Keira 16-17 mos

Random tidbits of Keira over the last month...
She loves putting stuff underneath doorways. When I am in the bathroom, she'll hang out outside the door and put her fingers under the door. If I later touch her hand/fingers, she thinks it's hilarious. Evan has started a game where he puts small toys under the door for her, and if he stops, she starts fussing.

She loves to pull out diaper wipes from the wipes dispenser (they come out like kleenex). I caught her doing this in the playroom today and I said, "no no no." She immediately dropped her pile and ran away laughing.

She loves to go up the steps, and loves it even more if I am chasing her.

We went to a friend's house yesterday, and the dog kept wanting to lick her (very gentle dog). After awhile, whenever the dog started to lick her, she would say, "no ta tu" (no thank you). She refuses to say "more please" at the table, but she says "no ta tu" all the time. When she does want something, like if I say, "want more cheese," she'll say, "ya."

When something tastes yummy, she says, "mee mee!!!"

She says "all done," when she is done eating, but she uses it lots of other times too. We went to the doctor and they checked out her ears. The second the nurse walked into the room, she started turning away and yelling, "a-dah! a-dah a-dah!" It was cute but heartbreaking, especially since I couldn't give her what she was asking so polititely for.

She seems to understand everything. If I tell Jerry I'm getting ready to go out, she'll immediately get all clingy and fussy, hanging onto me.

In the morning, when Jerry was getting ready to leave for work, she went and patted the front door and said, "ba ba dadee."

When Jerry comes home from work, she says, "hi da!" She puts both her hands out to wave to him, or puts her arms up for him.

When it's time to clean up toys, if I start cleaning them first and sing the "Clean Up" song, she'll start saying, "ada" (I think that's as close as she can get to "clean up") and will start putting things away. Sometimes she dumps them back out again, but we're getting there.

At her 16 month checkup, she hadn't gained much weight, so the doctor said to give her more milk. She still weighed 20 lbs and was in the 15th percentile for weight. She gained a pound a month later, so that was good.

Keira's first haircut

Keira got her first haircut today. Isaac snapped all the pictures. The lollipop kept her quiet for a few minutes, but she started crying the second the lady put the hair cape on her. She cried but didn't try to get away. Evan would have arched his back and started throwing punches!

Before



During








After

Christmas 2009

Christmas Eve
We gave the kids pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve. The boys' were Ben 10 Alien Force, their newest obsession. Keira's involved a tutu. :)

Keira - 14 mos
Keira is very entertaining. She is so different from the boys. She loves stuffed animals. She will stop what she's doing when she sees one, crawl or walk drunkenly across the room, and attack the stuffed animal, mouth it, hug it, and say, "ahhhhh" the whole time. It's terribly cute.

Today I handed her a stuffed SpongeBob, and she said, "Bob." I would think that I was imaginging it, except that she also said it a few days ago in response to SB.

She is obsessed with animal sounds. When one of the many dogs that lives on our streets barks, she stops what she is doing and puts her lips in an "o" shape. She listens. Then she says, "oh," but without moving her lips or moving her body at all. She listens so carefully.

She also likes the kitty's meow and kind of says, "ow," when she tries to imitate him. I've been pointing out birds when they tweet and she mostly watches with her mouth in that "o" shape like she's trying to imitate it.

When I say words or make animal sounds, she stares at my lips intently.

She likes to play with the play kitchen. Mostly she stacks things inside of other things, or puts dishes in the cabinets, and opens and closes cabinet doors.

I think she is trying to say other words. It sounded like she tried to say "cracker," but I can't remember now how she said it.

She loves yogurt with granola, fruit, and any bread product with cream cheese. And raisin toast. And avocados, and almost all fruits and veggies. She doesn't seem to like meat at all. She has finally decided she likes cow's milk and drinks it from a sippy. She loves it.

She loves her daddy and called him "aaaah dee" the other day. It's frustrating, though, because she has such a mommy obsession. She'll walk to Jerry excitedly, go into his arms, look happy, realize that I am not close by, and then totally freak out until she's in my arms again. I wish she would realize that she can love two of us equally and simultaneously.

Isaac has suddenly discovered that he likes his little sister. He seems genuinely amused by her for the first time ever. While Evan protects her and plays with her in a very big brother/baby sister way, Isaac plays with her like more of a peer. For example, the other day they were both standing at the back sliding door looking outside. Keira had been banging on the glass, so Isaac started banging on the glass too, and he was very tickled with her. They both stood there laughing at each other and banging on the glass. Isaac still has some baby in him.

