"Hello, I am a very busy business man, and you have interrupted my very important business meeting. What do you want?"
"You say you have a business proposal? You may proceed, Busy Business Man Baby will listen to your business proposal."
"I like the sound of your business proposal!"
"I will chew on your business proposal and get back to you. Now I must return to my important business meeting."
So, great holiday, very noble, all that. I don't mean to diminish any of the higher meanings of Memorial Day, but at our house it meant everyone was home all day. And when you've got a boy like Scott, you need to run him down. So after an early morning water-gun fight in the backyard, we went on a "nature walk." Previously, Mike took Scott on a nature walk near a small stream, and Scott stuck his fingers in the water and licked his fingers. We tried to not do that.
We decided to go around Malletts Bay, a fairly straight shot if we were birds, but fairly roundabout because we're not. We needed the map.
Scott loves maps, and will identify many foldable documents as maps, even when they are not. He helped tell us where to go.
Oh yeah, Dean was there, too. I took this picture with my arm over my head, camera backwards.
We ended up at a little state park, the park ranger told us that one trail to the water was "stroller accessible" so we broke out the shiny new double stroller for the first time. Scott is a bit on the large side for a stroller, but since it was 1/2 mile away and we wanted to actually get there, we locked him down. When we got started, he shouted that he needed to look under logs to see if worms were there, but eventually kicked back and enjoyed the ride.
The beach! And you know what? That water was pretty cold! Turns out it takes Lake Champlain a while to warm up.
Mike helps Scott balance on a log in the water.
Looking for frogs up the riverbed. Mike carried Scott because, as Scott said, "There's so many rocks, I can't even walk on them."
Sidenote: the next day, I took the boys to a closer, smaller beach with no frogs. Scott sang "Having fun at the beach with Mommy and Broey," and then asked me, "Remember when we went on a nature walk to the beach and looked for frogs in the riverbed? Let's look for frogs in the riverbed!" He found it hard to believe that there was no riverbed and no frogs.
Since it was a crazy vacation day, Mike promised Scott a creemee on the way home. What's a creemee? A softserve ice cream cone. Something that is not special in Utah. But in Vermont it is a magical thing that only comes out in the summer, and if a convenience store has creemees, it puts a giant sign in the window. The first store we stopped at did not have a sign. Mike went in, while Scott waited and wished for a purple one. Mike came out, no creemee. The next store had a sign, but they were all out of chocolate. Scott saw the picture in the window and got very excited, and didn't understand why he still didn't have a creemee. On the road to the third place, Scott's monologue was like this:
"But I want a creemee! Where's the creemee store? I neeeeeed a creemee!"
Finally, success.
Scott licks, says "I love creemees," licks again, all on one side. When that side was mostly gone, he turned it around to the chocolate side. "There's purple on the other side!" (Hey, it could be purple)
Do not attempt this without a lot of wet wipes.
Even with the sugar high, we got Scott to take a nap. Afterwards, it was time to play with water in the backyard. It was about 67 degrees and very windy. Scott got an inflatable carwash at his birthday party, so Mike set it up.
The garbage bags over winter coats did not keep them dry.
Much like his dad, Scott is immune to discomfort when he is having a good time.
And there you have it, a Memorial Day with no memorials or barbeques or hamburgers. Mike said that Scott will associate Memorial Day with water fights in the backyard with Dad.
As always, here's the video of everything you just read about, but with 100% more frogs!
On April 22, Scott turned 3! For weeks leading up to his birthday, Scott would tell us, "But I'm not three yet, I'm still two." It was a big transition for him. But first, I have a couple random things...
The boys and I kicking back and watching Word World.
Everyone! Scott's daycare wanted an updated family photo that included Dean, so this was our best attempt.
Speaking of daycare,
Scott made a campfire! He brings home lots of artwork, and since we are decluttering we aren't really allowed to hang on to it. So, behold! Eternal digital life!
We went to Healthy Kids Day at the YMCA. There were lots of activities, including face painting. We've never done face painting before because there's always a line and we didn't think Scott would sit still. This time, we were early and an amateur artist was just using face crayons. What is it?
I'm told it's a shark. More specifically, Bruce from Finding Nemo.
There was a musician at Healthy Kids Day, too.
