The Fabled First Day of School

Today was the day - David's first day of preschool at the Graham Academy! He woke up with some seasonal allergy symptoms: runny nose, watery puffy eyes, etc. On the way to school he had an allergy-related eye-watering episode that he connected to the significance of the day: "Mom, I feel so happy, I am crying." I can only hope that the first day of school always inspires such positive emotion ;)

He did great with the separation, reports that he played with a parachute, the kitchen, and the computers. He hasn't yet been assigned any special jobs like "door-holder," but he is excited about his chance to do that. He had gummy rabbits and soy milk for snack and informs me, "I don't like soy milk very much." Nobody does, David. The only people who drink it are the people that have to ;) He has one friend, Cole, that he knew before school started. (Cole's Dad is an ND grad, too.) He also mentioned 2 more "new friends," Samantha and Sonia. It was a great start to what I expect will be a great year. Congrats, David!

As expected, Michael had a harder time than David this morning. He wanted to stay at David's school with his big brother. See the above pic of their goodbye hug this morning. Sweet brotherly love...

Wild Weekend of Sports

Beautiful weekend in Sioux Falls. We took full advantage by taking the kids to the season opener of the O'Gorman Knights football team on Saturday night (O'Gorman is the Catholic High School here.). The kids had a great time munching on treats from the concession stand, watching the game, the cheerleaders, and the band. There was a very strong "community" feel at the game. It just felt like everybody knew everybody and that it was just one big neighborhood out to watch their boys play ball. Very "Hoosiers."

On Sunday, we took the boys to a Sioux Falls Pheasants baseball game. The boys ran around like monkeys, learned about the game from their Daddy, enjoyed the ridiculous mascot competitions, joined in the traditional cheers, and made friends with some 65-year old season ticket owners. Such a nice way to spend a summer evening. Makes you feel so....American ;)

Lost His Superness

We had the pleasure of taking our family to see Sesame Street Live on Wednesday. The kids were soooo excited and loved the show so much! The basic plotline was that SuperGrover had lost his "superness." Some of the other Sesame Street faithfuls, Zoe, Elmo, Telly, etc decide to step up and take over his super duties while Grover looks for his elusive "superness." In the course of keeping Sesame Street safe, they learn lots of good lessons about health and hygiene. We had great seats, only a few rows from the front. Brian and I had a great time, too. Until the intermission. When a man with 50 large Elmo balloons came front and center. The kids and I convinced Brian to buy them each an Elmo balloon, and Brian, being the teddy bear Daddy that he is, conceded, against his better judgment. Brian gets to the front of the line and asks, "How much?" "10 bucks," says the balloon man. "For how many???" asks Brian. We all know the answer to that, now don't we? This is where the real educational part of Sesame Street kicks in - how to make $500 in less than 10 minutes. So many suckers. Glad to be in such good company ;)

See This Butt?

This is the butt of the skinniest almost-2-year-old on the planet. He STILL doesn't fit into most 12 month pants. And let me tell you, it's not for lack of eating. This morning I asked Michael if he wanted pancakes for breakfast. NO. Do you want Apple Jacks? NO. I WANT MEAT! he says ;)

Now I Know My ABCs

David has been REALLY into letters and spelling and writing lately. When I give him time with crayons and pencils and paper, all he wants to do is write out his letters. He loves to type messages on the computer keyboard, and he is getting quite good at phonetically spelling out words that he then types. I can leave him on his own to write a message and when I come back, he has written a complete sentence (or 2!) that I can actually decipher. It's really quite amazing...Does it sound like I am bragging about my son? Ok, cause I sort of am ;) Here are his letters. Anyime you see a scribble, that is meant to represent "a space bar" according to David. And by the way, we are pretty sure that the kid's a lefty.

The Mystery of Communion

I remember as a child being intrigued with communion. I recall using the meatball maker to punch out little rounds from a slice of bread, pretending it was communion, and then ceremoniously eating it. I remember Gina, Pete, and I offering each other a single Pringle: "Body of Christ." "Amen." Crunch, crunch, crunch.

As a mother, I remember David being very interested in communion and especially the host.
Well Michael has joined the club, too, so to speak. Communion seems to have some universal kid appeal...

