Big Brother's Sage Advice

"Catie, never get too close to a circus clown. You might get hurt."

-WDB

Eel

I am happy to report that after, oh, a gazillion sessions of swimming lessons, Will has graduated from the Pike class to the Eel class. He took swimming pretty much all last school year, one day a week for probably 25 weeks. And to be honest, he really didn't progress at all. So imagine my surprise when, during two summer sessions (twice a week for 3 weeks each), we see Will take to swimming like a little fish! He lost lots of his inhibitions and started going underwater, jumping into the arms of the instructor without convincing her to come closer to the edge, and swimming (doggy paddling) without assistance! I don't know if it was the instructors, his age, or what, but it clicked this time. GO WILL!

Play a Game with Me

Heaven or August in Iowa?


Heaven or August in Iowa?


Heaven or August in Iowa?

The Imperial March

She was not put up to this. I was taking pictures (which you will see soon) and she busted out with the Imperial March. One day she came to me with a blanket cape on and insisted I put Will's Vader mask on her saying, "I want to be Darth Vader." Is she trying to tell us something? Should we be concerned?

New Game

Catie's favorite new phrase is "Which one you like?" She'll give me a choice of two or three things and insist I choose one. ("Which one you like? WHICH ONE YOU LIKE??")Then, when I choose one I like, she'll say, "I don't have a green one! Just a pink one." Stinker.

Pictures, Videos, and Stories Galore!

A much-delayed update:

Catie's been a little obsessed with yoga. She'll wake up in the morning and roll her blanket up, take it to Will's room, unroll it, and strike some poses, calling it her yoga mat.
rolled yoga mat


downward dog on mat


tree pose on mat

We've also gotten to the point where Catie's hair can be put into pigtails! I've been waiting 2.5 years for this, so you can shut your trap if you're going to mention how tiny they are. I don't care.


Will's been very "boy" lately- doing lots of jumping and wrestling.


And check it out! We finally got Will a bike with training wheels! He's absolutely in LOVE. We even took a ride (well, Will rode, we walked and pushed Catie in a stroller) to Snookies Malt Shop- an entire mile away! He rode there and back just wonderfully!


The National Balloon Classic is in Indianola right now. We went with friends last night. I love this event! I'd say 50 balloons took off from the field in front of us, and more took off from other places and landed in the field in front of us.



Will and his frenemy, Elliott. They love eachother one second and not the next, but I think it all evens out.

Both kids are big fans of The Beach Boys.

(Did you get that they're surfing? Clever.)

Random Will Goodness
Will's coming up on what we think will be his final eye patch appointment. His right eye has strengthened significantly! He's also been taking swimming lessons twice a week this summer and has improved greatly. He still often tries to cajole his teacher into moving closer to the wall when he jumps to her, but he's getting braver and braver by the day. He and Dave have been reading books from the "Magic Treehouse" series- they're chapter books!

Random Catie Goodness
Catie's getting funnier and quirkier by the day. The other night I asked her where her shoes were and she answered, "I 'sappeared them." (I believe that's, "I disappeared them.") Her language has exploded (remember when I was worried about her average language? Yeah, notsomuch anymore.) and she's talking and singing about everything. She insists on doing whatever Will is doing- riding bikes, jumping off the bed, jumping off the stairs. Oh! And she's potty trained! So for now we're down to Pull-ups during naps and nighttime, but she stays dry for pretty much every nap and about 4 of 7 nights. I won't be brave enough to go farther than that until she's in a big girl bed, and I'm in no hurry to move that direction.

So there you have it. :)

Darth Vader

And his sidekick, Ladybug Princess Leia Vader

 

Catie's Story

Catie and I were reading a book last night at bedtime. It was one of those "Happy Baby" books- the colors one. We were looking at the page of multi-colored and black and white animals when Catie said, "I tell you a story!" It went like this:

"Once upon a time there was birdie in my house. It die. And there was zebra. It say 'neigh! neigh!'. The end."

Trying Too Hard?

 

Too soon?

Preschool Spelling

"WOTL"

- how ducks walk, as spelled by WDB

Heartbreaker

See Lucy there on the right edge of the picture? The one in the black? She loves Will. Loves him. Wanted to wear the same shirt two days in a row because Will told her it was beautiful. Told her dad she is going to marry him. Asked her mom to stop on a picture she had taken at the Christmas party so she could look at "handsome Will". Is nice to Will's baby sister.

At lunch today, Will told me, "Lucy loves me. But I don't love her. I like her."

Poor girl. (Smart boy, though! Forget about girls until you're in college!)

This and That

Will

Will was playing outside by himself the other day when I heard him talking to our neighbor, Art. I went out to see what was up and found Will hanging out on Art's deck, just shooting the breeze. (I think the conversation was about grandpas and the fact that Will has 3 living grandpas, and he later told me that Art's dad lives in St. Charles.) I told him to come back home and he said, "Oh! Ok! (to Art)I've gotta go, but I'll see you around, Art!"

Catie

Catie's been talking up a storm. Everywhere we go we get comments about how well and how much she talks. (So much for my concern that she wouldn't be as verbal as Will!) She's been playing with language, adding "y" to many words, like "shirty" and "skirty" and "teethy".

She also doesn't like to be without pants. The other day she was wearing a skirt and it rode up when we snapped her into her carseat. We were driving down the street when she looked down and exclaimed, "Hey! Where my pants?"

Didn't You Hear Me?

Will went on a field trip to a park with his class today. Another mom relayed this story to me:

Will was playing in the sand and a little boy (not in Will's class) threw sand at Will. Will asked him to please stop because he doesn't like it. The boy did it again and Will said, "Didn't you hear me? I told you I don't like that!"

Lots and Lots of Pictures

Will in his alligator hat, made at school


Coloring eggs (Hello, Captain Obvious!)



A moment of sweetness. They really are quite sweet together. Mostly.




A few pictures with Daddy. (Again with the obviousness!)


Catie insisted I put this outfit on her. It's what she wore home from the hospital!

Star Wars

Have I mentioned the Star Wars fanaticism that goes on in our house? Will is in LOVE. Everything is Star Wars this and Star Wars that. Even Catie has gotten into it, saying, "I Pincess Lee-ya!" and "That 2TT." ("That's R2D2.")

Dave told me a story that one day Will was asking which movie it was that Leia changes her clothes. Dave was trying to figure out the details and finally asked, "Will, do you want to see Leia in her swimsuit?":

W: NO! Catie does!
D: Will, are you embarassed that you want to see Leia in her swimsuit?
W: I'm embarassed for Catie.*

I'm in trouble.

Anyway, this fascination would seem to be long-lived so we're thinking we'll get Will this awesome Millenium Falcon bedding from Pottery Barn...if it ever goes on sale.



He'll love it. And I'm picturing a Pottery Barn Star Wars bedroom...too cool!

* This situation is reminiscent of the time Dancing With the Stars was on the TV and Will did not want to watch it...he was only facing the television because his imaginary friend Germ wanted to watch.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my mom and my mom friends!

A couple pictures of my sweeties before we went out for our Mother's Day breakfast

And a video from the Mother's Day Tea at Will's preschool. The question posed was, "What does your mom do for you?"

If you couldn't hear, Will's answer was, "She'll give me a Clone Trooper mask that changes your voice and a gun." The little girl before him answered, "She gives me snuggles." I can't tell you how my chest was bursting with pride! (insert eye roll here)(Also please note that a gun has never been part of the bargain. He's working toward the mask...there will be no gun.)

If You Haven't Given Up...

The past several weeks, Will's been telling me about this white spot/circle that he sees floating and spinning in front of his face and around the house. I showed him this picture

of Isaac that I took at Catie's birthday party and he shouted, "Yes! There it is!" about the little orb you see by Isaac's leg. It's not in any of my other photos (well, I did see it one other time, but I must have deleted the photo) and I don't see it floating around. So what is it? A spirit? Dust?

Good Things

"Guess what's better than just whipped cream. Cake AND whipped cream. With ice cream. And frosting."

-WDB

Easter Loot

A Boatload of Pictures

I've been uninspired lately, but I'm going to try to get back on the horse. Some pictures from this weekend at Living History Farms:

#2

Dave and I went to Will's preschool conference last week. Thankfully, Will is doing very well with his cognitive development- he knows his shapes (as does Catie), colors (Catie too), his letters A-Z (spoken and written, yep, Catie too), the numbers 1-9 (rote counting and written, as does Catie)...

