Halloween

We love our neighborhood.

One of it's charms is Halloween, when the neighborhood has a party and as the sun begins to set all the children leave the party to go trick-or-treating together. They spread out as the hill our circle is on gets steeper, with the littler ones falling behind, but the whole thing is over by 7:30 and the candy mania is kept to a minimum. It's awesome. Tack on the fact that the fire department came last year with their fire engine and passed out candy and it was basically perfect.

The fireman's visit left such an impression on Jon that he's known what he wanted to be this year since July: "A firefighter, so when they come with their firetruck and give me candy I will be a firefighter like them."

So obviously Ben would be a dalmatian.

Jon was so sure he would see the firemen on Halloween that I dressed him up that afternoon and took him to the fire station, just to be sure since I knew they didn't go to every neighborhood every year. As we walked in the door to say "hi" to the volunteers on duty (they have an open door policy that any children can come and visit anytime they're not at a call), the fire chief walked past, saw Jon in his costume, and stopped to say hello to him. Jon was thrilled, and told the fire chief all about his costume: the walkie-talkie, the hatchet, and so on. The chief was so touched that Jon wanted to be a fireman for Halloween, and wanted to show the firemen, that he and another firefighter took Jon into the room with their gear, where he proceeded to put on all of his gear to be matching with J. Then he took him around to see the firetrucks and let him "drive" his favorite one.

And after I took a picture, they firemen pulled out their phones for a pic with Jon too. Then they filled all of his pockets with candy. And when I say all of his pockets, I mean all of them. And in a fireman costume, there are a lot.

Jon was so happy he could have been done with Halloween then and gone to bed completely satisfied. But we added trick-or-treating with all his neighbor friends, and it was basically a perfect day. One in which he went to bed a half hour after his usual bedtime.

I'm choosing to forget the fact that it was below 

freezing with a 30 mph wind the whole night.

It's days like these that I really, really, really love living in a small midwestern town.

29

My big and little boys really spoiled me this year--

I woke up to Jonathan climbing onto my bed at 7am, snuggling into the crook of my arm and saying, "Mommy, today is your birthday. Are you so excited? You get a birthday hug!" Then he gave me a giant squeeze and began his stream-of-conscious morning ramble on topics ranging from "good airplanes and bad airplanes" to "Quentin L. Cook" to kitchen fires. Love him.

I came downstairs to find a house decorated with birthday banners and my sweet, happy Ben already up with his Nay Nay who'd taken the night shift because she's an angel. We got everyone dressed, and challah french toast with creme anglaise and fresh berries at La Brioche was followed by a trip to a local farm and corn maze.

We went on a hayride, picked a pumpkin, and pumped water. In the barnyard, one of the baby goats escaped from the goat pen, and what followed was pure birthday magic: I caught him! All those hours of chasing a little boy paid off in an unexpected life skill.

That's right--I spent my 27th birthday sunbathing in Thailand, and for my 29th I caught a goat in a barnyard! The satisfaction of actually catching the evasive little bounder combined with the repeated "Mommy you got him!"s amazingly made both activities equally satisfying. I have fully embraced the "when in Rome" philosophy.

My beautiful beads necklace

 My loves showered me with a carefully-wrapped macaroni necklace ("beautiful beads" in J's words), dollar-store fuzzy socks, and...

Possibly the greatest gift ever: a Roomba! Or in Jon's words, "Mommy's robot, Gooey."

Gooey vacuums the entire house while I run to Costco or rock babies to sleep. My floors have never looked better because they get vacuumed every day. And Jonathan will tidy up any room for the promise of Gooey "waking up to clean". I marvel each time it finishes a floor of the house, sings a little song, and then scoots on back to mount itself on its charging dock. I seriously love our little Gooey.

Fabio surprised me after dinner with Ella's other-worldly sour cream chocolate cake and coconut almond chocolate chip ice-cream. And that night, as cuddled my boys to sleep, I reflected on my blessings and my goals for the upcoming year while Gooey swept up cake crumbs off the floor.

Yep, 29 was a good birthday.

Danelle

Sometimes there are people in your life that become soul mates--the kind you only have to talk to for a minute for both of you to know that you were born to be friends; the kind that make you a better version of yourself every time you talk; the kind when the hardest you laugh together is when no words needed to be exchanged at all. It doesn't really matter how long it's been between visits because you pick up right where you left off whether it was a couple hours or a couple years. And sometimes those friends surprise you with a week-long early-birthday-present visit.

And when they do, it's magical.

J was a little disappointed when she came off the plane and she wasn't "Daniel Tiger" (a cartoon character he loves and thought was coming--"Danelle" vs "Daniel" easy to confuse). But it didn't take him very long to figure out Danelle was way, way better; even if he did call her "Daniel" the entire time.

