Third Time's the Lucky Charm

Or it wasn't. Because we didn't catch a leprechaun.

We built two traps. One was a reprise of the cup trap from previous years. But we thought the other couldn't fail.

When we came out in the morning the trap door was shut and the box was still closed. Sadie hid in the hallway while I peeked inside.
Oh, yeah, Sadie was very excited to make the traps but then she looked at me with big eyes and said, Mama, I'm kind of scared we'll catch a leprechaun.
So she wasn't altogether unhappy to find some gummy candies instead of a leprechaun. And the gummies were the ones that are terrible for you. Apparently leprechauns don't care about artificial colors.

We weren't sure how he had managed it until we saw the back of the box.

He must have been doing a little jig as he broke through. He did leave a note.

And green toilet water, green juice and green yogurt- breakfast of champions!
Except for the toilet water, of course.

Then we made some green oobleck to celebrate. It's gooey and yucky and lots of fun to mess around in. And although it takes one minute to make it takes twenty-five to clean up it's a good time.

Maybe we'll get him next year, but I still think we were pretty lucky. 

Quills

We found some feathers that are from some sort of bird. Imagine that. And here you were thinking they were from a rhinoceros. 

Anyway, we found some feathers and I was very excited when I saw that they would make decent quills. Sadie likes to hear about any old-timey stuff and Silas...Well Silas just likes to do anything that DeeDee is doing. 

So we cut the quills down and got to work.
Except I'm forgetting to mention the part where it took me a month to buy the India ink. And that when I finally opened the bottle and we started to use it I realized I probably just could have broken a pen open and used that ink instead of making them wait forever.

Yeah, I'm all about the quick thinking.
But they had lots of fun.

And were busily scribbling out correspondence while I cleaned the ink off the kitchen floor before it could sink in. I know you're not surprised by that turn of events.
What? A 2.5 year-old spilled out his little cap of ink when he flipped it over to look underneath?
I never!

Mrs. McGillicuddy's Magical Monster Spray

We've got a bit of a pest problem. It's not mice. Or ants. 

They're big. And they're mean. And they eat little kids.Or so I'm told.

They tell me there are monsters in the hallway. A few in the bedroom. One or two in the utility room.

So we brewed up a concoction that was specially designed to repel, eradicate and destroy them.

I'm sure you've heard of it, no?
It takes care of them all. Cyclops, boogeymen, ghouls, you name it.

It's fun to spray.

And it smells delicious.

And, by Jove, it really works.

Mrs. McGillicuddy knows her monsters.

Two Kids

Sometimes having two kids is trying. If one wants their drink warm the other wants it cold. If one wants to go out the other wants to stay in. If one wants to read Minerva Louise the other wants Frog and Toad.
If...well, let's just say it goes for everything.

But sometimes it's super cute. Like tonight when I was getting dinner ready and they were bent on bugging me. Sy kept yelling Pick up me! Pick up meeee! So finally I asked Sadie to please play with him.

She spent the next twenty minutes running after him yelling I'm going to get those chubby baby legs! Here I come, I'm gonna get those chubby baby legs!
They were laughing so hard they couldn't catch their breath. I hope they keep each other laughing like that, even after the chubby baby legs are long gone.

Tiny Yi

Yes, I know that tipping the scales at 40 pounds at two years old isn't exactly tiny. 

But he's still my Tiny Yiyi.

Plus, he's just really,

REALLY,

really cute in a tiny sort of way.
Plus, now he likes to make funny faces.

He thinks he's a regular laugh riot.

A comedian.

I'm not sure what he thinks this face below looks like, but he must think it's a doozy, because he says, Mama, Mommy, wook! Wook, Mommy! 
And then he does it and cracks up:

You think you're funny, eh, kid?

Well, you're absolutely right.

P.S. Any idea where he could have gotten the idea of making weird faces at me?

Not sure.

Wait, something's coming to mind.

Oh, that's right.

Gingerbread Guys

Did you know that it's impossible to read about gingerbread cookies and not make them? 

Okay, well it's not impossible, but it's certainly difficult.

We had gingerbread on the brain. 

So we got to work rolling the dough.

