Twins

The boys and I had a fun weekend. We were up and out the door at 8:30 on Saturday morning. Our first stop was to get haircuts. Both boys were great, and Nolan’s big payoff of a sucker made his day! He was a little disappointed I didn’t let him get another one at the liquor store, but it was only 9 in the morning! Our next stop was the mall to buy new shoes for both of them. I felt like a horrible mom when the salesperson told me that Kale is a size 6 ½ and Nolan is a size 8 – and they were wearing a size 5 and 7! I’m amazed at how big Kale’s feet are. Nolan just moved in to a size 7 in August. At this rate I imagine he and Nolan will be in the same size by next year. After that we did some shopping. The funniest thing to me is when the mall walkers stop me and make sympathetic comments like “Wow, your life must have changed when you had them” or “I bet you’re busy with the 2 of them!”. Many people think that Nolan and Kale are twins, and when they see me pushing around the jogging stroller with the two of them in it they think that even more. There was even a woman at Great Clips who saw the kids without jackets on, standing next to one another and asked if they were twins. I told her they were 18 months apart and she said she noticed a slight size difference but that they look so similar!
After a quick lunch at Subway we headed up to Moose Lake to help Jackson celebrate his 3rd birthday. I decided to take I-35 to drive through Minneapolis so the kids could see the tall buildings and the Metrodome. Nolan thought it was so cool and insisted that he wanted to watch the Vikings play at the Metrodome. I told him maybe next year! The kids didn’t nap as long as they should have, so when I finally stumbled in the front door at Chris and Sasha's house Kale’s face was red and blotchy from crying and Nolan had just stopped crying and wouldn’t let me put him down. It took a little while but they finally relaxed and were able to have fun. The kids played hard, ate well and slept well, and were so worn out that when we drove home on Sunday they both slept for almost 2 hours. The kids woke up just as we were driving by the Metrodome again. This time I decided to take I-94 so I could drive them through the tunnel. Nolan was amazed that it was all of a sudden “dark outside”. It was a great surprise to get home and see Adam waiting for us.

We’re pretty sure Kale is getting more teeth, based on his hand constantly being in his mouth, red cheeks and gross diapers. We remember Nolan getting his 2 year molars early, so I wonder if the same thing will happen to Kale. He’s had all of his teeth, including his 1 year molars, since he was 13 or 14 months old. I’m so happy that his teeth only bother him during the day and he still sleeps well at night! He is still continuing to express his frustration when he doesn’t get his way by going in to the downward facing dog yoga pose. One evening last week when I arrived at Jane’s to pick them up he was in the yoga pose in the snow, frustrated at Jane because she wasn’t holding him. He is very vocal:)

Nolan’s observation of the trucks parked on the ice:
“Mom, the trucks are floating on the ice!”

Nolan’s opinion of the music I was listening to in the car:
“Mom, Daddy plays Elvis in his truck.”

Superpower cow

Nolan kept talking about superpowers this morning.

M: Who has superpowers?
N: Cows
M: What kind of superpower does a cow have?
N: Making milk

I have no idea where he picked that up, especially that association to a superpower!

Fishin' for crappies

Nolan asked Adam to go fishin' with him tonight. It's a good thing we had our "boat" and the fishing rods were ready to go!

I'm so proud of you

Kale was brushing his teeth and Nolan was going potty. Kale hopped off his stool to give me a hug. Nolan finished, got down from the potty and gave me a hug, too. He patted my back and said, "I'm so proud of you". I burst out laughing, because that's what we tell him when he does good things, like go potty!

Red

Nolan woke up on Friday night with a tummy ache. After he relaxed with me and Adam for about 10 minutes I took him back up to bed.
M: Good night, Nolan.
N: Mom, I really like my red sheets. And my red pillow. Mommy, your shirt is red! And Lightening McQueen is red, too!

Both kids slept in on Saturday. Nolan shuffled in around 6:45. I put him in bed with me and we started to hear Kale talking. Nolan looked at me and said "Mom, I miss Kale." He is so sweet to him!

Both kids slept in again today - until 7:30! We made it to church and it went much better than last time. Kale lasted until about 1/2 way through the sermon. Adam took him out and found where the nursery is located. We're going to give it a try the next time we go. Nolan is so good in church, so we'll likely keep him with us. After lunch the kids went down for naps and Adam got out ice fishing with his dad. The original plan was to take Nolan, but both the kids needed their naps today. It's a good thing, because they both slept for over 2 hours.

We're going on a bear hunt

Jane sent me a text today around 10:30. Every day she asks Kale what he wants to eat for lunch. He usually doesn't say anything she can understand. On Wednesday, though, he threw up his hands and said "pizza"! He is so like his older brother. Other words new to his vocabulary are "nigh nigh" and "wuv you". He also is making most of the basic animal sounds and knows most of his body parts. He loves to "read" books to himself, which of course don't make any sense to us - but he just keeps on reading.


Later that same day when I picked up the boys Nolan was wearing a different outfit than when he was dropped off - a spiderman costume with muscles, a huge dinasour hat that makes dinasour sounds and carrying a lion flashlight - all while going on a bear hunt with all his friends. That helps explain why the kids love going on cave hunts at home:) The best part was that Jane let him wear the costume home to surprise Adam.

Nebbing

We took it pretty easy this past weekend, as Nolan was recovering from a surgical procedure. We didn't tell him a lot about it before the surgery, so he had a lot of questions. The good news is that he's doing really well and is fully recovered. Both he and Kale were coughing and had runny noses, and over the weekend Kale got worse. I took him to urgent care on Sunday and luckily he only had a virus. The dr. said nebbing him would help speed up his recovery, so we spent most of the week nebbing both boys in the morning before daycare and before bed. It sure would be great if someone would invent a maching that had a connection for 2 masks. It would save us a lot of time! The most surprising thing was the fact that Kale sat completely still for every treatment. We're guessing it's because it made him feel better, because he doesn't sit still for anything!

