Re: Dahrius-isms

Dahrius says the most sophisticated things sometimes...at least for a 4-yr old.

A few days ago, I was putting away salt and pepper shakers and knocked over the baby monitor. Dahrius had been singing loudly or making some kind of noises, and when the monitor fell to the ground, he said, "did I startle you, mommy?"

I was blowing out the pair of candles from dinner as I cleaned up, and I was being a bit silly by humming, "happy birthday to me...." while blowing, and Dahrius exclaimed, "Wait! You're not TWO!"

Dahrius and I were talking about dinosaurs, and as he recalled seeing a giant T-Rex skeleton at the museum, he said, "Yeah, that was terrifying."

Ranier mostly likes to say, "OK" in response to things. Ranier, do you want some leche? "OK" Ranier let's change your diaper. "OK" It's really the way he says it that is so cute.

Re: work and play

We've had a moderately crazy January...filled with a lot of anxiety over figuring out Kindergarten for Dahrius and preschool for Ranier. We have spent a substantial amount of time at school tours, information nights, only to discover that we have almost no 'say' in where the kids end up. So we'll hope for the best and look forward to not having to deal with this again for awhile. The 3 "boys" spent New Years Day hiking and fell asleep on the car ride home (above).

We've had exceptionally warm and pleasant January weather, with weeks in the upper 60s and even 70s. We really need the rain, but we are certainly enjoying this springlike weather. We take many trips to parks, and Ranier very much enjoys kicking balls and going down slides. Dahrius prefers the more adventurous slides and is now adept at monkeybars.

We answered Obama's call to service in honor of MLK, Jr this weekend, and went to nearby Albany Hill with the boys to help restore native vegetation. It was very steep, so we ended up mostly picking up trash in flat areas. It was great to be part of helping out the community, and many friendly dog-walkers were grateful for our commitment to help out. We are hopeful this will incite action and community involvement throughout the nation. YAY Obama, we are SO ready for "the end of an error" and for something more positive.
Yesterday, Dahrius went to his friend Nicolas' (in red) birthday party at a gymnastics place. The kids all had great fun running, jumping, tumbling, and somersaulting all around the place. But we were thinking that the kids should really eat cake FIRST at the party, and THEN run all that sugar off.