Happy Valentine's Day! Here's a Tiny Human Valentine (with her big brother petting her head for reassurance):
Brennan returned to "school" after taking January off. I was on the fence about going back while I'm home on maternity leave - I've got to cart him there and back and it's kind of expensive for 2 mornings a week. But then he started pointing at his artwork on the fridge and asking about school and I caved like that Chilean mine.
Here he is on a "field trip" to Terra Mia - I tagged along, what with being on maternity leave and all. Imagine my surprise, paint-your-own ceramics places DO still exist. Nothing says fun like a dozen toddlers in a store lined with unglazed ceramic dishes and figurines. But wait, it gets better! Then give them PAINT. Bren enjoyed painting his plate for, oh, 3.5 minutes, and then he wanted to explore the store. I'd already shelled out $15.33 for a plate, so I was a bit concerned what the costs might climb to once he started picking up other items. Luckily the project also involved painting their palms and pressing them on the plate. Once I painted his hand blue and smushed it on the middle of the plate, his eyes lit up and he requested "mo' again". So we did it on the bottom of the plate, too. And then I escorted him to the grubby sink, propped him up on my leg, and washed the paint off his hands, ALL WHILE WEARING AN INFANT IN A CARRIER. I call the finished project Bren's "mommy needs a drink" plate.
Lucie mostly enjoys watching her mobile and wearing (one of many) adorable little sweaters. Girls' clothes are a whole 'nother ball game, that's for sure.
Bren's modeling his absolute favorite-ist shirt EVER. Thomas the Train has continued to worm his inexorable way into our home - we now have a designated train "bin" full of track bits and little wooden engines and cars. Not only can I assemble a figure-8 track, I now know which train to fetch when Sir demands "Emily Train" or "Toby Seven".* And he loves to watch Thomas videos over and over and over again - funny how the arrival of a new baby co-incided with a significant drop in my parenting standards.
*This should in NO WAY be read as an invitation to send additional trains, tracks, or Thomas-related clothing items.
We lucked into an incredible stretch of warm, sunny weather during the end of January and beginning of February - I like to think it was my reward for putting up with a particularly dreary San Francisco summer.
While the midwest was buried in snow, and Atlanta was paralyzed by ice, we were basking in our t-shirts at the playgrounds & parks. Daddy even broke out the shorts for a trip to the Discovery Museum, although Mommy declined to participate. She didn't want to blind innocent children with the glaring whiteness of her legs.
And Lucie had a really awesome nap.
Just as I was beginning to think the early spring was here to stay, the normal winter conditions returned. At least it gives Brennan a chance to show off his cool raincoat. What's better than animals or pirates? Pirate animals, that's what!
This is what you get if you ask Bren to pose for a picture and smile:
So we're doing more indoor things, now - trips to the Academy of Sciences, swiming & playing at kid's time in the gym at the YMCA, and reading. Which leads us to my new topic, Mommy & Daddy Book Reviews.
Knuffle Bunny is about a pre-verbal toddler losing her beloved bunny at the laundromat - not to spoil the ending, but they are ultimately reunited. Brennan really likes it - it's the first book where I think he actually followed the story, instead of just liking the pictures. Mommy really likes it because it's cute, not very long, and I can crack Brennan up every time by reading Trixie's "dialog" very loudly - AGGLE FLABBLE!
A scene from I'm A Big Brother Now, featuring what Daddy calls the Androgynous Jew-fro Family. I understand that keeping the baby's gender indeterminate makes the story more universal, but is it necessary for the boy's parents as well? On the plus side, though, it's brief, and Brennan has seemed to absorb its lessons: be very gentle with babies, it's normal for babies to cry, and they are too little to eat ice cream.
Purchased when a certain little boy wasn't being remotely quiet on Maui. It's a cute idea, but somewhat ponderously new age-y in execution: When I am quiet in Paia town at half-past snacktime, I hear the hibiscus flowers welcoming the the afternoon tradewinds....Oh, baloney. Other cons: really long, trying to pronounce humuhumunukunukuapuaa. 
This is from a basic counting book, included simply because I enjoy how Bren counts the cookies - "one..two..fee..six!"
OK, try to stay cozy for the rest of February, and here's a kiss from Brennan & Lucie-
