Happy Valentine’s Day

Ok, so it’s Valentine’s Day. So what? Why should we care about this holiday? Look, we’re only three year old. We don’t have any girl friends, and since we don’t go to school yet, there is little opportunity for us to even meet any. And, even if we knew some girls, we wouldn’t like them unless they liked trains. And, if they did and we wanted to impress them, then we’d give them Thomas trains, not Valentine cards. So, to recap, there’s no romance in our young lives, we don’t like flowers and our parents won’t let us have candy. That leaves us with little interest in Valentine’s Day. But, wait a minute. Hold the phone. What’s this? Are these heart-shaped helium balloons for us? These are really cool! Maybe Valentine’s Day isn’t a total loss after all.

A Warm Winter’s Day

 

The winter of 2010 has been anomalously cold. Mean seasonal temperatures have been the coldest since the late 1970s. So when an unseasonably warm day blessed our community, we just had to go outside and celebrate. Waiting to the warmest point of the day, and just after the boys’ afternoon naps, we ventured outside and tried out the new tricycles we received for Christmas. After just a little review and instruction, the boys were off and riding. Benji picked it up especially fast and didn’t tire of cruising around the driveway. Davey’s efforts were a bit more problematic. He lacked confidence in his riding and would often become discouraged when faced with uphill situations. Given the opportunity to practice a bit more and some valuable time in the seat, I am confident he will have it mastered soon.

Weekly Winter Workout

After four consecutive weekends of leaving the house early on Saturday morning so Sandy could sleep peacefully after working all night, we decided to continue the practice this week and take Mommy with us. She really enjoyed sharing breakfast with us and then took the opportunity to catch up on her errands while the rest of us played at the Christian Life Center.  Granny also joined us this week at breakfast and in the gym. Then while we played in the toddler room, she worked out on the exercise machines. All the adults in our family are going to have to get in shape if we want to keep up with our boys.

Back Rub Boy

Everybody likes to have their back rubbed, but some people live for it. That’s what you would say about our Trey Davey. Since day one he has always melted under the influence of a back rub. As a tiny baby, I could fit his entire back in my hand. I would lay him on my shoulder and as I rubbed his back he would nuzzle his head under my chin and fall right to sleep. If I squeezed his back just right I could always get the desired burp after a bottle feeding. As time passed, his passion for back rubs has never diminished. Before he could talk, he communicated he desire to have his back rubbed by pointing to his back. Now he just crawls up into our laps and asks sweetly to have his back rubbed. These massages always soothe him when he’s upset and help him to sleep when he’s tired. We enjoy it too.

The Toy Lab

Sometimes I get the impression that Benji isn't playing as much as he is experimenting. Like a scientist in a laboratory, he seems to be measuring, testing and processing items to learn how they are made and what makes them work. His little fingers will push every panel, pull every lever and turn every wheel to discover every feature this item has to offer. Benji is the first to tire of older toys and swarm to new ones. He probably is hungry for new analytical challenges. Seeing this tendency, Sandy has been rotating the boys’ toys for some time. Benji used to get very excited each time this happened because he probably thought we were giving them brand new toys. However, this practice has received a more subdued response as of late. Apparently, his memory skills have advanced too. Fortunately, there is a world of new things to discover.

Doggy Beds

We don’t know where these ideas come from but Benji asked his Mommy for a bed for his dog. His canine is a small stuffed Dalmatian no bigger than a golf ball. Sandy is very accommodating to her sons’ more whimsical requests and immediately began looking for a pint sized doggy crib. In the closet she found a small wooden box of refrigerator magnets which was just the right size. She lined the box with burp rags and presented a delighted Benji with a bed for his little stuffed animal. Seeing this, Davey of course immediately wanted one for his stuffed puppy. Looking around, she selected a toy shopping basket that was filled with plastic toy fruit. She relocated the fruit and added more burp clothes to make a puppy bed for Davey too. This fascinated both boys who took their pet cribs to bed with them that evening.

Making Tracks

Sometimes, ideas can’t be limited to the area of a train table, even it you may have two tables at your disposal. Luckily for Trey Davey and Benji, not all the floor space in their room is occupied by train tables, well at least not yet. This idea began in the afternoon when the boys assembled two long parallel tracks and then began to race their trains in a drag strip fashion. Later in the evening, after Sandy joined the fun, she enhanced their idea by adding elevation. The new design harnessed the power of gravity to power the racing locomotives just like soap box derby racers. While the boys didn’t quite grasp this concept, they did enjoy the layout right up until bedtime, when it was disassembled and the floor readied for a new layout tomorrow.