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Owen and Kyle are 2 years + 7 months old. Since they were 8 months old they’ve been hearing us tell them “I love you” numerous times every single day and even in the night when we watch them sleeping. When they first started talking I taught them to respond to us saying “I love you” to them by saying back to us: “I know!” It was very, very cute. It was so darn cute! People who would hear it got such a kick out of it — hearing a parent say “I love you” to their 20 month old and having that baby confidently respond “I know!” I taught them to say “I know!” instead of “I love you too” in response to our “I love you”‘s because I conscientiously did not want them to be “trained” to say those precious-“I-love-you”- words before they were ready. I wanted them to say it on their own terms, when they understood what it meant, and when saying it to us (or whomever they’d say it to) would really mean something for them. I knew someday it would mean something for them, and I wanted for them to be able to wait until they were ready to say it, with no pressure or expectation from us. Some of the people who overheard these “I love you”–“I know!” intereactions on a daily basis were the daycare staff. At drop-off every day we give the boys lots of hugs kisses and snuggles and always-always-always say “I love you” (often multiple times) while we are saying goodbye. Many days over the past year or so Kyle and Owen have cheerily and confidently responded: “I know!” to our “I love you”‘s at drop-off. And some days they just hug and kiss and giggle and coo and don’t say anything at all in response. But never did they say, “I love you” back. Until today. Today at drop-off, as always, I was giving my snuggles and cuddles and saying goodbye to my sweet bambinos. I rubbed my cheek to Kyle’s cheek and said, “I love you baby” and he said, “I LOVE YOU.” I whispered quietly into his ear: “Thank you sweetie! Thank you for saying ‘I love you’!” Then I went to find Owen to say goodbye. I rubbed my cheek to Owen’s cheek and said, “I love you baby” and he said, “I LOVE YOU.” I whispered quietly into his ear: “Thank you sweetie! Thank you for saying ‘I love you’!”

Kyle

We got a new camera today (our Christmas present to ourselves!). Here are some pictures from Braydon’s first whirl with it!

It was 70 degrees here today! The boys played outside in their shed, “cooking” and “making coffee”

Owen riding his motorcycle in the basement wearing my hard-earned New Orleans beads (from days long past – – – remember that *fun* trip Jen & Anthony?!?! ahhh! my son has no idea what I did to earn those beads… and god-willing he never will!!!!)

Although they absolutely cannot do it whatsoever, the boys really like to try to open nuts with nutcrackers

Owen kisses Kyle

Kyle kisses Owen

Kyle in a quiet moment

End of day, snuggling on the couch, watching the video before bedtime

We have a monthly get together for dinner with the Waters family and tonight was our date for December. I know this sounds corny, but seriously, these get-togethers are a major highlight of my/our month every single month of the year! When the Waters kids and the Johnson-McCormick kids get together it is totally mayhem and totally magical. It is absolutely beyond words in regards to the profound-ness of it all. To see seven Haitian-American kids, all of whom were adopted from orphanages, all of whom are THRIVING in their own unique ways, all having a heck of a time together with the most INCREDIBLE and INSPIRATIONAL Big-Sister IMAGINABLE: Jessica Waters…. well, I can’t put words here to do it justice. It just is a sight. Maybe it is just something you kind of have to see to really “get”? I don’t know. The only way I can think to describe it is this: it just really warms the soul. Plus (and this is a big plus), it is sooooooo so so so so so so soooooooooooooo soooo so so so sooooooooo rare (did I say “SO” rare? it is just so so rare) to be able to just be with another family even semi- like ours. And for our kids to be able to just play with kids from another family even semi- like ours. And for us parents to be able to just chat with other parents from another family even semi- like ours. Now that stuff really warms the heart and soul for all 12 of us! And it is quite a scene too. You should just see the dozen of us all collected together to eat supper in one place! (did I mention yet that 8 of us are under the age of 12?!) Tonight was extra special because we got to celebrate Erica Water’s 4th birthday with the Waters Family. The greatest/ funniest/ wackiest/ awesome-est moment of the night was when Erica opened her birthday present from us, immediately ran upstairs to put it on (see photo below), and then made a grand entrance for the whole group to clap and cheer. Owen immediately stripped off his shirt (??!!), and insisted on coming down the stairs to make his own grand entrance… at which point he (topless) proceeded to push through the crowd to make a bee-line straight for Princess Fairy Erica and give her a huge hug and kiss in the center of the family room while all of us cheered and laughed so hard that we (the four adults at least) almost peed our pants! We always joke because since day-one of their meeting each other, Erica and Owen have seemed like little love-birds almost pre-destined for a big huge dramatic white wedding someday… perhaps we shouldn’t joke?!!!!!! Other highlights of the evening (see photos below) included: watching Dora the Explorer together, seeing (and holding) the new tiny puppy, and eating loads of chips and hummus at the kids table.

Gamma (Braydon’s Mother) and Uncle Guy (Braydon’s Uncle) and Ita (Gamma’s/Sabrina’s “little doggie”) came to visit! They arrived on Friday afternoon, and left on Saturday afternoon. It was an exciting, fun-filled, GIFT-filled 24-hours! Gamma came with loads of Christmas presents for the boys and she brought them their gifts from Auntie Sabrina too! Sabrina gave them a whole “marching band”-worth-of-musical instruments. Sabrina wasn’t here, so K & O gave “thank you’s” and kisses to her photos on the photo collage wall. THANK YOU SABRINA! K & O must have marched around the house a zillion times on Friday night banging and crashing and blowing and drumming and shaking those instruments! Uncle Guy said, “It was exhausting just watching them!” (He was asleep before K & O were Friday night!!!) The highlight of the visit was the very special presents Gamma gave to the boys on Saturday morning… “real guitars”!!!!! My oh my! Kyle, in particular, LOVES his guitar. It is going to take a lot of hard work and will-power on Owen’s part to not destroy his guitar. But, he (Owen) is really really motivated to try to “not break it” because it is “delicate!” Kyle seems to have a real passion for strumming. It is really sincerely special to see Braydon and Kyle and Owen play their guitars together.

Conversations from today on the drive home from daycare – me driving, K & O in the backseat:

Heather: Kyle, who did you play with at daycare today?
Kyle: {no response}
Heather: Kyle, did you play with Jackson at daycare today?
Kyle: Yes!!!
Heather: Oh yay! Kyle and Jackson are such good friends!
Kyle: Mommy! Jackson has baby brother.
Heather: Yup! Jackson has a baby brother.
Kyle: Mama, where’s my baby brother?
Heather: You don’t have a baby brother.
Kyle: Mama, why???
Heather: {no response — didn’t know what to say to that one…}
Kyle: Mama, why???
Heather: Because you just don’t have one.
Kyle: Kyle want baby brother.
Heather: I know Ky Ky, I know you want a baby brother. But you do have a twin brother- Owen is your twin brother.
Kyle: Oh man!

LATER:

Owen: {out of the blue} Santa, Bob the Builder Truck Front End Loader please Santa! Please!
Heather: Owen, did you ask Santa for a Bob the Builder truck?
Owen: Yeah, I want a Bob the Builder Truck. I want a Bob the Builder Truck Front End Loader.
Heather: Wow, a Bob the Builder Truck Front End Loader?!
Owen: Yes!!! A PINK one!
Heather: A pink one?
Owen: Yes! Yes! Yes! A PINK Bob the Builder Truck Front End Loader! Pink! I want a pink one!
Heather: You know what sweetie? I don’t think they make pink Bob the Builder trucks.
Owen: Oh man!

At the end of the day, as we pulled into our driveway at about 8:00, Kyle and Owen did their usual pointing out and oohhing and aahhing over all of our neighbors’ grand “Hallelujah Lights.” Kyle mustered, as cheerily as he possibly could: “I have one Hallelujah Light!” And Braydon and I laughed our tushes off!

Now that we seem to be in the clear from our bout with The Daycare Plague, I can finally write about something other than vomit. My choice of topics for this evening: Our Home’s Outer Christmas Decor… or, as Kyle and Owen call it, our “Hallelujah House.”

Above, you’ll see what our house looks like right now on the outside after dark. Being originally a New Englander, it looks very festive and “lit up” to me. In fact, even after living these past five years outside of New England, I still feel like decorating a tree right out in front like that almost looks a bit “much” to me. But I like it. And thank god, since it took Braydon and I a long time to do it and we came close to a huge blow out of a fight in the process. Anyway… back to topic:

The reason we decorated the tree with lights is because Kyle and Owen kept asking us, “Where’s my hallelujah house?” and “What happened to my hallelujah house???” As I’ve previously noted on this blog, whenever we are in the car they sing the Halleljuah Chorus loudly every time they see Christmas lights (which means they’re singing it non-stop anytime we drive after dark now). Yes, we taught them to do this! No, we don’t regret it! (it is SOOO STINKIN’ CUTE!) People have incredibly extravagant things on their houses and lawns around here. Everywhere you go, literally from the wealthiest neighborhoods to the poorest housing projects, you see incredibly expansive light displays and lawn displays. I have come to get a big kick out of it. Braydon thinks it is hysterical. It is what it is. Not sure how to describe it exactly, but I can tell you this: My mother would say it is “not classy.” HER words, NOT mine (I study the sociology of social class for cripes sake!) (Hmmmm… Mom, maybe this phrase you always used is why?!) Anyway, back to topic:

Kyle and Owen really badly wanted for us to have a “Hallelujah House.” Especially when all the houses in our very own neighborhood started to get all decked out. They look around at our neighbors houses and point them out to us excitedly: “Mommy, see that one? Look at that hallelujah house! WOW!!!!!” and “Hey, Papi, you see that house? Wow Papi! You see that hallelujah house?!!!” Then they would look at us and say sadly, “Where’d my hallelujah go?” We have never put up outer Christmas decor. Well, I mean, in previous years we’ve always had a wreath on the door, and we’ve sometimes had white lights in the windows, but never any bushes lit up or huge blow up Santa’s on the grass. But we couldn’t take it any more, and we actually just felt sincerely sorry for our children, so we found some old lights (that were from our wedding reception actually) in the basement and we got them out and strung them up on a tree.

