The Lights Before Christmas at the Zoo

Saturday was a perfect night for seeing the Lights at the zoo. Ben seemed to really enjoy them and Nick seemed pretty interested. Ben was a little disappointed that most of the animals were sleeping, but he still got to see the alligators and some snakes and lizards.

Livin' on the Edge

Slightly precarious position.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It was a good Thanksgiving with the Wolny's this year. Ben discovered fun new ways to eat black olives, Nick had some turkey and peas, and everyone had a full tummy! Ben actually filled up on olives and appitizers before dinner, so he didn't sit at the table with us during dinner, but ate later, and Nick took a little nap during dinner, which was a-ok with me! I know understand why there is a kids table at Thanksgiving.

Now That's What I'm Talking About

Nick was pretty excited about this plate sized pancake! (Daddy ate it - Nick had already had his own regular sized pancake and a banana)

Look at that Pincher Grip!

Nick demonstrating his excellent self feeding techniques. He has been working on his pincher grip and hand/mouth coordination. I have to say, both have significantly improved recently.

A Walk at Sidecut

Sunday was a pretty warm day, so we took the boys and Monster to Sidecut park for a nice long walk. Like 4 miles, long walk. Ben rode on Daddy's back for about half of it and walked/ran/fell/picked up sticks/picked up rocks/lolly-gagged the other half. I got the half pint (literally half the weight of Ben). It was a good day for a walk, and the boys all took good naps while I went to see Breaking Dawn with my friend Shari :) Which is a good movie, by the way.

 

A little story from our walk: About half way into our walk - 2 miles or so - and in the middle of a huge field, Ben cries out, 'Mommy! I have to go potty!'. Ahh, what every mother wants to hear in the middle of a field/woods. So, using techniques that were apparently learned during their camping trip in October, Ben pulls off to the side of the path and drops trou to pee. Awesome. Well, at least I haven't caught him doing it in the back yard...yet.

Levis Commons Tree Lighting

Saturday Ben and I went over to Levis for their tree lighting ceremony. We met up with Lily, Susan and Scott and walked around a bit and watched some girls dancing and performing before the tree lighting. While we were watching the kids dance, we also ran into Cameryn, Tiffany and Kevin. The kids were very excited about the big tree and the lights being turned on! Ben was also very excited about the candle he got and a free cookie.

Mmmm, Pancakes!

 Nick's first taste of pancakes. And he was a fan!

Another First

As shocking as it is, we have yet to experience a bloody nose in the Wolny house. At least that was until this past weekend. Nick fell down (I can't really remember what he was doing, but probably just standing next to something) and hit his nose. And then came the blood. It didn't help that he had a cold and his nose was already pretty crusty. You can kind of see how swollen his nose was - he took a good spill! But we got him all cleaned up and good as new. He was back to his crazy antics within minutes.

Pole Dancer

Pole dancing on his jumpy jumpy

FINALLY!!!!!!

It has been six months in the making. It has resulted in tears, frustration, pain and Benefiber. But today was the day. It was the day that Ben FINALLY pooped in the potty. He called me a work to tell me - I almost cried. He got a special sucker at Sharon's and lots and lots of praise and cheers from his friends. After I picked the boys up, we stopped to get daddy and went to the store to get Ben a new toy. We have been talking about this for literally 3 months, if not 6. Whenever we were at a store and Ben saw toys he wanted, I would say, 'You know what you need to do to get that toy' and Ben would reply, 'I put my poopies in the potty and I get this toy and this toy and this toy.' So he definitely has understood how it worked for a while now. Now, while it is customary to wait until the child has become consistent at such things, Ben is a special child that required different rules. He's so damn stubborn, I needed something big to entice him with, and even that took months. But if he doesn't keep it up, the toys will get taken away, along with movies and special treats.

So what did Ben finally decide on as his 'poopy' toy? After constantly talking about big bulldozers and cars, he ended up with a Thomas train set. He (and daddy) had a good time playing with it before bedtime tonight. Now, I just have my fingers crossed that he will keep up the good work!

It's Not Easy Being Green

Add green to Nick's technicolor repertoire

The Magic Waterfall!

Nick is fascinated with the waterfall in the bathtub. Really, he's just fascinated with any kind of water.

Mmmm, mmmm tasty!

Nick has started venturing into real food. This morning he gobbled up some pancakes and for dinner I pureed some turkey and butternut squash and gave him some mashed potatoes. Although it appears the majority of it ended up on his face, he did actually eat quite a bit. I know they have those special funds for saving for college. I wonder if they have anything for feeding teenage boys.

More Fun In the Leaves

Daddy made the 'big' leaf pile yesterday. And boy did Ben have fun in it!

Little Boybarians

I totally ripped off the term boybarian from a blog I came across, but it's just so fitting, I couldn't pass it up.

Well, At Least He Understands

The word No. Mr. Beaver did not like it when mommy told him not to eat his bed. I thought it was pretty funny. He really does make the best faces!

A Trip to Another Apple Orchard

Today we took a little trip up to Erie Apple Orchard so Grandma could get some Northern Spy apples. They didn't have all the fun pony rides and games they had a few weeks ago, but it was still a lot of fun! They had a couple of swing sets, ride-along tractors, goats, chickens and some type of deer with antlers. And some really, really good fresh out of the fryer doughnuts! Nick even enjoyed some of those :)

Fun in the Leaves

Grandma came up to help me with the boys while Adam is on his East Asia tour for 10 days. Ben and Grandma enjoyed the nice weather by playing in the leaves. I'm just glad Ben wasn't still talking about people hiding and jumping out of the leaf piles anymore.