Spring!......?

Last weekend we had spring-like weather.

Sun. 

Warmth.

Get outside weather.

Chalk on the sidewalk weather.

Yoda (with a little help from Dad)

So nice we made a trip to Kramarczuks in Nordeast in anticipation of the official Grill Opener 2014. I thought Grandma Candy might like to join us (andouille!) and she said yes. So we prepared her parking spot. I took charge.

Grandma Parking Only!

Roman was trying to tell me what it should say, but I wasn't really listening (and I wonder why they don't listen to me!%$#). After I was done he quietly went and got a piece of chalk and fixed my sign.

Grandma's Parking Spot Only! 

Ok then.

And Zoe embellished this with a rectangular spot filled with hearts. Gotta let her know she's loved.

Less than a week later we had a 8 inches of snow on the ground.

C'mon!

Show some mercy, mother earth!

Who's this guy, kids?

Zoe gave up.

Roman had a look that said "I think I know." So I prompted him to tell us.

"George Lincolnton!"

Awesome job, dude.

(at the MIA).

Connections

You do continue to astound me.

It's gotten more time consuming and energy sucking to care for you guys, but that's just what happens. What happened to blogging (let's record EVERY moment)??!

Tonight we ate at Subway before going to Zoe's dance lesson.  Part of the meal was a little dolphin themed mobile and on it were some environmental tips.

Don't let helium balloons fly away (on purpose!) because animals might mistake them for food and eat them.  

Don't litter.

What's litter?

I explained. Ah. It's fun to teach vocabulary (until I can't explain a word...actually it's the conceptual/science stuff where I get to the end of my rope and resort to "ask your dad about that").

Your minds are like steel traps. You remember.

10 or 15 minutes later we stopped at a store (purple glittery nail polish anyone?) and on the walk to another nearby store I saw a paper coffee cup in the middle of the sidewalk and not much further ahead a trash can. I picked it up and put the litter in the right place. "Don't litter!" That's right kids. Good deed of the day.

We shop (dollar store dolphin shaped floatie anyone?). On the way back to the car Zoe turns to me and asks "do you know who should litter?" Huh. No, Zoe I don't.  "A cat! In a litter box!"

Connections.

Garbage and poop, actually not so far away.

Oui Oui!

The other night Dad went in to give you guys a good night kiss and Roman asked "Can I give you a french kiss?"

Stop.

Pause.

Ponder.

WHO taught you that? You're TOO young to know about that. You're my baby, you're supposed to be giving butterfly kisses (and they do still make you both giggle).

French Kiss.

Who can we blame? Another child? TV?

The next day, Grandma Candy asked "who taught you that?"

Mom.

Mom?

Then it dawned on me. At storytime the night before we were finishing up a Curious George book. Once and awhile we try to throw in some foreign words, the few I actually remember. There's a song by Michael Franti and Spearhead called "Hello Hello" that repeats the phrase in English, Spanish, French, and then Japanese. Very catchy tune. It comes bursting out of me at random intervals. So we were going thru good night in the languages I knew and it occurred to me that they would find the French manner of greeting interesting. Kiss Kiss. Each cheek. They did.

So when Roman asked dad later that night if he wanted a french kiss, his intentions remained in the realm of a 4, almost 5 (!!!) year old.

Innocence proven (in that moment at least).

Speculation

 


In the last month Roman keeps telling me "When I get big I'm going to live close to you and Dad."
I asked him why and he gave the right answer. Because he loves us and wants to visit us all the time. I'll put that one in the back pocket for the times when I don't get that impression from him!

After hearing this Zoe chimed in that she's going to live next to Roman.

We've had many iterations of speculative future. At one point Roman was going to have a bunch of kids and bring them over to Zoe's house so she could watch them. Maybe we need to start interviewing them again and see what's in the stars.

'Where are we going?"

'Where are we going?" she asks.

Dad: "Crazy"

Zoe: "I want to go somewhere else."

This day

You're turning into such a self sufficient little girl, Zo. Wash and condition your own hair. Brush your teeth. Brush your hair. Dress yourself in big girl pants. Hurray.

