The 1 and Only David John

That's right people, our baby is officially a big one-year-old. Somehow this happened on Friday even though I am quite sure there is no way that is has been one year since his birth. So what's new in the life of Baby Davey?
- He can sign "more", "finished", "eat", "drink" and a sign that, depending on the context, can mean "this", "show me" or "you owe me". I'm not sure where he learned that one.
- He folds his arms for prayers... sometimes. Sometimes he makes as much noise as humanly possible and throws food.
- He has gone from a toothless wonder to having 4 very sharp teeth. As a result, he thinks he can eat anything... even corn on the cob. While this may theoretically be possible, his technique needs a little work.
- One of his favorite games is to sit on the edge of the boys' mattresses with his feet on the floor and bounce up and down on his bum until at some point he goes flying off and lands on the floor. He laughs, cries, then does it again.
- He loves to read books, preferably upside-down and in a loud voice. His favorite thing to "read" is novels because he can flip through the pages and make that satisfying "pfft" sound.
- He is officially on solids and whole milk- no more nursing. This doesn't stop him, however, from wearing his nursing cover like a poncho and following me around the house.
- He is very affectionate and generous with his blinkers, eskimo kisses, cuddles, and slobbery open mouthed kisses on your face.
- Basically, he continues to be stinkin' adorable (often an emphasis on the "stinkin" part is appropriate) and we can't imagine life without him.

Gabe the Babe

I've decided to feature the random hi-jinks of our schemer and leader of the pack- Gabriel. Here are some of my favorite Gabeisms from the recent past.

Some of Gabes new phrases are:
"What's you deal?" and "What you talkin' bout?"

A few weeks ago, Marc taught the boys to say their full names. As a result, we got to hear this circular argument between Gabe and Elijah:
E: What's you name?
G: Gabriel Marc Ricks
E: You Daddy.
G: I not Daddy!
E: What's you name?
G: Gabriel Marc Ricks
E: You Daddy.

You get the idea- they were at this for literally 15 minutes one day. Finally, at breakfast one morning Gabe came up with this comeback:
G: Oh yeah, I eat you oatmeal and I drink you milk.
He then made biting motions towards Elijah's oatmeal and milk which sent Elijah into a screaming panic. Food is very important to him.

One day, after some pretty crafty naughtiness, I told Gabe:
"You are wily." He responded, "No! I not Walley. I Gabe!"

Every Monday, we watch a 2-year-old boy named Luke for a couple of hours. One morning I had gone upstairs to brush my teeth and came back down to find Gabe at the bottom of the stairs. He told me Luke had thrown a truck down the basement stairs and led me into the kitchen so I could see. I spotted the truck and retrieved it, then realized I hadn't seen Luke in the living room or the kitchen. "Where's Luke?" I asked. Gabe replied, "I put him in time out. He throw truck." Sure enough, Luke was sitting in the corner of the boys' bedroom looking very forlorn. I rescued him from his time out and reminded Gabe that it is not his job to punish others.

On Friday, the boys and I were all playing with blocks. David John fell over and started wailing. Gabe jumped up and dug deep in his shorts pocket, produced a binky and put it in David John's mouth. He then dusted his hands off, looked at me with satisfaction and said, "I keep a binky in my pocket." I now know where to look when binkies go missing.

Gabe has also been very interested in people's emotions lately. He often asks me when I am upset with something he has done, "Mommy, you sad? you tired? you grumpy?" One day, I really was sad (I can't even remember what it was about) and so I replied, "Yes, Mommy is very sad." Gabe asked, "You need a hug?" I said yes, and he crawled up into my lap to hug me. The very sweet moment was cut short when a muffled voice said, "That's enough hug, Mommy."

He is certainly getting bigger and very precocious. He can read all of the children's names at our little preschool and loves to "read" books from memory. He often gives me a run for my money but I certainly wouldn't trade anything for my "Gabe the Babe".

