Sunday, November 21, 2021

A Boy and his Dog

Christian still has his dog walking job 4 times a week and Peter nearly always joins him.  Up until now, though, Peter has been in a stroller.  This past week, he insisted on walking along and also on holding the leash.  It was absolutely adorable to hear him talk to Coco in his little squeaky toddler voice.  "Stay on path, Coco!" "No Coco, this way!"  "Good Coco."   When Peter got distracted by leaf piles or garbage trucks, it was Coco who kept him in line.  Despite Coco's tiny size, when she pulled on the leash, Peter lunged forward and sometimes got a little ticked that she wasn't going to let him watch the garbage man any longer.  Such a funny dynamic!  The two of them both had a wonderful walk around the block together and neither wanted to go home.




Monday, November 15, 2021

First Snow of the Season

 Peter is an absolute eskimo.  He hates jackets, hats, gloves, etc.  No matter the level of cold, he absolutely refuses to put them on.  He seems unbothered by cold.  On Sunday it snowed for the first time and he wanted to go out with Christian and play.  I wouldn't let him go until he put on snow clothes.  Granted, it was so little snow, it probably didn't matter, but I thought that it was a great chance to set the standard that when it's snowing, we wear warm clothes.  Luckily, seeing Christian wear boots, jacket, snow pants, etc. convinced him to do the same.  When he finally got it all on, he was so delighted by how he looked, that he pranced in front of the mirror for a while before going out.  Again today, also, the one time I managed to get him in a jacket, he immediately said, "Go look in mirror!" and ran off to admire himself first.  I agree, he is adorable.



The boys and I had a wonderful time playing.  Christian got out his homemade pvc marshmallow gun and we had a blast shooting it, especially from high up in the tree fort.  Peter discovered the delight of snatching a few and eating them before (and after) they become ammunition.  Let the winter fun begin!

Wednesday, November 10, 2021

Band Concert Videos - Better Late Than Never

 It has taken a while to make the time to upload these, but here they are:


Bella's piano solo:


Bella's saxophone solo (0:48 - 1:02) :


Benjamin's band songs:

(he's percussion in the far back right)





Great Dalton Bake-Off

 Kelly and I both had the idea to bake bread today - he in the bread maker and me in the bosch.  He came up to do it just as I was starting.  Great minds think alike. We decided to each make a loaf and see who had the better bread.  Peter voted for Kelly because he loved lifting the lid and watching the bread maker knead the dough.  He was laughing the whole time.


In the end, though, the votes were split.  Benjamin, Christian, and I voted for mine.  Peter, Kelly, and Bella voted for Kelly's.  However, it was a miracle Kelly's got votes at all because something went wrong with the machine (toddler interference?) and it rose too much and spilled into the space between pan and heating element and filled our whole house with a terrible burning smell which lasted for hours.  I was sure the whole bread would taste like smoke, but it turned out ok.

We're trying to institute a no screens after dinner rule in our house.  Benjamin fights it every night and nearly always refuses to follow it.  The others have been more willing, though, and the other night boredom led to a night of ballroom dancing.  Kelly taught Bella the Viennese waltz and everyone wanted to try it.  Peter mostly just wanted to flop.  It was a lot of fun, but we discovered that our living room is very cramped for such a dance.



In an ultimate act of living vicariously through my kids, I signed Christian up for tennis lessons.  Then I try to watch while taking care of Peter and try to learn too.  He was excited to start and the first lesson went well so far.  

One day this week, I got out every roll of toilet paper in the house and Peter and I spent the morning doing all sorts of activities with them.  We practiced jumping over them, stacking towers and knocking them down, bear walking around them, crab walking around them, laying them in certain shapes, etc. etc.  However, his favorite thing was building a wall and then being a human wrecking ball on the scooters.  When Christian came home and saw the mess, he wanted to try too.  So much fun with just some rolls of tp.



Thursday, November 04, 2021

Halloween Week

 This past week was Halloween - my 44th birthday.  My mom came for the week because it was also full of band concerts, soccer games, and football games.  We had a great time together.  Peter, especially, couldn't get enough of Mimi.



Christian stressed about his costume for weeks.  He didn't want to pay any money but he wanted a good costume but he didn't want to make anything, etc. etc.  So, in the end, he paid Benjamin $10 for the use of his old Halloween cloak and wore black clothes, sunglasses and the cloak and called it a Halloween costume. It worked fine.

Peter didn't want a costume.   He screamed when I tried to put it on him.  It wasn't until we got to the church trunk-or-treat Saturday night and he saw other kids in costume and he allowed me to just put on the police jacket.  Christian wore this same costume with hat, belt, handcuffs, etc.   Peter wasn't having any of that.  Just the jacket was a win.  But our little police officer went to every car.  He seemed really perplexed about what was going on, but he was a good sport.  We didn't go actual trick-or treating because it was a Sunday.  I'm looking forward to next year when he's old enough to get it and we go to houses, not just cars.



Bella went as a ghost to the trunk-or-treat.  She went around with Peter for quite a while.  She was really cute with him and had a fun time that night even though most of her friends didn't come.  Benjamin refused to dress up and didn't want to go, but Kelly made him so he sat in the back of our van and snuck candy all night.  You can see him in the picture behind Kelly. 

Bella's band concert was a costume concert.  She went as a lifeguard. Tomorrow I hope to find time to post some videos of her playing and also Benjamin's concert.  She played a saxophone solo and a piano solo in addition to songs with the band.



What you find when Bella takes your phone: