The Boy - Month 18

There is no denying it; you are full on toddler boy. You walk (or run rather), you talk, and you act like a toddler. You are everything and more than we could have ever hoped to have in a son. Watching your relationship with your sisters' develop is rewarding and amazing. They both love you more than life. They love to play with you, hug you, kiss you, and look after you.

You continue to be precocious. You always want what the big kids have and you are intent in letting us know. You don't think you need sippy cups anymore and request that we take the lid off. You hand us your cup and say "off" continuously until you think we get it. The amazing thing is that when you are actually drinking out of the cup you do remarkably well. It is those times when you aren't drinking that the problems creep in. You always want to do art projects with the big kids, which would be wonderful if you would stop eating the supplies. Markers are by far your preference. It is difficult to color with markers that no longer have tips to them! I often hear Mommy asking the kids "who would like xyz". You have begun chiming in "ME" right along with the big kids, and you absolutely know that you are including yourself in the action. At times you don't even need to be asked if you'd like something. You'll bring something to us and say "ME".

If you want something, you go after it. There is no holding you back. While I love watching your spark and your drive, I'd love for you to stay out of the bathroom sink, off the dining table, and out of the craft drawers. You love baths and showers and you think you can give yourself a bath by climbing into the bathroom sink and turning on the water. When Mommy finds you, you look up at her with joy and say "bath". You have realized though that you do need our assistance with a bath in the bath tub and if we aren't coming quick enough, you run back and forth between us and the bathroom encouraging us to hurry up. Showers, forget it. If I'm in a hurry and want to shower alone, I must sneak a shower. Otherwise I am guaranteed to have company. You realize that your socks should come off before getting into the shower but you don't seem concerned at all about your jammies or diaper. We can mention "socks off" and you'll sit and take your socks off. We can mention "clothes off" and nothing happens. We aren't used to children who are okay with keeping their clothes on!

You want to "help me" a lot! This phrase means two things for you. When you've reached a point where you need help, you say to us "help me". Of course then we do help you. Who could deny the adorable request? And we thank you for holding back on the tantrum during these potentially frustrating moments. A lot of the time you say "help me" when you want to help us do something. If we are in the kitchen making something, anything, we can guarantee a "help me" from you.

We've noticed, in this last month in particular, that you have begun using the sign for more, more often. You've known this sign for quite some time but chose not to use it. But now, you'll sign for more while saying the "more" along with whatever it is you asking for. I love the look on your face when you get that we get what you are saying.

Books, marbles, balls, and balloons are still easily your favorite objects in this world. It is amazing watching you pull out a book and read to yourself. I also love it when you come to us, back up toward us, and plop in our lap with a book hoping we'll read to you. Your love for books is so amazing that we continue to keep your bookshelf in the hallway so you aren't disturbed with the excitement in the middle of the night. Marbles, balls, and balloons... well, anything round and bouncy in nature is well accepted and sought out by you. You've got an excellent arm and an amazing soccer kick. Though, we'd love it if you would stop practicing your throwing skills with objects that should not be thrown.

You've got groove and I'm positive you didn't get it from your Momma. It doesn't matter where we are, you hear music and you start dancing. You know "the map" song from Dora. A recent family favorite movie has been the Pooh's Heffalump movie. You know several songs from this movie, with your favorite lyrics being "what would you do". I personally love this movie and enjoy listening to the music throughout the movie. I love listening to the three of you recite the words and songs. If you didn't have hand-me-down Halloween costumes from your sisters, I'm pretty sure you would be a Heffalump (Lumpy) for Halloween.

Your favorite color is purple! I wasn't sure if you were able to associate it to a specific color. At first I thought you just loved saying "purple". But this morning you clearly wanted your scrambled eggs in the purple bowl and you knew which one that was. You were quite pleased!

Your best friend at the moment is your "Paci". I'm not sure where you picked up on this term since we've always referred to it as your binky. But alas, your Paci is your ultimate friend and comfort item. The more the better! You like to have one in your mouth and at least one in each hand. It is fascinating watching you evaluate them and rotate them in and out of your mouth. Clearly, they all taste different! The other day when I went to get you after your nap I found you lounging in your crib sharing your beloved Paci's with your teddy bear. You were rotating them for bear too. The nurturing side of you has really come out this month. You've really shown interest in feeding bottles to the million baby dolls we have in this house. You cuddle them gently and offer them the bottle just as you like your bottle.

