JossLion and PaulLion

Joss (18 months old) is an adorable lion. . .

. . .he gets it from his brother (Paul at 2 years old).

Happy Birthday, Dorothy.

I had to stop at the supermarket on my way home to buy a birthday cake for Paul's stuffed triceratops, Dorothy (nee Goldilocks*), who had his fourth birthday today.

Paul announced at breakfast that it was Dorothy's birthday, and ran upstairs to "wake" him up and sing happy birthday. We had to bring Dorothy with us to school, although he wasn't allowed inside the children's school - I had to bring him to dinosaur school. Paul was still talking about Dorothy's birthday when Shawn picked the kids up at the end of the day. And what is a birthday without birthday cake?

*Dorothy was Goldilocks for nearly a year, until Daddy began reading "The Wizard of Oz" to Paul at bedtime.

July 25, 2011

Robot T-shirt fashion montage

The boys both looked so cute in their new, matching robot t-shirts, that Daddy had to take some pictures, fig newtony faces and all.

A tisket, a tasket, two boys in laundry baskets. . .

Joss helps Mommy with the Laundry.

Do you like my new hat?

July 23, 2011

Gonna need a bigger boat.

July 20, 2011

It's a shark!

Don't worry mommy, I'm a nice shark, and I don't bite people; nice sharks only eat lots of fishes.

Gonzo journalism is alive and well. And extra gonzo.

Tuesday Concert

Tuesday, July 19, 2011 - Another wonderful evening spent at the Lexington Bicentennial Band's summer concert series!

Hello, mother.

My brother is soooo embarassing. . .

Mommy - you forgot the lens cap.

Look mummy, there's an aeroplane up in the sky.

I'm tired, can we go home now?

Beach be not proud.

So, one sunny Sunday in July, we decided to actually do something summery, and hit a beach on the north shore with some friends. Parking was hell, the far beach was crowded, but the near beach was almost empty. So, we settled in, and began to enjoy the shallow water and gentle tide.

Well, Joss was not a fan of the water, and preferred to stay out of the sun.

And our friend James also didn't really like the water, but he loved digging in the sand.

Paul loved both sand and surf, and did his best to get as much of both as he possibly could.

You see how deep the beach looks in this picture? Well, less than an hour after taking this picture, the tide came in all the way to the sea wall, effectively ending our outing with a hurried picnic, a frantic packing-up, and a scurry up the sea wall stairs.

Lesson learned: when you see an empty beach on a lovely day, there's probably a damn good reason!

Summer = Band Concerts!

You know where we'll be most Tuesday nights. . .the Lexington Bicentennial Band Concerts!

Grandma takes Joss for a little stroll. . .

. . .Joss takes the ball along on his little stroll.

Lawn chairs and juice boxes - life is indeed good.

Pizza? There was PIZZA?

Happy 4th of July!

As is becoming tradition, Safta came up to go to the parade with us!


Git-R-Done.


Please date Safta! Check her out on JDate - she's HotSafta666. =)


Juicin' it like Barry Bonds, yo. (too soon?)


Joss has the best seat at the parade!


Blue tongue!


There's Daddy!


It's not a parade without a Fyfe and Drum Corps.


The floats at the parades around here toss candy at the kids. When the parade was in front of our house, it was easy for Paul to grab some off the street. When the parade was in a bigger town, and we were sitting at the end of the line, and there were many more kids, and they were mostly bigger kids, Paul was frequently left without any candy. . .

Paul managed to grab some lollypops and a few shattered hard candies, which was plenty as far as I was concerned. However, the somewhat little-er, somewhat more timid kid sitting next to us was too shy to even join the candy-grabbing frenzy. When Paul came back to sit on my lap, I whispered in his ear and asked him to share his candy with the little boy. Paul immediately jumped up, walked over. . .and tried to give the boy the lollypop fresh from out of his mouth. =)

I grabbed him back and suggested the extra lolly in his pocket. Paul's face brightened - like a lightbulb lit over his head - and he cheerfully dug the sweet out of his pocket and gave it to the very happy little boy. I'm so proud of how kind Paul can be.


Quick fact: Mommy played the glockenspiel for about 20 minutes in middle school.


Roll out the barrel! And roll out the Oompah band on a truck bed.


Everyone loves the pipers. (Well, Mommy really likes them.)


Did we mention it was, like, 49 MILLION DEGREES IN THE SHADE?!?!? So. Hot.


I can't remember the name of this cycling family, but they are really cool to watch.


The highlight of the parade for Paul - hugging a Pizza mascot.


Joss made do with a cheese sandwich.


Hope everyone had a happy and healthy 4th of July!

More yogurt! More! Faster!

Joss loves yogurt. One spoon does NOT get enough yogurt to his mouth; it's way too slow. . .


Hmmm. . .if I use two spoons. . .


. . .I can eat yogurt twice as fast! Nom nom nom!!


After Mommy cleans me up, it's also a puppet!


Hey! I love yogurt too! I really, really do!


July 4, 2011

Craftmatic Adjustible Bed - not necessary

This is how I found him one night. . .


July 3, 2011

Catching up with July

Wow - the month is almost over, and there's been so little time for posting! I've started working full time again, Shawn's got some major projects ramping up, Paul has been potty training and finally got the hang of it, Joss has begun to walk and talk, and Ivan the Fish II is somehow still alive. Wait - no, he's still alive.

So . . . let the catching up commence!

Daddy & Paul Day

Daddy and Paul day today.

• An experiment at the Harvard Lab for Developmental Studies on the development of the concept of "more."
  
• Mac and Cheese lunch at a fancy schmancy restaurant
  
• Lazy nap in a quiet park
  
• Winnie-the-Pooh in a mostly empty theater
  
• Purchase of a "Cars 2" big boy bicycle (w/ training wheels) and helmet
  
• Bicycle assembly and maiden voyage on the sidewalk in front of our house
  

Whew! Quite a day.

The most beautiful band-aid in the world.

During dinner, I bumped something with my thumb, and said "ow." Paul, needing to know EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING asked, "Why you say Ow, Mommy?"

I showed him the minor cut I managed to self-inflict earlier today, and said that I had a boo-boo.

Paul nodded sympathetically, and said that I needed a band-aid.

After his bath, and once he was dressed, we went into the bathroom to cut his toenails (see post below), brush his teeth, and apply band-aids to his day-old scraped knee and my sore thumb.

With intense focus, Paul carefully peeled apart the outer wrapper of the Curious George band-aid he chose for me (refusing outright my suggestion of a plain bandage), and delicately removed the tabs from the sticky parts. He then gently placed the center of the band-aid over my boo-boo, and firmly wrapped the band-aid around my thumb.

"That feels better now, Mommy."

Yes, it does Paul, thank you. And now I have a little ache right in my heart.

Paul Andrew - Spinner of Yarns

Paul and I were in the bathroom tonight, and I was cutting his toenails. I'd pretend to cut off his pinkie toe, only to have Paul pretend that his leg was cut off, and so on until his face was cut off. We laughed together at our shared joke, and then got down to the business at hand, er, foot.

(For brevity's sake, I eliminated all the times I repeated what I thought Paul said, and Paul replied by repeating back what I said he said.)

Mommy: Now, hold still so I don't cut you by accident.

Paul: I like you to cut me by accident.

M: No, you wouldn't. It would hurt, and it would feel better by tomorrow, but it would still hurt and you would feel sad and I would feel sad that you were sad.

P: Oh. (thinks a moment) I got hit with a hammer.

M: You got hit with a hammer?

P: Yeah, Pauly and Joss got hit with a golden hammer.

M: Wow, that sounds like it must have hurt.

P: It did, it did hurt only a little bit, but it's OK.

M: What happened after you and Joss got hit with the golden hammer?

P: Pauly and Joss and Mommy and Daddy got hit with the golden hammer and turned into fire.

M: We all turned into fire?!? What did we do when we were fire?

P: We lived in the fireplace.

M: Were we happy living in the fireplace?

P: Yeah, we were happy. And then when the fire was done, we turned back into children.

M: So, Pauly and Joss and Mommy and Daddy got hit with a golden hammer that turned us into fire, and we lived in the fireplace until we turned back into children? How did we turn back into children?

P: The fire turned us back into children.

M: And what did we do once we were turned back into children?

P: We got out of the fireplace. Can I have a band-aid?

Forget About Bears and Popes. Where Does a Paul Go?

(We're at my band concert in the park. It's the end of intermission. Paul walks to the shrub in front of the gazebo where we play.)

Shawn: Paul, where are you going?

Paul: I have to pee!

Shawn: What?!?

Paul: I have to pee in the bush!

Shawn: You don't pee in bushes. You pee in the bathroom.

Paul: No! Grandpa says "Sometimes you pee in the bathroom and sometimes you pee in bushes!"

Shawn: Grandpa is meshugana.

Paul: Can you be shugna too?

Reveling in the Music

(Pictures at an Exhibition is playing on the radio)

Dad: I LOVE Pictures at an Exibition!

Paul: I love pictures and windows and challah!