Shorts

Me: Dash, it is so warm today,you can wear short if you want!

A few minutes later...

Dash: Mom, look at these new shorts I found!

Me: Those are Max's pants

Dash: <looks down> <pauses> Oh, well! Ella, can I have a ponytail?

Hogwarts

The kids are enamoured with all things Harry Potter.  So the magnatiles lately have been turned into variations of Hogwarts. I even found some post-it notes with the names of their friends sorted into the Hogwarts houses.

Salsa shovel

I had no idea that Max liked salsa but tonight at a Mexican restaurant, he used a chip as a spoon to shovel in salsa, salsa, and more salsa.  And it was pretty spicy too.  I thought he didn't like vegetables but obviously he just needs a chip as a spoon or a hit of heat (or both).

Thankful

Dash brought home this piece of work from school last week, and somehow seeing my second child writing actual words and sentences is even more surprising to me than seeing it in my first.  I think in some ways, Dash is still a baby in my mind and seeing him turn into a real kid feels a little surreal. Now when Max brings home his first Thanksgiving work, yikes, I'm not sure what I'll feel.  Probably very very thankful.

Three ring circus

Three children seems to lead to a three ring circus at dinner these days.  Max usually starts yelling for whatever I am cooking as I cook it so he is done eating and out of his seat about the time the rest of us sit down.  Ella would rather get up and play with Max,  like here where they are giving each other "berts" (as in zerberts, as in raspberries). And Dash is up and down and up and down, here trying to read the words on the poster in the dining room.  Is it still family dinner if we're all in the same room but not at the same table?!

Family pictures

Every year we have a wonderful photographer friend take pictures for a holiday card for us, and I look forward so much to the picture day.  Picking the clothes and a fun setting around town is something I really enjoy.  This year, we used a connection with a friend to get us up onto the awesome terrace of a new hotel downtown before the bar opened so we had free reign of the place with great views of Durham.   Things didn't go quite as smoothly as I had hoped, though.  Max, for starters, was not about to pose for any pictures with the rest of us.  He wriggled and cried every time we picked him up to pose with us.  And mostly he ran away laughing hysterically.  Which is cute in person but hard to capture in a photo what with the rapid movement and all.  And then just a few minutes into the photo shoot, Ella came barreling at me to give me a hug, and pulled away crying and bleeding from her mouth.  She'd run right into my ribs and knocked a quite loose tooth down to literally "hanging by a thread" status.  I give her huge credit for pulling herself together and smiling beautifully in all the pictures despite the discomfort.  And about 30 minutes later, she quietly worked that tooth all the way out, so the last photos of the day show her showing off her new gap.

Somehow, our pal worked miracles, and the photos of the day are just beautiful.  I can't pick my favorites, not even close, so we might have to send a holiday book instead of a card.  Or at least make a book for ourselves.  Here are a few faves:

 Max's interest in posed family shots was.... none.

He is a handsome devil, though

Bull city, baby!

Tooth gone!

Oh, and on the way back down from the terrace, Max managed to press the emergency button in the elevator so we finished our adventure with a quick chat with the fire dispatchers who fortunately seemed very unphased by a one-year old calling them from an elevator.  Whew.

Baby

Max is talking up a storm these days and rapidly seeming less like a baby and more like a little boy.  But when he pointed at a 7 or 8-month old who was being carried by her mom the other and said "Baby" I got terribly sad and told him "No YOU are a baby!  My baby!"  And he always will be.  But his actual babyhood is quickly moving behind us, and despite all the work and sleeplessness and frustrations, I am super sad to see it go.

Always my baby

Why wouldn't you

Because why wouldn't you sit on the table in your underwear to play legos?

Playroom

We have a huge, toy-filled playroom that gets very little use despite our frequent suggestion that everyone go down and play.  Today I was down there running a load of laundry and Max followed me down.  He started playing happily on his own in the play kitchen so I ran upstairs to grab my iPad to do a little work (read: check Facebook) while he was occupied.  Within 10 minutes Dash had migrated from the upstairs dining room Lego station to the much better playroom Lego table, and ten minutes later, Ella followed and discovered a screw and drill pattern toy that has long been sitting unplayed with.  And so here I sit in the lone adult size chair in this cavernous room with all of them happily playing.  Turns out the key ingredient to a great playroom is just..... Me.