The words, oh the words. We've been remiss in keeping track of a formal list, but your language continues to explode. We've really noticed this past month that you've been putting more words together in your effort to communicate to us. You've also gotten really good at identifying your body parts. I'm so thrilled with this since you've known only one body part for the longest time. And, well, that one body part was less than appropriate to share in public. Although, every time it made an appearance you had to announce its existence. I think Mommy was mortified that I taught you this.

You've been toying off and on with switching up your nap routine. This past week we've started to see you settle into a new routine of one mid-day nap. Some days are more successful than others, but it appears to be a good move for you.

Cool Slideshows

Happy Birthday To You...

We started the morning off by letting Sonya sleep in a very tiny bit. We had scheduled hair cuts for all three kids and me at 10:00 am.

We arrived just on time and started with Spencer. He did so much better for his second hair cut than the first. He sat on my lap very calmly and let the hairdresser do her thing. He even let the hairdresser trim the back of his neck and over his ears with the clippers. He looks so grown up with freshly trimmed hair. I can’t believe how fast his hair grows. It looks like he will be scheduled for regular haircuts from now on.

Sonya took the kids home and I stayed for a quiet and peaceful haircut all by myself. When I got home Sonya was feeding Spencer lunch and had clearly been busy picking up and vacuuming. Thanks sweetie! My parents were in town for a funeral and they stopped by afterwards to have lunch with us. I ran Spencer upstairs for his nap and when I came back down, Abby, Ellie and the grown-ups had a yummy fried chicken lunch that my parents had brought over.

One of the highlights of the day for me…and I think Sonya…was getting to watch the Nebraska – Texas game. It actually started at 11:00, but through the magic of DVR we started the game at 1:00 and fast forwarded through all the commercials. The girls played (and watched a little Dora) while the grown-ups watched a great game.

The best part of the day? Spencer slept for the three hours. He has not been napping well recently, so this marathon nap was a huge surprise. After about two hours I went to make sure he was still breathing. He finally woke up in a great mood with about 4 minutes left in the game.

After the game was over my parents left and Sonya went to rest for awhile. I took the kids out to pick up a Dairy Queen cake. They were so excited they could hardly contain themselves. On our way home from DQ, I had the cake on the front seat. Abby was very concerned that the cake would fall on the floor.

Abby: “Mommy you have to hold the cake to keep it from falling.”
“Mommy, we’re turning the corner, hold onto the cake.
“Mommy, do you remember the big hill by our house? You have hold onto the cake so it doesn’t slide off the seat.”

We safely got the cake home and into the freezer and took Sonya out for pizza. Nothing too exciting, but we did go to Godfather’s for Sonya’s favorite Taco Pizza. We had a little salad while we waited for our pizza and Spencer was done sitting so he and I got up to walk around a bit. I thought I would ask someone what the ETA on our dinner was and discovered that our order had been lost. The girl remembered taking our order, but no one knew what happened to it after that. So we took the kids to play video games while we waited on our pizza. We pulled a chair over to the racing game and the girls took turns. One girl stood on the chair and drove while the other stood on the floor and worked the gas pedal. When the pizza finally arrived, everyone sat and ate a great dinner and then we were off for our “surprise”.

Throughout dinner Abby was so excited about the surprise that she could barely contain herself. The conversation when something like this:

Abby: “We have a surprise for you but we can’t tell you what it is.”
Sonya: “It’s ok to have surprises that you don’t tell me.”
Abby: “It’s a really good surprise. You are going to like it.”
Sonya: “I’ll bet it tastes yummy.” (being the smart cookie that she is, Sonya had already figured out the surprise when she heard me open the freezer door)
Abby: “It is! And, it has orange letters…and ice cream in the middle. But I can’t tell you what it is.”

As we were getting out of the van at home, the girls could hardly contain their excitement.

Ellie: “Can we have ice cream cake now?”
Sonya: “I thought you weren’t supposed to tell me about the surprise yet?”
Ellie: “I wasn’t asking you, I was asking Mommy.”

The girls and I got the cake out, put the candles in and we sang Happy Birthday to Momma. Spencer looked on in amazement at us and the cake as we sang. When we finished singing Spencer looked at us and belted out his own rendition of Happy Birthday that sounded remarkably like “Happy to you”. He appeared quite pleased with his version and clapped enthusiastically when he finished.

