That Mythical Place

It's hard to believe it's been months since we set foot in a park or smelled green grass.  Summer seems like a different life.  This week there was a few days of relief from the worst of winter where it was in the 40s (the highest I saw was 46 which feels like heaven in February) so on Tuesday I took Ben and Tessa outside for awhile. 

 

We went for a ride in Ben's favorite yellow Fisher Price car which I wheeled around the blocks of our old neighborhood countless times every day last summer.  Ben always seems slow to grow and everyone else's kid is always bigger and heavier than him but now I have concrete evidence that he has indeed grown in the last few months because he barely fit in his car!  It's hard to see with his snow pants on but his knees are almost completely bent and his feet were at the end.  It has a panel that you can remove from the floor so he can power it with his feet so we will have to adapt it when it gets nice out for good this spring. 

 

I almost regret giving him a glimpse of the "outside" lifestyle because getting him inside that afternoon was a struggle and now he wants to go for a car ride every time we enter the garage.  And, as of this morning, it is regular old winter again.  The temperature dropped about fifteen degrees as we were on the way to the library this morning and the wind started blasting as the front moved in.  When I turned into our cul-de-sac I noticed that several of our circle's dumpsters were strewn about an one had blown almost all the way down the hill.  I started picking them up, not having any idea which one was ours and hoping that the city doesn't have some sort of serial number system to keep track in case I accidentally swapped ours with someone elses (I noticed there were numbers on them so I bet that they do!) but it didn't matter because when I looked in the one that had blown the farthest I saw that there was a used diaper frozen to the bottom!  I think I found which one was ours!  So I dragged it up the icy street.  I have had enough of winter.  With the slant of our driveway and the icy hill that we live on everything we have to do outside is a frightening adventure.  The area around our mailboxes is coated with ice and one night I stupidly walked out there in my slip on sandals and almost impaled my eye on the corner of the metal box.  I keep thinking that February is almost over...almost over...almost over...and March could be really nice.  But...it probably won't be. 

 

Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks that might have deserved their own post but I got to backed up and now it seems like old news. 

Tessa is transitioning from 3 month to six month clothing.  The three month stuff still fits mostly but is getting short and her head is getting too big for some of the three month shirts.  It's fun to start wearing the next size but also sad because I am nostalgic about her cute little outfits!

 

This is actually from this morning.  Ben jumped in the crib when I was getting them dressed and wanted the "babeeee!" to lay by him so I let him have a moment.  Then he stole her pacifier. 

 

Here are a few pictures of Ben playing basketball.  He's pretty good and shooting and generally launching the ball where he wants it to go. 

 

 

He drags this little table around and uses it as a stool.  It's pretty annoying because he uses it to access places that were formerly safe like the kitchen counters.  If he doesn't use this, he drags the kitchen chairs around and ends up bashing them into the cupboards so I allow it. 

 

Also, his room had just been straightened.  It rarely looks that pristine. 

 

Yesterday I took out the "Bumbo" chair to see how Tessa handled it.  Of course, Mr. Skinny took over right away and now sits in it while he has a snack and watches TV. 

 

Yes, he is wearing Christmas pajamas.  He dug them out of his drawer.  They are size 3T that I bought for him to wear next year.  They look like they fit OK but they are actually way too long and look ridiculous. 

 

Tessa liked the Bumbo once she had her chance to try it out!  She was still a bit bobbly headed though so maybe we will wait a few weeks!  Just for fun, here is a picture of Ben's first time in the chair.  It was from May 30th, 2012 so he was a week older than she is now. 

 

 

I think they look like they might be related!

Here she is getting "fed" some dry cereal by her brother.  Don't worry, I was closely monitoring the situation.  He's so generous!  Except with a pacifier...