Meeting Santa

Santa paid a visit to our ward Christmas party earlier this month, and when Ian heard Santa was giving out treats he wanted to go meet him. We hadn't mentioned Santa yet to our kids, so while in line we gave Ian a quick explanation. He seemed to think the whole thing was strange, but was still eager to go get some candy.

We told him he could give Santa some ideas about what to bring for Joseph. I was surprised Ian wasn't nervous or hesitant about this at all as he is usually shy and unpredictable with strangers. And when the 2 kids in line in front of Ian screamed and cried and never made it onto Santa's lap I figured Ian would follow suit. Instead, Ian hopped up on Santa's lap and immediately declared "Please bring a book for Joseph".

Joseph on the other hand refused to turn his back on Santa. He stared Santa in the face and refused to turn for the camera. A fair response to a stranger covered in white hair.

We've been sick lately, which means that we've spent more time than usual wearing only cowboy boots and underpants and staying indoors.

It snowed a tiny bit and Scott was sent home from work at noon.

So we ate cookies for lunch and enjoyed his company.

Joseph threw his on the floor, and Scott threatened a timeout. Joseph, having never experienced a timeout before but having witnessed many, many of Ian's timeouts, burst into tears.

Ian disappears frequently these days. He has reattached himself to binkies, and will sneak off to "eat" one. Here, he set up shop with his "friends" in our bathtub.

Joseph loves to climb in this chair and read to himself. He loves cats, and has a specific little laugh he uses when he opens to a page with a cat picture on it.

We set up our tree and the boys went nuts during their rare time in the "grown-up room". And now they are mesmerized each day when the automatic timer turns the tree lights on at 3:30 pm.They stand with their toes just hanging over the edge of the forbidden carpet and stare.

Unconnected Updates

I forgot to add to the last post that Ian always says the same thing when Scott asks him what he did that day:  He says "It's been a pretty good day so far." And it's always said in Ian's deep daddy voice.

Joseph began feeding himself with a spoon. It started back in October and he has gotten fairly good at the 'dip method' of spoon feeding.

Ian got his first professional haircut. Scott is excellent with a pair of clippers but since Ian gets hysterical every time we try to cut his hair, we decided we would try a new approach. He still looked nervous, but Scott said Ian looked like he knew he couldn't pull his usual haircut stunts at Snippits, so the haircut was accomplished without a hitch.

 Ian made this adorable turkey at preschool. He wore that 'Indian headband' non-stop for a week.

If there is a gate up, the grass must be greener on the other side. Even though all the toys are right behind them.

Even though we don't have any photo documentation to prove it, we had a fun Thanksgiving in the home of our  Fake Texas Family, The Linfords. We celebrated the last 3 Thanksgivings and many Independence days, Easters and a few Labor days with them too. Scott made 2 apple pies by request again this year. They turned out beautifully.

The Boys

While driving around town we nearly hit a van that ran a red light. Ian was thrilled by the near miss -- "Mommy! Did you totally almost squashed that van?"

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Scott teaches Ian all kinds of Russian words. And Ian loves it when Scott prays at dinner time in Russian. Recently Ian has started to pray in "Russian" himself -- only it begins "Dear Heavenly Father", then shouting a bunch of Russian-sounding gibberish, and then closes the prayer in English. To a non Russian speaker like me, he actually sounds pretty convincing!

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Ian loves garbage trucks and thinks garbage men are all powerful. If you tell him he isn't allowed to do something he'll say "You can't say no to me! I'm the garbage man!" and proceeds to do what I told him not to.

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When I pulled a frozen pizza out of the oven tonight Joseph began jumping up and down and making a very intense little face, while shouting "Mommy! Mommy!" and scrambling toward his high chair. I have never seen a kid who loves food quite like Joseph does. He regularly eats 2 adult servings or more at dinner time, especially when rice or pasta is involved. Ian on the other hand has forsaken dinner all together.
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I explained to Ian that the center of a peach is called a pit, and we don't eat it. Now whenever he has eaten a few bites of something (pretzel stick, banana, sandwich) and then decides he is full (because he is a toddler and practically lives on air alone), he declares that the remainder is "The pit! I can't eat anymore because it's the pit!"
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When Scott went to Africa recently, Ian seemed a little insecure, especially when I left him at preschool. When I picked him up he met me at the door and excitedly told me, "I cried in the window when you were gone. I was crying about you!" It's nice to be cried about sometimes, especially when someone tells you about it so enthusiastically.

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Ian: "I want a potty treat marshmallow."

Me: "Okay, let's go put some potty in the toilet."

Ian: Appears to be weighing the pros and cons..."Never mind", and walks away.
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Today Ian recited the entire Pledge of Allegiance, including the word "indivisible". Our preschool class began "saying" the pledge while waving mini flags twice a week, about a month ago, but Ian had never uttered a word of it until today when he spit the whole thing out.

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When Ian gets into something he shouldn't, he tells me to go outside, or to another house, presumably so I won't be able to watch him while he commits the crime.

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Mosquitoes are out in abundance lately and the boys and I have quite a few bites. The boys have never seemed to notice them before, but this morning I found Ian sitting in his crib with his pjs' unzipped and scratching a large bite on his chest. He said "I am just scrubbing it and scrubbing it!

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Joseph is enthusiastic about food and has recently learned to say 'Eat! Eat!" while doing the sign for 'eating'. Until now I had no idea how frequently Joseph was hungry! He also says 'new-no' for noodle, and anything else that I cook in the noodle pot. He loves eating whole apples and bananas, but only if they still have the peel on and pulled back.

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At bedtime Scott says Joseph held a calculator up to his ear and said what sounded just like "Hey buddy! I love you!" He also frequently says "hey-o" while pretending to talk on the phone.
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We talked about forgiving others a few months ago and since then Ian will say out of the blue, "Mom do you forgive the gold car? I forgive the gold car." We drive a gold colored car, but I have no idea why it needs to be forgiven.
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I say "Oh!Yucky! Blech!" when Joseph touches something germy. Recently Joseph has been mimicking it. When he touches the garbage can or picks up food off the ground he shakes his head and makes a sound like he is clearing phlegm from his throat.

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Ian and Joseph have matching spaceship PJs. The first time they wore them I dressed Joseph in his room and then brought him into where Scott was dressing Ian. Ian looked at his PJs, then at Joseph's and then ran over next to Joseph and said "Cheers pajamas!" while he bumped Joseph's hip with his own hip.

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