Spencer singing was too cute, so we did what any good parents would do. We lit candles in Abby, Ellie, and Spencer’s servings of cake and sang it all over again. Spencer joined the song with gusto and added a few upper body dance moves while he sat buckled in his high chair. For the rest of the night and through Sunday Spencer would periodically belt out a few bars of Happy Birthday. The boy does love music!

We love you Momma!

Happy Birthday

Very Cool!

Kinderen voor Kinderen song - Two Fathers

I Will Be Surprised!

It seems that Ellie is now old enough to keep a surprise a surprise.

Last night we were all at the mall. Carie had a quick signing to do and the kids and I checked out a few fun stores while she was doing her thing. Then we all went to dinner. After dinner it was time to head home. But I knew Carie had wanted to check out the new Target that was recently built at that mall, a mall that we very rarely frequent. So I suggested that if she'd like I'd take the kids home so she could go check it out. Surprisingly, she took me up on it! She asked the girls who they wanted to go with. Abby chose to go home with me (& Spencer, who didn't have a choice). Ellie chose to go with Carie.

It wasn't until we were parted that I figured out her motives. I should have been quicker on that one and shouldn't have even suggested that she re-enter the mall. My birthday is coming up and I suspect that she and Ellie went shopping for this event. That fact wasn't even on my mind, though I wish it had been! I don't really need anything!

Fast forward... Carie and Ellie return home and come upstairs where Spencer, Abby & I are reading books. Ellie and I have a conversation...

Me: Ellie, how was shopping?
Ellie: Good
Me: Did you get anything?
Ellie: Nope!
Me: (let me rephrase) Did Mommy buy anything?
Ellie: I can't tell you!
Me: Why not?
Ellie: Because it is a surprise
Me: (being all surprised) Wow, you got something for me? I can hardly wait to see what it is.
Ellie: You can wait! You only have to wait two days!

That little stinker could totally keep the surprise! Way to go Ellie!

Though, when we first got home Abby had to show me the books that they made that afternoon. She wanted to show me each page in detail. I wanted to act all interested but I also didn't know if that was supposed to be a surprise. So I asked Abby if they made the books for my birthday. Yes indeed they did. Oh well!

We ended up reading "their" books at bedtime. Ellie had made three of them and Abby had made one. They told me that there weren't any words in their books. We talked about how we could create our own stories to go with their pictures and how it takes an Author and an Illustrator to create a book.

School Conferences

Amazing how it is that time of the year already!

Wednesday evening we had an opportunity to meet with the teachers and discuss how they are doing in the school environment. And again... it seems that they are doing fantastic.

Both teachers had compared notes to get a feel for the differences between the girls. There's also a set of triplets that are divided between the classes. The identical girls are in Abby's classroom and the boy is in Ellie's classroom. I get the sense that the teachers have enjoyed getting to know them individually and identifying their similarities and differences. They have compared notes amongst themselves and are amazed. Both Carie and I felt like each teacher really knew each girl and what their individual strengths and preferences were. I think they can really see why we split them up during the school hour.

Everything they shared with us rang true in our own experiences with them. The way they act and participate in class, the way they complete projects, their artwork, etc... The differences in their artwork are like night and day. They could have put all of the information and projects in a pile and we could have easily sorted it all out into an Abby pile and an Ellie pile.

Oddly, I think I'm slightly disappointed. I didn't go into the conference with any expectations. I'm sure I had hoped that we would hear good reports and that they were good peers in their class. What parent doesn't want to hear that? We already know what the teachers’ objectives and priorities are. We know they focus on learning through play. We know what their educational objectives are for the year. We know this because we interviewed the center and made a choice to trust them with our children. And then I interact with the teachers every day at drop off and pick up. We place a high priority on being involved in their education and activities. While we left feeling great about each girl’s strengths and success, I think in the back of my mind I was hoping to hear something that we didn't already know. Though maybe it is better that there are no surprises. Maybe that is validation that we are actively involved in their lives. Maybe this is all good.

Adult Night

Carie and I got to enjoy an adult night this past weekend... a much much needed adult night. Yia Yia arrived at our house Saturday afternoon to relieve the moms and spend time with the kids. Thank you Yia Yia!!!!

After we were done running around like crazy trying to get ready, we headed out at about 5pm. The evening started with a nice drive to Lincoln and while en route Carie made our hotel reservation. We then had a nice adult dinner, followed by a bachelorette party, and then what was left of the morning in a nice and quiet hotel. We totally scored on the hotel!!

