We had a very nice weekend with the most wonderful spring weather. Our Saturday started as usual, with gymnastics. But we didn't know that the wonderful Miss Kelsey had made arrangements for C to start class that day (we were told he couldn't start until next weekend because he wasn't officially 18 months until the next day). Despite the fact that he wasn't exactly dressed for it, and we didn't have the camera with us...C started gymnastics! (We'll take a lot of pictures next weekend, we swear.)
After class we headed over to Stanford Center to a children's Earth Day event they were having (the kids are part of a program there called Kidgets, they have almost monthly events with crafts and other fun stuff) and B got a bell pepper plant and C got a basil plant. They decorated the pots and everything. They are sitting on our front window sill now, because its the only spot that gets enough sun. It might be unconventional to grow a garden in our house, but that's how we roll.
And yesterday J took the kids over to Berkeley for a friend's going away party. He said the park was wonderful and the kids had a blast. It was so nice to be able to spend so much of this particular weekend outside. Very appropriate we think.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Dragons (better late than never)
Have been meaning to post this for ages! Dreamworks latest movie, How to Train Your Dragon, is out in theaters and its awesome! We mean it. This isn't just a clever ruse to get you to spend your money on J's company. It really is a really, really good movie. T cried...a couple times...and declared it was as good as any live action movie. We think everyone should go see it...twice...and take your five closest friends. Heck, take your enemy! It will be a great chance to bond and mend fences.
Dragons display at PDI
Roar! 
out to see the movie in the theater
Roar! 
out to see the movie in the theater
Saturday, April 17, 2010
The Little Mermaid
B and T did their second 5K through the Mermaid Series, a really great organization based out of Santa Cruz. Our friend Terisha (who we're very happy is working down in our neck of the woods for a few months as a traveling nurse -- and no, that doesn't mean she travels around on a bike with a medical kit looking for wounded to aide, which was our initial mental image) joined the girls. Don't think any land speed records were set, but it was fun and we went to the pancake store afterward which always sets a nice tone for the weekend.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Mr. C keeps getting bigger and brighter!
We realized its been awhile since we did an update on C, without the frequent well-baby check ups its easy to forget to stop and take stock of his new tricks and milestones. So, lets see if we can make a list of what this mancub can do:
He's "talking" much more these days and trying to copy what we say more than ever. His favorite word is "ckrr" and he's got words for truck and train also. Perhaps you can glean what his main interest is from that list. He also says mama, dada, mumumum (more), off, up, out, on, hat, eesy (Rhys)...mostly there are a lot of grunts and groans which when combined with gestures and enthusiastic facial expressions add up to effective communication.
He knows a lot of body parts and can point them out: eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears, hair, hands, feet, fingers, toes, knees, arms, beebo (belly button), tummy. He gives out hugs, snooches (kisses), high fives, blows kisses, waves. He tries to sign "thank you" but he mostly gives this little nod like he's a medieval knight. We've seen him sign "mom" and "dad" but he keeps those pretty deep in his bag of tricks.
He loves to dance. Like L-O-V-Es to dance! Whenever we can find some dancers, especially hip hop, on TV he goes nuts for it. If he even hears the word dance he will start to shake his groove thing and the opening of Ellen is his favorite thing on TV. Speaking of TV, he's still not as into television as his sister, but he likes Pinky Dinky Doo, Toot and Puddle, Yo Gabba Gabba and will always pick the movie Cars if given a choice (something B is very sick of).
He's still really physical; climbing, running, jumping, trying to do flips and rolls. One of the kids' favorite games is "race" which is basically them racing from the starting line (the line where the tile of the entry way meets the carpet of the living room) across the living room, around the dining table and back to the finish line (same as the starting line). B always wins and sometimes C will turn around before the dining table just to keep up but he thinks its just as much fun that way and is just as excited to cross the finish line as B is. They clap and cheer for each other. For some reason C thinks it makes the game more authentic if he breathes really heavily before racing. We think he saw someone at some point breathing like that after a race and missed the whole cause and effect part. Its very cute.
