Lisa n Tom (n James n Joseph)

Lisa write: Wanna see something gross? Joseph's ear infection came back, except now, with ear tubes, instead of building up fluid in the inner ear, the fluid comes oozing out.

Lisa writes: Presidents' Day. No school. Let's go ski! James has had four or so ski lessons at an indoor facility. On carpet. But today was his first time on real snow with skis strapped to his feet. We went with the neighbors across the street and James took at two-hour lesson with their three year old. The boys did well, no tears. We did a few more runs up and down the bunny hill, hit the cafeteria, then went tubing. This was not your regular backyard tube setup. There were 10 runs and they were 100s of yards long with an enormous moving sidewalk to get you back up to the top. James would have tubed forever if we'd let him.  

Lisa writes: I got some paper blackout blinds for the boys' room and trimmed them down to size. James was playing with the extra pieces.

Lisa writes: Tom thinks Joseph has had a spike of testosterone, partly because of what happens when we change his diaper, and partly because of the fact that he is suddenly a Ferocious Attack Baby. He's stealthy, sneaking up behind James as he's playing dinosaurs on the floor to whack him over the head with a plastic diplodocus. Gently petting your cheek and smiling at you right before he pinches his little razor fingernails into your cheek. Getting him to eat is still a struggle, and he's figured out a new trick. Instead of fighting that last bite I keep offering him, now he'll take the bite, wait until he thinks I'm not looking, and then lean over the edge of the highchair tray and spit it out on the floor. He also likes to announce that he's done eating by swiping everything off the tray onto the floor with his arm. And he doesn't feel one tiny bit bad about it either.

Lisa writes: Red-letter days for James: Saturday, James spontaneously made his own bed. We didn't ask him to do it -- he just watched Tom making our bed and then went into his room and pulled up his own blanket, put his pillow on top, and carefully arranged his menagerie of stuffed animals: currently, a giant stuffed shark that's almost as tall as he is named Sharkey, his one-eyed orange cat named Kitty, his taggy puppy with the rattle inside named Doggy, and an unnamed baby manatee. Later in the morning, we went to get his second haircut from Darwin at the pelucaria . These guys are artists and take their time with every. single. hair. Not exaggerating, the haircut took 45 minutes. And James was an absolute champ the whole time. No wiggling, no complaints. Sunday, James volunteered to say the prayer at dinner. James never wants to say the prayer at dinner. In fact, up until now, we've barely managed to get him to stop talking and running around during the prayer. But...

Lisa writes: Tom got up at 0-dark-hundred to take Joseph to the hospital to get ear tubes placed (myringotomy). In addition to having about half a dozen ear infections so far, he is behind in learning to talk. At his two-year-old checkup, he was supposed to know about 50 works. I think he knew 8 to 12, depending on how loosely you want to define a "word." He was referred to the county for speech therapy and they, in turn, referred him to another county office for a hearing test. Which he failed. And thus, the ear tubes. Turned out the middle ear on the left side was full of fluid and both ears were infected ... again. He was a champ at the hospital, even fasting. They said he might be fussy afterward and be uncomfortable at loud sounds, but he apparently didn't get the message because he came right home and ran around like nothing had happened. We noticed almost immediately that he was imitating us more. He'll repeat the last word you just said, for ...

Lisa writes: Waking up is hard to do.

Lisa writes: Sunday afternoon, the boys took a Sunday drive.

Joseph insisted upon this outfit.

Lisa writes: Schools out. It's a snow day today. We put together the giant t-rex puzzle Elison and Edivani gave James a couple of years ago (he's big enough to do it himself now), watched movies, and snuggled in fuzzy blankets. James calls them "kitty blankets," we have five of them, and they are his primary love language.