Isaac - 3 3/4
Isaac is our little smarty pants. He is writing his name now... the "I" is correct, but from there, it's all downhill. The "S" is a series of zigzags that keep going on and on. The "As" look correct but might be upside down or lopsided. The "c" might be in a totally different part of his paper. Usually the whole thing is backwards. Still, trying to write his name at this age is pretty cool! He knows all of his letters, the sounds that they make, and what words start with that letter. He also likes counting on his fingers to figure out what 2 plus 3 make, for example.

He still has a bad stutter. The treatment is to not point it out or correct him, but try to maintain eye contact so that he feels listened to and can slow down. Trying to do that... I probably talk too fast.

He's very fun-loving. We went to a church event the other day and he is just so happy. He loves people. He was a little bit shy to join the crowd at first, but was then fine. When it was time to go, he went up to the teacher and happily said, "bye!!!" He didn't want to leave without saying good-bye to her. Evan is much more shy. Isaac is also prone to jumping up and down while talking.

Evan - age 6
Evan is doing great. He is very protective of Isaac and Keira. Isaac can be his equal one minute, totally in the land of pretend, but then Evan will authoritatively be in teacher mode with him the next minute. I eavesdropped on them one night when they were supposed to be falling asleep. He was telling Isaac about school. I didn't hear all of it, but it was something like, "and then you'll pick up your tray in the cafeteria, and then you put it here, and then you..." giving him very specific instructions about something school-related. He went on and on for at least 10 minutes. I probably should have taken better notes...

Update
Keira is 13 months now and doing great. She is slowly starting to walk. She took her first steps last month, but is still not walking regularly. Just this week, she finally started taking a few steps here and there. She is very wobbly, and very proud of herself when she does it.
She talks! She says dada, mama, hiiiiii, "ada" for "all done," I think she also said, "ada" for "Evan."
To be continued...

Isaac and Keira update

Even though they are 2 1/2 years apart, Evan and Isaac are very close. Isaac totally keeps up with Evan. I noticed at one of Evan's friend's kid parties (with lots of kids age 6-8), Isaac, was talking without fear to the big kids. I saw him, from behind, as a rather large kid how old he was. Then I saw Isaac hold out 3 fingers. Then the big kid was laughing or making a joke, and Isaac was laughing right along with him. It's amazing how set-in-stone personality tends to be.

Isaac still has a bad stutter. We're pretty sure it corresponds to all this play with his big brother. We have read about stuttering, and it often happens when their language is developing quickly and their mouths can't keep up with thier minds. It seems to be worse when he is playing adventurously, and with Evan.

The other day, Evan said, "I wish Isaac and I were twins."

Oh, speaking of twins, we told Evan about the birds and the bees. I had told him that since his friend was a twin and we were going to his birthday party, that it was also his twin brother's birthday, so we needed to buy two gifts. He asked me what a twin was, and I said brothers who were in the uterus at the same time and born on the same day. He said, "do they come from one seed, or two?" This kind of blew me away because I have never told him about "seeds." So I realized he knew more than I realized. We sat down with him and answered his questions. He knows the basics, but more than I did when I was 6. Jerry did most of the talking and was so relaxed about it. He's such a good dad.

Isaac is very curious and asks lots of questions. He is still obsessed with eggs. When he eats peas, he says, "mommy, this is an egg, and it is waiting to hatch." I read a book ("Are You My Mother?") one day about a baby bird hatching, and he said, "mommy, later, can we get a baby bird egg and can I sit on it?" Every time we eat fruit, he looks at the seed and says, "mommy, can't we plant this in the backyard and grow a watermelon tree/apple tree/orange tree?" We have many seeds planted in our backyard.

I have to tell him about 10 times to do something before he will do it. It often goes like this:
Me: Isaac, clean up please.
Isaac: Mommy, I am making a ship.
Me: I see that. Can we clean it up please?
Isaac: Mommy, this is my ship.
Me: Can you put your ship away please?
Isaac: Why.
Me: Because I asked you to.
Isaac: I'll just put it right here [on the window seat].
Me: That's not really putting it away. Can you put it where it goes?
Isaac: [ignores me.]
Me: It's time to clean up.
Isaac: Mommy, watch what my ship does.

It is exhausting.

Kindergarten update

First day of kindergarten





On his first real day, we got there a little early. I dropped him off with our neighbor and their daughter, C, who is in his class.


















Evan and C played together for 10-15 minutes while they waited for everyone to arrive.





Then, the teacher came out and the kids started to line up. There was a hint of anxiety in the air as some of the kids were excited, at least one kid was crying, and maybe some of the parents seemed nervous. Parents were snapping pictures and everyone was looking at the new kindergarteners. They were in line for what seemed like forever, which meant that this time was being stretched out. I think that caused some anxiety because I looked over and saw that he was wiping his eyes. I met him in line and asked what was wrong and he said his "eyes were just watery" (he always says that when he is holding back tears, or he says that he has allergies). I tried not to make a big deal out of it because eventually they would go inside and be distracted.











After our final hug, he didn't look back. He waved good-bye and walked in with his Star Wars backpack into the classroom...

I guess he had a great day. They sang songs, did crafts, and did activities on the board. It was nice because the very next week (Monday) was his 6th birthday, and I got to bring cupcakes for the whole class, which meant that I got to spy on him. :) I got a daycare substitute in here so that I could go. His class is so cute. The teacher has a system for everything to keep them in line. She is always telling them what order things are happening. When it was time for the party, they first had to use hand sanitizer, then they would receive their cupcakes but would not complain if it wasn't the one they wanted, then they had to wait until everyone was served and not eat yet, then they would all sing Happy Birthday, and then they could eat. Some of the cupcakes were Spiderman, some were SpongeBob, and some just had random characters on them. Every kid wanted Spiderman, even the girls, so the teacher said, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit." I helped hand them out, and I made sure my birthday boy got Spiderman.

When we were getting ready to sing Happy Birthday, Evan was looking at me with a funny expression and said he wanted me to sit by him. I didn't know if he was at the age of being embarassed by me, so I had been keeping my distance. I went and sat by him. The kids sang to him and he did his nervous laugh but sat very, very still. Towards the end of the song, he leaned into me. I wasn't sure what he was doing, and then I realized he wanted a hug. I hugged him. When they were done singing, he hugged me again. I realized how embarassed he was... he just wanted it to be over.

After the kids ate, his teacher gave him a gift, which was a pencil, little note pad, eraser, and sticker inside of a party bag. He opened it and was very quiet... I had to remind him to thank her. A few days later, I asked him which party he liked best: his bouncy house party with all his longtime friends, his Chuck E Cheese party with the neighbor kids, or his school party. He said the school party was best because Mrs. H. gave him a gift. Even though he acted stoic, he loved that she gave him something special.

Almost every day after school, I ask him what he learned or did, and he usually says "nothing." If I leave him alone, then he'll come to me with information. I've had to learn that about him... things need to be on his terms.

One thing he always shares with me is the board activity they do. Mrs. H. writes a question on the board like, "do you like chocolate" or "are you a boy?" Each kid has a magnetic square with their name on it. They need to put that square under one of the two columns on the board: yes, or no, in answer to the question. After everyone answers the question, they count all the "yes" and "no" votes, and add them up, and it equals the number of students in the class. So he is also learning math.

They are learning so much more in kindergarten than I ever learned. One day he came home and said, "mommy, did you know that when there's a question mark at the end of a sentence, you read it like a question?" and he gave me an example. His homework assignments are like this: each week, it's a differnet letter. On the front of the page, they write the upper and lower case of that letter. On the back, they draw 3 things that that letter starts with, and then attempt to spell it (but we are not allowed to correct the spelling - they are learning to spell phoenetically now).

They also do worksheets in class. The first line is already written out: "I see a _____." Evan wrote "man" in the blank. Then he has to write the entire sentences 4 more times, so he wrote, "I see a mask, I see a mom, I see a maos." That last one is "mouse."

During the first week, they did a reading assessment, and he is reading at the 1st grade level, level 3 or 4 (I'm not sure what the levels mean). But he is doing well. Since he is one of the older ones in the class, we kind of hoped/expected he would be reading ahead, though we really didn't know. We have heard so much about kindergarten being so much more challenging than it used to be, that I think they'll still be able to challenge him.

