No Way!

Tonight I helped the kids make brownies. They both helped me crack an egg, pour the water and oil, stir the bowl, and of course lick off the stirring spoon. (I have some good photos that I'll post later.)

An agonizing (for them) 28 minutes later, the brownies were done baking. As both kids ate an Ok dinner, we gave them a decent sized piece of brownie and then we all sat around the table to eat. Dominic didn't just inhale his, but he vacuumed it up. It was Gone in 60 Seconds and Gone With the Wind... Jocelyn of course, took her time, leaving Dominic to stare lovingly at her plate. After pleas for more fell on my deaf ears, he turned to Jocelyn to beg for for. "Please Jossy!"

Her answer was classic: "No way Jose'!" DominicsMom and I burst out laughing at that turn of phrase. Dominic looked sad, so Joss relented and gave him a small piece (really a large crumb.) She then wagged her index finger at him and said, "No more for you!" with such determination!

Dominic was happy for a bit with that extra little taste, but he was soon back to begging for more. Joss is a good girl and soon relented, giving him a couple more large crumbs...but then hers was gone too...

DominicsDad

Go See Your Mom

Last weekend we took the kids to the zoo. As we were heading to the polar bear plunge, we all stopped at one of the restrooms. DominicsMom and I decided that we would all go in and that I would take Dominic and she would take Jocelyn. So I put Joss down (who immediately put her arms back up into the air and started whining for me. I heard her whining the whole way into the restroom.)

I took Dominic in to the restroom with me and led him to a kid's height urinal. I've been working on Dominic not dropping his trousers all the way to the floor and this time he did not, so I stepped away to do my business.

Dominic finished before me and I asked him, "Are you all done?"

"Yes! I'm all done."

"Good. Did you touch anything?"

Dominic replied with a smile, "No, but it splashed all over me!"

With that, I though to myself, 'Great kid. Go wash your hands. No, no hugs are necessary. If you get tired, ask your Mom to pick you up...'



DominicsDad

Little Sneak 2

Jocelyn has taken to leaving her bed almost every evening. It used to be that Dominic would crawl into bed with us a few times a week, but the rest of the time we had the bed to ourselves and I could stretch out. Now, I almost always wake up with at least one kid in the bed. Sometimes they walk over under their own power, sometimes Dominic will yell, "Moooommmee! Can I come sleep with you?" For some strange reason DominicsMom always answers "Yes."

Sometimes Joss will start crying, but when we go in to her room to calm her down and put her back to bed, she will say "Wan t' sleep wit' you Daddy." What can I do at that point? If I say no, she starts to cry again (not that I could ever really deny here anyways...) On other nights she will walk in herself and crawl into bed.

Many times both kids are in the bed (thankfully they prefer to crawl over DominicsMom on their way in as she sleeps closer to the bedroom door) when I wake up. Even a queen-sized mattress gets small with four people in it. Yes, two are only the size of a small hobbit, but they manage to take up a lot of space when they sprawl out or lay crosswise in the bed. More than once I've waken up in the middle of the night with someone's foot in my back. On a rare occasion I've had to pick up an unconscious kid and drop them back in their own bed in an effort to get some sleep. That can be somewhat hazardous as they will sometimes wake up immediately, or worse, after I've crawled back into bed, and demand to come back to our bed. So another trip to get them and a bit more sleep post-poned...

Tonight both kids went down without too much of a fuss. DominicsMom and I were sitting in bed reading for a moment when we heard a door open. I walked to our door to see who it was, but the sound of a door closing meant that I missed our nocturnal sneak. Both kids doors were closed, but almost immediately I could hear voices coming from Dominic's room. I tiptoed closer to listen. I heard Dominic help Joss into the bed and then Joss telling Dominic what sheet she was going to use. Finally I heard Dominic say, "Joss lets snuggle up together..."

Cuties! At that point I went in and gave them both a quick kiss.

DominicsDad

Back in the Old Days

Lately, when Dominic talks about something he did, but doesn't particularly remember doing or exactly how long ago it happened, he prefaces it with a, "Long ago, when I was three, I did" this. It cracks us up to hear him tell a story that way when he talks to someone.

Today we went to the San Diego Zoo and while we were driving through Balboa Park, Dominic pointed at the Natural History Museum and piped up, "Look, we've been there before! When I was three!" Ok buddy, we were there about six months ago to see their dinosaur exhibit.

Here are a couple of pictures of the kids at the zoo:

DominicsDad

Our Busy Socialites

The kids will often bump into their classmates while we are out shopping or dining. We first noticed that in our previous neighborhood and we see it more now. It is mostly Dominic's classmates from kindergarten or his day care that we bump into. We saw one at the park on Saturday and at Costco on Sunday. The kids are always excited to see one another while we get to meet their parents (usually). Jocelyn's friends are smaller and if we do not recognize their parents, no connection is made.

