First of all, I must share a blog I found recently. A mom of 11 children answers questions about parenting, but it is far more valuable than it sounds. Her words are loving and thoughtful and her advice leaves me feeling capable, refreshed and more personally fulfilled in my role as Ian and Joseph's mom. (http://askingjane.blogspot.com/)

Next up, we had a lovely St. Patrick's day. We played at the Mercer Arboretum with some friends and ate lots of delicious green goodies. 

Ian loved all the big-kid equipment. My once-chubby baby no longer has tree trunks for legs -- see? He has calf muscles!

Joseph had a blast keeping up with Ian. So many fun thing to explore.

 I don't own much of anything green myself, but I planned the boys' green outfits two weeks in advance. This was especially silly since the park was covered in an inch of pollen and we had to change clothes after they went down a few slides and then wiped the green-colored goodies and sushi we brought for lunch all over their clothes. But for a two hour period, they were dressed festively.

Here the boys are running around with plastic lizards. Joseph sure loves those little "doggies".

Unrelatedly, Ian has been consuming a ton of yogurt lately. I blame the broken fridge lock. If Ian disappears for more than 3 minutes he has probably already consumed two containers of yogurt and is struggling with the lid on his third. On this occasion he had poured the yogurt into a muffin wrapper and gotten cozy at the window sill to eat it. I love how much he is able to do himself and that he likes to be independent and self-sufficient. Lately it isn't uncommon for him to wake up and dress himself (and eat some yogurt) all before Joseph and I get up in the morning.

BYU Basketball Game

A few weeks ago some friends invited us on a last-minute trip to Dallas for a BYU-TCU basketball game. We were so glad we went! Next time I will try to remember to pack diapers. I don't enjoy emergency grocery store expeditions in towns I am not familiar with.

The boys did great on the 4 hour drive. Joseph did a little sleeping and Ian filled up a notebook with car and truck stickers. The boys even held hands for a few minutes and invented what Ian calls the "car-seat game": Ian puts his leg up on the side of Joseph's huge rear-facing seat, and Joseph swats it off. Hours of fun. Meanwhile, Scott and I ate Cheetos as discreetly as possible in the front seat.(PS: White Cheddar Cheetos are almost as messy as their bright orange cousin.)

On our walk from the parking lot to the stadium Ian sat on Scott's shoulders with his arms flung out to the sides, exclaiming, "I am flying on my daddy's shoulders to a BYU basketball game!" Over and over. Obviously, for Ian it doesn't get much better than that. It was a giddy little site to behold. The throng of BYU families headed the same direction seemed to think he was cute too.

We haven't brought our children to a big sporting event since we took 6-month-old Ian to an Astro's game and I swore we wouldn't go back until Ian was four years old. I remembered that promise as we entered the stadium seconds before tip off. The noise was deafening and a person dressed in a giant, air-inflated referee suit was blocking our way. The boys looked nervous and then both instantly decided they liked it all. Phew!

They loved watching the players on the court from our decently-close seats. During half-time we went down to a railing right by the court and Ian slipped under the railing and actually stood on the court until we noticed. But I think the highlight for Ian was playing with Jeff Pew's touch screen phone during the last 15 minutes of the game. Joseph preferred to squirm around under the stadium seats and collect morsels of food. My inner germaphobe was finally at peace when Scott held him in the aisle for the rest of the game. Joseph seemed to prefer it too. It was past his bedtime by then.

The horn toad TCU mascot handed out lollipops and while Ian  ate his I asked him who he liked better, "The big frog who gives you lollipops, or Cosmo?" Ever loyal, Ian replied Cosmo. We were all sad Cosmo wasn't there that night. We would have loved to get a family picture with him.

But Ian did get to 'meet' a few of the players as they exited the stadium. Unfortunately the camera was on a weird setting, so this is the best photo I got. When a player came up to Ian to give him a high-five, Ian felt shy and pulled his hand back. So the player gave Ian a pat on his chest. Ian was very happy about this. [The player was actually none other than Jimmer Fredette. I was way impressed that he stayed around after the post game interviews and everything just to high-five all the fans that were hanging around.]

Nursery!

Today was Joseph's first day in nursery and as expected he waltzed right in and acted like he owned the place. He claimed a ride-on toy, ate everyone's leftover snacks, and even dished out a few swats on the head. But he also shared, knew all the songs, and seemed to enjoy interacting with his little peers.

I know all this because it was also my first day in nursery. I was asked to be one of two teachers for the youngest nursery and I think I will really enjoy getting to spend time with Joseph and his little friends (who are the adorable children of my friends). I don't get to spend much time with Joseph without his big brother around, so I think it will be a unique setting for me to get to enjoy being with Joseph.

I wanted to get some pictures of Joseph on his very first day but the camera couldn't be located until after church and after his 'fell asleep in the car and somehow woke up in my crib" nap. So the pictures I took were of a crabby, smooshed-faced little nursery-goer and mostly looked like this:

I just couldn't resist making Joseph wear the same outfit Ian wore on his very first day of nursery. Can you tell they are brothers? I don't think they look much alike. But notice how completely adorable both of them are!

