New playroom in the basement

After spending two days cleaning out the basement (huge props to Grammy Lenore, without whose help this would have never gotten done) to get it into shape for the Dudes to use as a playroom, we finally let them loose.  So far they have loved it.  There are new things to explore and new pieces of furniture to climb on.  The Legos made the move downstairs, and when Brendan hasn't been building towers (pretty impressive for 19 months, no?) he's been cramming them into the CD tray of the stereo.  I had no idea THAT many Legos could fit!  And Aidan?  Well, he discovered Pops' movie collection.  You can see the results of that discovery here:

Yoga and bathtime

Sometimes before the Dudes hop in the bath they like to chill with a little yoga.  Downward dog seems to be their favorite position.

Follow the bouncing balls

Among the presents the Dudes received from Grandpa and G.C. was a huge package of plastic balls, like the ones you see in the ball pit at Ikea or someplace like that.  On a personal note, we're especially grateful that G.C. volunteered to keep them (fyi, the full package contains 175 balls) at her house.  The important thing, though, is that the Dudes just love them.  Take a look...

Christmas Dinner and Boxing Day

As if the hi-jinks of tearing open presents weren't enough, the fun continued with Christmas Dinner and Boxing Day. Big props to Cousin Robb for providing some wonderful pictures and for being Aidan and Brendan's favorite older cousin to play with. Don't think this gets you off the hook, Robb, for teaching them all about the volume knob on the stereo!

(By the way, included in the slideshow is one picture taken by Brendan.  Can you spot which one?)

Christmas!

Officially, it was the Dudes's second Christmas and Hannukah.  However, I'm not sure they really knew what was going on much beyond the simple joy of tearing wrapping paper off of really big packages or dumping over big tubs of Legos onto the floor.  But then again, isn't that what it's all about? 

Time for a haircut?

Lately, both of the Dudes have been sporting pretty prolific heads of hair, which leaves me in something of a quandary.  On one hand, I'd like to let their hair grow out for a while and get a real haircut for them right around the time they turn two.  (For what it's worth, there's suppose to be some huge superstition about cutting their hair before a child is two.)  But over the past while a few people have started to mistake the Dudes, Brendan especially, for girls.  I don't particularly mind or care -- goodness knows I've made the same mistake more than a few times.  But it wasn't until Brendan and I were playing in the gym at the JCC after swimming one day and someone commented, "Look out, Princess!" as a ball rolled toward him.  That was pretty much the last straw for me.

What do you think?

Decorating the Christmas tree/Hanukkah bush

Breaking from previous years, we decided not to get a full-size tree this year.  I think we are still a little traumatized by the time the cats managed to get the lights off the tree and stretch them across the living room in a straight line.  True story.

More to the point, Aidan and Brendan have reached a stage where everything must be explored and, if possible, climbed.  So a large tree this year seemed like a very bad idea.  Instead, we got a much smaller, table-top tree.  But large or small, our two little elves wanted to be in on the decorating action.