Lizzie's Birthday

It is late, but I want to post briefly about Lizzie's birthday to capture a couple elements before I forget.

Lizzie has known the phrase "Happy Birthday" for a little while and knows that it means cake.  And she uses the phrase "Happy Birthday, [name]" as a description the way other people use "birthday."  So it was a "Happy Birthday Grandma cake" and the gift bag from Connor's birthday party was "Happy Birthday Connor."  And so when Nicholas started talking to her about her birthday the week before he used her speech mechanism and so telling her, "It's going to be Happy Birthday, Lizzie on Sunday."  And so we all adopted it all day yesterday (and today), saying things like, "We're going to have a happy birthday Lizzie dinner" or "It's time to open happy birthday Lizzie presents."

While Lizzie understood that birthdays are special days and mean cake, she apparently didn't understand until about 6:30 yesterday evening that they were individual holidays.  So whenever one of us said happy birthday to her, she responded by saying it back.  "Happy Birthday, Lizzie."  "Happy Birthday, Mommy."  And we just couldn't help laughing.  I took a video of her and Nicholas doing it but I haven't gotten around to cutting it and putting it in the album yet.  It was upon opening her second present that it clicked in that this was something special just for her.  And then we saw a whole new side of Lizzie.  She opened an Anna doll from Nicholas and demanded that it needed to be opened right that second.  I opened it and gave it to her and about a minute later Nicholas asked to see it.  Her response?  "No!  Lizzie Anna doll!  Mine!"  Accompanied by hugging the doll tightly to her chest.  And the rest of the presents were similarly claimed as hers and hers alone.  So much for wishing everyone else a happy birthday.

Nicholas struggled some with Lizzie getting all the presents even though he is old enough that he does rationally understand.  He did much better once he had big brother roles.  He was okay not having presents as long as he could help Lizzie get packaging open or help her figure them out.  The problems arose when he wanted to help her and she wanted to do it herself.  And that I think is the big difference from last year, when he still got to open everything for her.  He was fine with it being Lizzie's special day as long as he still had a special role as her big brother.  And he is such a good big brother to her.

Happy birthday, our little Lizzie-beth.  We are so very grateful to have you in our lives!

Fall

It turns out that the start of school and soccer and now religious ed has made our life pretty hectic. It also doesn't help that Lizzie's daycare will be closed for the 5th weekday in September tomorrow and Nicholas' school has been closed for 4 plus one dismissal at noon with cancelled afterschool care. Taking all that into account, we are actually doing a decent job not losing our minds.

Nicholas is impressing me at soccer with how much braver he is getting and how much he has picked up on where he needs to be as action unfolds. He hardly gets to touch the ball because each team has a few players who are ready for middle school level (or what was middle school level back in my day), but I am still impressed with his increasing willingness to get smack in the action. I have no pictures or videos because I am assistant coach and can barely manage to keep up with managing the game. I literally have not taken my camera out once. I may need to enlist a parent to take a few shots for me at some point.

Lizzie has become so much more articulate. Today on the phone I felt like I was talking to such a big kid. There are still many moments when we have no idea what she is saying, but other times she says full sentences clearly. That is the real change--putting all the words in sentences rather than just the key noun or verb.  It is now "I want doggie pajamas" instead of just "doggie pajamas."

From 2015 Sept

From 2015 Sept

From 2015 Sept

From 2015 Sept

From 2015 Sept

From 2015 Sept

Lizzie Singing

Need a smile?

And this one makes me laugh:

And, yes, it is impossible to get the beginning of a song the first time through.  The kid provides no warning.

First Day of School

Nicholas starts first grade today.  I am too much in shock that the summer is over to have even thought about first grade as a milestone or obsess over how old he is getting.

That is, until I compared this year's first day of school picture to last year's.

From 2015 August

From 2014 August

I can't get over how much he grew and grew up in the last year.  Time needs to slow down!!!!

Baseball Discipline

Nicholas' attitude has been creeping up as of late and getting really bad in the last week so we have started an intervention before these patterns of speech and interactions can become habit.  And in grasping around for an idea for an intervention, I decided to make up something baseball themed to get him interested.

The reward system: every time we catch him doing something extra good or he gets ready in the morning or evening without any fuss he gets to move forward a base.  If he scores a run before the end of the day he gets dessert that night.

The punishment system: three strikes and you're out.  The consequence for an out will vary but he has been warned to assume that it will be bad and know that they will get worse and worse.

We will see if we can break these habits.  I'll let you know.  I tend to be good for about 2 days before letting things slide.  But the talking back is making me crazy, so maybe I'll have the incentive to stay strong.

