What's Wrong With a Little TV?

I was home alone with the boys all day yesterday. We watched Tataw (small pause) Shoo (of course) in the morning, but spent most of the day TV-less. I realize our TV is always on. Or really, Josh has pointed it out to me on several occasions. I blame it on my childhood. The only times the TV was off was when someone died or it was time to do homework. Since neither of those things are happy reasons, I prefer the TV to be on. And, let's face it, my siblings and I might be lazy, but we're all pretty smart, so I don't see the TV as a brain-sucking box. Plus, I'm one of those people who can tune out the TV to read a book. Or tune out people to watch TV.

What was I saying? Right.

So, I entertained the children most of the day. We played Go Fish, we had lunch, we played Wii (in my defense, it was the Wii Fit, so we were getting exercise while looking at the brain-sucking box). Anyway, by the time dinner came around, I was spent. I let them run amuck while I checked my email. I have reason to believe the no TV made the boys a little stir crazy. That or it was the sugar they were eating straight out of the canister (what? I was busy playing on the computer, I can't watch them every second).

Anyway, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Andrew yelling and chasing after Nicholas with something in his hands. Seemed a little big, so I looked and realized it was the banister.

Yeah, I'll take that brain-sucking box over a trip to the emergency room any day.

Niko knows body parts

We were, once again, watching Star Wars. Andrew got a little overzealous and started hitting Nicholas with his light saber. So, Niko came over to show me his war wounds. He pointed to his hand ("heya") and then his arm ("n dis") and his little bucket ("my butt").

Hee. "Butt" came out perfectly. Of course.

Shredded Cheese

So, I have a friend who is moving into a new house. She has a lot of old paperwork she wants to get rid of and asked to borrow our paper shredder. I asked Josh if she could borrow it and he asked what she needed it for.

Andrew's response?

"Maybe she has to shred some cheese."

Another Fan in the Making

On the way home from our friend, Heather's, the other night, I played a little Paul Anka on the radio for my sister, Mary. Andrew was in the backseat with Alexis and asked me to play the "wake up in each other's arms" song.

What's that, you say? You want to hear, "Why Don't We Sleep on it Tonight?" Well, sure!

So, I played it. And the kid already knows some of the words!

In addition to his appreciation of the awesomeness of Paul Anka, Andrew's other favorite songs include (but are not limited to) the following:

• "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash
• "Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash (which he calls "the train song")
  
• "Fragile" by Kylie Minogue
• "Apache" by the Sugar Hill Gang (which he likes to call "Jumponie")
• the theme song to "Star Wars" (of course)
  

What a kid. I'm so proud.

It's Getting Worse

This time, I caught Niko, pants down... with an open jar of Aquaphor (for those who don't know, it's like Vaseline).

I do NOT want to know what his intentions were.

I'm horrified. And glad I stopped him in time.

Also, I swear, he's dropping the F bomb. He said it when I got him out of bed this morning. I told him not to say that word, so, of course, he kept saying it. He can't possibly know that word, we never say it in front of him. It's got to be Nikospeak for pizza or something... right?

Huh?

Nicholas turned 2 in September. Over the last couple months, he has gotten quite the vocabulary. I was once told that, by 2, the ones closest to the child can understand what the child is saying, and, by 3, everyone can. However, there are times even I don't understand this sweet boy.

There are plenty of words that are pretty clear. Mommy, Daddy, DooDoo (okay, it's not Andrew, but it's close enough), Yiayia, Popou, kitty... I'm good.

Then there are the WTF words. He'll say something that sounds like a real word, but when you ask if that's what he meant, he'll most likely tell you no. And usually with a look like, "Why don't you understand me, stupid lady?"

Examples:
fouvou: light saber (really?)
tataw (small pause) shoo: Star Wars
outsow: Still have no idea what this is. You'd think outside, but you'd be wrong (or so he keeps telling me).
boon: At a loss. Boot? No. Book? No. Bug? No.

Eventually, he gets fed up with me and sits back down.

Poor kid. Has an idiot for a mother.

This kid is going to get it

Again, I was at the computer after dinner. Andrew asked for dessert. Because I was in the middle of an email, I asked him to wait just a second. Which, of course, turned into a few minutes.

