So finally getting back to the boys....
They've had a good week. Scott had Monday off, which was nice. Like our weekend, though, it was uneventful. Just the usual errands and whatnot. But it's always nice when he gets a three-day weekend.
We had music class Wednesday morning, and Dante was definitely more into it this time. He participated a little more, and clinged to me a little less. And Gabe was even more enthusiastic this time, too, and did a pretty good job of following directions. The funniest thing is that I think Dante's favorite part of class is when it's time to put away the instruments. The kid LOVES to clean up. When we say it's time to clean things up, he comes running over and can't wait to start putting stuff away.
Gabe had art class this morning, and Dante and I ran a few errands while Gabe was busy creating his paper-bag monster. It's pretty cool looking, and I'll be sure to take a picture of him with it. I'm trying to take pictures of every project he does, because eventually the projects themselves are going to find their way into the trash, but I figure at least I'll have photos of them that he can look at.
A few other random things -
One day last week, totally out of the blue, Gabe looked at me and said "I'm growing up so fast, Mommy."
When I picked the boys up from the gym daycare one morning last week, Dante was sitting on the floor next to a little girl who was probably about 9 or 10 months old, and as I walked in to get him, he reached over and lifted up her skirt!
Scott was wearing a t-shirt the other day that said "Nike" on the front, and Gabe pointed to it and said "N, I, K, E." He's been able to recognize letters for a while, but we usually only ask him to do it when we're in the midst of an alphabet puzzle or game or something, so I was pretty impressed that he just randomly picked out and identified those letters all by himself.
Not to be outdone, Dante has a few more new words - "moon," "whoa" and "water." Well, he doesn't really say "water," but he says something like "waaaaa," and he makes the sign for water, so I know what he's saying - and he's putting in the effort, so I'm really proud of him!
Dante is regularly peeing on the potty now - once in the morning and once at night - and he's so funny when he goes. He sits on the potty, watches the pee, and then looks up with this huge grin on his face and claps and says "YAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!!!!" Then he gets off the potty, points at the pee and says "ooooooooo." He's such a funny little kid.
Gabe's pretty hysterical, too - Monday afternoon we stopped at a coffee shop for a snack, and I was sitting at the table with the boys, waiting for Scott to come over with our food, and Gabe said something about how we were waiting a long time, and then he sighed and said "It's hard to behave."
That same afternoon, we also stopped at the beach, and we got out and walked along the seawall, and then walked down to a small rocky area, where the boys had the time of their life throwing rocks around. I think they enjoyed that just as much as they enjoy playing in the sand and the water during the summer. And today, after we picked Gabe up from art class, I let Gabe choose what he wanted to do. I told him we could either go to the park or go to the beach and throw rocks. You'll never guess which he chose.....
Sunday afternoon, Scott was outside working in the yard, and Gabe walked over to the screen door and said "Daddy, what's the matter with you? What are you doin' out there? Get in here!" and proceeded to open the screen and wave Scott inside.
Gabe is also driving me UP A WALL with his constant, never-ending, incessant, nails-on-a-chalkboard whining. He's basically done with naps (he'll still nap occasionally, but if he does nap, then he stays up for hours after we put him to bed), and most days I put him up in his room for some "quiet time," and he plays up there for an hour or so. But yesterday I let him stay downstairs with me, and soon regretted it. He spent nearly an hour walking around whining "I want to do anything....." which was his way of saying he was bored and didn't know what he wanted to do, and he wanted me to entertain him.
A lot of the parks we go to just happen to have tennis courts nearby, and a few weeks ago, we discovered that Gabe and Dante love going in the tennis courts and throwing a tennis ball around and chasing after it. Well, it's now gotten to the point where they PREFER the tennis courts to the park. We went to the park one day this week, and Gabe was distraught to see that there were people playing tennis, so we couldn't go in the tennis court and were instead forced to go play at the park.
He managed to enjoy himself for a little while at the park, but after about half an hour the whining about wanting to play tennis started up again, so I took them to the school down the street from our house they threw their tennis balls around the parking lot there (school was out, so the parking lot was empty). Then as we were leaving, Gabe asked me what was in the school, and I was telling him there were desks and chalkboards and books, and he interrupted me and asked "chopped gourds, Mommy?" He's talking really well now, but clearly, we still get the occasional mispronunciation when he's learning a new word : )
The other morning, Gabe and I had already been downstairs for a little when Scott and Dante came down, and Dante came running into the kitchen waving to Gabe and saying "Hi!" And as if that wasn't cute enough, he then went running over to Gabe and hugged him. And one morning this week, they were standing next to the door waiting for me, and Gabe just reached over and gave Dante a big hug. But wait - there's more! Yesterday, Gabe came in Dante's room with me when I was putting Dante in for his nap, and he suggested that we sing "Twinkle, Twinkle" to Dante, so we sang it to him together. Talk about melting a mommy's heart.
On a final note, as Gabe would say - "Go Red Sox!! Number one!!! Thumbs up!! Woohoo!!" I'm a little bummed I won't be able to stay up to watch the whole game tonight, but at least it's just game one of the series. Cleveland is an awesome team, so I'm anticipating some great games over the next few days......
And few more pictures -
Yes, they made a mess, but they were sitting. and reading. quietly. and NOT fighting.
Anyone know of a good 12-step program for binky addicts? Note the infamous "finger bud" on his right hand.
A fun fall project - pumpkin painting.
Every time Dante put a little paint on the pumpkin, he'd grin and say "yayyyyy!" That's one of his favorite words, I think.
And just in time for Halloween, it's PSYCHO DANTE! 
Comments