Busy days

Liam has started getting more and more table foods.  Dean even made him his own mini Mickey Mouse pancake one morning.

Dean's mom turned 60, and we had a surprise birthday party for her at our house.  Here are the boys with their Grammy

Both boys looking out the window.  Liam can't quite see the street yet, but he can see things that are high up.

Dean with both arms full of boys

We went outside in the snow in early April, figuring it would probably be our last chance to play in the snow until next season.  In fact, it was pretty amazing that even this much snow accumulated, considering how warm it's been around here lately.  We've already broken out the short sleeved shirts and have largely abandoned coats/jackets when going out.  We're not wearing shorts yet, though.  Not quite yet.

Walking on all fours

"Eat some snow Dada!"

The brief moment in which Liam sat in the snow before crying

Black bean residue on Liam's face makes him look like he has stubble.  Time to shave, baby!

Our little future Jedi, playing with the light sabre

The librarian invited a woman who is raising chickens to storytime one day, and the children were invited to come touch them

Liam didn't touch, but he did like to look

We turned on the sprinklers one evening, and Robin wanted to run around in them.  So I said fine, and got him into swim trunks and a shirt

Very wet for evening in early April!

Robin decided to try on Liam's pants

Robin getting a hug after delivering his birthday card to Uncle Dan

Happy Easter

The week before Easter, our city had an egg hunt.  It's not really a hunt, more of a race.  The field is sectioned off into four areas (for ages 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8) and the grass is strewn with eggs and other little toys.  When the horn blows, the children race in and gather up eggs in an Easter frenzy.  Fortunately, the different age groups prevent the little ones from getting trampled by the much more competitive older children.

We discovered this egg hunt last year and decided it was so much fun that we're going to keep going for as long as we live here, or as long as our kids are young enough, whichever expires first.  It's only $1 per child, and definitely worth it.

Even though Liam isn't one yet, we decided to pay admission for him too, and let him crawl around the 1-2 age area, collecting the eggs that he grabbed onto.

Of course, since the boys are in different age groups, that meant Dean and I had to split too.  This means the actual pictures of the egg hunt are of Liam, because I had the camera with Liam.  Dean got a nice long video of Robin though.

The babies/toddlers are allowed to have their parents help them with the hunt.  In fact, they need it ("Pick up that egg.  That one right by your foot.  Don't step on it, pick it up!  Good!  Now get another one.  No, don't open it yet, get another egg.  Don't you want another egg?")  Starting at age 3, though, parents aren't allowed to cross the ropes.  We just get to cheer from the other side.  The 3 and 4 year olds are still somewhat aimless, which is cute.  The older kids were on the other side of the field, so we don't know how frienzied it gets when you graduate to age 5.

Liam actually ended up with more eggs than Robin.  This is because every time he grabbed and egg, I took it from him and put it in his basket, encouraging him to find more.  Robin, on the other hand, had to amble along under his own power--and again, that age group was fairly aimless.  It doesn't matter, though, because all the prizes were too little for Liam anyway, so Robin reaped the reward of both of their hunts.

Robin actually surprised us that day.  The hunt was the morning after his toe injury, and we weren't sure how much walking he would want to do.  Dean carried him into the area because we didn't want to make him walk that far.  I'd expected him to just focus on the eggs in a small area near where Dean would be watching from, so I was amazed to learn that he'd ventured across nearly the entire 3-4 area.

Much fun was had by all.  This is a tradition worth repeating!

We decorated a lot of Easter eggs this year.  I combined part of it with a craft.  I had Robin dip the eggs in paint and then roll them around on paper (paper I had cut into egg shapes.) 

This not only made a painting, but gave the eggs a very nice tie-dye look.

We decorated a lot with a traditional egg dye kit too.  Robin has gotten much better about not splashing the dye, although he didn't have the patience to leave the eggs in for very long

Liam "helped" too!

Dean decided to make a Jack-o-lantern egg

And now a message from Robin himself:
robinbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb

tgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
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Robin was so eager to see his Easter goodies, he ran out before getting fully dressed

Liam making a grab for his basket

The Easter Bunny hid a bunch of eggs in our backyard for Robin to find

Including some that were high up!

The EB also hid some on the deck for Liam

Liam's had Cheerios inside

Robin got candy and goldfish crackers, and a few new matchbox cars!

Eggs are for eating, aren't they?

After breakfast we set out for my parents' house, where we had our feast and the children got spoiled rotten by all the Easter goodies given to them.