Ian, November 2008       &      Joseph, March 2010

Funny Boys

Ian had a successful at-home haircut! Scott did a great job and Ian didn't freak out one bit. I think the one at the kids salon last time helped somehow. But I am glad he's decided he's okay with the free ones too.

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Ian was coloring today while absent-mindedly singing the Cougar Fight Song quietly to himself. He whispered "Ra ra ra ra ra, goooo...." and trailed off apparently lost in another thought. From across the room, Joseph looked up and said "Cougars!" This is Joseph's first demonstration of BYU loyalty. I couldn't be happier!

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Joseph repeats all kinds of words lately. Today he mimicked Ian when Ian said "yellow" over their morning snack. Then Ian said "Joseph, say yellow again" Joseph obeyed. Ian said "Joseph, say football." Joseph obeyed. Ian said "Joseph, say microwave." Joseph looked at him with a puzzled expression. I suggested Ian give Joseph an easier word. Ian said "Joseph, say smoke detector. Smoke. De.Tec.Tor. It's not hard Joseph, a smoke detector is just right there!" and he pointed to one on the ceiling.

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I couldn't find my cell phone and asked the boys where it was. Calmly, Ian responded, "I don't know. I guess it's gone forever. Oh well."

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Joseph had wandered out of the room, so I asked Ian, "Where did Joseph go?" Ian's reply, "I don't know, probably to Mars."

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"One, two, three, seeky!" has become Ian and Joseph's favorite game. Ian invented it and it consists of saying "one, two, three, SEEKY!" and then running down the hall and into a bedroom where they throw themselves on the floor, squeal, stand up and do it again. All while trailing the fuzzy yellow belt to my bathrobe behind them.

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We made Valentine cookies and the boys devoured at least four cookies each during the frosting process. Joseph kept saying "Ummy, ummy." (Yummy)

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While listening to the radio in the car Ian declared, "I don't like this song. Her voice sounds so whiny." To which Joseph replied, "Uh uh." and shook his head. This began a back and forth of "Yes shes does" "Uh uh" "No, she does sound whiny!" "Uh-uh" . It was really entertaining from the front seat, mostly because both boys were really tired and were not shouting, but were saying this in sleepy voices with long pauses between disagreements. 

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I often ask "Who wants to take a bath/have a snack/etc, to which Ian replies "I do!" Joseph has started saying it too, but when he says it, it sounds more like a Southern Belle is saying it: "Ahhh due....". Joseph will start saying "I do" when he sees or hears anything he's interested in.

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We went to preschool a few weeks ago without Ian's Valentines. I dropped him off and headed home to grab them and then interrupted his preschool lesson when I came back. I figured I may as well take him on one last trip to the toilet while I was there. While in the bathroom, Ian looked me in the eye and said with such sweet sincerity, "I am so happy that you came back again, Mommy." Then he trotted back to his 'square' and listened to the lesson.

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Ian began climbing out of his crib about two weeks ago. For the most part, this is only problematic in the mornings because he now springs out of bed at first light to start enjoying the day -- usually he begins by quietly playing in the loft, but several times last week he also raided the fridge and ate green jello and leftover pink frosting with a spoon. And last Sunday morning poop was smeared on the carpet and some select toys. And one morning he devoured half of a chocolate cake we'd left covered on the counter.

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Last night I around midnight I thought I heard shuffling feet outside our bedroom door. After several minutes of drifting in and out of sleep I decided I would go check it out. I stared into the dark loft for several seconds, but it wasn't until I nearly stumbled on Ian that I could finally see his small form curled up in "child's pose" on the car rug. Of course he was also clutching his bunny.When I asked him this morning why he went to sleep in the loft he told me the rain was too loud in his room.

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Ian has begun fibbing. When he hurts Joseph and I ask Ian what happened and why Joseph is crying, he now invariably answers "Joseph got an ouchie by himself." While I did the dishes the other day the boys colored chalk outside. When I heard Joseph screaming, I as calmly as I could asked Ian what happened. He answered in the usual way. But the physical evidence was contrary to his statement: Joseph was no longer upset and was blissfully scribbling chalk on the fence, but his face, the top of his head and down his back was graffitied with pastel chalk.

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At preschool the teacher held a kickoff for the Olympics and the kids took turns running with the torch and receiving gold medals. Each child was asked what they wanted to be when they grew up. Ian replied "A man". His classmates responses: A basketball, a ballerina, and Superboy. 

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Somehow 'drip' (as in "Joseph! Don't let your milk drip out of your sippy cup!") became Joseph's universal word for broken, fallen over, spilled, or "something is wrong here".

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The boys received helium-filled balloon last weekend, and it was Joseph's very first balloon. When it was tied to his wrist he seemed to think he needed to hold his wrist up high. He called it "A-moon" and chattered about it constantly. Once it began to deflate and no longer floated, he sat on it and bounced. Yesterday morning when we came down to breakfast, a long green balloon string was hanging out of the trash can. Joseph looked concerned, and went immediately to the trash and began to unearth the "a-moon" carcass. He was devastated! When he saw that it was flat, he kept repeating "Dripped, dripped" in such a sad voice.