Bus

Max and I often wait on the front porch for Dash to get home on the school bus.  Max loves to say "Bus! Bus!" when he hears it pulling up.

Minivan

If they all want to sit in the middle row all squished up on road trips, we wasted a lot of money on a minivan.

Morning walks

For many months, Max has been getting up very very early and so Josh or I will  take him on an early walk to let the rest of the household sleep until the oh-so-late hour of 7 am or so.  Fortunately this phase took place during the summer months when it was both light and warm outside in the early morning.  Recently, we were taking more and more walks that ended with Max falling asleep in his stroller which was maddening to no end.  Most recently, he has started sleeping until 6:30 or 6:45 which feels like the most wonderful gift.  Sleep on, Maxy (and not in your stroller!)!

Always, da shu

Every morning, before breakfast, before we get dressed, before anything, Max wants to wear his shoes. He says "Da shu" over and over, and at this point has learned which drawer they live in and how to pull out a pair and bring them to us. So for our early morning walks, he wears them over his pjs. And then when we get home, he struts all over the house in this fetching combo until we change into clothes for school. He usually spends the time getting changed crying plaintively "Da shu! Da shu!" until he gets them back on.  He apparently talks about da shu at school, too, as his teacher recently told me she has started calling his school rain boots "Da boots".

Park date

One of our local parks boosts an impressive collection of old, broken rising toys that kids nevertheless love. Max spent a good 15 minutes buckling and unbuckling himself into this stationary car yesterday afternoon. 

Hiatus. And I love you

Oh, man, it has been 2 months since I last posted.  Every single day great thanks are happening here - sweet, funny, heartbreaking, adorable, frustrating, insane things.  And I think I will remember them and then the days fly by and I don't capture them and they are gone.  Gonna get better at that starting right now!

Biggest development:  Max has a first sentence and boy is it a winner.  We were in the car and I said to him, like I say 100 times a day, "Maxy, I love you!" and he said "Ah La U".  I thought I was hearing things so I said it again.  And then he said it again.  And now reliably, if you say to Max "I love you!" he will say it right back.

I die a little of happiness every single time it happens.   And I even got it on video so when he's 13 and says "I hate you" more than "I love you", I can remember.

Da shu

Max first learned about shoes by chewing on Josh's slippers whenever he could get to them. Now whenever he sees shoes he says "Da Shu!" which I think means "Daddy shoes". Da shu applies to his own shoes of late and he recently brought me two shoes (not matching as you can see) and pointed them at his feet. I obliged him by helping put them on.  He wore the mismatch shoes for awhile and then went to get a matching shoe and brought that to me and was clearly insistent that I help him wear the matching pair.  I'm just glad his shoe interest has moved from eating them to wearing them.

Snuggly

The only time Max is still for more than 2 seconds these days is at night before I put him down to bed. Sometimes he is actually asleep by the time I finish feeding him but often he is still awake and just sits happily and quietly on my lap, gazing out the window, sometimes giving me little grins. It's the sweetest time and I am trying to enjoy it every single day, no matter what else I need to accomplish later in the evening.

Camp songs and giggles

Ella and Dash are sleeping together in our "sleepover room" (ie our second tier basement guest room) and I have been down the hall in my office listening to them for the last 30 minutes, hysterically laughing and singing every camp song they can think of.  Someday they will be way too cool for slumber parties with each other, making this moment, this one right now with their joy at being together and being silly and recounting their camp experiences beyond priceless.

Smoothie pals

Max was really feeling like a big guy, sitting in a chair and drinking a smoothie with his sis. Probably no coincidence that his current favorite word is "Ella!Ella!Ella!"

Table manners

I have forgotten so many things about watching a toddler navigate the world, and it has been extra fun with Max to watch him turn into a real person, and also to see how much the big kids get a kick out of his crazy behaviors.  Last weekend in an attempt at kindness to poor Josh who handles more than his fairshare of Max's early mornings, I took all 3 kids by myself out to breakfast at our local diner.  Maxy (in his pjs, hand-me-downs from Ella and Dash, of course) insisted on eating the meal with his foot on the table.  Ella and Dash found this hilarious. Which of course Max loved.  Someday he will learn table manners. But for now, he can just enjoy the adoration of all of us.

