Single White Toddler

Gus has a mild obsession with the teenagers who mow our lawn. He learned one of the guys' names quickly and referenced him in the car one day: 

"I wanna see Luke!" 

"Who is Luke?" I asked. "Luke Skywalker?"

"Luke mow gas!" 

So when his heroes showed up yesterday for lawn maintenance, this is where Gus parked: 

And even though they did a fine job, he still insisted on mowing it himself. 

While Leo's away...

I will play! Hi, this is Gus. I have temporarily taken over mommy's blog so I can tell you all about what I've been doing this week. I've uploaded lots of pictures and videos because, like most kids, I'm way better at technology than my parents. 

So here's what's been happening. On Tuesday, mommy, Leo and I drove to Fairfield, Texas to have lunch with Grandmother and Grandpa Ron...or so I thought. I was having a good time, dipping French fries in catsup and licking it off, when all of a sudden, Leo gets in their car. Of course I then shouted, "I sit Rah Rah car! I sit Rah Rah car!" Despite my very articulate plea, I still ended up in mommy's car. 

I should have known here, as we took this picture, that something was up. Look how excited Leo is to go to Grandparent Camp! 

And here he is three days into camp at the Museum of Natural Science in Houston. I overheard that he got to stay at the Rahs Rahs for three nights and now he's going to stay at Granny Jo and Popsy's for three nights! 

While I am super jealous, I am making the best of it. Here is what I have been up to this week, along with soaking up all of mommy and daddy's attention. 

Playing IN the water table; it's VERY hot. 

Eating some of the cook cooks that Grand-mutha made for me

Telling Knock Knock jokes 

Eating mac and cheese, right out of the pot! 

Getting a time-out for throwing food or hitting or maybe both

Playing at the new splash park at Frisco Commons. Leo hasn't even been here yet! 

Now this video is not all that exciting of me, but it could be used as evidence in court for this fight that starts to break out among the three kids in the background. It got pretty intense after this! There was some water thrown, some words yelled, some children storming off. 

And here I am making a request to go to Race Trac after we passed one. 

I miss you, Le-lo!  See you soon!

Love,
Your Bro (as Leo says, "That's Spanish for brother") Gus

Sliding through Summer

We don't care if it's hot as you know what, we are having fun this summer! Last summer we had just moved here so we didn't know the lay of the land. Plus, Gus was still a baby and not as portable. Now I've got two KIDS on my hands, rather than a baby and a kid, so we can do all the summertime activities. 

One of our favorite places to cool off is the Frisco Athletic Center. We got a membership there just for the summer so we could use their awesome pools. (It's very reasonable for residents to join because it's a city facility.) The indoor pool has a great kids splash area with two slides and lots of "water traps" as Leo calls them. Leo likes to hang out on the top area and set them off. 

When we first started going here this summer Gus would not go down any of the slides. But when he saw his younger friend Rowan ("Row Row") do it, he acted like he was a slide veteran. 

Here are two videos of Gus having a blast on the slides! 

I don't have any pictures of the boys at the outdoor pool but I grabbed a couple off the web.
Here is the splash pool we play in. Gus went down the little red slide and the green slide for the first time today! And do you see that mini water tower? When the whistle blows it explodes and a ton of water dumps all over you if you're in the "right" place.

And here's a pic of the whole thing. We hit the big pool and the lazy river when Frank comes with us on the weekends. 

Frank and I even took turns going down the big slides! Oh, and I forgot to say that, of course, Leo does all the slides in the splash pools with no problem although he was too busy with the water traps to perform for my videos.

Stay cool. We are!

My Crazy Ex Theory

I bumped into a friend the other day and, gossip that I am, asked her about another friend that I haven't seen in awhile. She said that this other friend is in a serious relationship with a guy who has been married twice before. "Apparently his ex-wives are both crazy," she said with an eye roll.

I'm not buying it either. That's because I have a theory and it goes something like this: If someone says to you that they have a crazy and/or psycho ex than that person must be, in fact, crazy themselves.

There's really no way around it. I'm not talking about if they went on one or two dates with someone and realized that person is crazy. That could happen and the person claiming that the other is crazy could still be sane. But if they actually had a relationship with the alleged crazy person, then they fall under my theory.

Here's why:

Take the guy who is dating my friend who was married to two crazy women before. There are only two possibilities here:
1. That he dated and married a crazy person, got divorced and then dated and married a crazy person AGAIN.
2. That he is making the whole thing up.

So either way, he's crazy, right?

If you start to date someone and a few dates in they mention a "crazy ex" of some sort, there's no way it can end well.

You would have to ask them: "What did this crazy person do?"