At first, I told him to get the cookies himself, but he informed me that he's not allowed up on the counter to grab the glass jar.

Oh. Right. He's not.

So, I got up and got him his cookies. As I handed them over, he said, "See? That wasn't so hard, was it?"

He's cruisin' for a bruisin'.

Pop Quiz

After dinner, I asked Andrew if he liked what we had. Did he say:

A) I loved it!
B) I wanted to marry it!
C) I wanted to kiss it on the lips!
D) I wanted to dance with it!
E) All of the above

The correct answer is E.

and Part 3

So, this time, while I was out of the room, Niko took off a poopy diaper. Running around with no pants on, dirty bucket and all.

I cleaned him up, but I have no idea where he pooped. I haven't found it yet.

I'm fairly optimistic I'll be able to find it quickly.

I need to duct tape the damdiaper to his body.

Put Your Pants Back On (Part Deux)

In addition to Nicholas taking his pants off every chance he gets, he has now graduated to pooping on our floor.

Sigh.

Put Your Pants Back On!

What is it with boys and being naked? Are you all so proud of your junk that it needs to be shown at all times? Does it need to breathe or something? And does it have to start at such a young age??

I was in front of the computer last night, minding my own business, when I looked over and found that Nicholas had pulled down his pants and taken off his diaper. When did he learn to take off his diaper? Are we going to have this problem each time we go out in public? I could just see him whipping out that thing in the frozen food aisle at Giant Eagle.

Anyway, my mother has always said that our children take after their godparents and I'm seeing, once again, that this is true. My brother, Dean, Niko's godfather, likes to walk around naked, too.

Apparently it's not something you grow out of.

May the Force Be With You

It's official. The boys are addicted to Star Wars. At least once a day I am asked to watch Attack of the Clones. Don't they know that Episodes IV, V and VI are way better? I mean Han Solo alone.

Princess Leia: "I love you."
Han Solo: "I know."

Heh.

And take a guess what Andrew was for Halloween.

I hate cold and flu season

So, it's October. The leaves have turned beautiful shades of orange, red and yellow. The air is crisp and cool. It's time for sweater weather, football...

and the stupid flu.

Both boys have had a virus the last week. Andrew worse than Nicholas. High fever, bad cough. It's been fun. Because it's a virus, I knew the doctor couldn't do anything for him, so we have been home, resting and drinking fluids all week. Andrew was getting better, so he went to school yesterday for the first time this week. He made it until about 3:30 and got another fever. So, I decided it was time for the doctor.

I normally hate going to the doctor for viruses. I always feel like a failure when we make the effort to drive there, he gets checked and we leave with nothing more than a prescription for rest and fluids. I could've done that!

But today was different. He has an ear infection. We got a prescription.

Score!

Okay, it's fall and I still suck at this

It's only been, oh, 6 months since I've written. But since no one reads this, who really cares?

We had a great summer. It was unseasonably cold this summer, but we did manage to get to the pool. Andrew loved it, Nicholas did not. They are going to be as different as night and... later that night.

Nicholas continues to worship the ground Andrew walks on. And Andrew tolerates him. Andrew is more interested in abusing his older brother authority and enjoys reprimanding Nicholas as often as possible. But, since Nicholas loves Andrew so much, as long as he's getting attention from Andrew, he'll do whatever he says.

We celebrated the boys' birthdays recently. Andrew is 5 and is now expecting to go to kindergarten. Every day, he asks if he can go. I tell him he has to wait a year, but he is having none of that. So, he keeps asking and I keep giving him the same answer. 5 is fun.

Nicholas turned 2. He wasn't talking much until a few weeks ago. He now repeats everything you say (note to self: stop thinking out loud) and can put 2 word sentences together. "Hiiiiiieee Mama!" "Tangya (thank you) Mama!" And always with such enthusiasm. Hilarious.

Last weekend, we went to Boston for my cousin's wedding and left the boys home with Angie, God bless her. She tried to get the boys to talk to me on the phone, but Andrew wasn't interested and Niko just said, "Meemee? Yiayia? Dada?" Seriously? Would it kill him to pretend he loves me?!

So, maybe I'll get better at this posting someday. If not, you'll hear from me by Andrew's high school graduation. Happy Fall!

Happy Easter

And, as always, I suck at keeping this updated.

This past weekend was Easter. As tradition, the week prior is spent at church. We're supposed to go Wednesday, Thursday, twice on Friday, twice on Saturday. However, in reality...

We started out strong on Wednesday. But, by Thursday, we quickly fell apart. We skipped Thursday and missed one entire service on Friday. We rallied by evening and went again Saturday morning. And again crumbled by Saturday night. I feel like I'm still ahead of the game, though. This is the most we've gone in months, so I figure we're good for another few months.

We had Easter dinner at Mom and Dad's. Mom, as always, put on a big feast. Lamb, pastistio, tiropitas, salad, etc. This year, we had a full house. Mom invited my nona and her family and Pete's nono and his family. And, of course, my in-laws. Which brings me to the point of my story.

My in-laws. I love 'em. But I don't understand 'em. Jeanne, unfortunately, was hit with a case of food poisoning, so my father-in-law came alone. Bearing gifts, of course. Ah, the gifts. Books this year, which are always a hit. However, the books themselves were questionable. For Andrew, Walter the Farting Dog. Yes, you read that right. A story about a farting dog. With graphic images and everything. And for poor sweet baby Nicholas? I Stink.

Ah, gotta love the in-laws. Andrew has been telling everyone the title of his book. Hilarious.

Bowling

After watching Andrew beat the pants off of us on Wii bowling, we thought it was time to take him to a real bowling alley. We called up Dean and Megs and our parents and went up to Buckeye Lanes last Saturday. The kids had fun. Those stinkin' balls are heavy, though, even the kids' balls. I thought Alexis was going to fall backward. Andrew got a few strikes... not as many as on the Wii, but I thought he did a great job for his first time. He told Popou that next time, he wants to go just the two of them.

And poor Nicholas. That kid is dying to play with the big kids. Thank goodness Dean and Megs are having another baby so Niko has someone to play with! He wanted to bowl as well, so I let him push one bowling ball down the lane. He wanted to chase after it, but they frown upon that stuff there.

We took some video of Andrew throwing his ball down the lane, but didn't capture the results. You'll just have believe me when I say it was a strike.

Living in Ohio

Well, winter is upon us. We've been pretty lucky so far, no real snow and the weather has stayed pretty mild. But yesterday and today have felt like winter and it'll be like this for the next 6 months. It's depressing. On the way home from school yesterday, Andrew and I had a great conversation, which pretty much went like this:

Me: "Andrew, Mommy hates the cold and snow. Let's move somewhere warm."
Andrew: "Like Florida?" (How does he know that Florida is warm anyway?)
Me: "Yes, like Florida. We could live near Nana and Papa."
Andrew: "And Mickey Mouse." (Again, how does he know this stuff? We don't talk about where Mickey lives)
Me: "Right, Mickey Mouse lives in Florida. Want to move down there?"
Andrew (adamant): "NO, Mommy. We moved to Ohio and that's where we're staying!"

Well, then.

So, when he grows up and tells me he wants to move somewhere, are we going to have this same conversation in reverse?

Happy New Year!

No, really. I am going to be better about this blog this year. It's one of my resolutions. heh. Okay, not really, but whatever. I'm going to try anyway.

Christmas is over and now we're trying to find places to put all the new toys. Where do we put the older toys? Can everything just go in the basement? Would that mean we'd have to spend time in the basement? So many questions, so little inclination to do anything about it. Right now, most of the new things are shoved in the corner of the family room. It's not pretty.

It was a good Christmas, though. Santa was very good to the boys. Andrew has a new obsession. Bakugans. How did he learn about them? I didn't even know they existed. He came home one day from school and told me all about them. I thought at first it was just his creative imagination, but then decided to google them. Sure enough, they exist. And they are a phenomena. Who knew? So, he received some of those for Christmas, which have quickly become his favorite toys.

Nicholas also received some good gifts. He is a big fan of balls, so he got a toy that pops balls out of it. He loves it, but we keep losing the stinkin' balls. And, because he likes dogs so much, he got a dog that claps and sings. He loves it. It's already starting to bug me.