Last Days of Summer

Fall is in the air. Well, at least it was. The heat radiating off the sidewalks in the last few days resembles weather more appropriate for July than the last days of August. I am starting to think this may be the summer that never ends. We did, however, get a few day break from the heat last week. The cool, crisp mornings that require me to throw sweaters over pajamas for early morning play sessions in the yard and enjoying dinner outside without the humidity causing us to high tail in back into the a/c are reminders that in fact, this summer, like all summers, will end.

The public school buses making practice runs down our street and today's introductory play date in preparation for Joseph's own first day of pre-school are further reminders that end of summer is upon us. The talk of Halloween costumes has become part of our daily conversation

Me: Joseph, what do you want to be for Halloween?
Joseph: A duck
Me: What about a dinosaur? I can't find a good duck costume.
Joseph: No, no dino, Mommy. Duck!

I will not mention the Eddie Bauer and LL Bean catalogues stuffed in our mailbox hawking their down coats and wool mittens and hats. Another reminder that, unlike the last two years, I have to do more than graze the racks of Gap Kids looking for a "cute", not necessarily practical, winter jacket and snow gear. These kids need snow pants and boots and functional hats and mittens. And all this garb needs to be put on for a trip out of the house for like 4-5 solid months. I'm starting to have a panic attack...

At least I won't have to hear anyone refer to a winter hat as a toboggan this year. Seriously, southerners, toboggans are sleds.

So what do my southern born but newly transplanted to New England babies do in the waning days of summer? They get their swim (or sprinkler) on in the backyard.

They drink from hoses:

And slide down homemade water slides:

And make their cheesy "Say Cheese" faces at the camera:

And the littlest one just watches and follows his big brother's every move, waiting for the day when he gets to run through the sprinkler too:

And the biggest one even pauses for a minute in the general vicinity of his brother - just long enough for me to snap this picture:

And if I close my eyes and wish hard enough, this is exactly what we'll be doing in 6-ish months because this summer is never going to end....

Hide N Seek

2010 style. Because kids these days can sit on the couch and play hide-n-seek with their aunt via video conferencing...



As you can tell, he quite enjoyed it.

And a cute glimpse into what Conrad enjoys these days...just hanging out, rolling, watching his big brother's every move.

Of course, Joseph couldn't NOT make an appearance. As you will see when you watch the video, he was quite displeased by the fact that the video was not about him.

I love how the minute the camera is on him, he settles his ass down. I also didn't notice until I watched the video back that at one point Joseph hits Conrad out of frustration for no longer being the ONLY center of attention in our lives.

Pretend Play

Yes! I am blogging! Want to know why after 3+ weeks, I am finally blogging? Because my mother-in-law is here! So despite the fact that after getting both boys down for a nap, cleaning up the house and responding to a few e-mails, Conrad woke up after a total of 25 minutes asleep, I am still sitting here blogging and watching Real Housewives of NJ (Seriously, Teresa stop spending money! You are going bankrupt, why are you going to effing Italy? Ok, rant over), while Conrad is rocked by his Cilla. Yay!

So to the point of this post....I spend too much time at Target. Want to know how I know this? Because Joseph has started playing "Target". Yup, he demanded we play Target the other day while his brother napped.

So, we loaded up some shelves with Target-like wares (some plates and cups, food products, baby products) and Joseph selected his merchandise and loaded his cart:

Then he had me check him out using a bubble wand and some "beep beep" sound effects:

He, of course, had to pay for his purchase with his Gymboree gift card turned Debit Card, which he swiped just like Mommy would:

He loaded his bags back into his cart (with Raggedy Andy playing the part of "baby"):

And headed straight to the elevator (because our Target has an elevator) aka his closet with makeshift buttons:

We played for nearly an hour yesterday until Conrad woke up...at which time, Joseph threw his cart over and stomped out of the room at the mere idea that I would allow his brother to play along.

Joseph loved this game so much that he woke up at 5 am (yes, 5 am) today to start playing. Isn't that fabulous?