*********
Okay, Scott had two birthday celebrations. His actual birthday was on a school day, and the birthday protocol is that you bring cupcakes, hand them out to your friends, and you get the first bite. I decided that Scott and I would make cupcakes together. Scott helped by dumping and stirring and holding the mixer; Dean helped by sleeping. Scott chose the color for the frosting and even squeezed the food coloring dropper. I got all crazy with the pastry bag (it actually makes for quick and mess-free frosting) and Scott helped with the sprinkles. Voila!
These are made from scratch, the butter cake recipe from the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking cookbook. They have whole wheat flour! And a lot of butter. The school kids were very impressed by the swirly spiral frosting. I'm sure they are not easily impressed.
Here's Scott handing out cupcakes, assisted by Teacher Peter, while his Froggy Friends wait patiently. I took lots of pictures of his friends and put them in a real photo album so Scott can remember them.
The first bite! Standard practice is to only eat the frosting, although two kids ate some actual cake.
Dean and I hung around for the rest of the afternoon. Teacher Peter made Scott a crown.
Now here's the video of it all, priceless due to the tuneless rendition of Happy Birthday.
*******************
We told Scott that he was having a birthday party. "I already had a party," he said. Based on that attitude, we would have cancelled, but I'd already invited his whole class.
Why did we throw a real party? Because he went to Liam's party and talked about it. And the YMCA threw parties in the gym, so we wouldn't have to entertain people in our house. And we're moving, so this was the chance to socialize.
I took lots of pictures of the other kids, for Scott to look at. Turns out I didn't take many pictures of him! So,
Liam and Sophie, Scott's very best school friends, ride a contraption that Mike set up. Sophie loves Scott to a high degree; she would be upset if he didn't play with her. She wore the shirt with hearts on it because she loves him. Scott responds to her enthusiasm, so they have a good time together. Liam is a good roughhouse boy.
Taking a break on the edge of the ball pit with Carter.
Dean hangs out with Sophie's mom while I run around taking pictures. That other baby, Boston, is three weeks older than Dean.
After the gym time, we went up to a preschool room to have cake and open presents. I rushed us into the presents because there were so many, I didn't want to run out of time. So instead of being in the nice open room, the kids ended up in a corner around Mike while Scott opened presents.
After the presents, Scott said "Let's go home."
Since the cupcakes turned out so delicious, I decided that I could make Scott's party cake, too. The internet told me that I could trace a pattern and fill it in with stars. It took a couple naptimes and a couple bedtimes to put it all together, and it is nowhere near perfect. But given that the audience would barely eat it, much less appreciate it, I was not aiming for perfection. I only wanted leftovers for myself. Behold!
Yes, I know. I can hear the oohs and ahs from here! I dyed all the frosting the night before, and the name of the color, "skin tone," lied to me. Skin tone if Curious George got a nasty sunburn! Like I said, not perfect. I did the balloons last, and I was tired, so they're not too smooth. Before the party, I showed the cake to Scott to make sure he knew it was Curious George. Scott poked George in the chest, leaving a nice smudge.
I need you to be more impressed with the details. Although, up close, you can also see holes in the fur. Oh no! The background is supposed to be blue, because he's floating in the sky. I could talk about cake all day. I could also recommend Cakewrecks!
Okay, here's the video! The end of the birthday!
Hey Dean, 'sup?
The calendar says you're nine weeks old today. I'll have to believe it since I don't have photographic evidence of your every moment; welcome to secondhand life! And I've been busy taking pictures of other important things. See, when you were a young lad of about 5 weeks, we up and decided to repaint every room in the house and change the floors in three-fourths of it. Good idea, right? You and I had nothing better to do than to sleep and sit on the couch. We could give up sleep and couches, right? That wouldn't cause any inconvenience. Here, I'll show you some cool before and after stuff.
My bedroom before. See the nice wood paneling and groovy lights? They go great with the mint green carpet. I wonder what's under the carpet?
Gray and black stick-on floor tiles, sweeeet! This must have been quite the man cave back in its prime. Then what happened?
Ta da! Painted paneling, laminate floor, new lights. Still a converted attic, what can you do. This is why your father and I slept on an air mattress in the living room for three nights; totally worth it.
Your big brother Scott got new floors in his room, too. They're slippery! For this, he spent an afternoon napping in the basement.
Look, a picture of you! Sometimes you like to sleep in that little chair instead of in your hammock. Then you wiggle in your sleep until your body is on the floor and just your head is on the chair, which makes you a little mad. Hey, at least you have a place to sleep. Well, except for all those mornings when I took you out in your Ergo carrier and you had to nap on my chest while I bought paint and lights and stuff.
We also did the basement. I can't find an official Before picture...
Here's Scott, before you were born, examining his train track. Note the carpet and wood paneling. We got that carpet the day Scott came home from the hospital, due to this fun flood. Go ahead, check it out (but beware of my post-appendicitis pregnancy belly). We've managed to spill many things on that carpet, leading us to think that maybe we shouldn't have carpet. Your dad spent hours putting that train track together, vowing never to take it down. Scott used to say that when you arrived, you and he would play trains together and eat tractor gummies. Well, the track had to go down before you got to play with it. But look!
More painted paneling and slippery floors! Your dad was so excited that he ate a celebratory sandwich on the new floor. See that plug in the wall? That kept my internet alive!
Another view, we did the whole basement. This is where the train used to be. I asked Dad if he took it apart carefully, he said no. I don't know if we'll see the train again. For this, I gave up tv and laundry for a week. Two things about that, Dean. One, you only poop once or twice a week, which is awesome on its own and even better when I don't have a washing machine, so thank you for being so odd. Two, we live in a time of amazing technology, such that I was able to keep up with many important television shows on my computer. Losing my tv didn't hurt quite so much. We even (temporarily, I'm sure) broke Scott of his Curious George addiction.
We also refinished the floor in our living room.
Here's a before, with who-knows-how-old carpet. Look, it's also a picture of you, napping in your chair again! Guess what was under that carpet?
Perfectly lovely wood floors with no imperfections! We did have it refinished. And look, a baby!
You don't appreciate the wood floors as much as we do. But if you release any bodily fluids on them, I can clean it up easily. Oh, by the way, for this floor Scott gave up one day's nap altogether. That was a very very bad day for us, and I'm glad you won't remember it. You and I gave up our beloved couch for a week, and fought with Wiki for the one remaining cushioned chair in the house.
That's all the renovation pictures. Sidenote: all this work was done by a nice contractor who gave us a gift certificate for lunch. Dad and I took you out today, and there were some grandparents with their 8'month-old grandson at the restaurant. That boy loved to look at you. You started to scream when we got our food, and the grandma came over and took you so that we could eat. Yep, I handed you off to a perfect stranger without a thought, hope you didn't mind. Anyway, we did all this work because we'll be moving across the country in a few months, and we need to sell the house. You'll probably appreciate not growing up in a house with stairs of death; it remains to be seen whether you'll appreciate growing up in Washington as opposed to Vermont. At least you've got your Vermonter birthright, which is very important and already makes you more entitled to live here than me. This is, after all, the place where you can leave free crap out on your front lawn, and people will come and take it away.
This is the latest of several piles of free crap your dad has piled in front of our house. It keeps disappearing, like magic!
I hope you understand why you've been neglected so early in your young life. I did take a picture of you in fancy church clothes last Sunday:
People thought you were adorable, but they kept asking if you were a boy or a girl. You totally have boy hair!
Scott has noticed more of the changes than you, but he's had fun. Dad hired a high school boy to help move things out to the garage so that our house would be less cluttered. Scott thought that was the most exciting thing ever, and he had to help. Here's his video:
By the way, Scott really likes you. Especially when other people are around, Scott likes to claim you as his baby brother named Dean. He gets a kick out of you looking at him.
Another Scott video - inspired by my cousin Emmy, I tried asking him some questions.
Yesterday you and Scott and I were driving home from a fun store. Scott was angry at leaving, and kept shouting NO in the car. I looked at you, and you were happily chewing on you knuckles through a blanket. That was your entire goal and you were so content. You'll never have it this good again, kid, so here's a video to remind you of the good old days.
This has been a long post, and for part of it you were playing on your mat. Good job, Dean. Thanks for being a trooper.
Grandma Myrna was a wonderful helper. I think Scott even elevated her from "Other Grandma" to "Grandma," maybe around the time she pulled out the bouncy balls. And there was this:
Fingerpainting! Contained on the paper! I don't know how she did it.
Mike put the big train in Scott's bedroom. Then Bear drove the train while Scott and Grandma wrestled.
And there was some rope climbing.
For downtime, Scott had a Teddy Bear and Other Assorted Animals and Airplane Picnic.
And now for some token baby Dean pictures...
Posing with his birthday Vermont Teddy Bear.
Another angle: ka-chow! (We've been watching Cars a lot.)
An early smile!
Family photo! Not at all doctored.
Finally, a not-too-snazzy video compilation, including the neglected second child!
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