Miracles!

Ethan shows Nate how to use his magic markers.

Kiss break!

My assistant chef- french toast was on the menu that morning.

Who doesn't love a book about trucks?!

Pete puts his boys to work.

Even Barley is over this cold weather!

Mr. Cute models his hat made by Auntie Mookie

Couple of playground shots before the freezing temps.

Big guy!

Ahhh, winter.  Lovely, long, cold, winter. It poses a bit of a challenge to a mom with two small kids.  One of whom (Nate) won't keep his socks on let alone winter boots!   We've spent a whole lot of time indoors over the past few weeks, playing games, building train tracks, baking, crafting, Octonaut watching (our favorite cartoon of late!) and going a bit stir crazy.  I'm not one to complain about weather, in fact I really love winter, but enough is enough!  I think I'd head to the playground in shorts if the weatherman predicted a 40 degree day any time soon!

In other kid news, a miracle has happened in our home.  As many of you know, Ethan has always been a challenging sleeper.  From the moment he was born, he would only sleep if he was in my arms, and then, as he got older, would only fall asleep on me, and then even older (and with a funky living situation) in bed with me.  When we moved to our new house, the deal we struck was that he'd go to sleep in his room, and come into our room, and sleep on an air mattress on the floor in the middle of the night.  The plan worked smoothly.  He got the comfort in the middle of the night that he needed, we got the room in the bed that we needed.  And then suddenly, he stopped coming.  I know that for most moms this miracle happens at 6 months, or a year.  But with Ethan, it's taken four years, but he's sleeping through the night in his own bed!!  Miracle number 2... no pacifier.  I know, I know.  He should have been rid of that thing years ago.  But with no routine, and lots of upheaval and shifting, I was told to not rock the boat and to allow him to have something that made him feel secure (limited only to bedtime).  I guess all of these developments mean that Ethan is feeling secure enough to shed some of the things that he needed previously to make him feel comfortable.  I am so proud of him and sooooo relieved that there was no battle, and that these things happened so seamlessly.  Miracles, I tell ya!!

Nate is hilarious.  He is 22 months old- hard to believe his second birthday is right around the corner! He loves music and has become quite a dancer.  If he's not dancing, he's singing, or bobbing his head along to music. He and I have started attending a Music Together class one morning a week.  He loves it and I really enjoy watching him interact with the other kids.  He's using more and more legible words.  One of our favorites is, "pants!"  Mostly because he has learned to take off his pants and then runs around yelling, "pants! pants!"  It's sort of hilarious as long as we're not trying to leave the house.  He still can't "say" Ethan.  He sort of hums two syllables for his name.   He has also started doing "fist bumps" with everyone.  He'll bump and then, make a blow up sound.  He also says, "hug" and then when he gives you his squeeze, he sort of grunts in a effort to hug as hard as he can.  He does and says a lot of really cute things that are hard to describe in writing.  He is generally a happy, laid back kid.  He can entertain himself and I often find him playing independently with his trains, or reading a book.  Probably the result of being child #2.  He adores Ethan and they are starting to play together more away.  They race back and forth through the kitchen, with Nate saying, "Ready, go!!"  Fun stuff.

Thanks for reading!  Hope you are staying cozy and WARM!