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Who is that???

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The next evolution in Owen’s linguistic development is beginning to emerge. Previously he regularly called out for “Mapi” (Mama+Papi) for something. It might go like this:

“Mapi, did you see that that?”

“Mapi, I want warm milk…”

“No, no, I want Mapi.”

Who steps up when he calls out “Mapi!” ? We both do of course.

Recently he’s added a new one: “Pami” [pronounced ‘pahmee’] = Papi+Mommy. Tonight at dinner we heard:

1. “I can’t have that hot dog Pami

2. “Pami, I want pudding.”

3. “Did you see that, that Pami???

1 could have been for me or Heather – I sat next to Owen, but Heather makes dinner
2 could have been for me or Heather – same as reason one
3 could have been for me or Heather – just depends on the toddler antics of the moment

But ultimately, like Mapi – it makes me proud that our boy sees the care he gets from both of us as so equal that he mashes up the language into one call out.

That, or he’s just super super clever on how to get the maximum reaction for the minimum spoken word.

How Weird?…

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… How weird is it that Kyle has insisted on wearing a Dora the Explorer Band Aid (for no medical reason) right in the center of his forhead for the past three days straight (including at daycare, at home, and at night – he won’t even take it off for bed)???…

Sunday
Monday

Tuesday

MorFar Visits for the Superbowl!

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My dad has been doing some work-travel in our area and planned in an overnight at our house for Superbowl Sunday. The boys knew he was due to arrive “after nap.” Owen woke up from his nap first and was too excited about “MorFar almost here” that he just had to wake up his brother too. We were down in the playroom, he had finished his milk, and could hardly contain himself. He said, “I go get Kyle. Mama you stay here. Stay HERE!” I decided to just let him do it. I listened at the bottom of the stairs and heard Owen run into Kyle’s room and wake him up with “Kyle! MorFar almost here! MorFar almost here!!!” Within seconds the two of them were downstairs staring out the playroom windows just waiting for MorFar’s arrival. In perfect timing –within just a minute or two– my dad was strolling to the front door, and the boys were bouncing off the wall. Man, oh man, do they love their grandfather. His gift this time: Patriots hats! As some of you know, our boys are a rare toddler breed: they love wearing hats, will choose to wear hats, and will keep hats on for long long stretches (always have). MorFar put the hats on their heads and said, “Listen, no matter who is playing in the Superbowl, YOU ARE PATRIOTS FANS. New England Patriots. Got that???” — “Yup MorFar!” “Yup MorFar!” (truth is: whatever MorFar says, does, eats, breathes, sleeps is GOLD TRUTH 100% “YUP MORFAR” to K & O). After a couple hours of MorFar loving we headed to our next-door-neighbor’s house for a little Superbowl Party.
Sandy is a huge sports fanatic and is working very hard to indoctrinate the boys. They were more than happy to sit on her lap, eat pizza, drink juice boxes, and be mesmorized by the big screen.
They are, however, their mother’s sons… by far their favorite part was the Halftime Show! ;0
We got home just in time to watch it before the boys went to bed — in fact, K & O were so inspired by seeing Prince play guitar that they ran to get their guitars too.

Owen

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Owen has an incredibly long attention span for things that require a lot of patience and fine motor skills. This might suprise you if you know much about Owen — because Owen is also an incredibly spirited child who is extraordinarily physical and active. But he takes time to focus on things that he’s interested in; he patiently gets all of his trains connected by their magnets and moves them carefully along their train tracks; he quietly works on changing the diaper of his doll (Douglas James); he spends long stretches of time doing sorting games and puzzles; he figures out how things work and then operates them with calm and patience. In this photo he was playing quietly on the floor with a toy garbage truck. He is able to put the “dumpster” on and off the truck — which is not at all easy to do. This patience and concentration is something noticeable about Owen.