He'll be 18 months the Sunday after next and then he can start gymnastics with B, which is something we'll all be grateful for. The last few months have been sort of torturous as he wants so desperately to join in the fun and can't. We've been letting him jump in the foam pit, and thankfully no one at the gym has attempted to stop us, although we're sure its not really legit. They probably just don't want to hear him scream for the entire 45 minutes.
He's got lots of teeth and is good about letting us brush them. He loves bath time and can undress himself when its time. He also has been helping us to dress him and picking out his own shirts. He tries to put his shoes on all by himself. He currently has his third busted lip, and we're starting to see a lot of medical expenses in our future as he is able to be more active and take more adrenaline inducing risks.
He has great hair and gets complimented on it all the time. He adores Rhys and its really interesting to see how strong the bond between boy and dog can be, it's different somehow from B and Rhys. B and C really are best friends and for the most part play so well together! They are sweet and caring with each other (not that they can't drive each other nuts or want to play alone at times too but its honestly more often the case that they are playing together). He also loves books, gets at least two before every sleep and often brings us books during the day to read. For awhile he was really into Goodnight Moon, and he has a collection of Cars board books which he loves and he's a big fan of the Usborne touch and feel "That's Not My..." collection.
After visiting with Uncle Dustin, both kids have been wanting to sing and play their instruments more. So C will drum and ask for "Itsy Bitsy Spider" several times a day and he's starting to do the hand motions along with mama.
He is a very adventurous eater for the time being and will eat most anything you offer him. He loves cheese like T and B, and "shoosh" (juice) especially green juice (superfood). We recently learned that he especially favors shortbread and doesn't mind pecans in his bread. He'll always choose the veggie pizza and will swipe all your tofu if you don't keep your eye on him. And he thinks everything is better with "kkkuh" (ketchup).
His temper is still award winning and he can throw a spectacular tantrum, but it usually fizzles out before long and he is back to being his adorable loving self. But perhaps C's most marked characteristic is his self-sufficiency. That might sound odd when speaking about a toddler, he's definitely not ready to strike out on his own and he's totally a mama's boy (checking in with T like she's his own personal battery charger for quick mama fixes before he's off again to explore the world) but he will go the long way around every time rather than ask for help. And its not really a stubborn thing, its just that he does things on his own. He's always had a very strong internal compass and the more he develops and grows the more we see that in him.
And that's the update on all things C.
He's "talking" much more these days and trying to copy what we say more than ever. His favorite word is "ckrr" and he's got words for truck and train also. Perhaps you can glean what his main interest is from that list. He also says mama, dada, mumumum (more), off, up, out, on, hat, eesy (Rhys)...mostly there are a lot of grunts and groans which when combined with gestures and enthusiastic facial expressions add up to effective communication.
He knows a lot of body parts and can point them out: eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears, hair, hands, feet, fingers, toes, knees, arms, beebo (belly button), tummy. He gives out hugs, snooches (kisses), high fives, blows kisses, waves. He tries to sign "thank you" but he mostly gives this little nod like he's a medieval knight. We've seen him sign "mom" and "dad" but he keeps those pretty deep in his bag of tricks.
He loves to dance. Like L-O-V-Es to dance! Whenever we can find some dancers, especially hip hop, on TV he goes nuts for it. If he even hears the word dance he will start to shake his groove thing and the opening of Ellen is his favorite thing on TV. Speaking of TV, he's still not as into television as his sister, but he likes Pinky Dinky Doo, Toot and Puddle, Yo Gabba Gabba and will always pick the movie Cars if given a choice (something B is very sick of).
He's still really physical; climbing, running, jumping, trying to do flips and rolls. One of the kids' favorite games is "race" which is basically them racing from the starting line (the line where the tile of the entry way meets the carpet of the living room) across the living room, around the dining table and back to the finish line (same as the starting line). B always wins and sometimes C will turn around before the dining table just to keep up but he thinks its just as much fun that way and is just as excited to cross the finish line as B is. They clap and cheer for each other. For some reason C thinks it makes the game more authentic if he breathes really heavily before racing. We think he saw someone at some point breathing like that after a race and missed the whole cause and effect part. Its very cute.
