Mom, I'm Concerned About the Toilet

Frequently sighted in our bathroom lately: 

"It's totally dirty! I have to clean it."

Getting Into the Holiday Spirit

The Bub is learning all about the seasonal holidays in school.  They learned all about Hanukkah in school last week, making menorahs and sufganiyot (jelly donuts).  Over the weekend, I casually mentioned getting out our menorah so we could be ready for the holiday.  He stopped and asked, "We have a menorah?!" as if this was a great surprise.  But I guess we had spent the previous week attending to our christmas tree and making ornaments, so maybe that's why he figured we wouldn't have a menorah hidden away.  Then again, he's been telling everyone at school that he celebrates Hanukkah and Christmas, so who knows what he knows.  He asked us at the dinner table, "Have you ever had grahkiss taytoes?"  Nerdy and I looked at each other, each hoping the other one could translate.  "I'm not sure," said Nerdy diplomatically,  "What are they?"  "You know, you eat them."  Since most of the mysterious things he talks about can be traced back to school, and because it was Hanukkah week at preschool, I ventured a guess: "Potato latkes?"  "Yes!  Potato lakas!"

He's also excited by the presents under the tree, which he thinks are all for Grandma.  Hers was the first to be wrapped and put under the tree, so therefore all gifts that follow must also be hers.  I'm not about to set him straight.  Yet, anyway.  This weekend we went shopping for Taylor and Beckett and I asked Sasha to help.  He was happy to help, of course.  For Taylor he found candy just inside the door, a toy fire engine, a toy bus, a toy hot dog truck, and a stick horse that he rode around the store getting in everyone's way while joyfully yelling giddyup, horsey!  For Beckett, he found, um, nothing.  When I suggested we get a certain toy for him, Sasha agreed those would be good and then played with them that afternoon and the entire next day.  And some people say toddlers are self-centered.

When Rainbows Attack

I'm Allergic

--Does Mamu go to your school?

   --No.

--Does she go to any school?

   --No.

--Why not?

   --Because she's allergic to cows.

A Deserving Punishment

Ghost Superman and I were rounding up bad guys this weekend. (G.S. is identifiable by his Halloween shirt and red cape.)  After capturing the big bad guy (Mama-- all bad guys are guys even when they're not), we tied him up face down and put him in the bad guy cave.  Then Ghost Superman went brutal.  He forcefully grabbed a catalog flyer and stuffed it under Bad Guy's face. "Here! Read this advertisement!"  Ruthlessly, he found another one, "Read this one, too!"

Is It Hal Jordan?

Fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee...

     he's the greatest of all time....

          The Green Lantern!

                 ...who can button and unbutton his own shirts!

                        How ya like me now???

You're Going to Turn Into a Cranberry

Day 7 of cranberry overload.
What do you mean I have cranberry sauce between my eyes?

Turkey Day and the Zoo

Nana and Zayde hosted Thanksgiving dinner this year as usual.  The hosts, the three of us, and Aunt Margot were there, along with her special guest and Sasha's new best friend, Eileen.  He tried throughout dinner to impress her with his bowl-in-my-mouth trick, then later invited her to his bath, and also thought for a minute that he was going to invite her to sleep with him at bedtime, though Nerdy disabused him of that idea.

Dinner was excellent (no surprise) and the next day we visited the zoo.  Sasha had turkey for the first time and declared during dinner, "This turkey is really good!"  He also enjoyed buckets of cranberry sauce.

Sasha has been asking for some time now to go to "Nana and Zayde's zoo," also known as the Bronx Zoo, a short drive from their place.  Sasha had a blast.  I'm not sure if it was due to the animals or just being able to run around outside with an entourage. 

Or maybe because he was finally able to prove his driving skills.

He was also thoroughly excited to see the tigers.  Of course, as is toddler wont, once we arrived at the tiger exhibit, he was like, "Oh yeah there's a tiger.  So anyway, did you see this cool ball over here? And this big picture of a tiger?  When do we get to see the movie?"

Excellent photo capturing a tiger's curiosity toward its audience.

Sasha's new membership t-shirt which he was proud to wear.

All photos are courtesy of Aunt Margot.

Birthday Cupcakes

The Bub is now 3!  Amazing.  I can't believe only 3 years ago he was a little smushed-up, wrinkly, little creature depriving us of sleep and now he's a walking, talking boy with very strong opinions depriving us of sleep.

But he's still my little baby that makes me smile.  Or laugh.  Like when we walk past the laundromat and he calls it the washamo-mat.  Or when he tells the walnut, "I'm gonna eat you, nut wall."

We're having a birthday party for him tomorrow.  To my surprise, we've invited 4 families to join us in our hovel-- now that's love-- to have a celebration.  Balloons, streamers, cake, the whole nine yards.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for lots of "sharing nicely" and "keeping our hands to ourselves."  Sasha's pretty good at the former, but not so much with the latter.  (We're having our very first parent-teacher conference after Thanksgiving, so we'll get to hear more about that.)  Let the festivities continue!

And to all the people who had disappointing or non-existent Skype conversations with the birthday boy yesterday: let's try again another day.  I think being the center of attention for an entire day was overwhelming.

Also, I did make birthday cupcakes and as promised, here's a photo.  (Note to Carrie: Yes, that's Wilton tip #233.  Certainly not as cool as a rainbow cupcake, but still kinda cute.)

Third Year Stats

The Bub had his third year check-up and here's how he measures up:  39 inches tall and 36 pounds.  No wonder I can't carry him very far anymore.

While at the doctor, he also picked up a 24-hour flu bug.  So yesterday around 4 a.m. he started throwing up and then spent most of the day not keeping anything down.  But by evening, thankfully, he was feeling better and today he ate a huge breakfast and went off to school, literally ribbiting and quacking.  Though it's almost 60 degrees, he insisted on wearing his wool duck hat with his froggy rain jacket.

He's very excited about bringing cupcakes to school tomorrow for his birthday, though it's giving me anxiety.  He's insisting on Green Lantern cupcakes.  I refuse to attempt anything difficult.  So I googled "green cupcakes" and he wasn't excited by the results.  Until he saw a giant cupcake about a foot tall, then he saw what exactly he wanted.  Right.  I'm betting that whatever I make, he'll be happy just because it's sugary.