Let's go Canada!

Let's be clear. Those words did not come out of my mouth.

As Olympic coverage transitioned from the 50 km to hockey, Liam and Cole decided to play hockey. Liam said, "Let's go Canada!" We questioned whether he really wants Canada to beat the US, but he has repeated it multiple times, in addition to the simpler "Go Canada." He has also stood at attention and sung O Canada.

Jeff decided to put on his USA jersey in response, so we had very clear delineation of loyalties. We laughed a lot, though, when Canada scored. Liam's first response? "Oh, no!"

(2nd period, after the US finally scored: We cheer. Liam comes out and realizes why we're cheering and screams "NOOOOOO!!!!!" Jeff & I started chanting USA, and Cole joined us. Liam started chanting Can-a-da, and Cole joined him.)

A Knight by Cole

Cole has never been all that interested in drawing or coloring, preferring to express himself with Trios or Legos instead. It's amazing, really, how many fewer projects he comes home with from preschool than Liam did.

All that seems to have changed recently. I find drawings all over the craft room that I know are not Liam's (fewer colors, fewer geometric shapes, no facial features). This one is one of my favorites. He spent many minutes describing it to me today, including the sword, the "protector thingy", his brown legs, his helmet including the feather on top, and his shield. I was very impressed.

Master of the House

Liam has a lot of fun helping Jeff in the kitchen. Mostly they do mixing things, since Jeff's a little worried about Liam near the open flame of our range. While we were eating this evening, Liam said he was a cook. Cole then said, "Liam's a cook, Daddy's a cook, I'm a cook." I then asked if I was a cook, and he replied, "No, you're the master."

Vikings fans?

I've been watching football this afternoon, big surprise. The boys usually play hockey when I'm watching TV, but today they decided to play football. Liam gets a kick out of throwing the football everywhere, although thankfully he's careful to throw it away from the TV and windows. (I don't worry too much since he uses a stuffed football.) Usually he is a Longhorn (the logo on the football) or a Bulldog (his hockey team). Today, he was a Viking. He might've even been Brett Favre. I think that's why Cole tackled him so aggressively. When I pointed out that in our house, we cheer for the Packers, he said no, he was a Vikings fan. Thank goodness their season is over, too.

Knowing How to Score

Liam and Cole wanted to pull out Jeff's equipment today while he was gone, but I wouldn't let them. Needless to say, Liam was very excited when Jeff got home. Their conversation went something like this:

L: You're going to be a scorer, okay, Dad? You know how to be a scorer, right?
J: Yes, I've seen other people play.
L: Okay, because I'm going to be the goalie.

- pause while Jeff works on an e-mail -

L: Dad, you need to come now. The hockey game is about to start.
J: I need to finish sending this e-mail to Emily, okay?
L: Okay. One of the refs will tell you when it's time to start. When you finish that square, it's time to start.
J: When I finish saying what I'm trying to say, then I'll come.
L: Dad, are you almost done? There's only 1 minute until the game starts. Hurry up.
L: Thirty seconds left.

They made it out to the living room and Liam told Jeff that he was actually early because Liam didn't know when the game officially started. Unfortunately, it was a short game because Jeff was assessed a penalty (by Liam) for shooting too hard.

Portrait Artist

Liam and his class painted self-portraits recently, as least he told us he did. It's been drying for awhile now. We know he really likes to paint, so as a reward for being good today, we pulled out the paints. First, he did a portrait of me. Then, he decided he should paint a picture of Jeff at his computer. (That's the photo at left.) Now he's working on a family portrait, although he forgot to include Cole, so is now working on squeezing him in.

Stuffing Snowmen

As a reward for having a good day at school, Liam gets to choose an activity and make projects. Today he opened up his new Lego pirate set that he received from Grandpa & Grandma Beecher for Christmas. He followed the directions perfectly and put it together all by himself. We were very impressed.

I also talked him into helping me with my project, snowmen for Christmas gifts next year. We felted them lightly in the washing machine and then stuffed them. And stuffed them. And stuffed them. They are now very short, very fat men, although they look more like gnocchi. Liam was very helpful.