Now he is off-track. We have year-round kindergarten here, so after about 6 weeks, they are off-track for about 3. When he is off-track, he can either go to all-day kindergarten enrichment, or stay home with me. When I have 6 kids in the daycare, he'll go to enrichment, otherwise I'll keep him home. Anyway, to keep them learning, they have a web site where they can hear books read to them, then take a quiz to test their learning comprehension. He has to use a mouse correctly to work it. He gets to pick the book, tells it when to read, has the questions read to him, then the answers, then he clicks on the right answer. I've been spying on him, and he understands more than I thought he would. One of the stories has a kid going into the woods... one one page, he discovers the forrest, on another, a squirrel, and then a bear. The question said, "what is the first thing the boy discovered?" He needed to click on each answer to hear the answers read to him and then choose the right one... but he didn't click to hear them read, he just read them on his own and chose the right one. I'm so proud.

In the last month, he really seems like a different kid. He is changing so quickly. It also seems like his personality is set (I guess it was already, but it's easier to see it now). He is very aware of rules and sees things in black and white. He likes to follow the rules but needs a reason for everything. He is shy and intimidated by big kids. His teacher says he knows the answers to things but hesitates to speak up in class. He has met a few friends who he talks about a lot (he seems to be drawn to outgoing, funny kids), and seems to want just 2 or 3 friends (exactly like his mom and dad!). He loves his teacher and is always standing close to her when I pick him up. He is also much more independent than he used to be. Some days, our neighbor drives him to school. Evan insists on going outside by himself and standing on the sidewalk while he waits alone. Of course, this means I have to watch him through the window so some wacko doesn't pick him up, and that plan is less convenient than me just walking him out, but I am respecting his need for space and independence.

On the flip side of this newfound independence, he is also wanting to show me everything he can do. I'm hearing lots of, "mommy, look at this, mommy, look what I read, mommy, guess what I can spell {this morning, it was "fart."}, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy..." It is constant. It's a little tiring. One of my friends, in her wisdom, said that this need for constant reassurance exists because of his new independence... it's a constant struggle between, what feels to him like being in the world alone, but still wanting his mommy.

Evan started kindergarten!

Last week Evan started Kindergarten. Here's a quick rundown.
On Monday, he got to meet the teacher. There was a group of about seven kids and parents in the lobby, and she came out to talk to the kids. She told them that she would take them back to the classroom. One of the kids got really shy and was clinging to her mom, and the teacher offered her hand, but the girl didn't take it. She said, "Well, I have two hands... who wants one?" One of the very outgoing girls grabbed one right away, and Evan raised his hand and then quietly walked over and grabbed her other one. He looked so cute walking off holding her hand.

I immediately loved his teacher. She is young, cute, and very happy. When Evan came back from his 20-minute meeting from her, he said he saw his classroom and she read them a book. I said I thought his teacher seemed nice. He said, "Yeah, and she has a nice voice too."

The second day, the kids got to spend about an hour in the classroom while the parents learned about policies & procedures. Then we went back into the classroom and each parent did a craft project with the kids at the little tables and chairs. He seemed comfortable there. Then they sat on the rug for book time, and went outside to play... all things to prepare them for their first real day tomorrow.

To be continued...

Isaac - 3 years
Isaac is funny. He definitely has his dad's quirky, dry sense of humor. It comes naturally to him. He says funny things without even knowing it, then he sees us laughing, and then he looks tickled. Of course, I can't think of any good examples right now. Oh, there is one thing.
Yesterday at snack time, he was not liking my rule of "eat everything before you get seconds." We were having boring Saltine's and raisins. He only wanted the raisins. So he said:
"Mommy, can I have more raisins?"
Me: You have to eat your cracker first (referring to his untouched cracker.
Isaac: I don't have a cracker.
Me: Really? What's that brown square thing right in front of you?
Isaac: Oh, that's just a rock.
Me: Then please eat your rock before you get more raisins.
Isaac (takes a bite, and says quietly): It's like a bwown hard wock.

Later, the kids were watering the plants with watering cans.
Isaac: Mommy, I need more water so that I can water the wocks and make the wocks gwow big.

Later, he was eating an apple.
Daddy! Look, I found a seed! Can I put this seed in the gwound and add water and make an apple twee gwow?

Isaac wants to type this: bbhlL'PPPP043R54WRTYY][]\\.NNMCXZ

Keira - 8 1/2 mos
She had tubes put in her ears at the beginning of May because she had 7 ear infections in 4 months. I brought her to the surgery place and forgot to bring her pacifier. The surgery was scheduled for 9:00 which is when she takes her morning nap, and I couldn't feed her past 4:00 a.m., so she was hungry and tired... very crabby. And I had no pacifier! I was so mad at myself. I had tried walking around with her, and that calmed her a bit, and I had toys for her, but they got boring after awhile, and she was getting restless. Finally I found a stuffed baby tiger that she was given for Christmas from one of her grandmas. I gave it to her, and she immediately calmed down, pulled it to her face, sucked on it, played with the whiskers, and was totally content for a long time.

