Dear Santa

Since the boys can't write very well yet, Tim took down what they wanted their notes to Santa to say (they did write their names on the note, though). Here is what they told him:

Dear Santa,
Hi, I'm Adam Jette. For Christmas I want a police station geotrax and I want the grey train and the sheriff. And I want a real doggie and kitty cat. I would like a yellow airplane for geotraxs.

Dear Santa,
My name is Patrick Jette. For Christmas I would really like a fire house with a fire helicopter. Also a fire dog and a police dog, a fire car and a fire truck, a fire motorcycle, and a police motorcycle and police truck. Also, if you have time, I would like Lightening and Mader geotrax with the train and sheriff.

My Herbivore

My boys are obsessed with their Dinosaur Train PBS program. I actually like this show because it has a scientific bent to it. Because of it PJ told me he is a herbivore.

Last night the boys were sent to bed and Tim made a lovely rib dinner for us adults. Well, as usual someone had to go potty and the twinado was let out of their room. From the top of the stairs PJ sniffs the air and says:
PJ: What's that smell? It is disgusting. Is that dead animals?
Daddy (laughing): yes
PJ: Is that pig? Disgusting.

Then he stormed off to bed.

Birthday Wishes

AJ: Mommy I want an IPhone for my birthday
Mommy: Who are you going to call?
AJ: nobody, I don't know any one's number, but I like the other stuff on it.

When I grow up

AJ found a new calling. He no longer wants to be a police officer, but now wants to be a geologist! He told me he loves rocks and that he has been collecting rocks at school. He was wondering what rocks are made of and how can he break rocks open to see if there is anything inside. I told him that those are wonderful questions and that he can even get a job when he grows up testing his hypotheses. (He learned the word hypothesis from his favorite show, Dinosaur Train- "It's an idea you can test!") He was very excited that he can grow up and be around rocks all day long. We even looked at rocks online and talked about fossils and gemstones. AJ couldn't wait to get to school to show his Daddy his collection.

(PJ still wants to be a surgery doctor)

Work Advice from 4 year olds

Monday has turned out to be a very bad day work wise. Just a whole mess of work related junk. I told the boys that I needed a hug and kiss, which they immediately gave me. (gotta love my sweetie boys).

Then they asked me why I was sad and I told them that my bosses were mad because my team and I were not good listeners. AJ told me not to worry and just say I am sorry and tell my bosses that I will be a better listener tomorrow. Then I asked about what I should do with my team to make them better listeners. P said I need to give them something to make them listen. He said, "Maybe you should just give them some money. Not a lot, but just a little so we don't run out."

Go Veggie!

Last night, I made the children their typical working parent meal (fish sticks, veggies- previously frozen, banana, and they got tator tots because Tim wanted them with his Veggie burger).  PJ was eating his food and asked if the fish was dead. When I said yes, he spit out his fish stick and sweetly said, "Please, Mommy, stop feeding me dead animals."  He told me he did not want to eat dead animals anymore, lunch was the last time. He requested that no dead animals be packed for his lunch tomorrow too. (By the way- AJ ate P's fish sticks)
I did pack leftover fish sticks for AJ and made a special cheese sandwich (we have a no nuts policy at school).   I guess PJ is going to be eating a lot of eggs since he is not too in love with beans and rice or tofu. I am going to have to do some kid friendly recipe research ASAP. 
I think I better learn to shut my mouth better or else I think P will turn vegan when he asks me where his eggs come from.  Or maybe I should just pony up for free range eggs?

Left out

Due to the boys' poor behavior the boys are now in separate classrooms. I was really hoping to not to have to deal with it until Kindergarten, but I agree they have to be in separate classrooms. Unfortunately, the preschool they are at only has one pre-K program so one child is "repeating" the class he did last year. Not ideal, but we couldn't find any other options at other centers. Placing 2 in 2 classrooms for pre-K is very hard to do especially this late in the year.

With separate classrooms, the inequality begins. Poor AJ, today PJ was able to participate in a child's birthday party at school and ate cupcakes. He of course asked if his brother could have one and his request was denied. In the car ride home, AJ was very upset when he found out about this. To make his brother feel better PJ told AJ that next time that there was a party he was not going to eat anything unless his brother gets some. He said he was going to tell his friends to do the same. Then when PJ got home he emptied both his lunch box and AJ's. He thought it would make AJ feel better.

Meat is still Murder

From my vegetarian P:
"Pigs eat mud and poop. If you eat a pig then you are eating mud and poop."

Neither boy would eat their burger last night because it came from a cow. I had to convince them that eggs were not dead chicks for them to eat their breakfast. They are now horrified that people wear dead animal skin (leather).

Good things that I subscribe to Vegetarian Times. Now I must look for some vegan kid friendly recipes.

Meat is Murder

On the way home from school today we started talking about the food we eat. I think it started with the boys asking me if I liked to eat crab legs. I said I did like to eat crab legs. They wondered what happened to the crab once you cut off its legs. I told them that the crab is dead and then you eat the crab legs. Then that lead to who kills the crab and I told them people kill animals for you to eat. That got the boys thinking and P wondered if the chicken he ate was chicken from the farm. I told him yes it was and then he started to bawl that killing is wrong and was just horrified that he had been eating dead animals. He told me that he is never ever eating animals again. AJ wondered what steak was from so I told him it came from cows. PJ just kept crying and saying he didn't want us to talk about it anymore. After that talk I took them to the garden store to buy new veggies for our garden.

When I Grow Up

AJ: Mommy, Jack at school is a boy, but he wants to be a princess when he grows up.
KKJ: Well, some boys can be princesses when they grow up. Would you like to be a princess too?
AJ: No, I am going to be a king. Then I can lift up all the girls dresses.

(Oh dear... I swear he has never seen History of the World Part 1)

Father's Day Gifts

Driving home from school yesterday I asked the boys what they thought their daddy would like Father's Day.

PJ: Daddy would like a tuba or a piano.
AJ: Or he might like a trumpet or cymbals.
PJ: Or a conductor's stick. He would really like that.

Twinisms

Look up in the sky, Mommy. It is Superman.

Morning Gem

P: Mommy when it is nudey day at school can we go nudey?

Who are you?

When I went to pick up the boys from school, they were sitting in a circle with their friends listening to a story. One of their friends tapped AJ and said Patrick your mommy is here. AJ just said I am Adam. Then another friend asks Patrick, "are you Adam or Patrick?". He calmly says "I am Patrick, that is Adam." This happened a few more times as we were getting ready to leave. It shocked me that their friends have trouble telling them apart. To me they are so different. Besides we still do not know if they are identical twins or not. Also, it is not like I dress them alike unless it is for pictures or if grandparents are coming. On a daily basis they are dressed similar- same style of clothes, but different colors to avoid the freaky Oompa Loompa look.
I asked the boys on the car ride home if many of their friends get them mixed up and call them by the wrong name. They told me it happens "a lot of times". I then asked if they were upset that their friends couldn't tell who was who. They said no because they liked their brother. (followed by a "you my best friend?" and "I am your friend, bubpee." hug hug) I wonder what they would have said at one of those moments when "you are not my friend anymore."

Grow smaller

The boys found their Zebra and Elephant Halloween costumes in their closet from 2 years ago (2006) and wanted to wear them again:

Mommy: But you are now too big to wear those costumes.
Boys: When I grow smaller I can wear these costumes again.
Mommy: I am sorry, but you will just get bigger and you wont get smaller.
Boys: No, if I eat a lot of candy I will grow smaller. I am going to eat lots and lots of candy.
Mommy: Why would eating candy make you smaller?
Boys: Because you said that if I eat candy I wont grow big.

When it rains it pours....

I made it back from Philly and I am exhausted. I am so happy to have Tim's folks here to help out in my absence. I am sure Tim feels the same. Two trips back to back and a like million billables to do in between. I have to operate at over 125% of my utilization until the end of the year. It is going to be tough. I can't even begin think about planning for the holidays and boy's 4th birthday, which are all right around the corner. Yikes. Will it be bad if they still never had an official (inviting their friends) birthday party? I don't know if I have the time and energy required to pull it off. *Sigh*

Tim told me a funny that happened when I was gone:
Boys: Where's Mommy?
Tim: In Philadelphia.
Boys: Are there lights in Philadelphia?

They are so random. Guess they wanted to make sure I wasn't in the dark.

Mornings

Morning time. Always a struggle for the boys. These guys hate to get out of bed and hate getting dressed even more. Even when you show them their favorite shirts and underwear as motivation. They still want to "lie down because it is comfy". I don't blame them.
Today will be a warm one so I picked out shorts and a t-shirt (dinosaurs- their fav). P told me that he does not like his shorts and broke down. After pleading to use his words to tell me why, he told me he wants to wear jeans and didn't care that it would be hot out.
"Jeans start with J. J is for Jette and Jaguars. I love jeans."
Can't argue with that logic. I hope he doesn't get too hot today.