Hug

We got a real tree this year and the boys are so excited about it! It has inspired more hugs than ever before. Hugs for each other and the tree. Cole keeps wrapping his arms around it and talking about how much he loves it. Today we got our first winter storm. Cole and Noah both agree: It's too cold, just stay inside and hug.

Little Boy Wisdom #48: Stay warm and hug someone or something....just hug.

Beautiful Day

Cole's got a lot of tools he needs to bring with him wherever he goes. He's got his walkie-talkie, flashlight, wrench, screwdriver, whistle, and his New York Fire Department cap.

Little Boy Wisdom #47: Be prepared for whatever comes your way!

Happy Halloween

Sometimes when the boys have been bickering and it seems to be getting in the way of having fun, I will hear them stop and one will say, "How about we not fight?" Nice to know that they are aware of the choice. The choice to make peace and the choice to be happy. Even a "Spore" Creature and a Firefighter know how to use conflict resolution.

Little Boy Wisdom #46: Make the choice to be happy.

Smile

Enough said.

Little Boy Wisdom #45: Smile...it makes everything feel better.

I am Loved!

Last night I told Cole we were going shopping to get him some much needed shelves for his closet. He LOVES projects like this. As I put my shoes on and sat with the boys on the couch, Cole started singing a made up song that went like this, "You get to love me, you get to love me!" I think our spending time together and shopping for a carpentry project is something he equated with my loving him. Later at the store he changed his song to, "I get to love you, I get to love you!" Nice to know it goes both ways.

Little Boy Wisdom #44: Know how lucky you are to have someone to love. Realize that you deserve to be loved and those you spend time with are lucky to have you to love.

Lost Tooth!

After several days of his tooth wiggling, hurting and bugging him Noah proclaimed on Thursday "I just pulled it out Mama!"

Little Boy Wisdom #43: Be brave, do what you gotta do to get the job done!

"I'm so happy!"

Cole is such a strong person. He has been through a lot lately.

He cut his eye on the windowsill. But here he is with two stitches just happy to be with his brother. He just keeps going.

His toes hurt but he forges ahead, decorating for the holidays, after which he proclaims, "I'm so happy!"

Most of all, he loves to be together..."Whole Family!" And, really, isn't that what it's all about??

Little Boy Wisdom #42: Be together, be a family, be happy!

Butterflies are Free to Fly

Tonight Noah says, "Mama, I think it's cool that I already had three days of first grade." He had one bumpy morning and otherwise he really loves school. He really likes his new friend, Violet too. He is holding onto the friendship gently, just like this butterfly with the broken wing. Today he was instructed by his teacher to write two sentences like this 'I see my ____.' He wrote, "I see my toys." and another which he erased and I couldn't read the last word. He smiled and said it was embarassing to tell me. He finally said he had written, "I see my Violet." But then realized "She isn't mine. I just wanted to say that I see Violet." My heart melted. She has another good friend at school so she has put Noah on a "pattern." Noah explained that she wants to sit with him at lunch only every other day. To which he responded by saying, "Yeah only I didn't like that plan so I sat by her and her other friend anyway."


Little Boy Wisdom # 41: Hold onto friends gently but give them room to spread their wings.

First Day of First Grade!

Noah LOVES his new school! I dropped him off at the in-school morning daycare and he started to run off to the playground, then stopped, turned around and looked at me and said, "Oh yeah..." and ran to give me a hug. At the end of the day he said, "This was the funnest school I've ever been to!" He already has a new friend named Violet, likes his teacher, likes his principal and then of course there's his art teacher... :) It's a long day with LOTS of learning but as Ms. Tyrer said at the end of Kindergarten, "He's ready!"

Little Boy Wisdom #40: Remember to hug your mom!

Sheep Bliss

Last weekend we went to Gale Woods Farm in Minnestrista with Aunt Theresa and Uncle Scott. Cole fell in complete love with this sheep. He still wants to go back and see him every day. In this video they show mutual affection by sniffing each other's noses.

He kept stroking the sheep's nose with his finger tips for a long time. The blue egg is from an "Americana Chicken." So beautiful.

