Normal Levels of Chaos

Bill has recovered from mono and we're all very, very happy to report a return to normal levels of chaos.

Alex continues to do really well.





He's really starting to love music. When I look back in the rear-view mirror while we're driving, I'll often find him swaying to the tunes. He loves dancing. And playing the guitar is great fun too.



His vocabulary continues to develop, at the rate of about 1-2 words per day.  Unfortunately, many of his most recent acquistions sound strikingly similar.  "Ba ba" used to mean it was time for a diaper change. Now he also uses it (with slightly different intonations) to refer to spiders, batteries, and basketballs which leads to all manner of confusion. This week, he also picked up "no" as in "no no no no no," typically uttered with a big grin on his face. I really need to work on not laughing at him ...



Both boys (okay, all three boys) are enjoying the grand re-opening of the hot tub.



And Owen has started playing T-ball. Bill and I used to watch T-ball games during graduate school for cheap entertainment. Nothing has changed ... it's still entertaining. When he's not chatting up his teammates in the outfield, Owen can't quite keep himself from chasing down the ball wherever it might go (fortunately, his good-natured coach praises him for his good "hustle"). Really, though, he does very well and seems to be having a good time.





Owen is also becoming quite the craftsperson, drawer, and storyteller. Last week, on the way to Louisville, he drew a picture of a battle between a giant spider and a giant crab, with some wolves on the crab's side who were drawn smaller because they were far away.  A cartoon word bubble from one wolf, directed at the crab, said "I LUV U," which was a clear sign that they were on the same team. :)  

In more pleasant news ...

Before the mono madness hit, we had a chance to get outside and enjoy the warming weather. Who knew Alex was a little daredevil ...

Mono?!

Clearly, Giardia for Alex and his parents wasn't enough for one term. Bill has mono, complete with some serious fatigue and a very persistent fever. Not what he/we needed. Someone apparently didn't get the memo. Isn't this the sort of thing that professors are supposed to cause undergraduates to develop due to finals week stress? Ah well. It's far better than the other possibilities that crossed my highly neurotic our minds.

A Few Pictures

All is well here. Three weeks left in the winter term ... not that we're counting! Things should settle down a bit after that. In the meantime, I thought I'd post a few pictures of the boys.

Keeping up ...

How can it possibly be 15 days since we last posted? It's a good thing our travelmates are so good at keeping up with their blogs; otherwise, there would be little hope for us in keeping up with this one. Social comparison is a powerful motivator!

All is well here. We took the boys to the Indianapolis children's museum which has a very cool new Lego exhibit complete with nifty dress-up gear. Owen was in heaven! He donned his sword and (pink!) shield to protect his kingdom, especially from (little-brother-sized) green dragons. After the duel, Alex decompressed with a little tea party care of the three bears.

We also got out to do a little bit of hiking in the near 80 degree weather last week. I will be so very happy when spring is here to stay.



Alex's language is really starting to take off. He can now say and/or sign up, down, banana, mama, dada, ge ge (mandarin for big brother), shoes, kitty, turtle, cheers!, bye bye, hat, ball, milk, juice, and night night. He still LOVES to eat (grilled cheese and tomato soup is YUMMY!)



and continues to be a pretty easy baby, though he does get a bit hyper when he's tired. :)

Muffins and Angel Hair

Alex and Ellen have been spending their mornings baking delicious treats lately.

Stirring is great fun.

Waiting is hard.

But,oh, so worth it.

And Owen has been quite the raconteur at dinner. Here's the tail end of an impromptu rendition of "Aiken Drum" (note Owen's name spelled in angel hair pasta on the table).

Time is flying ...

This semester has been flying by for us. I suppose that's a good thing, but, because we're still counting Alex's age in months, it seems like he's growing up incredibly fast. I wouldn't mind for time to stand just a bit more still. Barring that, we're doing our best to enjoy

sink play ...



drawing ...



cooking ....



matchbox ...



and hanging out with big brother Owen ...



who is becoming quite the Lego engineer ...