Birdie Rides A Big Girl Bike!

"Spring" "break" is over.  The best laid plans were thrown into disarray when Clara was sent home from school Tuesday afternoon with a fever in excess of 102 that did not break for good until Friday morning. Also, we had a brief, but intense snow move through Thursday into Friday which laid to waste Grandpa Charles and Grandma Connie's plans to come up for the weekend, including Friday. Much of the snow that fell has already melted (and with it the snow fort that was built Friday morning). So Birdie was able to ride the Hello Kitty bike that Santa brought for her down the street for the first time today. You can see her making her way here.

Nutella

Julie was at a Timberwolves game Monday night. We know: eight words you never thought you'd see strung together. (Long story short: she won a contest. Young MC did the half time show! Young MC is not so young anymore. Julie, too, relative to Young MC's heyday.  He sang Bust A Move though proving that while he might not be so young anymore, he's no fool.  He knew what the crowd would want to hear.) Anyway, we digress.  Since Julie was out, Ted and the bambini had scrambled eggs and toast for dinner.  Ted put Nutella on the toast. We recently acquired a jar at Joe's request. Now that he's in elementary school, he's discovering all kinds of things. It's a version of what might occur in the morning after one has slept over a friend's house and is offered Lucky Charms or Apple Jacks--that is, the realization that others have options beyond Raisin Bran (two scoops!) and Grape Nuts.  So many processed food delights in the world beyond those your family might buy (or not buy)!

Eating with Joe and Clara is still like eating with two small woodland creatures, or maybe peasants who've not eaten for a week who are suddenly presented with a crust of bread.  They gulp and heave and plunge through meals.  Joe consistently uses a utensil as appropriate now, but Clara must still be reminded to do so.  If something seems like it will be tricky to snag with a fork (say a cherry tomato, halved, or salad--which she likes quite a bit), then she'll opt for her hands if no one's watching. Birdie is at once a ravenous eater, and one of the slowest eaters you will ever encounter.  It's quite possible that she has never not gulped whatever she is drinking, and yet she is always finished eating seemingly hours after everyone else at the table. It would be fascinating at a remove, but is exasperating while seated next to or across from it.  Joe can chew with his mouth closed now, but keeping his food over the table, let alone his plate, is hit or miss. Again: maddening, especially when he breaks out into a wail when Bernice has helped herself to what he's casually dangled off the edge of the table his hand. "She's a dog!" we practically shout.

So Monday night, Ted wasn't entirely surprised to look over and see Clara licking the Nutella off her toast.  When he told her to stop, she said, "But it's frosting."  Which you kind of have to give her.  Score one for the woodland creatures.

Of Exasperation

Fans, here is an actual exchange that Julie just had with Our Hero:
Joe, out of bed and thumping down the stairs: Mommy, where is the Fancy Nancy book where they go to The King's Crown?

Julie, in the front room, gathering up her book, water glass, and peanut butter granola bar broken into pieces in a bowl: I think probably on top of Daddy's chest of drawers. Let me gather up these things and we'll go see. What is everyone doing out of bed anyway?

Joe, huffy and full of his five-year-old self: I'm looking for Fancy Nancy and Clara's just following me around.

Julie: Oh my gosh. It's like she thinks her big brother is the coolest thing ever, like she wants to be just like--

Joe, breaking in: MOM. STOP. Like being all crazy. I want to pop my eyes out with a fork!

(This last is Joe's failed attempt to imitate one of Julie's go-to phrases for expressing exasperation: "I'm going to poke my eyes out with a fork," as in, "If this spider web made of blue tape that I have run into seven thousand times because it is conveniently located in one of the top three most trafficked junctures in this home is not removed, I'm going to poke my eyes out with a fork.")

Clearly after this exchange, we're really not so far from Our Hero saying something like, "I'd like to see that. Hold on while I finish this web."

Spring Break

This is our first year of spring break for school, but without a vacation planned it just means cobbling together daycare for Joe. Fortunatly Joe's buddy Graham is in the same situation and have the same week for break.  So on Monday the boys hung out with Mr. Derek who took them to a playground, the Muppets movie and the library.  Today the boys got Ted as designated handler. The adventure was a trip to the zoo. We started with the penguins where the boys got a good perch to watch the feeding.  Joe even volunteered to be used for a height comparison to an Emperor penguin, which we learned is the largest penguin and also about an inch taller than Joe. We also caught a bird show which was pretty neat with a Cockatoo named Coconut, and various other colorful birds who swooped back and forth across the stage. After lunch (where no words were uttered while hot dog meals were slowly but completly devoured) we checked out the fish.  Joe asked the docent lots of questions (e.g., how many teeth does a shark have? Why do fish have tails? How many fish are in the tank? I am going to pretend the pool is a fishtank when I see my grandparents this weekend) before it was time for the IMAX movie "Under the Sea" in 3D.  The kids were repeatedly standing up and grasping the air in front of them to touch the fish which appeared right before us with 3D glasses on - pretty funny.  With that it was time to say goodbye to the Bison and head home to watch Charlie Brown movies from the library. A good day two of spring break, but we could have done without the snow!

The Trouble With Sleepovers

Birdie decided to sleep on the floor in Joe's room in her sleeping bag Friday night.  Joe noted when he woke up that he had NOT slept well. He was, indeed, a mess on Saturday. He had trouble staying focused at swimming class.  In retrospect, it was probably because he was trying to figure out when he could go to sleep. While waiting for his haircut, he wadded himself up in Julie's lap and fell asleep. Then, he fell asleep in Ms. Debbi's chair while she was cutting his hair! His buddy Eric came over to play and after rallying for an hour or so, Joe went to go sleep in his room. (Eric played Legos with Ted.) By mid-afternoon, Julie and Ted were ready for a nap, too. So there was an hour or so where Birdie was left to her own devices. She did a little work, and who knows what else.

Birdie's (handi)work

Joe may never let Birdie sleep in his room again. It's unclear if he has deduced that his sister sleeping on his floor is analogous to a sleepover and thus, whether he will forgo sleepovers, at least in the short term. He is feeling better today. He reports that his tummy doesn't hurt, though his head feels like it has "a thousand birds" (or it might have been bugs) in it and, by the way, that happens when he "watches movies for a long time and sometimes in music class." We think it's a headache. He lectured Clara (again) about why she couldn't sleep on his floor again. He said it made his tummy hurt a lot and he was sure her tummy hurt a little bit, too.

Birdie didn't break out into a chorus of Let It Go, but that would have been a little funny, Fans, right?

Tinks