Just the three of us

Mike is on a (blissfully) rare business trip for most of this week, so it's just me and the boys. I figured I'd be going mad by now and ready to run out of the house screaming, but it hasn't been too bad. Today it was nice enough for us to get outside for a walk, which of course meant seeing and touching the nearby Road Closed signs, cones, and temporarily stand-mounted stop sign. What will we do when the sewer department finishes this project, I wonder? Noel's new pants are too big and kept falling down as we walked. For once, he didn't do it on purpose. (A funny aside: we met some neighbors the other night, and as we talked in their yard, another neighbor boy who was playing there came over and said, "He pulled his pants down." We looked, and yes, he did. A great first impression!)

To fill out this post, here are some of Dom's recent sayings. I should mention that Noel's speech is blossoming daily, and he's putting three and four words together. I love how he says "big cwock" and "petzuh" or "putzuh" for pizza.

Dax is a hand. Don't ask me. He was saying dax in the car tonight, and I asked what that means, and this was his response. Immediately, Noel said "Dax is a hand." We all ended up laughing as the boys kept repeating it.

The air has faces. Huh?

To Noel, who was biting a Thomas engine...That will taste painty.

The library does not eat anything. That means it can't go pee.

He'll hate me for this when he's older...I pooped so toughly. Look how tough it is.

Also, he still enjoys eating "hamburgergers" (I'll be sad when the extraneous syllable comes off) and stepping on "tree stomps."

New look

Considering the main photo of the boys was so outdated that Noel wasn't even walking when it was taken (was he even crawling?), I thought it was probably time to make a change. That led to some other changes, as you can see. This space hadn't been touched in some time, which can get boring, like when a room always stays the same. This room was due for some rearranging.

Photos from the birthday festivities

Opening a present

Blowing out the candles. He really did!

Not exactly loving the cake. He eventually ate a few bites.

That's a hot pig-in-a-blanket! Or perhaps I should call it a cow-in-a-blanket.

Birthday boy

Happy birthday, Noel! It's been a dramatic year--let's see, partial amputation of fingertip, running away from a barbeque, two stitches to the forehead, pneumonia--but you made it to two anyway. Let's hope this next year proceeds much more smoothly. We love you!

This picture represents my attempt to capture Noel at the moment he turned two (8:08 am). He wasn't cooperating very well because he would rather play with a truck, so I ended up chasing him down and got this picture a couple of minutes late. We'll pretend that the clock was fast. And yes, I know he desperately needs a haircut, but you try using scissors on a screaming, moving target. We've had enough emergency room visits this year. So I put it off...and off.

To celebrate Noel's birthday, Mike took the day off, and when Dominick finished school, we went out for lunch. After Noel's nap, we made a brief visit to the zoo to take advantage of what might be the last day of warm weather. My silly boys--we couldn't interest them in seeing the animals. All they wanted to do was find the train tracks and crossings throughout the zoo. We did manage to see an elephant and some big fish at the River's Edge and catch a glimpse of two small black bears and some sea lions. Then it was back home for a few presents and dinner. Saturday will be a (very) small family party.

Follow-up

I was wrong about today's appointment: it was not the scheduled two-year checkup but a quick follow-up to Noel's hospitalization. The doctor said his breathing sounds good, so it looks like he's recovering well. I rescheduled his regular appointment for early December to put a little space between the pneumonia and the immunizations that are due at two years.

So we handled pneumonia, but now we're having to deal with another evil: the time change. Noel was awake before 5:00 this morning but only took an hour nap today, so there was much fussing by evening. My fingers are crossed that we make it until 6:00 tomorrow.

Home again

Noel was released from the hospital early this afternoon. Prior to his release, he had been climbing up to the window sill and going head first back to the window seat (repeatedly), riding a Thomas toy, playing with the buttons on the bed, and just in general being himself. In addition, his fever had been gone for 24 hours and he'd been off oxygen nearly as long. The number of wet diapers today showed dehydration was no longer a concern, so we were ready to go. Noel will be on antibiotics for the next 12 days and has his two-year checkup on Monday, which will be perfect timing as he needs to see his pediatrician to follow up on his illness.

As we left the hospital, we stopped by the rooftop garden. What a great place. The weather was insanely nice today, by the way. Is it really November already? Somebody's got a birthday in five days!