Long Time, No Blog

Yes, faithful readers I am back after over a month. I apologize for this extended break. In late June, "This is Kirtland!" picked up the pace with rehearsals almost every day and then we had 3-4 performances a week. At the same time, I started doing a twice-a-week summer preschool with my friends and I am responsible for planning the activities. SO, I know any excuse is a lame excuse but there you have it. Anyway, doing "This is Kirtland!" was a great experience. I definitely faced my fears and I appreciate all of our friends and family who came to the show. For those of you who did not get to see me in my hotel-upholstery dress and incredibly attractive hairstyle, here is a picture:
In order to get those fabulous locks, I had to put my hair in curlers every afternoon before a performance. My boys were fascinated by the process and liked to stand around in the bathroom and "help" me. One day, they begged for curlers of their own. I gave them each one which they wore around proudly for about an hour or so before they fell out.
Finally, in this random blog post I'd like to mention that Elijah is continuing to make progress on his fear of balloons and is even requesting balloons to play with. We rediscovered Marc's balloon pump and as a result our boys can frequently be seen walking balloon doggies or dueling with pirate swords. Marc is working on mastering some new balloon shapes. We'll keep you posted.

Look Who's Talking

All parents get to enjoy the funny things their toddlers say, but we pity those who don't have twins and never get to hear entire conversations between two-year-olds. Here are some of our favorite recent conversations we've either overheard or participated in:

The twins were playing with blocks, when David John came over and knocked down Elijah's tower.
Gabe: 'Lijah, Baby knock down blocks?
Elijah: Yeah.
Gabe: Bad Baby! That's one! You okay 'Lijah? Need hug?

Gabe and Elijah frequently have scheming meetings upstairs in the play room. Here's a typical overheard conversation:
Gabe: 'Lijah, you climb crib. Get Baby's duck.
Elijah: Me climb crib, get duck on shelf?
Gabe: Yeah- you climb crib.
Elijah: Okay.

On the way to my parent's house, a car merged into me, forcing me into the other lane. The following interaction ensued:
Me: (yelling at the car in alarm) Where the heck do you think you are going?!?
Elijah: (yelling from the backseat) I going to Grandma's house!!

A conversation overhead on the baby monitor about a plastic alligator the boys requested to take to bed with them. I told them the alligator could sleep between them so they wouldn't fight over it.
Gabe: 'Lijah, you not want alligator. It's Gabe's. You not want it.
Elijah: Yeah, I not want... no! I want it Gabe, I want it!
Gabe: No 'Lijah, you not want it. It's Gabe's.

Another overheard conversation:
Elijah: Gabe, you grumpy. You very grumpy.
Gabe: No! I not grumpy! I just naughty.

Marc was randomly singing "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" from the Wizard of Oz one day. The boys decided it was the most awesome song ever and started requesting the song and repeating the words. Today Marc was singing it for them and he would pause to let them fill in some of the words.
Marc: Ding, dong...
Gabe: ...the witch is dead
Marc: which old witch...
Gabe: ...the wicked *itch!

We tried to tell him that was a naughty word but he thinks it is hilarious. We are endeavoring to ignore it now since he has repeated it several times since then. We sure love our funny two-year-olds.

S'more Please

Marc couldn't go to the father-son camp out because of his schedule but we decided to make some s'mores at home to honor the occasion. The boys were wary at first of the gooey melted marshmallows, but once they had a taste, they gobbled it down. Here are some pictures of the aftermath:
In other food news, David John has decided that he really likes to feed himself. Unfortunately, he is not especially good at it yet so we only let him wield the spoon occasionally. Here is his beautiful visage after this evening's meal which included beans and pureed mango.