While it was sad to leave Spencer (overnight) for the first time, it was incredibly awesome to be independent and do things on our own time. The boy will be 18 months in less than two weeks, I think it was time! We stayed out way to late and didn't arrive to our hotel until 2am. But it was a fun and relaxing evening.

It was nice to set the wake up call for 9:30am and know that we didn't need to listen for the kids to wake up. Though even with sleeping in, our bodies feel like we lost out on some sleep given the late night.

It was amazing how quickly we were able to get ready to go! Both of us fully showered, dressed, hair dried, no corners cut... in 30 minutes total. I can't even begin to think about the last time we went from climbing out of bed to walking out the door in 30 minutes!

We enjoyed the awesome breakfast at the hotel. Mostly we enjoyed that it was hot while we ate it; we weren't being asked a zillion requests all at once; we weren't asking anyone to sit properly or to eat their food; there was no food throwing; there was no food spilling; there was no whining. While not all of that happens all the time, it was nice for it to not be an option. Though, we did miss out on all of the great things like their smiles, bear hugs and kisses.

Sunday morning we made a quick stop at a store before heading home. I managed to score a couple new pairs of jeans and undergarments for a super great deal. Though, we didn't get anything that we stopped for. We arrived home with lunch for everyone. It was clear that we were all exhausted and out of sync from the night before so opted to skip the rest of the day’s activities.

Instead of resting (as I had intended or hope to do) we got wrapped up in the kitchen and grilled a yummy dinner, made homemade applesauce, an apple pie, banana bread, and some chocolate chip cookies. Now if we can get a fair amount of that into the freezer we can enjoy the treats for some time to come.

Preschool Field Trip

This year’s preschool field trip took us to the pumpkin patch, a favorite fall activity for our family. Though, this was our first trip to the Bellevue Berry Farm & Pumpkin Patch.

Cool Slideshows

We arrived at school as usual on Wednesday morning. Once the bus arrived we all loaded onto a big yellow school bus. The girls were excited for their first ever bus ride and I was excited that I was able to ride with them. Though, this particular ride wasn't one to remember. By the time we arrived back to school the bus driver parked the bus for the bus tow truck to come take it away. Good choice!

Upon our arrival to the pumpkin patch we all hopped on a hay rack ride. Normally the hay rack would have taken us out to the pumpkin fields, but on this day it was a bit on the muddy side to explore the fields. So after a nice long hay rack ride we arrived back where we started. All of the kids were given the chance to pick out a pumpkin from a few big bins of pre-picked pumpkins.

We then enjoyed our sack lunches! They don't have lunch during preschool, so it was a treat to have lunch with their friends. The night before the girls helped me make our lunches and chose all the items to pack. They chose PB&J sandwiches, Abby with purple (blackberry) jelly and Ellie & I with red (strawberry) jelly, carrots, grapes, vanilla wafers, and a "juice" (flavored water) box.

After lunch they had fun exploring the area with several slides, mazes, zip lines, etc... Then the bus arrived to pick us up and we returned to school.

It was one of the chillier days of the fall! The weather was manageable, much more so than I was expecting. We all bundled up in warm coats and the girls had hats and gloves on.

That afternoon we continued our adventures with more pumpkin patch fun and applesauce making. Those details to come in another post.

Swimming Lessons - Round 2

The girls have been enjoying another session of swimming lessons, and I mean thoroughly enjoying it. Tonight was the last class of this session and I think the girls will miss it.

We did opt to re-enroll them in the preschool class that they had taken the prior session. They had done well in that class, they had a great time, and they had graduated to the next level. But we felt that their comfort level could use a little boost. We also opted to enroll in a class that met a couple times a week thinking the closer frequency would be beneficial to their confidence levels.

Wow... what a difference between their previous session and this session. It hasn't even dawned on them that they are taking the same. Or if it has, they haven't cared. It is so much fun to see their confidence levels blossom like they have. Though, in the last few classes maybe they have gotten a bit too confident and cocky!

They willingly and freely go completely with their entire body submerged under water and pop up with huge smiles on their faces. Their favorite game appears to be ring around the rosy, with the noodle train coming in a close second. They also love when it is time to jump in at the end of class. As a bonus, this teacher lets them jump in several times.

They had a boy teacher this session. They warmed up to him rather quickly and it has been an excellent experience for them. Of course he appears to be on the goofy side with them and they all have thoroughly enjoyed that. The term goofball has a definite presence in their vocabulary now.

We'll definitely enroll them in the next level for the next session we participate in, probably after the first of the year.