Whisper

Our little Hamslice is an early riser, and likes to get out of bed far earlier than his parents. As a compromise we let him crawl in bed with us after 5:30 for some snuggle time and (we hope) maybe some additional sleep.



Hamslice knows he's supposed to be quiet during this time, so he uses it to ruminate about things he has seen, or things he'd like to do during the day. And he talks to himself in a soft, feathery whisper.



He mostly says things like "Today I'd like to stay home from Montessori and play with Mommy" and "I want to go to the playground with the slides and tunnels."



But there's something about the sound of his whisper that lends a "Stephen King" tone to the discussion, making my hair raise when he says things like "Mommy's getting fat" and (terrifyingly) "I want to eat your eyes"

Go Raisins!

Because the Baltimore Ravens are doing so well in the playoffs (thus far) Hamslice's Montessori class is learning about football and what it means to cheer for their home team.

His teachers were crying with laughter when I picked up Hamslice last Friday -- evidently when they asked if he likes the Ravens, he said "yes, I like raisins very much."

Go Raisins.

Pecking Order

Sometimes it's tough being 2 1/2. Evidently, you don't get the respect you think you deserve, so you look for a patsy.

This afternoon Hambone and I found Hamslice in the kitchen, bossing around our terra cotta chicken. He was sitting on his zebra scooter, pointing his finger and commanding the following:

"You go to bed right now or I'll close the door"

"Don't make me mad"

"When I get mad, I get scary"

and so on. It was so adorable, but kind of a reminder of what jerks we can be as parents too. Humbling, really.

Happy Holidays Everyone

Our trip to Michigan was full of excitement and visits with dear old friends and family. Hamslice was not as loud on the airplane as I'd feared he would be. He went with "creepy" instead. At one point during the flight he stood in his seat and pointed to the young man behind him, shouting "You are NOT my DADDY"

He's just chock full of surprised like that these days.

We also found out at Uncle Curt's house that we have a little musician on our hands. He played piano with perfect hand form, and even a recognizable musicality. Here are some pics...

Gratuitous Hamslice Pics

Happy Holidays everyone. Here are some Hamslice pictures to counterbalance my complaining about the "Terrible Twos" He is still, clearly, the cutest thing alive. And I'm not biased at all!

Wow, these are Terrible Twos

Lately Hamslice has been fighting his nap routine quite a bit. Evidently when he is at home he thinks it's a napless wonderland of cuddling with Mommy. Mommy, of course needs a little break in the afternoons.

Today I put him down for a nap at 12:30. At 1:15 he was still screaming his fool head off and throwing things at the door. When I went in to check on him, I saw a wonderland of destruction:

First step inside the door, I crunch down on his shattered night light. OW.

Second step in the door, I am surprised to see him completely naked.

Third step in the door, I am overwhelmed by the smell of poopy.

Fourth step in the door, I step into the poopy from step 3.

I must admit that I lost my cool a little bit after step 4. We cleaned up and put on a new diaper, I changed my socks, and put him down. Wouldn't you know it, he was snoring in three minutes.

Hmmm. Let's have TWO kids. Yowza.

Jingle Bells

How in the world did Hamslice hear about Christmas so early? I've never seen someone so completely za za over the season in my life. He is in love with the song "Jingle Bells" and sings it constantly. It's to the point now where he sings that song almost as much as he sings the jingle from the Luna Carpet commercial.

He also refuses to drink out of non-Christmas themed cups, and has become infatuated with a Christmas tree ornament he found in the cupboard the other day. All activities are framed with "Can I do this even though it's not Christmas Yet?"

It's cute, but I am starting to wonder if our plane ride to Michigan this December will include rousing choruses of Jingle Bells (One horse open sleigh... HEY!).

Our last ride was a study in how many times he could sing "happy birthday to you" and I'm still a little unsettled by that.

Terrible Twos

So my sweet baby boy has started coming into his own opinions about how the world ought to run. Lately we've started seeing full-on tantrums that include throwing things, and lying facedown on the floor kicking, punching the ground, and screaming.

To counteract this new phase, we have instituted the "naughty chair" which seems to be effective in a random and arbitrary way. Sometimes he sits in there sulking for ten minutes, other times he goes into the chair joyfully, shouting "Sorry" on his way there, so he only needs to touch his bottom in the chair before going back to play.