We, of course, washed down fried cheese curds with Sprecher's rootbeer.

We spent an afternoon at Lake Mendota, kicking back in Adirondack chairs while Jon played in the sand and threw rocks into the water.

We went apple picking, obviously...

 

And when we realized we'd pick WAY more than we could ever eat, we baked delicious apple-y things all day.

And then we ate them.

We stayed up late solving the world's problems and laughing at our own problems, and scheming elaborate plans for realizing our dream of being next-door neighbors someday. We cheered for Jonathan as he tackled his self-made "inja popsicle courses" (translation: ninja obstacle course). We snuggled Ben and diagnosed his reflux. 

And then we cried at the Madison Regional Airport when we had to say goodbye. 

But amidst all the fun, best part for me might have been sharing people I love with each other. It was so fun to watch Jon embrace and love Danelle and realize she is one of the funnest people alive today, and it was just as sweet to see her fall in love with the boys as Jon crawled up onto her bed or tried to share his food with her and Ben fell asleep in her arms.

It was a perfect week--but man, I already miss that girl.

Big Boy Undies

So this happened last month...

Yep, this is about potty-training. But I'll spare you the details.

One morning, as I changed Jon's diaper he looked at me and said non-chalantly, "Mommy, I don't wear diapers anymore. I wear big boy undies."

Inwardly I thought, "Hallelujah! Good for you, but I have a six-week-old baby and this is not really a good time for me to potty train with you."

Outwardly I said, "Great! Run upstairs and put your airplane undies on and I'll set a timer to remind you to go potty." (We had undies on hand from our last attempt, which obviously failed.)

He put on his undies, and within two days was basically accident-free. All the problems from the last attempt were forgotten. It was his idea, and so it was going to happen. That is Jonathan all the way, if he owns it, he will make it happen. Tenacious little guy.

I'd love to take credit and share all my "secrets" for easy, tear-free potty training, but it was all him. I really just reminded, pulled pants up and down, and cheered. I'm so proud of him for choosing to grow up and do something hard, especially during a stage when many children tend to regress. He is a really special boy and I am one lucky, grateful momma.

A side note: Benjamin did not find the potty training days that magical; being put down suddenly mid-bottle or just as he was drifting off. If it weren't for Nay Nay's well-timed visit Ben would probably have some sort of trauma from the ordeal. Thanks for playing wingman, Mom.

Lucky Me

Fabio is an amazing dad.

Ben is bottle-fed, and Fabio takes more than half the middle-of-the-night feedings for me.

Just because.

He tenderly changes diapers, rocks to sleep, coos and plays, and suggests going out to eat when he can see I'm exhausted or overwhelmed.

Then he marches back to work, so I don't have to.

He rearranges his schedule to stay with the boys while I exercise, and never says a word about the state of the house--no matter what it looks like when he comes home from work!

He is generous with me and the boys to a fault, but also a firm and kind disciplinarian--teaching Jon to solve his problems instead punishing him.

More than anything, he completely head-over-heels devoted to his little team.

Even in his reviews on RateMyProfessor, his students mention that he "really loves his family."

Yes. Yes he does.

I don't know how I got so lucky.

Brothers

I'm really crazy about these two.

Jonathan is so good to his baby brother. He loves to help make the bottles, throw away the diapers, and sing songs when he's said. He is gentle, loving, protective, generous, and playful.

In Jonathan's eye, the little boy that pushes Jon sometimes at church isn't allowed within five feet of Ben (and neither is his baby sister, just to be safe). Jon cautiously stays between Ben and the two firmly stating, "No. No. Not my Ben." until they leave.

Jonathan kisses and hugs Ben tenderly, and prays for him every night.

Ben seems to love his brother's affection. Jon likes to rub B's hair, and when he does, Ben's whole body relaxes and his eyes get sleepy. Every time. He doesn't complain about the loving noogies and squeezes, either.

Ben loves to watch Jonathan run around the couch, dance, and be silly. Jonathan often offers for Ben to hold one of his toys while he plays (and is a little disappointed when B drops it). When I put B in the crib, Jonathan dutifully follows, climbs up the side, and sings to Ben--while B kicks and coos with delight.

It really does a Mommy's heart good to see two of her very favorite people in the world be so good to each other, and so loving. May it always be so...

Happy Birthday, Fabio!

Fabio loves ice cream cakes,

but he doesn't eat sugar.

So I made one using sugar-free brownies, ice cream, and cookies.

I got up early or added layers after midnight feedings so he wouldn't know beforehand.

It was worth it--because he love, love, loved it, and he was so surprised!

It was a little gesture for a great guy, who I love a whole lot.