But, lest I leave you with the impression that this attitude is a full-time thing, Nicholas has also been having some super sweet moments.  Most endearingly, he has started putting Lizzie to bed.  Seriously.  He does everything except lift her into her crib.  They snuggle in her rocking chair and he reads her her book.  Then he turns off her light and sings her "Twinkle Twinkle," which has been her goodnight song forever.  Then I lift her in and he says the "Good night, Lizzie.  We love you." and closes her door.  Melt. My. Heart.

July

July has been an amazing month, with visitors and trips and lots of great fun together. It has also been exhausting. And the kids are getting more worn out than usual during the week because of all the outside time and activity. And so it has been Jekyll and Hyde, with wonderful family time and meltdowns and attitudes all on top of each other. Here are a couple pictures:

From 2015 July

From 2015 July

From 2015 July

Is there anything better than watching your kids become friends with the kids of your best and longest lasting friends? Oh yeah, getting to hang out with those very friends while it is all happening! There are tons (as in 133) pictures in the July album if you want some more:

2015 July

Summer Fun

We are having such a great summer of outings and activities!  The stars have all aligned where our work schedule has become more flexible (therefore allowing us to do some errands during the week or in the evenings instead of it consuming the weekends) at the same time as the weather has gotten pretty at the same time as Lizzie has been able to stretch into early (or occasionally even mid!) afternoon before needing a nap.

A few recent highlights:

We went to the Science Museum on Saturday to check out the Pixar exhibit, which was awesome! 

From 2015 July

You know it was a well done exhibit because each of the 4 of us loved it and learned a lot. 

From 2015 July

Now, I think all Lizzie learned was the name of some Pixar characters, but still.  Before we left we checked on how long the exhibit will be up because we want to go back again.  And we are hopeful that Nicholas will learn more the second time when he isn't so overwhelmed with trying to just see everything and touch everything and so is willing to read more of the signs and think through what it is that he is actually doing at each activity.  We had lunch in the cafeteria in seats overlooking the river (watching boats!) and because of the 4th of July it was pretty calm.  And then of course we had to go see the dinosaurs because Lizzie loves them.  She spent the entire time Nicholas and Joe were in a lightning show (half an hour?) playing with these dinosaur pieces

From 2015 July

and every few minutes would look at the T-rex behind her and shout "saur!" with glee and then roar.

From 2015 July

Sunday I took the kids down to the zoo and they had a grand old time.  They each had a few animals they couldn't get enough of. 

From 2015 July

From 2015 July

From 2015 July

And then I had actually remembered to bring their swim stuff so they could go in the water play area, which they loved even more.  I'm glad I did a 2 hour round trip drive so they could run through a sprinkler!

From 2015 July

From 2015 July

From 2015 July

From 2015 July

While my parents were here we also went to Salem on one of the camping days and went to a pirate museum that was really good but much more appropriate for a 10-year-old than a 6-year-old. 

From 2015 July

And once we are all back together we went to the concert on the town green.  They have these concerts every Friday evening in the summer that are free and fun and the essence of a community and I always have to pinch myself because I can hardly believe that such places actually exist.

From 2015 July

From 2015 July

Nicholas' First Camping Trip

Nicholas and I went camping for two nights this week with my parents and had a lot of fun.  It was a great special big kid thing for him to do without Lizzie.  And 2 nights was perfect.  We got to do everything we wanted to do but we left while it was still exciting and before Nicholas could get too tired.

He did a great job with the work involved in camping, complaining a little but actually doing it all.  He helped set up and take down the tent, collected kindling, dried when we washed dishes after each meal, and took trash to the dumpster.

From 2015 July

We took a hike each of the two days we were there.  The first day we scrapped our initial plan 1/4 mile in and explored around the closest pond (biggest pond I've ever seen--looked more like a lake to me) because Nicholas and I were both a little anxious about the thunder we could hear.  Given that we got lost repeatedly the next day when we went in search of the old mill and quarry and the hike turned into over 3 hours (over 7 miles according to Dad's pedometer), it was probably a good thing that we changed plans the afternoon before.

From 2015 July

Nicholas led the way almost the entire hike and in fact insisted on it, speeding up if anyone tried to even walk next to him.  He was done about 2/3 of the way through but pushed through in impressive fashion.

From 2015 July

Of course we also introduced Nicholas to cooking over the campfire, made s'mores each night (although Nicholas preferred just toasted marshmallows and by the end was barely heating them), and played cards.

From 2015 July

From 2015 July

We had some rain the first afternoon but it was perfect timing, coming after we had set up and were back from our hike but before we had started the fire or dinner prep. And so it was just fun to crowd under the tent awning and watch the rain.  The threat of rain later led us to finish up our fire and s'mores early and move our card game into the tent when drops started falling but luckily that line of thunderstorms petered out and it never became more than a few drops.

