My Beautiful Babies

A Little Guitar Fun

Ron played a song for Danielle on Tyler's guitar tonight. He made up something about a girl named Danielle and her dog named Hunter. I thought we should close the windows so the neighbors couldn't hear, but she loved it. (Look how intently she's watching him!) After that the kids took turns making up songs as they played Tyler's guitar.

Danielle's song was about Tyler and Daddy.

I think Tyler's song was about the dogs. We had a lot of fun.

Recognize the overalls Danielle is wearing? These were actually Tyler's a couple years ago:

Ahhhh...Young Love

My son, who usually could care less if his hair gets combed or if his lunch is all over his shirt, stopped me on the way out the door to preschool today. "Look at me, " he said, standing back so I could see all of him. He wanted me to comment on his appearance. When we got in the van, he climbed up into the front seat and flipped the visor down, opening the mirror. "I need to see how I look. Make sure I look ok." He checked out his face and hair and jumped back into his seat. When I asked him why he was suddenly concerned with how he looked, he replied, "I need to be sure I look good for M**. So she'll still like me." I reassured him that it doesn't matter how he looks. As long as he treats his friends with kindness, they'll continue to like him. Of course, I said it all with a huge grin stretching across my face. They are so cute together.

When he got to school, he wasn't even through the threshold yet when he hollered out her name. A smiling face peered around the other kids and yelled, "Tyler!" He threw his jacket next to his hook and ran over to see his friend. Sadly he wasn't quite as happy when I picked him up. Seems another little girl was a little jealous of the attention Tyler was giving M**. The other little girl squeezed herself in between them at snack time and circle time. This same little girl was in the play area at the grocery store this weekend when Tyler & Danielle were in there. She drew a picture for Tyler before he left that day. Ahhh. Young love.

Yesterday when we got home from church, the dogs greeted us at the door. We always crate them when we're gone. They're happy in their crates, and we're happy because they don't get into anything. We must have been in too big a hurry to get to church on time and forgot about them. Ron immediately worried they had gone to the bathroom somewhere. My concern, though, was for the furry hors d'oeuvres sleeping in their cages in the playroom. I cryptically expressed my concern to Ron over the children's heads, and he ran downstairs to check on everyone while the kids were shedding their jackets. The fat rats were sleeping soundly in their cages. Whew! We didn't think much more about it until we were cleaning their cages tonight. When Ron put the cages back, he noticed claw marks on the drywall, just under the window where one of the hamsters was sitting! We think (hope) Hunter was probably just trying to get a closer look.

Another Birthday Celebration

Yesterday afternoon Grandma & Grandpa C & Uncle Ron came over to celebrate Tyler's birthday. We had a nice time. Tyler got his Magic School Bus cake, complete with Ms. Frizzle and Liz. It tasted as good as it looked. Tyler enjoyed his presents. He has spent the most time playing with his Explorer Backpack. It was full of stuff, including binoculars, a lantern, flashlight, & utility belt for carrying everything. His absolute favorite gift, though, was his guitar from Uncle Ron. For some reason, Tyler decided a few months ago he really wanted one - a REAL one. He has been so gentle and careful with it. He replaces it in its box after he plays with it, and wants it put up where Danielle can't reach it. And I appreciate the fact that it is not very loud! Here are some pictures from our afternoon together.

Tyler opening his Explorer Backpack. Danielle got a gift or two, also.

Tyler & all his backpack stuff.

Tyler opening his guitar.

Tyler & his guitar today. He played us a couple songs.

Happy Birthday to Tyler!

Wow! My little boy is 5 years old today! Ron and I were reminiscing last night about when he was born. I went into labor on Thursday evening, while we were watching President Bush's speech regarding the 9/11 terror attacks. We waited through most of the night and headed to the hospital early Friday morning. On the way there, we had to pull off the freeway so I could throw up. I remember being nervous and excited, all at the same time. (I was so much more calm for Danielle's birth!) My poor mom, who had been at the hospital with us almost all day, went home to feed the dogs for us. While she was gone, Tyler finally decided he was ready to make his entrance. He arrived around 5pm on Friday - the smallest yet biggest miracle I'd ever seen (until his little sister was born). I remember being overwhelmed by how strong my feelings of love were for him. And over the past five years they've only grown stronger. To put it in Tyler's language, I love him way past 21. My little boy is not so little any more.

Tyler spent the day with Grandma & Grandpa R at the science museum. He had a great time. He spent the most time telling me about the explosion show. Apparently they attended a show where a guy exploded a variety of items: a balloon w/a sparkler, a bottle w/some corks in it, etc. As he was telling me about the different explosions, he stressed how loud they were & that everyone had to cover their ears. He told me all about this while I was putting him to bed. After talking about the explosions, he got quite for a little while. Then he said, "When we were at the explosion show and something exploded, I peed my pants. For real." I initially thought he was joking because that's something his father would have said. Fortunately I didn't laugh. He wasn't joking. I said, "Did you tell Grandma & Grandpa." "No." "Did it go down your leg?" "No." "It didn't go down your leg. It was just a little bit then?" "No. It stayed in my underwear." "I'm sorry. Why didn't you tell Grandma & Grandpa?" "Because it was embarrassing." I felt bad for him and again very aware of just how big he's getting. He continued, "I didn't have any other clothes to wear. You didn't send any more. You should have sent extra clothes for me." "You're right. I should have. Next time I will. I'm sorry you had an accident." We were quiet again for a couple minutes. Finally he broke the silence by asking, "What is a fart?" (He really meant why do we fart?) and "Why does it make noise? Sometimes my farts make noise and sometimes they don't. Why is that?" Guess he wasn't too traumatized by the peeing incident.

Tyler asked to go to Hoggy's for his birthday dinner. He said he really liked their macaroni & cheese and wanted to go there so he could have some. Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Aya, & Kotomi all joined us. We had a very nice dinner, despite the fact that Tyler did not like his macaroni & cheese this time. Danielle and Kotomi were so funny together. They picked at each other, told knock knock jokes, and giggled together. At the end of our meal the waitresses brought Tyler a piece of cake and sang to him. He hung his head and looked a little embarrassed. Later I asked him if he was embarrassed when they sang to him. He said, "No. I was just really glad it was my birthday."

After we got home tonight, he opened all his birthday cards. ("Look, Mom! I'm Bob the Builder!") He opened each card and had me read it to him, including the name of the person who sent it to him. After I read the last card, he sadly said, "Oh. So there weren't any from M** then?" That was the pretty little girl from yesterday. Already she's breaking his heart. He recovered quickly and enjoyed playing with his new toys, especially his camera. These are some pictures he took tonight. The picture quality is very poor, but he did a pretty good job.

While Tyler was at the museum w/Grandma & Grandpa, Danielle and I baked cupcakes for Tyler's class. We made frog cupcakes. We had a good afternoon together & Danielle enjoyed being an only child for awhile. Tomorrow Tyler gets to have a little party at snack time. Maybe M** will wish Tyler a happy birthday then.

Fences, Hamsters, & Girlfriends

Our internet crashed last night, so I was disconnected from the world. We have an internet phone, so that was useless, too. Our power was off earlier for about 30 minutes. When it came back on our Directv wasn't working. So for awhile last night, we had no tv, no phone, and no internet. AAaahh. We had to talk to each other. Actually, Ron gave up and went to bed early. Guess we didn't have that much to talk about.

They started putting our fence up yesterday. They put the posts in and will come back later this week to finish it. After they were done Danielle walked outside, looked at it, and said, "It doesn't look like much of a fence, Mom."

