3,338 days and counting

The boys have been on this earth a combined total of 3,338 days and we haven't had one trip to the emergency room. The streak almost ended tonight as 49 pounds of human came crashing down on daddy's nose during a mishap in a game of airplane. There was lots of blood, but no ER visit was required. However, we may have a few more additions to our constellation of carpet stains in the family room.

Water Water Everywhere

When he got to the hotel pool Bradley immediately jumped in and started swimming. He didn't ask how deep it was or check for adequate adult supervision. He just took off. I must have been standing with my mouth wide open since another dad came over to ask me if Bradley had ever done that before. His swimming ability and confidence has greatly improved in the last two months. A little later Bradley starting doing flips off the pool deck. Mommy put the kibosh on that. At night Bradley and daddy went back for more swimming. This time he was playing catch with another family. The teenager would throw the ball and Bradley would jump from the deck to try to catch it. He never did make a catch, but he at least touched the ball almost every time. It was quite a wet week for Bradley. He went swimming at least 3 times at the Y and twice at the hotel (and took 3 baths on Sunday).

Smooth Criminal

On Tuesday morning Bradley shouted "Poppy's on the TV!" In reality, it was stock footage of George Ryan who was in the news because he is trying to get out of jail.

The Dirty Dozen

During the summer, we set a goal for Bradley to make twelve poops in the potty in one's month's time and as a reward he would get Mario Kart video game. Sounds like an easy goal, but to took some pharmacological help to get there. We went to Wal-mart right after school to get the reward. He enjoyed playing it before dinner and was starting to get upset by his streak of 12th place finishes. After dinner, he was more interested in doing dishes.

Poppy's Birthday

The last two years the boys went to the circus for Poppy's birthday. This year was different. We went to Mickey's Magic Show. The boys liked it. They also liked what we did before the show, which was go the the Juicy-O for breakfast. The Juicy-O gives out free donut holes to all the patrons, so you know the boys liked that restaurant.

The Jack-O-Lantern

The family made a real jack-o-lantern this year, under the artistic direction of Bradley. Ben was happy to stick with the Mr. Potato Head version.

Motivation

Ben got ready this morning in record time. I think he was excited about the Halloween party at school. He didn't even realize that he's wearing a pull-up instead of underwear.

History Repeats

Three years ago, Bradley broke the tent. Now, Ben has broken the replacement. In both cases, I was able to get a video taped confession.

The Sleeperoni

While on vacation, the family came up with the term 'sleeperoni'. That is the person who wakes up last in the morning. It is derived from the term 'stinkeroni', which is a general insult and not related to one's odor. Bradley took the concept one step further this morning when he declared daddy was the 'wakeroni'. That is the person who wakes up first.

Sunday School

Ben was not happy about going to the first day of Sunday school. He was pretty grumpy since we just got back from California the day before and he was up until after midnight. However he must have eventually calmed down since he didn't come running to us when we picked him. Ben made a very nice Noah's Ark picture.