Holding a Dinosaur

We went to a party in Morningside Heights and they had everything my boys love--face painters, jump houses, a balloon show and candy! Talmage is not on team face paint, but that Ever Knight got himself right into her chair and when he was steady, he closed his eyes as tight as could be and said, "I wan be a dinosauw." And she understood him, because frankly my baby is growing up, and she started painting his sweet face to match his Dinosaur Explorer raincoat. I have a really bad habit of forcing other people to enjoy the cuteness of my kids right along with me, and this was no exception. Everyone in arm's reach heard an earful and I demanded that they take a peak at that sweet little boy in the chair. Because seriously though? Take a look:

 

Getting started! This face painter had serious skills.

He was pleased as swamp-water punch with his big boy-ness.

I think he knew I was taking pictures. And how could I not? 

 

Here he is, that "scawy, scawy dinosauw" that ran around screaming "Roar!" at everyone. He especially loved making his brother jump!

I pretended like he scared me just to see him smile, but mostly I just wanted to eat him for an afternoon snack. Dang, that's a cute dinosaur! Who is obviously very interested in the balloon show!

We brought a stroller, but Everett asked me if I would carry him to the subway and how could I resist cuddling with a dinosaur? He wrapped his arms around my neck and pressed his cheek against mine and left me wishing for a little bit that time didn't move so quickly.

We definitely wore that little dino out. The next day at church he totally conked out and since that never happens anymore, I had to whip out my camera and steal a picture.

New York Hall of Science



We trekked to Queens on a freezing rain kind of day to visit the New York Hall of Science. The museum is free every Friday afternoon and you know how I feel about free events, I'm kind of all about them. And my boys are just about getting out of the house these days--winter woes. It takes a little under an hour to get to the museum on the subway, but the last half of the trip the train is above ground and my boys think that's just the coolest, so really the whole trip was a treat.

Speaking of treats? We got to see the museum's famous Gingerbread Lane (just days before they tore it down for the season, no less). There are 164 independent gingerbread houses that make up this village, and get this: the structure weighs in at slightly more than 1.5 tons and uses 2,240 pounds of icing. I feel like even the best of pictures can't show how massive this is and how awesome it was to see it!

The museum was relatively empty for being a free afternoon (probably because not many people are crazy enough to go out in freezing rain) which gave my boys the opportunity to do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. Now that they are both getting older, I am seeing how awesome it's going to be having two boys so close together. They love learning and playing together, and were interested in a lot of the same stuff. Some days they fight like enemies, but today they played like besties and couldn't get enough of each other! Here were a few of their favorite things:

making molecules

 

blowing bubbles

playing surgeon

 

learning about ecosystems

trains--because playing with them for hours a day at home is surely not enough ;)

science experiments 

We left after 3 hours and the boys were in tears because they had such a good time and didn't want to leave. I can see another visit to this museum in our future, for sure!

Monday musings on a Tuesday

My Monday proved to be quite busier than most, in such a positive way. There are good people in my life these days, and I spent much of the day enjoying them (and making the most out of some alone time with a daytime sitter-swap as well). So alas, my musings from yesterday are coming atcha today.  

 

*I signed my baby up for Kindergarten, and then I looked at myself long and hard in the mirror and said, "Self, are you ready for this?" And all I could say was, gulp.

 

*Walking around in freezing weather (negative 18 with wind chill last week folks) makes you realize just how many dogs live in this city, mostly because their yellow pee freezes all over the sidewalk (instantly I presume, although I didn't let Talmage test his hypothesis!) We are ice skating down our block on dog pee. Three second rule for dropped treats? Not in New York.

 

*T is making a name for himself as being very, um, outspoken in primary. Shocking, right? His recent outburst? "I HATE New York weather. I'm moving back to Stanford."

 

*Word for the wise: if you must carry your groceries home in the rain choose plastic over paper. It might be a bad choice for the world at large, but it's definitely a positive choice for your personal world. And for the innocent bystanders that might see a mighty scene were one of your paper bags to disintegrate.

 

*Ever to me, as sincerely and innocent as can be: Mommy, I go poo-poo in da toiwet because I wuv you so much.

 

*I'm kind of digging the Christmas trees all over the streets of New York waiting to be picked up. The smell of pine drifts through the air on my walks and it's almost like I'm in a forest...that's being logged. Anyway, I definitely don't cry the day we take the tree down. But Christmas cards, that's another story. Those will be on my wall for months if James doesn't protest soon. There will be a lot of tears when they leave.

