Warning - This Post Contains Romance and Violence

So the boys were watching a show downstairs this morning while I took a shower. I called them upstairs for meds and Tanner announces in a tattle-tale fashion mixed with a voice of grave concern:

Tanner: "Mom, our show this morning contained both romance and violence."
Mom: "Really? What show were you watching?"
Tanner: "Good Luck Charlie." (he says looking at his feet and shaking his head)

(Note: This show a Disney Channel family sitcom. It's harmless.)

Mom: (perplexed, but in a hurry) "Ok - well next time you should change the show if you see something like that."

30 minutes later we're in the car and I have time to further explore the noted romance and violence issue.

Mom: "So Tanner, what is romance anyway. I've never heard you use that word before."
Tanner: "It's when people kiss. BJ got a girlfriend and they kissed."

(smiling to myself that 1. Tanner knows what that word means and 2. That his morning show was far from the R-rated proclamation I received earlier).

Mom: "I see. So what does violence mean?"
Tanner: "It's when people can't use their words to express their feelings and hurt someone instead. Someone got punched and got a black eye and that was violent."

Score #2 for Tanner. Excellent definition! Once again, Mom is relieved that they hadn't somehow stumbled on a 7:30am showing of Rambo or the Sopranos :) But man, that Disney sure needs to clean up their act, eh :)

I Love October

Random...I know...just going through pics and found some great ones in October.

Art Prize unforgettable moments...Alex pondering, Tanner sleeping




Fall harvest...last from garden...and stuck in apple crate jail :)




Tree monkeys...

Romeo

Tanner yelled across the pool on Sunday, "Mom, I just saw the prettiest girl in the whole world. I think I'm in love!"

Then he swims over with a big grin on his face and says again, "Seriously Mom, I think I'm in love."

Good grief. Not exactly sure how to tackle the whole 'love' vs 'lust' conversation with my 8 year old brainiac...dictionary maybe? :)

He Cracks Me Up...

Alex's new favorite saying is...

"If I had a nickel for every time you told me "

It's so stinkin' funny because he says it at the most appropriate times! He was doing his last homework page tonight and I said,

"Ok Alex, you need to do neat handwriting. I want to see your personal best!"

He promptly stated in his sweet sing-song voice, "If I had a nickel for every time someone told me to do good handwriting!". Sorry buddy...at least the expectation is consistent!

Tricky, Tricky...

The boys (particularly Alex)

1. Do not like to mix foods

2. Are aversive to strong flavors

3. Despise sauces of any kind

We've worked really hard over the years to push the limits on these fronts, but with very little luck. These kids will eat almost anything - so long that it is raw, unspiced and unsauced. They will eat every vegetable and fruit imaginable (brussel sprouts are a recent favorite). Plain pasta - no butter no sauce - love it! Plain cereal - fine. They are big time milk drinkers. It's basically a relatively healthy diet. You just can't mix liquids and solids or there is a complete uprising.

Then, there are the visual issues. No grill marks. No crunchy parts. No browning from sauteeing. All food must look to be in its usual, natural form or (Alex in particular) will pick away all imperfections before eating.

So, I've been thinking long and hard on ways to circumvent the aversions. I'm rather proud of myself for this tricky move! Last night we took them to Mongolian Grill for dinner. Here was my thought process:

1. They get to choose their favorite meat, veggies and fruit from a buffet and fill a bowl.

2. They get to choose a sauce. Must have one...but they get to choose at least.

3. They get to choose their spices (I let Alex off the hook on this one though).

4. They get to watch the cooks grilling their chosen foods with tool tossing antics and all (very entertaining).

5. They get their choice of plain, totally harmless tortilla or rice to go with their creation.

The moment of truth was when we sat down with the very dark/grilled food, flavorfully sauced, all mixed together. There was lots of reminders from Mom that "You picked this food! It was all your favorites! Don't you think it will be great? Those cooks were AWESOME!". Magic. They ate it. A few faces, a little rummaging around the brownest pieces, never more than one type of food on Alex's fork and lots of drinks to wash it down, but they ate it! Total success. Repeat visits are in order. I consider it sensory therapy...perhaps the restaurant bill should thus qualify as a medical expense? There were a couple self-medicating beers on the tab for Jim and I in the event of complete failure. It all sounds FSA eligible, right? :)

Skater Dudes!

