Riding the Tractor

So even though I haven't been the best about posting, I have actually been taking pictures. Believe it or not, there was a time last week when the snow had almost all melted away, and we could pretend it was spring. I mean, we still needed our winter coats and hats and mittens, but there was NO SNOW!

Of course, we did what we've been waiting to do since Christmas. We brought Joey's tractor up from the basement to let him take it for a spin around the neighborhood. Now, there was some snow, so he couldn't cut the grass (which is all he wants to do), but he did get to drive on the sidewalks.

He had a great time! He didn't quite get how the pedal works, but by the second time out, he was all over it. (It was actually quite cute - I would press on his foot to show him to push it down, and then he would bend over and use his hand to press on his foot, just like Mommy.)

Cutting the Grass

Seriously, our boy is nuts. But he loves the outdoors. The last two mornings, while still our in our pj's, we've gone for walks with the lawn mower. In the snow. (Because it's Chicago and it's snowed at least enough to cover the sidewalks and lawn every night for the last four nights.) You can tell he loves it, and it gets me walking, so why am I complaining? I guess I'm not, really. It is cute, though, to see this little kid pushing the lawn mower through the snow. We had to stop a few times to clean the snow off the rear tires so that they'd spin, and he'd get really frustrated when there was too much snow and the front tires didn't rotate. We both can't wait for the spring!

Homeward Bound

I managed to sneak in a few pictures on the way home, too.

Do you think McDonald's could use this in their next add campaign?

He also had some fun playing with Mr. Potato Head. This didn't last long, but kept him quiet for a few wonderful minutes.

Fun with Daddy

Joey also got to have a lot of fun with Daddy on our little vacation.

Just hanging out in the basement.

Learning to climb.

Mugging for the camera.

So What Else Happened?

We clearly had a lot of fun in Denver. There were lots of other kids to play with, and we enjoyed every last second. We went for walks ...

We played on the couch ...

we drove the Cozy Coupe (which apparently I need to find on craigslist so Joey can have one of his own) ...

and we ate a little.

Joey was actually under the weather quite a bit this weekend, so we knew he was finally turning around when he ate lots of bacon and eggs Tuesday morning. He also enjoyed a little cheese and cracker snack in front of the tv.

Animals

On Sunday, the boys went up to Keystone for a day on the slopes, and us girls took the kids to the zoo. It was a gorgeous 60 degree day, and we weren't the only ones enjoying the sunshine.

The kids are at a great age. They can see a lot of the animals, and actually love running up to the different exhibits to find the animals.

The reptile house was especially entertaining. Many of the windows are the perfect height, and the kids couldn't get close enough.

Everyone got into it. There were five kids under 28 months, and they just fed off each other. Whenever one ran over to look at something, they all were there.

Of course, lunch time couldn't come soon enough for them. They all looked so grown-up, sitting at the table eating their lunches.

It was not only an exciting day, but a tiring one as well. In total, we had five sleeping babies on the walk home.

Sunshine-y Day

For those who were worried. We made it safely to Denver. We were an hour delayed due to the plane as well as weather, but we made it. And it's been a great trip.

The first day we took Joey and Claire on a walk to the park nearby. It was close to 50 degrees out, so even though there was snow on the ground, it was actually warm. We started out with a hat and mittens, but they didn't last the whole time.

Joey and Claire had fun playing together, but mostly they just played in parallel. They'd walk up the steps and back down, and occasionally go down the sliding board, but mostly they were just excited to be outside.

Joey (and the rest of us Chicago contingent) were just happy to be outside without multiple layers. Spring can't come soon enough.

Getting Comfortable

There are some nights all Joey wants to do is curl up with his afghan and watch tv, just like Mommy and Daddy.

We're Going for a Walk (Part Eleventy-Billion)

As I mentioned in my previous post, we went for a walk yesterday afternoon. When we headed out, I mentioned to Joe that I wanted to bring the sled with us. It wasn't necessarily just for Joey's enjoyment. He tends to hit his breaking point inevitably before we get home, and after shoveling all this snow, I really didn't want to carry him. I figured, worst case scenario, he rides on the sled for a little bit, and I carry him, and we can trade off like that until we get home. Little did I know.

When we got to the park, they had cleared the walking path, but there was still at least two to three inches on the ground. (Did I mention it snowed again on Sunday?) I asked Joey if he wanted to get on the sled, and he said no, that he wanted to pull the sled. So away we walked, with joey dragging the sled (which is really like a boogie board for the snow).

He tromped through all the snow, and loved every second of it.

And when I ask him to say "cheese!" now, he inevitably breaks into "Hi Nana!" and "Hi Buszi!" and whatever else he feels like yelling (including "we're going for a walk, we're going for a walk, hi-hi the derry-o, we're going for a walk").

As predicted (and blogged about previously), we got about halfway around the walking path, and he wanted to be carried. We put him on the sled, and with only a little whining, we made it all the way home. It was a great day.

Ningiat, Ningiat, Ningiat!

Yes, my blog title is in Latin. I don't remember the whole story, but when I first was dating my husband, we somehow got onto the topic of Latin classes, and he told me how they had to learn "Let It Snow" in Latin. So now, whenever it snows, instead of humming to myself "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!" I instead find myself singing "ningiat, ningiat, ningiat!" (For reference, it's a hard "g.")

Anyway, after brunch with the Silva-Offutt and Weir-Achilles families, and no nap for Joey, we decided to go for a walk. I figured I'd take the sled with us, just in case Joey didn't feel like walking home. Guess what - he didn't. But he had fun on the sled (and Mommy had fun pulling him!).

I'm a Big Kid Now

When Joey got home from school on Thursday, he couldn't wait to run the vacuum cleaner. Since we had just done the dining room earlier in the week, I figured we could hit the upstairs bedrooms. When we got into his room, I was doing my normal inspection of his crib, and noticed that two of the screws holding the front railing in were just about out. Joe and I had been discussing converting the crib into a toddler bed, and I figured, why not? I mean, the Boy's already 27 months old, and most of my friends transitioned their kids sometime between 18 and 24 months. There was just no real rush here, though, since Joey only ever really climbed out a few times, and it was usually while we were there to watch. Why give up the confined spaces if we didn't have to? But it was time.

The night couldn't have gone better. He stayed in bed when I put him down, and fell right to sleep during the second Winnie the Pooh story. He did cry a few times in the night, and when I checked on him at midnight (while he was crying), he was actually on the floor. He must have moved there himself, though, because he was using his big white blanket as a pillow, and looked completely comfortable.

He couldn't waiti to pose this morning in his big boy bed. I told him we had to show Nana and Buszi what a big boy he is!

We'll see how it goes the rest of the week.

Crash Into Me

So this is not the story I wanted to blog about, but quite frankly, I just can't post the other pictures right now. I mean, I took these great pics of Joey and had half the blog written in my head already this morning, and then this happened ...

On my way to work. Stopped at a four-way stop. It was my turn to go. The woman traveling perpendicular to me never even stopped. I'm not going to go into all the other details, but wow. What a way to start Friday. And I didn't even want to go to work! I hate driving on snowy/icy roads, and really, I can do everything on my laptop, so after our historic blizzard, I saw no reason to rush back to the office. But Joe was driving in, and he said the roads weren't so bad, and I figured there was some paperwork I could get on top of if I was in the office. Then this. The best part, though, was that Joe and the Boy were in his car behind me, so while they saw everything, they were not involved at all. I just keep telling myself had I not decided to drive in, it could've been Joe and Joey, and then what? As a mom, it's much easier to deal with all of this mentally that it happened to me and not the rest of my family.

Snow-torious B.I.G.

As I'm sure you all heard, we had a blizzard here yesterday. It started snowing on Tuesday around 2:30pm, and when it stopped yesterday around 9:30am, we had about 20 inches of snow on the ground. We had provisions and lots of layers, so we were fine.

This is Joe, trekking out to the street. They plowed it sometime in the middle of the night, and then sometime again yesterday mid-morning. This was before the second plowing. It is still snowing, and you can see that the snow is up to at least his knee. The winds were pretty strong, drifting the snow about a quarter of the way up our front door. Hence the bad picture quality. Not only is it snowing, but I couldn't open the front door, so this is taken through our screen.

Joey couldn't wait to get out side and help shoveling. This is during our second stint. You can tell because (1) he wouldn't let us put his hood up the second time and (2) part of the driveway is shoveled out. It took Joe the better part of three hours to get the driveway completely shoveled out.

This little guy was for the most part a good helper. Except when he took the snow from the snow banks and put it back on the driveway. At least he stayed entertained! (And yes, with the added snow from the driveway, the snow on the sides of the driveway are taller than Joey.)

My Little Picasso

You know your kids have too many toys when you forget what they have. There are also too many when you just forget to play with the ones you know they love. Joey has been on a coloring and drawing kick, and we've just been hanging out at the dining room table with the different paper and markers we have around the house. Then it hit me. (OK, I wanted to watch TV on Sunday, and I was trying to figure out how to make it all work together.) Joey has an easel. One that I specifically asked that he get for a birthday present because I knew how much he loved to color.

And color he did. Erase and color. Talk and draw. Hand Mommy the markers and just keep going.

It was so much fun! So what if there's some marker on the plastic and not just the white board. Just watch how much fun he has!

Too Dark ... On!

This is Joey's latest trick. I didn't even know he could reach the light switch. We're in trouble!!