Nolan is really getting in to shapes and colors. No matter what we're doing he points out all the shapes and colors he sees (pizza is a triangle, the top of the cup is a circle, etc.). Jane has also started to help him write his name. He doesn't like to do it at home, but Jane does a great job with him and he's actually learning it. We've wondered for a long time if he is going to be left handed, and he is - just like his dad!

Sugar high?

Two of the four days this week Jane has told us that Kale has been more active than normal for him - which I didn't think was even possible! Today she told me that he runs so hard and so fast that he gets out of breath. That might explain why he doesn't want to get out of bed in the morning! I told Adam today that he is going to be our kid who is not going to want to get out of bed for school. I think he's growing, because he still goes to bed between 6:15 and 6:30 and doesn't want to get up, even at 6:45 the next morning! Kale is saying more and more words. New this week are deer, hi and pees (please). He loves nothing more than imitating his brother. We have to have two stools in the bathroom now so they can both brush their teeth at the same time. He has even started to want to sit on the potty chair, just like Nolan. It's nice that I can use Nolan to help teach Kale how to put his dirty cloths away and pick up his toys!

Ice fishing

Adam's dream of taking Nolan ice fishing was finally realized last weekend. We weren't sure it would happen this year because the ice hasn't been really safe yet. Luckily we were "up north", where there is a little more ice! Nolan had a great time, and told me all about his fish that was "this big".

Nolanism's

From the back seat of the car:
N: "Mom"
M: "Yes, Nolan?"
N: "I'm talking to Dad right now"

Admiring his new Cars play rug:
"Nice"

While at a check up with our Nurse Practitioner:
NP: "Nolan, what did you get for Christmas?"
N: "Presents"
Adam: "Nolan, what kind of presents did you get?"
N: "Shotgun"
NOTE: We have no idea how he knows about shotguns!

On the way home from daycare:
"Mom, the sun is going to sleep and the moon is waking up!"

After a lecture from me to both boys for doing something they weren't supposed to do:
"Mom, I didn't do anything!"

He ate the cookies!

Nolan got up on Christmas Eve morning, walked past the tree with the new presents under it and went in to the kitchen to request his typical breakfast of oatmeal with raisins. I asked him to turn on the light in the kitchen, and that's when he saw the empty plate with cookie crumbs and the empty glass of milk. "He ate all the cookies and drank the milk!" He was so excited to realize that Santa had stopped at our house. He loved the note Santa left for him, too. Christmas has always been one of my favorite holidays, but seeing his reaction to everything just makes it better! After breakfast he asked about the socks under the tree - the stockings. He and Kale sat for a nice picture before starting to open their gifts. Santa brought them each books, play doh and markers, and a pillow pet - Lightening McQueen for Nolan and Thomas the Train for Kale. We asked Santa to visit early this year because we wanted to be in St. Cloud by lunch time. The next few days were a whirlwind of presents, church, lots of relatives, more food than we could eat, and lots of laughs and visiting. All the kids had so much fun at our first Christmas at the new house. There is so much more room for them to run around, places for them to hide, and rooms for us all to sleep! The adults had fun, too. The best gift prize went to Adam from my parent's this year - a brand new acoustic guitar. I'm not sure who was more excited - Adam or Eric! Santa made a surprise visit to the Garceau family get together. Overall he was a big hit! The weather finally cooperated, too, after 2 years of lots of snow and ice. We really did have a brown Christmas - it got up to 48 degrees on the day after Christmas! We intended to drive home right after lunch on Monday, but the kids were so overtired from all the excitement and not quite sleeping all the way through the night that we decided to let them nap there. Three and a half hours later we were packed up and in the car, on our way home.


Over the next week we were busy. We attended Adam's aunt Audrey's funeral. While it was nice to see all the relatives, it was sad to do it in that setting. On Friday I suprised Adam by coming home from work early. I gave him an hour to get ready and pack an overnight bag. I should realize that I can't tell Nolan things anymore and expect him to keep it a secret. As soon as we walked in to daycare to pick up the kids Nolan said to Adam, "We're going to grandma and grandpa's house!". That was clue number one. Adam didn't know until we got on the road which grandparent's house we were going to. After a quick stop to pick up another surprise we were back on the road again to St. Cloud. We dropped off the kids at my parent's house and off we went to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. After checking in to the same hotel suite that we stayed in for our wedding we went for drinks at the Martini Lounge at the Red Carpet, where we had our groom's dinner exactly 5 years ago on December 30th. We followed that up with dinner at Mexican Village. We were so full from all of that, that we didn't get to enjoy the cake I ordered for us - a small replica of our wedding cake (mock angel food cake with raspberry filling). After picking up the kids Saturday morning we dropped the car off at the Kia dealership for an oil change. It was a little weird how close the weather was to our wedding - no snow all winter until the day before and the day of! We walked across the street, through the snow, to have lunch at Space Aliens. It didn't start off well. Nolan was melting down, which actually was fine, because that restaurant is so loud it didn't bother anyone! Luckily Nolan turned himself around and we had an enjoyable anniversary meal with the kids. Later that night we headed over to our friend's house to celebrate New Year's Eve. They surprised us with a slide show of our wedding pictures and a special toast. We were a few minutes late getting home for our babysitter because the roads weren't very good.


Since then we've put away both the inside and outside Christmas decorations (unseasonably warm weather helped with that). Nolan asked for a few days where the tree, star, Frosty and Santa were, but he seems to be over it. Hopefully he'll have the same excitement next year, and that he passes it along to his little brother!