Too Much Sugar

I picked the kids up at school today. I noticed John had different pants on. I asked him what happened. He said "I spilled water on my pants. Just water. And you know what? You need to give me a different drink with my lunch!" Then he proceeded to lecture me on how his juice box has sugar in it. "And you know what sugar makes you crazy! I need to drink water. It keeps you hydrated and has no sugar!" It didn't stop there. When we got home, he told Daddy "You know Daddy, you shouldn't drink soda. It's got sugar in it! You should drink water. You know why? Water has none sugar in it!" So it turns out that John had Amazing Athletes today and coach explained to the kids about how drinking water is good for them and they should limit their number of sugary drinks.

The kids went to bed around 8 and I went I check on them around 8:45 (like I do every night). Gillian was asleep (rare for her) and John was awake (rare for him). I climbed into bed with him and asked him why he was still awake. He said "I don't know. I've been trying to fall asleep and I can't. I think it's from all the sugar!"

Drawings and iPads

I was going through John's book bag tonight to get this week's word list and I found a drawing. The drawing was a house on top of a tall mountain with a twisting road. The drawing was on the back of one of his worksheets. One look at the picture and I knew it was Daddy's grandparents house. What amazes me is that John has only been to this house a handful of times, but his drawing is pretty accurate. I asked him what the picture was and he said "It's my Gigi and Pop-Pop's house. But I didn't get to finish it. I didn't get to color in all the grass!"

After Gillian got her PJs on tonight, she went to find Daddy in our room. She didn't find Daddy, but she found his iPad. Before I realized it, she had the Netflix app open and said "I watch Wonder Pets! I push it?" And she tapped the screen and started watching an episode of the Wonder Pets. She is too smart!

Oh Dear and Reading

Gillian has a new saying. She started it a few weeks ago. She constantly says "Oh dear!" I think she picked it up from school because it is not something that Daddy and I say. She drops her fork and says "Oh dear!" She throws baby across the room and says "Oh dear!" She also says "Oh brother!" a lot too. Tonight at dinner, she asked "More chicken?" Daddy told her "Sorry sweetie. We have no more chicken." Gillian responded "Oh Brother! Oh Brother!"

Every night John and I find a quiet spot in the house and John reads me a book or his weekly list of words. We borrow books from school that correspond with the letters and sounds they are working on. John did awesome with his short book tonight. So I went downstairs to our little library and found Dr. Seuss' Hop on Pop and New Hat. John read all of New Hat and half of Hop on Pop to me. I am so proud of him!

Teapot

A couple nights a week, we have a dance party for the kids. Basically, we just play some music for the kids and them them dance. John and Gillian love dance party nights. John has now started to name his dance moves. He does "the jet" which is him running around the room with his arms stretched out. He also does "the plane," a slower version of "the jet." He has probably a dozen different moves now. Gillian copies or tries to copy all of his moves. Tonight, Gillian copied John, but at some point started running around with her hand on her hip. I had a hard time hearing her with the music. Finally I heard her say "Tip me over and pour me out!" And that's when I saw not only did she have her hand on her hip, but she also had her other had stretched out over her head. My little girl was dancing and singing "I'm a little teapot."

Say "Ahhhh"

One of Gillian's favorite shows is "Doc McStuffins" on Disney Junior. Doc McStuffins is a little girl that fixes broken toys. She gives them a checkup before she determines what is wrong with them. Tonight, Gillian told me "Say Ahhhh!" I played along and said Ahhhh. She looked in my mouth and said "Looks good! Let me see your eyes." She made a circle with her thumb and pointer finger and looked through the circle at my eyes. She said "Perfect. Let me see your ears." She looked at one and then moved my head so she could look in the other ear. Next she pretended to put something in her ears and took her hand and held it over my heart. She smiled and nodded and said "Everything sounds good!" Easiest and sweetest checkup I've ever had!

Vacation, all I ever wanted

This summer, John asked "Are we ever going to go on a real vacation? Like go away somewhere?" I explained to him that vacations are expensive and that we would save our money and go on a "real" vacation one day. And he dropped the subject.

Recently, he has resurrected the vacation discussion. He must have seen a commercial for Disney Cruises, because he thinks we will be going on a cruise. He asked me "Mommy, when are we going to go on vacation?" Again I tried the, we need to save money line. That didn't work. He said "You know, you could use my money from my piggy bank!" The other morning, he was explaining the cruise to Daddy "And Daddy, Gillian will love it. They have characters on the boat. But you you know they aren't real. They are just people dressed up in costume. Sorry Gill!"

This weekend, the vacation talk went to the extreme. The kids were playing quietly in John's room. After awhile, John and Gillian walked into my room. John was rolling his Car's suitcase behind him and Gillian was carrying a baby and a blanket. He said "We are going on fake vacation!" The kids played "fake vacation" for hours.

Tonight while tucking John into bed, he says "When we go on vacation, can we bring Duncan? I'm going to miss him so much!" I explained to him that Duncan would not go on vacation with us and that he would stay at Purr N Pooch and it would be like a vacation for Duncan. John seemed pleased with that response. But he had another question, "Mommy, when we are on the cruise, will we sleep on the boat?" I explained to him that we may not even go on the boat. He got really sad. I explained that we might just got to Disney World. I asked him if he knew anything about Disney World. He said "Yea. There's one at the mall!" I explained that the store at the mall was tiny in comparison and that Disney World had rides and parades and a big castle and characters. And he said "Just like the cruise!" He has a one track mind.

Superheroes

We have two rubber duckies. One is just yellow with a blue bow. The other duckie is a superhero. He has a mask and a cape. Gillian has decided that the one with the bow is "Mommy Duck" and the one with the cape is "Daddy Duck." I thought it was just Gillian, but John agrees too. I had a huge argument with the kids explaining that I should be the superhero duck. I explained that my kisses heal all boo-boos, I have super strength, and I can see behind my back. The kids didn't fall for it.

Daddy talked to them about it tonight while they were taking a bath. John said "Mommy doesn't have real powers. Daddy and I have real super powers. I am super fast and Daddy is super strong!" I again said I can see behind my back. John says "OK, what's behind you?" I said a towel on a hook. He wasn't impressed. Daddy got up and stood in between John and I. He said "I know. I'll hold up fingers behind my back and Mommy will tell us how many I am holding up." Daddy held up fingers behind his back while also mouthing to me the number. I told John the number of fingers was four. You should have seen his face! He was so surprised. We did this a couple of times until we finally convinced John that I can see thru things. He is now impressed with my superhero skills. He said "So I'm super fast and Daddy is super strong. And Mommy can see thru things. Mommy, can you see my bones?" Maybe we went too far.

Dancing and soup

Today we ran some errands, one stop was Best Buy. We walked around the store. I guess someone was looking to purchase new speakers or a new stereo and they tested the speakers. AC DC was pumped through the speakers. Gillian immediately started dancing in the middle of the store. She loved it for about 30 seconds and then they stopped the music. She was very disappointed that they stopped the music.

For dinner tonight, I made grilled cheese sandwiches and cheddar broccoli soup. Daddy and I assumed that the kids would only want the sandwiches. We had both kids taste the soup, because in our house you have to try everything once. Gillian tasted it and said "Delicious!" John tasted it and said "I don't like it!" Gillian insisted on her own bowl. She ate about half of it.

Abraham Lincoln

John's class learned about Abraham Lincoln today. They made a Abraham Lincoln picture and they also played a game with pennies. When Daddy got home from work John proudly showed him the picture of Lincoln. He said "Do you know who this is?" Daddy said "Hmmm let me think. Is he a president?" John grinned and said "Yes! The sixteenth!" Daddy said "George Washington?" John shook his head. "No! Abraham Lincoln!" Daddy asked him if John knew why Lincoln was an important president. John said "He found a store that sold people. And he didn't like it. So he made them stop! And then one day someone got mad at him and they shot him in the back of the head. And you know what he was an actor in a show!"

Valentine's Day

Daddy and I don't celebrate Valentine's Day but we do encourage the kids to celebrate with their friends. John got Star Wars valentines this year and Gillian got Minnie Mouse valentines. John wrote out all of his valentines by himself. It took him a long time, but he wrote all the names is his friends and signed every card. He even delivered them all. That was challenging. Each kid had a bag with their name on it. So John had to read his card and then find the matching bag.

I got to pick the kids up from school today. Both of them had big bags full of valentines and treats. John told me all about his day, "We had pizza that was shaped like a heart!" Gillian also told me about her day, "Miss Margaret opened the cookies! I give them to my friends!"

John also gave Daddy and I a Valentine's card. He did such a good job writing the message!

Amazing athletes take 2

John had Amazing Athletes today. He loves Amazing Athletes. It is the highlight of his week. I have to make sure that he wears sweat pants (or sweaty pants as he likes to call them) and his Amazing Athletes tee shirt. Today he got home and told me all about Amazing Athletes. "I got to teach other kids!" he said proudly. I was impressed and said you must be really good if the coach lets you teach. He replied "No. You just gotta be nice and ask!" I asked him what he taught the other kids. He put his arms out in front of him palms up. He then brought his arms in to his body. Basically pumping his arms up and down. He showed us this move and then asked "Do you know what this exercises? Your bicep! You need your biceps for pulling, picking stuff up and pulling? You use your biceps for a lot of stuff!"

The spoon

I made Mac & Cheese for the kids for dinner tonight. I gave both John and Gillian a bowl of Mac & Cheese and a fork. Gillian started eating it with the fork and then puts the fork down and says "Can I have a spoon?" She frequently asks for a spoon when she is having a hard time getting food to stay on the fork. I told her of course she could have a spoon. Before I could even get near the drawer, she screams "I do it myself!" She ran to the drawer and picked out a spoon and went back to her seat. I watched her take all the Mac & Cheese off of her fork. I thought that she was just trying to make sure she got all the pasta. I was wrong. Once she got all the pasta off her fork, she got up and ran across the lichen and tried to put the fork back in the drawer. I stopped her and she said "I all done! I use spoon!" I explained to her that it was dirty and it couldn't go back in the drawer. She really didn't care, she just wanted to eat her dinner. I learned a lesson today. I need to watch her more carefully. I could end up with some dirty silverware mixed in with the clean!

Baby boo-boo

Gillian loves her baby dolls. She has about twenty different babies, but she has a favorite one. This baby is dressed in pink and you can't take her clothes off. We actually have two of these babies, but she clearly favors one over the other. Today Gillian went upstairs to get her baby. I was waiting in the kitchen and I could hear Gillian scream "Oh no!" It wasn't a cry that she was hurt, but I went running to her anyway. I found her at the top of the stairs holding baby's blanket and baby was about halfway down the stairs. I asked Gillian what happened. She said "Baby fall down!" I ran to baby and picked her up and gave her kisses and hugs. Gillian came down the steps, whispering "Oh no! Baby fall down!" When she got to the bottom, we decided that Daddy should help us make baby feel better. We gave Daddy baby. He held baby, and asked what happened. Gillian said "Baby fall down and her crying!" Daddy shook the baby and said "stop your crying baby!" Gillian yelled at Daddy and took her baby back. She held baby super tight and kissed her on the head. Gillian rocked her and loved her. Poor baby had a rough day, but she is lucky to have such a good mommy!

sNOw day!

Gillian woke up this morning and looked out the window.  She said "There's snow on Daddy's car!"  We had to find Daddy right away so she could tell him about his car.  John was already awake talking to Daddy about going "snowboarding."  We told the kids that we would go outside and play after Daddy cleaned up the driveway and the cars.  John was very concerned that we wouldn't get outside before the snow melted.  He hasn't had a good track record this winter.  So far this winter we have only gotten a small amount of snow and it has been melting before he remembers that he wants to go outside and play.  There was no way the snow would melt too fast today.  We got about 6 inches by us. 

