Gametes In Love

S2 came home minus one sock yesterday. This, sadly, is not an isolated incident. Luckily, not frequent, though.

Yesterday, however, he finally explained how it happened: the sock monster. Apparently, the sock monster ate it. If it wasn’t so cute, I’d be mad he’s lying. ‘Cuz the only sock monster I know of, is 2yrs old has dimples, blond highlights, and weighs in around 30lbs.

I like the sock monster story, but I also asked that if he sees the sock monster come close to his feet again, he say “No, sock monster! Leave my socks alone.” He politely declined. I guess he and the sock monster have gotten a little tight 🙂

S and I enjoy saying “Our kids haven’t taken a bath in weeks!”… because they’re back into their “shower love” phase. We go back and forth on these, and appear to be in another swing of it. This was from our latest bout with the germies for S2 and me. He was a sad little boy watching his bro take a shower: he got up from a nap to find G playing in there.

From an afternoon at home, alone w/ S2.

We went to Tahoe last week. The kids had never “really” seen snow, and we thought it’d be fun. It was! It was a short trip, but it was perfect. We left Thursday morning, and left for home Friday after dinner. It worked out well, and I got what I wanted to out of it. Well… it would have been cool to do a sleigh ride, or snow mobile adventure, but the snow was too wet (it rained on and off while we were there) and it wasn’t enough to keep the two places open. I guess it just leaves us stuff to do for next time 🙂

I think G, genuinely had a good time. His favorite part was making snow-balls. And then he discovered eating snow and thought it was the best thing ever. We just had to go over “yellow” snow and need to stay away.

S2? He was an “eh”. He liked making a snow-man the first day. The second day he was just Mr. Cranky-pants, and really didn’t care to be outside. It was hard to get him to sleep, at bedtime and nap-time, so it just made leaving that evening a good decision.

Here are some sledding videos of the boys w/ Daddy. G is very devoted to his snow-ball: he came right off the sled, but held onto his mound of snow.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/n-FmxVLS6KY]

[youtube=http://youtu.be/SFkfDj-RgWc]

Want pictures?

PS. No, it didn’t snow while we were there — I just wanted it to… in Photoshop ;p

S2 came home with a bite on his hand the other day. It was actually pretty impressive, and the perfect toddler-sized bite.

I asked him if he bit himself. Silence.

Me: Who bit you, buddy?
S2: Gawwet
Me: Garret bit you?
S2: Ya
Me: And what did you do to him?
S2: [silence]
Me: Did you take something away from him?
S2: Ya
Me: What did you take?
S2: [babbles something I completely didn’t get]

Well, there you have it. I knew he wasn’t blameless in this, especially given his latest affinity to be a complete menace. He does this to G all the time. He’d storm in (pun intended), yank whatever G is playing with straight out of his hands, and then run off, cackling. And then a fight ensues. I’m not shocked this extends past home, but I can’t wait to get over this.

Now, my mom will laugh reading this because this is almost a verbatim conversation she had with me when I was in pre-school. Except that I instigated being bitten by spitting at another child. She wished me that I would have kids just like me some time ago. Clearly, someone heard her.

We closed off last night with a fun evening with some old-time and new friends. The kids had a blast, stayed up late and conked out on the drive home. I reflected on 2012 at a point during the party; missing friends that left our world too soon; our Neko, but very grateful for awesome kids, a loving and supportive husband, and loved ones in generally good health.

2012 was a good year. I wish 2013 will be good to us AND you, as well.

It was a quiet and peaceful Christmas at our home this year. Kids were awesome, we enjoyed the morning Skyping with the grand-parents and wrapped up the afternoon with a playdate with friends. As perfect as a girl can ask for!

I am starting a new trend with holiday giving for us as of this year. Gifts of 4: something one needs, something one wants, something one wears and something one reads. It actually really helped me focus the gifts on the boys from us a ton. S took care of the “wants” per major wish-lists, while I acquired fuzzy socks and books for each. I don’t feel like our house is over-run with stuff, and the kids are already enjoying each of their gifts.

G impressed me the day before Christmas by helping me go through the toys in the toy bins. I was hesitant to ask him to do this, but not only was he willing, he was SUPER helpful. We separated each of the toys into 3 piles: stuff that stays, stuff that goes in the garage for play-time in a few months, and stuff we donate. I was shocked by how freely he was ready to donate, knowing full well what it meant. It warmed my heart actually, although I won’t lie, there are some toys I am not ready to part with yet, so they’re heading to the garage and not the donation bin just yet.
He was also really cute helping me shop for S. Both in his “something to wear” and also for his stocking. It was really, really fun doing that together, and I can’t wait for S2 to get a bit more coherent so he can participate too.

Just about everything they received was a win: from the stomp rockets that are being launched (daily) at our ceiling, to the over-sized stuffed animals that are now bed-companions. I also did a bit of “shopping” for S2 out of our garage, since he’s into Legos, and we’ve got literally 3 full bins worth. He did get a Mrs. Potato Head, though, and I brought Mr. Potato Head out so there are more parts to go around. They’re happy kids.

My new brilliant gift labels: address labels I printed out with G’s design consultation 🙂
Oh also Amazon packing paper is awesome. Amongst its many talents: perfect wrapping paper

New gloves for his bike

G wanted to get S a blue griffin shirt.

Head-light stocking stuffers. And yes, that is S2 staring into his. He lost his “light” consequently.

There is room for him too… I think.

Loving his new PJs and pillow