Kyle

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Kyle has an incredible love of books. This might suprise you if you know much about Kyle — at first glance Kyle seems super-active and easily distracted. He is those things, but he’s also always had an incredibly long attention span for reading. I remember when we first got him — we were in the hotel in Haiti and we had brought two board books with us. Kyle would just sit on our laps and just watch/listen to those two books over and over and over. I remember saying to Braydon on the second or third day: “This child is going to be a poet or an author or something — he is so focused and determined and expressive.” Kyle has continued to have an extraordinary love of books and reading. At this point, he has about 50-60 books memorized (no joke); he literally can turn each page and recite each book word-for-word. In this photo he was “reading” at the table in his bedroom — a very common activity for him — he was turning the pages of one of his current favorite’s Please Baby Please by Spike Lee and his wife (click here for info). As he turned each page he recited the words on each absolutely perfectly. This ability to “read” so many books, and this love of books is something noticeable about Kyle.

Water, water everywhere – and in the walls

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Recently Kyle discovered the joy of playing with water. More accurately, he re-discovered it, since both boys really have always loved it. But what he discovered is playing in the upstairs sink by himself with the soap (see blog post here). Today, he enlightened Owen to the joys of the sink and the soap.

Heather and I decided we could let them play for a couple minutes while we dressed (I am sure you can now see where this is going). All was well, we heard lots of chatter and splashing and delight.

I finished getting dressed and went to check on them. As I rounded the corner, I could see a stream of water rolling across the floor. When I looked in to see what they were doing, there was water everywhere.

They had filled the sink with water, and then filled it with washcloths and soap. In doing so, they covered the overflow hole on the sink. Water cascaded down the side of the counter and pooled all over the floor. Naturally, I exclaimed “Heather, I need your help now.” She ran in, we removed the perpetrators from the scene to their roars of laughter and “what happened mapi?”

We proceeded to clean up. Five or so towels later after the floor was dry and the carpet draining in the tub, we found that two of the cabinet drawers were filled with water and under the sink had an inch of water as well. Kyle and Owen were now having a fantastic time jumping off the bed, running over, looking over the gate and asking “what happened mama/papi?”

I went downstairs and noticed that the ceiling was leaking and dripping on the floor – in several places. In fact there was a nice pool in between the kitchen and playroom. The drywall tape was bubbling and dripping. I went to the basement and…. there was dripping and a pool there as well. The water had travelled into the walls and was making the house circuit. Other than put more towels down there was little we could do.

We went out to the grocery store and by the time we had returned the dripping in the basement and the kitchen had stopped. The carpet is still draining in the tub.

Really, we only left them playing for about 5 minutes in total. But 5 minutes x 3 gallons per minute x twin 2 year olds…. ’nuff said.

Overheard Today

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Today we were at Panera for lunch. The boys had their usual — broccoli cheddar soup, multigrain baguette, and chocolate milk. We all had a great time. We were cleaning up our table and getting ready to leave. K & O were having a lot of fun helping Braydon put everything into the trash container. They were running back-and-forth between our table and the trash, while Braydon and I carefully monitored their every move on either end. The restaurant was packed and there were several full tables in between K & O’s table-to-trash-and-back-route. In the middle of this was a table where two women and three children were seated. They were all white, and it appeared to be two moms having lunch out on a Saturday with their kids, who ranged in age from about 9-12, two boys and a girl. I was standing within earshot of their table and this is what I overheard:
“`
Kid #1, a boy, about age 10 [pointing at Kyle and Owen]: “Look! There are two brown kids. And two white people.”
“`
[Kid #2 and Kid #3 are now staring at K & O, Mom #1 and Mom #2 are pretending to not hear Kid #1 and are pretending to not notice what the other two kids are now staring at]
“`
Kid #1 [louder now]: “There are two brown kids. And two white people.”
“`
[Kid #2 and Kid #3 continue to stare at K & O, Mom #1 and Mom #2 continue to pretend to not hear or notice what the three kids are doing]
“`
Kid #1 [really loud now, loud enough for everyone around to hear]: “There are two brown kids! With two white people!”
“`
[Kid #2 and Kid #3 continue to stare at K & O, Mom #2 continues to pretend to not hear or notice]
“`
Mom #1 [with her pointer-finger pressed up to her lips]: “Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
“`
Kid #1 [really, really loud now]: “There are two brown kids! With two white people!”
“`
Mom #1 [with her pointer-finger really exaggeratedly pressed up to her lips]: “I said Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
“`
Kid #1 now silent.
“`