Hen's Head

Recently, we were commenting (and laughing) with Grammy DJ about the countless bruises upon Henry's forehead. The situation may be getting more serious though, and I'm getting worried. After nap time on Sunday, within five minutes, Henry had a small (but sharp) metal picture frame fall on his face, he bumped his head on a door frame, and ran his forehead straight into the corner of the secretary's desk. It was just one after the other. Luckily, we were leaving to run errands, so we got to strap him safely in his car seat for awhile.

I'm worried about the long-term affects for Henry. At this rate, by the time he is 12 he is certain to be like some old time boxer. I just don't know how much damage a little head can take. Poor Henry may be setting records for daily brain cell loss. I know this will excite Kristin too much, but I might agree with her and order him a helmet.

Since blogs without pictures are probably boring (or even more boring than usual) below are the kids.

We went to the train exhibit at the Domes with my parent's and cousin Ellie. I thought it was a little disappointing. Although, Kristin reminded me that it is not really about my enjoyment. The kids had fun.

We have to give Other Grandpa props - he was basically on Henry duty the whole afternoon (which is the hardest kid to get assigned to) and carried our diaper bag and cousin Ellie's coat.

The "WHY" Phase

Cole has recently entered the "why?" phase and I have to say, it is as bad as I imagined. Everything you say is followed by Cole asking, "why?" Super annoying and he even has Henry doing it. It also makes me realize how much I don't know. A couple of rounds of Cole asking "why?" usually exhausts the extent of my knowledge on any particular subject.

I thought I would take a turn asking "Why?"...

Why is your face so messy?

Why do you eat muffins top first?



Why can't you draw another apple?

Why does Henry sit with you during a timeout when said timeout was given for pushing him?

Sunday Sitting

Kristin was babysitting her Grandma on Sunday, so I was left solo with the boys (this is most Sundays, by the way). It was freezing out and we were not home much on Saturday, so I decided we would just hang out at home. Plus the kids are both kind of sick. We probably went through close to a box of Kleenex. Throughout the day, I attempted to teach Cole how to blow his nose. He just can't do it. It was very frustrating. I have no idea why he can't grasp the concept of blowing snot out of his nose. He can suck it in no problem.

In the morning we did some furniture rearranging and Cole helped with some measuring. Kristin hated everything I did and we are currently in dispute over what stays and what goes, but I won't go into details surrounding our marital spats...just know that I'm right.

Once again it was confirmed that toys are a waste of money. Much of the day was spent playing with cardboard boxes. Cole entertained himself for a long time, walking around with a box on his head, chanting "robot."

I was amazed with how long Henry just sat in this box.

If Cole gets a drop of water on his clothes he immediately decides he is "soaked!" and has to strip down

Henry got in on the robot game.

After a few falls, I cut some eye holes.

Although cardboard seems sufficient to entertain children, we did recently purchase a basketball hoop for the boys, hence the furniture rearranging discussed earlier. Cole loves it and played a lot of hoops. He's not bad but it will be some time before his game is any threat to mine.

As mentioned before, Henry is happiest when eating so he usually requires a snack after nap and also a pre-dinner snack. He got so worked up waiting for me to put him in his highchair he pulled it on top of him and got a huge bump on his head. Add it to the chain of bruises covering his forehead.

Knuckles deep in peanut butter. Yum.

Dollhouse Carnage

As you saw from the Christmas post, we built a dollhouse. I'm not sure how Kristin got me to agree to this project. One, I hate projects. Two, we have two boys, so why do we need a dollhouse. I have a feeling Kristin wanted to do it because it gave her the opportunity to use spray paint (on all the little furniture we bought). I think I ended up agreeing to the project thinking they could fill the house with super heroes, army guys and maybe an Aaron Rodgers figurine - nothing girlie about that stuff.

It ended up not being too difficult. The kids will just have to watch out for the couple protruding nails and some rough edges. Otherwise it should be safe and will hopefully stay together.

All put together

Primed

So far the dollhouse furniture is not holding up, and I have never been more proud. I am glad that the dollhouse has not turned Cole and Henry into a couple of Sally's; although maybe the furniture is just cheap and fragile. Nonetheless, I'd rather see dollhouse items get broken than Cole and Henry in a serious game of dress up.

All the broken item thus far.

Right after I took a picture of all the items awaiting repair, Henry stomped on this and broke it.

 

Another one down.

We will soon be in the market for some sturdier dollhouse furniture but in the meantime we are just happy the boys actually play with the dollhouse. Sometimes they set up the rooms and put the figures in the tub or to bed...but mostly they have them base jump off the roof or stack all the furniture on top of them or try to break the furniture. Like I said, I have never felt so proud.

the things those kids say (and Kristin)

Cole

• After we put Cole down for bed he goes through a progression of yelling points to try to get us to get him out of his crib. Some of our favorites are; "I'm scared," "I don't like my bed," "It's dangerous," "I pooped," or "Mom! I'm pooping," "I have a fever.: Very annoying when we are sitting downstairs waiting for him to settle down and go to sleep, but also kind of funny. He really pulls out every excuse he can muster.
• He has also given his grandparents ridiculous and confusing nicknames. Grandpa Gregg is the only one who escaped a weird nickname and is just plain Grandpa, well actually he is Bampa but...



Meet "Great Grandma." Not sure if he is referring to her greatness or more likely he got confused because she is always with real Great Grandma Dorothy




"Other Grandpa" (with the real Great Grandma)

 

And this is "Normal Grammie." We think when he started calling my Mom "Great Grandma" Kristin kept telling him, she is just your normal grandma. Somehow that got transfered to a completely different grandma.




Cole showing off the yoga moves he learned in school.

Cole loves peeling the paper off crayons. Not sure why.

Henry

• Henry still calls himself Cole but lately has maybe (?) given himself the nickname of "RiRi." We aren't sure and Kristin tells me that is Rihanna's nickname so of course I'm none too thrilled about it.
• Hen is also a little bossy lately - telling us "no sing!" before bedtime and demanding snacks (shocker) constantly.

Impromptu bath after a messy poo.

Speaking of nicknames, Kristin is giving weird, horrible nicknames to our children. I thought CoCo was bad, but I don't know where she comes up with some of these other names.

• Bucker - a little too close to another word in my opinion.
• Shyster - there was a little confusion on the real meaning of this word.
• Goof Nuts - this is actually Grammie Debbie's nickname that gets used once in awhile. I always thought it was a little strange sounding.

On an unrelated note, I was able to attend my first Packer's playoff game last Saturday, which reminded me that I did put Cole and Henry on the season ticket waiting list. Just in case I ever forget to tell them, hopefully they can look back and see their number. And hopefully I live to about 190 years of age, so they can take me to a game.



Thanks Joe. Sorry you get sick.



Suck it, Vikings!



Cole - Number 103,742. Good luck, buddy.



Henry - Number 103,471. Henry, share with your bro if you actually get tickets.



Camera Phone Slide Show [OR PHLOG]

As always over a break from work and spending more time with the boys, I go a little overboard with the camera phone. I guess we might as well do something with the pictures, so here are some recent photos of the boys. I'm sure the grandma's will at least enjoy the photo log (i.e. phlog - like blog (web log for those who don't know)).

We took the kids to Discovery World with the Kroners.

Checking out the Bull Snake.

 

Cole was scared to walk across the fish tank floor. He would tip toe ever so slowly.

 

 

Henry and me at Target. He does great as long as you keep feeding him.

Henry on New Year's Eve with a tomato on his nose at Balistreri's.

The boys having fun.

What usually happens when the boys play - someone gets hurt.

Back to fun.