Today at church, when people starting filing toward the alter for the Eucharist, Michael loudly (always loudly with Michael, especially in church) announced, "Time for Communion!" After I received the host, he insisted, "I want some. I want some!" I explained that when he was a big boy, like Anthony, he could have communion. I comforted him by adding, "Actually, it doesn't taste that good." "It tastes good," he argued. "It tastes like pancakes!" :)

Bye Bye Summer, Hello Bathtub

Now, reason might lead you to believe that young children should take more baths in the summer than in any other season. After all, they spend their days playing in sand boxes, climbing on parks, rolling in grass, and eating "melty" snacks like popsicles and ice cream. But as a stay-at-home mommy, I know better. Summer means being too dang busy having fun to find any time for baths ;) As my good friend so appropriately asked via her facebook page, "How many days in a row can you use the excuse, "My kid went swimming today; therefore, she requires no bath."?" Well, I hate to say it, but summer is ending. Or at least, Sioux Falls Park District has closed their pools. School has begun for the "big kids" and David is a week away from his first day. Bye bye summer, hello bathtub.

Je Suis Un'Artiste

Je pense qu'en Francais, that means: I am an artist. In actuality, I accidentally pressed a button on my digital camera and the stars were aligned such that the lighting was good, and Michael happenned to be wearing this bright Duke Blue Devils shirt. Regardless of how it came about, I thought the end result was pretty cool.

The Fair

We braved the fair last weekend. The weather was wonderful, the kids enjoyed the "kiddie" rides, and we managed to escape having consumed less than 40,000 calories ;) David was intrigued by the horse shows, both boys were interested in the helicopter rides, and of course, David was dying to play the carnival games - I mean who wouldn't want to win a shabby little stuffed mystery lion, or is it a bear, or is it a puppy? ;)

Smackdown!

We just uploaded and edited some of our Flip videos, and this is one of our favorites. As sweet as Michael can be, this video highlights his ruthless side. Michael doesn't just want to defeat his opponents; he wants to destroy them. Just look at some of the finishing moves he drops on his dad. Brian is lucky to be alive....

The Pretty Ones

My friend Liz and her husband just found out today that their first born, now in utero, is a boy. Before we called them to hear the big news, I asked David to guess whether Liz and Chris were going to have a boy or a girl. David said, "I think its going to be a girl. Because I like girls. Not a pretty girl though. Because the really really really pretty ones? I get shy about them." Ah, my sweet David. I see heartbreaks in your future, my love ;)

23 Pounds of Attitude

Michael is small for his age. The kid is a month away from his 2nd birthday and his 12 month size bathing suit still falls off of him. Heck, I have met 5 month olds that outweigh him. None of this would be particularly problematic if it wasn't for the fact that Michael's attitude is ginormous. Brian has been saying for months now that we need to get Michael in self-defense classes because he has no respect for how miniature he is and so his attitude is gonna get him a butt-whooping one of these days ;)

Some examples:

When in NY, we were at the Museum of Play and Michael was happily playing on the train table. When a whole group of camp kids descended on the table, my Dad warned Michael that now that there were so many more kids there that he would need to share the trains. Michael, without breaking stride, says: "I. Dont. Share."

Later that same day, Michael was playing with a bucket of balls. Another child, in a totally appropriate act, came over and also picked up a ball from the same bucket from which Michael was taking balls. Michael looks at him and says with all the sass and scorn that an almost 2 year old can muster, " Don't do dat, boy." Yikes!

The strangest thing about all of this is that as little as Michael is, his self-assurance and assertiveness seem to command some kind of respect (or is it fear?) from other little people. Just yesterday we were at a park in which there is a small tunnel that serves as the only way to access one side of the playground. Michael was laying down in the tunnel pretending to be asleep. I turned to play with David for a few minutes when I heard Michael say, "Go away kids." I then heard a kid complain to his mother, "I want to get over there, but that kid won't let me past." Obviously not seeing that the the Big Bully was in fact a runt-sized 23 month old, the mother said, "Just say excuse me. I'm sure he will let you pass." At this point, I turned around and was surprised to see that the kid who wanted to get past Michael was about 7 years old! What the heck, kid? You outweigh Michael by about 40 pounds!! Just walk around him, or past him, or ON him for cripes' sake! Only my Michael as a 1 year old can bully a 7 year old... Sigh. We are going to have our hands full with him.

He does have a certain charisma and sweetness that often offsets his attitude. Which is a good thing, to be sure. Example: We are in a locker room at a pool. I am working on getting David's shoes on and Michael is just hanging out when another little boy about David's age walks in and waits against the wall for his mother and brother. Michael starts saying, "Go away, kid." I take Michael and explain to him that that is not a polite thing to say to a new friend and that he will make this boy sad if he tells him to go away. I suggest instead that he say, "Hi, friend." The mean Michael of 30 seconds ago now walks right up to the boy and says, "Hi friend, Hi friend." Michael waves and smiles and says, "Hi friend, whatchu doin'?" in his sweetest (and very genuine, I might add) voice. At first the kid looks at me as if to ask, "What's with Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde here?" Eventually, the kid's initial suspicions/fears are melted right away and he smiles a big smile at Michael. And Michael smiles his cutey boy smile right back at him.

I truly can't wait to see how Michael's personality develops. He is a character, that much I know. A real "piece of work" as David would say ;)

Discovery

This was a weekend of discoveries for us...

David discovered the game of golf. Brian bought him a junior set of clubs on ebay. David was so stoked on Friday when it arrived. By Saturday, Brian had already taken David to his first golf course to practice his putting. The proud look on his face as he carried his clubs out the door to go to the course with his Daddy was just precious!

The Guarraci Family discovered the Pioneer Spray Park. Tucked away in an unassuming neighborhood, is this fabulous park of sprinklers and sprayers. The kids had a BLAST!

Finally, I discovered that little Michael recognizes about 60% of his letters, and also knows almost all of the letter sounds, thanks in large part to Leap Frog's "Letter Factory" DVD and the fact that our Swagger Wagon allows him to watch and absorb that video every time he gets in the car.

10 Freakin' Years

After a week of bizarre make-you-feel-old experiences in NY such as seeing my cousin, Joe, who I remember holding as a newborn baby all grown up now and slow-dancing with his girlfriend, seeing the teensy tiny flower girl (Kassie) and the ring bearer (Jordan) from my wedding as full blown teenagers, seeing all my childhood friends' kids, looking like spitting images of their parents as kids, we topped it all off by celebrating our 10 year anniversary on Thursday. 10 freakin' years??? WTF??? How did that happen....and so fast? ;) I still remember August 5, 2000 so vividly. I remember sitting alone in the limo after all the bridesmaids had filed into the church, watching the straggling friends and family rush to find a seat and thinking "OMG, this is it! I'm getting married!" I remember worrying that I was going to bawl all the way down the aisle and for the whole mass, but instead feeling so overjoyed that crying wasn't possible. I remember dancing the night away and feeling proud when the DJ said something to effect of, "I've been to a lot of weddings, folks, and I'm telling you, there is a lot of love in this room tonight." I remember dancing to "Don't Go There" for old times' sake. To Mambo #5. To Bye Bye Bye. To our first dance, Andrea Bocelli's Con te Partiro. Doing the Tarantella with the family. A million other songs. I remember Aunt Gina's speech, Pat's speech. Grandma's prayer. Mom's purple hair. Our very own choir composed of friends and family members. Gathering all the Domers for a group shot. And, I remember feeling sad when it was all over ;)

10 years, 1000 miles, and 2 beautiful boys later, we celebrated the anniversary of that day by going out for Neopolitan pizza as a family. Not the most romantic anniversary, but a happy one to be sure. Brian and I are planning a (kidless) long weekend trip to Santa Fe, NM in early October to celebrate our 10 years of wedded bliss. Love you, Briny Bear ;) Feels like I always have. Know that I always will...

Aunt Gina in Sioux Falls

Aunt Gina flew home with us from Rochester to 1) help me manage the boys on the flights home, and 2) to see Sioux Falls. And boy, did she see Sioux Falls. It was raining cats and dogs the night we arrived. And then I took her on the scenic route to Falls Park and McKennan Park ;) Thanks a million Aunt Gina!!!

Reunions Galore

What fun times we had at Mamo and Papo's house last week! LuGia's Ice Cream Reunion on Friday night, Cantore Family Reunion on Saturday (almost 100 people!), Reynolds/Mezzio Family Party on Sunday, and then all of our standard NY fun as well: Springdale Farm, Strong Museum of Play, the Lake House, "the playhouse,"etc...