An Animaly Pajama Day

It's another beautiful January day here in Nearly Canada... too bad the calendar says it will be April this week. We are supposed to have snow, blowing snow, 20-25 mph winds and freezing temperatures today. Although it's hard to imagine, it could be worse! Just 30 miles south of us, they are under a blizzard warning and have already received over a foot of snow! And just 100 miles south of us, they are under both a blizzard warning and have severe flooding... so for the day, I'll be thankful it's just cold and snowy, but not blizzardy and flooding!

So, what better to do on a cold, snowy January day in almost April? Well, wear pajamas all day and do all things animaly. For starters, Vince made the boys elephant pancakes... his creativity never ceases to amaze me!

We've got other animal games and themes on tap for the day... but for starters, elephant pancakes are a great way to begin pajama day!

Urgent Phone Call

Every Friday morning, Grandma calls. This is a highlight for the boys every week. Not only does the garbage truck come on Fridays, and it's daddy's day off... but Grandma calls too! Ezra spends much of his week thinking of all the things he'd like to tell Grandma.

Ezra and Asher get to take turns answering the phone every other week, and this week, it was Asher's turn. The phone rang right as Asher was starting to get dressed for the day. He was in "phase I" of getting dressed: de-robing from his pajamas. When the phone rang, it mattered not that he was dressed in "improper phone-talking attire," he was ready to answer the phone. And so, for the 5 or so minutes he was on the phone, he chatted in the buff.

Music Time

Well, we've gotten another foot of snow in the past 2 days thanks to a spring blizzard... so we're inside for several more weeks. But what's better to do on long days inside than make as much noise as possible and have music time?

Obed has learned the fine art of, in his words, "boof." Boof, to Obed, as mentioned in a previous post, can mean bird, poop, spoon, and now it also means to push a button. Here, you'll notice Obed practicing the art of boof on his piano.
Ezra is still fond of the drums, but he also likes to play other instruments like the "fermonitor" (harmonica).

Asher still prefers the drums... and not just a drum, but a full drum set. Notice he is concentrating deeply on his drumming... I know because his tongue is out. He is also going for the Ringo Starr look with his Beatles haircut.

Eyelash Trim

Although they are relatively thin, I have long eyelashes. Vince has unbelievably thick eyelashes. So thick, in fact, that he has been asked many times if he wears eye make-up. Our boys seem to have gotten the combination of both our eyelashes... and then some. They are crazy long and thick.

Ezra has had this one eyelash for quite some time now that has been growing and growing... and growing. It has grown so long, in fact, that it has started to curl. I kept thinking it would eventually fall out... but nope, it has just kept growing. It has gotten so long that it often curls up and pokes Ezra's eye. So, although I have never heard of such a thing... Ezra got an eyelash trim last night. Vince, ever so carefully, trimmed the one crazy long eyelash. After it was trimmed, it was still the same length as the other eyelashes... and Vince cut off the equivalent of a full eyelash.

Hat Hat

At some point during most days, Obed likes to put on a hat and wear it for an extended period of time. He will then proceed to walk around, pointing to his head and saying, "hat, hat" over and over again... in case we don't realize that he is wearing a hat and that his hair does not actually look like an orange and blue knit stocking cap with a large, fuzzy, green ball on the top.

Some Things Just Come Naturally

It's always amazing to me when I think about how many behaviors I see in my boys that are not learned or taught... they just come naturally. There is the obvious sin nature... I have never taught my kids to lie, bite or scream - but those are just naturally born into them. I've never taught them to pick their noses or stick small things in their ears - but those just come naturally as well. I think it's somehow wired into a boy that if there is a small hole, one must stick his finger (and Lord willing, only his finger and not a pea or rock or marble) in that small hole. Another thing that just comes naturally is puddle stomping. From my experience, if a boy (and this may be true of girls, but not having any girls, I could not speak from any sort of experience) sees a puddle, his mind kicks into autopilot and he naturally gravitates towards the puddle. It's as if he cannot help but move toward the puddle, and if no redirection occurs, he cannot help but stomp in it.

