, the boys were in excellent hands. They had fun eating blue-frosted cookies from the movie Cars (they love the characters, yet refuse to watch the movie--go figure), chainsawing Klaudia, and pretending to be pregnant (Liam's got a real baby fixation lately).




In other exciting news, yesterday was Erin's birthday, and today is J's birthday. For these momentous occasions, Liam signed his name and Max's to both cards, plus wrote a message to Erin. His writing is coming along so well! This morning, I told him that today was J's birthday.

"Is Uncle J coming here for his birthday?"

"No, honey, he'll be at Yami and Papaw's house."

"But I want to eat cake with him!"

That's my boy, priorities in order. In yet still other news, I've apparently got my substitute teaching license because a local school district has called twice to offer me a sub day today. I had to decline because I'm doing a trial run as a freelance proofreader (which incidentally pays as much in three hours as a full day of subbing), but hopefully next week I'll be going back to school. I'm more than a little nervous about the prospect of being tested by students. Yikes! But the hours are great, and it's nice to be able to make some money while I'm out beating the bushes for a permanent job. Wish me luck!

another weekend, another museum

For his first birthday, Max got passes to the Dupage Children's Museum from Barb and Kevin. Though we had planned to use them several times over the past year, the timing never quite worked out, until today. After their late night on Friday, the boys slept in a bit, so we hit the road about 9:30 and drove to Naperville to check out the museum. There were a lot of great exhibits to see, and so many things for the boys to do. They were almost frantic, running from display to display, desperate to cram it all in. The museum itself definitely had a frantic vibe. As I described it later to my mom, it was like the museum equivalent of the American Girl Store on a Saturday afternoon right before Christmas. Yikes! Despite that, the boys managed to roam the place fairly freely and interact with the exhibits to their hearts' content. Some highlights were the music room (check out Liam on the xylophone), making stained glass windows, exploring a wind tunnel, and climbing a wooden staircase to a ship prow complete with wooden steering wheel.






After the museum, we headed to nearby Western Springs to visit Johnny and Erin. I hadn't seen their house yet (although Mike and the boys had been there) so I was excited to visit. In a nice surprise, we were joined by Barb and Kevin and had a nice late-afternoon meal. The boys were entranced by Jackie the dog and Koa the cat, who patiently let the boys pet and play with them. It was quite a change for them, since they're used to our cats fleeing in terror the minute they catch sight of one of the boys. We had a big scare when Max fell down the stairs (Mike was right behind him but wasn't able to catch him quickly enough) but his tears cleared up pretty well at the sight of some ice cream, so we knew it wasn't too bad. We ended up staying a lot longer than we intended because we were having such a good time, and Johnny and Erin were great hosts. It was 6:30 by the time we left, and the boys promptly conked out in the car and were down for the night. Hooray!

cheery

Friday night we went to a basketball game to, um, cheer Loni on in her role as a varsity cheerleader. Having never been to a basketball game before, the boys were thrilled and a little nervous at the same time. They quickly warmed up since my mom, Bethany, Joe, Klaudia, and J were there too. Liam especially loved yelling "Go Loni!" at random intervals. It was a long time to ask the boys to sit relatively still in the bleachers, especially since it was well past their bedtime by the time the game ended, but there were no major fits. The very few minor fits were caused when they invented their own little game of screwing on the lids to empty water bottles, then giggling maniacally and screwing them back on -- only to have one of the lids fall into the great abyss under the bleachers. Oh, the sadness! Luckily, we discovered that some soda-bottle lids also fit on water bottles, so we had some replacements. Liam also taught Max an important skill: how to eat a popsicle. And even though her team ended up losing in a nail-biter, Loni did a great job cheering them on. It was especially fun to watch because she's a "flyer," otherwise known as the one on top of the stack who gets tossed around by the other girls.






We had promised the boys dinner in a restaurant (one of their favorite things lately) but ended up not having time before the game, so afterward we headed to Pizza Hut, even though it was very late. We didn't get home until midnight, which is amazing considering that bedtime is usually around 7:00, but the boys kept their cool and enjoyed the fine pizza and salad offerings before them. We topped the whole night off with a couple of lollipops courtesy of our server, and headed home to get some much-needed rest.

at the restaurant

Just a quick one: Tonight at Pizza Hut, I took Liam in to use the restroom. He accomplished his mission, then while I was helping him with the snap on his pants, he patted me on the back and said with complete and utter sincerity, "Mom, you're great."

