Happy Memorial Day!

We hope everyone enjoyed their watermelon as much as Ryan did. And, yes, we did make a special trip to the store just to pick one up...

Living Room of Trains

Another wonderful Maggie and Milo hand-me-down was unearthed this weekend — turning our living room into Grand Central Station. Of course, every train in the house just had to come out to greet the new set of tracks and engines.

So far, it's been a good weekend of eating, sleeping and playing trains (though, not necessarily in that order). But when it comes down to it, it's hard for a toy to beat the real thing...

Some New Ryan-isms

Lately Ryan is fascinated by three things: speed, strength, and age (or size). If it moves, or even if it doesn't, he wants to know how fast it goes, how strong it is, and how big it is, often in comparison to himself.

For Ryan, speed and strength come to play in nearly every task. Most places he goes, he runs, declaring along the way, "I'm faster than you, Mommy!" and "I'm going to beat you, Lucie!" Or, when we pull out of the driveway in the car, he'll call out, "Are we going to go fast? Is this the freeway?" And, he loves to talk about how strong he is, like when he recently declared, "I can carry a THOUSAND...or a HUNDRED...or a MILLION books!"

He's interested in ages too, whether it's a friend's, a new baby, an adult, or even a charcoal grill. When helping Chris prep for a BBQ recently, Ryan inquired, "I'm older than the barbeque, right Daddy? I'm three and a half, and it's only two, right?" A conversation ensued trying to determine the exact age of our grill, but neither of us could remember. Since it really seemed to matter to him, it has now been determined that Ryan is definitely older than our little Weber.

When it comes to size, Ryan is and has always been just a tad bit taller than Lucie. It's barely noticeable, but he has made a mental note of it. He likes to point out that he is "just a yittle bit" taller than his sister, and pinches his fingers together to show the exact measurement of difference.

If he's not assessing his speed on a scooter or strength behind a bat, Ryan is pretty interested in taking pictures. He has always enjoyed our camera, and has just become proficient enough to use it on his own.

You give this boy a camera, and he'll walk around the house documenting everything of interest to him. Ten minutes later, he'll hand me a camera full of images of his feet, a firetruck, my feet, Bunny, a firefighter jacket, Lucie's feet and Bunny again, all meticulously posed. It's pretty cool, like a glimpse into his mind.

Then he likes to print out the pictures, crop them with scissors, and put them in envelopes to give to Daddy at the end of the day. If we had the paper and ink supplies, he could do this over and over again. (Lucie likes to share her photos too -- she recently sent Aunt Rach a picture of the beloved tag on her green blankie, requiring a bit of explanation.)

Using Bunny as his muse is not limited to photography. Ryan also likes to do paintings of Bunny, like this one here. He set Bunny up on his outdoor play kitchen and kept glancing back at him, trying to get the ears just right. He turned out with a pretty good likeness of a once pink, now dirty gray bunny who disintegrates a bit daily from lots and lots of love (and portrait sittings).

Sleep transitions

Lucie and Ryan have handled the transition to big kid beds with aplomb. Not once have we had to return a rogue (at least, not an awake one — see below) child to his or her bed in the middle of the night. Instead, we set a ground rule that they call for us if they need anything. And while that means hearing the occasional "Daddy, I have to pee" cry in the middle of the night, it sure beats midnight wanderers.

However, since we elected not to use bed rails, we put their beds directly on the floor for the time being. Good thing since it turns out that Lucie has a penchant for rolling in her sleep. Over a two week period, I've found her in a variety of funny positions when checking on them around 10pm.













Ryan, in contrast, sleeps in the same position every night...

Our Favorite Mommy

There's a French cafe close to our house that we've been meaning to check out for awhile. Given Megan's appreciation for all things French, Mother's Day provided the perfect reason to visit for the first time. And if Lucie and Ryan weren't fans after the first slurp of hot chocolate and whip cream, they definitely were after the brioche french toast with powdered sugar.

After a delicious breakfast, we hit the miniature golf course. L & R are known to log some couch time with Daddy when golf in on TV. They love that every two minutes there is cause to shout "go in the hole" as someone putts. Finally, they had their chance to try it out for themselves — everyone had a great time among the whales, crabs, and Koi fish that populate our local course. As a final thank you, L & R then proceeded to take a 2+ hour nap.

And a very Happy Mother's Day to Gigi and Grandma who have helped us out on so many occasions. We couldn't do it without you both.

Home Runs and Butterfly Rides

As an early Mother's Day treat, Gigi spent two days with us this past week. It was wonderful to see her and spend time together.

We all were looking forward to some Gigi time, especially Mr. Ryan. He decided he wasn't feeling well enough for art class with Lucie, and instead wanted to get out on the grass for some baseball with Gigi. Apparently the little cold he was suffering from enhanced his baseball playing skills, as he had many home runs to report later that afternoon. "Mommy," he told me, "I hit it OVER Gigi's head!" He's really starting to enjoy sports -- especially baseball, soccer and basketball.

We spent the next day enjoying the science museum and surrounding park. Lucie and Ryan braved a merry-go-round that had their parents' stomachs churning from just looking at it, and did great. Ryan sat behind Uncle AJ and talked to him the entire ride, spin after spin after spin. None of us could hear what he was saying, but apparently he had lots of comments about his first solo carousel experience.

Gigi sat next to Lucie for half the ride, then spent the other half standing next to her as Lucie's face grew progressively greener. She didn't get sick, however, and never asked to get off.

Lucie loved riding on the ostrich, but she wasn't so sure about Ryan's choice. They had read a dinosaur book in art class, and the only boy in the class (other than Ryan) told everyone that dinosaurs had sharp teeth that dripped blood. This didn't sit so well with Lucie, and has had her avoiding any dinosaur-looking creature ever since. She especially couldn't understand why Ryan would choose to sit on one.

When given another opportunity to ride, the kids opted for something a bit more tame. This butterfly ride was more Lucie's speed, and happily did not include any snarling or teeth-baring creatures.

We spent a beautiful day together, and had a great visit. I love it that Gigi notices changes and growth in Lucie and Ryan that I'm often too close to notice -- like how much more physically coordinated Ryan has become, and how well Lucie has been eating and sprouting out of her clothes. I really enjoy hearing what she notices, and feel thankful to have a mother who is so interested and involved in my kids' lives.

Happy early Mother's Day, Mom! Next time we look forward to Papa joining us too.