Go Trojans!

We went to a friend's house for a little college football party, but it was enemy territory - all Ohio State fans. Nicholas and Charlotte had a ball. The basement was totally kid friendly with toys galore...and did I mention Wii Golf? He had fun challenging the bigger kids. Charlotte stayed upstairs with us, charming everyone she met. Tom had dug out Nicholas' old USC onesie for Charlotte - Nicholas wore it to Tom's business school graduation. Not exactly girly, but I think she pulled it off with the bow. Despite the fact that the kids were still raring to go, we packed it up at halftime (9pm). Tom and I watched the rest of the game at home. Quite a thumping! U-S-C! U-S-C! Yea!!

Little Trojan Girl

Think there's a resemblance? Nicholas was about 2 months younger than Charlotte is now. I tried to find one with him smiling...there were none to be found!

Heed This Warning

When a bottle of medicine says to take with food and/or milk...it's probably a good idea to wait until after breakfast to administer. Nicholas had to start a steroid to get rid of some fluid in his ear that refuses to go away, and I gave him the medicine first thing this morning as we sat down for breakfast. Bad call. Luckily I had just walked upstairs to take a shower, so Tom got to deal with cleanup. It's good for Daddy to get a dose of vomit every once in a while. :)

When Golf Goes Bad...

As with pretty much all the injuries my children have had (minor though they've all been), I was in the room when this happened. A fact that Tom loves to remind me. Nicholas was busy putting in the family room when his lightning-fast crawling sister zoomed in front of his stroke and took a putter to the face. I freaked out. In freak-out mode I called Tom, who when he arrived home (this happened around 5ish...) was expecting a little more of a wound. It doesn't look all that bad in the picture, I know, but in the moment it seemed pretty bad. After a few minutes of understandable crying (her not me) she was totally herself, so I really wasn't concerned about anything except stitching, but I had no idea at what point you need stitches. It obviously wasn't gushing blood or gaping open or anything, but it was on her face! I called the doctor who asked if I could pry apart the wound. Um, hadn't tried that for obvious reasons. He said he'd wait while I tried. Picture me, pinning Charlotte down and trying to pry apart her cut. Fun times for all. I couldn't, which was excellent news. We just have to treat with a prescription antibiotic cream (apparently Neosporin isn't so great to get in your eyes). I still don't totally get how the putter caused this, but whatever. We have established the "no putting in the same room as Charlotte" rule to avoid a recurrence. At the end of the day, if this can be the worst thing that happens to her for a long, long while, I'll be one happy mom!

Kolache Factory Revisited

We made a lunch time run to the Kolache Factory again today (we'll go months without going...then go in streaks of frequent visits). There, Nicholas ate two and a half kolaches. That's a lot for those of you who don't know. He's never even finished two. He kept asking for another, so we would count out the money and he'd order and pay for it himself. It was cute. But the real thrill of lunch was the discovery that the paper trays the kolaches come in make extraordinary hats. And yes, for those of you who follow the blog with an eye for detail...that is the same table as our first kolache post. Luckily no one has ever been at that table when we arrive because I don't think Nicholas could handle sitting anywhere else. He walks right over, drags over a high chair for Charlotte and sits down!

Lovely

How exactly does this work?

A little help

Forget it. I'll just eat my kolache.

First...Shuffle?

I had a meeting at Nicholas' preschool this morning after I dropped him off, exactly when I should have been putting Charlotte down to sleep. So instead of nap, I was trying to entertain her while learning about the school's big fundraiser - Fall Fling. Two friends from Bunko were there and one had brought her younger son (who is 7 months older than Charlotte). Charlotte was fascinated with them both. She was standing up right by me (again, I'm not completely focused in on her because I'm trying to listen) and the next thing I know, she's giggling and moving her feet to get to my friend Corrie. She did get almost a real step in before dropping down to crawl mode. It was such a shock! I'm not sure I'm ready for her to be a walker yet! After afternoon naps we were hanging in Nicholas' room and decided to entice her with one of her favorite things (the phone). Again she got super excited and managed to shuffle both feet this time. I still don't think I'll call it walking yet (for baby book milestone purposes), but I think we might be heading that direction sooner rather than later. She's growing up!

Notice how she holds the phone? I seriously think she does that because I always have the speaker on whenever the kids are listening, and the speaker is on the backside of the handset. But maybe that's just me thinking she's advanced. She also says "hi'. I'm pretty sure. :)

Creamy PB anyone?

Whenever Nicholas hasn't wanted to do or try something, or if he's too young for something, he has usually said a version of - "Maybe when I'm four I'll like broccoli" or "When I'm 33 I can drive a car". The age is almost always either 4 (being his next birthday, which always seemed far off until the day it happened), or 33 (being my and Tom's age, which must seem like the end of time to him). Along these lines, whenever asked if he wanted creamy or crunchy peanut butter, he's always said "Creamy. Maybe when I'm four I'll like crunchy". I've always stocked both, since Tom much prefers crunchy. (I could go either way, and I don't really eat that much peanut butter) The last time my mom was here and we made a Costco run (it's so far away from our house here in St Louis that I let our membership expire), I stocked up on organic creamy PB. We just opened up the first of two very large jars that came packaged together. A few days ago, the guys were having PB toast and Tom asked Nicholas about the PB. Nicholas said crunchy. No followup. Nothing. As if he's always eaten crunchy. Since then, he's all about the crunchy PB and has actually commented that he likes it now that he's four. So I guess he really meant what he's been saying all along. Going to have to try out the broccoli...

PGA Comes to Town

So I know people sometimes catch baseballs. Some people catch hockey pucks. But not many get golf balls at PGA Tour events! But I'm getting ahead of myself... Today Nicholas and Tom went to the BMW Championship which was being played here in town. Thanks to FedEx (the tournament is a FedEx Cup playoff event) for the tickets! They spent some time in the FedEx tent, which kept them happy with snacks and drinks (I hear there were many cookies consumed by my guys). But then Nicholas needed to be a little closer to the action! They got to see lots of players, many of whom Nicholas knows (most notably Vijay Singh). Because of the position of the tee boxes versus where the gallery could stand, Tom had Nicholas up on his shoulders so he could have a better view. Before one player, Eric Axley, teed off, he walked over and tossed a ball to Nicholas. Obviously Nicholas was beyond thrilled. Especially when he saw that Axley (who is also a lefty) marks his ball with a pink dot. Personally I'd say it was more red...but Nicholas is sure that it's pink. Mr. Eric Axley has a new little fan. I'm a fan too. What a cool thing for him to do!! Sorry no pictures. No cameras allowed. Don't they know that we need pics for the blog?!?

We're going to be in real trouble whenever Tom ends up with a job with fewer perks. I think Nicholas thinks this is all the norm!