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Monday night Kyle was seeming under the weather. We took his temperature and sure enough he was running a slight fever. He slept through the night fine, but was lethargic and repeatedly saying, “I’m sick” when he woke up Tuesday morning. He was running a fever. No way he was going to school. Owen was a crumbled crying mess the instant we suggested that he go to school without his brother. Then Kyle caught wind of it and he was a wreck over that prospect too. The two of them begged us — BEGGED US (with tears streaming down Owen’s cheeks and Kyle rubbing Owen’s back) — to please let Owen stay home too. Braydon and I ‘conferenced’ out of their earshot; “Some day they’re going to have to separate. But do we force it now? At age three? When one of them is sick?” We caved quickly. “O.k., you’re both staying home, for a quiet Sick Day at home.” Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be, Kyle was not sick enough to really be sick (i.e., he sure wasn’t acting sick). And Owen… well, Owen was never even remotely sick to begin with. A “quiet Sick Day at home”??? Yeah, right. It was a normal day at home (anything but quiet). Nonetheless, Sick Days — for any one (or more) of the four of us — send our barely-manageable life into a tailspin. If you are a dual-career couple with young children and complicated childcare arrangements and no extended family living anywhere even remotely near you, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you’re not, then all you need to do is ask someone like that and they’ll tell you: Sick Days send the whole house of cards tumbling to the ground. I feel like a juggler with all of my balls in the air. On Sick Days it feels like all the balls just drop, no matter how hard I try to keep them up. And then add that this is the first week of the Spring Semester for a Professor-Mom-Family… and that Professor-Mom is actually pregnant… and… well, the whole thing is just a mess. Kyle was bouncing off the walls when he woke up this morning, saying, “I’m all better! I’m not sick!” and very excited to go to school. No fever. We sent them both off and breathed a sigh of relief that we got off easy (just one Sick Day). But then at 10:00 a.m., the dreaded. School called to say Kyle was sick and we needed to come get him. Of course Owen insisted on coming home too. And we weren’t going to put up a fight in the middle of the Acorn Room. So home they came. They played and played and played all day. Again, nothing quiet about this “Sick Day.” They chased each other around the house screaming and tackling and wrestling, they played airplanes, they played dress up. We left them unsupervised in Kyle’s room for a few minutes and found that they had somehow gotten Kyle’s bedroom window open (like, fully open to the outside), and were spitting out the window watching their spit drop to the ground two floors below (talk about seriously dangerous; it scares the geebers out of us to think of how easily they could have fallen out of that window). At one point they jumped on the guest room beds for a full hour straight (remember that video Braydon did of them bed-jumping at the end of this past summer? Well, it was just like that). At lunchtime they ate their lunches that I had packed for them for school today. See photo above. Do either of these two look sick to you??? Hopefully we’ll get back on track tomorrow.

We spent the weekend with our friend Patricia, who came to visit us from Boston. Patricia is an old friend from our Boston graduate school days. She and I were in the same PhD program years back. We’ve had some good times studying Schutz, The Frankfurt School, etc. for our comprehensive exams together (??!!?!). We’ve had some good times going through the PhD-hoops-plus-20-something-angst together (??!!?!). Those are bonding times!!! But in all seriousness, she got real close to Braydon too, and together with a ton of Boston friends we’ve all had some really good times together — many of them over dinner in various Boston apartments or over drinks in various Boston bars (margaritas and queso dip at The Border Cafe immediately come to mind)! We were with each other when we were really growing up. But now we see her rarely. However, she’s one of the best kinds of old friends — you start right back up where you left off (depsite not having seen each other for ages), and things are relaxed as can be. Owen and Kyle love her, and all five of us had a good time together for a weekend of doing nothing but everything. A highlight was going to Cosi for lunch and then having s’mores for dessert… with K & O as the “Cheffers” (some kind of twisted twinspeak verbal combo of “cooker” and “chef”). Patricia also got to see plenty of baseball action and Diego videos! ;0 She took a bunch of cute photos– many of the photos on this post were taken by her. Last night while I was getting Owen ready for bed he said, “Mommy, I’m so sad.” I said, “Why are you sad?” He said, “Because Patricia left us.” So sad to have her go, but so fun to have had her here!!! Thank you for coming Patricia!!!!!!