Birthday presents from Grandma & Grandpa = SKATEBOARDS!! It's raining today, but the skater dudes are practicing their new craft in the garage and thinking they are pretty freakin' cool. Anyone care to place a bet regarding who has the first broken bone? My money would be on Tanner...Alex has incredibly good balance (as was witnessed with Lake Michigan surfing last summer in North Muskegon).

We Love Board Games!

We play some type of board game or card game nearly every night. Tanner usually initiates it, and becomes pretty upset if bedtime comes and we haven't gotten a game in yet. While we have a large collection to choose from, the current favs are Apples to Apples, Sorry Sliders and 'Smath.

'Smath is Scrabble...but all numbers/symbols that you use to make equations rather than letters/words. For my number lovers, it rocks! Tanner announced tonight that it was the best game ever. Yes, only my kids would think that creating formulas was recreation at 8pm. :)

You See...I See

You see a little guy playing with Legos...

I see an intent face...eyebrows furled...tongue hanging out...a little guy concentrating so hard to coordinate all these fine motor movements. Alex just in the past 6 mos started having the attention span, hand strength and dexterity to play independently & at length with Legos. Simple milestone for some...incredible sense of pride and accomplishment here!

You see two happy, silly brothers...

I see two tired, frustrated parents because these yahoos wouldn't pose nicely for a Christmas Card picture!!! 41 shots later, I found one where they looked reasonably angelic :)

You see 2 skinny, rib-popping Wooden boys...

I see progress! Fall physical reports Tanner at 44th percentile BMI and Alex at 27th percentile...both up from less than 5th percentile in their first year of life! Hooray for force feeding and overcoming sensory aversions :)

You see a proud Alex having a sucker on top of his fantastic pillow pit that he and Tanner built one winter evening (includes every pillow and blanket from our entire house...including all beds). I love Alex's sign). He likes to X out things that he doesn't like or are not true. In this case, the pit was complete so he wrote Coming Soon and crossed it out. Silly kid.

I see Tanner sleeping deep inside the same pillow pit under Alex. All that sensory input relaxes him right to sleep :) Jim carried him to bed that night...sound asleep.

The 'You See...I See' Series

It's picture time. So much text lately...too few pictures. I finally broke down and bought Adobe Photoshop so posts over the next week will be in picture...random shots taken over the past year or two. The post will be titled 'You See...I See' and it will grow as the week goes on so scroll down when you check back in. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I'll try to share my insight in substantially less...at least for next week. :)

The Great Car Hunt

Alex absolutely ADORED his first grade teacher, Mrs. Grendel (or phonetically in Alex voice "Mrs. Gwendale"). Somewhere toward mid- November we started to hear less and less about Holly, in fact I sadly hadn't heard her name in a couple months...until today...

We're walking through the Costco parking lot and Alex randomly announces excitedly, "I finally found it Mom! I finally found it! I finally found Mrs. Gwendale's car!"

Hmm...yeah...this was going to be another head scratcher...one of those random remarks with no context until I start prying:

Mom: Alex, where is Mrs. Grendel?

Alex: It's Mrs. Gwendale's CAR!

Mom: Where?

Alex: It's right there!

(I finally get him to point to some sort of white empty mid-size car.)

Mom: Why do you think that is Mrs. Grendel's car buddy?

Alex: Because it has an 'S' on it. I've been looking all over for that!

Ahhh yes. Mrs. Grendel is a BIG Michigan State fan. Alex proudly proclaims to be a State fan also after 1st grade indoctrination from his favorite teacher. I'm sure that Holly is the only State fan in West Michigan to show her school pride on her car, so clearly Alex must be right and this big mystery of his is certainly solved! ;) What a relief!

Now...I just wonder if she really has an 'S' on her car and Alex somehow knows that...or if simply all things State link back to Mrs. Grendel? I'll never be able to get a clear answer from Alex...I'll have to ask her next time we run into her :)