It's a jungle out there!

So, a few things have changed since Baby Claire arrived, and Virg has noticed.  He will tell you, in no uncertain terms, one of the most obvious changes is the total lack of yard care.  Whereas Mommy and Daddy used to weed and mow the lawn once in a while, those days are over.  Now it seems, the yard is a breeding ground for super-weeds.  The tallest weeds have already exceeded Virg in height, and Virg is convinced they are on their way to breaking some tall-weed Guiness Book World Records and we'll be famous.  The down-side of this is that sometimes we lose a few people in the overgrowth.  So far, we've been able to find them without sending out a Search and Rescue team, but we may be calling on S&R soon, if this continues much longer.  

Daddy, I think we lost Emmett in the grass again.  Spot me, I'm going in after him!

Station-master Virg

Virgil and Grandpa Michael share a common passion that runs on miniature tracks and blows whistles.  Ever since Virg first saw Grandpa's model train town when he was 17 months old, he's aspired to building a train set just as cool when he grows up.  Now that he's almost four, Grandpa lets Virg sit at the controls, and Virg is learning the ropes of how the track system all works (which is not easily deciferable from the mass of switches and wire connections all carefully labeled to keep them straightened out.)  But Virg is making great progress at the controls, and while he's carefully monitoring the tracks, he can also tell you in great detail about the many exciting adventures of Thomas the Tank Engine and all his various friends and acquaintances on the Island of Sodor under the direction of Sir Topham Hatt, railway conductor extraordinaire.   I think Virg needs a new handle - Sir Fedora Hatt?

Never fear, Virg is at the controls making sure that all trains arrive on schedule.

Extreme Makeover - Virg's Room Edition

The boys finally did it!  Virg's room is now officially:  the boys' room.  It took no little effort on their part to install the new IKEA furnishings - assembly required.  The first challenge was getting the numerous and very large boxes of parts home in the extremely compact (and not at all designed to carry 4 passengers and a bunch of big stuff) family car.  Mommy had more than a few "uh-oh" moments on the way home as Daddy turned a corner and the boxes went shimmying towards one or the other of the boys' heads.  And that turned out to be the easy part.  Next there were the days and nights spent with the hex wrench and hundreds of screws that all look the same, but are slightly different lenghts, creating no lack of undoing and redoing steps along the way.  And then there was the fact that many of the maticulously counted out screws, nails, etc. were regularly carted away in one of Virg's construction trucks to be deposited somewhere else in the house at a different construction site altogether.  Yet, despite all of these challenges, and with the help of all of the Wierd Al hit albums Daddy could find at the time, the job was done.   Emmett has moved in and is very happily installed in the bottom bunk.  The roommates seem to be doing quite well during the honeymoon phase of their co-existance.  We'll see how long it lasts.

Virg is on call with hammer at the ready.

Emmett impishly grinning out of the middle of his new chest of drawers.  How did he get in there anyway?

Boys in the bunk.

Easter - The Waiting Game

Virg realized this year that Easter is a lot about building character through the lesson of patience.  Egg dying is a perfect example.  Step 1: You wait for the eggs to boil.  Step 2: You wait for the eggs to cool.  Then, when you think it's finally time to get the show rolling, Step 3:  you plop the eggs in cups of dye and wait some more.  Another example, Easter Day delays.  It starts first thing in the morning, when you hurry up to get dressed so you can go downstairs and find what the Easter Bunny left for you, but first you need to wait for brother so you can both find your baskets at the same time, and then pause for the requisite commemorative photo before you can actually touch the basket.  Same story for Easter dinner.  Hurry up, wash hands and get to the table, but hold on, you can't touch any of the mouth-watering dishes until you pose for a variety of family photos.  By the time Virg got to the Easter egg hunt (which, of course, required waiting until all the eggs were hidden in the garden), he had had enough.  Waiting was no longer an option, and Virg vacuumed up those plastic eggs like a Hoover on a sugar high.  It took all of about 45 seconds and the egg hunt was over.  Virg - 16, Emmett - 3.  But not to worry.  By next year, Emmett will have honed his egg hunting skills and, as he will be just as sick of waiting as Virg, he is sure to give Virg a run for his eggs. 

Virg and Emmett find interesting things to do with markers (which don't include coloring their Easter pictures) while waiting for the eggs to dye. 

Virg, posing dutifully for the official Easter morning photo prior to digging into his Easter basket.

Wait for it, wait for it.  Hands off the food until we're done with pictures.  Nobody blink.

Virg is just a blur as he speeds through the Easter egg hunt in record time.

Virg Nye, the Science Guy

Virg has been doing all sorts of interesting science experiments lately.  His step-by-step methodical evaluation of the smallest details never ceases to bring about interesting results.  Often he will use his trusty assistant Emmett as his test subject, and often this will lead to a certain amount of set-backs due to Time-Outs in his room.  But this doesn't deter Virg from pursuing his scientific endeavors.  In fact, it tends to makes him even more determined than ever to discover the secrets of the universe.

Experiment #105 - How long can a traffic cone be balanced on the head of a constantly moving 3 year old?

Experiment #115 - If a small ball is whipped about repetedly inside a slinky, when will the slinky deform enough for the ball to be released and fly across the room to hit the test subject?

Experiment #178 - How fast can someone eat a piece of jelly toast without loosing half of the jelly on face, hands, floor, etc.?

Virg-i-oku

Sometimes, Virg evolves into his Japanese anime version, and we like to call him:  Virg-i-oku.  In his sprite form, Virg-i-oku has admirable Poke-athlon stats and has mastered a variety of complicated moves including Hyper Beam, Agility, Brick Break, Slam, Wild Charge, and Rock Smash.  However, in his evolved state, Virg-i-ka, things really start to get interesting, especially when his rival, Emmett-mon, shows up.  If Virg-i-ka stores up too much energy from eating chocolate hearts and gummy worms, his behavior becomes aggressive and he has to discharge excess energy by running around and screaming at the top of his lungs, in order to calm himself down.  This usually produces quite a show, especially because Emmett-mon usually soaks up most of the energy as Virg-i-ka releases it, thus evolving Emmett-mon into his electrified state:  Emmett-a-chu.  At this point, it's time to batten down the hatches.

Virg-i-oku: 

Catch Rate:  50%

Base Happiness: 85

Growth Rate:  Hyper Fast

It's Wrestle-Mania Madness (WMM) 2012

We might as well just build a big wrestling cage in the middle of the dining room and hang an announcer's microphone from the ceiling, at this point.  The boys have been bitten by the wrestling bug, and of course this is only the beginning.  Luckily, we don't have any metal folding chairs handy, but the baby doll stroller has been wielded more than once.  Mommy is not the best referee, since she just tends to shut the whole thing down before the boys even start getting warmed up.  Daddy will at least allow them to get some creative moves in before he steps in to break it up.  So far, Virg's favorite move is to sit on little brother's head and twist his arm until he starts pounding the mat and Mommy drags him out laughing.  The little guys are tougher than you think.

Look out Emmett! It's the Crusher!