Last night we took apart Hamster's & Girl's cages to give them a good cleaning. Their previous owners did not invest much time in keeping them clean. We got them nice and clean, put them all back together, and moved them downstairs to the playroom. Before I went to bed last night I had the sudden urge to go check on the hamsters. It was a good thing I did. Danielle's fluffy hamster was training for a marathon on its wheel, but Tyler's hamster was NOT in his cage. As I was standing there, staring at the cage, letting it register that a furry piece of dog food was loose in the house somewhere, I heard a noise at my feet. Tyler's hamster had crawled out of his cage, down out of the window sill to the floor, and was scurrying around in Danielle's baby doll cradle. Nearby was a partially nibbled goldfish cracker. I breathed a sigh of relief, scooped him up and placed him back in his cage. I added some tape to the places I thought Hamster might be using to escape. This morning we hurried downstairs before the dogs & kids were up to be sure everyone was still where they belonged. They were. No lives lost... yet. I thought Hamster's escapades were rather amusing and told Tyler about it this morning. Once I reassured him Hamster was not dead, Tyler thought it was pretty funny, too. These pictures are from their time together tonight.

In between stopping for groceries, taking Tyler to school, and working on the ABC song w/Danielle, I spent my day looking for the elusive T!ckle Me E!mo. Seems like I'm always a day late when it comes to top Ebay sellers. Yesterday those silly $40 toys were selling for $200!!! When I looked this morning, they were selling for $120. By the time I found some to sell, the market was saturated and they're only selling for about $65-$85 now. They are sold out EVERYWHERE. Well, everywhere except Ebay.

This weekend Tyler received his first non-family birthday party invitation. He was SO excited! It's for a little girl in his class, and it's at a gymnastics place nearby. The kids get to go and do some tumbling and running around. It sounds like a lot of fun (and not so much clean up for the mom!). Tyler can't remember anyone's name in his class (except his teacher's), so he wasn't sure who this little girl is. On the way to school I encouraged him to find out. When we got to Tyler's class today, a very cute little girl w/long blonde hair hopped across the room and stopped in front of Tyler. She threw her arms up in the air and said, "Tyler! Are you coming to my party!" When he said yes, she threw her arms around him and gave him a huge hug. Tyler hugged her back. It was so cute. (Ron asked me later if Tyler was embarrassed. She was very cute. I don't think he was embarrassed at all. I think he enjoyed it.) I told Tyler to find out what she'd like to have for her birthday. He asked her, and she put one hand on his shoulder and leaned up to whisper in his ear. (This kid is a flirt!!) I was standing several feet away but could hear her loudly whisper, "I want something princessy." It was so cute watching the two of them together. When I picked Tyler up this afternoon, he immediately informed me he and this little girl played together all day. They sat together, played on the merry-go-round together, played in class together. Tyler was obviously smitten with her. Although I quite clearly heard what she wanted, I asked Tyler. He told me she'd like to have something princessy (which sounded quite funny coming from his mouth). He thought for a minute and said, "I think we should get her some makeup. That's princessy isn't it?" He thought for another second and then added, "Well, you put it on and it makes you look like a princess." This whole interaction between them and the obvious contemplation that had occurred after their parting was sooo sweet. Danielle is already calling her Tyler's girlfriend. She's such a good little sister!

(This is Danielle playing w/her toy that sings the ABC song. She looked particularly girly today.)

Our New Addition(s)

We did something a little nuts today. We gave Tyler an early birthday present (that wasn't the nuts part). After months and months of begging, we got him a hamster. Actually, we got 2.

During one of my daily searches of www.craigslist.com, I found someone who was GIVING AWAY 2 hamsters, 2 cages, bedding, food, and supplies. Free! That's kind of hard to beat. So, Ron and I made arrangements to pick them up after he got off work. We told the kids we were picking up birthday surprises for both of them, but didn't tell them what. When I walked out of the house w/the first hamster cage, I could hear Tyler shriek through the closed van door! They were both SO excited.

Tyler picked the black & white hamster; Danielle got the brown & white one. Despite Ron's pleas to be a little more creative, Tyler named his "Hamster" and Danielle named hers "Girl". There was a lot of happy laughter and squealing tonight. (The dogs were not as pleased.)