"You think I'm great, buddy?"

"Yes, Mommy. You're great at pooping and peeing."

I think he's got some kind of elimination fixation today.

just to be clear, we have no plans in this area

Just now, Liam was watching Dora on TV. Dora was telling her good pal Boots that her Mami is going to have another baby. Liam thought about this for a minute.

"Mommy, I think you need to have another baby."

"Is that right?"

"Yes. A baby sister, I think. I've never had a baby sister before. I'll pet her real soft, and she won't poop or pee on me."

Dream on, son.

some stormy evening

The boys spent this evening with my parents while I went to CPR training. Liam, who has been waiting patiently for a big thunderstorm, was thrilled with the weather. They spent the night running and playing, and visiting with their aunts and uncle. Bethany and Klaudia just got back from a trip to Disney (which has inspired Liam to nag me every day about when he gets to ride on an airplane again), and the boys were excited to see them. At one point, Liam ran to my dad, grabbed onto his leg, and declared, "Papaw, I just love you so much!" Needless to say, hearts were touched.

But the best part of the night, for me at least, was arriving to pick them up, only to find them cuddled up on the couch with my brother J, reading book after book. They read at least three books while I hung out in the kitchen with my mom, and J was having as much fun as the boys were. It reminds me -- again -- of one of my goals: to help these boys grow into men who aren't afraid of babies. So many men, in my limited experience at least, grow up without much interaction with babies or young children, then find themselves uncomfortable when presented with one. I think it's really something that my nearly 19-year-old brother has never once, even from their infancy, shied away from the boys or hesitated to hold them. My uncles are this way too -- at any family gathering, you can pass a baby into the nearest male hands and know that man and baby will both be happily entertained. Sorry for the ramble, but I just wanted to say that my brother is becoming quite a man, and I hope that my boys can follow his example, at least in this regard.

curious kids

This morning we packed up the boys and drove through the fog to scenic St. Joseph, Michigan, where we visited the Curious Kids Museum. It's a wonderful place, full of all sorts of things for the boys to do. They had fun playing with water, building towers and then simulating earthquakes to knock them down, operating excavators, even standing inside a giant bubble (that's what Liam is doing in the picture above). It wasn't a terrible drive (plus for some reason Liam is really into making long drives lately) and the boys really had a wonderful time. And learned some interesting things, though they didn't know it because they were too busy having fun. Liam reports that his favorite parts of the museum were the ambulance, fire engine, and rocket ship--he got to drive kid-size versions of them all.

Also: hooray! We took our chances on another unknown restaurant and scored this time. We ended up at Dino's Family Restaurant and Pancake House, where the Demo Burger was juicy (Mike), the Greek Skillet was flavorful (Holli), and the eggs, bacon, hash browns, and pancakes were plentiful (boys). Not only was the food excellent, but the boys were really good too. Maybe they're getting the hang of it. On the way home, we stopped at Grandma and Grandpa's cottage for a quick visit. The boys love to shovel the snow on their deck. A fun and busy day!

ice sculpture festival

This morning we all bundled up and drove to Goshen to check out the Ice Sculpture Festival. Today's event was a live sculpture contest. The boys found it fascinating to watch the sculptors work with chainsaws, dremels, and chisels. Though it was warm enough to be raining instead of snowing, it was still pretty chilly, so we didn't stay a really long time.

After we'd had our fill of ice, we decided to take the boys out to lunch. Their behavior in restaurants has been much improved, and today they were really good. Unfortunately, the restaurant we ended up at was terrible. It was some kind of Amish version of Old Country Buffet, only twenty times suckier than OCB. Yarf! Perhaps having good food and well-behaved children all at once is an impossible dream.

the masters at work

Sunday night we got the boys' easels all set up, and they set to work creating some masterpieces. I love how their poses mirror each other! They had so much fun painting, and we're all looking forward to many more happy and creative hours.

christmas finale: grandma and grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa came Sunday afternoon to celebrate with us, and we all had a lovely time. Mike made a delicious dinner of pasta salad, broccoli, and pork chops (the boys and I took care of making the cake). After dinner, we adjourned to the playroom for one last round of gift-giving. Grandma and Grandpa gave the boys easels, which were a big hit. In return, the boys introduced Grandpa to one of their favorite shows: Go Diego Go. Which I'm sure was just as big a hit with Grandpa as the easels were with the boys.