Happy St. Patrick's Day!

.....and Happy Birthday Grandpa! Today is my Dad's birthday (yes, we are a wee bit Irish!). Mzee had a good time talking to grandpa tonight. He told him about all the eggs he collected at the Easter Egg Hunt in our town this weekend. Mzee is very excited because the kids and I will be traveling back to my parents for a long weekend this weekend! It will be a very exciting weekend as my Mom's birthday falls on Easter this year, and Thursday is the Baha'i New Year! My Mom has no less than three events planned at her house in the four days we will be there so we'll be able to catch up with lots of friends and family!! We are all very excited about the trip. I'll feel much better when we are actually at my parents house. Milan can go either way on the flight, and I did not buy her a seat since she doesn't HAVE to have one. Hopefully Mzee can keep her entertained, they are really good at getting each other to giggle lately! I've got a long list of entertaining things to carry on the plane for entertainment, so we should be good. We do have a VERY early flight, so hope all goes well....wish us luck!

As for other news, we had a very busy weekend. Saturday morning we went to the town Easter Egg Hunt and Mzee got a few eggs and also had his picture taken with the Easter Bunny after a little encouraging. Milan would not go near the bunny so we didn't even try. It was a bit chilly, but the kids had fun.

Milan enjoyed dumping out the eggs and using the basket as a hat.

From there, it was home for a quick lunch and then Mzee and Don were off to basketball pictures before basketball. The photographer commented to Don, "I wish all kids were as good at having their pictures taken!" When Don told me this, I replied, "Me too" as we know all too well, that Milan is the exact opposite when it comes to formal pictures!
After basketball, we loaded up the car and headed to Pennsylvania. Don's cousin's little girl turned three on Saturday and they had a great party for her. They had a bouncy castle in the backyard and there were lots of kids, lots of Kenyan food, and lots of fun! The kids had a great time! Milan spent most of the night going up and down the stairs. Going down the stairs on her own is a new skill she's learned since being at her new daycare. However, she requires supervision, so Don and I split our time watching her and socializing.

Milan loved Jen's Dora chair!

Mzee Loved the CAKE!

There was one casualty in the night...Mzee lost his beloved space shuttle. Don and I both subconsciously at some point in the night realized he had it and that we should take it and put it with our things...cardinal rule of toys, don't take them somewhere unless you are sure you can live without them coming back home. Of course, in the hustle and bustle of the party, neither of us acted on these thoughts, and at the end of the night the space shuttle was nowhere to be found. Mzee is handling it pretty well, but he has already planned to take it on the airplane with him this week. So, we may need to track a new one down on short order.
Mzee and I had a marathon shopping trip yesterday, getting a couple of things we needed that were on sale, and buying groceries and other general errands. Mzee asked, "Mom, is this a mission?" (i.e. Mission to Mars) I said yes, and so we were on a mission to complete all of our errands, and we did and even got home in time to make dinner. Not bad considering we left in the late afternoon!

Today Mzee's class made Irish Soda Bread for St. Patrick's day. Tonight we made a tent out of chairs and an old sheet and it has been a big hit for both kids! The idea for the tent started yesterday when on a cartoon Mzee was watching they moved their tent indoors because it rained. This reminded me of the tents I used to build as a kid with my cousin Audrey and my Aunt Judi, so I told him we could make our own tent. Of course, we didn't have time right then and after nap we had to go shopping so we were to do it after dinner. However, being bath night, we both forgot. This morning when Mzee came down for breakfast, his first words to me, after flashing his gorgeous smile, were "But, Mommy, when are we going to make that tent!" So, tonight we did and he was having a blast! Milan loved it as well and they played in it for quite some time.

Playing in the Tent!

