2 Years, 10 Months

Steve and I figured out a way to get ourselves a break.

Well, really the rabbits were at the petsitters' house so the boys wanted to be bunnies... although Henry is really being more of a lizard-type thing from the looks of that shot.

Anyway, things around here continue to be as chaotic as one might expect with two toddlers running around.

Henry and Jack, following the letter of the law (we only have food in the kitchen) if not the spirit (eating edamame while perched at the edge of their room, still technically in the kitchen... barely):

Waiting for their poppers to pop, expectantly looking at Mom as if she has the power to speed up this process:

Henry checks to see if brother Jack has a fever:

Dr. Jack (seriously, he announces "I'm a doctor!" from time-to-time) contemplates Dad's diagnosis: 

He delivers the bad news (you have two toddlers, and I'm afraid it's a chronic condition):

Fortunately pharmacist Henry has the perfect cure... a play-dough kitchen stove:

Steve's Birthday
Preschool has conditioned the boys to enjoy anyone and everyone's birthdays, so we had to be sure there were balloons, party hats and at least a couple gifts for Daddy's birthday.

Waiting with said balloons and party hats for Dad:

It just isn't a party unless you take the birthday balloons everywhere you go:

Hooray for stereotypical Dad gifts! Circular saw blade organizer:

Tool set! (For Steve to take along with him in his car since he often gets asked to help fix things but seldom has the right tool(s) with him.)

Jack is... excited.

We are... nervous.

Henry!
A favorite pastime, playing in Kasey's car and posing for glamour shots:

The boys have very different styles when playing with blocks. Jack builds towers, while Henry builds sprawled out villages. We find his villages amusing and creative and have taken many pictures of them, but I'll limit myself to just posting one village this time.

Not really complete until Hen-e-phant tests it out:

Voila!

We ordered some fantastic slime made by the boys' cousin Sage, and Henry especially is a huge fan. His favorite is the pink strawberry slime.

Henry loves to sing and dance, and his happy enthusiasm is absolutely infectious.

Even after taking an unintended flying leap from a swing recently and landing rather hard, Henry still loves (and is quite the daredevil on) the swings:

Jack!
Terminator Jack, on patrol:

Terminator Jack, watching Curious George: 

One of Jack's favorite activities is trying to coax Henry into doing things that have specifically been forbidden. For example, Mom will tell Henry to stop banging his cup on the table and Jack will say "it's okay, Henny, you can do it," with a sly grin. This makes Mom very displeased.

I don't know what she's talking about.

Nice try, kid, we're not buying it.

Jack seldom wants to pose for pictures, but he does occasionally humor Kasey at least.

Selfie face:

Jack continues to be strong and coordinated for his age. Here he carries home our dinner-of-champions, burger and fries:

Though plenty excited about carrying food, Jack is generally uninterested in actually eating it. It's a seemingly constant struggle to get him to sit down at the table and eat. On one particularly frustrating evening I said to him, exasperated, "well, what do you think we should do about you not sitting down at the table to eat!?" His response, with a quick grin, "throw me in the trash!" Uh... I admit he caught me off-guard with that one.

Jack developed a lump on his chest back in November. After having an initial ultrasound it was decided at the time to "wait and see." This past month, Jack went back for a second ultrasound which appeared to show some growth (or at least, no shrinkage), so he then followed that up with an MRI (we don't yet have results). Since toddlers won't hold still for an MRI, they have to be sedated. Poor kid. One small bright spot is that these procedures were done "over the hill" in Santa Clara, and Kasey (who's from that area) knew of a fun little park with a mini-train we could visit after his appointments. Jack thought it was great and after seeing the pictures, we've had to promise Henry we'll find a way to take him too someday.

Engineer Jack and engineer's assistant Kasey:

Fun in the flatbed car:

Jack is getting a little too used to receiving rewards for going to his various doctor's appointments. From the nurse assisting with his MRI, he received a little red toy car, which he loves. However, his ambitions have subsequently grown. On the way home from the park recently, he asked me, "what car are you going to buy me to drive?" Then followed that up with, "buy me a red van to drive! Does that sound good, Mommy? Have to buy me a red truck with dollars!" (He's still vacillating between wanting a van and a truck.)

Sure, kid.

Apparently Jack is trying to work both sides. Steve says Jack has taken a shine to a red classic car often parked on the route home from school and frequently requests to stop and take a look at it... followed by requests that Daddy buy it for him.

Anyway, back at home, Jack shows off his chalk artwork. "It's a stop sign!"

Borrowing Daddy from work for brunch and coloring: 

Selfie with Mommy's new glasses:

Visitors!
We were fortunate to have some visitors this past month. Friends Eric, Gail and Scott made the trek up from Southern California for Memorial Day weekend.

Gail prepares to face her destiny at the slide park with Henry (left) and Jack (right):

My folks were also in town earlier in the month. I didn't get great pictures this trip, but I did catch this one of Grandma teasing Jack while Grandpa looks on:

It's nice having visitors. The boys seem to take a break from their near-constant bickering when there's new and interesting people around.