Tuesday

We had gymnastics this morning and again the boys had a great time.  Here’s Ezra’s big jump — only a little blurry.

This afternoon we had to go by my dad’s house to check on the air conditioner and fan situation (and make sure the system wasn’t burning itself up), and so, as bribery for cooperation getting in and out of the house quickly, we went to Hamilton Park around the corner.  It’s always fun and strange for me to take them to the park that I spent so much time at as a kid.  Of course, like every other park in Pasadena, the playground has been completely revamped.  Gone is the deathtrap merry-go-round in favor of safer play structures.  They had a good time, although Finn’s pleas to go home make me suspect he’s still not feeling up to par.

Here’s Ezra trying to drink from the misting machine.

No Good Time Goes Unpunished

I had a fantastically relaxing weekend in Palm Springs with Janice, returning late last night to find Bruce miserable with cold symptoms again.  We thought he had recovered from the cold and infection of two weeks ago, but he seems to have relapsed.  In addition, Finn woke up at about midnight yelling, “Ouch, ouch!”  When I went into his room, I discovered he had a poopy diaper and a very bad rash … as well as a fever (100.8).  Ugh.  After some Children’s Tylenol and some cuddling, he went back to sleep in his room and seemed to rest just fine until about 7:30 this morning.  The fever was back (100.4) and he was grumpy as ever.  He got more Tylenol and shunned his breakfast (Cream of Wheat) in favor of crackers on the couch.  So, our scheduled play date has been canceled and we are now quarantined for another Moision sick day.

Hair-Raising

As Bruce and I were frantically preparing dinner for our book club meeting tonight, Ezra and Finn were sort of left to their own devices.  About twenty minutes before guests were due to arrive, Ezra comes into the kitchen and says, “Mommy, I need a brush.”

“What for?” I ask.

“Because I’m cutting Finn’s hair,” he says, totally matter of fact, like it’s something we do everyday.

So, I walk into the family room and find a fairly large amount of hair scattered on the couch and floor, while Finn sits patiently waiting for his stylist to return.  I should have taken some pictures of the hair on the floor, because despite it being an alarming amount (at least to me), it is hardly noticeable on Finn’s head.  Good thing he has a full head of hair to camouflage the extremely short bits right on the top of his head!

Gymnastics!

Ezra has been asking to do gymnastics lately so last week we signed up for classes.  Even though Finn’s not 3 yet, they kindly let him enter the 3-4 class so he can go too.  Each class is about 50 minutes and the boys have a blast.  I was pleasantly surprised at how cooperative Ezra was the first day.  When he took the Parent & Me class as a 2 year old he was never, ever interested in waiting his turn or sitting down to listen to instructions.  What a difference three years makes, I guess.  Here are some pics.

Sadly, I didn’t have my camera set properly so most of my still pics of Ezra are at least this blurry, if not worse.

Ezra's warm up jumps

Ezra taking off for the big jump into the pit

Finn doing warm up jumps

Finn gets a high five for jumping all the way across

Monday, Monday

Regular old Monday here.  Ezra had school so Finn and I dropped him off and ran some errands.  He likes to throw pennies in the fountain at the bank, so after I was done with business there (and after he’d been admired my favorite teller), I dug out some pennies from my purse and he made wishes for the whole family.  Apparently, he wants a bike.

This afternoon we went up to the park and ran around for a little while.  Part of the play structure was blocked off with caution signs and netting, which, of course, made it the most interesting thing in the park.  Ezra and Finn understood they had to stay away from it, and both of them were very worried when another little boy ignored the signs and crawled right in … until his mother showed up to shoo him out.  Here are some pictures from our park outing.

Ezra's funny face

Finn snacking

Finn upset that the ice cream cart guy was leaving

Rain … again

We’re back to rainy weather here in Pasadena, and what do you know, I got to work at Cottage in the two-year-old class today!  Funny, it rained the last time I worked too.  Anyway, today was not as chaotic as a couple of weeks ago, and those twos are a funny bunch.  Finn spent a good part of the morning hiding under the play structure — he was a pirate, digging for treasure in the sand.  Here are a few pictures from today.

Finn checks for rain:

Finn and friends in the mud:

Ezra’s seating arrangements at the end of school:

Our weekend sicko outing

Day 1.  So, like Christy said, we’ve all been sick for 5 days now.  The boys seem to be on the mend, with lingering coughs.  It’s driving me crazy as I haven’t been able to study, and there’s a lot to do at work.  I have a hike planned for the weekend which I’ll have to cancel if I don’t get better soon and It’s always a bummer to not be able to get the boys out on the weekend.  We all know  these things pass, but it’s no fun waiting for it to end.

While cooped up inside today, Ezra, Finn, and I made a dragon out of cardboard, pasta, batteries, sticks, a garbage bag, lots of toy discs, and a bunch of tape and paint.  Ezra had the idea to use batteries for the nose and eyes.  I don’t know what made him think of that.  It turned out pretty well.  They both got all quiet while painting him (I assume it’s a him) which is always a good sign that they’re into it.  We let it dry outside (this always takes a long time as the paint is usually super thick in places), and I added arms and ears/horns.   We posted a photo on FB.   Pictures with the boys usually get a few ‘likes’ from moms, which is always fun.

Ezra and I took apart one of his Rokenbok toys while Finn was napping. We were at first taking it apart because we thought it was broken, but right before disassembly we tested it one more time, with new batteries, and it worked.  Ezra was all keen on seeing the insides, so we took it apart anyway.  It was interesting–lots of gears triggered by what looked like an IR reflected path trigger, a 555 IC timer, and another chip.  It would be fun to design these.  We triggered it on and off a few times with the guts open, to watch the gears churn, and then put it back together.

Ezra spelled ‘LEGO’ on the chalkboard, which was great.  I had to really play dumb and coax him into doing it.  He gets hung up because his letters aren’t “perfect”.  They look perfect to us, of course, which is what Christy told him.

Finally, as we were getting stir crazy, we took the Metro to La Grande Orange for dinner.  On the way back a homeless looking passenger complemented Finn’s orange Crocs.  He went on to tell me his shoes busted open in the toe just that day, that it wasn’t a big deal as he gets them for $10 somewhere downtown, and that he goes through a pair every three months or so.  I thought to myself $40/year for shoes isn’t bad.  He kept talking to us as we left the train and got on the elevator, where he struck up a conversation with another passenger who was carrying golf clubs (“I used to golf when I was a kid but I wasn’t any good because I’m near-sighted”).  By then I was glad that he had moved on.

Up and Running

I finally figured out how to get this blog going so … here goes! Here’s the entry I tried to make on January 31st …

We’ve been sick all week (the boys had conjunctivitis and Bruce and I have serious colds/sinus infections, maybe even strep throat).  But, after five days, we had to get out.  So we took the boys on the Metro to La Grande Orange (kids eat free until 6:00!) and we had a nice evening out.  The boys’ favorite part: make your own sundaes.  Here’s a shot of the boys on the train.  Finn is in mid-cough.

E and F on the Metro

On the Metro