Our weekend

After doing the school thing in the mornings for several weeks now we're into a routine of waking up on school days, getting Dima to make his bed, getting dressed and then coming downstairs for breakfast with both of the boys covered with "eating suits"(for Josh it's a full bib with long sleeves and for Dima I took some old shirts we got from my Dad and trimmed the sleeves off and he puts them on backwards to cover up) so they don't mess up their school clothes. They both like bowls of cold oatmeal - I can make it and keep it in the fridge then top it with yogurt and applesauce and wheat germ and then I mix in raisins and or dried cranberries or sometimes fruit. Josh goes ballistic if I give him anything that's too hot so I started the cold oatmeal thing for him and it's so easy to make it while I'm making pasta or something like that and then have it ready for school days. Josh usually jumps up ready to go but there have been days I've had to coax Dima out of bed. This morning and yesterday they were tired from their busy weekend since they didn't have a nap on Saturday cause they do ice skating lessons from 2-3.

The boys are both doing well in their ice skating lessons, Dima so well that they think he should be in the learn to play hockey classes next time and Josh is now skating without using anything to hold himself up. After lessons they were treated to a Slushie at the local Wawa and Chris said he turned around for a second and next thing ya know Josh has a donut in his mouth - and when asked where he got it he pointed to a display of donuts that was within his reach!!... and you wonder why I don't take them into places like that!! Keeping track of the two of them in a situation like that is something I don't want to have to do so we literally don't go there. Even when getting other treats if I have to I'll use a drive through or make something at home. If that had been me I would not have given him the Slushie, and they know it cause they told Papa that I'd be mad if I knew about Josh doing that. There's a lesson in there about taking stuff without paying and about asking for treats instead of helping yourself.

We had a late night on Friday night since we had to go to practice for the kids dance group and they have both been pretty good about paying attention lately and they had a good time playing with the other kids afterward. There's a little girl that has been coming to practices this year that Josh has latched on to and he always wants her to be his partner, the first time he met her he kept asking what her name is which is what he seems to do when he likes someone.

After their lessons on Saturday the boys and Chris went to a fest at Victory Brewing Company in Downingtown with both boys in their lederhosen and hats and everything. Josh almost blew a gasket when they got there cause there was apparently a Porsche club that had a lot of cars parked in the same area and he kept going "aaahhhh!, aaaahhh! and pointing at the "spoirers" (spoilers) on the backs of them. He was his usual outgoing self and charmed the girls who were there as dates of the hockey team players as well as a couple of kids his own age and some strangers as well. Several people handed him their tickets for food and drinks as they left the place. Cute pays!! Dima ended up with his own root beer stein and goes around trying to sing Ein Prosit. He's like me in the lyrics department I'm really bad at hearing and remembering the lyrics to songs and I'll make up new ones or just sing "something, something" when I don't know them. Root beer was all over his shirt but it washed right out. He was well behaved for the most part.

Josh came to Ambler, PA with me on Sunday to a dance show and had a great time. My parents came to watch him dance and I didn't tell him ahead of time that they would be there. He was thrilled to see them and was totally cute and very self confident while dancing. As we walk through the crowds at places like that you can hear the people - especially the women - going "LOOK AT HIM HE'S SO CUTE!! or LOOK AT THE LITTLE LEDERHOSEN!!" He certainly isn't lacking any self confidence, while dancing he looks around and smiles for cameras and looks at the other dancers and has a great time. The women in the group have said he makes them smile cause he looks right at them while clapping and going around with the guys in what Josh calls "the bye bye dance" (we wave good bye at the end) . While people were trying to take pictures of the other kids in the group he would go over to get into the shot. Two women asked me to pose for a picture and next thing you know he's in front of me to get in it too, they ended up hugging him and taking his picture alone with each of them. Someone from the Ambler Gazette asked me his name and age, I think they got some shots of the kids in the group and he could end up in the paper. I'm hoping this self confidence and the exposure in the performances will help him out later on in life with things like speaking in public - something that I'm still not fond of.

Since he had no nap the day before he looked exhausted especially earlier in the afternoon and was literally dragging himself around I was surprised that he didn't fall asleep on the way home but he was so busy talking about the day that he kept himself awake. We went to an impromptu picnic at the home of one of the couples in the group after the performance and he did very well playing with the other kids even though most of them were older than him. He was eating an apple so that helped keep him occupied on the hour long drive home. While we were at the picnic he had the chance to eat a hot dog and corn on the cob and tater tots but the other kids were getting up and calling his name to come to play even though they weren't all finished eating so he was really distracted and didn't want to sit there to eat. He had a great time playing with a pretend kitchen/ grill and running around playing duck, duck, goose and tag. He tends to be miserable if he falls asleep in the car and we get him up so it was probably just as well that he stayed awake.

Now that we're back into the week we're doing our same old same old routine, breakfast, school, lunch, nap then walk either before or after dinner, 7 o'clock bath then in bed by 8. Dima brought home a library book with just pictures and is having a great time "reading" that by himself.