Basketball, Braids and a Caterpillar

Last weekend was a busy one! Mzee started "basketball clinic" and was very excited. Of course he got a new t-shirt and learned to dribble, pass and shoot. Well, he already knew how to shoot...though he needs a lot of practice in the dribbling department. It's so interesting to watch him try to dribble. It is such a learned hand eye coordination, so we are practicing with him quite a bit.
Also last weekend, Milan got braids for the first time! A friend of mine, Clyde, came over to braid her hair for me. This is as a result of me asking every non-caucasian mom I know for tips on how to better care for Milan's hair. I can honestly say I was not prepared for the work her hair is going to be. Thankfully, Clyde gave me some great tips, great product suggestions ( I can't believe I'm already using product on my baby!) and she can braid well, i.e. fast. Neither of us were sure if it would even be possible to braid her hair as she is pretty determined when she does or doesn't want something. Milan was busy playing while Clyde followed her aroudn putting braids in quickly. I wish Milan was so accepting of me working on her hair! Here's a picture of her with her new braids....unfortunately, her hair texture isn't conducive to long wearing braids, so they were out by Tuesday and she's back to pigtails for the time being.

Milan with her new braids!

Grandpa and Grandma sent Milan a package over a week ago, and we finally got it on Saturday. Unpacking it was interesting as it just kept going as I took it out of the box. It is a six foot long, multi-colored caterpillar! It is adorable and Milan immediately laid down on it like it was a cozy body pillow! Mzee loves it too of course, and they have had a blast playing with it! I've never seen anything like it, it is so cute! Grandpa sure knows how to pick gifts!

Milan and her new caterpillar!

We love our new caterpillar, Grandpa!

This week Mzee has had a very busy week. Yesterday he and his class went to our favorite pizzeria and they got to make pizza with the owner! He was so excited about it and told me he got to help put on the sauce and the cheese! Today they walked back to the pizzeria to deliver a thank you note. Yesterday was a beautiful day, so Don picked Mzee up early from daycare and took him to the playground to ride his bike. The playground was very busy with the after school crowd and Mzee made some new friends and even let a couple of "big boys" ride his bike.

Last night when we were eating dinner, Mzee started a phrase with, "Mom, let me tell you something..." Such a grown-up thing to say, I thought.

Milan is loving school and says "bye bye Daddy" and "bye bye Mommy" as soon as we put her down in her classroom! She really loves it there. When we ask her who she played with today though, she still says "Cole", one of the boys from her daycare in Omaha. She has also now added "Ian", a boy from the part time daycare she was at most recently. She does know the names of all four kids in her current class too.

I Got Him!

Milan said her first full sentence today..."I got him!" She and Mzee were having a blast playing a make shift game of tag and she went after Mzee then came back to Don and said, "I got him." Don and I were quite surprised by this as she doesn't say too many two word phrases yet, but it was adorable, especially given the context!

She is settling in beautifully to her new daycare, as her teachers report. The last three days there have been no tears when we've left in the morning. The teacher usually has an activity for her to do when we get there and today she went right up to the table and pulled out her chair to sit down and wait for the teacher to bring her something.

Don has had several interviews over the last week or so, so send positive thoughts our way that he'll get an offer soon!

Mzee is having a great week! His class took a walk to the big town playground today and played for a while as it was a nice day. After all that exercise he told the teacher he was hungry, ate like a champ and then didn't even take a nap.

The bombing in New York did not affect us, so we are thankful that it wasn't any worse than it was.

One humorous item I've been forgetting to post is about Milan. She is very attached to Grandpa and without him here, she sometimes will see a man with a beard and say "grandpa." Well, when Fidel Castro stepped down, Don was watching tv and she noticed Fidel's picture on the TV and pointed and said "grandpa!"

Another Long Update

Well, here it is again, another long break between updates. Things have been going well, just busy! Note the new photo albums on the left, if you want to view more of our pictures. Now for the update, we'll start a couple weeks back.

