Mr. Big

Porter went for his 21 month check up this week and we got his stats. He grew two inches since October to 35.5", still tall at 95% height for age. He only gained a little over 1 pound (better than I did in December) putting him at 28lb 140z. He is slimming down now, at only 75% weight for age - not a surprise since he's always on the go and has about a 2 minute attention span at meals.

Out of curiosity we went back to look at Matilda's records and Porter now measures exactly what M did at age 2.5. I guess soon we'll have to say younger brother, not little brother.

Fancy Tea

Matilda & I took Grandma Marge to the Tea Room at the Huntington Gardens today for a super fun time. It was a rainy, cool day here which made the warm tea and scones that arrived immediately at our table even more welcomed.

Matilda ate three scones straight away trying them first with butter, then cream, and then butter with cream. As you would expect, the buffet had adorable, and delicious, little sandwiches. We sampled the cucumber, watercress, egg salad, carrot ginger (mine & mom's favorite of the day), chicken salad and smoked salmon (Matilda's preferred). Mom & I both missed noticing it on the buffet, but Matilda immediately spotted the caviar and asked what it was. She quickly declared that she loved the salty fishy delicacy (like there was any doubt that she would) and proceeded to eat an unreasonable amount. She also had quite a few chocolate tart cups filled with lemon custard and cream. Tim & Porter found their own fun around the gardens while we spent a long afternoon stuffing ourselves and enjoying the rainy view out over the herb gardens. A lovely, lovely time.

Something Fun Everyday: Cardboard Box

I noticed the building had some new appliances delivered this week. We've all been sick for what seems like ever now, so I thought an infusion of home-bound fun might be in order. I called our wacky building manager and he was so eager to give the kids a "clubhouse" that he had one of the henchman bring this stove box right over.

The kids spent the better part of the afternoon playing in here and peering through the little windows we made.

I think if we aren't all healthy soon and able to get out to the park I might just lock them in the box. But, if I bust out some paint and decorating stuff I think I can keep them entertained for at least another day remodeling their new "home."

Gemma Time

Thanks to the wonder of technology we are getting a little bit of "quality time" with new baby Gemma. We have webcam chatted with her (and Papa Brian and Mama Gia) twice so far. I fear for the sweet girl that her parents might eat her right up. Look at them here just sniffing her head; she must smell delicious and so tempting!Porter makes the webcamming process pretty funny because he spends the whole time jabbing the laptop screen yelling the names of the people he is seeing over and over, and talking about how Gemma is sleeping: "baby night night, baby night night." As much as we enjoy the that we can see her this way now, I look forward to sniffing that baby head for myself!

Aunt Kristen & Uncle Tim

A new baby girl arrived in Rochester this evening making me an aunt! Uncle Tim & I are so excited about her joining the family, in fact we all are. Matilda bounced on the bed hollering "I got my first cousin, I got my first cousin!" over and over. Congrats to Bri & Gia. We love you and little GGR and can't wait to squeeze her in person.

Secret Super Hero Identities

Tonight we all got on capes and played superheroes, rescuing a series of animals trapped in the "river" (a blue pillow island). As Tim arrived home and joined the fun, he asked Matilda what our super hero names are:

Matilda: Mrs. Sparkle (sparkly nail polish and bejeweled dress)

Porter: Mr. Star (he was wearing the purple star cape)

Tim: Soft Boy (sporting a soft baby-blanket tied around his shoulders - not soft on crime)

Kristen: Sheep Girl (I had my new sheep-head shirt on)

I like how she gave the kids proper titles and the grown ups are girl & boy.

Whine Whiney Whine

The kids are trying to slowly kill us of sleep deprivation. Please just sleep, children. What is wrong with sleep? Last night for example, one went to bed at midnight and the other decided at 5:30 it was time for snacks and to play ball. That is only the tip of the iceberg; so far 2011 seems to be the Year of No Sleep. Whine. Whine Whine.

Breakfast Malfunction

I just poured coffee over the top of my plate of waffles, rather than into the empty, waiting cup next to it. I guess I really need this cup of coffee.

Needing More Options

Matilda: "Porter, do you want chicken or wine or ham or birthday cake for dinner?"

Porter: "Beans!"

In reality neither of them were right, we are having breakfast for dinner: pancakes, eggs and chicken sausage.

Scoot!

Porter got a new (Craigslist find) scooter this weekend. As he has learned how to use Matilda's scooter there has been much strife recently over sharing of scooters. We decided to find a Porter sized alternative.

It is much clunkier and slower than Matilda's, which I think is a benefit as he can't get himself into too much trouble with it. The crew heading out to hit the streets:

Off he goes, half scooting and half dragging it.

He also really likes to stand on it and have you pull/push him along like he's riding a little red chariot. Porter loves his scooter so much that we can't really talk about it unless we can drop everything at that moment and go take a spin. Matilda mentioned it during breakfast and we nearly had a catastrophe on our hands at the thought of finishing our cereal before bolting out to the patio.

Beach Day in January

It was over 80 today! We took advantage of the weather, and the fact that we had no plans for the weekend, with a big beach trip today. To say the kids both had a blast is an enormous understatement. Here's Matilda modeling her funny posing and funny beachwear. (Pardon the lens crud on these pics; it makes me wish I had thrown our new-ish camera in the ocean as this is an ongoing problem.)At first, Matilda was totally freaking out about her phobia of going out to the tide pools. She developed some irrational fear. She won't really tell us what the source if it all is, but if I tried to set her down she would climb my body like a cat. Eventually we settled on a piggyback ride. This allowed her to see the sea life (anemones, hermit crabs, regular crab, snails, seaweed, etc.), and yet still remain "safe." By the end she got a bit bolder to walk around once we lured her out with some sea stars in a sandy tide pool area.

The beach was, inexplicably, teaming with ladybugs today. Her Matilda passes yet another to Porter for him to harass. Sharing so nicely.

Incoming!Inspecting her prized find of the day, a pinchy crab leg.

Happy, happy kids.

For living so close to the beach we don't go nearly enough.

Shaggy Boy Be Gone

I am really enjoying my mornings with Porter while Matilda is at school. Today we went to the toy store to look for some sand toys, which I realized recently Porter is very into but we are lacking. We didn't find quite what I wanted but Porter did have a fantastic time pushing every noisy buttoned toy in the place. After our busy morning of play, Porter caught a quick nap at the park while M picnicked with school pals. This boy is a champion napper.
We realized after they left, that Matilda's bud had left his hat behind. She was happy to have a turn with it and it reminded me it has been too long since she's had a cowboy hat that fits.
I finally got up the guts to give Porter a long-overdue big haircut tonight. He was exhausted and so cranky by the end that the bangs were going horrible and may need major fixes another day. We'll have to see how it all shakes out in the morning after some rest and perspective.
After pictures to come soon. As soon as I decide the whole thing doesn't look awful!

Goofy Goofs

These guys are fun.

Dark Humor

Matilda has been having a hard time sleeping through the night since we've gotten home from our holiday travels. Tim gets the brunt of it as we have split duties at night: Porter is mine, Matilda is his. Today I was trying to talk to Matilda about what was making her wake up so much, what she was thinking about, why she was having such a hard time getting settled back to sleep, etc. After a quiet moment considering it, she replied "Sometimes I just need to wake Daddy up and tell him that it is still nighttime."