Swim Lessons

I love having Owen in swim lessons. It's great exercise, it feels good, and he really excels at it! He's four. The other kids in his class are 6, 7, 8, and 10. He swims more than 10 laps at each lesson now. I don't want to push him to hard, but I get so excited to see him swimming so well. Around here, we have a really good youth team, and I would be so happy for him if it ended up working out to be something he liked and was good at. I really want him to find a sport or sports to play as he grows up. Athletics keep you busy, focused, and out of trouble in those teen years. Owen doesn't isn't a naturally fast runner or great at controlling a ball. (I get that he's really young and can learn these things.) But, Owen is naturally a good swimmer. I am so proud of him.

Jake and the School

Tonight, instead of reading a bedtime story, Owen made one up. How fun! I typed while he dictated. Then I read it back to him, and he made a few revisions. Enjoy!

"Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Jake. He was ver good at school. And he listened every time. And of course, he always getted his chart filled up and gets in the treasure box of being a good boy. So one day, he saw something that he really wanted, and it was a Bakugon. And he had two friends, and their names were Owen and Sam. And they asked if they could play with the Bakugons, and Jake let them. And there were three of them (Bakugons). And that's the end of the story happily ever after. "

Teeball

This fall since we weren't in preschool, we found some other activities to keep us busy. Monday night is tee-ball, Tuesday is Taekwando, Wednesday is swimming.



We signed up for Teeball because we had friends from Castle Country Preschool that were going to play teeball too. Sam, Ben, Owen, Owen, and Drew were quite the crew. They were very squirmy and silly, but they're 4, and that's how 4-year-olds act when they're excited. We quickly realized that Owen needed a glove for a left-hander. The first night, he looked like such a spaz because he couldn't throw the ball with his right hand. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a teeball glove for a lefty? Impossible unless you are willing to spend $40 at the sporting goods store. I found one on ebay, but it was way too big. Didn't matter much anyway because Owen had no concept of what he was supposed to do with it anyway. This wasn't his fault; it was just the way it was set up. Preschool teeball was like herding cats.

Owen and Sam - Best buds!Really involved in the game. This reminds me so much of Devon when he was little. He and his friends used to do cartwheels and throw dirt the whole game much to the amusement of their older siblings. Owen would have fit right in with that team. Just to give you an idea, when he was playing first base and the first batter hit the ball, Owen dropped his glove and ran to second - um, wrong team buddy. When the second player hit the ball and the dad standing there told Owen to get the ball, he ran after it and kicked it like a soccer ball back to the base. He was moved to outfield shortly thereafter.
Being on the batting team was no better. He got first through third just fine, but everytime (and I mean EVERY time) he was supposed to run home, he ran to the dugout. Most of the time it was the OTHER TEAM'S dugout! The great thing about it was, it was just for fun. No one kept score or even got "out". Which is great for this age since they're too young to understand the game anyway. He is so proud of his "first gold medal!" He keeps it safe in his pajama drawer.Every week after tee-ball we went to Pizza Hut because there was hardly anyone was there. The boys were always so wound up and goofy by then, it was nice to have a place to ourselves where they could be squirmy and giggly. We had a great season!

Imagination

Today, Owen was playing downstairs and came up with a new game. He pushed the climber over so that there was an area of the corner you could only get to by going through the climber. Then, using his toy claw, he was picking up baby toys and handing them to the babies. When I asked what he was doing, he explained that the toys were floating down the river and he had to rescue them for Blake. See, the toys belonged to Blake's baby brother, and his baby was crying so much that it was hurting Blake's ears. Mirroring reality. (The hurt ears, not the toys in the river.)

The dresses

I have sewn quilts and other things, but I have never followed a pattern except when I was younger, making clothes with my Grandma Gard. Back then, I thought it was so complicated, although I loved spending the time with her. I avoided patterns when I started teaching myself to quilt, because I thought they would be too difficult. But now I decided to challenge myself, and bought a couple of little girl dress patterns on sale. I've been inspired to try it after looking at the clothes on Etsy.com which are adorable, but cost way to much. I made these dresses for about $15 a piece, and for being my first attempts, I'm pretty proud of them. Although, I have to say that I have no idea how to sew in a zipper nicely. They are functional and that's about it right now. If anyone can help me, I'd appreciate the lesson. Now, if only I can get my model to hold still while I take pictures.