The boys also had another egg hunt, sponsored by my parents

Robin with his eggs

Getting more goodies

Robin tossing his new bunny in the air (mid-air shots are such fun)

Liam and Great Grandma

Finally, while Liam napped, Mom, Dean, and I took Robin to the park.  He and this little girl really hit it off and played together for a while.  That was great to see, since Robin doesn't interact with his peers all that often.  If this park had been near our house, I would've been asking her father for their phone number to arrange play dates.

After Liam woke up, Dad brought him to the park to join us

So that was our Easter!  Fun-filled and jam-packed, and we're still working through all the sugar.  We will be for some time.  I hope you all had a great Easter too!

testing

I'm still figuring out how the videos work for the camera I got last August.  This is at a park today.  I'm seeing if it works.

Hmm, looks like it worked.  Enjoy!

Hello all

My mom found this food idea online, and I decided to make it for Robin for lunch.  Octo-dog!

Liam had bed head (though it's kind of hard to see)

Robin getting a story from Uncle Dan and Theresa

Robin's view of a game of Apples to Apples with Uncle Dan and Theresa

A graduate student studying Library Sciences at DU set up a baby storytime at our library for a research project of some sort, and we reaped the rewards.  For six weeks, Liam got to have his own special storytime separate from his brother's, complete with songs, boardbooks, and other babies.

Robin with his lion

Robin's been experimenting with potty/poop humor lately.  I find it amazing how he can find this stuff funny even though he's had no exposure to peers who do this.  I guess kids just find stuff that we're supposed to do behind closed doors amusing.  We're doing our best to ignore it so we don't encourage it in any way.  Hopefully it won't last too long.

Robin is getting a lot better at music.  He can carry a tune now, and he likes to sing.  He can also find the beat with a drum.  Not all the time, but there was one night that I was singing and he was hitting his drum along to the beat.  He even skipped a beat where the song had a silent one (I wish I could remember what song it was so I could give a better description, but alas, I can't remember.  It impressed me though.)

We recently heard a song about ducks, with the line "He led the others with a quack quack quack."   Robin didn't quite hear this right, and has been running around singing "He let the others go quack quack quack."  And you know, I can totally see why that's what he heard.

We've been spending a LOT of time trying to teach Robin not to interrupt lately.  We keep reminding him that if someone else is talking, he needs to say "excuse me" and then wait for that person to acknowledge him and say that they're ready to hear what he has to say first.  It's slow going.  He doesn't usually want to wait, and when prompted with "who's talking?" or "what are you supposed to say when someone else is talking?" he often doesn't want to answer.  But we're working on it.  The amusing part is that he often forgets what he so badly wanted to tell us, so when we finally let him talk or ask him what it is, he'll just say "hi" or make something up.  Silly kid.

Liam keeps growing, though I find it's harder for me to see than it was when Robin was the same age.  I remember always thinking that Robin was so big, but Liam seems less so to me.  I think it's mainly because I see Robin and Liam next to each other every day, and Liam still seems to small compared to Robin.

Liam's been having a bit of a difficult time lately, I think some more teeth are coming it.  As I write this, he still only has two, but I think the top front ones are probably millimeters away.  They may even be in before I post this (I'm writing on Saturday.)  Perhaps I'll update this if he cuts them.  Or perhaps not.  There will always be more posts.

Liam is a very social creature.  He likes to be with us, no matter where we are.  He regularly follows us around the house all day.  He's learning to imitate his brother more and more.  Sometimes I wonder what he makes of the world he sees around him.  He's still crawling and cruising, and has not set off across the floor on his feet yet.  He's getting better balance though, and can hold on with just one hand.  And his crawling is very fast.  He's very curious and loves to explore.

Liam is also at the point now where he likes to hold things (like toys) out to us, but then pull it away when we reach for it.  Except for Robin.  Robin doesn't let him pull such things away, Robin grabs them out of his hand and says "Liam gave me a ___!"

Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention.  Robin injured his toe a few weeks ago.  He dropped his cat piano on his foot in the kitchen, which took the toenail clean off.  Well, mostly clean off.  We took him to the ER and they removed it (it was hanging on by a thread.)  Robin has recovered quite well.  He doesn't act like his toe hurts at all except when he can see the injury--changing band-aids and removing stuck gauze has sometimes been an ordeal, but when socks are covering it up, he doesn't favor his left foot at all.  He came out of this okay, although it may be months before the nail grows back.  Robin is getting to know the ER far too well.