The thaw has finally begun here in Nearly, Canada. We have had several days with the temperatures above 40. I'm relatively certain once we hit 50 degrees, the boys will think it's warm enough to get out the Slip-n-Slide! Because of the mass amounts of snow we have on the ground, the melting is creating rivers and massive puddles.

Yesterday, the boys donned their rain boots (Obed in his one-size-too-big snow boots since we have yet to find rain boots for him) and we went puddle stomping. Obed was the first one out on the sidewalk, and without the least bit of encouragement or instruction, he was drawn to a large puddle as a bug is to a light. And he stomped to his heart's content (and amazingly, did not fall down even once!).

Obed both stomping and throwing a snowball. Ezra and Asher, delighted to be outside, in their fire coats, stomping puddles... pretty much a perfect day in their minds!

All three boys standing on an ice-bridge, watching their "boats" flow down the street river.

Ezra and Obed stomping.

Ezra's wet pants after he, the most coordinated of the three, fell in a rather large mud puddle. Good thing we were close to home!

The Reading Bug

Ezra is learning to read. At any given time, I'll find him sitting or lying down, trying to read a new book. He is doing really well sounding out words and using context clues to help him figure out what is being said. I love finding him sitting quietly, reading a book. It's opening up a whole new world for him... what a great stage!

Drum Pots

One of the "quieter" activities in the Black home is a game called Drum Pots (and by "quieter activity" I mean deafening, ear-piercing, head-splintingly loud). Unusual name, I know. I'm certain for those who are not quick of mind, they would have a hard time discerning what Drum Pots might consist of. Drum Pots is the game the boys play when they pretend that my pots are drums.

Asher likes to switch between hand drums and drums on which one might bang sticks (I'm sure there's probably a name for these). Here Asher is using the pasta strainer portion of the pot as a djembe. He's also sitting on a "drum tool" (pronounced "drum stool" by those without 3 year old speech).
The cooling rack is actually a cowbell, and the large pasta pot is a snare drum. The strainers also serve as cymbals, in case you didn't know.

Obed is a huge fan of this game and prefers one rubber stick and one wooden stick - to perfect his drumming talents, I'm quite sure.

Hammin' It Up

Obed has learned the fine art of "smiling" for the camera. I'm pretty sure he learned his mad posing skills from his brother, Asher.

Garbage Days

Tuesday and Friday mornings are exceptionally happy times in the Black house. Why, you might ask? Well, those are the mornings the garbage truck passes our house, not once, but twice! Usually, shortly after breakfast, we hear the low rumble of the engine of the garbage truck. All three boys race to the back window, climb up onto the bench, and wait in eager anticipation for the garbage truck to pass down the alley. Then, the second the truck is out of sight, they race to the front window, going through the same process to watch as the garbage truck passes by the front of the house. Now, I'm not absolutely certain that Obed actually understands what all the excitement is about... but he does get excessively excited - mostly spurred on by the excitement of the brothers. The greatest joy comes when the garbage men riding on the back wave back. It doesn't happen every day... but when it does, much celebrating occurs!

Play-Doh

We love to play Play-Doh... it's an activity that all 3 boys like to participate in and it keeps them occupied - sometimes upwards of an hour (which is a long time for a single activity in this house!). One thing I love to do when the boys are playing Play-Doh is just watch their little minds work and watch the expressions on their faces.

Asher has his mother's gift of concentration being enhanced by the use of the tongue. You see, when one is concentrating, the tongue will often push to the side the cheek... if one is really, really concentrating, the tongue, at times, will fall out of the mouth.
Ezra is starting to perfect the fine art of making worms and snakes. He spent most of his time today rolling out snakes. He's quite advanced at this art... clearly he has his fathers mad sculpting skills.

Obed is at the stage where he just loves to do anything the other two boys are doing, which is great a lot of the time! He loves to play Play-Doh and does a pretty good job, most of the time, playing. He does, however, on occasion, forget that Play-Doh is a toy and not a food and he will suddenly sneak a small bite into his mouth. Even if I don't see the actual snacking event, I can always tell by his face after it's happened... apparently Play-Doh is not as pleasant tasting as an 18 month old might think - even after 12 tries.