On Saturday I took the kids to the park. Jocelyn wanted to go on the swings, so I obediently set her in her seat and began to push. Dominic walked around for a bit, climbing the playset and sliding down the slide. At one point, he started to play with another girl. For some reason, he let out a monstrous dinosaur roar, "Roooooaaaar!" She immediately ran off... (I don't think she was crying, but she did run away awefully fast.) But the funny thing was, as soon as Dominic let out his 'roar', another little girl yelled out, "Dominic?!?" She was playing on the other side of the playset, but she must have heard him roar and recognized it!!!

I had a good laugh at that. It turns out that the little girl also goes to his school, but is in the other class. Her mom was there, but she spent the entire time on her cell phone so I never was able to say hello.

DominicsDad

More Recent Photos

What a ham! If we are not careful, Dominic will put on some crazy pose and expression for a photo as he did here for Joss (she actually took this photo.)

Feeding the ducks at the lake, there were tons of them!

And feeding the squirrels. There were also a lot of squirrels and one brave fellow actually took some bread out of my fingers. The kids were too fidgety and the squirrels would not get too close.

DominicsDad

Little Sneak

This evening both kids wanted Mommie to tuck them in. So tucked Jocelyn into bed and DominicsMom tucked Dominic into bed as it was there respective turns. DominicsMom then went and sang a couple of lullabyes to Jocelyn. Shortly after that we both went downstairs to catch up on our DVR'd Life on Mars episode.

DominicsMom stayed down to watch Private Practice (yuck!) while I went upstairs. I was wracking my brain, trying to think up a blog entry on the kids, when Joss quickly gave me one... Upon going upstairs, I looked in on Dominic. His door was closed (not unusual, he likes it closed, keeps out the monsters), so I quietly opened and tip-toed in. I was rather surprised to see Joss curled up on one side of the bed, Dominic gently snoring beside her. I was pretty sure we left her in her own bed when we went downstairs and DominicsMom confirmed this. So the little sneak left her bed and snuck into Dominics room!

I think we (I) might be in trouble in a few years...

DominicsDad

Oopsie!

Last night we were putting the kids to bed when Jocelyn wandered into Dominic's room to say good night. As she was leaving, Dominic told me that he wanted her to share the bed with him. They have done this before, so no big deal. But it was Joss's third night in a row with no diaper... dum de dum dummm!

Anyways, we had taken all the usual precautions, do not drink too much and make sure you go to the bathroom before you jump in bed, so we were not worried.

About 2am we are both awakened by Jocelyn calling us. DominicsMom gives me a nudge and says, "It's my turn to wake up early with them, YOU go see what she wants."

So I struggled out of bed and stumbled into the hall. Jocelyn was standing by the kids' bathroom, shifting from foot to foot. As I walked up to her, she said, "I'm all wet..."

This announcement kicked both DominicsMom and myself into high gear. Joss was indeed all wet from the waist down, so I stripped her down and wiped her off while DominicsMom check on Dominic. He was fine but his bed was definitely wet. She picked him up and transferred him to Jocelyn's bed (he never twitched while she did this) while I put Joss in new PJ's. We comforted her a bit and then put her down to sleep (and then stripped his bed yada yada yada.)

The next morning around 7am we heard Joss stirring. She was talking a bit, basically "Dooominiiic! Waaake uuup!" After some moans and groans from Dominic, we both heard him exclaim, "Hey, how did we get into your bed?!?"

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Tonight Joss wanted an extra drink of water, but we were not going to allow it. She was given the choice, drink more water and put on a diaper, or stay in her underwear and forgoe the extra drink. She chose the extra drink...

DominicsDad

Some more Pics

Joss shows off her new hair cut:

Dominic plays the Wii - Lego Star Wars!

And here he shows off one of his creations. He is actually coming up with some pretty neat designs, but he has the unfortunate tendancy to take a cool design and place every single Lego he can onto it... I'm working on that!

DominicsDad

Growing Up Quick

Jocelyn must be in a hurry to grow up quickly. Last week she pitched a fit as I was changing her for bed. She wanted to wear her underwear instead of a diaper to bed. I was hesitant as she hasn't been out of diapers for very long, but she normally has a dry diaper in the morning (but when its wet, oh boy...) That night I didn't give in.

Last night she refused to wear a diaper again. She wanted to wear underwear like a big girl. It took Dominic quite awhile before he transitioned into wearing underwear to bed. Finally I broke down and told her ok, but she had to go to the bathroom before she went to bed. She baulked at this, but I told her, "No bathroom, no underwear." Luckily, Joss accepted this and went off to the bathroom. While she was gone, I placed a waterproof pad under her matress pad in case there was an accident.

The next morning I anxiously checked on her, but she was dry! Tonight she also refused a diaper, but more readily went to the bathroom (where she almost fell in...) So it looks like she is taking another step forward!

DominicsDad