Familia Nuttall: September 2008

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

James was taking care of the boys on Saturday night and he took the boys over to Whole Foods. The lady at the checkout gave Isaac some stickers and when Levi fell asleep on the way home, Isaac covered his face with stickers. Needless to say, he was not a happy camper about having them removed when he woke up.

Another Boy!

Sept. 22-28, 2008
Isaac and I have a new game when we’re walking through town. I say “yo veo un. . .” and then I say something that I see using Spanish vocab like “un carro rojo” or “una puerta verde” Isaac really gets into it and if he doesn’t know the word in Spanish he’ll ask me so it’s a good way to learn new words.
I finally got Levi to say “leche por favor”—he definitely prefers to say milk, but he’ll humor me.
I met a cool girl named Marina through the Wharton Kids Club. She and her husband are Russian, but they lived for a few years in Shanghai, China and their little five year old girl speaks Russian, Mandarin Chinese, and English. And I thought managing two languages was tricky!
I successfully cut both of the boys hair by myself this week. I’m not saying that its perfect, but at least their bangs aren’t in their eyes and there are no spots that look overly crooked. Levi cooperated pretty well as long as he was distracted and Isaac resisted for a while and then finally gave in and let me do some snipping. I wish there were a kids haircut place close by, but since there isn’t its forcing me to learn a new skill.
I found out on Tuesday that we’re having another boy! Ay caramba. We’re excited but I have to admit that Isaac did have me convinced that it was going to be a girl. Maybe I’m just meant to have boys. My mom says that we’ll be able to have a sports team soon. Isaac was pretty dissappointed because he was positive that he was going to have a baby sister. When I told him about the ultrasound, he said, "no mom--the doctor is wrong!" He was in denial at first, but he's starting to warm up to the idea. Now he wants to name the baby Max after the bunny rabbit from the show "Max and Ruby"
Isaac talks like Bob the Tomato and Tolola lately. He does the Tolola British accent really well and his favorite quote is, “after a bedtime treat, its time to brush our teeth.” His Bob phrases lately are, “you might be wondering why. . .” and “I suppose. . .”
Levi made is first foray into pretending Isaac style on Thursday. He came into the kitchen and announce, I’m Dora you’re Boots.
Our Chilean friends—Maria Paz and her two kids, Matias and Pepita, came over for a playdate on Friday morning. Since I’ve left Isaac with Maria before Isaac was worried I would leave him. In his haste to tell me not to leave him, he forgot the word for leave in Spanish and said, Mama, no me “leave-es” It was hilarious to hear him conjugate an English verb in Spanish.
Isaac said, “mom, do Bob the tomato and Larry the cucumber go pepee in the toilet?” I said, “ofcourse they do and he said, “but mom, they don’t have any holes!” Good observation.
On Saturday Red Bull sponsored a really cool motorcycle show a couple of blocks from our apartment and it was pretty amazing. The stunt riders were doing flips and all kinds of cool bike tricks. After watching for a few minutes Isaac said, “I didn’t know motorcycle could fly mom!”
Levi can use irregular verbs in the past tense—“ I caught a fish mom” and “I found it”
Levi is very excited about space ships these days and he’ll point to church steeples when we drive by and yell “rocketship”
Isaac and Levi have a new brotherly interaction. Levi will look at Isaac and say, “you’re a mermaid!” and then Isaac will respond, “you’re a monster!” and they’ll repeat this going back and forth—sometimes getting confused and switching and its pretty darn hilarious.
Sunday afternoon we went out when the rain slowed to a drizzle and Isaac and Levi had a blast jumping in the puddles in their rain boots. They both got completely soaked though and we had to head home for bathtime.

How many boys can you fit in a train car?

On Wednesday we went to the zoo with some friends from church and all of the boys wanted to ride on the zoo train--we had seven boys on the train and they had a blast.

Dinosaur boys

Sept. 15-Sept.20, 2008

We had a good park day on Monday. I try to remind myself that the good weather here won’t last—we definitely got spoiled in San Diego and Houston with mild winters. They say that the winter here last year wasn’t too bad but maybe that means that this year will be a doozey.
When we were walking home from the park Isaac saw a guy dressed like a baker sitting outside a culinary arts school. He said, “mom, do you see what I see?” and got this big excited grin. He squealed, “it’s a baker mom! A real baker!” Luckily the guy smiled and said hi. Isaac felt like he was meeting a neighborhood celebrity.
Isaac seems to be doing better with behaving himself at school. His teacher said that he has been more mellow the past two days. Hopefully he can keep it up. I’ve enjoyed having some one-on-one time with Levi. Usually Carrie and I go to the park so he and Jordan can run around together and then I go to the library with Levi. There’s actually a good dvd selection at the Roxborough library and Levi loves obsessing over all of the dvd covers—especially anything with Veggie Tales on it. Today his big trophy was the Larry Boy movie.
Kim McKay got us into the big Adventure Aquarium in New Jersey on Wednesday. The boys loved getting to see sharks and “Nemo fish” as Levi calls them. Levi and Kim’s little boy Elliot wanted to run through the whole place and they wore themselves out pretty well—Levi zonked out on the way home.
I read a book called “The Last Lecture” for a Wharton book club tonight. The book is pretty amazing—I still need to watch the video of the last lecture but the book is a pretty detailed expansion of it. Its one of those books that can’t help but make you want to be a better person and really live in the moment—you just never know when your time on earth will be cut short.
We discovered a thrift store Thursday morning over by Aldis and the boys had fun playing with the toys while I sifted through the kids books. I found some cute Dora books and a really fun Spanish book about a jumping backpack.
James has been gone in the evenings a lot this week and the boys miss the physical rough housing with their dad. Levi especially starts “spazzing out” so I try to put on some dance music and swing them around.
Friday morning we walked by an old building that looked like a castle and when we walked by I pointed it out to Isaac. He said, “What will the king say if we go inside the castle mom?”
Isaac asked me at the park on Saturday how to say “show me” in Spanish and I told him “muestrame” and then he said, “quiero mostrarte algo mama”—he must have recognized the verb because I was amazed at how fast he was able to put it back into its infinitive form.
We hung out with our Chilean friends on Sunday and that’s always such a great opportunity for the boys to get great Spanish exposure by someone other than James and I. Isaac was speaking a lot of Spanish with Matias and it was so fun to hear him talk. Levi was catching on to a lot of new words to and he can say “gracias” and “por favor” pretty well.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Puzzling activities

Science Museum fun

Wockets in my pockets

Sept.9-Sept.14, 2008
I forgot to write that when we were at the park last week a little kid asked Isaac’s name and he paused for a second and said, “Benjamin Franklin!”
Monday was a good park day. The boys pretended to be pirates and spaceship explorers with the kids from church playgroup and then we stopped at trader joes on the way home and go some fresh pizza dough. I really like that aspect of city life—being able to walk to a park and then shop at a store on your way home. You get exercise and you don’t really need a gym work out because you’re doing so much walking.
Isaac’s first day of preschool was on Tuesday and he did alright but I got an email from his teacher later that day about the need to work with him on following directions, raising his hand when he wants to speak, and sitting still and staying focused when she’s talking. I definitely have my work cut out for me. I really hope that Isaac can improve with these things, I wish I could just wave a magic wand and make it all happen.
We also went to a Spanish playgroup on Tuesday morning and it was funny because the person hosting the playgroup had a small apartment and a new baby and no toys so my boys went a little bonkers looking for something to play with. Isaac did use his Spanish though so at least that was good.
Wednesday was a zoo day and the weather was great so the boys ran around a lot and wore themselves and me out completely. My favorite part about the zoo here is a giant treehouse that they have for members only and its this big indoor/enclosed play area where the kids can run wild and climb all over everything.
Isaac did better in school on Thursday so at least I’m hopeful he won’t be kicked out at least for another week. While Isaac is at school Levi keeps asking “where’s Isaac?” and when Isaac goes into school he says, “I want Levi to be in my class.” Ah brotherly love—I need to remind them of that when they’re clocking each other over the head with toys.
Levi is saying sentences now—“read me that book mom” and “here I am” and “there it is” and “give me a towel”
Isaac tucked all of his finger puppets into bed with him—he put them all in a really cute row.
Friday night there was a kids club party and there was a balloon artist there so the boys kept her busy making balloon swords and then all of the kids were running around in circles chasing each other.
This morning a lot of the streets were blocked off for a funeral procession for a police officer. I just walked over to the Franklin Science museum with the boys and I have to say it was so nice just to have a fun place to take them within walking distance—across the street! Isaac even got to dress up in a real astronaut suit that one of the staff was using for a little demonstration.
The boys got invited to a b-day party on Saturday with a construction worker theme. They were pretty pumped to wear the pretend hard hats and play with their new plastic dump trucks. Levi also found a large rock to jump off of several times and a good muddy spot to practically bathe in. Isaac was beside himself with glee when we got to eat the chocolate “dirt” frosted cupcakes.
Hurrican Ike hit Houston today. I’m glad we’re not in Houston anymore, but we do still own a house there! We talked to our old neighbors (our tenants are on vacation) and they said that our house is okay but the family next to us got a tree through their back window.
We found the missing Wocket in my Pocket book this week and the boys have absolutely loved reading it again. Isaac has invented some know “Wocketisms” like being a “zaundry in the laundry” or a “zed” in the bed.
Babysitting trade offs. . . we started off a Saturday night kid swap operation with some friends from church. We took all of the kids this Saturday (Jackson, Jordan, Sage, Marley, and Elliot) and then for the next 3 Saturdays we get to drop our kids off at our friend’s houses and go out on a date! I’m pretty pumped. The babysitting did get a little intense when Sage and Elliot both had meltdowns at the same time. I kept the older kids busy going on treasure hunts with silly made up treasure maps that I made. I put teddy grahams in a little brown chest that the kids wanted me to hide—they got a real kick out of pretending to be “pirates.”
The prayer strike has finally ended for Isaac. He had been refusing to pray for a while and always insisting that we do it, but this week he decided that he would pray and he’s prayers have been very. . . interesting. He likes to thank Heavenly Father in advance for things he wants to happen—for example, “thank you for riding in a fire truck and for lots of candy.”
Levi has started to use more short sentences this week. He’ll say “Where’d Isaac go?” and “push the button,” “I have poops,” and “Whatcha doin?”

Franklin Square

There is a huge sand castle next to the Franklin Square park. The boys were quite tempted to jump on it and climb all over it.

Driving the firetruck

Sept.1-Sept.8, 2008
We had an awesome labor day picnic with our ward over at Fairmont park. The boys got to pretend to drive a firetruck (someone had connections) and we got some great pics. Lots of good food and the kids were very entertained by running around and playing with all of the other kids. The best part was that James and I got to play a game of ultimate frisbee. I threw a touch down pass underneath someone blocking me to James and that was my superstar moment.
Levi now says “I’m okay” after he falls down and if he senses your hurt he’ll give you a kiss and say, “all better” He can say “azul” and “verde” in Spanish and also “basura”
When I talk in Spanish to Isaac and he wants to switch back to English he’ll say, “quiero hablar otra idioma” he cracks me up.
We asked Isaac yesterday if he wanted to find out if the baby was a boy or a girl and he said, “it’s a girl momma.” He seems so sure of himself that it’s a little uncanny. I can’t remember if I wrote this before or not but back in March he would wake up every morning for a while and say, “where’s my baby sister?” and “is there a baby in your tummy mom?” I got pregnant in April so he was pretty close.
Levi found the “Cars”movie book at the library and he is obsessed about “Lightning Mcqueen” “Sally” and all of the other race cars. He wanted me to read the story over and over and over. . .
I discovered on Wednesday that the boys had filled the bottom of the jogger stroller with dvds from our visit to the library on Tuesday—I had no idea they were there and I didn’t check them out. Luckily I was able to return them to the library and casually remove them from my stroller and put them back in the right section. The security guard always just waves me through when there’s a beep because I think the security thing must malfunction all of the time. I had a long talk with Isaac about not taking home things we don’t check out from the library or things we don’t buy at the store.
Levi loves saying “I’m okay” and now he can say “esta bien” in Spanish. Isaac totally surprised me when he remembered the word for sticker in Spanish—calcumania.
On Wednesday we went to the Natural History Museum with Carrie and her two boys—Jackson and Jordan. It was nice because they got us in on their pass. The boys loved the dino exhibits and sticking their heads in recreations of dino skulls and “roaring” like a dinosaur.
Thursday Kay had a pre-K party at her place for all of the 4 year olds going to pre-K. She made a cake shaped like a pencil with pink frosting for the eraser—Isaac and Levi loved the pink frosting part. We also went over to the open house for Isaac’s preschool and his teacher is really cool. She does the preschool in her basement which is decorated with lots of bright colors, letters, numbers, shapes, etc. His class will have ten other kids so it will be a nice small size. He’s most excited about getting to play with the toys.
When Isaac wakes up in the morning now he comes running into our room and says, “Dragon, ROAR!” and tackles us in bed. Such a lovely way to wake up.
Friday night we had dinner with some friends from India and they told us to be there at 7 o’clock so we felt bad when we arrived a little late and imagined that they might have started eating already. We were very surprised to still be hanging out talking at 9:30 and there was no sign of dinner. Finally a little after 10:00 they set the table and we didn’t get home until 11:00—our kids were total disasters by the end. Talk about a cultural clash of dinner times. The food was amazing—but having to wait until 10:00 to eat with our kids bouncing off the walls was not something I want to do again soon.
Saturday night Levi say me yawn and said “Are you tired?” Very cute. He’s starting to say more phrases now.
James took Isaac to see something called the Red Bull Derby where people race in homemade cars without motors down a big hill. It started pouring down rain but there were still a ton of people there. Isaac got the biggest thrill out of getting to ride the train home.
So now I’m trying to set up a Spanish/ASL class through the Wharton Kids Club since the library here gave me the run around about starting a Spanish storytime. I just sent in a proposal tonight so hopefully we can make things happen by October.
Levi can sit and play the xylophone and sing his abc’s—its absolutely adorable.
I finally had a doctor’s appointment this week and Isaac came with me. He really wanted to hear the baby’s heart beat and when I had to go to the lab for bloodwork he said, “be brave momma, I’ll protect you”—sometimes he just melts my heart. I’ll get an ultrasound on the 23rd of September—that’s the soonest they could schedule me.
We spent the second half of stake conference hunting for Heffalumps outside—we even found some “Heffalump berries” that turned our fingers florescent pink.