Bed Time

Our boys go to bed at an early hour - 7:00 PM. There are times, however, when the boys are just not that sleepy at 7:00. Ezra and Asher get 3 books, a car and a few stuffed animals in bed each night to keep them occupied for those nights when they're not ready to sleep. Vince and I go in every night to check on the boys before we go to sleep, and it is not uncommon to find books traded between the boys, animals propped up in order to "read" books, or the books lined up and the cars driving down the book road.

No matter what the day has been like, there is nothing quite like going in at night and watching a sleeping child - it helps ground me and reminds me that indeed, these children are a blessing from the Lord! The night I took these pictures had been a particularly difficult day. The boys had challenged me a lot and there had been much discipline between the two of them. This night, apparently the boy's babies needed an extra bit of comfort since both Ezra and Asher had their babies sleeping right next to them, covered up with their special blankies. They also each had a baby on their chest. Not sure what was going on in their little hearts... but it made me smile as I watched them sleep, surrounded with their comforts.

However, there was some cause for concern... as you can see in Asher's bed, Curious George was lying face down in the bed with a blanket over his face... not sure if it was Bob the Builder's evil ploy or just an accident. Either way, George is fine.

The Little Things

It's the little things each day that keep the boys (and me) entertained. Today, Asher and Obed found great humor in riding on their "boat" (and by "boat" I mean the blue plastic tray from Obed's booster seat).
Ezra and Asher played "cups" for about 30 minutes today. Now, if you are familiar with the show Friends, you'll remember Chandler and Ross playing "cups" with Joey... but this game doesn't have quite so many rules. This game of cups consists of sliding a plastic Tupperware cup down the hallway and seeing whose cup slides the farthest. That's all. Great game!

Boof

Obed is in a fun stage of learning new words. There are a lot of words he says that really, only those who spend a lot of time with him, can understand. One of those words is boof. Now, you must understand the context when Obed says "boof." If he's pointing at the window where the bird feeder sits, a boof is a bird. If he's eating, a boof is a spoon or fork. And if he is stinky, a boof is a poop.

The other night after bath, Obed ran to the potty and started pointing and saying, "boof, boof!" Vince asked him if he needed to go potty and he nodded enthusiastically. So, Vince sat Obed on the potty. Obed did not boof in the potty... but he was quite proud to be able to sit on the potty like the "big boy" he thinks he is.

Trying to Keep My Sanity

I would say, as a general rule of thumb, I love winter. I love the cold and snow. I love to wear layers of clothes. I like my winter wardrobe better than my summer wardrobe. I must admit, however, that this winter is starting to get to me. We have now been inside for 4 months, since we had our first 10 inch snowfall the first week of November. At one point this winter, we had over 4 feet of snow on the ground. We currently have somewhere between 2-3 feet of snow still on the ground, with more predicted this week. Sure, we've gotten out a few times to play in the snow and to go for the occasional walk (when the wind and temperature have permitted), but we are starting to go stir crazy. Many mornings, I lay in bed wondering what in the world we will do today with another 12 hours inside... so we do lots of projects.

Grandma sent the boys each a wooden letter - the first letter of each of their names. We spent some time this past weekend letting the boys paint their letters. They thoroughly enjoyed this project.

We do a lot of baking. At least once or twice a week Ezra asks if we can make cookies or bread and I am typically quick to oblige... it's something all three boys like to "help" me do and it breaks up the day.

Yesterday, we made sugar cookie cut outs. I really don't like to make cut-out cookies, mostly because the process is long and messy. The objective yesterday, however, was to burn as much time as possible... so we made cut out cookies and 7 different colors of frosting. I gave the boys each their own "icing bag" (a Ziploc baggie with the corner cut off) and they had a grand (and messy) time icing cookies.

Just 2 more months until Spring should be upon us... we're 3/4 of the way there!