The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly in the Plain

Gratuitous picture of the Raleigh House headliners.

As you know, Dear Readers, we're into words at Raleigh House.  Words, sentences, grammar. . .the wonders of the English language!  The wonders of both the English language, and the bambini, were on full display tonight at dinner.

As you know, Joe is four--and a half.  So he knows stuff.  Clara is still catching up, and what better way to make sure that his little sister's learning is on track than quizzes!  Joe has adopted our habit of asking things like, "What does the red light mean?" or "Is a banana a fruit or a vegetable?"  One of his dinnertime questions to Clara tonight was what animal started with the letter Z and Brigade!  She knew!  Now it's true that there are like two words recognizable to the preschool set as representative of the letter Z (let's say them together: zebra and zipper), but still!  Boom!  She was right there with it.  We high fived it up.  Clara also noted that camel (another animal!) started with C, and car, and Casen (a friend in class)--and ME!  Meaning her, our Clara.

Joe's triumph over the English language requires more exposition.  Julie got a paper cut while opening up the mail.  One of the Spiderman Band-Aids was the right size and shape, as Julie explained to the bambini when she flashed her medical bling around the table--and Joe added, "And, it sticks really well [emphasis added]."  Really well, Fans!  Well!  Not good!  Huge!  Have been correcting and attempting to explain this peculiarity for months.  Huge.

Before scampering off to bath, Joe came round the table to tell Julie he knew something else: he knew it was mine, not mines.  Birdie often stakes her claim to something by saying, "It's mines."  Seems logical--it would be Clara's, Mommy's Daddy's, and then of course there's hers, his, yours. . .Why wouldn't the possessive of my be mines, if it has to be mine?  Wouldn't you know it?  That's just what Joe asked: "Why is there no s?"  The wonder of possessives!  And we're not even talking plural possessives!  Julie did her best to explain, which is to say, she did well.

This Just In

The bambini are down for the night.  They received a talking to regarding their behavior this evening from dinnertime through bedtime.  They were told: "Cool your jets."  Clara, whom you might, Dear Readers, recall, likes to elaborate the "put your listening ears on" directive with "and listen!", said to Julie as she walked out, "And cool your jets down!"  Exactly.

TwinsFest 2013

In need of an afternoon activity, Ted recalled that this weekend was TwinsFest--the annual celebration of all things Twins Baseball!  It is held in the Metrodome, which will likely be demolished next year to make room for the new Vikings stadium, so this is likely the last time we will walk in the big bubble!  Overall, the outing was a success.  Upon entering the dome, we received a plastic bag with promotional material in it.  Needless to say, that bag was dangling from his wrist the entire time we were there.  Joe's favorite activity was to spin the little promotional wheels where one could win various tchotkes.  He earned a pencil, a blinking safety light, a caribiner clip, and three beer cozies.  Joe got his face painted and waited patiently in line to get a balloon animal (a giraff was requested). He also got pictures taken with the characters who race around Target Field every game during the seventh inning (including Bullseye the Target Dog) and TC Bear (the Twins mascot).  He also got a picture taken with Tony Oliva (#6 retired for the Twins and on the cusp of the Hall of Fame)!  When asked about his favorite activity Joe said it was eating Doritos, which was part of the day, but not the intended highlight.  Overall, it was a fun diversion, and a good re-introduction to the Twins for Joe considering we signed up for a 20-game package this season.

Win Twins!

Tony Oliva--#6 for Twins

Joe selected the "balloons with a bow" option

2008 Ekkers trophy with the 1991 World Championship trophy

TC Bear #00

Go Target!

Joe thought beer cozies made excellent mittens

Fresh Powder

Helpin' a sister out

Just when the weather really had us down, it gave us a reason to smile.  When Birdie went down for her nap, Ted and Joe headed off to the Metrodome for TwinsFest.  Julie headed upstairs and about two hours later, when she went back downstairs, she was surprised to see a steady, heavy, and beautiful snow falling.  She texted Ted to let him know, and he texted back that he'd promised Joe sledding.  Sledding!  Whee!  By the time the Boys were home, Birdie was up and both Birds were suited up and ready.

We drove over to the sledding hill near the neighborhood park and quickly figured out that Ted is a little too heavy to go far or fast.  Also, Clara is too little to go by herself on the pink sled Santa brought her.  So by the time we'd made a few runs, we'd settled into Clara riding solo in the little red sled, Joe riding solo in the silver sled, Julie riding--solo--in the pink, and Ted coasting down about half way on the snowboard, at which point he'd get up and haul Clara back up.  There were, of course, some moments of consternation.  We were, after all, still sledding with a toddler and a pre-schooler.  The bummer of sledding, of course, is walking back up the hill with the sled.  But most moments of consternation revolved around counting off ready-set-go in just the right way.  When you are four, there is really only one way.  When you are two, you know, maybe it also goes ready-set!  And maybe you go on the set.  Maybe you also count up for your countdown, like "Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, twelve, thirteen."  And then you go.  Really.  What's a four-year-old boy with very exacting sensibilities to do?

Still, there was plenty of fun.  You can catch some of it here, and here.

Radio Silence Reason Revealed

Fans, we have been radio silent because two of us have been sick.  Julie arrived home on Wednesday to find the bambini on the couch tucked up under a blanket watching Cars.  By that time, she was feeling plain awful, so she sank right down between them, and they wordlessly shared their blanket.  It a real, proper sick day moment!  Sitting on the couch, under a blanket, staring mindlessly at the TV.

Clara has also had a cold, and informed Ted that night that her left ear hurt.  So Julie took both bambini to visit Dr. Harrington the following afternoon.  Only Clara got the once over though.  She's an active participant in the examinations now.  She told Dr. Harrington that her left ear hurt, by pointing to that ear.  Clara also noted that yes, her throat hurt, but not her head, and not her tummy.  And, oh o-kay.  Maybe yeah, now that you mention it, her other ear maybe hurt, too.  Turns out, her right ear was infected.  Left, right, this one, that one. . .It was an ear though.

The Birds are on the mend, but neither is at full flapping strength.  It's a drag, Fans!