Whistling

For a long time, John has wanted to learn how to whistle. We have tried to teach him, but he never quite got it. But recently he has figured it out. I'm not sure when it happened. I heard him doing it the other day and I asked Daddy how long he has been doing this. Daddy said "He does it all the time." I guess I didn't notice it before. This morning he woke up (with his alarm) and I caught him walking down the hallway whistling. He is so funny. He is like a little old man whistling while he is working.

Trucks!

The kids had a truck-filled weekend. On Saturday, Mimi took them to the Touch a Truck event in Wall. During Touch a Truck, the kids get to climb into all the township trucks and learn about them from township employees. Both kids looked exhausted when they got home on Saturday afternoon. I asked them to tell me about their adventure. John told me "We didn't get to drive them. But we got to honk the horn!" I asked him which truck was his favorite. He said "The crane! It was super tall!" He asked Daddy and I what we did all day long, "Did you go to Touch a Truck?"

Bright and early this morning, Uncle T and Chucky (Daddy's cousin) arrived at our house. Uncle T and Chucky came to help Daddy trim some of our trees. In order to help them reach the branches, they brought Poppy's bucket truck. The kids were so excited. They couldn't wait to ride in the bucket. But they first had to do a little work. Uncle T was up in the bucket and he trimmed a few branches. When the coast was clear he would tell the kids. They would run and pick up the branches and move them to a pile. They were very helpful. Then it was John's turn to go up in the bucket. He went with Uncle T, and he was so short that you could only see the top of his head from the ground. The whole time he was in the bucket, Gillian was saying "Is it my turn? I go now!" Next it was Gillian's turn. She went right to Uncle T and then she started to cry. He didn't even move the bucket. She just didn't like it.

Look what I can do!

This morning, John came running into our room. "Mom! Dad! Look what I can do!" And he holds up both hands and snaps. He snaps a few times. We say, that's great! He turns around and walks out of the room. Gillian, who was behind him the whole time, walks up to us and says "I no can do that!" She looked so sad and tried to climb up on our bed. Then John started calling her. And she says "I gotta go. John needs me!"

Bedtime secrets - take two

My post on Monday night was about Gillian and how she admitted that she was a little bully. She told me that she his Dorlisa with her lunch bag and she pushed Gavin. On Tuesday, she told me that she pushed Gavin again. I was a little concerned that she was having a problem with Gavin. I asked her teacher on Wednesday morning how Gillian was behaving in class. She told me that Gillian was doing great. I asked her about Gillian and Gavin. She laughed and said "Gavin is on vacation. He hasn't been in all week!" I laughed and said did she hit Dorlisa on Monday with her lunch bag? And her teacher said, "Yes. On Monday!" Not sure why Gillian would tell me she pushed her friend when he wasn't in school. Daddy thinks she just makes stuff up.

Today, Daddy picked up the kids. In the car, Gillian told Daddy "I go to timeout today!" Daddy asked her "What did you go to timeout for?" Gillian replied "Two minutes!" She told me later that "I hurt Dorlisa. Because Christian a monster!" I'm guessing that Christian was pretending to be a monster and Gillian got scared and Dorlisa was in the way. Poor Dorlisa!

The Lizard Guys

The Lizard Guys went to the kids school today.  John loved it when they visited last year (check out last year's blog post "Monday").  I couldn't wait to pick the kids up from school today to hear about all the animals that visited.  Check out the video below.  It's the kids telling me about their visitors. 

When Daddy got home from work, I had the kids tell him about their day.  Gillian changed her story and told Daddy that she didn't touch the snake.  And again, she said "There was a caterpillar!"  She also got mad at John when John corrected her and said "Gillian, there wasn't a caterpillar!" 

Bedtime secrets

I climbed into Gillian's bed tonight to snuggle with her. She told me "I've got two friends. Daddy read two books and I got two friends." She was referring to her two stuffed animals that were under her covers. I moved them over and we snuggled. I asked her about her day. She said "I hit Dorlisa with my lunch bag. And I push Gavin with my hands." She giggled as she told me about pushing Gavin. I told her that wasn't nice. She tried to justify it "It was only with my hands." Again I told her that it was not nice to hurt our friends. She got really sad and said "I promise not to do it again." She gave me a hug and said "Thank you Mommy. You best ever!" I hope that she behaves tomorrow. But we will see.

The Boat

John and Daddy went to help Uncle T with his boat today. Well, Daddy went to help. The boat is on a trailer in Uncle T's yard and has some engine problems. John mainly played on the boat while the boys were diagnosing the problem. The first thing John did when he got on the boat was to go to the bow and say "I'm king of the world!" John also stood on the boat, looked around and said "I can see Russia from here!"

Uncle Kevin came to help too and he brought Little Kyle. John and Kyle played on the boat. At one point, Kyle was "driving" the boat and John was at the bow telling him which way to turn. They also irritated Uncle T (and everyone else) by running around the console and taking turns honking the horn. Uncle T ended up unplugging the horn from the battery, but the boys thought that the horn wasn't working because they didn't have the keys to the boat. So they got off the boat and found the keys in Uncle T's garage. They were very disappointed to find that the keys didn't help them make the horn work.

After "helping" with the boat, John carried pavers for Aunt Missy. John got a small cut on his hand while playing on the boat. But he said to Aunt Missy "I'll help with my broken hand!" He carried the pavers one by one to the garden. When I asked him what his favorite part of the day, he got up and reenacted picking up a paver and walking to the garden.