In all the excitement...

I just realized something. I was lying in bed (it is 11:55pm after all) and I realized that I forgot to check the score of the Red Sox game. So I jumped out of bed, and we won! Not only that, but the Yankees lost! Which means that the Red Sox are the American League East Division Champions!!!! I know you are all jumping out of your seats with joy, I'm glad I could be the bearer of such wonderful news. :o)

Guess where we went tonight??

Tonight we had a very fun errand to run (more about that later...) and as I was getting directions, I noticed that we would be very close to someplace that I have been wanting to go for a long time. So we decided to make a detour on our way. I will give you a clue:

Can you guess where we went? If so, are you jealous yet?? If you still don't know, I will show you:




We went to DP Dough!!! I was so excited, I don't know if I was more excited about stopping for DP Dough, or about the kittens we were on our way to see...oops! Well, I guess I let the cat out of the bag! (that one was for Grampa)


I have been really upset about the fact that we had to give away our kitty Noah to go work for that crazy lady in Milton last year. He was such a sweet cat, and Taye really liked him. Plus, you may know that I like cats (and dogs, and hamsters...) More recently, I have been talking to Rue about Andrew's kitten, and it made me really really want one. So basically, blame Rue :o)

Luis and I talked about it, and decided to get a kitten. Today I found a lady who had four to give away, and we went to see them. It was a pretty long ride, and we couldn't find her house, and I kept losing cell phone service when I tried to call her and ask for help getting there. So it was frustrating, but we made it.

The kittens were all eating when we got there, and the boys just loved them. We finally chose the one boy kitty, and decided to take him home. The lady had twin 4 year olds, and she had them say goodbye to 'Snickers'. They seemed fine, but as we were getting in the car, her little girl started crying - I felt so bad! That would have been me too, I didn't know what to do, but they just went back in the house while we buckled the boys. I know if we hadn't taken him someone else would have, but I still feel so bad.

Luis sat in back with the boys and the kitten. The kitten realy liked to explore, and got down on the floor at one point. After a few minutes, Luis picked him up, and we realized that he was pooping! In the car! (we did forget to remind him to go potty before we left.) Luckily for us, our car is a mess, so he went on a piece of paper. Luis picked the paper up, and tossed the poop out Taye's window. About ten seconds later, Taye started wailing - "Kitty!! Kitty!!" He thought Luis threw the kitten out the window!! Luis quickly gave him the kitten, and we reasurred him it was all right, and Taye was happy again. I know its sick, but I couldn't stop laughing about that, the poor kid is going to be traumatized for life. He is already traumatized from the time his balloon flew out the window. Now every time he sees the part in Shrek where he and Fiona let their balloons go, he yells "balloons! balloons!" and gets upset. I can only imagine how this experience will manifest itself.

So we (well mostly I) spent the ride home trying to come up with a name. The boys all just keep calling him 'kitty' but I hate when people actually name their cats 'kitty.' I would come up with one I liked, and ask Taye if he liked it. He never answered. After about an hour, I was totally over it. I started to think about how we have a Cookie Monster already, and asked Taye if he wanted to name the kitty Grover (he's my favorite). Taye said, "Yup!" I admit I don't totally love it, and we may come up with something better, but for now meet our new kitty, Grover (these pictures don't do him justice):

Daddy, daddy, daddy!

Today we were out on the porch and a car drove by with the radio blaring. Taye said, "I hear Daddy coming!" (we can usually hear Luis from miles away - he's such a rock star).

Yesterday when Luis came home, Taye ran out on the porch to see him. He stood at the screen looking at Luis and said, "I love Daddy! I love Daddy!"

This isn't about Daddy, but today I was working on a photo book on the computer. Taye came over, and I told him the pictures were of 'baby Taye.' I said, "I love Taye, do you love Taye?" and he said, "I love me!"

And just 'cause I like them:

Yummy...

thats what Darius said anyway. :o)

Wait, that just made me wonder...is breastfeeding on a public forum in Massachusetts "illegal" too?

Playground

The other day we met the Dorseys at our new favorite playground. Needless to say it was a blast.

Fun Day

Today we went to the Kid Fest at Mount Wachusett. I was really excited to go, it sounded like it was going to be so much fun. To make it even better, we got free passes because we were members of a parks program this summer, and they were co-sponsoring the event. In the end, Luis and I decided that it was a really fun free day, but it wouldn't have been worth paying for, at least not until the boys are a little older. It was mostly a lot of vendors with tables set up, giving away free samples (which never hurts, lets be honest) and holding raffles. A lot of them had activities for the kids, but most of it was geared towards older kids. The boys both really liked the 'Making Music Together' display, which had a variety of instruments they could play with. It actually made me think of looking into a class, they had so much fun.

