April 2013

Every day is Earth Day for you two.  In fact, I had to laugh when I found myself taking pictures of you both hugging all the neighborhood trees unprompted on Earth Day this year.

You HAVE to look under every single pot for worms and bugs every time you play outside.  When you do find worms you collect a handful before running over to the vegetable beds on the side of the house to release them in their new homes.

You think that the Duplo trains and tracks are the most fun, but you have been known to dabble in Lego soup cooking sessions and snake construction from time to time.

Getting ready for tubby time at the end of the day is the perfect excuse for you to run around the kitchen island a dozen times yelling 'I'm nakedddddddddddd!' (sans clothes of course).

Instead of reading books to you both at once, we have started reading you each a story after you lay down and get cozy. Your Daddy reads you stories during lights out after I kiss you a million times and exit stage left to clean-up your messes around the house.

William...

 

The desire to 'help' is still running strong within you and you dash onto the scene and assist with the laundry, cooking, dishes and watering the yard on a daily basis. 

 

Everything is a ladybug...a dead fly, a nail in the wall, a dark knot in the wood floor. If you see something bigger than a speck anywhere it MUST be a ladybug.

You made me laugh the other day when you exclaimed that a shark bit you while you were swimming in the tub. Odds are, one of the cats will beat the sharks to it. Hold on to that wild adventurous spirit, it makes you sparkle.

Alexander...

You are all about people. Whether you are smiling, waving or just inquiring about what someone is doing or if they are okay, you are focused on others.

When your Daddy pretended to steal your nose, you were fascinated and delighted. Now all you want to do is steal other noses or your own. Yesterday you walked around with the silicon oven mitt pinching your nose, exclaiming 'it's got my nose'.

Whenever your brother is getting upset you tell him that it's 'going to be alright brother, don't worry'. Often, you are curious about what he is up to and will join in the high jinx, especially if it involves the cats. Thank you for always thinking of others, your kindness and friendly spirit makes you shine. 

Children's Museum + Parade Crashing

Our original plan to see the elephants at the zoo was modified after some Oregon rain showers. The second and equally engaging (more actually) option was to explore the Children's Museum.

Ironically, the water room was your favorite part, hands down. The sound of running water makes you giddy and you both had a blast splashing, squealing and dashing around...

 -Will-

-Alex-

You two enjoyed sweeping the shelves and dominating the checkout line in the grocery store as well...

Daddy showed you the ropes in the wood shop and home building area before you moved on to conquer the rest of the museum...

We are 'calling' the day a success...

-Alex-


-Will-

On Sunday the Subaru took a trip via tow truck to Hillsboro for some major repairs. The boys enjoyed watching the tow truck in action...

After treats at Starbuck's we crashed the Latino Cultural Festival parade (literally, we jumped in and waved like we belonged), test drove a fire truck and wandered across town to investigate some new playground equipment...

-Will-

-Alex-

March 2013

I love, love, love that you both are all about getting outside, getting dirty and exploring new things. In fact, we make sure to do all of those things every day which is why I am talking about what you were up to in March in a post dated mid-April.

Right now you are into making bubble waffles and pancakes in the tub. Of course I pretend to eat them when you serve them up and I always ask for more.

Thanks to the 'Birthday Bug' incident, toast has been a favorite food lately. Whenever you are hungry you run over to the pantry, pull the toaster out and head to the refrigerator to grab the bread.

You use regular silverware (only spoons) and your fingers to eat almost everything.

 -Alex-

-Will-

You love playing with your trains and Duplos. The train and tractor ride toys make countless laps around the kitchen island. We don't appreciate that you like to ram each other, walls, furniture and us with them. Your bikes are slowly becoming more interesting and our rides are getting longer.

-Will-

-Alex-

Forget licking batter off of spatulas, you two fight over the spoon from the noodle pan. At our house eating noodles is serious business. After I carefully divide the cooked noodles, you both insist on inspecting the pan for ANY remaining noodles. The pan and spoon are literally picked clean before you both are satisfied with the news that there are no more noodles.

Alexander...

You love the color yellow and harvesting dandelions at our neighborhood park. One day when you were home recovering from the latest bug, we took advantage of the sunshine and visited our three favorite parks. It was just you and me, which made you grin and throw bark chips into the wind with wild abandon.

You are constantly playing with your food. Milk is always being sputtered, spattered or squirted from your mouth. Tomatoes and grapes are smashed, crackers are crumbled and the cats circle under your chair like sharks in a feeding frenzy.

The other day, I asked you what your favorite thing was and you said 'babies'. Then you ran into your room and came back with a baby doll stuffed inside your shirt. You take great joy in doing sweet and silly things for a response in others.


William...

You love ladybugs and elephants (eldapents) which, you make sure to remind me daily, live in the jungle. I am impressed with how gently you handle insects and how at ease you are with them crawling all over you.

Laundry, dishes, sweeping...no matter what the task, you are always interested in helping me. You rush to wipe up spills and throw away crumbs. 

The other morning you woke up, wandered into our room and whispered bananas in my ear. You insisted that we had banana bread and pulled me into the garage to show me the mixer. Clearly you were on a mission to help bake up some tasty breakfast. 

                                                                 We think that you both are scrumptious...

                                                                                           xoxo

                                                                                   Mama & Daddy