Lisa n Tom (n James n Joseph)

Lisa writes: James (4 years) Joseph (1 ½ years) Food Honey Bunches of Oats Milk, strawberries Activity Playing dinosaurs Climbing onto things he shouldn’t be climbing onto Song Up until recently, Despacito The Wheels on the Bus Word “Stupid” (dang it) Nah Cute Thing Putting his head against Joseph’s head and saying, “Aww, cutie baby.” Copying things we do, expressions we make Annoying Thing Not picking up toys. Defiance, with a smile. Likes to decorate with mud. Determined to run into the street. Ignores us, with a smile. Likes to tip bottles and sippy cups upside-down and watch the water/milk drip. Signature Look Shorts and dinosaur t=shirt Baymax pjs Favorite Media Wild Krattz, Dinotrux Carrying a cell phone around, even my old dead one, ho...

Lisa writes: We hit the road for Memorial Day weekend for fun and funerals. That sounds morbid, but we really did have a nice time. On Friday afternoon, our neighborhood pool opened for the summer. James had been talking about this for days. I guess I was kind of excited too, because my little trip to the store to get one thing ended up with new swim shoes and pool toys for everybody. Even with predictably freezing water, the pool was packed with happy people, and the food truck specially ordered for the event actually ran out of food. Saturday morning we packed up, got a last-minute fish-sitter for Spike III, and drove down to Williamsburg, VA, checked into a slightly sketchy hotel & conference center, and went to find food. The Second Avenue Bistro was great. Back at the hotel, we discovered it was a soccer tournament weekend and the pool was filled with boisterous boys playing horse. James chickened out and asked to go back to the room and watch a movie. We went to Mass and ...

Lisa writes: Last night, James was playing with some glow-in-the-dark stars at bedtime. If you shine a bright flashlight on them, they glow. He was excited at the thought that the stars would glow in his room all night, and disappointed when I realized they only last a few minutes. To get him to bed, I gave him a glow stick and told him he could sleep with it. I think I told him NOT to chew on it (or maybe that was the last 100 times I gave him a glow stick), but, either way, at 11:30 p.m. he came into our room all nonchalantly and announced he didn't want to wear a t-shirt to bed and he was just gonna slide on into our closet, shut the door, take off the shirt, and put it in the laundry hamper, come back out of the closet and go to his room, 'k bye. A minute later, I heard him walking around again. He turned on the light in the bathroom hallway, ran the water for a moment, then turned off the light again and went to his room. I started getting suspicious. When I went into...

Lisa writes: Tom just sent me this picture with the text, "Surprise!" Yeah, that's our 30 inch tall kid who just managed to climb onto a 24 inch tall platform to play with a kitchen power tool. I just did some algebra for the first time since 11th grade and that works out to me climbing onto a 52 inch platform to play with a chainsaw.

Lisa writes: Dear family, Some stuff the kids are doing: About three days ago, Joseph decided his favorite word is "no." He pronounces it like a very clipped "nah." This leads to conversations such as the following: Me: Joseph, do you want food? Joseph: Nah. Me: Do you want milk? Joseph: Nah. Me: Do you want a bottle? Joseph: Nah. Me: [Holding up bottle] Bottle? Joseph: Nah. Baba! Baba! Baba! James's favorite program is called Wild Krattz . It's a PBS kids show with two enthusiastic brothers who learn about animals. Anyway, he's picked up two phrases from the show that crack me up: [Last night at bedtime] Me: Good night, James. James: Give me a big ol' hug!  Me: [Hugging] James: Now we're bros. Video of James teaching Joseph how to build with Legos https://youtu.be/EPX7Syttxig Love, Lisa Tom was in Puerto Rico last week for, literally, about 36 hours for a work meeting. A couple of days...

Lisa writes: Bag of frozen mixed vegetables broke open when I tried to pull it out of the box. The boys seized an opportunity.

Lisa writes: Lori's family came to visit for a dental conference in DC. Some random pics and texts from Lori: From way back on April 22nd: "Evelyn has been counting down on her board for the last 2 months." "James is good at holding hands and Joseph is snuggly." "My kids tried the whole milk. [They usually drink skim.] I don't know if there's any going back now!" "Benjamin doesn't like the city b/c of all the smokers. I think we need to spend tmrw around the National Mall & grass & fresher air there." "We've been total tourists by bus and by bike." "Benjamin built this in Lisa's downstairs, but David's having the most fun with it."