They also had clowns, magicians, jugglers, etc. which was neat. They had guys on bicycles doing tricks, which Taye really liked. We stood near the ramp, and he kept saying, "Theres another guy!" as each one rode over. Luis said things like, "They should have a sign up, 'do not try this at home,'" and "Oh yeah, thats a good way to break your neck." I finally told him to stop being such an old man, and he shut up :o) They had a hay ride, which Taye wanted to try, but we didn't get on the first time, and he didn't want to wait in line after that, so we skipped it. They were supposed to have tethered hot air balloon rides, which I was so excited about. But apparently it was too windy, and by the time we left they still weren't able to get it up. They had a fire engine out front, and they announced that they would be landing the Medflight helicopter at one o'clock, but we were pretty much done by 12:30. Besides, *yawn* the helicopter thing has been done. All in all it was fun, but most likely we will skip it until the boys are a little older.

Darius found a whole new way of using the bongos, the lady was very impressed!

Even Luis got into it.

As if that wasn't enough for one day, we had Keyeanna's birthday party this afternoon. It was a very nice, low-key party. It was basically just George and Kathy, her son Chuckie, Keyeanna, and the four of us. Apparently Keyeanna was so excited all day to have Taye coming to her party. They had a lot of fun in the yard, mostly riding their 'horses' and beating up on poor George.

They even had 'bumper cars!' (Darius let Keyeanna win, since it was her party...)

Keyeanna was thrilled with all her presents, which she tore into like nothing I have ever seen.

It was a bit windy, so we had to shield the cake, but we did manage to get the candles all lit long enough to sing to her.

Taye proclaimed, "I like it!" over and over as he ate.

We had so much fun, we really enjoy spending time with all of them. Keyeanna is such a sweetheart, I'm glad we could share her party with her.

I know I'm being a baby, but...

allow me to whine for just a minute.

You may know that I love photography. I have wanted to really learn what the heck I am doing for years. I finally signed up for a class, it got cancelled. So I bought myself some books, and decided to teach myself. So far its not happening. Now, lets just take a look at some of the pictures Luis took after literally 'playing' around with my camera for 5 minutes while I attempted to get Darius down for a nap:

Does he have to be good at everything??

Darius has a new word that is worth noting. This morning he started scooting around the house saying, "Nana, Nana" over and over. She was still upstairs, and I don't think anyone had even mentioned her name, he just started saying it. Of course, he would not say it for her most of the day. She would come down and he would clam up, then as soon as she went upstairs he'd start again, "Nana, Nana..." I finally recorded him on my cell phone and brought it up for her to hear so she would know I wasn't making it up. The boys came up too, and while we were up there talking to her he finally said "Nana" so that she could hear him. She replied, "Hi Taye!" She's getting old... :o)

Passport Update

For those who are concerned, Luis called the Peruvian Embassy in Boston. Apparently he can walk in any weekday, or on the third Saturday of each month from 8-1, and renew his passport on the spot. So we should be all set!

Quotable Darius

Darius doesn't really have a lot of 'words' in the technical sense, but he definitely knows how to make himself understood. And the words he does use are only the most critical. The list includes:

~"Mamy" (as in, Amy) - every once in a while he will throw me a bone, and actually refer to me as "mama" but mostly, I am 'Mamy' which really perpetuates the feeling that I am on the world's longest nannying gig.
~"Taye" - I hope this is self-explanatory
~"No" - most often used when he is offered something, and is said while simultaneously reaching out to accept the offered item. It is also often used to answer questions asked of other people.
~"Ooh, ooh, ooh" - translates to fish crackers, or Goldfish. For those who don't know the story, we are fans of the Curious George show on PBS. In one episode, there are a group of characters who keep saying, "fish crackers, ooh, ooh, ooh!" Our family has adopted this phrase, but Darius prefers the abbreviated version. He will point to the cabinet frantically repeating, "ooh, ooh, ooh" when hungry.
~"Poop!" - again, self explanatory
~"Nnno!" - nose, usually said while grabbing mine in a death hold.
~"Mel-mo!" or "Mo" for short - I'll give you a clue, he is short, fuzzy, and red.

Darius has also developed codes for other important things he doesn't have words for yet. When he wants Cookie Monster (our hamster, not the friend of 'Mo') he will click his tongue. When he sees a puppy, he will pant. When he wants to brush his teeth (which is his new favorite game) he will stick his tongue between his teeth, and say "Lllll..." I have no idea where that one came from. One of my favorite things we have noticed is that he raises his voice when he is asking for something. He will babble on and on, (usually galugalugla? or just aah?) and always raise his voice on the last syllable, like we all do when asking a question. It blows me away.

More Q.T. (Quotable Taye)

This is a new favorite; the other night the four of us went grocery shopping. As we were leaving the store, we walked by one of the employees who was out gathering the carriages. Being polite, we said hi as we walked by. Taye said, "Hi! Hi Bob!" We do not know that boy, maybe Taye does. Maybe his name is Bob, it could be. Maybe Taye and Bob get together for poker night once a week, who knows? Now we just like to walk around, and say "Hi Bob!" every now and then.

