My life in bullets

I've been struggling to find time (and mental energy) to blog lately, so here's a quick update.

* Kelsie is transforming into a teenager before our eyes. She's suddenly tall and thin (but her squeezable cheeks are still holding out) and she has so much attitude that I wonder if she's already hitting puberty. The other day she performed her first stomp-to-her-room-and-slam-the-door act to demonstrate that she was mad at me. And only me. She made a point to interact with Daddy while intentionally ignoring me.

* She is in summer school now. Remember when that used to be a bad thing? This is more like regular school with some field trips thrown in. She's thrilled to get to go on a school bus next week. She told Brian, "I'm going to go on a school bus, Daddy. Geez."

* Dylan has discovered the joys of standing on anything he can. That includes grocery carts (despite being strapped in), rocking chairs (even though it won't hold still for him), and beds (and he can bounce up there too!).

* If anyone has suggestions on how to get him to stop throwing his food, I'm all ears. The dog is getting fat.

* Dylan tackled Kelsie and took her to the ground last night. Brian's response: "I know he shouldn't do that, but it was just so fundamentally correct. He threw his shoulder into her mid-section, wrapped her up and took her down! I'm just so proud. We have to find a pee wee football league. He could take down 20-month olds."

* "Shut up your mouth," said Kelsie.

* On the positive side, she continues to amaze us with her nurturing instincts. She just adores Dylan. And she's eagerly trying to learn to read. The other day she was cutting pictures out of a magazine and cut out the word MOM, gave it to me and told me it said mom. She is really into artwork lately, but she calls it work. She tells us she has an important appointment and then will sit at the table coloring and cutting and muttering things like, "work, work, work" or "I wish I could come sit on your lap but I have too much work to do."

* And Dylan gives the best hugs and is starting to give (slobbery) kisses upon request. Almost makes up for the determined look in his eye right before he does something wrong. Almost.

* We went to DC last weekend for 4th of July and met Karen (sister), Steve (brother-in-law), Chris (nephew who is as tall as his dad now) and Rachel (niece) there. Very fun. Except for Dylan's refusal to sleep the first night, his teething, and the rain shower that threatened to ruin the fireworks. But it all worked out. We even caught the kids in a cute and very rare moment of both of them holding still at the same time:

This picture was taken at the restaurant where we met Christine Salvo (aka Tina T) and family, and the kids were wild enough that Christine and Steve probably vowed never to have another.

* I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting right now.

So there you have it. My life in bullets.