THE BOYS and a chance to win something cool

Eating ice cream out of a baseball cap while wearing a baseball cap. For Ian, life doesn't get much better.

Decorating cookies. Notice the concentration on his face. If you hold your mouth just so, the sprinkles go much better.

During a moment of insufficient supervision, Ian found a jar of caramel chocolate frosting and ate it off his fists and fingers, occasionally wiping the excess on his jacket. Luckily Ian does not know to lie when I ask him what he is doing. So when I hollered downstairs and asked he replied "I am eating the "chur-lock-it" out of da crockpot!" and I knew exactly what he meant.

Ian and Joseph carry around Scott's shoes all the time. And Ian loves to wear them, just like he did way back when this video was taken.

Is there anything cuter than an infant squatting to look out the window while wearing corduroy? Nope.

The weather has been great lately. Thank goodness! We have been shut-ins ever since the pools closed last month. This is how you can find the boys most days -- Joseph practicing going down and climbing back up that stair, and opening and shutting that door over and over, and Ian in his car.

I usually sit on the ledge where Joseph is playing and watch them, and sometimes Ian will join me. He calls it "sitting on the house".
Aunt Allison introduced the boys to 'black fruit snacks' (black licorice jelly beans). Here they are riding shotgun in Ian's favorite car. Sometimes when Ian is really upset I will ask him what I can do to help him feel better. After he replies "Maybe just two black fruit snacks. Or three," then he is instantly all smiles.

Joseph is the happiest little guy. He is usually content to go along with whatever Ian wants to do, and mostly he just hangs around on the sidelines watching Ian. But every so often he swoops in, steals what Ian is using, and runs off in the other direction laughing. When it happens, two of us thinks it is hilarious. One of us does not.

Ian wanted me to take a picture of him so he could see himself. Just before I took this picture he decided to speed things up by making the clicking sound himself and then running over to me, instead of waiting for me to actually take it. But then we got this shot -- it has been months since he has smiled for the camera!

One week 'til my baby turns 1!

PS : One of the most talented seamstress/crafters I know is giving away something really cool. Head on over to her craft blog and leave a comment for a chance to win. It will be handmade and will probably be the coolest thing you've ever won. Best of luck to you!

Joseph

I didn't think much of this picture when it was first taken, but I am in love with it now that I have stumbled on it almost a year later. I can see my sweet Joseph in that puffy newborn face and I love that he is looking into my eyes through his drowsy-looking eye slits.

Joseph doesn't get as much face-time on this blog as he ought to, so here is a post dedicated to getting to know 11-month old Joseph.

***

For the last several months Joseph's favorite activity has been shutting doors. Before he could crawl, he would roll over to the door, and laying on his back would push the door shut with his legs or arm. When he learned to crawl he would head-butt the door closed. That progressed to shutting the door by walking on his knees with his hands against the door. And now that he walks, Joseph likes to walk the door nearly closed, then swing it open again, then walk it closed, and over and over again. He has slammed his fingers enough times to know that he needs to be cautious -- when the door is nearly closed he'll squint his eyes shut and wince a little, as if preparing himself for the pain of getting his fingers smashed.

***
Joseph is very interested in doing 'big boy' things. He wants to drink from a cup (and not even a sippy cup, but a real, open-topped cup. It's a very messy endeavor.), and he also wants to scoop his own food with a spoon. He doesn't usually get much into his mouth, but likes to practice anyway.
***

Joseph can say "Uh-oh" (it sounds more like "Uh-uh", but with the inflection used in "Uh-oh") and he can say "Daddy". All beloved objects = "daddy". He gets really excited when he sees Ian's bunny unattended and within reach, and he exclaims "daddy!" with lots of affection as he moves towards it.

***

I tried to get Joseph to put his two words together one day, and said "Uh-oh, daddy!", hoping he would repeat it. Scott was at work at the time, but Joseph immediately turned toward the entrance to the room we were in, looking excited at first and then confused, probably because he was expecting to see that daddy had just walked in. It was really cute to see that Joseph understood what "uh-oh daddy" could have meant in that circumstance. (Now whenever Joseph drops something he says 'uh-oh daddy!').

