ordinary winter days

With Benjamin in school all day, Noah has taken up the reins as Daddy's apprentice chef. He makes a mean brioche.

Amanda sent the boys Zhu Zhu pets - Noah was scared of his at first and would ask someone to turn it on, while he climbed up on a chair so it couldn't "get him." He kept the plastic the pet came in, and quickly discovered he could "trap" it inside, so he could have all the fun of turning it on without it being able to run after him.

This kind of scene is happening a little more frequently these days... does that mean there is hope that they won't end up like the gingham dog and the calico cat after all?

They played very nicely together this morning (for a while there I was afraid I was in some sort of alternate reality). They were playing "Mommy and Daddy" - for some reason Daddy is the coveted role in this game; I'm not really sure why since Daddy in our house gets to do the grocery shopping, cooking, and child-tending all on top of working a full-time job. Mommy has it pretty good. Ah well, their future wives can thank me.

Our normal gray winter weather has set in now. I don't miss the snow we had earlier this winter, but I do miss the sunshine we had seen more of than usual this time of year. Two more weeks of February to trudge through until Benjamin's winter break, and one week into that we leave for the mountains (where we don't mind the snow so much because it's meant to be there).