Here you are being treated to Silas's "stank face." Isn't it lovely?

Now, that's better, Yiyi.

We cut out all kinds of shapes, including moose and squirrels. I have no idea why we have moose cookie cutters. I guess in case we wanted to celebrate Maine's statehood anniversary?

And don't ask me why that picture above is on the side. Blogger's new interface likes to do things like that. 

Waiting is the hardest part, as they say.  They watched the first batch bake.

Plus, we had to make sure these stinkers didn't run off before they were done.

And, contrary to the face Sadie is making below they were delicious. I saw after the fact that I managed to catch five truly terrible pictures of them "enjoying" their cookies. This happens often.

But, they were enjoyed. Much faster than they should have been.
Just between you and me, I was afraid the  little fellas might escape if given too much time to plan, you know?

Snow Hour

Because it wasn't really a snow day. But we made the best of it.

Even Laddie got his roll on. He has fond memories of snow, having been a Vermont dog once, and when we get some he snuffs and rolls and catches snow balls that we throw at him with his mouth.

But everyone got a chance to run around in it like crazy people (and dogs) for 10 minutes.

And then we got to work building a snow fairy. Because, seriously, people, there was about .25 inches of snow, and fairies are little.

Plus, we just like fairies around these parts. But we were pretty proud of our snow fairy.

Isn't she cute?

One of These Things is Not Like the Other

Can you tell which of these is the made-by-a-two year-old snowman and which is the made-by-a-five-year-old snowman?

Me neither.

The World According to Silas

We're getting four and even five words in a row out of Sy these days. It's pretty exciting.
But you've got to get the pronunciation down before you can decipher what he's saying.
Here's little help:

Wan, Two, Tee!: The total number of items he sees, no matter if it's 3 or 723.

Beegoo: Bagel

Mickey: Cream cheese, also can refer to kiwis. So when Yiyi wants a Beegoo with mickey he's asking for breakfast. It's like working at one of those 1950's diners: Hey Billy Joe, give me an Adam and Eve on a raft with some moo juice!


Nuwana: banana

Apple Milk: apple juice

Wow Wood: A big piece of wood

No Wow: little

E: A car, truck or anything with wheels or wings. Including the floor cleaning machine at Home Depot that we had to follow for a few aisles so Sy didn't have a 2 year-old breakdown when it went out of sight.

Wac Dis, Mama! Wan, two, Tee!: Watch this, mama. 1, 2, 3!  Followed by a feat which may include blowing bubbles in the water in such a fervor that he sucks it in instead of out.

YiYi! YiYi! YiYi!: I would like a turn as well.

Pee: Please

Wuby: ruby the cat

Dee-aadie: Laddie the dog

Bee: Mr. Bird the cat

Mommy-ay, Daddy-ay, Deedee-ay: Pet names for me, Will and Sadie

Happy Day, Daddy-ay (or whoever-ay): Happy Birthday, Daddy! Which he likes to sing while he strums a ukulele.

Wadoo: Water.

Ode Wadoo/New Wadoo: Old water, New water. He has been getting very offended by "old water," which is any water he hasn't seen me put into the cup within the previous five minutes.

Key-ucky: Yucky. As in Old wadoo key-yucky!


Me-yummy: Yummy. As in New wadoo me-yummy!


Hay-o, E-o, Bay-o: Hair, Ear and Bear.


Coggy: Sorry. Often with a gentle rub on your cheek.

No way, monkey-ay!: No way.

This last one is new, and like any two year old he is enjoying giving us limits. You've got to keep the old folks aware of who's boss, you know.

Unanticipated Risk

Little did I know that having children would involve a completely ridiculous amount of fat lips. And 97% of them are the product of Silas.
The weirdest part is that almost all of them happen when we are sleeping. Somehow, in the night, he has some sort of dream that causes him to yell, No, no, no!


And, on a side note, what the heck are little kids always dreaming about that they are yelling No! at everyone? I mean, sheesh, you'd think all their dreams are all someone trying to steal their favorite toys or rip their cookie out of their hand or something.

