Right now: Spring Break Staycation 2013

Right now there are many things we love, and a few we don't but before I forget them again, I have to write down Will's funny sayings that I love.

• "Mom, it's winding outside." "Be careful, it's going to wind away!"
• "Look at that pootfrint!"
• "What do ___________________ eat? (Fill in the blank with any and all living things, lately expanded to dirt and water.  Turns out there is a lot I don't know about animals.  What do kangaroos eat?)
• After a snack, or dinner:  "My tummy is hungry again."
• Today, again.  "Mommy, why do you have boy hair?  You need to have down (long) hair.  Get it right now!"
• When he says something mean, or in a mean voice, we ask him to say it nicely, so he will say "Nic-e-ly".
• I love hearing him sing - he has lots of made up songs, but he also loves "the bird song"  that we learned last month in Primary (Whenever I Hear the Song of a Bird...")  He knows all the words and it's his favorite good night song.
• I love that Finley wants to feed herself - she is mostly pretty good at it, depending on the menu.  It has made dinnertime more pleasant.

• I love Finley's curls in the back of her hair, but not the mullet effect they give since the front of her hair is not coming in that quickly. 
• I love that Nate takes Will out for adventures so I can have some quiet time with Finley, or alone when she is napping:)
• I love that I can always count on Jami for a comment on my blog:)  Thanks for reading.
• Our staycation in Dubai - a couple of nights at the new Marriott hotel, (and our cool room on the 49th floor) thanks to our two for one Entertainer books, and a few other local two for one dinners and adventures.

• Our annual Easter dinner at our friend's house, with a cool camel encounter on the way.  The only thing I love more than camels is baby camels!  If I hadn't feared the wrath of two mama's, I probably could have given this little guy a hug. 

• I don't love that our spring break is over, but I do love that we are in single digits when I count the teaching weeks left until it's time to go home.
• I do not love that students all over the world can't understand deadlines.  Grrrr for late work. 
• I don't love that I finally have time and semi-quiet to skype my sister, but our computers won't work!! 

Finley

• loves sucking on her front teeth and making a slurping sound.  
• She loves her daddy, and watching ball with him - but only basketball.  She gets annoyed when he tries to watch baseball - it's too slow for her.  
• She loves stealing my phone and pretending to talk or text with it.
• She loves waking Will up in the morning, and laughing with him over their lunch.
• She loves showing off that she can almost walk. 
• She loves our new couch - belly flopping on it is her favorite. 
• She loves puzzles.
• And swings.  She probably spent an hour in this one at our friends house.
  
• And chocolate.
• And pillows - she takes a moment to relax on every one she sees.  I really need to catch it on film.
• And pushing buttons on the computer.
• And prostrating herself on the floor when she isn't getting her way.  It would be funny if it weren't so scary to us of what might lie ahead...
• She loves using her few words and having you respond - Mama? Mama?  Dada? Dada?  Ba (can be ball, or bottle, or if it is repeated, I think brother)
• She does NOT love when you take away whatever she is playing with, and she lets you know.  
• She also does not love being put down, or ignored.  
• None of us love that she knows exactly what she wants, but has no way to tell us other than crying.
• She LOVES sitting with Nate and helping him cook.
   

Will

• loves Santa - he's been playing a lot of make believe lately.  One day I was Mama Santa and I gave him presents, and today he made Santa's house in the playroom.
• reading books - sometimes to himself, and being read too.  
• He also loves acting out the Ten in the Bed Play Hide and Seek book.
• Calling Finley by the nickname he made up for her - Stinky Diaper.  It's hilarious every time to him.
• He loved our trip to the aquarium and underwater zoo in the Dubai Mall - we all loved the penguins.  It was so funny to see them lining up for lunch, then sliding into the water and rushing back over to get in line again. 
• He loves helping to feed Finley, and helping her walk.
• He does not love having his nose wiped or cleaned - two weeks of a bad runny nose are getting old.
• He does not love being on a timetable to eat - he would sit at the table for hours and play with his food if we let him.
• He loves playing in the pool - there were two great "shelves" on either side of the pool at the Marriott - about 6 feed wide and 4-5 inches deep. Finley loved trying to crawl around it too, but it was just deep enough that when she leaned over to do her scoot, she got a mouthful of water.

Nate

• He loves being able to cook using his spices he picked up in Azerbajan, Istanbul and the spice souk here in Dubai.
• The awesome load of stuff our pilot friend Gregg just brought back from the States. 
• Watching ball with Finley.
• He does not love Will's whining, and his stubbornness about going to the bathroom. (We both hate this - esp when the two things are combined at 3 in the morning.)

But life is good, and summer is coming, and we have real hot dogs and Cinnamon Life cereal.  Yippee!  (For a box of good cereal here, if you can find it, it costs about $9-10, and half the time it's stale, so we love that Gregg will make cereal runs for us.