Front Seat Shenanigans

Pretending to drive Mommy's car has become one of the boys favorite activities. Every day when we return home from preschool, the boys want to climb behind the wheel. Nico, who has impressive language skills for a child not yet two, still confuses words at times, much to our amusement. "Backseat, backseat," he chants, when what he really means is "I want to climb into the front seat right now and press every single button." Some days I acquiesce and other days I pretend not to understand.

The boys find it hilarious whenever we get in the car and discover that the radio and air conditioner are blasting, my turn signal is blinking and the windshield wipers are swishing. Inevitably the front seat shenanigans leads to horn honking at which point, playtime is over. Do our neighbors ever wonder why I'm honking at our front porch every afternoon? Not to worry, I would tell them, I'm just the crazy lady next door. HONK!

The New Sheriff

There's a new sheriff in town.

What's For Dinner?

Ever since Spencer took a children's cooking class soon after Nico was born, he has enjoyed making recipes and helping out in the kitchen. Nico helps out too but his main contribution is emptying out the cupboards of all our pots and pans, the better to find them when we need them. If we don't trip over them first.

Tonight, we decided to give Spencer, our budding chef, the opportunity to prepare dinner. We borrowed a cookbook from a friend where the recipes are shown as illustrations so that children can follow the pictures step by step. He chose to make sweet potato surprise, a delicious concoction of sweet potatoes, apples, cinnamon and butter. It was such a success we think we'll try another recipe next month.

The Gong Show

For the last music class of the semester, the teacher brought out all the big percussion instruments. Spencer made a beeline for the gong. The children had a blast banging away. It was a tremendous finale!

Open Wide

Today Spencer had his first dentist appointment. After the x-rays were taken, he sat calmly while the dentist examined his teeth and the hygenist did the cleaning. No cavities! Hooray! Braces however are in his future unfortunately due to bad teeth genes. For now, the dentist advised us to have Spencer start flossing, gave the boys goody bags and sent us on our way.

Watermelon Slider

The food court at one of our local malls features a children's play area with climbing structures in the shape of giant, shiny food such as a hot dog, a banana, a melting ice cream cone and Nico's personal favorite, a slice of watermelon. He delighted in climbing up and sliding down the watermelon, or as Nico likes to say "waterlemon," over and over again. Later he pretended to take a bite and offered me a piece to enjoy as well. Good choice kid!

The Post Office

If only service at the real post office could be as friendly.

A Look Back

Who's that baby? Why, it's Nico one year ago. What a difference twelve months makes! He's no longer a baby, but a toddler who runs, tumbles and talks. We've loved seeing all the changes this past year and look forward to many adventures ahead.

Eating the Rainbow

As part of our ongoing effort to eat healthier, we are doing our best to purchase locally grown, organic produce by joining a CSA and visiting a nearby farmer's market on the weekend. The CSA provides only vegetables which this time of year means lots and lots of greens. Fruits come from the farmer's market. The apples may not be as robust as the ones you see in the grocery store, they may have an occasional bruise but what delicious flavor. We've been enjoying lots of citrus: grapefruit, clementines, mandarins. See for yourself below.




I've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen, preparing new recipes with all my produce. The boys like helping out. Nico certainly loves pulling out all my pots and pans. It's a wonder I haven't fallen flat on my face yet avoiding the obstacles underfoot.



Watch out for those pans below!



Spencer holds part of our green bounty. I feel good knowing that Spencer and Nico are eating a varied diet that will help them grow into strong, healthy boys.

Choo Choo

After dropping off Spencer at preschool this morning, we decided to head over to the park. Nico immediately ran to the train and assumed the role of conductor. All aboard!

The Bagpipes

As far as I know, there is no Scottish ancestry on either side of the family but somehow or other, Spencer came up with the idea to fashion the recorder he received in his stocking into a bagpipe. The shopping bag rather brilliantly helps muffle some of the recorder's sounds. No word on whether a kilt is in Spencer's future.

Shake It

Once a week, I take Nico to the Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles for a music class. He sits in my lap listening to the instructor play the piano and sing songs taking it all in. His learning style seems to be one of quiet observation and contemplation. The one thing that gets him moving is the shakers. Nico carefully chooses which shakers he wants before standing up, stamping his little feet and moving his arms rapidly up and down. There's nothing quite like seeing toddlers uninhibitedly dance their hearts out. Dance on, my love, dance on.

The Wheelbarrow

Windy, winter days in Southern California lead to leaves on the ground, fun for little boys to gather into wooden wheelbarrows and dump in piles.

The Glider

As 2010 drew to a soggy close, the boys suffered from a bit of cabin fever from being cooped up inside for a couple of weeks. The appearance of the sun meant a return to playing in the backyard. One of their favorite backyard activities is riding on the glider because it's something they can do together. Nico loves being able to sit back-to-back with his brother while Spencer loves the feeling of pumping his legs back and forth and swinging through the air. They haven't quite mastered the art of stopping yet, after all who wants to wait for the glider to gradually come to a pause. That's usually when I hear "Mommy" ringing through the air. Music to my ears.

Whoa Horsie

Tonight Spencer entertained himself during dinner preparation by pretending to be a horse. He attached his "bridle" to the chair as Nico looked on and created a corral using a broom and corn popper toy. Nico played along by feeding Spencer a wooden carrot and patting him on the head. The only way we could get Spencer to come to the dinner table was by opening up his corral so that the horse could roam free. So long cowboys!

Happy 1/1/11