***

I often say "uh-oh, Ian" when Ian "makes a bad choice", like, say, hitting his baby brother with a spatula. So when I tried to get Joseph to practice saying "uh-oh, Ian" Joseph quickly turned to face Ian while leaning away from him, with all the instinct that a younger brother possesses.

***

Joseph is getting steadier on his feet, and looks less like he is marching than he did at first. He still topples over frequently, and for some reason, all the bruises are on the left side of his head. Perhaps that side weighs more? At any rate, the bruises do little to blemish his irresistibly cute face. I hear regularly that he looks like the Gerber baby (even Ian asks to see 'Joseph' on the box of baby cereal) and twice in one week elementary age boys asked if they could "pet my baby's head". Like I said, he is irresistible!

***

Joseph is also starting to put on some weight. He has always had a lean build, but favoring the skinny side of lean. In the last two weeks he has starting drinking his bottles instead of just squirting the carpet. And without much coercion he now consumes near the recommended daily amount of formula. People have been commenting on his chubby cheeks and rolly thighs all week. And the chubbier Joseph gets the more I can see resemblance to Ian's baby pictures.

***

Joseph loves a blanket his Great Mama (my grandmother) made for him. His favorite is actually the one made for Ian (big surprise) but his own yellow version is also well loved. Just this week he has started wandering into his room to retrieve it from his crib and drag it around the house. It is so adorable how he lays his head on it immediately when I put over my shoulder, or how when he finds it on the floor, he lets out a gleeful noise and then flops his body down on it and lays there for a minute.
***

Joseph also loves binkies. It is not uncommon to see one in his mouth and one clipped to his shirt, for backup.

***

There recently was an incident that involved Joseph eating in his high chair and a very large pile of... feces... under his chair. So we did what anyone would do: Scott took him outside and hosed him and the chair off at the same time. Joseph loved it.

It's hard to believe Joseph is only a few weeks from his first birthday!

Ian's Latest

Not a safe place for such a small bunny. No idea how he got there in the first place, but luckily Daddy was willing to undo the deed.

***

Ian wouldn't eat his beans at dinnertime. He wanted cheese instead. The following conversation ensued:

Scott: "You can have some cheese if you eat your beans first."
Ian: "No fank you."
Scott: "If you don't eat your beans, then you don't get any cheese."
Ian: "That sounds worse."

He eventually ate the beans, but we had the same problem last night with ravioli and ice cream. He kept repeating "I want ice cream instead of meat pillows," like I was daft and didn't understand that it was better to skip the ravioli all together and go straight to ice cream.

***

Also, Ian had his first kiss today. Little Chloe Hales received two goodbye kisses before he sped away backwards in his Cozy Coupe. But to all the little girls who read this blog -- don't lose heart: a few minutes later he ran at her from across the yard and knocked her to the ground when she got too close to his spatula and Nerf football. I think it is safe to say that he isn't ready for love. Plus, Chloe can go potty in the toilet, so she is probably out of our league anyway.

BYU/Tulane Game

BYU played another game within driving distance, so guess who was there?

Scott said the stadium was so run down inside and out that he was surprised the NFL let the Saints play there. Who else hears SuperDome and thinks instantly of Hurricane Katrina?

I think the seating design is really clever -- multicolored seats give the impression that were more spectators than the actual pitiful attendance numbers. Because there was a sellout Saints game the next day, the AC was cranked up in preparation and Scott said it was freezing.

Go Cougars!

Flashback

Because tomorrow marks the 1 year anniversary of Hurricane Ike and the beginning of all the 'fun' that came with it, I thought I would finally post about a somewhat related event that happened this summer.

