Remembering the Presidents

Listening to NPR Planet Money on the way to work about the national Debt and how Andrew Jackson paid off the  “national debt” with Griffin in the car.

Grif: Hey, that is the guy from the book in Debbie’s car!

Me: Really, what did he do?

Grif: He was the president of Ohio State! (United States and Ohio state sound very similar)

Me: Really?, anything else?

Grif: Yeah, Madison was mad because he was in the oven and George Washington washed a ton of clothes.

I think I need to see this book….

Last Day of Preschool

Griffin's last day of official school was today.  He has grown a ton both physically and mentally.  Steph and I were looking at some videos from when Leyton was born and I'm amazed at the change in him.  Anyhow, he brought home a little scrapbook.  It was pretty cool and very unexpected.

Hilarious.  Its funny cause its true.

 I think Griffin was confused as to whether he was describing himself or his mom.

 Big wheel? - No Surprise

Butterfly? - I didn't see that one coming

Red? - Okay

ABC song? - Cool

Lightning McQueen? - Awesome

Play with play dough? - Nice

Chicken nuggets?  Yup

Garbage man? - Me: Why a garbage man? Grif: Uh, have you seen the truck?

I play with Noah? - Nice shout out to his cousin

Bell Ringer? - He is pretty interested in that rope at church

 Snow boots at preschool = awesome.

 I think his art skill still need some polishing.

 First day of School!

Throwback

Griffin dancing last summer before Leyton was born.  He gets his moves from his dad.

This may not come thru in the email, you may have to go to the blog site.

Bustin a Gut

Grif was jumping and splashing in the bathtub and Leyton thought this was the funniest thing ever.  He's laughing so hard he can't even stand up...

About 2 seconds after I stopped the video, he proceeded to whack his head against the side of the tub and scream his head off.  It was totally worth the laughter though.

CHIPOTLE!!!

My affinity for Chipotle is pretty well documented.  I typically visit once a week.  Obviously, Leyton has been there many times, but this was the first time he partook of the wonderousness...

He likes the rice and guac!  Yes!  I'm well on my way to having a full family of Chipotle converts!  It took Steph about 7 years and Grif was 3 before he would really go for it.  I have both of them liking it now finally.  Looks like I may have one that I don't have to convert.

Sorry for the poor quality pics.  I didn't have the Nikon with me, so the iPhone filled in.

Family Tree

Steph got this great collage type thing the other day.  I have to admit, its pretty cool:

Any bets on how long it takes to replace all the pictures with our actual family and not the stock photos that come in the frames?

Hillbilly

Most of you know we've recently moved out to "the boonies" (as my wife puts it) within the last year.  We are on a well and have a septic tank which from Steph's point of view means we are essentially isolated from civilization and may as well be living in a mud hut with a thatched roof.

It seems to have rubbed off a little too well on our eldest son:

John Deere Gator - Check
Circa 1980's shades - Check

All he needs is to lose a few teeth, some cut-off jean shorts, and a case of Natural Ice in the bed, and he'd be an official Nerk-ian... (that would be a person that lives in Newark, the next town over.  Its not Newark, its Nerk)

Contest

At Preschool:

Griffin: Mrs. Haeger....I can stand up now when I pee....

Mrs Haeger: Really...you must be a big boy now....

Griffin: Yep...and my Daddy even showed me how...

Later that night, I propped Leyton up next to the shower while I got his washcloth and towel ready for his bath.  I bet you can fill in the blank....

Yup.  All over the side of the tub and floor.  Looks like we got ourselves an old fashion whizin contest.

Grif's Art Show

Griffin had his preschool program/art show last night.  The whole preschool must have been there.  It was packed.  Probably 4-5 adults to each child.  They had art from all of the kids on display.  Grif was pretty excited to have mom and dad at the event and to show off his work: 

Then the students performed the songs they have been working on in music class.  Its funny to watch the different kids at this age.  Some of them are into it; singing at the top of their lungs, jumping and waving their hands around.  Others just stand there with a listless, slack-jaw expression while generally picking/scratching some orifice (ear, nose, butt, whatever).  Grif was at both ends of the spectrum depending on the song.  Even on what was apparently his favorite song, he certainly was not the most exuberant child in the group.  He wasn't the most ear-digging, nose-picking, butt-scratching, mouth-breathing-Neanderthal kid in the group either.