To further complicate things, he is also starting to potty train. Sometimes we send him to the naughty chair, but he says he needs to go potty. So then what??

Clearly we're out of our depths here...

HappyHalloween

Last weekend we took Hamslice to one of those combination "yuppie overpriced pumpkin patch/cheesy halloween decorations farms. The weather was spitting rain and a little bit below 40 degrees with a lot of wind. Hambone was totally over it, but Hamslice enjoyed the hay ride. They were both a little overwhelmed with trying to find just one pumpkin to buy in the giant field, but eventually the wind prevailed and the just picked whatever was by their feet.

On Sunday we carved the pumpkins and I roasted the seeds in the oven. We had a Walton's moment. Awwww.

Just Like Daddy

We're doing some pretty intense landscaping in the back yard, and of COURSE Hamslice wanted to participate. Here he is "being big like Daddy" on this teeny tiny tractor...

Baseball's newest fan

Hambone was able to score some sweet tickets to the Washington Nationals' game over the weekend. Hamslice had an absolute blast. He was cheering for the teams (both of them) and chanting along with the crowd.

Farmer Hamslice!

We went to Antique Tractor Days in Iowa last weekend and had so much fun with the petting zoo and miniature kid-sized tractor displays. The big tractors were also interesting, because they were remarkably well preserved. Some pics are posted below.

This is also Hamslice's first airplane trip as a 2 year old. He thought it was a great idea to sing "Happy Birthday to You" at the top of his voice for all four hours on the plane. Nicely done, buddy.

Happy Birthday Hamslice

isn't he so cute. Happy birthday man...

FarmerMarket

Here's a cutie little picture of Hamslice for you hopeless addicts out there. He's definitely talking up a storm these days, including some baffling terms. For instance, we're not "mommy" and "daddy" anymore, we're "Mommy HOTA" and "Daddy HOTA" now. Even Maggie has a HOTA after her name. Can't quite figure that one out. . .

SaltNFlour

Last weekend I was baking zucchini bread, and Hamslice wanted to help quite badly. Since the batter for this particular recipe was pretty sloppy, I set him up with Salt N Flour dough instead and let him play with that on the ground. Evidently I didn't have enough salt in the mix, so it was a little more pasty than we had planned.

Oh well. It's easy enough to clean up, right?

HamsliceWithGparents

I am finally getting around to posting this cute picture we got when Grandpa & Grandma came to visit. The trip was fun for all of us, and it was nice for Hamslice to be able to spend time with his G&G. Here's to hoping they come again soon. Hamslice keeps asking when Grandma is coming again, and he enjoys looking at the photo that we have on the counter of G&G when they were dating.

Sorry it took so long, guys...

FromKiddo

Kiddo sent along a video of his little guy that I wanted to share. Kiddo is getting all sophisticated on me with his video editing abilities...

Bubbles

Hambone was off cutting down a tree last weekend, so Hamslice and I had more time for fun stuff like playing with the bubble gun. What sweet little buns...



In other news, we had a potty training breakthrough yesterday, when Hamslice finally started to understand that when he goes poopy on the potty chair, he can stop wearing diapers. (Evidently, diapers are no longer "in vogue" for his set)

As we left Pizza Hut last night, Hamslice started asking for the potty chair in the car. By the time we got home, the urge had passed, but he made some good noises on the chair anyway.

Today I ordered another brick of diapers...

FancyShoes

Hambone and I attended a wedding this weekend, and I left my "fancy" shoes out in the living room. The next morning I found Hamslice walking around in them.

Quite a change from his usual preference... he generally asks for hiking boots.

Everybody gets a day with sparkly shoes, I guess.

LetUsEatCake

It's Rhubarb season in Maryland, and as a tradition, Hambone, Hamslice and I go to the Farmer's Market (conveniently located under the highway 83 ramp) and get some nice, fresh stalks. Then we bake Rhubarb Cake, which is Hambone's all time favorite

Hambone always wants to get twice as much as is needed for the recipe, so we make a superbly rhubarby cake, which I like quite a bit.

This year, Hamslice give me a hand with the batter. He was such a good boy -- he sat on his chair for more than 1/2 hour watching me mix, chop, fold butter and didn't get antsy. As a reward he got to lick the bowl. =)