Two scooters

The mutual scooting only lasted to the end of the driveway because Dash says his goes too slow (ie he is scared to make it move more than an inch at a time).  Someday he will deign to actually learn to ride his scooter and the pace of family walks will increase. He was pretty cute walking in his helmet, though.

Runner girl

One of our local running stores offers a kids running program on Sunday afternoons at a beautiful local park and we signed up for the session this spring. I had no idea what to expect and have been so thrilled to go each week and see the kids do a warmup, talk about healthy eating and activities, and then participate in low-key races. Dash has been looking strong in the 100 m race each week.  This might be my favorite race to watch because it's the littlest kids, and predictably there are a few super fast ones followed by some toddlers who tend to wander off course before they get to the finish line. Ella started with a 400 m distance but this week did the 800 m and finished it looking strong!  As a bonus, the program had a special Mother's Day 400 m heat this past week which I enjoyed running with my mom (in a skirt and sandals no less), Max on my hip, and Ella out ahead of me (we had to beg her to slow down long enough to cross the finish line with us).  Love this program!

Pool baby

Max finally got to go to the pool with the rest of us today. And to think I was worried about whether he would like it.  He had this expression the entire time ib the water.

Monday walk

Now that it is light later and the weather is warmer, I have been taking the boys on a Monday evening walk while Ella and Josh are at their piano lesson.  I love our neighborhood for walking and love that we have a park and playground so close, but I sometimes wish the commercial areas near(-ish) us were a little closer so we could go get an after dinner treat.  I realized last week, though, that while it's not fancy, we can walk to a gas station with a little ice cream cooler.  So we went on an ice cream walk last week and it was such a hit, we went again last night.  Popsicle and Nutty Buddy?  Yes please!

Max might be a little unhappy that all he got was a pacifier 

when Dash and I got to enjoy delicious gas station treats

Bugs

Girlfriend claims to hate bugs but she gleefully picked up and played with a bunch of canker worms on the playground today.

April Fool's

I don't usually go in for pranks on April Fool's Day but Ella was rather intrigued by the idea so I tried to think of ideas that weren't actually mean but just funny. I finally settled on covering the doorway to Ella and Dash's room with crepe paper while they were asleep so they would have to bust through it in the morning.  Joke was on me, though, since the next morning, they carefully removed only the very bottom row of crepe paper and shimmeyed underneath, leaving their room completely inaccessible to all adults.

Easter Cohens

Three cute bunny-eared kiddos in the yard after dinner.  We even have a few daffodils at the new house.  I think we are all very happy for spring to finally be here!

Welcome home

Amazing how much I can miss my small people even after only 36 hours away (and much of that time included silence and room service in a nice hotel).

All by myself

"I got dressed all by myself! Don't I look great?  I'm going to look at myself in the mirror! No, no, take a picture of me instead!"

Lunch stop

Josh and the big kids are off on a little road trip today.  I asked Josh where they were going to stop for lunch and Dash piped in and said "Well, probably Goats."  I thought he was just being silly but then he said "Wait, wait, I mean Sheeps!"

Sheetz. He meant Sheetz, the giant gas station/food stop we frequented on our last trip to the Northeast.  It's as if Dash's brain works in a Cockney rhyming slang.  Man, I love this kid.

Pizza smell

Josh loves nothing more than the smell of the pizza dough rising and baking at the Mellow Mushroom close to our house.  Whether on purpose or just by fact of their ventilation system, if you are on the street by the restaurant, the smell comes wafting out.  When we drive by, Josh always rolls down his window to get a whiff and the kids now love to do the same.  Today we walked from our house up to the area with Mellow Mushroom so they could all stand there and sniff as long as they wanted.

Sitting up in bed

Turns out, it's really really hard to sleep when you are trying out your new skill of sitting yourself up in bed.