We got the kids dressed in their snow gear and we headed over to Holmdel Park.  There is a huge sledding hill there and it is well worth the drive.  We brought two snow tubes and John's snowboard.  John and Daddy went to the big hill first on the big snow tube.  John loved it.  Gillian and I waited in line for the little hill and I sent her down on the small snow tube.  She loved it when I pushed her down, but when Daddy caught her at the bottom, she was not happy.  Next we all went to the big hill, I went down by myself in the small tube.  The tubes are fast.  You fly down the hill.  I ran into a couple of kids, but luckily no one got hurt.  I quickly got off and looked for John.  He was the next to go down.  He went down on his snowboard, and only got about halfway down the hill.  I had to run and find him.  We were very smart and told him that when he stopped in his sled, he needed to get off and move to the fence.  That's where I found him, at the fence.  Next Daddy and Gillian went down on the big tube.  Again, she wasn't too sure about the ride.  She like the first half and then cried at the bottom.  We decided maybe we should stick to the small hill for a little bit.  John went down a couple of times on his snow board and we got Gillian to go down once.  We thought that if we told her Mommy would catch her at the bottom, it would help.  Daddy pushed her down the hill, he said she was laughing and smiling.  But by the time she reached me, she was crying.  Poor little lady did not like it! 

 

Finally, we decided to go back to the big hill.  Gillian and I went down on the big tube.  Again, I am thankful that we had a tube.  It made for a fast ride, but I didn't feel guilty when we bumped into a few people.  We did bump into like six people on our trip.  Everyone was so nice and understanding.  Gillian loved the trip down the hill, but again was crying when we reached the bottom.  I didn't have time to console her, I had to look for John.  John wanted to go down on the small tube by himself.  He did great!  Like I said, the tubes went fast and John collided with another kid and flipped out of his tube.  I caught the tube and then found John on the hill.  He was smiling ear to ear.  He loved it! 

They boys did another run by themselves while Gillian and I waited at the bottom of the hill.  They went so far in the big tube.  They ended up almost to the end of the hill.  They even ran into a group of kids that thought they were safe hanging out at the bottom.  The kids were safe until Daddy and John got into their tube! 

We got home, and John wanted to play outside more.  I joined him for a little bit and he told me that he was looking for "ice sticks."  I guess he found a couple of icicles hanging off of the jungle gym and thought they were super cool.  So he was searching for more.  I pointed out all the icicles hanging from the roof of the house and he said "But we will never reach all of those ice sticks!"

In the car on the way home, we asked Gillian if she had fun.  She said "No!"  We asked John if he had fun, and he said "It was awesome!"  Overall, a pretty fun day for everyone.  Well with the exception of Gillian!

The Experiment

John had a Mad Science class on Tuesday. When I picked him up he questioned me, "Mom did you get the stuff in my cubby? The stuff from Mad Science?" I explained to him that I didn't see any stuff in his cubby. "But I know we got stuff that grows!" We we didn't get it in Tuesday or Wednesday. Finally on Thursday John brought home a fish and a turtle. He was so excited. "We got to put them in water and then they grow super big!" We put them in water last night.

This morning I was having a hard time waking up John. I said, you know we need to check on our experiment and he jumped out of bed. "Ok, but I don't have to get changed first." His logic did not work with me, and I made him get changed first. We found the turtle and fish in their bowls in the kitchen. "They got so big! They are going to get even bigger. We need bigger bowls!" While the fish and turtle got bigger, they do not need a bigger bowl. I think they are as big as they are going to get. John still thinks "they are going to get super big!"

Telephone

Gillian found her toy phone tonight. She held it to her ear and said "Mommy, pick up your phone! I not here!" She was sitting right next to me, but she kept telling me that she wasn't there. We talked on the phone for a little bit. I got to ask her a few questions.

