Every once in a great while the three of us go out and enjoy a nice family breakfast. Today we were enjoying some chick-fil-a and discussing John’s upcoming birthday. Our discussion went a little like this:

Caitlin: Dominic tonight we are going to celebrate Daddy’s birthday
Dominic: Oh, open presents?
John: Yep! Hey, how old do you think Daddy is?
Dominic: Uhhh
Caitlin: How old is Dominic?
Dominic: 2!
John how old is Daddy?
Dominic: Ummm..Daddy will be 4? Uhh no 7!
Caitlin: How old is Mommy?
Dominic: 2!
John: Daddy is 7 and Mommy is 2?
Dominic: Yes and Donminic is 2 too!

Happy early birthday old man!

Once and a while when the NC Symphony concert has extra seats my Percussion teacher will call at 9pm the day before the concert and give them to us. Once he even tried to sneak John into a concert by having him dress in concert dress and escorting him to our seats. Whenever we need a great sitter our fabulous neighbors Chuck and Kim are always there so we really owed them a babysit.

A few nights a month John needs to work really late. Of course the one night John needs to work (and relax and have a few beers) until 2am Chuck and Kim cash in their babysit.

So last night I had Tyler who is six and has a very, very active imagination, Sydney who is three and a half and very headstrong, and Dominic who spends every minute of every day doing his best impression Wild thing #4 for the new Spike Jonze movie Where the Wild Things Are. Tyler brought all of his imaginary friends Ratty (a rat) Scary Owl (a scary owl) and Coyotes #1-11 (not kidding) and his blanky. Sydney brought chocolate milk in a princess cup.
We played, we had a dance party, we talked about vomit and what stomach acid smells like, and we talked about what types of chemicals are good at cleaning up stomach acid. Then we broke out the play dough. We took turns rolling out the longest snake we could and then the kids took them to the kitchen and beat them with golf clubs. Somewhere between the worm rolling contest and the beatings I earned the nickname Mrs. Cracker.
Dominic was exhausted and went straight to bed after I read every word from every page (Tyler counted) from two books. And then came the trek across the hall to put Tyler and Sydney to bed. An hour and a half of giggling, switching beds, and the repeated question of “How is your sandwich Mrs. Cracker” followed until they were finally asleep.

I hope Chuck and Kim ask us to sit again because that was fun.

I’ve been having trouble deciding what to buy John for his birthday. What do you get for the man who has everything he needs and a bunch of toys already? I think this is a great gift for a guy who enjoys a full day. it’s especially great for a guy who hits the snooze button five times. Happy Birthday (soon) John!

Today Dominic told me he was proud of me, gave me a hug and kiss, and then asked if I needed to go wee-wee.

We went to the Chuck E Cheese in Vestal, NY and Dominic had a wonderful time. We were disappointed that there wasn’t a ball pit, as Dominic is obsessed with play balls but there were many other things to spark his interest. He had a minor meltdown when he realized that the basketball shooting game doesn’t give you an infinite supply of balls. He actually started hording them and tried to carry them around the whole arcade with him but we persuaded him to put them back.

Dominic and I were in NY for the past few weeks visiting and helping my mother after her Bilateral knee replacement.  We had a great time.  Dominic started standing unsupported and added a few new words to his vocabulary.  He can now say Daddy, Doggy, and All Gone! When he says all gone he holds his hands up and shrugs his shoulders.  He also is very good at sharing everyone elses food.  The moment he sees or smells it he gives a little scream and makes his way over the the food to have a bite.

 We found the website of a folk singer that had his own tv show and tapes that I used to watch and listen to when I was little.  So I emailed him and he emailed back!  I also bought the CD with all the songs that I loved for Dominic’s first Birthday.  Now we can sing them at the top of our lungs to annoy John. 

Speaking of Birthdays:

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY JOHN DOMINIC KILGORE!

Love, Mommy and Daddy

John has been in Houston for the past few days leaving Dominic and I here to fend for ourselves. We were doing fine until I had to run and get two of the neighbors to break Dominic’s door open while he screamed and screamed for about a half hour.

A few months ago I noticed that our bedroom door was locked for no reason so I just picked the lock and went on my way. On Wednesday evening It happened to Dominic’s door while he was in the room napping.  I couldn’t pick the lock the whole knob was just completely frozen, that was a very scary moment. I tried for about 15 minutes to get the door open all while Dominic was crying. Then I ran into the street and stopped my neighbor from driving home to come help me. He tried for about 10 more minutes and couldn’t open it. So I ran next door probably looking and sounding crazy to my neighbor Matt’s house.

Matt was just arrested for receiving stolen property, he has a really loud truck that he drives around at all hours, he has loud parties pretty often, and he mows our lawn and does strange things for us even when we ask him not to. He is my favorite neighbor from now on no matter what else he does. He completely saved the day, and part of my sanity. I rang his doorbell and explained my problem and in five seconds he was in my house with a crowbar and a credit card and Dominic was free. The poor baby was so scared and confused.
Then after all of that Preston ate a chipmunk.

We miss John!