E turns 4!

Happy birthday to E! It is hard to believe that she is already 4! Her arrival changed everything. Four years ago, I was teaching in Port Huron. Jut was a youth minister in Algonac. We were living in Algonac enjoying walks along the river and eating entirely too much DQ! Now, we live in Alma near family. I get the privelege of staying home with E and X. Jut is currently a youth minister but is in the process of transferring to the roll of lead minister. Our life is so different, but we love it. We walk along a tiny river and do it without ice cream, which is probably better for us anyway.

At 4, E is so much fun. She is a great big sister to X and will be wonderful with the new baby coming this fall. I love watching her explore nature. Going on leaf hunts is fun. Watching E pick dandelions for me is precious.She has had more fun digging in the dirt in our backyard this spring. I'm excited to plant some flowers and veggies. I think E will be a great little farmer.

My favorite time of the day is nap time and bedtime because I love cuddling you and reading stories.  I love when she quotes stories throughout the day or acts out the scenes.  People comment all the time what an active imagination she has...and she does.  At story time at the library or music class, she is the first to blurt out something like, "I see a crocodile!" when Miss Tina takes a breath.  Drives me a bit crazy but Miss Tina is very gracious and says that she adds life to story time.

E's favorite books right now are the Bernstein Bears, Arthur, and Little House on the Prairie picture books.  Although, we read a great variety of books each week.  E also loves our new On Demand box from Char*ter.  She can watch the Bernstein Bears and a slue of other wonderful shows whenever she wants.  I think she'd watch TV all day, if I'd let her!

 

She still enjoys watching and playing with her Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake.  She still dresses up as Cinderella and the fairies, but right now she'd rather be outside swinging or digging in the dirt or blowing bubbles.  Candyland, the fishing game, Memory and Scrambled Eggs are her favorite board games.  E loves getting to stay up 'late' after X goes to bed so that she can play her special games.

We are working on 'school'.  E wanted so badly to go to school this winter that I started having lessons in the afternoon when X napped.  We are working on writing her name.  She can write all the letters...but somehow I can't quite make her understand that the order of the letters matter.  But, we've had a month plus break from practicing writing...as she's been napping quite a bit and I've been napping a lot (good thing she always does an hour or so of quiet time each day!).  So, maybe when we start up again, it will all become clear and make more sense.

We've been sporadically working with the 'l' sound...but we still visit the 'hibrary' and eat 'hogurt' and pray for 'hindsey' at night.

She wants the new baby to be a girl.  She alternates between thinking she (the baby) should be named 'Strawberry Shortcake' or 'Angel Cake' or some other name from Strawberry Shortcake.  So, we'll see in a few months whether she'll be disappointed again or not...it took a couple days to convince her that X was indeed a boy and not the girl she originally wanted.

X's first haircut

Well, at 1 year, 6 months, 3 weeks and 2 days old, X received his first haircut...from Jut and I.  I didn't think he'd sit in a chair and be still enough for a 'professional' to cut it.  So, we gave it a shot.

I started out by trimming up the back, but he kept turning his head...so it was a bit crooked and uneven.  Jut didn't like my cutting style and decided he'd do a better job.  So, he gave me my little squirmy boy and took the scissors. 

He started on the front...and chopped it all off.  The little guys hair is at his hairline.  However, I guess it makes it mostly straight.  X really started getting squirmy at this point.  Jut decided maybe it wasn't so easy, but he trimmed up around X's ears and declared it done, as X was done at this point anyway.

So, I took him upstairs and he got content reading books...so I decided to try and trim up the rest of his hair.  So, I snipped a bit here and there...trimming up all the rest of the ends.  He did really well.  That part of his hair looks okay, I think.

We'll see how he looks tomorrow in the light of day.  I don't know if a professional can help how I botched his back and Jut massacred his front, as they are both too short, but if it looks too bad, we'll see what they can do.  Poor little guy's first haircut wasn't traumatic for him, but his parents learned that it wasn't really all that easy to cut the hair of a squirmy 19-month old.

**We decided this morning that it looks okay...a bit short in front but okay.  Jut used the trimmers to even up the back and so he's looking pretty good.  In a couple weeks, it will look better!  :)

Visiting the Butterflys...

At the end of April, the kids and I traveled to GR to see the butterflies with my sister and her husband.  It was the last day of the butterfly exhibit and it was pretty busy.  But, we had fun exploring the habitat of the butterflies and enjoying the warm, humid air.  The kids enjoyed being able to run free.   

It was the perfect setting for some beautiful pictures...however, this pretty much sums up how well the kids posed for any pictures.  Oh well...someday they might cooperate for me.  Until then, we'll laugh at pictures like this.

Even when I sat with them, it didn't help...although at least it doesn't look like E is attempting to kill X anymore.  But neither were thrilled with me holding them and keeping them from moving and exploring.    I purposely put X in an orange shirt so that we'd be able to see him.  The butterflies liked his bright shirt too.  He had a bit of a swarm around him at one time.  He was very visible and difficult to 'lose' until he got too hot and we had to let him run around in the gray onsie.  He was a bit harder to keep an eye on when he wasn't so bright.  

Aunt Stacey and the kids had fun exploring.  They examined caterpillars in the Michigan room and watched one lone monarch flutter around.

It was a good thing we took 3 adults to watch my 2 children.  They scampered off while exploring the wonderful butterflies and it took all of us to be able to enjoy the exhibit ourselves and keep track of the munchkins.  More than once, I had a volunteer ask if X belonged to me as he wandered away.  I always had a eye on him but the volunteers didn't want him to get too far away.  He must have looked like he could be trouble to the fauna in the habitat.


The kids loved the bridge and E loved the 'cave'.  She had to walk through it several times and would have continued to meander through it if allowed.

We did see numerous butterflies, but I took the little camera and it didn't capture very many good photos of the fluttery little guys.

After the exhibit, we went outside and played in the children's area where the kids could really run around and stretch their legs.  There was a huge tree house that both kids loved.  E thought that the log cabin was really neat, as we've been reading the Little House on the Prairie books.  She thought seeing Laura's house was awesome.  They found a huge sand area that they would have loved to play in for hours but it started to rain shortly after we found it and had to leave.  We also discovered a huge water table area.  The kids really would have enjoyed that had I let them play.  We'll definitely have to go back again sometime!

The only damper to our day was that X tumbled out of the stroller while I was opening his car door and put his teeth through his lip.  Poor little guy.  He bled forever and we were in a parking lot without many supplies to work with, but thankfully the bleeding finally stopped and we were able to continue on our way.

An Amelia Bedelia Apple Pie

I didn't learn my lesson from reading Ugly Pie...I checked out Amelia Bedelia's First Apple Pie by Herman Parrish from the library.  E loved it.  Unfortunately, it came with a recipe for an apple pie in the back.  E just had to make Amelia Bedelia's apple pie!  So, one afternoon...we chopped apples, made a crust and assembled an apple pie.

 

 I forgot to take any 'action' shots...but I did remember to take a picture of the finished product.  E had a great time helping me assemble the ingredients and make the pie.  Amelia Bedelia got to make her own apple pie in the story.  So, E just had to make her own apple pie too.  However, I did not have a tiny pie plate like Amelia Bedelia's grandmother.  So, we improvised with a muffin tin.  E put her own little pie together.

 

 Her little pie came out looking adorable and most delightful.  However, would my silly little goose try one taste of it?  Would she try a piece of the big pie?  Nope...not one bite.  She did enjoy the ice cream that we served with the pie, but she wouldn't try a bite of the pie.


Lesson learned:  Don't get any more books from the library that include recipes...and definitely no more books dealing with apple pies, since of the two apple pies she has wanted to make, she has refused to try.

X at 18 months...

X is such a happy, little trooper.  I love this age.  He explores everything.  He climbs everything.  He gets into everything.  He destroys everything.  He makes me tired...but he is so much fun right now.  The major difference between toddler girls and toddler boys is finally completely obvious.  The boy has had more bloody lips in the past few months than E has had in her entire life.  Due to all the practice, I'm getting much better at handling the sight of blood, which I'm not sure is a good thing or not.

I just looked through is list of words from 15 months.  I don't know that I could write down all his words now.  He has a great vocabulary...not that he doesn't get frustrated when we don't understand what he wants, but he really has a good vocabulary.  Momma, Dadda, Kitty, Please, Baby, Milk, Cup, Grandma, Grandpa, Bye Bye, Good night, Up u go (when he wants up), Cookie, bootas (shoes), No, Mickey (loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), remote, Peak-a-Boo, potty, Where da' go (Where did it go?), nose, Aunt C-C (mimics) and a variety of other words that he will mimic but doesn't say on his own accord.  He's learning new words daily.  His newest word for Mother's Day was "jello"...finger jello was a definite hit with the little guy.

He's a cuddler.  Rocking is his favorite way to fall asleep...but if he doesn't fall asleep after 150 rocks or so, he'll put himself to sleep in the crib.  He loves to read books before bed, too.  He doesn't really have any favorite books right now.  He loves animal books and loves to make the animal noises.  He got a few new ones for Easter and so we've been reading those a lot lately.

His eczema is finally under control.  Our landlords put in a new furnace in February and he hasn't had a major outbreak since.  We also had him allergy tested via a blood test.  He's extremely allergic to dust mites and the cat (dogs too) and he's allergic to all forms of nuts.  Plus he has a mild allergy to soy, wheat, and egg whites.  We are hoping he'll grow out of the last 3.  The allergist recommended trying soy, wheat and egg about once a month or so to see if he still reacts.  X ate regular pizza crust this weekend and he's definitely still allergic to wheat.  So, we vacuum, vacuum, vacuum and continue to buy gluten free products that are void of soy and egg whites, which isn't always easy to find...

All of his teeth have broken through the surface, but we are waiting for the incisors to come all the way through.  It has been nice to have that hurdle finished.  All four incisors broke through within a week.  He was a trooper but we were all glad when they finally pushed through the surface.  They came through in a funny order too.  All of his teeth have started in the lower left and either came in clockwise or they came through in pairs.  His incisors didn't but at least they finally all came through.  Now, we just are waiting for those pesky 2-year molars and we'll be done teething for several years.

I love watching him run.  He's really started running lately.  The funniest was the other morning while I was doing dishes.  I wanted to keep him close and out of mischief.  So, I put a dishpan with a couple inches of water in it on the floor for him to play in.  Once he figured out that he could submerge his toys, he'd run to the toy room, grab a toy, giggle, run back into the kitchen, drop it in the pan, giggle, and take off again as fast as his little legs would carry him.  It was adorable.  Made a bit of a mess...but it was just a bit of water.  Easy and quick clean up!

If There are Puddles, We will Splash!

Spring has finally come to stay!  With spring comes the inevitable splashin' puddles.  X got his first real taste of splashing at G'pa and G'ma's on Easter.  When he saw his sister stomp in the puddle for the first time, his eyes got as wide as saucers and he was in!  He thought that it looked like fun...and he discovered that it was quite delightful.

 It had been drizzling rain all day.  E desperately wanted to go outside and splash, but I kept putting her off for various reasons.  Finally in the afternoon, I said that she could get her splashin' boots and she was off.  X wasn't too far behind her.  He's already learned what rubber boots mean.

X doesn't run through the puddles like E.  He takes his time and stomps through, which keeps him from tumbling.  But, he does love to splash!  He never got too far away from that puddle.

X was impressed by E's ability to splash mud all the way up to her waist.  I left the kids after about 5 minutes of playing to go fix dinner.  Jut brought them in about an hour later.  They were both soaked through and through and had huge smiles on their faces.  I should have snapped a few "after" shots.  They were a mess.  We surface cleaned them up for dinner and then bathed them afterward.

E's pink pants were brown by the end of their adventure.  The other funny fact was that they almost dried up that puddle.  Less than half of it remained after they were done playing.

I'm not quite sure what the neighbors think of my puddle splashin' children, but they have so much fun that I can't deny them that bit of enjoyment.  Doesn't everyone need to stomp in some puddles every once in a while?!

Here's one more splashin' adventure:  I took the kids out to Mom and Dad's last Friday night.  They were doing yard work.  So, I helped out and the kids enjoyed playing.  Mom and Dad have wonderful puddles through their entire circular drive.  X did great the entire night until we were headed for the car.  He was in the middle of the deepest puddle...he caught his toe and went down face first.  Poor little guy.  He didn't like that at all!  I scooped him out.  Stripped him down to his onsie and ran inside to get a towel.  Luckily, G'ma didn't mind getting a bit muddy and she cuddled him until I returned with the towel.  Moral of the story:  Always remember to bring spare clothes so that your child doesn't have to ride home in just a diaper and towel.

An Afternoon at the Zoo

It doesn't particularly feel like spring has visited Michigan yet...especially when a coating of snow greeted us as we woke up yesterday morning, but we've had glimpses.  A couple Saturdays ago, we ventured out to the outlet mall at Birch Run for a bit of shopping and then on the way home we hit the children's zoo in Saginaw.

It was a tiny little zoo with lots of farm animals but the kids had a blast running around just being outside.  They played in the sand and on the playground for a good majority of the time.  E loved riding the zebra on the carousel.    X loved the monkeys and the cows.  More exhibits will open in the summer and I think we might take a day trip back.  The kids had a blast.

Also, notice E's new hat and shades...she was very proud of them and didn't take them off for days (daytime or nighttime...church, grandma's or at home).  She even bought a turtle necklace with 'bubble potion' in it at the zoo, which added to her hat and shades ensemble that she sported for several days.  She's such a character!