 

*That moment when you see the mailman walking down your street and he says, "How are you? It's been a while!" and yet you just saw him a few days ago. And after your conversation you realize that you're a grown up and you are friends with the mailman and you remind yourself an awful lot of your parents. Me, yesterday.

 

*We make Talmage run up and down the stairs in our building to release some energy because he has a lot more than too much, especially on our recent stint of inside-only days. James came back after a particularly rough T-day with a tired kid. Turns out running up and down 40 floors will do that to you ;)

 

 What Ever and I do while climbing the stairs after T. Pictures and faces and huffing and puffing. And him in my arms, always.



You see those quick little feet in the background of the picture? That's what T does. He takes his work-outs seriously.

Cleaning the Commode

 

The rule in our house is simple: all those who sit on the throne, shall clean the throne. And all of a sudden, my little Everett has found himself doing the dirty work. He's a peeing pro these days and when his little underwear bum wielded the toilet sword {read: wand} for the first time this week I just couldn't believe my eyes. It's official, my house is void of babies. I didn't think I'd be in this no-diaper phase for many years to come, but here I am, with two big boys and an awfully clean toilet. 

The Three Wigs Meet The Three Kings

Our radiator has sounded like a construction site for months, what with the hammering and puffing and banging when the darn thing turns on. Today was the blessed day for it to be fixed and I was supposed to have my children out of the house for the ordeal, mostly because said radiator just happened to be in their bedroom (waking them up bright and early every morning might I add). But people, it was pouring. Not snow, rain. Weird since yesterday was like 30 degrees and tomorrow's supposed to be like 10 degrees, but today it was 50...and raining hard. Ugh. So as the men worked patiently, Talmage and Everett sat on the bunk bed telling them stories and asking them questions about every tool they used and Polish word they said. Neither party understood the other very well, but gosh, those men were like superstars in those little people's eyes. Case in point, Everett told me he wants to be a construction worker when he grows up and Talmage said, "Did you even know that Teddy can fix everything around here?"

 

I had consigned myself to a day indoors bugging our kind workers and eating endless scoops of the world's best cookie dough until our Super came in a few minutes later with bad news--the main water pipe had busted while thawing out this morning and in order to fix it, the water in our building was to be turned off for the rest of the day. So, between the no water thing and the sincere sympathy I had for the radiator-friends I said, as you'll learn I often do, "Boys! We're going on a scooter ride!" The rain had let up and I knew it was now or never baby. So now it was.

 

They got their helmets on and left the winter coats at home (because, 50 degrees) and we scooted to our 72nd street subway station where I carried one stroller, two scooters, a purse, and Ever Knight down two flights of stairs so that we could take the 2 train to Spanish Harlem. We were off to see the 3 Kings Parade, which was my original plan for the day before the rain, and became my back-up plan after the flood. The whole thing made me feel awful heroic, braving the rainy elements to accomplish the grand adventure that I've planned for weeks to do (let's just forget the part about no flushing toilets being the real reason I left home and let me feel amazing, alright?)

 

We showed up just as the camels and Wiseman were turning the last corner and I couldn't have timed it better myself. We walked along the parade route, Everett begging me to carry him for a better peak and Talmage mimicking all the silly sounds those camels made. Just then, one of the wise men came right at us, and bending over to look in my boys' twinkling eyes told each of them "Felicidades" before continuing on the parade route. It was about right then as I was explaining to T and Ever what felicidades means that I realized, once again, that life is pretty darn awesome.

 

Just in case you're wondering, this was one of the three camels that we stalked...seriously we followed them right to their horse trailer! I think I need to add "ride a camel" to my list of things I want to do someday.

Also, because I was in a stalkerish mood, we waited in line to take a picture with those wise men, and Joseph, Mary and a little cabbage patch baby Jesus. It was about this time that I realized we were the only ones around that spoke English, and my Spanish is not awesome enough to understand any of what was happening.

The rain started coming down in sheets so we hid out in a dollar store and ended up buying way too many dollars worth of only somewhat-needed things. But it kept us dry, and out of our house for a little bit longer. After we got closer to home, Ever decided to throw a fake little tantrum that was adorably hilarious. He seriously can start full-on, rushing-tears crying on demand, the little pill!

But he was happy only seconds later and just, gosh, just so cute. He really is getting big and I kind of want to eat him for dinner.



Hercules! Hercules!

We woke up on Friday morning to a winter wonderland of sorts. It's amazing how snow can make my California boys instantly LOVE the cold weather. I think I even heard Talmage say that he loved winter, which kind of is the opposite of everything true in the world! But it was pretty fun to see nothing but white in this big ole city of ours, plus James got an early morning phone call from the court saying that the federal government was taking a snow day...um, yes please! He still had to work from home, but he took his lunch break in Central Park so that we could capitalize on this Herculean snow day. We were all ridiculously layered and it did us good--we played for almost an hour in zero degree weather without so much as a sniffle! Yes, zero degrees. Those are numbers I never, ever wanted to see on my weather app (and PS, never want to see again please) but boy, we made the most of that winter storm!

 

The first thing T did was fall into the snow and start making angels. Lots of them. Side by side there were rows of Talmangels!

 

 He was so happy, and wanted to get in as much snow play as possible into what he knew would be a short romp in the park, due to, oh did I mention? ZERO degree weather. He was throwing snowballs, building snowmen, creating snow villages and making snow angels like a wild-man, always with a smile on his face.

 Before long Daddy got in on the action and helped us build a family snowman. Which, by the way, was when we realized that none of us know how to build a snowman. It's kind of much harder than you'd think, right? 

I think we did all right after all. The boys sure were happy and of course it was a Stanford snowman!

Why hello there, new year.

2013 and I didn't get along super well. I learned a thing or twelve from Sayville, so I would feel ungrateful if I didn't acknowledge all the amazing things that have rocked our Wiggy world...but in the deepest parts of my soul I just want to leave this year in the dust with a big fat, "good riddance."

 

2011 shot us into the heart world and 2012 found us in open heart surgery and such, so my hopes were high that 2013 would be the dreamiest, you know? But then the miscarriage from hades happened (and kept happening!) and as I look back I see a year that was consumed, from very start to very end, with getting my body healthy again. It's been a full year since everything happened and I thought I'd be further along in the process by now. But I'm not. Because that 2013, it just didn't want to give me any news that wasn't super lame.

 

A few days ago I was talking to my mom, who was as positive as ever and said, "I'm so excited for 2014--it's going to be a great year!" and the whole thing just really caught me off guard. You're excited? A great year? I could feel the cynicism rushing through my veins because sadly, I've started believing that something awful is waiting for me just around the corner. It's almost like I'm scared to hope for a great year because when it goes south, shoot--it's going to hurt all the more. But let me tell you, that is no way to live a life. So for the past few days I've given myself little pep talks (and cool downs) and finally come to terms with this 2014 thing, whatever the heck it brings. Not only have I come to terms with it, but I think there's finally some excitement a-brewing. The whole process has been healing and empowering and exactly what I needed at the end of one year and the beginning of the next. 

 

So dearest 2014, I welcome you into my life, as you have welcomed me into yours. Let's be nice to each other, ok? 

 

I took the boys to Times Square on New Year's Eve. We absolutely were not going to wait all day and night to see the ball drop (you have to be in your place and can't leave after 3 pm!) but I wanted to show them what it was all about. Plus, the visitor center has next year's ball on display which I thought would be cool to see.

We also submitted our wishes for 2014 on pieces of confetti that were dropped onto Times Square at midnight. The boys both want to see "Newsies" in 2014 (Ever copied T in the wish department) and my wish? Well, I bet you can guess.

James and I went out on a hot date after celebrating an early New Years with the boys (early meaning they were in bed by 7--napping problems are still abundant around here!) It was so, SO fun to go out together!

Our friends hosted a NYE party at their home and everything about it was perfect and beautiful and I'm so glad we got to go. I'm also so glad that James sang to me on our walk to the party while I filmed him and people stared at us like we were drunk. It was just the best moment, maybe topping my list of awesome moments in 2013 :)

 Noise makers, which we used in full force when the clock struck midnight!

I was totally obsessed with these glasses and this fun couple. We were lucky to be surrounded by so many great friends this year!

I always cry at midnight. The ball drops and bam, tears are streaming down my face. Most of it has to do with seeing the camaraderie between all those crazy people who camp out for hours to experience Times Square at midnight and then achieve their common goal. Silly, I know, but it's true. This year was magnified because we watched the ball drop on our friend's TV while also watching the Central Park fireworks out their window. No, I don't believe there was a better place to ring in the new year.