Business travel

I had to travel for work this week and was gone for two new (very long, just ask Josh) nights.  My flight home on Tuesday should have arrived in time for me to pick up Dash at school but due to snow in Detroit, I arrived just late enough that our nanny had to get Dash instead. I made it back to my house just before they arrived back from school, so when they pulled into the garage, I came out to meet them.  Our nanny said that Dash was initially really disappointed I hadn't picked him up at school but he was really brave and pulled himself together.  His giant grin when I came into the garage was priceless.  As was his comment later that night when he told me "Mommy, when you came out that door, it made my heart explode."  My boy is so sweet.  He makes MY heart explode, too. 

Snow in NC

We don't get a lot of snowstorms in North Carolina so when it starts falling, it's magical to watch as these 3 found last week.

Good kids

I had to take Max to the doctor yesterday afternoon with little warning when his cold seemed to be getting rapidly worse.  Since there was no real time to plan, I had to take the big kids along, too.   I try as hard as I can to avoid taking extra kids to the doctor, especially in the winter, because I'm paranoid that we'll pick up some new bug while we're there.  But this time, everyone had to come along.  I'm glad we went in because poor Max has a double ear infection and most likely RSV causing the cold-like symptoms.

As Max was getting examined, Dash and Ella were doing what I thought was a pretty good job of giving the doctor space to work (although we did have to have a conversation about them getting down off the examination table at one point), and talking little enough that the doctor could have a conversation with me (Cohen kids are big talkers).   At one point, Dash pointed out that he had a skeleton on his shirt and that he thought the doctor should like his shirt because "You know, skeletons are IN our bodies!  And you are interested in bodies!"

As we were leaving, the doctor (not our usual one, so someone who doesn't know my kids very well) smiled and said "Your kids get the cute award today.  They are so well-behaved and everything they say is cute."

My mama heart swelled five sizes with that comment.  They are good kids and I try never to forget it.

The bookshelf clearing phase

I was talking to a friend this morning who just had her third child a few months ago, and she remarked that she was surprised at how much she is loving all the milestones her new baby is reaching.  She said she expected to be more blase about them this time around but was finding them to be as exciting and enchanting as with her first and second babies.

I totally agree.  I love watching Max develop, in some ways maybe even more than the first time with Ella, since I'm less worried and more certain that he will do everything in his own time.

And I love being surprised by the little things he does that are exactly like his big sis and bro.

Exhibit A:  The bookshelf clearing phase.  This bookshelf of board books has lived in all 3 of our nurseries, and right about this age, all three of the babies enjoyed a phase of regularly clearing the shelves off with their mighty grip and throw maneuver.

Costumes

It will be a rather sad day when Dash loses his passion for costumes.  Because every day that I get to enjoy topless Dash Vader is a good day.

The mysterious grouch

I get up early on Saturday mornings to go to Pilates, and often everyone is still asleep when I leave.  This Saturday, however, as I was getting dressed in my closet, I heard the pitter-patter of Dash feet (unmistakable in their sound because they never go slower than a full run) and a knock on the closet door.  He came in and gave me a big hug and then looked at me with a serious face and we had the following conversation:

Dash:  Mommy, last night, when I was going to sleep, my ankles and my grouch hurt.

Me:  I'm sorry to hear that.  Hey, Dash, what is a grouch?

Dash: <Silent for a minute, patting around on his midsection>  Well, I'm not really sure, but I think Daddy knows.

Keeping up

Ella always wants to go exercise with me, and when I finally relented this weekend,  we discovered that not only can she keep up with me, she can outpace me a lot of the time.  Bonus to our joint workout was enjoying a January day without coats and having real conversations with my girl that were uninterrupted by pesky little brothers (as she would say).

Bubble heads

Cold winter evenings are great for "hot, deep" baths, as requested by these two bubble heads.

First basketball game

Dash had his first ever organized sports team practice this weekend with his debut on the Durham Y Bayhawks basketball team. After weeks of excitement and anticipation,  the season got off to a good start until about 15 minutes in when Dash got walloped in the nose during a passing drill by a fellow Bayhawk. The ensuing meltdown was maybe not how I envisioned my tough guy's entry into the world of team sports, but the day still felt like a seminal moment in our parenting journey. I foresee many a Saturdays (and all the other days) in gyms or on fields, watching this enthusiastic dude play whatever game has captivated his interest and burns up the endless energy he seems to have.