This morning it was cold, I sat at the computer singing some song I made up about how I was "freezing, freezing, freezing." Taye joined in with his song - "raisins, raisins, raisins."

On the way to the Children's Museum, I begain to fear that I was lost (I wasn't). I sat at a light, and talking to myself said, "I have no idea where I am." Taye piped up, "There you are!"

Tonight we were all hanging out in the bedroom, when Darius decided to scoot off to the living room. We jokingly told Taye to go get him, and he ran out of the room yelling, "Darius, get back here!"

I don't know if other people will find these things funny, but we do. I was telling Luis the other night how so much of what Taye says cracks me up, yet I know if I told other people, they wouldn't get it. For example, lately he likes to tell me "I'm getting cold." I find it funny, or surprising is probably a better word, and it makes me laugh. He also likes to tell me when its "getting pretty dark" or when I hold him he'll say "I'm cozy." He's putting so many things together now, and I'm having so much fun waiting to see what will come out of his mouth next.

Boston Children's Museum

Allow me to be the first one to blog about our First Annual trip to the Boston Children's Museum (you guys game?) :o)

We met up with the Dorseys, Kreams, and Jean's friend Karen-that-she-loves (with Will and Olivia, of course) on the pier outside the museum for lunch. None of the kids seemed all that interested in eating lunch, however, as there were too many other fun things to do. Taye was a big fan of chasing pigeons. He kept asking me to "hold the birds" and I had to try and explain to him that they really didn't want to be held. Taye wasn't the only one chasing pigeons, it was a very popular activity.

Other fun things to do outside included feeding fish crackers to the pigeons, banging on the trash can, and watching the boats on the water. When there was no more fun to be had outside, we headed in.

The first thing you see when you walk into the lobby is a new, enormous climbing structure. Its made up of wavy boards and netting, and goes three (I think) stories high. It was the first thing we went on, and it was revisited more than once during our visit.

After everyone had their fill of climbing (for the moment) the group got somewhat split up. The boys and I ended up in the ball room, which they both loved.

Next to the ball room was a nature room. They had the turtle tank in there, which was always one of my favorites. The boys and I climbed under to see the turtles up close.

They also had a snake, which Taye watched for quite a while (especially conisdering it did nothing but lay curled up under its log) saying "Sssssnake!" over and over.

From there it was on to the bubble room for us.

Bubble fingers!

We managed to get the group back together at some point, which was nice. We headed upstairs where we got to play musical chairs - literally. T hese chairs all played music when you sat in them. Maeve showed us her amazing moves.

Declan and Jean played chess, while Rowan, Drue and Will hung out and Darius helped with the captured pieces.

Karen, Maeve, and Olivia played with butterflies. They learned that if you stayed really still, you could even get them to land on your head - pretty cool!

Next was the boat/water table room. The big boat was good for some fun, and Taye, Darius and Maeve played in the water a little bit, but we weren't in there all that long.

We went back downstairs for some more climbing in the funky structure, and for kid power! The exhibit had all kinds of gadgets that would shoot balls in the air, light up lights, etc. when the kids used them. Taye and Darius liked these bikes that you could pedal with your hands.

By this time it was starting to sink in that no one had really eaten lunch, so we decided to have a snack break. Once Darius was done eating, he decided to explore the room using his patented walker.

After we ate, we went back upstairs with everyone. The first room we went into was the Arthur suite, I guess you could call it. There were several rooms based around the Arthur theme. Taye mostly liked the airplane, it was pretty cool. There were screens everywhere, so it looked like you were really flying.

Darius liked these buttons, they played cheesy music when you pressed them. And there is nothing Darius likes more than dancing to cheesy music.

Darius giving kisses to Arthur.

The Blue Man Group display was down the hall, and that is always fun.

Taye really liked the tool room too.

We lingered in the tool room a bit longer than everyone else, so we ended up seperated again. Once we went looking for everyone, we stumbled upon the Construction Zone - I didn't think we would ever escape once we entered. I don't know if you know this, but Taye likes trucks. A lot. They had a blast in that room.

Darius was very intent on balancing this block on the truck and driving it around. He succeeded too, and every time it fell off he would set it back on.

After a ride on the real Bobcats, we left the Construction Zone behind.

We finally found everyone down the hall. It was getting closer and closer to traffic time, and something (my nose) told me I had some diaper changing to do, so we said our goodbyes, and I told Taye we would have to go home after we finished playing in that room. This reminded me of the tree at Gramma and Grampa's house in Needham and how much fun it was to walk around and around.

As we were leaving, Taye dropped his red car in the lobby, and noticed how it spun around. He couldn't resist spinning it some more before picking it up to go home.

As you can tell, we had a miserable time and don't ever want to go back.