That morning, before we left for the farm, Noah asked me what we had planned for the day. I listed the farm, boating with his Aunt and Uncle, and a birthday party that evening. He said, "Mama that is too much, we have to take one thing out."

Above is a picture of the "treehouse" our neighbor built with the boys in his yard nearby. They always climb that tree. Now they have a place to rest.

Little Boy Wisdom #39: Give yourself room to breath and rest. It's okay to say "no" sometimes.

Happy Summer Days

As he said goodnight, Noah politely asked Cole, "Wake up happy tomorrow okay? Then we can play firetrucks!"

Here is Noah trying yet another extreme sport in his fearless fashion. Kind of a bungee cord jumping for kids. It was at the St. Anthony Village Fest.


Little Boy Wisdom #38: Smile in the morning. You have been given another day to play.

Busted!

So Cole says to me at dinner, "Mama, Noah said to try new things and he won't try his green veggie noodles!"

Cole is observant, he really is. For instance, way in the back of an illustration for "The Little Engine That Could" he notices there are no more open doors in the roundhouse for trains to go into. He comments to me, "You know Mama, that next engine that comes is gonna save the toys because he can't go back to the roundhouse like the other ones did." In the picture the roundhouse is about one centimeter wide and it's way back on the horizon.

In another book he points out that the dog named "Tiny" for irony is actually huge compared to the boy in the book.

And yes he has noticed that his toolbox is WAY bigger than his big brother Noah's. :)

Little Boy Wisdom #37: Keep your eyes open...the lesson just might be in the smallest detail.

Zippity Do Dah

The other day, on Noah's sixth birthday, he went to the doctor for his yearly check-up. As he walked down the hallway with the nurse she mentioned that she was going to test his vision. She said "I'm sure your eyes are way better than mine." He giggles and replies, "Uh-huh because I'm newer!" And speaking of newer...here's a new thing he tried yesterday - the "zip line" at the family reunion picnic in Forestville, Wisconsin.

Today as we packed up the car his cousin asked him "where ya goin'?" To which Noah answered, "Back to America!" Now we are safely home in Minnesota...which does happen to be in America.

Little Boy Wisdom #36: Try something "newer" today!

The sun is up, so up with you!

I have really been inspired by Noah the last few days. He wakes up happy and gets dressed right away. He says "love you Mama" and runs outside. Then he comes back to tell me about the strawberry he has checked out to see how red it is and if he can eat it yet. Yesterday he painted a wooden toy model he had made the night before...all before 7:30 am! How great the world would be if we all woke up this way.


Little Boy Wisdom #35: Do something fun to start your day!

Last day of K!

So I asked Noah, "It's your last day of kindergarten! What are you thinking about? Are you happy, sad, excited, scared about next year and your new school??" He just said, "Right now Mama, I'm just thinking about summer." And later he did say that he missed Ms. Tyrer. He wondered if she missed him too. She did cry on the last day and she told me that "It was a very good year." She said he is definitely ready for 1st grade!

Little Boy Wisdom #34: Live in the moment. Don't get too caught up in all your future plans. Life is good right now!

Worms, Dandelions, and a Fish Funeral

What's that saying about "What little boys are made of..."? In our family it's worms and mud and other things most people don't want to touch. Here are a few recent quotes from them concerning such matters of their hearts:

Noah asked his kindergarten teacher if he could share his bucket of live worms for his sharing day and she actually said "Yes! That would be great Noah! We are going to be studying worms next week." Shocked at her reply he ran to tell his good buddy.

Cole was digging in the dirt as I pulled weeds and he found a worm. He exclaimed, "Mama, I think worms love dirt and I just put dirt on him....I think he loves ME!"

I was explaining to Cole (actually just thinking out loud) about how we have SO many dandelions in our backyard - I am overwhelmed with how to get rid of them. (We have very meticulous neighbors). Cole cheerfully encouraged me by saying, "We can share the picking Mama...first Noah, then me, then you."

