Monday, September 20, 2010

how old are you anyway?

Okay so we celebrated Toby's birthday forever ago, but he only just turned two a few days ago. So now I am doing Toby's 2 year old update. :)


At 2, Toby is 36 inches tall (85th %) and weighs 31 lbs (80th %.)

In the past few weeks he has REALLY started putting some words together and communicating with us. I hear a lot of "no unt to," and "Toe do it," and "air Guy go?" throughout my day. ('Guy' is his favorite stuffed frog's name.)

Toby and I love having our mornings together, while Charlotte is at school, to go for walks, clean, play, and do puzzles together. He is obsessed with puzzles right now and is shockingly good at them. I mean, we're doing 60 piece puzzles now. I keep at the puzzles with him, because when I don't, he finds other things to take apart and put together again-- like my vacuum and the TV remote. Someone told me this means he'll be an engineer. I think I told them that's only if he survives long enough to do so!

His temperament is still amazingly mellow and easygoing. I love that about him! I also love that Charlotte told me he is one of her best friends, and that he holds my face in his two hands, looks me in the eyes, and says "wub ooo mom" before bed at night. Seriously, someday there is going to be a lucky, lucky girl in my little man's life. I already kinda don't like her. (Just kidding!)

So, happy birthday to my sweet boy. Toby, you are one in a bazillion and we love you. xoxo


Bonus Charlotte story...
Tonight while Charlotte was in the tub I asked her about her day at Kindergarten.

Me: So what happened at school today?
C: I saw a kitten by the fence on the playground and my teacher picked it up and put it on the other side so it could be with its mommy.
M: Wow, that was good that you helped the kitten.
C: I didn't help it, my teacher did. (rolls eyes.) I was holding hands with that boy with the soft hair.
M: You were holding hands with the boy with the soft hair?
C: Yeah.
M: Do you know his name?
C: Nope. He's not my friend.
M: He's not your friend.... but you were holding hands?
C: Yeah, he's nice.
M: (Thinking at least I learned something at the parents' night that was all in German when I met a mom who told me that Oliver liebt 'Charlotta'... Oliver is 6.) Is his name Oliver?
C: Oh yeah. His name's Oliver. Can I paint my nails?
M: Sure, we can paint your nails after your bath. (I realize she changed the subject, but I'm kinda glad about it.)
C: No, I want to paint my nails.
M: Fine. You paint your nails... your highness. ;)

She didn't do half bad.

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Our first slumber party

I checked on the kids before I went to bed last night and found this--

Cuddled up together, fast asleep in the corner of the nursery.
(I love that Toby did not forget to tuck in his beloved Lisa too.)

Saturday, September 04, 2010

Legoland

This week I took the kids to Legoland, or Diegoland, as Charlotte is calling it. We went 2 days and spent the night in a hotel nearby. It was quite the adventure! The kids both loved it, and I liked that we could go on most of the rides together and have crepes and ice cream. So everybody was happy. ;)

Here are a few highlights...

At Legoland, they have a lot of stuff made out of Legos...
like the entire downtown of Berlin.

And Allianz Arena.
There are over 1 million Legos in this one. Each one of those people is a little Lego guy or gal. So crazy. Somewhere there's a guy who says, "I build enormous stuff out of Legos for a living."


Of course they have a lot of amusement park rides. This was one of the few that I wasn't also on, so it was a lot easier to take a picture. (Yup, you guessed it, those pterodactyls are made of Legos.) They have a few small roller coasters and a log flume, but nothing really extreme.

We watched a magic show and performers from the Chinese National Circus. (I anticipate Charlotte attempting a lot of crazy stretches and balancing acts in the coming days.)

They also have an area called the Duplo village, which is a giant playground for toddlers. We spent a bunch of time there.

Charlotte and Toby hard at work in the "Lego Test Lab."

Now, if you are a Star Wars fan, you may be excited to hear that Legoland has an annual Star Wars event. I did not know this. And my kids have never seen Star Wars. So of course we were there for the event! There were characters all over the park, and the guy who played something Grievous doing a meet and greet. There were lightsaber fighting demos. And I will have the Empirial March in my head for days.

Despite all of this, THESE are the characters my daughter wanted a picture with.
Oh, heaven help us in 10 years.

If you can't fight 'em, join 'em.
I forced my terrified children into one photo with a couple of the 100 or so stormtroopers marching around.

So, Legoland was a huge hit. :) And we all survived, despite the menacing looks from Darth Vader... or now that I think of it, maybe he was just wondering where I got that crepe. ;)