Then, while he's yelling at whoever is stealing his truck or fruit roll-up he pushes his legs out straight and flings himself upward. Into my lip, which hits my teeth and bleeds and swells.
The best part is that as he gets bigger the flopping around has gotten bigger too, leading to this morning's fat lip(s). He managed to get both top and bottom. It's a doozy.

There are many things no one ever tells you about being a mother that you find out later. But I'd have to say fat lips might just be the strangest.

Po Up!

Well, the stomach flu has felled three out of five of us so far (PawPaw included). After three days of throwing up Silas finally, finally has stopped and is on the mend. Now we just have to get some food into him.
But one thing he did learn is that when you're going to throw up people will walk around holding you for hours while you whimper, punctuating your whimpers with puking and brief costume changes since two year olds can't quite get the hang of throwing up in something instead of on everything and everybody.
So he's learned to say Po up! 


Now, when you've been thrown up on consistently for 48 hours you learn to hustle when the sick one mentions more is on the way. So I would grab Sy and walk around with him, until it passed or he puked.

One thing you must know is that he loves to be carried. I know he is just over two, but he is also just over forty pounds, and carrying forty pounds around, especially forty pounds that doesn't particularly hold on tight to you is painful, to say the least. Imagine me strapping 8 bags of flour to your chest and telling you to wander around like that for an hour or so. But, actually, I wouldn't strap it, because that would make it easier.

Anyway, I think there's a formula.
Weight of baby -directly proportional to - amount baby demands to be carried.
Yes, I know that's not a formula. Seeing as how I didn't even finish my third year of high school math I'm sure y'all aren't surprised.

So, Silas figured out yesterday that if he looked at me with his big, blue eyes and said Po up I would pick him up and carry him around for a long time. Finally, by the late afternoon he hadn't thrown up and I looked at him and asked him if he really just wanted to be held.
Yeeeeeeaaaaaaaah he said, grinning. Up! Peek up!


Just tell me that when he's twelve he won't need me to carry him anymore. My back can't take it.

Rocking Around the Christmas Tree

I did intend for this post to be up a little sooner. Like, before the New Year. As I sit here typing on the evening of the 30th I'm thinking it may actually get there. But it may not.

We are on hour forty-three of Holding Silas. Who has been throwing up for as long. So, we'll see.

But, on to Christmas!

First, of course, we needed a tree. So we cut one down at a nice farm nearby. Much to our delight the trip to the trees included a hay ride. A hay ride in December!

Our tree had to fit certain criteria: small, narrow and cute. We found one that did, and cut it down.

Here's the trophy picture. It almost escaped, but the kids caught it before it got away.

And then there was a little bonfire, around which we enjoyed some hot cocoa.

And here she is, all dolled up. Christmas Tree 2011.

Then we waited impatiently for Christmas. Even the chocolate advent countdown calendar couldn't quell the incessant Mama, how many more days until Christmas? Okay, how many more days if we don't count today? How about if we don't count Christmas? And so on and so forth.

Finally, Christmas Eve arrived. And we pulled out our Santa plate and some of the chocolate -covered pretzels we made. And, of course, oats and carrots for the reindeer.
And do you know what Sadie told me?
Mama, Rudolph isn't REAL! Not like the other reindeer, and Santa. 
Oh, of course.

Christmas morning before sunrise. So excuse the terrible pictures. Plus, it's not like the sun ever rises around here between the months of December and May.
The garbage truck!

Legos!
Walkie-Talkies!
Books!

Trampoline! Roller skates!

And more and more.
All this loot will keep them busy for weeks.
And we had the inaugural fire in our wood stove. Which makes the house about 6,000 degrees, but I'm not complaining.

Does anyone else's house look like this late Christmas morning?

For dinner, roast beast, mashed potatoes and string beans. These kids love my string beans.
The requested dessert was Make Your Own Sundaes. Yes, we're very into make-your-own stuff around here. Being the master of one's own destiny (or dessert) is very exciting.

Especially when you dump half the bottle of star sprinkles on your own sundae.
And here's Sadie as she's looked almost every day since Christmas.

It was a peaceful, quiet, present-filled, treat-filled, exciting Christmas Day. The best kind.