red?

Blaise truly surprises me sometimes in what he has learned. In teaching Ambrose I remember making a point to 'teach' him his shapes, colors, numbers and letters. Blaise has gone to the refrigerator and picked up a letter and told me what it is or sang the alphabet. To date, Blaise has learned colors, he can count up to 13, 18 letters, sing the alphabet and he knows most of his shapes (weird that shapes would be one of the last things for him to learn in this group).

With regards to learning colors, he has learned the colors as - red (like a tomato), green (like grass), blue (like the sky), etc. So, how do I explain to my 2 1/2 yr old that my hair is RED. He doesn't believe me. He believes that my hair is brown. I can see that. I even tried explaining it is auburn, yeah, that went no where.

So I guess for now, I have brown hair. Too bad crayola didn't come up with a crayon that is called auburn. After all, they have one called mac n cheese.

right before my eyes

In the morning, as a routine, I turn on the computer to find out the daily prompt for my photo class. The boys will come running into the office and ask what it is. Upon finding out they start throwing out suggestions which always includes taking pictures of them.

On this particular day the prompt was 'the pull of winter'. How appropriate since the weather was so cold. As Blaise napped, Ambrose and I went outside to shovel and play a bit; with the understanding that we would only be outside 20-30 minutes (it was that cold!)

After shoveling, Ambrose kept pulling me to get the sled and pull him along the sidewalks covered in snow. As I went to open the garage door . . . this was right before my eyes:

how big are you?

Yesterday, Ambrose went upstairs and and got 'dressed up' into Daddy's clothes. He came down stairs with a grin on his face like he had cooked up something great. . . and had he! I love the way the gloves are so big and the pants hang but best of all our his cheeks and smile peeking out from under the Notre Dame hat. Too cute!


More pictures I captured for my photo class:

Balance

(do you know how hard it is to set the timer and strike this pose??)

Warm Your Heart

(Ambrose made this for me the day before and was happy to serve as the model)

Signs of Life
(I had the camera hovering above the ground to show how much more snow we needed to shovel - lots!)

Uncontrolled Chaos

(Driving down Park Avenue we came across hundreds of crows, which even made a story on the news that night. I was all set to take a shot of the birds in this tree when someone honked their horn and sent most of them flying . . . excuse me I'm trying to create art here, geez.)

Beyond the Chill

(icicles hanging from the eaves of our house)

Cooling It

(we were supposed to add blue tones to our picture)

sculpture

Yesterday we picked up mini marshmallows and colored toothpicks at the grocery store and had some fun! We used every toothpick (250 to be exact) and sampled numerous marshmallows (necessary of course for our sculptures).

Blaise handed me what he called 'sticks', a toothpick with a marshmallow on the end. He and I constructed this sculpture:

And Ambrose's sculpture:

picture winter

new year, new photo class, new perspective, new possibilities . . .

day of rest

(New Year's Day, one boy trying to 'rest')

looking out

(on top of Cobbs Hill Reservoir,

one of my favorite views of downtown,

on the far right is Kodak Headquarters)

all the possibilities

(fav quote, fav Christmas gift . . . now just time to read/cook more)

a little sunshine
(seeing the 'shape' of the sun and imagining what it will be like to see the sun again)

cracked open

(a crack I notice everyday as I descend the stairs but today noticed its beauty)

quiet beauty

(twigs/branches from weeping willow at Highland Conservatory)

texture seeker

(reflection of my kitchen in a box grater)

bundled up

(hand knit hat worn by both my boys, warm and soft)

overnight things change

Up into the attic I go to dig out the boxes to play the 'switching clothes' game. Wait a minute it is not a change of season; what happened you ask? One of my sons' arms grew; I believe overnight. Is that possible? I remember as a kid having growing pains in my legs.

Yesterday, while Ambrose was trying on new shirts to accommodate his long arms . . . I stopped and I took a long look at my two boys. They look so much older. They both somehow looked very different in that particular minute then in the minutes that had passed. Sometimes I want to stop time, as I love where we are. We are still experiencing some 'firsts', innocent comments that are just so funny and so much more!

Times are changing, right in front of my eyes. Blaise asked me about a dinner we had the other night and said we didn't have bread (his favorite food group). Before I could say anything, Ambrose interjected an answer and fully described how the meal not only had bread but it was a part of the main dish. Ever feel like you are just there to watch?

Sometimes it is as if the boys have their own code (like twins do). After a workout I walked into the child watch at the Y and the person working commented that she had to 'check' into their planet to figure out what was going on. Their play isn't always so 'foreign' but they have really become inseparable (won't Ambrose going to kindergarten next year be interesting!)

Boys slow down a bit this momma is having too much fun, lets not rush it.

Happy New Year!

We joined several hundred people downtown at Manhattan Square Park last night for some outdoor ice skating in 47 degree weather. Blaise donned his first pair of skates and loved being led by two strong hands around the ice (Daddy). While I on the other hand tried to keep up to 'keep on eye' on Ambrose.

Happy New Year!