Screaming and Running

It's been a while since the bambini dissolved at night into a good round of screaming and running about so what better way to cap off Birdie's birthday weekend?  As a result of such behavior, neither bambino was bathed last night, and no stories were read, though teeth were brushed.    The bambini were put to bed a tiny bit early.  Imagine the door closing, a beat, and then the commencement again of the yelling (but not the running at least).

The Piggybanks

The last time Grandpa Charles and Grandma Connie visited, they brought Joe a piggy bank.  It was translucent blue plastic.  It proved so popular, they got an identical one in pink for Clara and shipped it up to us.  The piggies lived on the top shelf of one of the downstairs bookcases.  The keen-eyed among you, Dear Readers, will have no doubt noted the use of the past tense verb in that last sentence.  That is because a little over a week ago, Joe decided to bring his pig down, but it had so many coins in it, it had gotten rather heavy, and it slipped from his hands and shattered.  Coins rolled everywhere.  Joe SCREAMED.  Birdie promptly and very sweetly squatted down and shuffled about like a little crab trying to pick up coins, but it was some minutes before Joe could talk.  Julie called Grandpa Charles later that night to report the accident and ask if he would round up another a bring it with him to Clara's birthday weekend festivities.  Julie learned from Grandma Connie that Grandpa Charles called her to say that "there'd been a disaster in Minneapolis."  Grandma Connie said her heart dropped, and while this was no doubt not what she had in mind, to Joe's way of thinking, disaster probably wasn't overstating it.

Joe's scheckels had been living in a plastic Ziploc container, but Grandpa Charles came through!  He and Grandma Connie also brought a Ziploc bag of change.  We now know for certain that there is nothing like a pile of change and two piggy banks to keep our bambini busy.  Here they are this morning on the porch socking what remained after yesterday's deposits into their piggies.

We should add that Joe informs us that when his is full, he intends to buy himself an angry bird.  We should also like to add that he has never seen the angry birds game before in his life, and probably doesn't even know it is a game, and that all we can figure is one of his classmates brought one of thsoe stuffed angry birds that are now as ubiquitous as the game was in for show 'n' share and Joe took a shine to it.

Birdie's Birthday Party | Good Times

Birdie Brigade, another birthday party at Raleigh House is history.  The day was overcast, and it rained for nearly all of it, so we were forced inside, but good times were had nevertheless.  While Clara napped, Ted went to Target to pick up the cake and snacks while Julie, Joe, and Grandma Connie did some decorating.  Joe painted some water color paintings of Thomas which Grandma Connie helped him hang on the window, and we hung some paper lanterns and a happy birthday swag.

Clara had no more woken up and gotten changed into her party clothes and had her party ponies done, when our guests started arriving.  Clara seemed a bit shy of all the people and initially, stuck close to the three she knows best, but by and by, she was right in the thick of her very own party.  It closed down just before bath time, so Clara opened most of her presents this morning, and we've been playing with them most of the rest of the day.

Happy Second Birthday Clara Jane!

Our Birdie turned two today.  The whole family serenaded her with Happy Birthday first thing this morning, which she and Joe both seemed to love.  This afternoon, she visited Dr. Harrington for her two-year well-child exam.  Birdie weighed in at 30 pounds (86%), measured 35 3/4" (93%), and save a slight cold and a little eczema, was found to be doing just beautifully. (So she got two shots.  Isn't that always the way?)

Birdie took this picture herself at the doctor's office.  (That may go without saying.)

After our visit to Dr. Harrington, we went back to school where Clara's teachers hosted a quiz pitting their two-year-olds against those two-year-olds' parents.  The two-year-olds who are about to graduate from the "twos" room to the first of the three pre-school rooms dominated everyone, but we got to see Clara find the C with which her name begins on the floor with no hesitation whatsoever.  Finding the letter with which one's name begins is, apparently, is how every group time starts.  We learned that Clara always gets up from her chair and then sits down on the floor to find her letter before getting up and heading back to her chair.  After the quiz, we collected Joe and headed home for a birthday dinner of hamburgers and potato chips and, of course, birthday cake.  We also opened presents.  Joe was very excited to open presents and didn't seem to care that they weren't for him.  He did seem to care that Clara understood she should want to open her presents after eating her cake.

So Birdie is two.  She seems awfully big.  She's tall for her age, and she's got quite the mop of hair now.  She's older than Joe was when she was born (which makes Joe seem terribly big as well).  She knows an awful lot, too.  When she was out of the bath and into her pajamas and thus, ready for books, it was a little early, and Julie was in the midst arranging flowers.  So Birdie got the shape sorter cube out.  Brigade, she is the master of the shape sorter cube.  You should see her go!  She can get most of them in the right holes on the first try, even the tricker ones like the crescent that one has to turn just so to get to go in, as opposed to a square which has four sides that are all the same.  She flips that cube around all boom-boom-boom.

After the shape sorter had been tamed (three times) by Our Clever Birdie, it was time to read books.  One of the books Julie selected was Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus because Clara always laughs at the bit where the pigeon completely loses it about not being allowed to drive the bus.  Brigade, she repeated every sentence of the book after Julie as Julie went along.  !!!!!  Of course, not every word was clear as a bell, but that's exactly what Birdie was doing.

So that's a snapshot of the day, and of Birdie at two. . .Two.  That's something else again, and so is she.

Apple Tree

Our apple tree seems to bloom every other year, and it just so happens it has bloomed the years Joe and Clara were born (see previous posts of a pregnant Julie in front of said blooming tree).  This being an even year for the kids' birthdays we were due for another bloom, and they came out about a week ago.  Unfortunately ever since it bloomed it has been cold and cloudy - not prime time for a family portrait.  So this morning with clear skies, we took a minute to snap some picture before heading off to school. "Cheese Apple Tree!"