A month or so ago we experienced a string of really hot days, even by Houston standards. I found myself annoyed that our air conditioner just couldn't keep up as I felt the temperature rising in the house. I finally realized it wasn't just me when the boys woke up groggy and sweaty after napping for only 20 minutes. The thermostat registered around 90 degrees inside the house by then, and that confirmed that our AC was not functioning properly, if at all.

I started to panic as I remembered how miserable it had gotten when we were without our AC (or electricity) for two weeks last summer. I had to remind myself that it would be a totally different ballgame because at least we could still run the ceiling fans. I am positive that sounds melodramatic, but if you had witnessed Ian's heat rash or experienced the ordeal at full term pregnancy, perhaps you would also panic at the thought.

I decided to be grateful for the fans and we parked our sweaty little selves under a ceiling fan to wait as patiently as we could for an AC repair man. The temperature inside neared 100 degrees, but, I kept telling myself, at least we had those ceiling fans.

And then the power went out.

That changed everything. I quickly packed the boys in the car and we left for the children's museum within 5 minutes.

The happy ending to the story is that the power was on within a few hours, an AC repairman came out at 7 am the next day, and by dinner time we were back in business. Thank heavens.

But we did experience a night without the AC. Because it does not cool off at night here, we decided to all sleep downstairs where it would be cooler. So Scott disassembled a crib and set it up in the formal living room, Joseph slept in a pack n play near the bathroom, and we drug our mattress down and slept on it in the family room. It was incredible how, even at 10 pm, you could feel the heat hit your face as got about half way up the stairs.

Ian's crib actually looked kinda nice in the living room. That room is off-limits to the kids, so Ian woke up the next morning saying "Why am I in the grown-up room?"

Joseph didn't seem to mind that he was placed in the tightest quarters. He was actually very happy to be surrounded by doorknobs on three sides. Those favorite items were even within reach for once!

My favorite part of this whole event was this: We actually moved Joseph's crib down into the living room instead of Ian's. And though the cribs are identical, Ian refused to sleep in Joseph's. Until we convinced him that it actually was his. But then the next night when he was back in his own crib again, he refused to accept that it was really his. What a tangled web we'd weaved.

So the first morning after Ian had slept in his actual crib again, the first thing he said to me when I got him up was "Joseph slept in my bed. And I slept in Joseph's bed. That's so crap."

I tried not to laugh hysterically in front of him, but called Scott right away to tell him the story.

BYU Game

BYU played the first game of the season last weekend at the brand new Dallas Cowboy's stadium. It was the first game (other than NFL preseason) ever played in that incredible stadium. Oh, by the way, BYU beat #3 ranked Oklahoma University. And the Larsons were there. It was amazing.

In our BYU shirts before leaving the boys with a sitter at the hotel.

Outside the stadium. We boiled ourselves in the humidity and heat until we could finally enter the indoor, air conditioned stadium. The stadium was magnificent inside and out. When Scott heard tours were offered at $17 he looked very interested. Lining up for a handshake. Notice very much blue in the stands? BYU fans made up about 20% of the audience of 75,000 fans.

The biggest HD big screen in the world. And couple other giant screens right next to it. Deliriously happy after a big win. We stayed in the stadium celebrating until the security guards kicked us out. You wouldn't know this from coverage after the game, but BYU gave OU it's only touchdown. And BYU was a serious threat to OU's record and ranking even before their star Sooner got injured. But it is also worth mentioning that the Sooner fans were a class act after suffering a hard loss. Several OU groups in the parking went out of their way to congratulate us. We were impressed.

During the game Scott took notice of a new transfer to the Cougars, Brian Logan. I think he was on the Cougar's defense. Or the offense. Either way, he played well. And then we met his mother at a stop light while walking to our car and she was nice.

Since it was Labor Day weekend we decided to stay through Monday evening and see some sights in Dallas. We found a gorgeous botanical garden and would have really enjoyed a chance to stretch our legs before the drive home if it wasn't for the fact that it felt like we were slogging through mayonnaise. Why have I always thought Dallas was less humid? We took turns taking family pictures with some friends until it was time to head to an adjacent park to ride a miniature train.

