The Two-Year-Old

Oh, where to begin with my sweet little guy? Ryan has definitely developed a mind and will of his own recently. Almost everything that comes out of his mouth is: NO, I WANT TO DO IT! He will even go back and redo things if he doesn't get the chance - climb back into bed, open and close doors, etc. A few Sundays ago we were at church when Ryan dropped one of his cars during sacrament meeting. When Kevin bent down and picked it up for him, Ryan took the car, looked at Kevin, and dropped right back on the floor so he could bend down and pick it up.

We've been working on speaking kindly to each other rather than yelling if he wants something. I hear a lot of "Matthew, don't please do that!" And of course Matthew loves to egg him on. But Ryan is a great wrestler and can always find a way to get his brother back with a good tackle, which turns into wrestling, which turns into a lot of laughing an giggling. Brothers.

Here he is hanging out with Zachary whom he ADORES. He always comes up and pats Zach's head with, "Hi baby. Baby cute." or "Hi Zach. Did you have a good nap?" He would hug and kiss Zach to pieces if he could. Sometimes Zach flinches a little when he sees Ryan coming. It's pretty funny.

Another conversation taken from a few days ago:

Mom: Ryan, it's time to get dressed. What shirt do you want to wear?
Ryan: My train shirt.
Mom: Okay. Let's put it on.
Ryan: No, I want my football shirt.
Mom: Okay, let's put on the football shirt.
(After it's on) Ryan: I want my train shirt!
Mom: Which do you want, the train or football?
Ryan: I want McQueen.

Signs that we go to a certain store too often:

Ryan: Oh momma! I need my shoes on.
Mom: Oh Ryan, why?
Ryan: Cuz I need to go to Sam's Club to get the Lego Star Wars teebee (TV - he says all of his V's as B's).
Mom: I don't think they have a Lego Star Wars TV.
Ryan: Yes. C'mon. Let's go! (I think he remembers when we were there once and they were showing Star Wars on one of the TV's. He heard the Death March and of course decided it needed to come be a part of our collection.)

This is Ryan as Nephi and/or "Darf Mater." It depends on the day.

And finally, does anyone have any ideas on what to do with a monkey? This is how I found Ryan yesterday:


At least he didn't eat the dirt, although I wouldn't put it past him.

The Four-Year-Old

Four-year-olds are hilarious. Here are some of Matthew's recent sayings and doings.

As we have been spring cleaning, my boys have found "new" and interesting things to play and get into trouble with. The dusters and brooms have become light sabers and boxes have become surfboards for the stairs, for example. Because we have been stacking things together to make more room, the boys have also found ways to get to things they couldn't before. And it seems Matthew is a little taller than I remember, because he is reaching things that were previously unreachable. The other day he was on my bed and reached up to tug on the chain for the ceiling fan (off-limits).

Mom: Matthew, please don't touch that!

Matthew: Okay. (Reaching for it again)

Mom: Matthew, what did I just ask you to do?

Matthew: Okay, okay. I won't. (Then, very quietly)

Hey Ryan, can you reach that chain and pull on it?

At least he's resourceful!

He is also not allowed to touch the picture hanging above our bed. I had gone into the boys' room to get something and came back to find Matthew dangerously close to the picture, hand hovering over the top. "Mom, look what I'm not touching," he says proudly.

Although Matthew has been very interested in Lego Star Wars, he sometimes has bad dreams about it. He had been waking up the past couple of nights with bad dreams, so we told him he couldn't play the game for a while. The next night he came in our room after having a bad dream. "But guess what dad. My dream was about the Incredibles (which he has never seen?) so now I can play Lego Star Wars!" Kevin scooted him off to bed but came back laughing. Where does this kid come up with this stuff?

Spring Cleaning

We have been doing a little bit of spring cleaning at our house and it is always fun to discover those hidden gems that one forgets about. Here are a few stories that we forgot to share. Above: Ryan hiding in the boxes.

Zach loves the bounce around (thanks Joe & Julie). It is a lot of fun and the ring of protection isolates him from his crazy brothers.	For Valentines day we made sugar cookies. To our surprise Ryan decided that rolling out cookies and brushing your teeth is a good combination.	On Valentines day we went to cousin Hiram's Birthday party. Here you can see Ryan taking a swing a McQueen. He was a natural with a stick...
Matthew also enjoyed the pinata. Before that we launched a rocket with Grandpa Tams. The boys loved it.	Grandma Tams followed up the rocket launches with a rocket story about living on the moon.	One of our boys favorite things to do is read books. Matthew and Ryan have also shared their love of books with Zach.
Ryan has started to tell stories and they always include the phrases..."No, I don't like to."	Zach has started to eat solids. He is enjoying the sweet potatoes and green beans.	Zach has been sitting up on his own. Zach has a smile that is contagious and we love it.

Go Fish

Yesterday, Ryan was looking at a book about the ocean while I was doing the dishes. I overheard the following conversation:

Ryan: Mafew, what's this?
Matthew: That's a jellyfish.
Ryan: Look! Der's a peanut butter fish!

Anyone in the mood for some PBJ, ocean style?

Lego Star Wars

For Christmas, Kevin got the Lego Star Wars game for our Playstation 2 (yes, a little slow on the gaming technology, but we are okay with it). It has been a huge hit at our house. The boys are running around pretending to blast storm troopers all while singing the Death March. And watch out for evil "Dark" Vader (according to Matthew) and black "Darf Mater" (according to Ryan.) Yesterday I was in the kitchen humming the Death March as I was making dinner when Matthew and Ryan came bursting in:

Matthew: Mom, that's Dark Vader's song!

Mom: Yes, it is.

Ryan: Where's black Darf Mater?

Mom: I'm not sure. You better go find him!

Later, after some storm troopers have been thoroughly blasted, we somehow got on the topic of Luke Skywalker.

Mom: Did you know that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's dad?

Matthew: He is? But he's not nice. Why?

Mom: Well, he used to be nice. Then he made some bad choices and started being mean to some people.

Matthew: He should have listened to Lego Jesus.

I couldn't help but laugh. It's good to hear that he is retaining some of the lessons we are trying to teach him, even if it exists in the realm of Lego Star Wars.