NiklasAndZoe.com

Cuddles thinks a basketball would work here just as well. I-L-L!

Niklas will tell Zoe the names of all of these buildings, even if he has to make them up.

April 2012

2012-03-01: So it's what... a Thursday? Yes. Usually, we do something the kids find fun or some horrible, horrible errands on Thursday, but Niklas was a bit under the weather today so we pretty much laid low. We watched a bunch of Star Wars movies today which seemed to have a healing effect, so it's looking like he'll be good to go for school in the morning. Anyway, it being March, I've been stouted. So.

2012-03-04: So for the first time in a while, Andrya didn't have to go into the office this weekend. That was super popular with the children who had an awesome time playing games, reading books and laughing hysterically with their mommy. We also made it out to the Burger Bar for lunch yesterday. Unfortunately, Zoe's sippy cup did not make it out to lunch with us, so she had to drink out of a cup like a big girl. Pro: she loves that. Con: she is not good at it. Not good. Still, a fine time was had by all. Did I document any of this weekend's activities via the photographying machine? Uhhhhhhh...

2012-03-05: Zoe's no longer a big fan of sitting in a grocery cart. To protest this grave injustice, her thing now is to take her shoes and socks off and throw them about whilst screaming. Niklas, on the other hand, thinks trying to catch flying shoes and socks is great fun, so it works out except for the screaming.

2012-03-06: So it was nice outside this after noon. Mid-60s nice. (Temperature wise; I don't think I'd find 1963-1967 to be that appealing.) Since we had worn our coats to take Niklas to school in the morning (when there were arctic blast of wind; viva Chicago!), Zoe insisted on wearing her coat to go pick him up. Since it was so nice and we were a bit early, we got off the bus a few stops before we had to so as to enjoy a nice stroll on our way to the Preschoolatorium. To wrap things up on account of how my good friends at Sargent & Lundy keep ever so generously providing me with mass amounts of work, Zoe took her coat off and then insisted that I put it back on her at least twelve time on our fifteen minute walk. Did I mention that it was super sunny out and she was wearing her sunglasses? Those were like the coat squared.

2012-03-08: Today we went out to find the kids some new sunglasses on account of how their giant heads have rendered last years models comically inadequate. This is to be expected for Zoe as she was wearing the infant sunglasses last year. Niklas, though, had the vaguely defined but implicative of greater than five year old "youth" size, so he'll be rocking some adult sunglasses this year. He is five. His head is big. Anyway, Zoe's first choice was a pair that made Bono's Zoo TV glasses look understated. I talked her down to some normal sized ones that feature monkeys because nothing says classy like monkey glasses. Niklas ended up with a fairly normal looking pair as they don't put superheroes on adult sunglasses, at least not where I shop.

2012-03-11: So today, we went out to visit the Patels in Schuamburg. Niklas and Jai Star Warsed it up something immensely while Zoe alternated running around laughing at the boys, trying to eat things that were not meant to be eaten and eating actual foodstuffs. Minal, Rajan, Andrya and I conversed in the fashion of adults ignoring a child generated cacophony. A good time was had by all. Zoe also enjoyed herself immensely on the way to their house. She's very much into pointing out airplanes that she sees these days.

And that's why I have "airplane! airplane! airplane!" playing on a loop in my head. Anyway, here are some new pictures.

2012-03-12: So there's a designer toy store (I was previously unaware that there was such a thing) a couple of blocks from us. They have a bunch of toys designed by artists ($$$) and also some weird import stuff. Anyway, they have a billboard up at our train stop, which has led to Niklas becoming obsessed with this guy. As he fell into the more reasonably priced end of their price spectrum (as opposed to say, this guy), we headed over today to pick one up. Niklas had a good time looking at all of the weird stuff there (and we grabbed his marshmallow guy), but Zoe's mind was absolutely blown by all of the brightly colored figures. She had a huge smile on her face and crazy bug eyes as we walked around checking stuff out. There were some one foot tall or so cartoonish mice which led to a "Mouse! Mouse! Mouse!" chant which the other customers somehow failed to join in with. I though it was quite infectious. She ended up with a super tiny plush ninja that she runs around with saying "sneak! sneak! sneak!" which is also infectious, though not terribly stealthy.

2012-03-13: Today is Niklas's half birthday. Happy five point fifth birthday, Niklas! We went to the playground, not so much in celebration of that fact, but because it was quite nice. Niklas climbed on a bunch of stuff while Zoe refused to leave the swings, much as her brother did when he was her age. Niklas has finally started pumping his legs on the swing, which lazies a trip to the playground up a bit for me. I applaud this development.

2012-03-14: Zoe had her music class today. She's really into songs where you act out what's being sung about like The Wheels On The Bus and whatever the name of the fire truck song the guy sings is ("hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck"). She also did a somersault while we were there. That's the first time I've seen that, but based on the thunking sounds that come out of her room sometimes, it's probably not the first one she's tried.

2012-03-19: Niklas and Zoe would like to wish everyone a belated Happy St. Patrick's Day. They were visited by a mischievous leprechaun who turned both ice cream and toilet water green and also tricked Niklas into wearing a pair of Zoe's socks. All of that was thought to be quite grand. Anyway, I apologize for the interruption of our usual posting schedule, but Andrya graciously allowed me to leave town so as to watch the first two rounds of the (Illini-less) NCAA tournament without having to miss large chunks of games due to Elmo and Clone Wars related badgering. I should have some new pictures up tomorrow.

2012-03-20: So recently, I was privy to this exchange:

Andrya: Zoe, who's this in this picture?
Zoe: Zoe!

I can see that, but I don't think Andrya would put Zoe in any vintage style. She could pull it off, though.

Here are some pictures of Zoe in more contemporary garb. There are pictures of Niklas, too, but his Star Wars kick has him dressing in shirts that would have played thirty years ago.

2012-03-22: Today was haircut day in the city of Chicago; at least it was for minors who are under my direct supervision. Putting Niklas in charge of Zoe whilst I get my hair did sounds like a recipe for a large bill in destroyed hair care product and possibly structural damage to the barber shop. I don't know why you would have a recipe for a bill, but metaphors were never my thing. Anyway, haircuts. First we took the train up to the Snippets where Zoe sat patiently and calmly while she got her second ever haircut. Maybe if I say that loud enough, it will travel through time and two year old Niklas will hear it. PATIENTLY AND CALMLY, TWO YEAR OLD NIKLAS! Well, the timeline doesn't seem to have changed, so I guess that didn't work. Still, nicely done, Zoe. After that we took the bus down to Niklas's barbershop, where he got a Chewbacca-ectomy. We finished the morning up by celebrating with lollipops and smoothies.

This afternoon, we went up to the roof and the kids took turns using the... pole with a ball attached that swings around and you try to hit it... thing. You know what I mean. Sure you do. There's a pole, see... Whatever. Niklas had a good time hitting the ball, declaring his hit a homerun and running about the place. Zoe also liked the hitting part but was much less interested in surrendering the bat after her turn. Instead, she would run away and when you caught her (I can still out run you, Zoe C!) she would try to throw the bat off of the roof. It's not often that I will celebrate my daughter's lack of success, but hooray, lack of success!

2012-03-25: Well, Andrya was out of town all last week, so the kids had a fabulous time hanging out with her over the weekend. There was some biscuit making, some coloring and quite a bit of hide and seek. As Niklas shares my knack for observing things, the hide and seek games went on much longer than one might think possible. Another fun (or the opposite) thing was the tantrum Zoe threw in the grocery store yesterday. It pretty much paralleled the tantrum that Niklas threw at the same age when I wouldn't carry him up the hill at Landmark, but this one was about being carried through the Market Place, which doesn't even contain an immense hill, so, there was that.

Pictures? You bet.

2012-03-28: So, what's been going on the past few days? Well, on Monday, we went to the Toys R Us to get some squirt guns on account of how the weather's been super warm of late and then seasonable temperatures returned preventing us from using the squirt guns which led to Niklas asking about the squirt guns every five or ten minutes which led to Zoe asking about them every five or ten minutes on account of how she is really into whatever Niklas is doing these days. Also, both kids have been coughing so much that the house sounds like a tuberculosis ward assuming tuberculosis makes you cough, which I'm not really certain about.

2012-03-30: Well, a fine time was had by all today. It was baseball shirt day at school, so Niklas broke out the Pirates jersey for the first time this year. As the Pirates are undefeated thus far this year, things are looking pretty positive. Yes, I am aware that opening day is next Thursday, what of it? Anyway, Niklas learned about science today, (Me: What did you learn about today, buddy? Him: Science) so feel free to address any science questions you may have to Niklas. Zoe went to the play room at the gym today, which is pretty much her favorite place. They have a camera feed so you can make sure your kids are behaving themselves while you're running on the treadmill (or standing on the treadmill thinking about running, because that's pretty much the same thing) so I'll turn that on every once in a while and see Zoe flying by laughing, which is always nice.