5 on Friday

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week:

5. I've mentioned before that whenever Marino is tired, he says he's not. Of course, if he wasn't tired, why would he be thinking about it? The other morning he yawned, stretched his arms and said "I'm soooo not tired!" I'm thinking that means he was VERY tired!

4. After an evening playdate on Wednesday, Marino was tired. He laid down on the couch and said "I don't want to take a bath. I just want to hang out."

3. The interest in gifts and Santa has begun. I generally try to avoid taking Marino to stores with me, and this has prevented him from the knowledge that he can request things and/or things other than what's in his house and other people's houses exist. We went to the store the other day for a quick trip and he fell in love with this Buzz Lightyear pillow. I told him to put it back and the tears started, so I said "We'll put it on your Christmas list and ask Santa for it." Oh boy, did that get him excited! "Is Santa coming? Is it Christmas time? Is it snowing? Will you tell Santa to bring that? Can I tell him?"

2. In the past month, I sold lots of Marino's stuff at consignment sales. I bought him a pair of rainboots this week with some of the money I made. Marino LOVES these boots. He wants to wear them all the time. Yesterday morning he said "I want to wear my rainboots." I said "It's sunny, you don't need rainboots today." He was quiet for a minute and then said "I want to wear my sunboots."

1. Marino is doing well with potty training, but I still put him in a diaper or pull-up when he's sleeping or if I think we won't be able to get to a bathroom instantly (like in morning traffic). On Monday morning, Marino told me "I'm going to go pee pee in my pull-up." I said "No, Marino, wait 5 minutes until we get to school." "Oh, Mommy," he said, "you're so predictable."

My Big Brother

My big brother, Brendan, is sick again. Back in March, I blogged about his battle with squamous cell cancer. He had surgery to remove the cancer from his tongue and his lymph nodes and then underwent a grueling combination of radiation and chemotherapy. While he was undergoing this treatment, the cancer spread to the lungs, which is not typical behavior for this cancer (is that an oxymoron?). The cancer is not curable, but it is treatable. He starts chemo again next week. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

This is a long battle and he needs strength to fight it.

Here's a couple old pictures of us. This one is from this place called The Catskill Game Farm, which is no longer open. We loved this place.

And here's my whole little family around 1980. I am about 2 and Brendan is about 8 in this picture. My parents look like kids, too! They are about 26 and 27 in this picture. The picture is from my grandparents old house, which was amazing. Not only did it have a giant inground pool, but the rock steps in back of us led up a hill, and at the top was an apple orchard! We loved it there.

Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayer!

Roller Skating

On Saturday, Evan, Marino and I met up with Jen, Matt, Justin, Sydney and Noah to go roller skating. We watched a Team UmiZumi episode about skates this week, so Marino was really excited to go roller skating. That is until he noticed the big kids and adults wearing lace up skates. Oh my, the tantrums he had over not being able to wear the big skates (they don't make them in his size). He was taking off his skates and shoes and sitting down in protest. Sometimes the hardest thing about being a toddler mom is the sheer ridiculous nature of the complaints. ::sigh:: He was also annoyed because he wanted to skate faster.

Anyway, Evan and I enjoyed skating and the rink also had a big indoor jungle gym that all the kids loved. Marino also enjoyed when they turned the lights off in the rink.

Here's Noah, looking tough with a black eye!

My little buddy Sydney. She's always willing to pose for me. I love her!

Hopefully, we can go again and the boy will be less crabby. I'm on the lookout for skates that look more like big kid skates!

Raiden is 3!

Last weekend we headed to Virginia for Raiden's 3rd birthday at Chuck E Cheese's. Marino has only been to Chuck E Cheese once before, back in March, so I was surprised when we pulled up and he said "We're at Chuck E Cheese's! I'm not shy with Chuck E Cheese's!" Needless to say, he was pretty excited. So much so, we barely got a chance to talk to anyone at the party, but Raiden was having a great time celebrating.

Marino loved this simulator thing...he stayed on here for 20 minutes!

Raiden's sister, Kaia, just turned 1!

It was nice to see everyone!

Adventure Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey

Last weekend, Evan, Marino and I headed up to New Jersey to visit Sonia, Wil, Catalina and Siena. As always, we had a great time visiting them and the kids got along wonderfully. I am excited to meet the 3rd sister in December!

