Joel's Hospitality

A few weeks ago, Joel got the opportunity to skype with his buddy Cody in the Philippines. He was super excited to see him, but didn't quite get the concept of talking through a computer. Case and point: Cody kept saying "Hi Joel" and talking with him. Joel (who doesn't really talk yet...especially on command), looked at Cody and wanted to play with him. So, he did what any hospitable boy would do. He ran to the front door, and opened it to let his buddy in to play. When Cody wasn't at the door, he ran back to the computer. Cody was still chatting away, and Joel looked at him, as if to say "where are you?" You could see the wheels turning, as he ran back to the front door, opening it to try and find Cody. We had to explain that Cody was only on the computer because he lives so far away. Joel looked so sad after we explained this to him. But he returned to the computer to "talk" with Cody anyway.

The other day, I was in the kitchen with Joel and asked him what he wanted for snack. He looked up at the fridge and said, "Daaaa, Daaaa!"  I opened the fridge and he got mad. He pointed to the freezer (where we keep the nuts) and said, "Daaaa, Daaaa!" I lifted him up, so he could help me get them out and when I began to open the door, he shut it on me. He pointed at the picture of Darnell and Christina, and said, "Daaaa, Daaaa!" I asked him, "Do you want to eat Darnell?"  To which Joel replied, "Yes please" and ran to sit in his chair. I'm not sure if he wanted to eat Darnell or eat WITH Darnell, but regardless, I told him that he couldn't have Darnell for a snack. He cried.

A few days ago, we invited Chris, Katrina and Asher for dinner. When I told Joel that Asher was coming over, he ran to the front door, opened it and seeing no one exclaimed, "Uh Oh!" I had to explain that Asher wasn't here yet, but he would be there in a little while. For the next hour and a half, he periodically went to the door, opening it and saying, "Uh Oh!" Joel was sad that his friend wasn't there yet. I think I'm gonna have to learn to not tell him things in advance!

Joel loves his friends! When we were talking to Greg and Karmen on Skype, he kept pointing at them, trying to say their names (aka: "Daaaa, Daaaa") He desperately tried to say Karmen, but only managed "Car."

On our prayer wall, we have family pictures next to the map of the world. When Joel comes into our room, he will periodically point out families and ask us to say their names, mostly because "daaa, daaa" is how he says most people's names. He loves his friends and he makes sure they are not forgotten. But when you are present, he will be sure to love you and force you to read books to him! (eh Chris!?)

Say Cheese!

Cheese!

Yes, I let him eat cheese right off the block. Oddly enough, its the only way he'll eat it.

We have a cheese fiend on our hands!

What does a bird say?

Caw! Caw!

Joel points at the bird and says "CAW. CAW" everytime! If only he knew how funny that is, since the bird is on the toilet.

Sweet Potato Tots

Dan and I tried a new recipe for Sweet Potato Tots.

It took a little bit of work....and a bit of bread crumbs to make them stick together.

Deep frying is always fun (thanks again Jen Jen for the deep fryer!)

Yummy!!!

We made quite a few and froze them. Much bigger than regular tater tots, but twice as tasty. Plus, we got to control the spices and half way through decided that they needed chili powder to spice them up a bit.

When a Shark and Hippo go out on the town

It was a dark and stormy night.....Oh wait! We are getting ahead of ourselves. Let's start at the beginning.

Before we took Joel (and Micah) out trick or treating, we decided that we should probably give Joel a lesson in trick or treating and how it works. We had him practise knocking on the door, saying trick or treat (ahem....that didn't work. It morphed into signing "please"), receiving candy and then saying (ahem, sighing) thank-you. He would then move onto another door in our house and try it again. But not before eating an Easter egg chocolate complete with tin foil wrapper. Yuck!

Since the weather was so "BC like," we decided that we would join the crowds at the mall for trick or treating in case the rain didn't stop or the kids blew a gasket! Joel got the hang of it pretty quick (probably thanks to our wonderful lesson). He was super excited to get the candy and would shove pieces into his mouth, wrapper and all! We had to rescue quite a few pieces of plastic. We came home with a bucket full of candy between the two boys.

Micah pretty much just sat in the stroller the whole time. Occasionally letting out a little yelp. "Mom! Dad! My hippo head is covering my entire face! Rescue me please!"

Joel got to the doors of the mall, away from the crowds, promptly sat down and ate some candy that he had waited so patiently for. He sure enjoyed it!