He'll be 18 months the Sunday after next and then he can start gymnastics with B, which is something we'll all be grateful for. The last few months have been sort of torturous as he wants so desperately to join in the fun and can't. We've been letting him jump in the foam pit, and thankfully no one at the gym has attempted to stop us, although we're sure its not really legit. They probably just don't want to hear him scream for the entire 45 minutes.
He's got lots of teeth and is good about letting us brush them. He loves bath time and can undress himself when its time. He also has been helping us to dress him and picking out his own shirts. He tries to put his shoes on all by himself. He currently has his third busted lip, and we're starting to see a lot of medical expenses in our future as he is able to be more active and take more adrenaline inducing risks.
He has great hair and gets complimented on it all the time. He adores Rhys and its really interesting to see how strong the bond between boy and dog can be, it's different somehow from B and Rhys. B and C really are best friends and for the most part play so well together! They are sweet and caring with each other (not that they can't drive each other nuts or want to play alone at times too but its honestly more often the case that they are playing together). He also loves books, gets at least two before every sleep and often brings us books during the day to read. For awhile he was really into Goodnight Moon, and he has a collection of Cars board books which he loves and he's a big fan of the Usborne touch and feel "That's Not My..." collection.
After visiting with Uncle Dustin, both kids have been wanting to sing and play their instruments more. So C will drum and ask for "Itsy Bitsy Spider" several times a day and he's starting to do the hand motions along with mama.
He is a very adventurous eater for the time being and will eat most anything you offer him. He loves cheese like T and B, and "shoosh" (juice) especially green juice (superfood). We recently learned that he especially favors shortbread and doesn't mind pecans in his bread. He'll always choose the veggie pizza and will swipe all your tofu if you don't keep your eye on him. And he thinks everything is better with "kkkuh" (ketchup).
His temper is still award winning and he can throw a spectacular tantrum, but it usually fizzles out before long and he is back to being his adorable loving self. But perhaps C's most marked characteristic is his self-sufficiency. That might sound odd when speaking about a toddler, he's definitely not ready to strike out on his own and he's totally a mama's boy (checking in with T like she's his own personal battery charger for quick mama fixes before he's off again to explore the world) but he will go the long way around every time rather than ask for help. And its not really a stubborn thing, its just that he does things on his own. He's always had a very strong internal compass and the more he develops and grows the more we see that in him.
And that's the update on all things C.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Hoppy Easter!
We can never resist a good pun.
We had a lovely Easter, Uncle Dustin and Auntie Jess were here (T's brother and his looooong time girlfriend..begging the question: at what point can we propose to her so she can just be our sister-in-law already?!) and it was so nice to have family for the holiday.
On Friday there was the annual egg hunt at PDI. We've come to anticipate this event with equal parts excitement and dread; its a fun family event, but the bigger kids (sometimes as old as 8 and 9) tend to completely disregard the smaller kids, sometimes even stealing eggs right out from under their noses or if they tots simply aren't quick enough. Its very frustrating as a parent to watch your kids get pushed around and its also frustrating that the parents of the older kids don't intervene or even notice the problem. But we've learned that for now (at least) if we don't react then B doesn't even notice. She got enough eggs to share with C and she thought it was loads of fun.
On Sunday we had raspberry scones and checked out the goods from the Easter Bunny. B got a Hello, Kitty! book about foreign places and languages, Japanese cherry candies (he must have known we were just in Japantown, or else its just a coincidence), a snack box, a magnetic Hello, Kitty! dress-up set, and some finger puppets. C got a wooden car, some car socks, a book about Little Nut Brown Hare, chocolate covered sunflower seeds and a koosh ball (remember those?). Then B ran around finding eggs that Mr. Bunny hid all over the living room, filled with jelly bellies.
Instead of coloring hard boiled eggs we decorated sugar cookies. None of us really like to eat hard boiled eggs, so that just seemed like a waste. When the kids are older, if they want, we may try our hands at emptying the raw egg out of the shells... but for now, everyone was happy with the sugar cookies.
So, in sum, we very much enjoyed our Easter and we sincerely hope everyone else did as well.
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