We knew they'd do it sooner or later

We knew the boys wouldn't be able to resist this game on the stairs. It's funny how it's such an indicator of their personalities. Neil approaches most things fearlessly, while Ben is more deliberate and cautious.

Speaking of cautious, Ben had his first skating lesson last Thursday. I'd post a picture, but the poor little guy looks so sad. Brian reported that he only spent eleven minutes on the ice, but he was able to walk around in his skates off ice and did manage to stand up once while he was on ice. The instructor says he'll improve a little with each lesson. Hopefully soon he'll have something to smile about and we can share a nice shot.

Tonight begins Ben's t-ball class. Hopefully we can soon figure out if he'll play right or left handed. (Those left handed mitts are more expensive you know.) Ben always eats left handed, but he throws the ball with either one. When we've tried batting he seems to prefer right handed.

My real birthday

On Monday, Brian came home early and we took the boys sledding for the first time. They both did amazingly well. He got two sleds thinking we'd have to go down with them a few times to get them warmed up to the idea. Hmm. Wrong. We never even got a chance to go down cause the boys were having too much fun on their own. Ben was so into it he was carrying his own sled back up the hill.

Next time we'll need another sled so we can go for a ride too.

My birthday dinner

Some of you may remember that Brian and I have a tradition for my birthday that instead of a gift he takes me to a fine dining restaurant which is to remain a surprise until we get there. We started our second decade of this tradition at a restaurant named Vie. It's owned by chef, Paul Virant. If any of you are Food Network fans you may remember him from a recent Iron Chef battle against Morimoto. He did lose his battle, by one point, but the meal we had was great. We both had the Chef's sampling which was 10 courses when you include the amuse, sorbet and finish. I loved the crispy gnocchi course while Brian preferred the elk sausage and beef combination courses. I have to admit the crispy slow cooked chuck that was part of the beef course was outstanding.

Here's a picture of us before we went out. My mom was kind enough to come into town to watch the boys for us. My mom doesn't really get how this evening is fun for me. She has three rules about eating out; hot, fast and cheap. Our evening broke every rule and I loved it.

A little sidebar for Donna.

Donna, thank you and Joanne for your infinite patience in helping me pick out a dress for this special occasion. But as you see I'm not wearing the $40 bargain we found. You may recognize the dress though. It's the one we found at JC Penny that was a size too small. Well, I didn't find it at out JCP, but I did find it at Carson's on the clearance rack. Can I get a $20 whoop, whoop?

Neil's Eye Doctor Appointment

We noticed something with Neil's eye's some time ago. Every so often we'd catch sight of his eyes not looking properly aligned. Neil's left eye doesn't turn to the left with his right, instead it looks straight ahead. But on the advice of our family doctor we were waiting until Neil turned two before we had it checked out by an eye doctor. I was initially concerned he might have a lazy eye since that was something I had gone through therapy for as a child. After seeing a Pediatric Ophthalmologist, he's tentatively diagnosed Neil with Duane's syndrome. (If you've done an eye exam you can imagine that a two year old's exam is not as precise as yours or mine might be.) Basically Duane's syndrome is where a nerve in his brain didn't develop correctly and therefore the muscle that controls his left eye also didn't develop. We'll continue to have Neil's vision examined every six months to ensure he is not developing any adverse side effects like head tilting to compensate for double vision, but if this is his accurate diagnosis there's really nothing else to be done. Based on other cases we've read about, Neil's case seems pretty mild and he seems to be lucky that his forward looking gaze is in alignment. We were also reassured by some Duane's adults who related that it was really no big deal for them and that mostly it was an nuisance rather than a hinderance.

Here's a photo of Neil where the
camera has caught his eye misaligned.

Our Christmas Trip

At my mom's we all got into the act of creating a rice crispy treat snowman. Well, except Neil he was napping.

The boys had a lot of fun visiting with Santa Claus at Busia and Papa's. Neil even warmed up enough to sit on Santa's lap.








The boys came home to some really fun gifts too. Here's just a couple.