Later that night, we brave the torrents of rain and took the kids out trick or treating. We drove to the one Hallmark and decided that we would walk to the other and then go home, perhaps hitting a few houses in between, depending on how Joel (and Micah) were doing. We knew that the residents of Hallmark gave out bags of candy, so hitting up the two buildings would give enough candy for Joel (ahem...us) to enjoy in the coming days. Everything else would be extra!

Well, Joel really enjoyed the whole process. We carried him between houses (it was too wet to walk). About 20 feet from the door, Joel would demand his bucket in exchange for the glow stick he was carrying. Once we got up to the door and Dan rang the door bell, Joel would knock on the door. Once they opened the door, he would sign "please" to the resident. Occasionally, he would bark at their dog or point and grunt at their ceiling fans. That sure boosted his cuteness factor. They would give him his candy and he would sign "thank-you." Which most people mistook him for blowing kisses. Walking away, he would give Dan the candy bucket back and demand the glow stick. That was pretty much the routine for EVERY house we hit. All 20 of 'em.
I held Micah the entire time in his little hippo costume that was a bit too small. Every couple of houses I would have to pull it down. The buttons at the legs burst (he is way too long)  and the legs were at his waist. Needless to say, he was soaked. But he didn't seem to mind. Which is pretty amazing considering, the head of the hippo was too large for his tiny scalp and would envelope his entire head. Really, I could have been carrying around a pillow stuffed hippo and you wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. You really couldn't see Micah at all...except his legs sticking out. When we got to houses, I would have to take the hippo head off just so that people could see his cute little face!

Which brings me to my next point. When did Halloween go on steroids? What ever happened to traipsing from house to house for one little mini chocolate bar? The times have changed my friends. Now we get two bags of chips and a couple chocolate bars at ONE house. Or a full sized chocolate bar. Seriously, we ended up with 4 large chocolate bars, 11 bags of chips and at least a box of mini chocolates from 20 houses!!!! Its crazy! Yummy....but crazy.We had to empty their little buckets into the stroller numerous times. One time, Dan and I were handing off buckets and there was a little mishap. We dropped the bucket! We watched in horror as the candy floated away down side of the street towards the storm drain. We frantically had to pick it up before it went down to the abyss. Yes, it was raining that hard. When we got home, we were all drenched. The rain even soaked the boys to the skin, right through their precious costumes!

Micah enjoys his post Halloween bag of chips. All in a days work eh?
One final note: Joel's shark costume we bought last year and got another year out of it. The hippo? A wonderful last minute gift. On the Monday before Halloween, I went to get my blood check at the lab. Every six weeks since I got pregnant with Joel and then Micah, I have had to get my thyroid levels checked.  Needless to say, I know the blood donor ladies very well. Jen even has a son the same age as Joel! When Jen asked me what the boys were going to be for Halloween, I could only say that Joel was going to be a shark. I thought I might throw a kilt on Micah or something. She immediately offered the Hippo costume. I went and picked it up from her the next morning and told her I would bring it back later that week. She told me that I should keep it and pass it on when I was done with it. What an awesome gift of generosity! Thanks Jen!

All in all, a wonderful day. Even the pouring rain added another layer of adventure to the day.

Micah wants a Puppy! (now with pictures!)

(courtesy of the book: A pigeon wants a puppy!)

Ohhh! A Puppy!

Puppy! Puppy! Puppy!

I love puppies!

And water it...at least once a month. Everyone knows that puppies need plenty of water and sunshine.

Perhaps a walrus would be better.

First Tooth

Micah has gotten his first tooth. Which means its time to learn how to brush his teeth.

 A little gagging....he's definitely got Dan's gag reflex.

Joel is showing him how its done.

I am Cow

...hear me moo, I produce five times as much as you. And I freeze it all in little bags. (Okay..enough Arrogant Worms song.)

I have officially donated 1000 ounces of milk between the two boys. Which oddly enough works out to almost 8 milk jugs. Eight 4 litre milk jugs! Its crazy!

For future reference

Joel,
Hot wheel cars do not belong in the built in vacuum cleaner in the front lobby.

Note to self: toaster tweezers will help remove said car from the hole. Especially when car is pushed in as far as little hands can reach. Also, your fingers are not small enough to reach and you will do more damage by trying to retrieve said car from the hole. Go straight to tweezers for fast and easy removal.

For future reference, this will become funny as time passes and as you get more than 4 hours of sleep in one night. Just remember...it is funny. And he is just curious.

Great G-ma

We spent last Saturday at my mom's for a family gathering. Micah LOVES his G-ma. He spent the better part of half an hour talking to her, pulling on his toes.

My nephew Owen is a monkey and had to be a part of the picture.