Tu vas me casse les casse-pieds

Nathan, a Mamie

Class photos can't stop our engineering efforts

Nathan writes his name

Yesterday after a failed attempt at going to his Lycee picnic in the city (we showed up as they cancelled it because of rain) we went to Mel's diner for lunch. Nathan and Sidney both had crayons, and we asked Nathan to write his name.

He has been writing his name at school every morning by "copying" a version that is in front of him, but we have never seen him write his name all by himself.

For your viewing pleasure, I give you NATANTAN:

Nathan's first soccer practice

The fireman and the captain

Sidney starts at the Jardin Enchantee

Pi pi eye

Nathan came home from his first day of school and told us his teacher taught him to say "pi pi eye."

We were pretty shocked and said we doubted the teacher had taught him to say pi pi anything.

This morning on the way to school Nathan said "m.i.s.p.p.i"...

"Nathan," I said, "do you mean M.i.s.s.i.s.s.i.p.p.i?"

"Yeah," he said. "PPI!"

When you cry it makes me sad.

After swimming today Sidney was crying in the car.

Nathan: "Sidney, don't cry! When you cry it makes me sad."

Sidney's and M's romantic dinner for two

Sidney and his friend M, enjoying a lovely dinner for 2.

I believe Sidney got a kiss that night, as well (but he is a gentleman and never confirmed that.)

Out-enzie get-enzie.

Nathan's first day of school

How do we make our house a \\home?

Connect it to the internet.

Overheard

Nathan: "Are you angry papa? Don't be angry.  When you're angry it hurts my heart."

The apple fair

Today we went up north to Sonoma for the 100th anniversary Gravenstein Apple Fair with some friends. Nathan and Sidney had a fantastic time, and our friend Daniel got third-place in the applesauce eating contest!

At dinner, we asked each of them what their favorite thing about the day was.

Nathan declared "the boats" to be his highlight.

Sidney thought about it and said "Maman."

"Hi, Bus!"

They are multiplying.

I'm a cat. With antlers.

Nathan gets up, goes pipi, then back to bed

After a week of his mother being gone (and wetting the bed on more than one occasion) Nathan last night finally got up (at 3 in the morning) to go pipi by himself.

I woke up when I heard him walking down the hall but to my surprise he didn't stomp into our room to whisper "I went pipi" as he had so many nights before. This time, I heard the bathroom door and the toilet lid open.

I smiled to myself when I realized what had just happened. Then, instead of heading straight back to bed Nathan went to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water (from the dispenser in the fridge) and then back to his bedroom.

It was magical. I was very proud. Until he woke up his brother at 3:15A.

Overheard

Nathan: "your barb (beard) is getting white.  Because you are getting old."

First... the good news

The GOOD news is that Nathan has started (sometimes) calmly saying, "excuse me" instead of just raising his voice or repeating incessantly to interrupt or get my attention.

The BAD news is that this morning at 6:30 he walked into my room and said, "excuse me, Papa. Can you find Sidney his tiger nounours?"

The trains

I'm alone with kids this week. It's a lot harder than I thought it would be.

And messier.

However, the boys are really enjoying each others' company, and there are brief moments (like this one, pictured) where I don't feel like pulling all my hair out.

Will this wear them out? I hope so....

I'm big. I'm a grand-kid!

Nice to be nice

Sam: "It's nice to be nice because then people like you. Don't you want people to like you Nathan?"
Nathan: "No, I don't really care very much"
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Horsey. Friend. Haus.