I digress, back to the songs....  I think my favorite was:
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-A
Thank you God for our food today!
I'm not a particularly religious person, but this song was fun for the kids.  They really seemed to get into it.

A B C D...

Just before bed tonight, Grif noticed that there are letters on this alphabet chart that has been hanging in his  room. "Hey, theres letters on this!"  Then he proceeded to begin pointing them out.  "Z, W, S, "... etc.  Its surprising how such little things can make you so proud.

Not to be outdone, Leyton shoved the handle end of Grif's transformer baseball bat in his mouth:

So proud.

Mobile Agile Hostile!

Leyton has been officially mobile for about a week now. He doesn't want to be held anymore as he prefers to be down so he can get into everything.


He seems to be particularly Interested in power cords.  If he sees one when you put him down, he goes right for it.  He also has a knack for rooting them out.  Steph gets all wigged out about it. I tried to tell her it's only 20A 120V which is only enough to give you a little tingle (I like the fear when I'm changing outlets, switches, etc.  It keeps me on my toes), but that doesn't seem to assuage her fears. I figure if he gets a good chomp on one, he won't do it again right?          What's that? I can't say that?  Why? It's not like I'm sticking bare wires in all the outlets to serve as baby booby traps or something. Hmmm....  Anyhow...

He's pulling himself up to standing on a regular basis and I'm also constantly hearing, " No Leyton, that's not your toy!" from Grif (hence the hostile part of the title). He also seems fond of the downward dog yoga position.

Also within the last week or so, he's taken to puking a little bit. Seems to have coincided with his mobility  Almost every night. At least I assume it's him. I haven't actually caught him in the act. He'll be laying, playing on the floor and next thing I know, there is a little pool of dinner colored sick on the floor next to him. No sounds from the regurgitation and usually he manages to roll around in it before I catch it. 
"I looked at you two seconds ago and you were clean and happy. It breaks the laws of physics for you to puke AND be covered head to toe in it in two seconds." 
Maybe he has some kind of rather unfashionable super power. Sick Boy. Doesn't really have a ring to it. It's probably just reflux like his brother had. Boo, I am still rooting for super vomiting power.

Grif's Artwork

Some of Griffin's artwork from preschool (obviously he didn't create the card with the giant egg on it).  His school is having arts festival on May 10th where they'll be displaying some of the kids artwork.  Griffin is excited for us to come see his school.

Big Wheel

No sidewalks in our development, so Grif gets the freedom of the open road.

Leyton Loves Meatloaf

Let me sleep on it, I'll give you an answer in the morning....  Wait, not that Meatloaf!

Keep your hands off my meat loaf.

Better count your fingers mom.  He has chompers top and bottom.

Look at that focus.  He's like Daniel-san with the chop sticks.

New Door

Old door

Looking good Uncle Jamie!

 Steph took Leyton shopping while Jamie, Grif and I removed and replaced the front door.  When we pulled the old door out, Grif said, "Oh, mom is going to be mad at you".

New door inside.

New door outside

Dairy

Leyton is milk protein intolerant and Grif is allergic to peanuts and eggs.  I'm pretty good about the peanut and egg thing, but I have a tendency to forget about the milk protein thing for Leyton.  The peanut thing is potentially life threatening from an accidental exposure, whereas the milk protein thing just makes him puke (at least from accidental exposure; it could be life and death if he got a truckload of milk protein).  Anyhow, this is what I packed for Leyton to have for lunch at the sitter's the other day:

Broccoli - Good;  Carrots - Great; with Cheese - oh sh&%

Steph bought it, so I blame her.

Below written by Steph:
Yes, I bought it. I didn't see that it had cheese in it, so I put it up on the top shelf (away from all the other baby food) so we wouldn't give it to him!

French Apple Tart

Before

Grif took this picture

After.....Yum!

Caught Doing Good

Griffin came home with this on Thursday.  I was pretty stoked.  He brought home a "Caught Helping a Friend" once before, so this is only the second one he has received.

Come to find out, the entire class got this same one.  I guess they were all "Great Listeners".  I suppose that is good for the teachers at the school, but I wanted my kid to be the Great Listener...  I'm still really happy for him and he is really excited about it: