Coloring

One of Max's new favorite things is coloring. But he doesn't like crayons. Oh no, they aren't dramatic enough for him (of course). No, he has to use markers. Which is okay, they are mostly washable. They come right out of his clothes. But they do not come out of the couch very well. You can't easily throw the couch in the washing machine, unfortunately.


But he still has a good time! And makes beautiful pictures!!

Hallelujah!

My baby is growing up! I just wanted to post a quick little thing about Max going to nursery. Oh man!!! Church is actually enjoyable now! We barely make it through the first hour, but after that it is smooth sailing. Max LOVES nursery. He loves playing with the toys and the kids and he especially loves the bubbles at the end. Thanks nursery leaders for making very happy parents on Sundays!

Pool Party!

The other day it was so nice and warm out so Marcela broke out the kiddie pool and we had a little pool party! It was really fun. Brooke and her girls, Mariah and Sadie, Tiffany and Lani and their kiddies and even Monique, Joaquin and Izzie were there. It was so fun to let the kids hang out and play in the sun.


The slide ended up in the pool and the kids were loving it. Especially Joaquin and Marcelle.


We also had yummy snacks and my favorite -- Marcela's tuna pasta salad. Seriously, it's awesome.

It was a great day! (And isn't it awesome that we can have a pool party in March?)

Stubbornism

Okay, so I know that isn't really a word or an official condition, but so help me, if I had the time and energy and really cared enough, I would lobby to make it one. Max has it. He has a terminal case of it. He is, hands down, the most stubborn person I know. More than myself, more than my parents... it's almost scary.

Two things have happened recently that have led me to this diagnosis. Well, a lot of things actually, but two big things. Fist of all, Maddox has entered into the dreaded TERRIBLE TWOS. I actually don't think the terrible twos are that bad. It's the terrible twos combined with stubbornism that makes it freakishly scary.

Incident #1
This happened about two months ago on a typical weekday morning. I was finishing getting ready to go run errands or whatever it was I was doing that day and Max had carried in a bowl of Cheerios he had been working on that morning (sans milk). He sat on the floor of our bedroom and dumped the whole bowl on the floor. I said, "Max, that's not nice. Please pick them up and put them back in the bowl." Little did I know, that that simple request would turn into a 45 minute battle of wills. I sat there for, yes you read correctly, 45 minutes trying to get him to pick up the Cheerios that he had purposely dumped out onto the floor and put them back in his bowl. He had a couple tantrums, laughed and thought it was funny, tried to run away about 197 times, but I DID NOT give in. I stood my ground and a mere 45 minutes later, he put them back in the bowl.

Incident #2
We were giving Max a bath and he threw a tantrum for no reason. He wouldn't sit down and he was just screaming and screaming. He finally calmed down and sat in the tub a good 10 minutes later and we wanted him to say sorry for his behavior. He would not say it. Now, I know he can say the word, he can repeat a lot of words and does so regularly. He is just so dang stubborn he wouldn't do it. And of course, I wouldn't give up. I just kept putting warm water in the bath so he wouldn't freeze. About 20 minutes later, he finally said it (well, he signed it which was good enough since he wouldn't even do that).

There have been many more incidents over the past few months that can attest to his condition of stubbornism. I fear for the teenage years. Actually, I fear tomorrow and the next day, wondering what he'll decide to be stubborn about then, and how long it will take me to break him down. But I won't give up! As super nanny Jo Frost often says (and this is a paraphrase), parents have to show that they are the authority in the house and what they say goes. I'm not breaking his spirit, just his stubborn little will power.

Easter

We had a very low key Easter this year. When I was younger our family went all out -- egg dyeing, Easter egg hunt, baskets, big family dinner. But since we're the only surviving members out here in California we spent it all on our lonesome. It was nice though.