My first and favorite of the two. It took me about 8 hours to figure out how to follow a pattern and make a few mistakes learning how to do things like ruffles and the gathering around the sleeves. I figure for a first try, 8 hours wasn't too bad, start to finish. I just did it while watching TV after the kids went to bed for a few nights. It ended up being too big, so I can't wait for her to wear it in the spring. My second one plus the sweater I found at Children's Place. This one took about a week of TV nights, but only about 6 hours of work. I'm getting faster. I think it just took so long, because I'm still learning the basic concepts of how to get everything to line up just right. The flowers in her hair and on her waist were from my friend Megan's blog tutorial. There is gathering at the top of the neck and above the waist band that is one of my favorite things about this pattern, but I think with the busy fabric it doesn't show up well enough. Also, my model was VERY SQUIRMY and running all over the place, so I never got a good shot of it anyway. By the time I got to this picture, she had pulled her bow halfway out and gotten quite the snotty nose, but I think she still looks precious. :)

In the Van

Funny thing happened yesterday in the van. The twins had bottles, but Sadie dropped hers. At a stop light, Owen starts laughing and telling me to look at Blake. Blake was holding his bottle out to Sadie, and when she'd reach for it, he'd put it back in his lap and laugh, laugh, laugh. Thankfully, she was giggling about it too. Let the sibling teasing begin!

Emerging Language

This is a really fun time with the twins because they are beginning to do less (just a LITTLE less) screaming and trying to communicate in other ways. Their babbling across the tops of the cribs is starting to sound more and more like English word patterns, and I don't think there are many other sounds quite as sweet.

Signs: I've tried to work on signs. I don't know if I haven't been consistent enough or if I give in too early when they want "more" of something, handing it over before they actually complete the sign. I'm sure they're smart enough to learn them, but we haven't made too much progress. They sign for "all done." Occasionally I'll see someone sign "more." Of course they wave bye bye and blow kisses. That's about it though.

Songs: We've been singing and doing hand motions to lots of songs lately. They are most competent with "Twinkle Twinkle". Both of them do some of the motions even when I'm not right there doing it with them, like say I'm doing dishes while I sing with them in their highchairs. We've been working on "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes", "Wheels on the Bus", and "Happy and You Know It". They do some of the motions in each, which is great. Then, Sadie dug through quite a few bins and baskets Friday and came across Owen's old favorite, Laurie Berkner Band DVD. The twins have LOVED watching this in the van, and get their little grooves on in their car seats. The best part of kiddie music is watching them dance their little boppy baby dances. I have been trying and trying to get it on video, but getting out the camera always seems to ruin the moment. I'll keep trying and hopefully get it posted soon.

Books: I cannot sit down without a book being handed to me and a little bottom plopping into my lap. It's great! It's also a little tiring to read about the bunny's fluffy tail for the eighty-fourth time each day. But now they both know how to do an elephant sound, a duck sound (ack ack), and monkey (ooh ooh ah ah ah ah ah).

Sadie's words: Sadie says "nie nie" (night night), which means blankie. She calls herself "Didi." Of course there's "Mama" and "Dada", and a couple of times I've heard her say "Bake" clear as day. She also says a knowing or interested, "oooooooh," as in "ooooooh Dada." Hard to explain in text, but it's super cute in person.

Blake's words: Blake is very good at "hi," and says it to a lot of people when we're out and about. He's got "Mama" and "Dada" down. Other than that, there aren't many that he says consistently, but he can clumsily repeat just about any word you say to him. He is a very good copier.