President's Day weekend, my friends and former co-workers Rose and Julie and Rose's daughter Kendra had planned a trip to NYC to see the sights and The Little Mermaid on Broadway. They had a very full schedule, but we managed to meet up for dinner on Saturday night of that weekend. I took Mzee with me and we rode the train into the city and took two subways to get near Times Square and the restaurant where we met Rose, Julie and Kendra. The subway stop was right across the street from the restaurant, so we didn't have to walk too far. Although, funny story, we got off the Metro-North train at Grand Central and were taking an escalator to the subway and Mzee and I were talking about how we would have to take the subway and he said, "good, because my legs are tired." We hadn't even begun to walk, so that made me laugh. He did great as a walker that night.
We met up at MARS 2112 a Mars themed restaurant that a co-worker of mine suggested is a fun place for kids. Kendra had just completed studying space in school and Mzee wants to be an astronaut when he grows up, so it seemed perfect for the kids. In order to enter the restaurant you need to take a space ship to get to Mars, of course! This was one of those motion simulated rides many of you may have been on before. I knew it would be dark inside and was concerned that Mzee might get scared inside, so was doing my best to explain it to him while we waited in the line. In talking with Julie, Rose and Kendra, Mzee informed them that "he was going to Mars because he is going to be an ASTRONAUT when he gets big!" Needless today, I didn't need to worry about him. When we got into the ride, it of course got dark, but then the screen lit up and the commander started talking. As the ride got more exciting Mzee started to yell, "Yahoo!!" And then, the words Mzee LOVED to here. The commander announced, "You have all become astronauts today!" This made his night! The ride took us to Mars and when we got out we were on the red planet. We had quite a wait for our table, so we spent some time in the arcade. Mzee is still happy to play on arcade games without adding any money, so this was fine. When we finally got seated, the Martians came by our table to say hello. Kendra even danced with one of them. Mzee was excited to meet the Martians and shook their hands. Here's a picture of Mzee with Captain Orion:
All in all, the kids had a great time and it was wonderful to visit with Julie and Rose too. After dinner, we took a walk a couple blocks to M&M World at Times Square. By this time it was VERY late for Mzee, so he and I made our way back to the train station for the train ride home. Many on the train slept on the ride as it was late, but not Mzee. He was so excited from his adventure he was a little chatterbox!

We enjoyed the long weekend and on Monday it was a very nice day so we ventured to the Bronx Zoo. We live in a great location and it's just a short drive to the zoo. Mzee was very excited and when I asked him what the one thing was that he wanted to see at the zoo that day he said elephants. When we consulted the zoo map, we didn't see any elephant exhibit. "What kind of zoo doesn't have elephants?" I said to Don. There are four zoos and an aquarium in the NYC area all under one membership, so we decided that they must not have all animals at every zoo. We went through the bird building and then were heading for the tigers when the rain started. Don suggested we go into the tiger exhibit area, and it was a great suggestion because there was a covered shelter where we could see the tigers. As soon as we got there, it started to downpour. We stayed there until the rain stopped, which wasn't too long and then we made our way through to the other things we needed to do, register for our membership and then ride the Bug Carousel. I managed to get both kids on the carousel where instead of horses, they are all different kinds of bugs. Milan loved it, it was her first carousel ride! We then saw a few more things including polar bears. We didn't see the entire zoo, but got the feeling that the Omaha zoo is still much nicer. Of course, it was winter, so I'm sure it is much better in the summer. And the kids always have a great time, so I'm sure we'll get our money's worth from our membership.

Watching the fish in the aquarium at the Bronx Zoo

On Friday the 22nd, we got our first big snowstorm of the year! Mzee was SO excited and was out shoveling before school. It was ironic as the schools are all closed the week of President's Day for Winter Break, so there were no snow days. Mzee's daycare was open but Don picked him up early so he could play in the snow. All told, I think we got around six inches...not much by Midwest standards this year, we've been blessed here with a VERY mild winter! Even so, Milan has become very attached to her coat, hat and mi-mi's (mittens). She often asks for her coat and wants to go outside. She also now always asks for her had an mi-mi's once she has her coat on.

Milan getting bundled up for the big storm.

Out in the snow!!

The following weekend, Mzee and Don went to an open house for an organization that does kids sports. They have soccer, baseball and basketball for kids starting at 3 years old. It is a great program where the parent works with the kids on skill building. Mzee is signed up for basketball and is very excited about it! He already can kick a soccer ball well, and has his dad to teach him the basics. And, he can already hit a baseball, often even when we pitch it to him, so Don thought basketball would be a good choice. Mzee LOVES to "shoot hoops" so is very excited about basketball, which starts this coming weekend.

Last week we had some excitement! Don flew back to Omaha and became a U.S. citizen! He didn't know when he left that he would be able to participate in a citizenship ceremony the same day as his final interview, but they had an opening so it seemed logical to go ahead with it. I was a little sad that the kids and I couldn't be there for the ceremony, but it would have been impractical to postpone the ceremony.

While Don was gone I took one day off to stay home with Milan as she did not have full time daycare yet last week. I thought that would be a great day to get her 18 month pictures taken. It just so happened that it was about the coldest day of the year and I really would have rather just stayed home where it was warm. We got to JCPenney before the store opened. It is a free standing store in the Bronx, and I noticed something odd when I arrived, I could not see the doors as they are protected by those metal garage door type doors when the store closes. I guess exposed glass just invites criminals. These garage door type doors are common on the shops in parts of the city, but I found it odd on a JCPenney in a shopping center. Once we got in the store, Milan wanted to walk around the store on her own. I managed to distract her and with a lot of coercing the photographer got a few good smiles. Then she suggested I change her to her other outfit and it was all downhill after that. Once I changed her outfit she insisted on walking and launched in to one of her most recent developments, a full-blown tantrum, when I told her no. She and I are still learning how to deal with these tantrums. She doesn't have as much drama when Don is around, so I'm working on how to handle these episodes. Ignoring her, doesn't seem to help, so I have to get more creative in providing distractions. Hopefully these tantrums are a short-lived phase!

This week Milan started full time at the same daycare as Mzee. Two days in and she is transitioning beautifully! She was engrossed in playing play-doh with the teacher this morning when we dropped her off and she didn't even cry. She is playing great with the kids and the teachers report that she is a great sleeper and eater, which we already knew, but it's good to know she's comfortable at her daycare. Mzee thinks it is great to have his little sister at the same daycare, even though they are not in the same class. He said the day she started, "if I hear my sister cry, I'll go tell her it's OK." I was asking Milan about her day today and saying some of the kids names and she already can say some of their names. She is in a very small class with just four other kids and two teachers, so she gets a great deal of one on one time with the teachers! She is learning lots of new things in this class and can already drink from a regular cup wonderfully. She is doing great using utensils to eat as well. Her vocabulary is really expanding and she is putting two words together now. Her day somewhat revolves around meals as as soon as we get her up in the morning to get dressed she is telling us "eat, eat." And as soon as we get home at night she heads to her booster seat - she transitioned from the high chair a month or so ago and LOVES her booster seat. She says "seat, seat" and will sit at the table in her seat and wait for us to fix her dinner. We visit with her about her day while she is there, and she's usually very patient until she sees something on a plate, then she starts getting antsy.

Mzee is in an astronaut phase, fueled I'm sure by the Mars 2112 visit. He also got a new Backyardigans DVD where they take a trip to Mars. So our house is a space station, and he is an astronaut and I'm usually Mission control. He is doing well at school and usually has a lot to report about his day. This past weekend we spent a couple hours at the playground and Mzee got a large splinter that we could not remove, so he and Don made their first visit to urgent care here. The doctor there isn't certain he removed the splinter, so we are watching it closely.

Mzee's class took a walk to the pet store last week and purchased a pet frog for their class. They've named the frog Max, and Mzee's teacher told us that Mzee was curious about the things between the frogs toes, so they had a discussion about webbed feet.

Today was a fun commute, a building collapsed near the train tracks, so train service was suspended for nearly two hours and just started up at 5:00 in time for the evening rush. However, then all trains were jam packed and moving very slowly. I managed to get on a train about a half hour later than usual, but then it went pretty slowly and we were on the wrong track, so the train bypassed the first two stops, which included our town. They said we could get off at the first actual stop and a train would be waiting to take us back. Don was already waiting at the train station so he drove over to the next town to pick me up. It was a good thing, because there was no train in sight for the return and the train station was chaos with people trying to take taxis and carpool back to the other two towns that were skipped. After listening to the news, my delay was nothing compared to some, so it could have been a lot worse. Mass transit is generally great, and a day like this makes me realize how great it is as these types of issues are very few and far between.

Well, I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting from the past few weeks, but I think I'm mostly caught up. Enjoy!