Saturday, we headed down to Camden to visit the Adventure Aquarium. I've never been to an aquarium I didn't like, but this one was amazing. I would make the trip here over going to the aquarium in Baltimore - it is that awesome. It's very interactive - lots of hands-on stuff for the kids, which, at this age, is really the key to keeping them engaged.

By the way, if you think you want to go anytime in the next year, buy tickets online now! They're on sale for $15 (normally $22.95) and good for 12 months from the purchase date.

Here's a picture of Sonia and I with the kids. Doesn't Sonia look amazing? She's the tiniest pregnant woman, ever! Cat insisted on wearing this bandaid on her face after a run-in with the wall.

They even had hippos at this aquarium. They are sort of cute, but very smelly!

The girls call Wil "Papi" and Marino started calling him that, as well, apparently not realizing that Papi is equivalent to "Daddy." When Marino saw this picture he said "There are two Papis in this picture." Watching the sea lions. Marino sat down and said "I want to watch this movie". I said "This is real life, buddy!"

Is that a big crab or what?!

How cute is Nena?

Best part of the day - touching the stingrays. Marino is still talking about this "I touch the stingray with 2 fingers. Not 5. The stingray is squishy."

Dancing with Daddy.

You could also touch a shark. Marino's arm wasn't long enough, but Evan got to touch one.

Cat and this shark match!

Is this eel creepy or what?! AHHH!

He looked liked this a lot while we were there!

Love this!

Can't wait to see everyone next month when Siena turns 2!

5 on Friday

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week:

5. Last week we were discussing the rain and I was saying how I don't like rain. Marino said "I become a superhero and I make the rain go away."

4. We're knee deep in potty training and on our road trip last weekend, Marino needed to pee while we were on 95. Evan pulled over in the grass on the side of the highway and showed him how to pee in the grass. He loved that! 15 minutes later he said "Daddy, put the car in the grass. I need to pee pee again" (to his credit, he really did go).

3. On the way to preschool one morning this week, Marino said "Mommy, I miss my old friends so much." I'm trying to set up a playdate with friends from his old daycare now!

2. I know a lot of people thing kids watching tv is awful. But Marino loves Diego and he really learns a lot about animals from the show. Yesterday morning we drove past a statue of a hawk. Marino said "Mommy, that is a giant bird statue. I think he soars in the sky like a macaw."

1. On the way to school, he was looking at this paper with games (mazes, etc) on it from his goody bag from birthday party we went to a Chuck E Cheese's. He said “Mommy, I read this to you. Once upon a time, there was Chuck E Cheese’s and he had monies [there was a picture of coins on the paper]. The end.”

5 on Friday

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week:

5. The boy has finally gotten the hang of riding a bike. It's his favorite thing - he asks to ride it constantly - at night, in the rain, etc.

4. Conversation with Marino at bedtime last week: Marino: "I am a kid. And Daddy is a kid."
Me: "Is Mommy a kid?"
Marino: "No, you are a doll."
Me: "You mean an adult?"
Marino: "No, a doll. You are a Barbie Doll."

3. Potty training is a challenge. The other day, I spent 30 minutes in the bathroom with Marino trying to convince him to use the potty. It didn't work. I finally agreed to go back downstairs, at which point Marino said "Aw, don't give up now!"

2. On Friday, Shi Shi came over for dinner and Marino told her "Daddy picked me up from school in his car. He likes me because I say "Daddy, daddy, daddy".

1. Marino has become very interested in sight reading. When I read to him, he asks me to point to which words I'm saying and then identifies the words on other pages. I'm really excited about this development!

Silver Spring Jazz Festival

On Saturday, Aunt Chelle, Marino and I went to Silver Spring and met up with my friend Megan at the Silver Spring Jazz Festival. It was a warm, sunny day and it was sooooo nice to be outside again after a week of non-stop rain! We listened to some jazz and walked around downtown Silver Spring.

I took this picture of Marino and I love it! I love his face here and the bubbles make it look whimsical.

Marino was super crabby, so we went over to Ben & Jerry's to get ice cream. Who can be crabby when they're eating ice cream? But, allergy moms beware - all of Ben & Jerry's ice cream is made with egg yolks! They have sorbet that is milk/egg free, but no ice cream. Anyway, we made the best of it with sorbet and sprinkles.

We headed over the dancing fountains (or "geiser", according to Marino). Marino was iffy about getting wet initially, but he got brave and had a great time.

He needed Megan to show him the ropes!

Thanks for hanging out with us, Aunt Chelle and Megan!