I know this is just the beginning, and I am so excited for each new word to make it into their vocabulary. I remember this stage with Owen was such a blast, and the poor people at school had to be tired of hearing me come in every morning with a new language update. Now, all of you blog readers will be the ones I brag to. :)

Blake's New Skills

This is going back a month and a half, but the kids have been keeping me on my toes so much lately that by the end of the day, I'm ready to zone out for a while and go to sleep. I keep thinking, I'll write the blog tomorrow. But the next day I feel the same way, and so on. So what's been the big change? A lot of it is Blake. Here are the things he has learned to do recently:

-Escape from the baby gate that we have separating the baby-safe area from the rest of the house. He can escape by wriggling it out from behind the chair and wall, squeezing through between the couch and pillar, and has managed to army crawl underneath it.

-Climb onto (and over) the couch

-Take off his pants and diaper

-Become Poo-caso (several times)

-Stand up in the tub and pee on his sister while doing an evil villain laugh.

- Take outlet covers off (3 different brands)

-Climb onto the ottoman and the Little Tikes teeter totter that I used to keep up there when it wasn't in use

- Open doors

- Reach things like table runners and pull on them to get everything to crash.

- Use bath toys to dump water out of the tub

-Steal his sister paci because it makes her scream, and he thinks that's hilarious

There is no time to look away while Blake is awake right now. He has this sense about what could be dangerous or maddening and the impulse to do it. But, things have been getting better. He is learning what "no" means, and you can bet he gets lots of hugs and tickles whenever he turns away from whatever it is I caught him trying.

He has also learned to hug, which is SOOO sweet. The first time, I was changing Sadie's diaper, He came up behind me, laid his head on my back, and said "Ahhh" as he patted my shoulder. TOO sweet. He tries to hug Sadie but ususally knocks her over, so that hasn't worked as well. He certainly is a handful, but he has the biggest heart. :)

My Blankie Girl

Before I had kids, I melted at the sight of a sweet little toddler (Can you believe my babies are toddlers now?) dragging around a lovey blankie. It just made me want to scoop them up and kiss 'em.


When Owen was a toddler, I kept hoping in a little way that he'd become attached to blankie or stuffed animal. E.E., the monkey, is the closest thing to a lovey he has. Although, he could mostly do without it, and he doesn't care which E.E. (we have two) is with him for things like trips to grandma's house and to get shots.



Blake doesn't go for that sort of thing either. He's mostly drawn to things in the shape of sticks like plastic golf clubs and baseball bats, brooms, and the stick we use as a lock on the sliding glass door.



But with Sadie, well, I got what I wished for. (Just like when I was younger and thought it'd be so much fun to have twins. HA!) She currently has two pink blankets that she totes around constantly. Um..maybe wears like a cape is a better description. She holds one corner in each hand, drapes it over her shoulders, and walks around like that for an hour. She pulls it over her head to hide from her brothers. She rides on it down the Little Tikes slide in the basement. She rubs the silky part when she's nervous or sleepy. It comes in handy for things like going to the doctor, being dropped off in the child watch area at the Y, and making a barrier between Sadie and Blake in the Sam's Club shopping carts. Luckily at this point either blankie will do, and you can bet that I'm putting extra blankies at the top of her Santa list.
As much as I always thought it would be so cute to have a blankie-toting baby around, I didn't realize how, in reality, it's kind of a pain. It's annoying remembering to grab it before I head up the stairs for naptime. Or worse, having to go back down stairs and up again because I forgot. It's not fun to listen to her scream all the way home because I won't hand it back to her in the van after she dropped it in a puddle and it got ran over by the stroller. If Blake ever takes the blanket, she attacks him full force, so beware. She cries when I take it away so she can eat. She screams if it's not in her crib. Without it in the morning, there is whining, whining, whining. They need to be washed constantly because they get covered in snot and milk and germs from shopping carts. (I'm being careful this flu season!)



But for as much of a hastle as the blankies are, it's the kind of hastle that makes me feel a little bit lucky for getting the chance to deal with it. In the same way it's a hastle to wash sticky finger prints off the walls or pick up countless toys every night before I go to bed, I'm secretly glad that I get to do it. Doing those kinds of things that makes me feel like a mom. And I get to be Mom to some awesome E.E. snugglin', stick wavin', blankie draggin' kids.