Arms Race

My boys are giving me a run for my money. It seems they are always one step ahead of me. My dad compared this to rival countries- one developing bigger and better weaponry, the other developing counter measures to protect against said weaponry. I think the analogy is apt. I never know what is going to come out of the arsenal of Gabe and Elijah.
The serious naughtiness began on our trip to Baltimore and has continued for a week and a half now. While in Baltimore, we invited ourselves to stay at the home of Finbar Foley- a good friend from medical school- who risked his home and sanity in allowing us to stay there. He was away in New York when we arrived but had arranged for us to get a key to the house. We let ourselves in and started unloading the van. We couldn't have been there for more than five minutes when Elijah located a bathroom, opened the door, opened the cupboard under the sink, found a can of Ajax and sprinkled it all over the upstairs carpet. I had to text Finn, who was getting ready to sing in a concert, to ask him where the vacuum cleaner was. Meanwhile, Gabe had emptied a shelf of medical texts and other books and was happily perusing a Guide to Embryology amidst a large stack of books he had relocated to one of the guest beds.
While staying at Finn's house they also opened a package of crackers and crumbled them all over the bedroom, took all of the mats off the stairs, removed a piece of trim, put fingerprints on every reachable glass surface and tried to break Finn's Wii.
The fun continued after returning home. Gabriel awoke from his nap one day suddenly able to open and/or remove all of the child-proof doorknob covers. While I was using the bathroom downstairs, Gabe and Elijah raided the upstairs bathroom and threw literally everything into the bathtub. They emptied drawers, cleaned off the sink and threw in the toilet paper rolls not to mention the toilet plunger. I tried to put them in time out, but of course they could now leave the room at will. I sat in a chair in front of the door, but the door opens into the room so I ended up playing goalie which they thought was hilarious.
Marc had a really hard time keeping them in bed that night while I was at rehearsal. I returned home to find a web of yarn tying their bedroom doorknob to several other doors and a light fixture. Apparently, this was the fourth attempt at tying them in.
Thankfully, our friend Jim Messegee came over on Saturday and helped us install hook and eyes on every door in the house using the patented (or at least it should be) Jim Messegee friction locking system so that the boys can't just climb on a chair and pop the hook out. I thought our troubles were over but they still had tricks up their sleeves. In retribution for locking them in their room at night, they decided to pull their sliding closet doors out of alignment (Marc was able to fix them- thank goodness) and then quite literally topped themselves by getting into the garage and climbing all the way to the top of the minivan. We had eaten lunch outside and I went inside to put the dishes in the sink. When I returned, they were both jumping up and down on top of the luggage rack saying "Mommy- I on car!"
Presently, I am sitting on our porch typing this while the masters of mayhem are chucking various outdoor toys over the fence and attempting to climb over the fence to get them. The scary thing is, they can almost do it. I'm going to have to speak with my research and development team and get them working on a counter measure for the Fence Climber 2010.

Back in B-more

Last weekend, I made a pilgrimage back to Baltimore in order to attend my brother's graduation from MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art). My parents graciously agreed to drive me and my three rowdy boys there in their van. I think they may have regretted that decision during the two hours of screaming that occurred on the six hour drive.
The trip was very nostalgic for me- a part of me missed the sights and sounds of Baltimore but another part of me was very grateful not to be living in such an "exciting" place. It had been far too long since I had seen my friends, been able to use sign-language and enjoyed the unique architecture of Baltimore but not long enough since I smelled weed, had to parallel park, or worried about the possibility of being attacked by cat-sized rats at night.
Anyway, I really did enjoy my time there despite the stress of traveling with children (see other post). I got to see the commencement exhibition at MICA which features artwork of the 2010 graduates. The show was wonderful. One of my brother's paintings can be seen here. Gabe and Elijah were very interested in some of the statues in the gallery of the classical style. Gabe was convinced that most of the statues depicted Angel Moroni while Elijah would exclaim in worried tones about the statues being "broken".
Commencement itself was a lengthy ordeal, but far more entertaining than Medical School graduation. I am pleased to say that Matt graduated magna cum laude. He chose not to wear a cap and gown- but hey, this is art school, people do what they want. At first I was concerned that he would stick out in jeans and a button down shirt, but that was before I spotted the graduate in star-spangled spandex with a light-up cape or the one wearing a full Native American headdress. Some graduates had written interesting middle names on their name cards so that they were announced as Mary "boogie-down" Smith or Joe "is awesome" Doe. A few people did dance steps across the stage complete with jazz hands and one guy performed an admirable robot.
I was so happy that I could be there to cheer my brother on. We miss having him around and the boys certainly miss Uncle Matt's hi-jinks. We ended the trip by going to the best low-cost Chinese buffet I have ever been to. If you are ever in the Baltimore area and want to eat a lot of tasty food check out the Hibachi Grill.
Our trip was short- but I think I'd like to go back again sometime. I guess there will always be some part of me that sings "I Love You Baltimore".