Ian was in heaven.

Joseph did not enjoy the train. It was past naptime, he was confined to his carseat and it was hot hot hot. I thought the breeze helped a lot. The rest of the Larson's enjoyed it.

Since we captured no pleasant pictures of Joseph on the train, here are some happy moments back at the hotel. Here the boys are playing with a broken phone. Nice outfit, Joseph.

And enjoying the continental breakfast. If you are Joseph, pure bliss is having an apple all to yourself.It was a fun get-away and we were so glad to spend time with friends as well. It now feels like Fall, and what a great kickoff to the football season that was!

Preschool!

As further evidence that my little boys are growing up, here are some pictures of Ian today, his first day of preschool.

Four moms will take turns teaching on Tuesdays and Thursdays, for two hours each morning.

Ian was excited to wear a backpack, but got a little nervous when we arrived today. He told me he didn't want to go in, but then marched right up to the door and walked in. He did watch me leave though. I bet he is having a great time right now!

When Joseph and I got home after dropping Ian off, Joseph leaned way out of his carseat to look into Ian's carseat. Then he looked at me and made noises like he was asking why Ian wasn't there. I said "Uh-oh! Did we lose Ian?" And until I put Joseph down for his nap, he kept saying "Uh-oh! Uh-oh!"

Ian's Latest

Ian likes music while he eats. He often says, "Should we listen to primary music while we eat (fill in the blank)" When he first spit that sentence out it was the most complex thing I had ever heard him say.

***
Out of the blue: "My mom is a junior in high school."

***
After Joseph had eaten and spit out another bug he found on the floor, Ian said the following in a sing-songy voice: "JoSEPH! Do not spit up the most delicious bug! Yum!" Is there some song that goes like that?

***
"Joseph! Don't come in my room! Go back to heaven."
Ian went through a period where he would say this whenever he was annoyed with Joseph -- which was whenever Joseph was in sight. Ian told me Joseph would sing songs in heaven when I asked him what his brother would do there.

***
When Sarah and Ryan watched the boys for us, Sarah wrote down some funny stuff Ian said as he ate dinner and 'talked on his phone', which was actually a fist held to his ear. Some of these are a little embarrassing...

I know...
That's a bad choice
We're just catching up
I'm talking to my dad
I talked to you last night
We're going on an airplane
Do you have any more questions
oh ya!
Hi Ryan
no no no no no no no
You got to be quiet Joe, I'm talking on the phone
I'm talking to Ryan
I'm wondering if you have a....
I was talking to adults
Hello, this is Lesley
Hi hott stuff
Want to play some basketball?

***
When we were driving to Michael's wedding rehearsal dinner, the boys were tired and cranky and already starting to lose it. We noticed things suddenly go quiet in the backseat and then heard Ian say sweetly, "Joseph, I like your pretty pink fingers. Yeah. I really like your pretty pink fingers!" He was holding Joseph's hand! I melted.

***
When he talks to Scott, especially when Scott first arrives home from work, he uses a deep voice.

***
You know that colorful truck that comes around the neighborhood after school playing music? We call it the Music Truck. And if you ever tell my kids it's anything more than a truck that drives around playing music for our enjoyment, you are in big, big trouble.

***
Scott is the scoutmaster for a troop of 12-14 year olds. Occasionally they meet at our house and Ian has become really fond of several of them and knows them all by name. Once, after they left, Ian asked "Where did all the little daddies go? I miss them."

***
Ian was jealous of all the Pedialite Joseph was drinking during a recent illness. When I explained Ian couldn't have any because he didn't have any 'ouchies in his stomach' Ian bit down hard on his thumb and said "Ooohhh! Look! I have an ouchie on my fumb! I need some special juice too!" He tried it repeatedly and I am sorry to say it eventually worked on me.

***
Last night we asked Ian what time he goes to bed. His response: "Um, like, around eleven-ish."

***