When we finished this project (which was, as I mentioned, a big task for us), we grabbed the boys and dragged them to the road and we all stood there to take our first long look at “Our very own hallelujah house!!!!!” (you can just imagine how psyched up we tried to make this whole thing) The boys were excited. Somewhat. To be completely honest about it, they were genuinely happy and contented to have their “own” hallelujah house. But quickly they turned and pointed out the two houses that stand on either side of ours: “Mommy, see that one? Look at that hallelujah house! WOW!!!!!” and “Hey, Papi, you see that house? Wow Papi! You see that hallelujah house?!!!” As Braydon and I looked at the houses that our sons were pointing to we couldn’t help but agree. I said to Braydon, “Wow, ours just sucks.” And he said, with complete sincerity: “Ours is nice, it is just understated.” Then we realized in that instant how ridiculous the whole thing was, and we just looked at each other cracking up!!! Take a look at these two pictures and you’ll have a better sense of it all! (the first is the house to our immediate right, the second is the house to our immediate left)… In order to get the full visual, you must do a “compare and contrast” with the photo of our house above.

Happy Holidays!

We’re happy to report that The Daycare Plague was short-lived this time around!!! Kyle is all better and eating up a storm! Owen & Mama are both feeling great and hoping to stay that way! This photo of Kyle was taken this afternoon.

Reporting in from the Johnson-McCormick Home———————– I’ll spare the details, and you should be *thankful* our cameras are both dead so that I can’t capture any of this in photos… but I wanted to be sure to let all our readership know that we have officially come down with what my friend Laura and her husband John refer to as “The Daycare Plague.” It has been going around our daycare for the past week. Braydon seems like he’s in the clear – after a long night last night of unpleasantry in the bathroom (again, I’ll spare the details)… but our poor baby Kyle is now in the throws of it. (no pun intended). He threw up 5-6 times (we lost track) between 6:30-8:00 tonight. He’s now asleep, exhausted from puking. And Owen is asleep, exhausted from worrying about his brother. But we’re worried we may be facing a long, long, long night. Again, I’ll spare the details, but trust me: it is nasty. We’re having flashbacks to some of our worst nights when the boys were tiny and sickly and we were completely sleepless. Scary, scary stuff. Hope for the best for us as the next couple days unfold———————–

You’d think that after you finish school you’d be done with celebrating things like “The Last Week of Classes” or “End of Fall Semester” or “Last Day of Lecture” ETC. But when you’re a professor it just never ends. So, around these parts, those markers of time remain major celebrations. Especially now that we’re a family of four and juggling *so* much *all* the time. And wowsers, let me tell you: It has been a heck of a semester. This was the last week of classes; the end of fall semester 2006 — the most over-extended semester of my life so far; the final week of my/our final semester before going up for tenure (the end of my/our “probationary period”). Ugh, eeks, whew! all at the same time. Braydon made martinis to celebrate. Earlier we snuggled on the couch with the boys and watched their new favorite video: A Dora/Diego episode where they save a penguin and bring him back to the South Pole.

I haven’t posted in a couple days so here are some of the latest details of our tiny little life (the fact that anyone finds this interesting is just plain fascinating to me, but nonetheless, here goes for anyone who wants to read it):

• Owen is teething… a mega molar is coming in on the top right. You can see in the picture above that his hands are shoved in his mouth. He can’t stop chewing on things –mainly his hands– and drooling.
• Kyle is still obsessed with the Hallelejuh Chorus and the trumpets and timpani drums. When it isn’t playing he’ll sing it — solo — and he does pretty darn good considering he’s only 2.5 years old.
• Both boys have colds/runny noses. Braydon is now coming down with it. Triple ugh.
• Things have been so insanely hectic around here that I haven’t cleaned out the fridge since Thanksgiving, so there are still remnants of the T’Giving meal in there: tupperwares with the dregs of the leftover squash and stuffing and turkey soup. It is getting super nasty.
• Our Christmas shopping is done, but we still need to complete getting all the bambinos’ toys assembled (and batteries installed), get all the gifts for everyone wrapped, and get everything shipped. We’re working ’round the clock to do this… which means we’re getting very little sleep (what else is new?)
• We had two good cameras. A few weeks ago one broke when Owen “accidentally” flung it onto the tile floor and the lens got slammed. Then a week ago our other camera died. So we now are back to our very old, not very good camera. Which is sad, since we’re so into photo-taking-and-blogging. This both-camaras-dying-phenomenon has really cramped our blogging style over the past week (as you may have noticed).
• It seems like when it rains, it pours, doesn’t it???

TGIF!!!