Last and most sad, Cole's fish died today at 16 months old. He was a blue Betta fish named Nemo. Noah looked in the new bowl we had just cleaned and prepared at the motionless fish. He said, "Cole I think your fish is...dead." To which Cole swiftly replied, "Don't say that dead word because that's like "The Lion King" movie when Scar died and he died for REAL." But don't worry, Cole's okay. We buried Nemo at sea (down the toilet) which only fascinated Cole about plumbing and how that works.

Little Boy Wisdom #33: The boys would agree with this - "Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees..." Revelations 7.3

How to Avoid Lego Clutter!

Noah is a lego maniac. He literally has legoes coming out of his ears! So we finally figured out a way to organize them and he loved the entire process. Thanks to an article in the recent "Parents" magazine, we employed a system of bins, each with a different type/shape/size of lego. One has thousands of wheels, one has plain bricks, one has windows, one has lego people, etc. We started by dumping out the huge bins with all of them mixed. Noah was just giddy to see them all laid out. Cole was taking a nap so he had both parents working steadfastly to organize them all. It took us two hours. Noah is now really loving making his "creations." He can find the pieces he needs easily and doesn't need to dump them all out anymore. Our barefeet are much happier as well! :)

Little Boy Wisdom #32: Everybody has more fun when you know where to find your toys! So find a system that works and enjoy!

My dream house...

So there it was! In my neighborhood and for sale!! Only a half a million dollars! I remember when they built this house in 2003. We had been living in NE Minneapolis for 3 years already. Kevin and I had dreamed about buying a tiny old house and knocking it down, then using the land to build our dream house. And here somebody did just that...two stories, hardwood floors, two bathrooms, all in our favorite part of the city...within walking distance from where we live now. I gasped today when I saw the for sale sign. The boys were in the back seat so I told them the story. Cole said "Do you wanna buy that Mama and live there?" I said yes of course. He said, "I like our old house." I inquired, "Oh? What do you like about it?" He simply replied, "I got a lot of firetrucks in my room." Below you can see that he is painting over the "fishies" in his room and now they have been replaced with firetruck decals. Oh the joy of simple things!

Little Boy Wisdom #31: "It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got!" (Oh and Sheryl Crow says that too!)

Where's the cherry??

Last Sunday we started "Family Fun Days." We discovered that we need to get out as a family and have our own adventures. So every Sunday you will find us out about town. Last week it was to the Children's Museum in Saint Paul. Today it was the Bell Museum of Natural History at the U of M and the Walker Art Museum's Sculpture Garden.The boys wore rainboots so they would be prepared for puddles and mud since it is 55 degrees today!!!In the "touch and feel" section of the Bell Museum we saw Cole's "Big Hungry Bear" (who reminded him of his favorite book), a tiger salamander, a millepede, a big cockroach (who Noah held (!)), a 14 year old turtle, 2 geckos, and the vetebrae from a blue whale (Noah and Cole are sitting on two).At the Walker Sculpture Garden the boys really let loose, especially Noah. But what's missing? The cherry on the spoonbridge! They took it down for renovation. Guess it was time to wash the dishes!

Little Boy Wisdom #30: Touch and feel whenever you can. Explore your world...get wet, get muddy, run around...it's okay!

"Nonah"

We have been enjoying an extra long weekend as Noah and I both had the last two days off of school. We really had spring fever with the sun peeking out and temperatures above freezing. We got out his bike and Cole’s new birthday trike, we pulled the wagon out of the basement, and today we took it to the park…which was really a small pond. Yecch! The boys, of course, loved it with Noah pulling Cole in the wagon all the way there. At the park, Cole enjoyed the digger with the pivoting seat but asked “Nonah” for help. When he got the hang of it, he took a firm hold and said, “okay, Nonah, now let me do it!”

As I put Noah to bed last night he asked me, “Mama, do you think when Cole grows up and turns four that he will still call me ‘Nonah’?” (that’s with a long o sound) But he didn’t say it in a mocking or frustrated way, it has really become more endearing to him. In fact when they play together he will say things to Cole like, “Does Nonah look silly?” referring to himself. When other people are around he will say, “My name’s really Noah.”

Little Boy Wisdom #29: Allow people space to grow and learn in their own timing. Appreciate where they are at in the present moment.