He might say, "She called me ALL THE TIME. If she ever saw me with another girl, even a co-worker, she would go like psycho on me. And one time, she left a trail of graham crackers all the way from the entrance to my work to my desk where she had decorated my cube with troll dolls.
"

"Were you chained to her? Why couldn't you break up with her?"

"I tried! She wouldn't take no for an answer. She was CRAZY, I tell ya!"

"How long did you date?"

"Off and on for two years."

That's when you say, "I need to consult Elsa's crazy ex theory but I'm pretty sure you fall under the category of certifiably crazy."

You see, there is no such thing as a "crazy ex," only a crazy couple. I do hope this helps you to weed out the crazies in your life and let them all just be together.

A Perfect 10 for Gus too

A few months ago I posted a blog with some boring videos of Leo in gymnastics class.  Today Gus took a free trial class at the same gym. I guess it runs in the family because Gus did great at gymnastics too! And because of that, I have more boring gymnastics videos for you to watch! 

Actually, these are a little better because I was there in the class so they're not through the glass and Gus is two so they're pretty cute. No offense, Leo. 

And here are some pictures too: 

Of course he had to take a little break to shoot some hoops.

I think he's a natural! And even if he wasn't, having him in this class while Leo is in his class is SO much better than chasing him around the waiting room.

Almost funny enough for Bob Saget

So these videos aren't exactly worthy of America's Funniest Home Videos and I don't think Bob Saget even hosts it anymore...but still, I've been taking lots of videos and I needed somewhere to put them. So here ya go! 

Leo found my jump rope, resistance band and a storage box and did what any 5 year old boy would do--turned it into a dog sled! 

Gus likes jumpy/bounce houses but never did the slides...until today! 

Here is Gus counting up all his drinks! 

Leo, recounting a story he learned at Vacation Bible School 

Frankinventions

"So the judges would wear ear muffs so they couldn't hear the contestants but they could see them. They would have to vote if they thought they were good singers without hearing them sing. It's like the opposite of The Voice." -- Frank Simcik

Frank is full of ideas like this. He gets really excited about them. Sometimes he's a little bit convincing.


Here's an idea for an invention that I thought was pretty good:

A sunblock machine. They could have them at resorts. It would work sort of like a spray tan. You go into a booth, stand the way you do in the security scanner at the airport, and get sprayed all over with sunblock. You could pick your own SPF!

I, personally, would love this. I spent our whole vacation in Mexico slathering and then reapplying sunblock and then spraying for good measure. Oh, and then I would sit in the shade anyway.

I ran a few of Frank's other ideas/theories past him in hopes to feature them in this blog but he shot them down. For instance, he doesn't think his theory of "Both of those people in that celebrity couple could do better"(like Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton) was worthy of the blog. And I understand because it's not really an invention. So I'll just let you chew on that one and maybe I'll spin that into another "Frankosophies" blog one day.

Or we might be too busy promoting his still untitled new talent show. The Look? The Silence? Judging a Book by it's Cover?  Those are all terrible. I guess I should leave the big ideas to this guy.

(Btw, this is the only recent picture I have of him, shirtless except for the paper tie Leo made him for Father's Day.)

Gus' Two-Year-Old Stats and Stuff

And in this corner, weighing in at 27 pounds, in the 53rd percentile, with a height of 35.5 inches, in the 78th percentile, it's TWO-year-old...

AUGUST FRANK SIMCIK

At Gus' 18 month appointment back in December, I expressed concern to the doctor because he could only say seven words, and "mama" wasn't one of them. She said to watch it until his 2-year appt. and see if there was any improvement. After we left the doctor's office that day and I was getting him out of the car somewhere else, he said, "Mama!" Leo said, "You should call the doctor and tell her!" (I think I have told this story before. Yep, I have.) 

And since then his language has really taken off. There's no "counting words" anymore. He says tons of words and phrases and sentences: "I eat cake! I hold that. I call Tiga. I wah Go-fish. I want hot dog too!" Leo says, "Gus said castle and dragon as clearly as people do!" 

Since his favorite letter is G (obviously), he does like to add it to a lot of words: Potty is Poggy, Color is Co-gor, etc. (I threw in that etc. because I can't think of anymore examples but he does it to a lot. Oh, I got one: water is waga.) 

He LOVES sports. Right now his favorite is baseball: "I hit baseball." He can hit the ball off the tee just as well as Leo's t-ball teammates. (Sorry, Bulldogs.) And oh, does he want to play! He brings his own glove and will put on a baseball helmet like he's going up to bat. He's also a fan of basketball, soccer, football and most recently, golf. 

Everything belongs to him. "We're going to the pool," I'll say and Gus says, "My pool." People belong to them too. I'll say, "We're going to swim lessons with Ms. Katie," and Gus will say, "My Ms. Ka-gee." 

