Dried Fruit Nasal Extraction

Mommy is drinking the tall latte this morning after a late night in the emergency room. As what we can only guess was a last ditch effort to not to go to bed Aden found a raisin and shoved it up his nose. At the ER I could overhear all the nurses laughing about who would get to pull the raisin out. Fortunately the extraction was uneventful; Aden was a champ. After the visit Aden felt he deserved a lollipop for being so brave so I shamelessly took him to the drug store at 11:00pm, barefoot, to buy candy. Knowing this was not looking good for my parent of the year nomination I profusely explained myself to the cashier, customers, drunk guy buying beer and anyone else wondering why I had my child buying candy near midnight.

No Diapers Required

The big news for February is that both boys are finally potty trained. Aden decided to make the final effort to achieve his new year's resolution of no diapers at school. After all the tricks in the book of offering treats, putting colorful objects to pee on, and pants-free weekends what finally worked was he would go if could stand like this...naked.

We are so proud of him and plan to celebrate by daddy and mommy going out to share a costly bottle of wine equal to a week's worth of diapers. 

Both boys are making strides in their speech. They are talking in complex sentences, singing full songs and my favorite asking "why?" 500 times a day. Good thing for Wiki to help me with all these questions. Earlier this month we took the boys for their 3 year check-up. The doctor noticed Aron's adenoids were over sized which could be the cause of his apnea and may have to come out. Aden struggled with ear infections this last winter and she noticed he had residual fluid in his ear that could be affecting his speech, so both boys are going to see and ear, nose and throat doctor later this month for evaluation. 

Also this month we are gearing up for Rodeo. I took Aron to get a new pair of boots (Aden is a tennis shoe guy). As soon as he walked into the boot store he threw up his hands and started screeching at all the shoes. He was in boot heaven; if only his closet looked like that. I let him loose and he tried on pair after pair. Once he picked out a sharp pair of black boots we went to get him a belt. He selected the one with the largest buckle which had a cow on it. Then I told him he needed a hat. We went to try on cowboy hats and he adamantly told me, "No mommy, those are lady's hats." So we didn't get one but that didn't stop Aron from feeling good. He walked out of that store with a cowboy strut, winking at all the ladies. He looked good!

Non-flammable? Challenge accepted.

Yet another eventful Christmas and New Year. This year the boys grasped the concept of Santa Clause. They understood that he brought presents and that he had reindeer. On Christmas morning Aden came down the stairs first to see his new tractor and identified Santa has having come to see him. Both boys enjoyed unwrapping presents and playing with their new score. Vehicle toys were the big hit this year. Santa brought them a riding tractor and scooters. While dump trucks and train sets were also welcomed with enthusiasm. Aden has taken to driving the tractor around. He can maneuver in reverse and tackle obstacles. He has run the battery out twice driving it up and down the street showing it off to his friends. Aron is a whiz at the scooter and has equally spent time outside riding down the street. He has gone down steep driveways and learned to use the brake. For New Years our street had a block party with fireworks. They spent most of three hours driving around with the other kids and then kicked off the illegal fireworks with sparklers and pops. It was their first exposure to firecrackers and they did great being responsible in participating. Unfortunately they didn't make it to midnight for the grand finally but chose to go to bed early in preparation for their birthday. The next morning they woke up eager and ready head to the doughnut shop for their free birthday doughnut. On the way there I was talking to them about turning 3. Aron proceeded to tell me he was already feeling old and Aden was in denial yelling at me, "No, Mommy I am two!" We are starting to accept our new age and excited about bringing cupcakes to school tomorrow. I let Aden pick out what type of cake he wanted to bring and he naturally selected chocolate with chocolate icing and yummies (M&M's). The teachers should be appreciative.

Kung Fu Fighting

I don't know what magic powers these special pajamas hold but as soon as we put them on they channeled the great Chinese Kung Fu warriors. Aden was unstoppable with the flying kicks and Aron was a flurry of feet. They clearly must be watching Kung Fu movies at daycare.

As if to say....

"I can't believe mom dressed me in this sweater vest."

"Yay! Mom dressed me in a sweater vest."

Full Moon

Aron will likely be mortified that I posted this so I will have to take it down before he can read butt this is too cute a story to not share.

In throws of potty training Aron has made strides in progress to big boy underwear full time. Yesterday he tells me that he is going to be a good boy and not get Woody dirty (the character on his underwear) by going to the potty. He did great all day even to trips to the store and at nap time. In the evening as we were getting ready for bed Aron refuses to take off the underwear and put on the diaper. Choosing our battles we allow the underwear and prepare ourselves for a midnight sheet changing, so when we woke up the next morning we were shocked that we did not get the call. We stroll over to their room discussing how big Aron is and when we open the door we are presented with the above. Aron kept his promise to not get Woody dirty and some time in the night took off his pants and underwear but managed to soak everything else. 

Sugar Octane

It was another successful Halloween. This year's costume was creatively done by Meme and Pap as Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Dr. Seuss. Meme made them blue hair out of feather boas which looked like a cross between Homey the Clown and Don King. While trick-o-treating the boys had their routine of go to a house, immediately eat the candy given, go to the next house. We made a block utilizing this system before meeting up with Meme and Pap on their street for snacks and candy in the park. The boys burned off their sugar by challenging Buzz Lightyear to a glow stick duel. It was an epic battle until Buzz had to go home and Aden took the rest of the glow sticks for himself.