Our little Romeo

Before we went on vacation Will asked if one of the girls from daycare could go to Florida with us.

"She's never been to Disneyland," he informed me while I was making dinner one night.

"Oh, really? Well, I bet she'll get to go one day. She can't come with us though because we've already got our plane tickets and everything."

In a manner that reminded me of A Christmas Story's Ralphie convincing his mom that he didn't really want that BB gun, Will nonchalantly said, "That's OK. She's going to talk to her mom about it too, so, whatever, we can just think about it."

It was a bit of a shocker. This is the boy who a year ago refused to talk to girls (except his mommy) and who was constantly recruiting for "The Boys Club."

We were at the dentist recently and, instead of picking out a prize for himself, he picked out a ring for the girl who had never been to Florida. "It's too small for you so I'm just going to give it to her."

When we got to daycare, he turned all red and asked me to, "Hurry up and just put it in her cubby!"

Later, when I asked him if she liked it, I was a little heart-broken when he told me that she'd lost it before going home from daycare that day.

I don't think his romantic spirit has been crushed yet, though. He asked me when he gets to go to the dentist again. He's planning to get another ring for a different girl!

Yeah, I miss being the only woman in his life. But I've got to admit, I'm a bit relieved that he's decided to play the field a bit.

Preschool graduation

Tonight Will graduated from preschool. Can you believe it? He's been going to Young Impressions for five years!

The graduating class was Will, Laine, Logan, and Morgan. Will started at YI the youngest of the four, when he was three months old. We remember those early days so well ... it wasn't a smooth transition for our baby.

But now, there he is, singing and shaking his hips, making the crowd laugh. He and Laine looked like they were auditioning for Disney's Pre School Musical.

Maybe the highlight was Will getting dressed beforehand. He took great pain to pick the right shirt, looked for dress shoes, went back to comb his hair twice. "I want to look as handsome as I can," he explained. He looked good.

So proud of him ...

Charlie's big boy haircut

Charlie and I went to get his haircut a couple of weeks ago. I knew for sure it was time because we exceeded our three-person quota of people who called him "such a beautiful girl."

Anyway, we ran to get his haircut and just as he was getting the cape off, Charlie started vomiting.

Now, although this was my most horrifying (public) moment as a parent (thus far). I have chosen to look on the bright side:

1. I remained extremely calm, despite the vomit covering my baby, my shirt, my pants and a good bit of the floor. I waited him out and then methodically started to clean up.

2. Charlie didn't get sick until his haircut was complete. Imagine how much more awkward that could have been if his hair was still long on one side — or worse, in a baby mullet.

3. Both of my boys had helped me to build up a tolerance for vomit over the previous week or so — I think this contributed to my calm demeanor.

4. As I walked out of Cost Cutters a stinking mess, I noticed an incredibly sweet, incredibly whole, incredibly dead bird in my van's grill. If I didn't have more pressing matters, this discovery might have been more upsetting for me.

5. Look how cute he looked the next day:

Egg-cellent adventures

The boys had a lot of fun hunting for eggs on Easter morning. Actually, Will had a lot of fun. Charlie just smashed the one egg he found.

Highlights of soccer season

The soccer season and T-Ball season is underway but I figured I'd share a few of the highlights from Will's first foray into team sports.


Before his first official game, our neighbor girl Megan, who also had a game that night, asked Will if he wanted to practice. Will's response: "No thanks. I've already practiced once."

As we left the field after Will's first game, Will informed his victorious team: "We're going on vacation and I won't be here for the next couple games — so you probably won't win."

As the other team approached our goal, Coach Scott turned to tell Goalie Will that he needed to be ready. His heart nearly stopped when he noticed Will heading up the hill to say hi to Mommy and Charlie.

We asked Will if he wanted to be in T-Ball and he responded: "No, that's OK. One activity is enough. Besides, I like soccer WAY better than T-ball.
And somewhere in Wisconsin Papa's heart cracked just a little.

Life can be a beach (I mean that in a good way)

We had such a lovely trip to Florida. A lot of good food, good visits with family and plenty of sun and relaxation.

367 days later

"Mommy! I can't believe you love Charlie more than me!" Will screamed this afternoon at the park.

This evidence of sibling rivalry seemed to come out of nowhere and, quite honestly, after a year and two days, I kind of wasn't on the look-out for it anymore.

Looking back over the day, perhaps I should have seen it coming.



See the pictures here? I wanted a picture of one-year-old Charlie in his car seat now that he can face forward. I couldn't get a good one because he kept chewing on his coat.

Now sure if he thought this was a good thing, but Will, sans coat, decided to chew on the seatbelt and request a picture. The signs were all there but kids have the oddest methods of foreshadowing.

Anyway, in case Will starts telling everyone how I love Charlie more, here's the rest of the story from the park.

Will was sitting on the merry-go-round when Charlie crawled over, stood up, grabbed the handles and accidentally started pushing the merry-go-round. We all laughed, Charlie was so proud.

Not to be out-done, Will wanted to show me that he could push the merry-go-round too. This, of course, led to Charlie falling and getting a face full of sand.

I asked Will to stop pushing so I could get Charlie out of the way.

and he kept going

And I repeated to stop pushing the merry-go-round.

and he kept going

Then, well, I pulled the plug.

"Time to go, Will."

"What? Why?"

"Because you're not listening so we've got to go home."

"Mommy! I can't believe you love Charlie more than me!"

Here's where Will puts his own unique spin on sibling rivalry...

"You love Charlie more than me! I never wanted this to happen! I wanted you to always love me more than anyone else in the world!"

Of course. The truth is revealed.

First steps

First off: Sorry for the long absence of fresh posts. We were on vacation and returned to a pretty busy schedule. Some pictures and recaps of that coming soon.

Now, the exciting news: Charlie just took his first steps!

It happened very much like it did with Will. For our eldest, he was home sick from day care, and took about three steps toward me while a stuffed bear played Take Me Out to the Ballgame.

Just now, Charlie, home with an ear infection (but recovering nicely) was standing, propping himself up on the cabinet across from our basement door. I backed up a few steps, and he took three tentative steps toward me, wobbled, but then continued with two more steps before falling. I picked him up and he was so excited, beaming and giggling!

All along we've been telling people that we weren't exactly antsy for him to start walking -- he gets around quick enough as it is. But this was still pretty cool.

Hopefully we'll get video soon ...