A long long time ago I bought a balance bike for the boys to practice with. Unfortunately they didn't really enjoy it. They preferred the tricycles and scooter that they were more proficient with. About a year ago we bought a second balance bike that was slightly bigger than the first, yet they still didn't want to use it. We eventually put the tricycles away as a means of encouraging them to ride their balance bikes and yet they still wouldn't. I would hear of friends' kids who were riding balance bikes and going on family bike rides and I felt discouraged and a little jealous. I questioned our decision to buy balance bikes, but didn't really want to run out and get regular bikes with training wheels after already spending money on TWO balance bikes.
I was finally able to convince them to "ride" their balance bikes on a walk (we have a street that's pretty safe that's about half a mile round trip). They got a little better with more practice on a straighter path.
Finally about a week ago I had the bright idea to show them some videos of kids riding balance bikes. It turns out that's just what they needed. After watching some videos of younger kids riding balance bikes they were eager to go out and practice with theirs. They did great! I was suddenly having to walk briskly to keep up with them on their bikes. Josiah has a little push car that he loves to push around so sometimes he takes that out on our walks while he runs behind it. I think his stroller days are over.
Saturday we went out shopping for a bike. We felt that with his practice with the tricycle pedals and he balance on the balance bike, Micah would be ready for pedals. We didn't like what we found at the store so we decided to order online. His new bike arrived yesterday. I put it together as much as I could and then when Glen got home he finished the job. It was a little bit of a rough start, but he was riding it after an hour or so. He still needed someone to get him started, but once he was moving he could pedal and balance himself. Today as soon as we got outside he hopped on his bike (with a helmet already on, of course) and took off. He didn't even need me to get him started. If he's on an incline he needs a little help with that first pedal push, but otherwise he can do it.
We were feeling bad for Luke with all the attention Micah was getting. Luke was a little bit interested in trying it, but the seat was too high for him to reach. We've told him that as soon as he's interested in trying a pedal bike we will get him one, but so far he's not interested. We will keep working with him on the balance bike and hopefully by this weekend he'll be ready to give it a try.
We've told them that once they're riding bikes we will get our bikes down and get them checked out at the bike shop so we can do family bike rides. In order for that to work we need Josiah using the balance bike and he's not interested for now.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Funny Boys
The boys are saying so many funny things lately and I can't even keep up with it all. I really should just leave this window open so I can come update as soon as it leaves their mouths.
The other day Glen was driving the boys around and having trouble finding his destination. Micah asked him what's wrong with his brain (!).
So then today I forgot to do something and Micah said to me "What's wrong with your brain? Why aren't you thinking? Is your brain cracked?"
At lunch today the boys started a game of I Spy. Josiah said "I spy something red." And then he pointed to the bubble container and said excitedly "The bubbles! Yesssss!"
The other night when we were staying at the hotel, I was awake in the middle of the night after Luke woke up scared. I eventually brought him into our bed. I suddenly remembered his OT appointment the next morning and told Glen about it. Luke woke right up and started making plans, "Okay, Micah and Josiah will stay here with Daddy. Okay, lets go, Mommy".
The other day Glen was driving the boys around and having trouble finding his destination. Micah asked him what's wrong with his brain (!).
So then today I forgot to do something and Micah said to me "What's wrong with your brain? Why aren't you thinking? Is your brain cracked?"
At lunch today the boys started a game of I Spy. Josiah said "I spy something red." And then he pointed to the bubble container and said excitedly "The bubbles! Yesssss!"
The other night when we were staying at the hotel, I was awake in the middle of the night after Luke woke up scared. I eventually brought him into our bed. I suddenly remembered his OT appointment the next morning and told Glen about it. Luke woke right up and started making plans, "Okay, Micah and Josiah will stay here with Daddy. Okay, lets go, Mommy".
Friday, August 8, 2014
Anniversary Fun
Yesterday we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. It seems surreal that it's been that long. I looked through photos from our wedding, 5th anniversary, 10th anniversary, and this year to post something to facebook. It struck me that in the 10th pictures we were pregnant with the twins and now this year we have three kids. Life has changed more in the last five years than it did over the first ten.
We didn't have anyone to leave the kids with so we could vacation away for our celebration. We really struggled with how to make this celebration special. I lined up a babysitter for the afternoon/evening, but then there weren't any movies we were really excited to see and couldn't think of anything else in town that we really wanted to do besides go to dinner by ourselves. Eventually we came up with the idea of getting a hotel room and spending the night there as a family. The kids love staying in hotels, there's an indoor swimming pool and they and I love swimming. So the babysitter came over mid-afternoon and Glen and I left and hung out until an acceptable dinner time.
Dinner ended up being an interesting and memorable experience. We went to a local steakhouse. When they seated us at our table we realized that at the table next to us they were set up with a professional video camera prepared to film something. As we sat there it became clear that they were from Texas Bucket List and were filming for an upcoming episode. The host was sitting at the table, they had a server poised to deliver a hamburger meal and then later a steak platter. It was very interesting to watch. I was nervous they'd pan around the room and catch us awkwardly eating or something. The manager would come by every once in a while and check in with them and the owner of the restaurant even made an appearance. Once they'd finished filming the eating part the host of the show came over to chat for a few minutes. They chose another couple to interview, which is fine. He was probably chatting with us to see if we'd be interview material, but they ended up at the next table with an older couple who said they actually watch the show. When we were leaving I remembered that I'd wanted a picture of us at the restaurant, so we set up for a selfie in front of the sign. The host and cameraman happened to be out there, so the host offered to take our picture for us and then Glen asked if he'd like to be in the picture with us so the cameraman took one of the three of us. We'd never heard of the show before but now that we experienced that I think we'll look into it. It's something right up Glen's alley.
After dinner we picked up the kids and loaded up to go to the hotel. It was a big hit with the kids. The pool was fun and then when we got back to our room the kids fell asleep pretty quickly because we'd tired them out. Unfortunately they didn't sleep well so I was up a lot with them. Glen had to get up for work and left around 6:30. The plan was for him to come back around 9 to help me check out and load up the van, but in the middle of the night I remembered that Luke had an OT recheck scheduled for 8:30. I was a little disappointed, but then realized it only changed things by about half an hour. The biggest worry was that when I packed for overnight, I'd planned to just come straight home, so I didn't pack stuff for fixing my hair. The kids and I got up and hurried to get ready to leave and just as I got the van loaded (completely by myself) I got a voicemail that the appointment had to be canceled. Shoot! So we regrouped and I decided to brave breakfast with all three in tow. It worked out well, they were excited to try "restaurant" food. It really was a confidence booster. I'm always so afraid of trying anything new with them because I'm afraid of failure and I don't want to get into a situation with them that's out of my control. I don't push myself and it really holds us back from some fun opportunities. So this morning, doing all that myself really helped me feel more capable.
During breakfast I asked if they wanted to go home or if they wanted to go swimming. I was on the fence because our swimming stuff had just sat in wet piles all night because I knew we were just coming home. But we'd also had so much fun swimming the night before. They, of course, voted to swim so we walked back to the van to get the suitcase and went back to our room to change. I didn't realize until I has halfway through changing that housekeeping had been in and started cleaning the room. That was kind of unsettling. We swam for about an hour. The crazy thing is that Luke and Micah both ended up having to poop while we were at the pool so we had to all get out of the pool and go into the bathroom, wait for one of them to do his business, go back out to the pool and then the next boy announced he had to go. Last night I'd taken Josiah in to the bathroom and he'd pooped too! What's with that pool? Last night Josiah discovered he could float with his puddle jumper on without holding on to me. He'd also taken his puddle jumper off and was experimenting with jumping to me. Today he learned how to actually kick his feet and move his body while wearing his puddle jumper to swim. It really was amazing and I can't believe the swimming improvement over the summer. I pretty much could be on my own - keeping a close eye on them - as they swam around. I'm so proud.
We went back to our room and changed clothes and then headed home. It really was a fun family experience. I loved that our hotel was so close to home so if we forgot something it would be easy to run home to get it (I forgot something to sleep in, but made do with the clothes that I did bring). We didn't have to pack the boys vitamins or milk because we'd be home quickly in the morning. Yay to 15 years!
We didn't have anyone to leave the kids with so we could vacation away for our celebration. We really struggled with how to make this celebration special. I lined up a babysitter for the afternoon/evening, but then there weren't any movies we were really excited to see and couldn't think of anything else in town that we really wanted to do besides go to dinner by ourselves. Eventually we came up with the idea of getting a hotel room and spending the night there as a family. The kids love staying in hotels, there's an indoor swimming pool and they and I love swimming. So the babysitter came over mid-afternoon and Glen and I left and hung out until an acceptable dinner time.
Dinner ended up being an interesting and memorable experience. We went to a local steakhouse. When they seated us at our table we realized that at the table next to us they were set up with a professional video camera prepared to film something. As we sat there it became clear that they were from Texas Bucket List and were filming for an upcoming episode. The host was sitting at the table, they had a server poised to deliver a hamburger meal and then later a steak platter. It was very interesting to watch. I was nervous they'd pan around the room and catch us awkwardly eating or something. The manager would come by every once in a while and check in with them and the owner of the restaurant even made an appearance. Once they'd finished filming the eating part the host of the show came over to chat for a few minutes. They chose another couple to interview, which is fine. He was probably chatting with us to see if we'd be interview material, but they ended up at the next table with an older couple who said they actually watch the show. When we were leaving I remembered that I'd wanted a picture of us at the restaurant, so we set up for a selfie in front of the sign. The host and cameraman happened to be out there, so the host offered to take our picture for us and then Glen asked if he'd like to be in the picture with us so the cameraman took one of the three of us. We'd never heard of the show before but now that we experienced that I think we'll look into it. It's something right up Glen's alley.
After dinner we picked up the kids and loaded up to go to the hotel. It was a big hit with the kids. The pool was fun and then when we got back to our room the kids fell asleep pretty quickly because we'd tired them out. Unfortunately they didn't sleep well so I was up a lot with them. Glen had to get up for work and left around 6:30. The plan was for him to come back around 9 to help me check out and load up the van, but in the middle of the night I remembered that Luke had an OT recheck scheduled for 8:30. I was a little disappointed, but then realized it only changed things by about half an hour. The biggest worry was that when I packed for overnight, I'd planned to just come straight home, so I didn't pack stuff for fixing my hair. The kids and I got up and hurried to get ready to leave and just as I got the van loaded (completely by myself) I got a voicemail that the appointment had to be canceled. Shoot! So we regrouped and I decided to brave breakfast with all three in tow. It worked out well, they were excited to try "restaurant" food. It really was a confidence booster. I'm always so afraid of trying anything new with them because I'm afraid of failure and I don't want to get into a situation with them that's out of my control. I don't push myself and it really holds us back from some fun opportunities. So this morning, doing all that myself really helped me feel more capable.
During breakfast I asked if they wanted to go home or if they wanted to go swimming. I was on the fence because our swimming stuff had just sat in wet piles all night because I knew we were just coming home. But we'd also had so much fun swimming the night before. They, of course, voted to swim so we walked back to the van to get the suitcase and went back to our room to change. I didn't realize until I has halfway through changing that housekeeping had been in and started cleaning the room. That was kind of unsettling. We swam for about an hour. The crazy thing is that Luke and Micah both ended up having to poop while we were at the pool so we had to all get out of the pool and go into the bathroom, wait for one of them to do his business, go back out to the pool and then the next boy announced he had to go. Last night I'd taken Josiah in to the bathroom and he'd pooped too! What's with that pool? Last night Josiah discovered he could float with his puddle jumper on without holding on to me. He'd also taken his puddle jumper off and was experimenting with jumping to me. Today he learned how to actually kick his feet and move his body while wearing his puddle jumper to swim. It really was amazing and I can't believe the swimming improvement over the summer. I pretty much could be on my own - keeping a close eye on them - as they swam around. I'm so proud.
We went back to our room and changed clothes and then headed home. It really was a fun family experience. I loved that our hotel was so close to home so if we forgot something it would be easy to run home to get it (I forgot something to sleep in, but made do with the clothes that I did bring). We didn't have to pack the boys vitamins or milk because we'd be home quickly in the morning. Yay to 15 years!
Saturday, July 5, 2014
A Glimpse
Josiah is now older than the twins we when he was born. Looking at how life is now with two four year olds and a two year old, I can kind of see why I've felt so overwhelmed and busy for the last two and a half years. Josiah takes a lot of time and energy. And when I think about that time and energy times two for my twins I'm kind of amazed that we survived. But then when you add a newborn into the mix, it helps me understand the craziness. Every now and then I get a glimpse into how life will be once we're out of the toddler stage. The other day I was in the office doing something on the computer while Glen had the three boys in the living room playing wii games. None of them were missing me or needing something from me. They were all having fun together and I had some much needed time to myself. So much of my life over the last four and a half years has been dedicated to taking care of the needs of the rest of the family. I've really seen how selfish I am as a person, rather than selflessly giving to them, I've done it begrudgingly sometimes and wondered when it was my turn to be taken care of. I don't really like seeing that side of me, but I do think it helps me to be aware of how my attitude can and should improve.
For the past couple months Luke and Micah have been earning popsicle sticks for good behavior (and losing them for bad behavior). We were working on filling a cup with popsicle sticks and when it was full I promised them a prize at the store. I didn't know exactly how that would go, so we played it by ear. A few weeks ago we were at a large super center store and Luke spotted some ninja turtle action figures. He's been asking for one ever since, even praying for one on occasion. So two days ago I had some grocery shopping to do, so I decided to take them to get their prizes. L and M both chose a ninja turtle (Josiah chose a famous race car toy). And they've been playing nicely with those toys ever since we brought them home. They've had barely any screen time because they were so busy with their new action figures. It's been wonderful. And I realized that sometimes it's not the worst thing to indulge your kids in the toys they really really want. However, I doubt they would be as in love with them if I'd gotten them for them the first time they asked. They've built it up in their minds over time so that when they finally have them in their hands, it's like heaven to them. I really do like to buy things for my kids. It makes me happy to make them happy, but I think the lesson is that the toy will have much more value when they've had to wait for it.
Josiah is pretty near potty trained now. He's in underwear all day and still in diapers at night. About half the nights he will be dry all night. I'm hoping I'm not causing him to be lazy at night by putting him in a diaper instead of underwear. But we have diapers to use up and I'm not quite ready to commit to getting up to change him and the sheets multiple times a week. He's still struggling with #2. He's scared to do it in the toilet or the potty chair, but he also knows he's not supposed to do it in his underwear. When he gets really desperate he'll ask me to change him (put him in a diaper), and then he still fights it, but at least he's getting it out. Poor guy. I feel bad for him because he's more than ready to be potty trained, he's just not ready for #2, but he's ready enough to struggle with where to do it. I'm so proud of him. He's not even two and a half yet. It was all his doing, I didn't really do anything to help the process except to take him potty when he asks. He's a rock star!
The other day we were driving to a water park about an hour away from home. Micah spotted something in the distance, I can't remember what it was. When we acknowledged it he asked if he has eagle eyes. So then Luke started playing the game and spotted a green sign ahead of us (it was so big and close, you really couldn't miss it) and said he has cheetah eyes. They're so silly and fun.
Last Sunday I took Micah to the pool by ourselves. He wore one of the life vests they provide. For the first little bit he stuck close to the side of the pool and the ramp. But eventually I convinced him to jump into my arms in the pool. That lead to more and more bravery and eventually he figured out how to kick his legs to swim. He was so proud of himself. He'd swim past someone and tell them "I'm swimming!" Sometimes people would praise him and other times they'd ignore him. At one point he said "I'm the best swimmer ever!" and another time he said "This is the best day ever!" It was a proud moment for him and for me. He eventually got to the point where he could swim away from me while I just sat on the edge of the pool. The next day we went to that water park I mentioned above. He did the same thing at that pool. One time while Glen was hanging out with Luke and Josiah he pointed out to me that Micah was swimming away from me. Having seen him swim the day before I was not worried, but Glen hadn't realized he could swim so well. We did go out and buy the big boys puddle jumpers which they really liked. Luke got to the point where he would swim if he could hold on to my arm and he was willing to float as long as he knew he could put his feet down and touch the bottom. I think it will be his turn to go swimming 1:1 with me next time.
For the past couple months Luke and Micah have been earning popsicle sticks for good behavior (and losing them for bad behavior). We were working on filling a cup with popsicle sticks and when it was full I promised them a prize at the store. I didn't know exactly how that would go, so we played it by ear. A few weeks ago we were at a large super center store and Luke spotted some ninja turtle action figures. He's been asking for one ever since, even praying for one on occasion. So two days ago I had some grocery shopping to do, so I decided to take them to get their prizes. L and M both chose a ninja turtle (Josiah chose a famous race car toy). And they've been playing nicely with those toys ever since we brought them home. They've had barely any screen time because they were so busy with their new action figures. It's been wonderful. And I realized that sometimes it's not the worst thing to indulge your kids in the toys they really really want. However, I doubt they would be as in love with them if I'd gotten them for them the first time they asked. They've built it up in their minds over time so that when they finally have them in their hands, it's like heaven to them. I really do like to buy things for my kids. It makes me happy to make them happy, but I think the lesson is that the toy will have much more value when they've had to wait for it.
Josiah is pretty near potty trained now. He's in underwear all day and still in diapers at night. About half the nights he will be dry all night. I'm hoping I'm not causing him to be lazy at night by putting him in a diaper instead of underwear. But we have diapers to use up and I'm not quite ready to commit to getting up to change him and the sheets multiple times a week. He's still struggling with #2. He's scared to do it in the toilet or the potty chair, but he also knows he's not supposed to do it in his underwear. When he gets really desperate he'll ask me to change him (put him in a diaper), and then he still fights it, but at least he's getting it out. Poor guy. I feel bad for him because he's more than ready to be potty trained, he's just not ready for #2, but he's ready enough to struggle with where to do it. I'm so proud of him. He's not even two and a half yet. It was all his doing, I didn't really do anything to help the process except to take him potty when he asks. He's a rock star!
The other day we were driving to a water park about an hour away from home. Micah spotted something in the distance, I can't remember what it was. When we acknowledged it he asked if he has eagle eyes. So then Luke started playing the game and spotted a green sign ahead of us (it was so big and close, you really couldn't miss it) and said he has cheetah eyes. They're so silly and fun.
Last Sunday I took Micah to the pool by ourselves. He wore one of the life vests they provide. For the first little bit he stuck close to the side of the pool and the ramp. But eventually I convinced him to jump into my arms in the pool. That lead to more and more bravery and eventually he figured out how to kick his legs to swim. He was so proud of himself. He'd swim past someone and tell them "I'm swimming!" Sometimes people would praise him and other times they'd ignore him. At one point he said "I'm the best swimmer ever!" and another time he said "This is the best day ever!" It was a proud moment for him and for me. He eventually got to the point where he could swim away from me while I just sat on the edge of the pool. The next day we went to that water park I mentioned above. He did the same thing at that pool. One time while Glen was hanging out with Luke and Josiah he pointed out to me that Micah was swimming away from me. Having seen him swim the day before I was not worried, but Glen hadn't realized he could swim so well. We did go out and buy the big boys puddle jumpers which they really liked. Luke got to the point where he would swim if he could hold on to my arm and he was willing to float as long as he knew he could put his feet down and touch the bottom. I think it will be his turn to go swimming 1:1 with me next time.
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Weekend Getaway
We had a wonderful weekend getaway last weekend. It's always great for our family to get away from the norm and experience something new. We decided this past spring that we'd like to go camping with the boys. Glen took the big boys overnight last year with our church group, but I didn't spend the night since Josiah still wasn't sleeping through the night and I didn't want a screaming baby waking everyone up. We bought a new tent that would fit us all and then just needed to find a time to go.
There's a state park about 2-3 hours away that has old dinosaur footprints in the riverbed so we wanted to check that place out. We were hoping to go for Memorial Day Weekend, but they were all booked up by the time we looked into it. The next closest state park was also booked for Memorial Day Weekend, but had openings for the next weekend so we booked that place.
We wanted to do a run-through of the tent experience in the safety of our backyard, so we set up the tent on Friday of the long weekend. Glen and the big boys napped out there that day. And then it rained. And pretty much rained the rest of the weekend. It wasn't just rain, though, it was thunder and lightening. We just weren't up for that kind of adventure. Monday was dry and sunny, but since Glen had to get up for work on Tuesday, we took the tent down.
Saturday morning we loaded up and headed out. We didn't really have any firm plans, which ended up being best. We ended up driving through a cute small town around lunch time and found our kids' favorite Mexican (california mexican style) restaurant. That was perfect!
Before getting to the state park we drove past a drive-thru wildlife park. I'd heard a recommendation to visit there, so we turned the car around to check it out. It ended up taking over two hours to drive through and see all the animals, but it was a great experience. We let the big boys free in the back of the van with the bag of animal food we bought, which was a mistake. Josiah rode on my lap for most of the drive but he was also in Glen's lap for part of it. It really was a fun, carefree time for all of us. Though admittedly, by the end Glen and I were so over the animals and just ready to get out of there.
The campground was great. It was well-wooded and green. There was a lake for swimming or fishing, but we did our boys' favorite past-time, throwing rocks in the water. The bathrooms were apparently brand new. I didn't check out the showers, but I wasn't terribly impressed with the bathrooms, but at least they had them. We set up our tent and then headed down to the water for a bit. We ended up fixing our dinner down by the water too. There was also a fabulous playground for the kids.
It took the boys quite a long time to settle down once we were in the tent for the night. But pretty much right at 10:00 they all zonked out. It was really hot and humid and we'd only packed long pant and long sleeve pajamas for them. I hated to put them in the warm pajamas when it was so hot, and they had sleeping bags to sleep in, so we let them sleep in their clothes from the day. But then I worried they would get too cold. I stayed awake worrying about them getting cold and wondering if I should change them or just keep covering them up. They are not yet to the stage of sleeping still in the same position, so they were all over the place. Josiah still sleeps in a crib at home, so the extra freedom had him all over. At one point in the night I thought I heard it raining, so then I worried about the boys getting too close to the sides of the tent. I kept waking up and moving Josiah back to his spot on the mat. It was quite cute the next morning to see the three of them laying side by side. Unfortunatly we left the camera by the door of the tent and couldn't get to it without waking up the kids. Our air mattress has a leak, we discovered, which wasn't the best, but it wasn't too bad either, as long as we didn't lay the wrong way.
They were antsy to get to the playground. One funny thing was that Glen wanted to change clothes (he'd slept in his clothes too). There was zero privacy in the tent so he turned his back. The boys thought it was hilarious when he pulled his shorts down and they saw his underwear. And then it was doubly hilarious when he changed his underwear and they saw his bare bottom. And of course, in a tent everyone around us could hear us. We let them play on the playground for a bit and then we headed back to the tent to have breakfast (cold cereal). We took down the tent and packed up and were headed out by 9:30 or 10.
We decided that instead of the dinosaur state park, we'd take them to a kids dinosaur museum in the closest town. That ended up being the right choice. They had many giant life-size dinosaur replicas along a one mile trail. Halfway is a koi pond where we fed the crazy fish. At the end is a boneyard with "bones" burried in sand the kids have to brush off and discover. They also had a fossil dig with sand and tiny bones/teeth the kids dig up and get to keep (three only). There was a little playground we enjoyed too. We felt like this was a great place for the kids to get their wiggles out before the drive home. We had lunch at Subway and then found this famous pie place in town where we had dessert.
The boys pretty much slept the entire way home. It was a nice quiet drive.
There's a state park about 2-3 hours away that has old dinosaur footprints in the riverbed so we wanted to check that place out. We were hoping to go for Memorial Day Weekend, but they were all booked up by the time we looked into it. The next closest state park was also booked for Memorial Day Weekend, but had openings for the next weekend so we booked that place.
We wanted to do a run-through of the tent experience in the safety of our backyard, so we set up the tent on Friday of the long weekend. Glen and the big boys napped out there that day. And then it rained. And pretty much rained the rest of the weekend. It wasn't just rain, though, it was thunder and lightening. We just weren't up for that kind of adventure. Monday was dry and sunny, but since Glen had to get up for work on Tuesday, we took the tent down.
Saturday morning we loaded up and headed out. We didn't really have any firm plans, which ended up being best. We ended up driving through a cute small town around lunch time and found our kids' favorite Mexican (california mexican style) restaurant. That was perfect!
Before getting to the state park we drove past a drive-thru wildlife park. I'd heard a recommendation to visit there, so we turned the car around to check it out. It ended up taking over two hours to drive through and see all the animals, but it was a great experience. We let the big boys free in the back of the van with the bag of animal food we bought, which was a mistake. Josiah rode on my lap for most of the drive but he was also in Glen's lap for part of it. It really was a fun, carefree time for all of us. Though admittedly, by the end Glen and I were so over the animals and just ready to get out of there.
The campground was great. It was well-wooded and green. There was a lake for swimming or fishing, but we did our boys' favorite past-time, throwing rocks in the water. The bathrooms were apparently brand new. I didn't check out the showers, but I wasn't terribly impressed with the bathrooms, but at least they had them. We set up our tent and then headed down to the water for a bit. We ended up fixing our dinner down by the water too. There was also a fabulous playground for the kids.
It took the boys quite a long time to settle down once we were in the tent for the night. But pretty much right at 10:00 they all zonked out. It was really hot and humid and we'd only packed long pant and long sleeve pajamas for them. I hated to put them in the warm pajamas when it was so hot, and they had sleeping bags to sleep in, so we let them sleep in their clothes from the day. But then I worried they would get too cold. I stayed awake worrying about them getting cold and wondering if I should change them or just keep covering them up. They are not yet to the stage of sleeping still in the same position, so they were all over the place. Josiah still sleeps in a crib at home, so the extra freedom had him all over. At one point in the night I thought I heard it raining, so then I worried about the boys getting too close to the sides of the tent. I kept waking up and moving Josiah back to his spot on the mat. It was quite cute the next morning to see the three of them laying side by side. Unfortunatly we left the camera by the door of the tent and couldn't get to it without waking up the kids. Our air mattress has a leak, we discovered, which wasn't the best, but it wasn't too bad either, as long as we didn't lay the wrong way.
They were antsy to get to the playground. One funny thing was that Glen wanted to change clothes (he'd slept in his clothes too). There was zero privacy in the tent so he turned his back. The boys thought it was hilarious when he pulled his shorts down and they saw his underwear. And then it was doubly hilarious when he changed his underwear and they saw his bare bottom. And of course, in a tent everyone around us could hear us. We let them play on the playground for a bit and then we headed back to the tent to have breakfast (cold cereal). We took down the tent and packed up and were headed out by 9:30 or 10.
We decided that instead of the dinosaur state park, we'd take them to a kids dinosaur museum in the closest town. That ended up being the right choice. They had many giant life-size dinosaur replicas along a one mile trail. Halfway is a koi pond where we fed the crazy fish. At the end is a boneyard with "bones" burried in sand the kids have to brush off and discover. They also had a fossil dig with sand and tiny bones/teeth the kids dig up and get to keep (three only). There was a little playground we enjoyed too. We felt like this was a great place for the kids to get their wiggles out before the drive home. We had lunch at Subway and then found this famous pie place in town where we had dessert.
The boys pretty much slept the entire way home. It was a nice quiet drive.
Friday, May 30, 2014
Lately
Too much time has passed since my last post. I feel like life has been so frantic and I haven't made the time to come in and update. I wish I'd been able to post funny quotes and pictures weekly or even monthly, but here it's now been a year and a half with nothing. I need to figure out how to post from my phone because I hardly ever get on the computer anymore, I just do everything from my phone.
The older boys are now four and a half. They're so funny. We still have challenges. I don't think I could honestly say that it's gotten easier as they've gotten older. I really struggle with the mental challenge of raising preschoolers. Wisdom in discipline is something I really need and don't have enough of. I know the Bible tells us that we just need to ask God for wisdom and He will give it. I just forget to ask. They just finished their third year of Mother's Day Out. They attended this time at our church. They've started making friends and even are picking out girls to be their future wives. For a long time Micah said he was going to marry Kylee, but now he's moved on to another girl, so Luke plans to marry Kylee. She's a nice girl, I wouldn't mind her as a daughter in law, but there's lots of time for them to change their minds. ;)
Luke was in PT and OT again this year after having a year off. He aged out of Early Intervention when he turned 3 and tested but didn't qualify for the public school special ed program. But last fall I started feeling like I should get him re-evaluated just to make sure he wasn't falling too far behind. In speech he tested older than he was and the speech therapist didn't think we have anything to be concerned about. He did want to check him again after 3 months just to make sure he was still on track, but I accidentally missed that appointment and was too cowardly to call and reschedule. He tested quite low for some areas of PT and then a couple months into that I had them do an OT eval on him and he qualified there too. I'm thankful that both the physical therapist and the occupational therapist were optimistic about his abilities. He just recently graduated from physical therapy and his occupation therapist is giving him two months off to see if he'll be okay without it. He'll recheck him in August to see where he's at. We have had some concerns about his growth, or lack of it. He's pretty small still. I actually need to get him back to the doctor for another weight check.
Josiah is two and is so super duper cute. He's also really testing boundaries which is not fun and not cute. His vocabulary is amazing and he's learning and repeating new words daily. It really is amazing. Some of my favorite things I've heard lately is "No way!" and "Yep" and "Baba (Micah) did it" when I ask who did something naughty. We've been very casually working on potty training. He mostly just goes right before or right after bath time. Once he went in the middle of the afternoon after sitting on the potty chair for over an hour. At breakfast this morning he said he needed to go potty so we rushed into the bathroom and he did go. So far he's completely motivated by cheering and a potty dance, but once we take the training to the next level we are prepared to introduce chocolate chips as a reward. For all of his life I have struggled with getting him to sleep and keeping him asleep. CIO did not work with him, he would just cry for hours until he fell asleep out of exhaustion. I never felt good about it, but didn't see any other option. I pretty much rocked him to sleep until a few months ago when he wouldn't stay asleep when I went to lay him down. He'd have been happy to sleep all night in my arms, but that's wasn't cool with me, so we would put him to bed and then he'd cry. Thankfully once he turned two his crying was limited to under 10 minutes for the most part (I'd send Glen in to check on him if it was longer). But I still hated the crying. It made me feel horrible every night. Well last week he started fussing when I started to leave so I told him I was going to go see Daddy in the living room and I left his door open. He laid down and went to sleep without a fuss. I've continued that for about a week now and it's worked great. I'm so relieved. I feel bad that I didn't try that sooner. It seems like such a simple suggestion I really should have tried it before now.
Last weekend we bunked the twins' beds. Their bedroom is really small and so there wasn't much floor space in their room with two twin beds. We figured Micah would do better on top because he's stronger, but also because he's the one who gets out of bed more often and we hoped having him on top would prevent all the wandering after lights out. At first they both wanted to be on top but once we told them Luke would be on bottom he was cool with it. I think that dark cave-like space is perfect for him. So relieved to hear him cheer when we reminded him he'd be on bottom. Micah still gets out of bed a lot, so I worry that all the up and down he's doing will make an accident more likely, but so far he's been good. It's nice to have the extra space in their room. At some point we'll probably move Josiah in with them, so it will be tight again, but it will be nice to have his room to use for something else. Guest room maybe? Or maybe a nursery? Or playroom? Who knows.
Luke and Micah are starting to drop their naps. They nap about half the time. I can never decide if I should put a lot of effort into getting them to nap so I can have an interruption free nap time, or if I should let them stay awake so we can have an earlier bedtime and Glen and I can have more downtime in the evenings. The earlier bedtime hasn't really been working lately because it's hard to get them wound down by 8:00. If we go outside after dinner, it's so nice out and is cooling off, so we stay out as long as we can.
We've moved since my last post. Our neighbors have a just turned 6 year old boy and a 2 year old boy (his birthday is two days after Josiah's). We really like our neighbors and could sit and talk to them forever while the boys run around crazy. It's been fun having neighbors we click with. The older boy can be kind of annoying. He gets annoyed with my boys, which I understand, but then tattles, so it's not always a relaxing time for me. But I suppose it's probably a good learning opportunity for my boys to learn what's socially accpetable and what's not. It sure is a lot of work raising kids.
Well, the kids are getting on each other's nerves, so I better go referree.
The older boys are now four and a half. They're so funny. We still have challenges. I don't think I could honestly say that it's gotten easier as they've gotten older. I really struggle with the mental challenge of raising preschoolers. Wisdom in discipline is something I really need and don't have enough of. I know the Bible tells us that we just need to ask God for wisdom and He will give it. I just forget to ask. They just finished their third year of Mother's Day Out. They attended this time at our church. They've started making friends and even are picking out girls to be their future wives. For a long time Micah said he was going to marry Kylee, but now he's moved on to another girl, so Luke plans to marry Kylee. She's a nice girl, I wouldn't mind her as a daughter in law, but there's lots of time for them to change their minds. ;)
Luke was in PT and OT again this year after having a year off. He aged out of Early Intervention when he turned 3 and tested but didn't qualify for the public school special ed program. But last fall I started feeling like I should get him re-evaluated just to make sure he wasn't falling too far behind. In speech he tested older than he was and the speech therapist didn't think we have anything to be concerned about. He did want to check him again after 3 months just to make sure he was still on track, but I accidentally missed that appointment and was too cowardly to call and reschedule. He tested quite low for some areas of PT and then a couple months into that I had them do an OT eval on him and he qualified there too. I'm thankful that both the physical therapist and the occupational therapist were optimistic about his abilities. He just recently graduated from physical therapy and his occupation therapist is giving him two months off to see if he'll be okay without it. He'll recheck him in August to see where he's at. We have had some concerns about his growth, or lack of it. He's pretty small still. I actually need to get him back to the doctor for another weight check.
Josiah is two and is so super duper cute. He's also really testing boundaries which is not fun and not cute. His vocabulary is amazing and he's learning and repeating new words daily. It really is amazing. Some of my favorite things I've heard lately is "No way!" and "Yep" and "Baba (Micah) did it" when I ask who did something naughty. We've been very casually working on potty training. He mostly just goes right before or right after bath time. Once he went in the middle of the afternoon after sitting on the potty chair for over an hour. At breakfast this morning he said he needed to go potty so we rushed into the bathroom and he did go. So far he's completely motivated by cheering and a potty dance, but once we take the training to the next level we are prepared to introduce chocolate chips as a reward. For all of his life I have struggled with getting him to sleep and keeping him asleep. CIO did not work with him, he would just cry for hours until he fell asleep out of exhaustion. I never felt good about it, but didn't see any other option. I pretty much rocked him to sleep until a few months ago when he wouldn't stay asleep when I went to lay him down. He'd have been happy to sleep all night in my arms, but that's wasn't cool with me, so we would put him to bed and then he'd cry. Thankfully once he turned two his crying was limited to under 10 minutes for the most part (I'd send Glen in to check on him if it was longer). But I still hated the crying. It made me feel horrible every night. Well last week he started fussing when I started to leave so I told him I was going to go see Daddy in the living room and I left his door open. He laid down and went to sleep without a fuss. I've continued that for about a week now and it's worked great. I'm so relieved. I feel bad that I didn't try that sooner. It seems like such a simple suggestion I really should have tried it before now.
Last weekend we bunked the twins' beds. Their bedroom is really small and so there wasn't much floor space in their room with two twin beds. We figured Micah would do better on top because he's stronger, but also because he's the one who gets out of bed more often and we hoped having him on top would prevent all the wandering after lights out. At first they both wanted to be on top but once we told them Luke would be on bottom he was cool with it. I think that dark cave-like space is perfect for him. So relieved to hear him cheer when we reminded him he'd be on bottom. Micah still gets out of bed a lot, so I worry that all the up and down he's doing will make an accident more likely, but so far he's been good. It's nice to have the extra space in their room. At some point we'll probably move Josiah in with them, so it will be tight again, but it will be nice to have his room to use for something else. Guest room maybe? Or maybe a nursery? Or playroom? Who knows.
Luke and Micah are starting to drop their naps. They nap about half the time. I can never decide if I should put a lot of effort into getting them to nap so I can have an interruption free nap time, or if I should let them stay awake so we can have an earlier bedtime and Glen and I can have more downtime in the evenings. The earlier bedtime hasn't really been working lately because it's hard to get them wound down by 8:00. If we go outside after dinner, it's so nice out and is cooling off, so we stay out as long as we can.
We've moved since my last post. Our neighbors have a just turned 6 year old boy and a 2 year old boy (his birthday is two days after Josiah's). We really like our neighbors and could sit and talk to them forever while the boys run around crazy. It's been fun having neighbors we click with. The older boy can be kind of annoying. He gets annoyed with my boys, which I understand, but then tattles, so it's not always a relaxing time for me. But I suppose it's probably a good learning opportunity for my boys to learn what's socially accpetable and what's not. It sure is a lot of work raising kids.
Well, the kids are getting on each other's nerves, so I better go referree.
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