The surgery went fine. It was so quick... only about 10 minutes total.

Days after the surgery, she got her two front teeth, and then she was sick... ah, the life of a baby.

She can stand holding onto something as long as I stay close behind her. She's developing her balance pretty well. She is also kind of crawling. She can scoot all around with her belly touching the floor, and sometimes goes up on her hands and knees. She sits perfectly. The other day, she wasn't napping when she was supposed to be. I peeked in at her, and she was sitting up in her bed, shaking the railing back and forth, and looking happier than I've ever seen her. I thought she was going to propel herself over the edge, she was so happy.

Up to this point, she has only liked vegetables, especially green and orange ones, so green beans, peas, carrots, and sweet potatoes. She also loves rice cereal and baby oatmeal. She has hated fruits or anything sweet or tart. But just over the last few days she has started eating apple sauce and banana, which is great because I was getting bored feeding her the same thing all the time. She loves those baby crunchy things and crackers. Isaac loves to feed her crackers. He always asks if he can give her a cracker.

Evan - almost 6
We just started Evan in T-ball. Yesterday was his first practice. He was very shy. At the beginning, they went around a circle and had to say their name, school they go to, and favorite cereal. When it got to him, he was just quiet. The coach had to coax him to talk, and he said, "My name is Evan, I don't know what school I go to, and I like Trix." Then the coach asked him to pick a partner, and Evan's friend from preschool was immediately snatched up by another kid. Evan just kind of walked around for a long time like he wasn't sure what to do. I finally called out to him and pointed to another kid walking alone, so he went and stood next to him... never asked the kid if he wanted to be his partner. So later I told him the "secret" is to make eye contact, walk up to the first kid you see, and ask to be their partner. He seemed relieved to hear this plan. Unfortunately, Jerry and I were both painfully shy and hated these situations as kids, so it looks like he has inherited this. We don't see this in Isaac at all, so maybe he has the outgoing gene from his papa (my dad) and grandma (Jerry's mom).

Then coach Todd started teaching them to throw and catch, and Evan did that with another kid, and they were both equally inexperienced. Evan threw pretty well but missed most of the catches... but so did most of the other kids. Then coach Todd matched himself up with Evan for the next drill. Todd showed Evan one time how to throw overhand, and almost all of Evan's throws from that point on were perfect. He showed him how to throw and catch grounders with his mitt, and again, they were all almost perfect. He still needs to work on his catching, though. I was so happy at how well he was doing, but at the end, Evan said it was boring, he didn't like it, and didn't want to go back. I finally convinced him to finish out the season, and told him that once they start having actual games, those kids will become his friends, and they'll go to ice cream afterwards. That seemed to help a little.

I think Evan thinks that the game of baseball really just means throwing a ball back and forth, and throwing a ball to some random person that some other random person tells you to throw it to. He doesn't understand the game. At one point, he played first base. He became pretty good at stopping the ball (even if he didn't catch it the first time... he was at least stopping it with his glove or foot, and then picking it up and throwing it). But we had to tell him to throw it to the pitcher, and although he listened, he didn't understand why. So that night I drew him a typical game, named the pretend characters, explained how all this stuff can happen when the ball is in the air and people are fumbling with it and trying to throw it back, and this seemed to interest him... Hopefully that will make a difference. If he's not into baseball, that's OK, but we want him to at least give it a chance.

He is GREAT at karate! He sort of leads the class (though they are all younger) and has mastered all the moves. He just moved from orange belt to yellow and will move next week into a new class with ages 5-11, which I think will challenge him. Right now, the four year-olds will sometimes act silly, and he seems distracted by it, so I think it will be great for him to be challenged by older, better kids. His new class will have a special thing on Fridays where they get to do karate with pretend weapons. He'll love it!

Evan finished his preschool class on Monday and starts kindergarten in July, the week before he turns 6. He had lots of close friends in his preschool class of 10 boys. On two different occassions, parents told me that Evan was the "nicest boy in class," and also that he was artistic and loves to draw. When Jerry dropped him off, all the kids would say, "Evan!" and look genuinely happy to see him. I am nervous about kindergarten... I hope they love him there, too... :)