Your brother? Not so much. 'I DON'T WANT TA'.

I think we're taking for granted the way you two say things, or at least I'm thinking I'll remember NEXT DAY. Never mind that LAST DAY is hard enough to remember.

My personal current favorite: ' THAT WHY YOU CAN'T DO THAT', often voiced in a very indignant manner and used in an interesting way. Like Roman has a cup of water and he spills it. "WAAA.  THAT WHY YOU CAN'T DO THAT" I.e. that's why you can't give me an open topped cup of water to handle all by myself. It's gonna spill. It's an all purpose phrase that we've decided to throw back at you when something doesn't go our way. Mommy dropped a bowl and broke it? THAT WHY YOU CAN'T DO THAT! Your dad said he almost used it in class (and if I knew anything technical about architectural drafting, I'd put it here). I just know it's going to come out of my mouth at work some day. Project teetering on the brink of failure? THAT WHY YOU CAN'T DO THAT!

Zoe,

at the dinner table to her burping brother:
You're supposed to say 'I'm excuse me".

Yes, the world would be a better place.

I eated it....

...all gone!

 Pop corn (or puffed Pirate's Booty to be exact).

 Fun with verb tenses (again).

The photos above were taken while watching Netflix steaming of Pink Panther. Although when Zoe says it, it sounds like Pink Pamper.  

I asked her repeat something this morning 3 times just so I could figure out why it didn't sound right. I can't recall the word, but I realized she can't make the "ch" sound either. And I find it all quite charming. 

"Banana Beak"

You probably didn't come up with this all on your own, kiddos, but it still cracks me up when you say it. We've been watching a Muppet Show disc lately (the Star Wars one!) and Roman said this the other night. I did a double take, then laughed. Your Dad said this has been going on for awhile.

I can't wait for the new movie!

I want

Peek-a-boo cheese to the rescue.

You can't eat just one

So we got to this page in the Richard Scarry's Best Storybook Ever last night. We had some tougher words. Half timbered house? Probably not in the vocab just yet. Windmill? Perhaps. So I pointed and asked Zo and Ro if they knew what it was. They get this look on their face when they are thinking and don't have the answer immediately. Often they surprise me and just blurt out a right answer. I was waiting for some rendition of "windmill" but what I got from Roman I had to hear 4 or 5 times before I got it. Then I said "brilliant!". I just love all the connections there little brains are making.

Roman said "it's on the potato chips".

It's on the potato chips. It's on the potato chips.

It's ON THE POTATO CHIPS.

Why yes, yes it is.

So we're sitting outside...

..with our washable markers and tablets of paper. Zoe starts talking about how her purple marker smells like blueberries. It does not. It is not scented, but okay. Roman shoves the red one under Zoe's nose and says "what does this smell like?". I'm waiting for a) the big red mark on her upper lip and b) "strawberries". She thinks a second and says "Lightening McQueen". Good one Zo. She got a kick out of my laughter. A few minutes later pink smelled like "Pink polka dot blankie".

She ain't lion.

Friday night Dad put on the Disney version of Robin Hood. I'd never seen it, and I can still say I have never seen it. About 5 minutes in I realized my eyes were burning from staring at a computer screen all day, so I shut my eyes and listened. Zoe cuddled up to me, the thumb went in the mouth. Relaxed. Pretty soon I hear "The Mwaion Mwis wike Mwee". Huh? Then your Dad laughed and answered "the lion is like you?". And this is what I saw.

Yep. We're at the "get your thumb out of your mouth, I can't understand you" stage. Not that I really care at this point (pick your battles). And funny that she is able to see the similarities..

I ain't afraid of no ghosts.

Tonight, while getting in the minivan, Roman looked up at the sky, pointed and said "ghost". I heard you Dad laugh in a way that said "well, yeah you've got something". I looked up expecting to see a plastic bag flying in the air or something. Nope, just search lights sweeping the sky. Getting our attention. Ghosts. I like that better.