One thing that is definitely his is his beloved shoo shoo. If possible, I think he is more attached to it then ever. He has to have it in the car, while he watches TV and if he ever gets upset. "Where shoo shoo go?" he says. And of course he MUST have it while he naps and sleeps. And he knows there are three but that's ok with him. They all have different names: "Night night shoo shoo" stays upstairs in his room; "Play shoo shoo" stays downstairs; "Car shoo shoo" goes in the car and gets dragged around public places. At least I am able to switch them around. Cause I can only wash play and car shoo shoos and then I have to rotate them so that one of them becomes night night shoo shoo. It's complicated. 

He still calls Leo "Le-lo" (rhymes with yellow). And he can say his name but sometimes it sounds like "Gas." He also knows that his real name is August. He says, "I August!" Here is what he thinks of our family: "Mama Talk," "Dada Mow," "Le-lo High Pad." When he says "Mama Talk" he points up to the camera for his baby monitor where he's heard my voice come through before. He's obsessed with the lawn mower so he always points out the window and says "Dada Mow" and if he sees someone mowing a lawn (or even hears it) he says, "I saw mow." Yes, past tense and everything :) So when he said "Mama Talk" and "Dada Mow" I asked him what Leo does and he said "Leo High Pad." (Leo plays with the iPad.) 

He likes to give everybody things that belong to them, especially shoes. If he sees our shoes sitting by the door or the stairs, he picks them up, brings them over and says, "Here ya go, Mama" or "Here ya go, Le-lo." 

His manners are coming along quicker than Leo's did. He usually says "Dank-you, Mama" when I give him food and "Sorry, Le-lo" when he hits his brother (which is about 37 times a day). And he says "Please" the cutest way. It's like "Peeeese" and it goes high at the end. "Can I have lion milk, peeese?" It's not that clear but I know what he's saying. 

He can count to ten. So if I am trying to get him to come to me and I say, "Come here now, Gus. 1...2...3" he says "foh, fi, sic, segun, eight, ni, ten!" He even got up to twelve the other day. He knows he is two and will tell people that when they ask.

Colors, well, he can't be good at everything. 

He loves Frank's guitars or "gee-tars" as he calls them. "I play Dada gee-tar!" he says before knocking it off the stand. His favorite thing is when Frank plays the guitar for him and sings "The Leo and Gus Boogie." Here's a sample: 

Leo and Gus Boogie

(music and lyrics by Dada)

There once was a boy named Gus-a-roo

He liked to hold his shoo shoo

He liked to go poo poo

The Leo and Gus Boogie

Here's a video of Gus opening up a present from Uncle Doug and Aunt Julie, his Godparents. You can hear how he says "Guitar." 

For the most part, he is happy and easy going but when he's not, he is not. If he's in a bad mood, everything makes him mad and he'll cry about indefinitely. When he gets into this zone he often wants his shoo shoo, his thumb and he tells me, "Mama, hold you." Le-lo used to say this too so we think it's funny. 

Here are some more pics of our big two-year-old. As Leo says, "There are no babies in this family anymore!" Is he TRYING to make me cry? 

"The flash on your phone is too bright!" 

"Who are you calling a baby?" 

 "Raise the roof! I'm two!" 

"Oh, am I cute? I had no idea!" 

"Cheese!" 

"CHEEEEEESE!!!" 

"I see! I see!" 

"I'm TWO cool for this, lady." 

What a difference...

...two years makes! 

Gus has been here TWO years!

Gus has been counting down the days till his birthday since Leo's birthday (so for about 40 days). I guess you could say the time between Leo and Gus' birthdays is like Lent. We all give up birthday cake between the two (unless we go to another birthday party which usually happens). 

Some two-year-olds may not realize it's almost their birthday but Gus has an "It's your birthday, Gus" CD from Granny Jo and Popsy that we have on a loop in the car. So for forty days he's been saying, "My birthday! Gus birthday! Gus eat cake! Two!" 

We didn't have a party per se but it is turning into a week long celebration. It started with Grandmother, Grandpa Ron and Tia coming to town. We had cake, sang and opened presents: 

Gus was so happy to have "Gran-Mu-duh,""Rah Rah Roh" and "Tiga" here. He also enjoyed Paloma or "Niiiice" as he says when he pets her.

Today, his actual birthday, he let us drag him around to Leo's activities--gymnastics, swim lessons and more swim lessons. He wasn't feeling great (two-year-old molars? sick?) so he was a little bit cranky. Because of that I didn't take the traditional "chair" pics. So I will leave you with a few pics and a video from this weekend. Later this week I will post chair pics plus an update with Gus' stats and amazing achievements.

Don't miss this cute routine that Frank and Gus put together:

Next weekend, Granny Jo and Popsy are coming and you know what that means: "Gus eat more cake!"

Happy Birthday, Gus! We love you!