Just some random tidbits to share:

It's getting too cold for the boys to sleep in the sunroom. We've been trying to figure out where to put everyone, and we're thinking we may have the boys and Natalia sleep in the same room (her current room, their old room) for the winter. I brought this up with Leon and Michael just to get a sense of how they would feel about it. Even after emphasizing they could keep their toys in the sunroom, and keep a gate on the sunroom to keep Natalia out, Michael was not sold. Leon, however, was a huge fan. He told me, "I could come get you when Nati won't stop freaking out. I could say, 'Mommmmm, Nati needs booba.'"

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The kids watched an episode of Sesame Street about careers. As they were watching it, Natalia grabbed her bag and sippy cup and told everyone goodbye. Jeff explained to the other three that Natalia wanted to go to work like I do, and, of course, they thought it was hilarious. So Jeff asked them what they wanted to be. Ree said she wanted to be a fashion designer. Michael wanted to be a "kid doctor." Leon wanted to a be a pirate.

Given Leon's previous career ambitions of being Mickey Mouse or Stefanie Baker, being a pirate sounded pretty reasonable. That night during baths, I asked him about him.

Me: I hear you watched an episode of Sesame Street about jobs. Dad says you want to be a pirate.
Leon: No, I want to be a builder.
Me: Oh, like Bob the Builder?
Leon: No. (Rolls his eyes.) LEON the builder.

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On Saturday evening during dinner, I happened to look out the window and I noticed the wind had really picked up. After gusting for almost 24 hours, we finally had some definite sustained winds. I made the mistake of mentioning this to my family. Suddenly, all the kids wanted to "feel" the wind.

It turns out, the easiest way to convince kids they don't want to go out and play in a tropical storm is to let them go out and play in a tropical storm. They ended up spending less than 2 minutes in our sheltered backyard before running inside and deciding they were not quite ready to replace Jim Cantore.