From 2015 July

From 2015 July

Overall, he seemed to have a great time.  And one thing he emphasized is that he had been scared about sleeping outside but once we had the tent set up and he had been inside it, he felt safe.

From 2015 July

From 2015 July

From 2015 July

From 2015 July

Pictures

I'm going through pictures and so wanted to post a few for those of you who don't regularly check the albums.  We are having such a great summer so far!  And I absolutely love the relationship these two have.

From 2015 June

From 2015 June

From 2015 June

From 2015 June

From 2015 June

There are a bunch more recent pictures here: June album

Missing Them

I'm missing the kids a lot today.  It has now been 3 1/2 days since I was home and this morning I missed them on Skype by all of 10 minutes and they are now in the car and so unskypable.  And that just-miss apparently tipped the emotional scale and the tears started.  This may work out well for them, though, because a sentimental mommy tends to buy better souvenirs. 

Six!

I know it is a month since Nicholas' birthday, but I wanted to do a birthday update post.  Not so much about his birthday itself but on where he is at 6.  I'm not quite sure where to start, so let's see how this goes.

• Nicholas has loved being in elementary school this year but has expressed frustration at points with some of the academics.  "We did that in preschool, Mom!"
• His two biggest obsessions right now are Wild Kratts and baseball.  His birthday party was a Wild Kratts party where we did games for different animal powers.
• When he decides to focus on something he amazes us with what he is capable of doing, how self-directed he is, and how long he can work on it.  He will go in his room and work on building Lego creations for hours.  Same for painting (although not in his room).  He won't build with Legos without directions, however.
• He is a wonderful reader but most of the time doesn't really like to read.  Looking at the books the library had out for summer reading, the ones for kids entering third grade are about what he usually reads.  He can read just about any word he could use in a sentence.  We have trouble convincing him to read, though, and he says reading is boring.  For a couple weeks he got really into these Ballpark Mysteries books but then dropped them.  He has been more interested in reading some nonfiction about baseball and animals, but that is also not consistent, with him reading one evening and then refusing the next few.
• He loves playing outside and with friends.
• He loves his little sister and at times clicks into this amazing big brother who helps her and takes care of her.  He virtually never picks on her but he does sometimes get a thrill out of teaching her things I don't want him to or getting her to mimic things like shrieking.  There is a power trip when you know you can get someone to do anything you do.
• He has lost 6 teeth.  2 are completely in.  2 are almost in.  1 more is partially in.
• His musical ear amazes me.  Over the winter when we were in the basement more he would sit down at the piano and make up songs with certain feelings, using the notes and tempo to create a feeling.
• He can get very silly, but when he cares about something he has a laser focus.  

This age seems to be a transition from little kid to big kid and Nicholas fluctuates between them, super responsible and capable one minute and then a scared kid the next.  I see him turning into the elementary school kid and my preschooler left behind.  And I am so proud of him for all he is becoming.  But I am also sentimental and so get sad to leave all that was behind.

From 2015 May

From 2015 May

He is 6!

Look what Nicholas painted as his final act of being 5:

From 2015 May

For those of you not well-versed in baseball stadiums, the warehouse in the background indicates that it is Camden Yards.  Not a little kid anymore.

Happy Birthday, Nicholas.  We are so proud of you and are excited about 6!

Kindergarten Friendships

Nicholas may not have learned a lot academically this year but he has matured a lot and developed really important relationships.  We already knew this but it was on full display today at the school fair.

He knew which table his teacher was going to be staffing and had made her a drawing this morning in church.  He then had to get a tattoo put on by her.  He adores her!

From 2015 May

And here are the three musketeers with their matching face paint:

From 2015 May

Louisville trip

The kids and I had a great time on our trip.  I'm exhausted but it was honestly much easier than I had expected and than it could have been.  Thank you technology for making the 4 plane rides downright pleasant.  I have high hopes of writing a real post, but since that might not happen, pictures are in the April album.

Glasses Pics

We picked up Lizzie's glasses today, so I figured I'd share some pictures so you can start getting used to her new look.  It has only been a couple hours but I have already adapted to how she looks straight on.  From the side they still catch me off guard.  But it has only been a couple hours.  So far she has done a pretty good job leaving them on, which makes me happy.  She has taken them off a few times, but let me put them back on her, and 3 times in 2 hours isn't bad for the first day.  We'll see how tomorrow goes.

From 2015 April

From 2015 April

From 2015 April

Also, here is a video because it was hard to get good still pictures: