Birthday party dream come true

Max's party had two major celebrity appearances- Mr. Knick Knack and Santa.  After weeks of talking about Mr. Knick Knack and watching (and dancing along with) his videos on the ipad (which he sometimes calls "the patio") Max was elated to see him in person.  He did not take his eyes off him for one second;  he stared intently while he set-up, and mimicked his every move during the performance.  Lots of Max's friends had their guitars as well, so they all had a blast rocking right along with Mr. Knick Knack.

Santa (aka: Uncle Jordan) made his third annual appearance at Max's party, and for the third year, Max wanted nothing to do with him.  Cecelia knew it was Uncle Jordan, and she may or may not have told Max.  "I want Uncle to take his beard off,"  and "I can't see his shirt", Max complained, but Uncle or not, Max would not go near Santa.  He has been pretty adamant about not like Santa's beard for the past few weeks, but he is also very adamant that he wants Santa to bring him a bicycle. 

Max and his musical idol

Mr. Knick Knack tried to unite Max and Santa.  It did not work, but Max sure nailed Knick Knack's face in this photo.

Pa was the hero of the day and stayed home with Kira during the party.  She is feeling better, but needed to stay awake from kiddo germs.

Max simply could not squeeze his feet into his sneakers for one more second.  Good thing the mall has early morning holiday hours.  Max selected these blue shoes because, "they are my favorite ones," and we were out of their before 10am.  Max was five hours into his day by that point...

5am...again

Basketball and bath time

Kira finally got a girl towel, and it sure is soft and cozy!  An emergency bath tonight cleaned every inch of her, except that milky white tonge.  Emergency baths are becoming as common for Kira as way-before-the-crack-of-dawn wakes up are for Max.

Typical evening with the four of us in our roles, as defined by Max.

Daddy= coach 

Max= basketball player

Mommy= human bleachers

Kira= sisterly spectator 

Hanukkah with Pa 

"I'm tired," Max said at 9:30am.  He was not alone.  But for the first time in many months, Max took a weekend nap!  He fell asleep in Grandma and Pa's hotel room while watching opera on PBS.  His choice.

Early, early, early (5:00am) morning water coloring.  Max kept trying to drink the water.  

Freaky Friday night

Max was a real loony toon tonight.  We went to the nearby South Lakes basketball game, since daddy's game was so far away.  Of course Max asked, "Why is daddy's game so far away?". He demanded a short sleeve shirt (thank goodness for summer emergency clothes buried in the back of the trunk), yet complained, "it's freezing cold!".  He was disappointed about not having a ball to hold during the game.  Note to self: put an emergency basketball in the trunk.  He was happy about the National Anthem, although [during the live performance] he screamed, "I can't hear it!".

Kira is feeling so much better and was her usual cheerful self all day.

No shame, Max, changes in public and wears his mommy's scarf.  

Breathe easy

Kira was doing much better today, so she came home from the hospital and has been resting ever since.  She is breathing much better now and it is great to be home.

Happily sporting a hospital Santa cap..at home!

The nurses were so wonderful!!  They even brought an actual bed in the room for mommy to sleep in.  It was basically the Four Seasons over there. 

Night three of Hanukkah- a shaving kit from Aunt Arielle- a huge hit!  Max loves to shave with daddy....

...and likes to shave daddy

Happy in the hospital

Little Kira was still so congested today that her doctor sent her to the hospital to be monitored and receive breathing treatments.  She has been an outstanding patient, but it is not easy to nap in the hospital.  Tonight she is comfortably snuggled in her car seat, rather than behind the harsh metal bars of the hospital crib.  

Happily rocking the newborn cap in the ED (formerly known as the ER)

Max is happy at home, having daddy all to himself 

"Look at that, Mommy!"

He loves her...

He loves her not.

 

Max is a great big brother, and he loves Kira.  He will tell you so himself.  But he is also almost three (which people say is harder than two) and really missing that 5% of attention that 'low-maintance Kira' gets from her parents these days.  

Poor Kira is sick, and Max was so well-behaved when we took her to the doctor.  On the drive there Max said that Kira could have his dinasour so that she wouldn't cry.  So sweet.  He handed it to her a few times, only to reclaim it seconds later, screaming, "No that's mine!"  After the absurd two hours we spent there, Max earned himself a reward/present for his outstanding behavior, as well as the first night of Hanukkah.  When he unwrapped the "little guitar" that "Florida Grandma" sent, he was elated.   He played a few songs, imitated Miss Nell's Tot Shabbat routine, and danced.  Then he took a swing.  At Kira's congested little head.  Now she has a battle scar on her bald, seven-week old head, and Max is down a guitar.  

Kira's first night of her first Hanukkah.  Max really, really, really wanted to blow out the candles.  

Max got a guitar and Kira got a concert 

We had already been at the doctor's office for an hour before the strip show ensued.  Not too bad.  

Model patient 

Morning Knick-Knack sing along 

Planks

Loving playtime on her quilt from Norma.

Kira had plenty of engery this afternoon so she got her workout on with some planks.  Wiped out from the exercise, and lack of necessary newborn sleep, she snoozed from the time Max came home from school until he went to bed.  Good timing/bad timing.  Between Max's coughing and Kira's late awakening from a marathon nap, tonight should be a party.  

Max is sick [again] [shocker] so we stopped to get some orange juice on the way home.  Clearly this 'apple a day' business is not effective, but Max still requested a green one and dug in with both dimples in full force.

This pre-dinner ice pop allegedly has a half serving of vegetables.  

"Mommy, I want to play Santa Clause," Max said in the bath.  Funny that he wants to replicate the part of Santa that he does not like.  He also said that he does not want Santa to wave at him anymore.  Last we saw Santa, he was merely being polite by waving to a boy who stared at him for close to 30 minutes from afar.  

Sesame Street groupie

Max took Kira to her first show- Sesame Street Live.  He had a great time and she had a great Bjorn nap.

Several times throughout the show Max worried, "It's over.  I'm going to be sad when it's over."  Turns out he was plotting a not-so-peaceful protest.

Max brought his pals, Bert and Ernie to the show.  They saw more of the action than Kira.

Loves it!

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?  

Max was so excited to see "everybody" that he self-selected his Sesame Street shirt, as opposed to his Oakton basketball shirt, which he normally request/demands on a daily basis.  "I want to go to the outside Sesame Street," Max said when we left for the show.  He wished we were headed to Sesame Place, but he was extremely pleased once we arrived at the show

Playtime with Kira 

Not many places are open at 4:15am, which is when Max woke up this morning, so we waited a few hours (ie: eternity) for the car wash to open. 

Cookie Monster

Max sang Twinkle, Twinkle while he made his Star of David cookies, but said, "more!" as he ate them.  He made them for Jake's Hanukkah party, where Urban, Jake's dog, did mommy a solid and kept eating part of Max's cookies. When we got in the car to go home Max said, "We forgot the cookies."  We brought plenty home, Max.  In your belly.

Max and Richie (Jake's daddy) provided entertainment at the party 

Kira enjoyed the holiday tunes 

Still not trained, but he sure likes the potty training video.

If this picture could talk...

Max: Mom I have to talk to Kira to see if she wants to play.

Mommy: ok

Max: (mumbling gibberish into Kira's ear)

Kira: (staring at Max, fearing impending attack)

Max: Oh mom, Kira can't play.  She has to grow up.

Mommy: (thinking to herself- when did YOU grow up, Max?)

Friday night [Christmas] lights

Max, Ceci, Timmy, Gracie, and Kira explored the neighborhood lights tonight.  Some trespassing may have occurred as well.  What do people expect when they put larger-than-life glowing Santas and reindeer in their yards?  In the spirit of the holidays (and possibly for fear of being on Santa's naughty list), all of the children were very well behaved and spread lots of cheer in the pitch-black cold night. 

Hot date in the hot rod 

First double bath milestone met only due to major vomit emergency.  Kira hardly ever spits up, but when she does, she makes it count. "Get it off her!"  Max said when Kira came in the bathroom covered in grossness.  "She's floating away," he noted when Kira and her bathing vessal crashed his bath.  The whole double bath experience went much smoother than anticipated with excellent big brother behavior and absolutely no splashing.  

New favorite hang out

Max was so happy to see Kira this morning.  Mommy was so happy to not see Max until 6:30am.

Squeaky clean smile

Happily clean

Afternoon bath

Watching Elmo's potty video early this morning

DIY diaper...Inspired by the potty video

Kira could teach her brother a thing or two about sleeping

Max likes to play like "the boys" (on daddy's team) and coach like daddy.  Tonight he took his imitation a step further and wore (requested during dinner) a tie, because as he said, "I have to go to work!"

Short story

Max's obsession with shorts has rapidly become as intense as his sleep refusal.  Combine the two together and you have Max dressed in basketball clothes, ready to shoot hoops, in the middle of the night.  Should mommy try to hide the shorts and you have a loud, livid Max.  Technical fouls are undoubtedly in his future.  

To prevent the disappearance of his apparel necessity, Max has taken to toting around, the one pair of shorts he found, everywhere he goes.  Tonight they went to the barber shop.  In the earliest hour of this morning, while dribbling downstairs, Max screamed, "oh no it fell down".  Naturally we thought his hoop fell.  Nope.  Max was upset that his hair fell on his face.  Hence his emergency haircut after school today.  

Maybe someone in the barber shop will want to play a pick up game of basketball.

Kira will not be needing a haircut anytime soon, but she had no problem posing in front of the barber's Christmas tree with her freshly groomed brother.  

Prettiest Brooks