What's your favorite color?
Blue
Who's your best friend?
Dora
What's your favorite song?
Santa song
What's your favorite food?
Cookies
Who's your favorite princess?
Rella
What's your name?
Gillian Beanie
What's your brother's name?
John-John
Who's best ever?
Dora and Grandma and John and Daddy

Years from now I can't wait to ask her the same things to compare her responses.

Yo Gabba Gabba!

John and I were invited to go to see Yo Gabba Gabba with Aunt Betty's class today. John and I arrived at Aunt Betty's school. He was so nervous to be around all the big kids. As we got closer to her classroom, his cheeks got redder and redder and he walked behind me. The kids in Aunt Betty's class were super nice to John and it only took John a few minutes to relax and start talking to the kids. John made fast friends with Paul and they stuck together for the rest of the trip.

We got the kids piled into the bus and we were on our way. John was sitting with the other kids and we only occasionally heard his voice over the other kids. We were dropped off right in front and found our seats quickly. The kids were super excited! I was very thankful to be with a group of people because I got out of buying any souvenirs! The show started and the all the kids stood up and danced and clapped along with the music. John loved it. But then they took an intermission. Honestly I don't blame them. It must be really hot in those costumes, but John was not happy about intermission. It took too long! He wanted it over. The second half of the show was more singing and dancing.

Again we piled all the kids back into the bus. Thanks to the great ushers at Count Basie. They helped block traffic so we could stick together! Again the kids were great on the way back. Once we got back to school, John started taking off his jacket. "I want to stay!" I told him that the kids parents would be picking them up soon, but we could stay for a few minutes. "How about an hour?" he tried to negotiate. Betty and I explained to him that we couldn't stay that long. He got Aunt Betty to ask the principal if he could come back another day. Tonight when he was telling Daddy about our adventure, he said "And I can go back! They promised!"

Jinxed

While I was giving Gillian a bath, the boys were downstairs playing. When they came upstairs and Daddy was very quiet. I kept talking to him, but all he did was nod. Finally he pointed at John and then made a motion with his hand. That's when I figured it out. I asked John if he jinxed Daddy. He said "Yes! We was downstairs and we both said 'shower' at the same time. And I said jinx!" I was a little shocked. I didn't know that John even knew what it meant to jinx someone. Johnny and I giggled about how Daddy couldn't talk to us. I asked John how he knew about jinxes. He said "Chipwrecked!" And he explained the entire scene and then he also repeated how he jinxed Daddy. Finally I called Daddy by his real name and broke him of the jinx. I talked to Daddy and he said that he was surprised to hear John jinx him. But he said that John seemed even more shocked that the jinx caused Daddy to stop talking. But that didn't stop John from trying to jinx me.

Funnies

Busy weekend here. Daddy rearranged the living room while Mommy was busy baking, shopping, and cleaning. Today the kids kept themselves busy by playing and basically just staying away from Mommy and Daddy. I went food shopping and Gillian greeted me at the door when I came home. She took a bag from me and I went back to the car to get the rest of the bags. Daddy found her rummaging through the bags. She told Daddy, "I can't find bananas! I look everywhere!"

Gillian was playing a Mickey Mouse game on Daddy's iPad. She was doing pretty well, but I guess she got stuck and asked John for help. He says "Sure. I've won this game lots of times!"

While I was baking, John was running around the kitchen. I stopped him on one of his laps and asked him if he could stop. "But Mom! I'm doing an obstacle course!"

Gillian has been potty trained for awhile now. But she has been having a lot of poopy accidents. We are trying everything to encourage her to go on the potty. Today we showed her nail polish and new dress up jewelry and told her that they would be hers if she went poops on the potty today. At some point she went in you the bathroom and after a few minutes called for help. Finally! She made it to the potty! After Daddy and I congratulated her, she said "I open presents now?" We painted her toes and told her that if she does it again tomorrow that she will get her finger nails painted too!