Curtains

I was trying to get a picture of the boys for a holiday card, and between the gloom and wiggly boys it just wasn't going to happen. So I give you a "holiday season's opener," if you will. Two boys giggling in the curtains.

Piano Skills

The boys have been fascinated with the piano since they could stand up. Now that there's a bit more whole body dexterity going on, dancing and piano playing are starting to occur a the same time. And if you dance yourself onto the floor, well, you just get up and keep playing. Liam's over in the corner playing with finger cymbals.

Leaves!

Huge maple leaves are fun to play in.

Veteran

pop pop, on a dapper day

I have all sorts of issues with war, and dying, and militaries, and governments. Because of my inability to relate to a person's reasons for joining the military, my private parental sadness I feel whenever I hear one of those ads on the radio from the Marines congratulating yet another local high-schooler by name for taking the first step, I've never known what to say to a serviceman on veterans day. They've made choices I would never make, seen things I will never see, done things I will never do. But they have also carried out orders I cannot stomach, hurt people I will never get to apologize to, and represented my country while doing it.

I was on a crowded flight several months ago, juggling babies, and a grandmotherly woman in the row behind me was trying to get some smiles out of them. A man in fatigues boarded and started down the aisle. As he passed us, the woman turned, touched his arm, and said "thank you for your service." He smiled back, nodded, and continued down to his seat. She returned to playing with the boys. It wasn't veterans day, but there was something in the simplicity of her statement that spoke of a respect without judgement from an older time.

I may not feel moved to say it every time I see a person in uniform, but especially since it's veterans day,

Thanks, pop pop, for your service.
Thanks, dad, for your service.
And thanks to everyone else.

snippet

What is that sound you hear? It is the sound of Liam shrieking any time I am touching a computer.So this will be brief!

 liam regarding you from within the circle of entertainment

liam declaring he is done with breakfast, thank you.

 dash driving the box

mayhem

helping Charlie cook

Five minutes

After dinner tonight the boys were in a particularly good mood. This is five minutes of them doing their thing. It's a little bit funny, a little bit zen, and a little bit mind-blowing the types of entertainment they can consume in a five minute stretch.  I often say that keeping them entertained is like working for a king who loves beheading his jesters.

At 1:45 you can hear them having a little click-fest, one of their favorite vocalizations. Budding anthropologists, already speaking !Kung.



Obviously all it takes to keep them happy is dinner, a partially dismantled jungle exersaucer, a big bouncy ball, a changing table, a table, a toy phone, an empty yogurt container, an empty egg container, a couch, a bunch of board books, and each other.

At least now you can see how the room can go from picked up to chaos in under 10 minutes.

Trappin

I was getting sorely tired of doling out individual O's of cereal, so enter the Snack Traps. They are my attempt to free-feed boys without getting treats strewn absolutely all over the house.

Elapsed time to learning how to use snack trap: 5 minutes, with me showing them how and then pulling pieces of cereal to the top so they reached down for it.

Time to deciding that whatever is in your brother's trap is much tastier than what is in yours: 6 minutes. 

Sanity was restored.  

 Liam appears blameless.

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Images from Italy:

We visited many churches, the most interesting being this one made by Massimilano Fuksas, the Church San Paolo. It was completely still and quiet, and the clear sunshine of the day was I think exactly what he had in mind when he designed it. Floating shapes within shapes.