Seriously, the things they asked him to do were things he's been doing for years. And by years, I mean at least half of his life. At least he doesn't seem bored with school!

Will was described as "chatty" during circle time and made best friends with the other chatty boy in class. Apparently they need to be separated at times. You're shocked, I know.

#1

After being (not naggingly) prodded by Mom to get my patootie in shape and post on the blog again, I have decided to do a series of posts today as I think of all the things I've been meaning to post and then forget.

Post #1-

I went out to dinner last night and Dave was home with the kids. He put Catie to bed and let Will stay up for a bit. Dancing with the Stars was on the TV (Dave claims it was because I was DVRing it, but I know he likes to watch it too) and Will was quietly watching it for about 20 minutes. I asked him about it this morning and he told me that he didn't want to watch it at ALL, but his friend Germ (you know, the imaginary friend) wanted to watch so Will had to turn toward the TV so Germ could see it.

I'd like to watch it today, so I'll see if Germ wants to watch with me.

Facebook...

...could be the demise of my blog, if I don't get more proactive!

But speaking of Facebook- you know how I hate that the status updates are in the 3rd person? Well, Catie would fit right in. Lately she's been speaking of herself in mixed tenses, but more in the 3rd person than not. Examples:

"I want to do it by Catie's self!"

and

"Catie's pooping!"

Nightmares

Will woke up sobbing last night because Han Solo "was frozen and rolling".

Octagon Crackers

"Mom, please can I have some octagon crackers? (to himself) Are they octogons or hexagons? Yeah, hexagons..."

-WDB, speaking of oyster crackers

Weekend Happenings

The family went sledding this weekend and Will was SO brave! We didn't get to stay as long as he would have liked because Catie wasn't such a fan, but Will did get a couple of opportunities to go down by himself. Listen for Catie cheering him on in the background:


In Catie news- she's decided to call me "Mom" instead of "Mommy". When she does this I feel the urge to call her Cate. I did it a couple of times this weekend, and at one point she said, "I not Cate!"

Donut Heart

The kids are big fans of They Might Be Giants. BIG fans. They have a couple kids' CDs by the band, and Aunt Tina gave them a greatest hits compilation for Christmas. Will discovered this song- which at first he thought was called "Donut Heart". It's actually "Don't Let's Start".

I can't really think of a much better Saturday afternoon than dancing and singing to TMBG with the kids.

(In the interest of full disclosure- Dave and I really like TMBG too. I find myself singing and humming their kids' songs all day long! So catchy and clever they are. And it's not that annoying kids' music. It's good music with fun, smart kids' lyrics. I can't wait until their next album, "Here Comes Science", is released. Can you tell I'm a fan?)

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

Today is Catie's 2nd birthday!

We've had a good day so far- Catie enjoyed her birthday yogurt, we took Will to school, then we headed to see Dr. Uthe for her 2-year well child appointment. She did have a growth spurt, landing her in the 50th percentile for height (33.5 inches) and the 50th to 75th percentile for weight (27 pounds). While Dr. Uthe was not too shocked by her vocabulary and speech given who Catie's brother is, she was impressed considering Catie's just 2. Catie's been responding "Happy Birthday!" whenever anyone wishes her the same.

Unfortunately, we've had to postpone Catie's family birthday party that was planned for this weekend because a snow storm is supposed to be coming through and it doesn't make sense for my parents and sister to drive because it could be a doozy. Of course now that we've postponed, it won't be anything to write home about! It works out that everyone is free for next weekend, so we'll just do it then.

Some things our 2-year-old is doing and saying:
- recognizes almost all of her upper-case letters
- sings the ABC song pretty well
- loves to dance and sing along with They Might Be Giants
- freely spreads the love with words and kisses
- tells us regularly that she's cute
- LOVES to read
- is getting better at recognizing colors
- HATES having her picture taken

A Little Light Reading

This is Will's reading choice at the moment. He is particularly fond of the picture of the cancer of the nasopharynx.

Perhaps we have an oncologist on our hands?