“Papi” is away for “two sleeps” on a “work trip” where he is “talking to the man” but “soon he’ll come back” and then he will “absolutely” and “definitely” be ready to “play airplanes” and “be the control tower” (all K & O speak; all quotes from today). Braydono– here are some photos I took for you this afternoon/evening because I know you, therefore, I know you’ll be checking your laptop in your hotel room tonight. 😉
P.S. Mark this date in history– the boys were better than they’ve ever been in the grocery store this afternoon, it was actually a pleasure to go food shopping with them today!! Who would have ever thunk it?!?!!!!!

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Can’t help but throw this one in too–

I’m sure you’re just really missing the planes/masking tape runway… right?! ;0

Even though it is only “two sleeps” we miss you!

Yesterday Kyle was walking around the playroom carrying the poor cat around and holding the poor thing waaaaaaay toooooo tight. Our beloved 13-year-old cat Cooper has become pathetically tolerant of K & O’s antics. He can usually escape when he really wants to so I more-or-less stay out of it. However, this time I was really starting to get concerned when –from the kitchen where I was– I heard Cooper yelp out a desperate sounding sound unlike any sound I’ve ever heard before. I shouted in to Kyle, “O.k., Kyle, that’s enough, put Cooper down now.” He ignored me. “Kyle! Put Cooper down!” Totally blatantly ignoring me. “KYLE! PUT THE CAT DOWN RIGHT NOW!” And then. This: Kyle, semi-sheepishly and semi-attitudinally (some people would call this passive-aggressively), still holding the cat, calls back (just loud enough so I can hear it) — “I’m not listening to you Mommy.” Then dead silence in the house. Owen was in the playroom but ran fast as lightening to come see my reaction in the kitchen. He peered around the kitchen counter with a look of sheer anticipatory curiosity on his face. “GO TO YOUR ROOM NOW!” I yelled to Kyle (halfway for the sheer disobedience of Kyle, halfway for the wide-eyed audience of Owen). Kyle dropped the cat quick as a wink and ran up the stairs to his room. Owen, still peering around the counter, now with a look of deep satisfaction on his face, says, “Kyle’s in big trouble! Big time out!” Then, all dramatically angelic and sticky sweet (as if he’s concerned about Kyle) Owen says, “Why mommy?” With the most stern look of ‘I’m not buying it’ I could muster on my face, I flatly said, “You know why Owen.” Then he jumps out from behind the counter and says, all confident and serious, “Oh! Yes! I do know why! Because he talked back to Mommy!” “Yes, that’s right,” I said. Three minutes later I told Kyle he could come back down. He did the obligatory apology: “Mommy, I’m sorry I talked back to you.” Then I did the obligatory, “O.k., don’t do that again, o.k., big hug.” And literally within about 5 seconds both boys were happily playing with airplanes as if nothing had happened. They were on the floor, just on the other side of the kitchen counter, definitely within easy earshot of me but –from a 3-year-old’s perspective– light year’s away from me since they couldn’t actually see me with the counter between us. And this is what I hear:
Owen: Kyle, why you worried about Mommy?
Kyle: I’m not worried.
O: Oh.
K: I’m not worried, Owen, I’m mad.
O: Oh! You’re mad?!
K: I’m mad at Mommy. I’m super mad Owen.
O: Oh!
K: Mommy is not nice. Mommy is NOT NICE. Mommy is not nice. Right Owen?
O: Oh, right. That’s right Kyle.
K: Mommy said hurtful words.
O: Oh. Why she say hurtful words?
K: She said, ‘GO TO YOUR ROOM!’ That’s hurtful words to me.
O: Oh. That is not nice saying hurtful words. But I’m not mad Kyle. I’m not.
K: Oh.
O: O.k. Kyle?
K: Oh, o.k.! O.k.!
O: Oh look Kyle, there’s Cooper!!! Come on! We need to catch him!!!!!!!!!!
K: Yes!!!!!!!!!!!! Run fast Owen! Run fast!!!!!!!!!!

And, speaking of my darling little angel boys… A couple of days ago, this happened. The boys were playing, doing whatever, and suddenly it got way too quiet. When that happens it makes Braydon and I very nervous. I called out, “Guys? Kyle and Owen? Where are you? What are you doing?” Silence. “Guys?!?!” Silence. “Kyle and Owen!?!!!” Kyle, from the playroom, says, “We’re in here. Doing a project. With tape.” Then Owen appears in the kitchen, looking up at me like this:

Today we went to Lehigh for a basketball game. Lehigh was playing Princeton, and ended up winning by a landslide. I have a couple of students who are basketball players, but one in particular — #10 — is a student I’m pretty close to, have had for several courses, and also just happens to be a Basketball Star. K & O had met him before, and really liked him, so they were especially excited to see him as “a player on the team.” Lehigh Athletics is really great for family-friendly sports events. They had set up a huge moonbounce right near the court, and this was of course a highlight of the day for K & O. They spent a lot of time jumping in it. Braydon whispered to me at one point, “It would be worth coming just for this!” He’s right– K & O can burn off quite a bit of energy in a moonbounce. Since it is Winter Break at Lehigh very few students are on campus so the arena was not as crazy as usual (no wild drunken fanatic fans, no shirtless fraternity brothers with their chests painted with “Princeton Sucks,” and… very nice for me… not one student approached us the entire game). The boys ate popsicles and ate popcorn and watched the game while actually sitting in their seats for a long stretch of time (a first!!!). Owen was super cute yelling at the top of his lungs “GO NUMBER TEN!!” and “SHOOT THE BALL!!!!” My student, #10, even looked over a few times– much to Owen’s delight. After the game #10 was signing autographs and Owen climbed the court rail to try to be as “high up” (i.e., tall) as his hero. After the game the boys ran around the court with a whole slew of other little kids. Kyle got to shoot a few baskets and came very close to making one– which very much impressed some of the older kids. Once again I’m reminded of what great family perks come with my job. The boys are already getting exposure to so many things… and they feel right at home on a college campus (an elite college campus at that). It makes me wonder about if/where they’ll go to college someday and how things will all play out for them over the next twenty years.

The past couple of Saturday nights we’ve let the boys eat their dinner in the family room while watching a video. They go to bed so early (anywhere from about 6:15, to 7:00 at the very latest), and we’re usually out and about on Saturdays and don’t want to take the time to make a family dinner, and we don’t let them watch videos on ‘school days’ so Saturday videos are a big deal for K & O. Plus– Braydon and I like to eat together on Saturdays after they go to bed. 😉 So we let them do this a couple of Saturdays in a row… and for K & O, once something happens twice in a row it instantaneously becomes set in stone forever as a beloved ritual. For better or for worse, this Saturday-night-eating-in-the-family-room-while-watching-a-video is now something we seem to “do.” They like to sit very close together, so that they are touching, whenever possible. It is really cute. Tomorrow we will take down our Christmas tree, Kyle’s much-loved-lawn “blow up”, and all of the other Christmas decorations. This is very, very sad for K & O. I’m ready to get it all cleaned up, but at the same time, I am sad about it too. Tonight right before Owen got into his bed, he looked out the boys’ bathroom window at our “blow up” and our “Hallelujah lights” and whispered, “Night Nights Blow up! Night Nights Hallelujah lights! You are so beautiful! Tomorrow you go in a box in the basement! I love you! I can’t wait for next year! Night Nights!”

Today we’ve received a few emails and phone calls from people saying that they saw K & O in the The Morning Call, our local newspaper! We don’t even get this newspaper, so we never would have even known it was there. The photo was taken yesterday by a newspaper photographer— when Owen, Alex, Kyle, and Cyprus (Alex’s dog) were out taking a long walk. CLICK HERE for link to the newspaper photo w/ small blurb!

It felt really strange to go from the New Hampshire Winter Wonderland to this (still greenish grass Pennsylvania… land of year-round golfing and biking for K & O!… these two photos taken on Friday):

But boy oh boy do our boys love coming home! We all four love to go– and we all four love to come home again too. We came back from New Hampshire late Thursday night. Our final days of 2007 have been fun and full! Friday we had a previously scheduled big doctor’s appointment and K & O got two hours of non-stop-crazy-frenetic-playtime with our 16-year-old neighbor and one of her friends (the boys LOVE it when they babysit because these girls have soooo much energy!). Saturday we had Zoe’s birthday with a fabulous trip with our friends we love, the Petch’s, to Chuck E. Cheese’s (our very first time there but if K & O have anything to do with it it will definitely not be the last!!!). And Sunday we got a visit from Auntie Sabrina and Dave (the boys were in Heaven! and we even got to have lunch together at Panera with them). Today, our final day of this year, we spent as just a foursome… lunch out and a trip to one of the boys’ favorite playgrounds. Tonight the boys were in bed at 7:00 with no real clue about New Year’s Eve. Braydon and I have big plans for our first New Year’s Eve ever as just the two of us… We’re having take-out from our favorite sushi place and watching as many episodes of 24 as we possibly can before we zonk out. It is sad to say goodbye to such an awesome past year. But we’re looking forward to an amazing 2008.