I made Max -- I mean the Easter Bunny made Max a cute basket. It had a stuffed duck, a chocolate bunny, some crayons and some plastic eggs filled with his favorite snacks -- goldfish crackers, oatmeal squares cereal and fruit snacks. We went to church (Max wore his little tie; I think he looks like a little frat boy in this outfit) and came home and took naps. And then our friends the Wilkinsons came over with their adorable little boy Tyson and the kids played and we chit chatted.


I did decide that I want Easter in our house to be centered around the real meaning, not just candy and eggs and baskets. I think I'll do my best in the future to fill our kids' baskets with healthy snacks, toys that cost no more than $5 and something that will remind them of the true meaning of Easter. Is that lame? I don't know. Normally I am more traditional. We'll see if this can actually be pulled off.

Happy Birthday Tyler!!

That's right, our very own Tyler turned 27 years OLD. It sounds pretty old to me, anyway. We had a great day just hanging out together as a little family. We took Max to the zoo so he could see the AN-MALS (that he now asks to see anytime Tyler is home; I guess Tyler being home equals a trip to the zoo). We had a little picnic lunch and let Max get out some of his wiggles. We were lucky that his birthday fell during spring break so we could just relax.

Later that night Danielle came over so we could go out. We had dinner in Old Town at one of our faves -- the former Casa De Pico (I can't remember the new name -- Casa de Something). Then we went to Sea World to catch the Shamu show. We have season passes there so it was super fun. Although, they close a lot of stuff at night and we didn't really get to see much. The Shamu show was cool. We were going to stay for the fire works but we decided to just go home (mostly because I was tired).

I think Tyler had a good birthday. I know I had fun. He really does just like spending time with us (something we can't complain about) so I know he enjoyed that part of it. I'm not sure he likes getting older, something that coincides with a receding hairline and increased boringness. But he's hanging in there. Nothing a milk shake and double-double can't cure, right honey?

We sure do love you!!!

Flowers and Butterflies

Max is a funny kid. I know I say that a lot, but he seriously is. It's not like he cracks jokes all the time or does magic tricks (which, by the way, I don't find funny but really annoying and kind of creepy). Recently Max learned the words for flower and butterfly. Except, he thinks they are the same word. Don't ask me how.

During his bath one night we were trying to teach him the two separate words. I drew a picture of a butterfly and then one of a flower and pointed at each and said very slowly, "flower" and then "butterfly." Max looked at me, paused a few seconds, then pointed at the flower and said "flu-fly" and pointed at the butterfly and said "flu-fly" in the most matter-of-fact calculated way I've ever heard. He was honestly telling me the right way to say it and to him I was just plain wrong. It was the cutest funniest thing ever. Tyler and I were rolling on the floor laughing.

Wicked!!

I finally saw it!! Yes, I have been waiting for years to see this play (since 2003 when it first came out). Tyler's parents got all of us (and by all I mean the WHOLE Seibert clan) tickets to see it in LA so we drove up and hung out with the family and went to the play. It was wonderful, magical, funny... oh man, I could watch it over and over again. (Actually, I was a little disappointed I couldn't DVR it).


The next morning we went to church together in Burbank. Can I just tell you how much Max loves his cousin Jessica? He follows her around everywhere when he sees her. When we were staying in the hotel and we weren't around Jessica he would ask for her over and over again (IssCAA, IssCAAA). He didn't care all that much about Jordan, but I think that was because she is still a baby to him and can't run around and play like him. Not much of a common ground in his opinion.

But we had fun and of course it was a dream-come-true for me!!

Berkeley continued...

So I know I owe you faithful blog readers some real posts, but this is way to awesome to pass up. Continuing with my Berkeley commentary here is the funniest video ever from The Daily Show. The funny thing is, this video portrays Berkeley and their stupid ignorant liberals in the most truthful light I've ever seen. And I love how they make fun of Crepes a Go-Go (Berkeley has a strangely high number of crepe restaurants).

ENJOY!! (Thanks Nate!!)

UPDATE: I fixed the bad video link. Stupid Viacom yanked it off youtube. We are now back online.





Also, I thought I'd add that I actually recognize some of those hippies he interviews on the street. Haha... sigh.