Soft and Fuzzy

Adlyn must have sensitive skin.  She thinks that her cotton pillow case is scratchy, and she prefers to wrap her pillow with her ultra soft and fuzzy blanket.  This weekend, I enjoyed a trip to my favorite fabric store, A Little Country Character, in Green River.  What a great store!  Adlyn came with us and picked out her minky fabric so I could make her a pillow case.  She picked a circular pattern filled with the colors white, black, pink, and lime green.  Brooks selected a lime green minky with bulldozers on it.  It was a cute print.  With the help of Grandma, we completed our sewing project that evening, and the kids have enjoyed their pillows ever since! 

At the fabric store, we noticed a showcased project, Hot Frogs.  I can't wait to get the pattern to make some for the kids.  They were these really neat minky frogs filled with rice.  It could double as a stuffed animal and also a heating pad that can be placed in the microwave.  They were adorable!  I'm looking forward to working on this project with Grandma in the near future.  (Did I mention the kids thought the frogs were cute?  They enjoyed playing with the sample frog while we browsed the store.)

Water Park

This weekend we enjoyed an afternoon at the indoor water park in Rock Springs.  It was a wonderful facility!  I wish we had something like this in our town.

The pool had spray features for small kids, zero entry pool, hot tub, lazy river, and two water slides.  At first, the kids were reluctant.  The lifeguards required all non-swimmers to wear a life jacket.  Brooks wanted nothing to do with the life jacket.  Great.  All I could think was think that this 15 year old lifeguard will understand someday that you can't just put a life jacket on a kid, so please, stop glaring at me.  After a good 10 minutes, Brooks put it on.  They both enjoyed the spray features, but they were unsure about the rest of the water features.  I think it will be great thing to do with them in another year or two.  Adlyn came close to coming down the huge water slide with me.  Once she noticed it went into a tunnel, she got scared and bailed.  That was ok.  A little later, Brooks wanted to go down the slide.  We walked to the top of the stairs, hopped on the innertube, and down we went...scared to death...  I didn't like it one bit!  I thought the slide would be lit, or translucent as it went outside.  But, it wasn't.  It was pitch dark and scary.  I just wanted out.  Eventually, we splashed in the water and we were done.  Phew!  I'm not doing that again, and neither was Brooks.  I made Zach go down the slide, just to see how scary it was.  It was nice to have Grandma with us at the water park and she took lots of pictures of the kids playing.

Wrap 'Em Up!

A few weeks ago, Brooks took his Mega Blocks and made a fence.  Then, he placed his Little People animals inside.  It was pretty cute.  He came up with the idea all by himself.  I helped him and we added to his zoo by building more fences for the animals.  I thought he would put animals of a similar kind together, but he didn't care, he put a variety of animals together in any given fence.  Perhaps I am too structured. 

A little later, Adlyn joined us.  It was really cute as she placed the Little People cowboy/farmer in with the animals.  She told me the cowboy/farmer was going to, "Wrap 'em up!"  I think she meant to say, "Round 'em up!"  Either way, it made me laugh. 

Bird Nest

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a few months, but I keep forgetting.  It is minor, but it made me laugh.  We were looking through a catalog and Brooks noticed a winter coat with fur trim around the hood.  He laughed and said it looked like a bird nest. 

Plants Look So Sad

Last Saturday, we were playing in the front room.  Adlyn looked at my two house plants and said, “Mom, plants look so sad, need a drink of water.”  I looked at her awkwardly.  Do they really look that bad?  What an odd thing for a 3-year-old to say.  I water them on Sundays, but I told her we could water them today. 

Now, it all makes sense.  She didn’t think of that phrase on her own.  While watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (Mickey’s Big Job) tonight with them, I realized Minnie Mouse says the exact same phrase, and they have to figure out how to water the flower to make it happy again.  So that’s where that came from.

Oh, and YouTube, I know the whole copyright thing, but honestly, did you really have to take off all the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episodes as of last week?  Do you know that little children are now limited to a choice of four episodes on the Disney Junior website?  When you don’t have TV, you get a little tired of listening to the same four cartoons over and over again. 

Just in case you need the link, visit:

http://disney.go.com/disneyjunior/mickey-mouse-clubhouse/mickey-mouse-clubhouse-videos-episodes/

Our Kids Have Turned Into Animals

Lately, the kids are animals.  They might be penguins, elk, deer, cats, chickens, dinosaurs, tigers, etc.  You can’t refer to them by their name, you must refer to them as little ____ (fill in the blank with the appropriate animal name).  So, if you were a fly on the wall in our house, you would hear Zach and I say things like, “Come here little puppy and put on your coat,” or, “Here little kitty and eat your kitty food.”  Ugh.  That’s only half the issue.  During those times, we are no longer Mom and Dad.  We are Big _____ (filling in the blank with the respective animal).  So, you might hear Brooks ask for milk, and once you acknowledge the request, he would respond with, “Thanks Big Penguin.”  I haven’t really cared about what animal they are for the day, but last Saturday, they were little cows.  Do you know what my name was?  It wasn’t just Big Cow, but rather I was Big Huge Cow.  Thanks Brooks and Adlyn, you really made me feel wonderful!

Lucky Girl

I think Adlyn is lucky.  Just, plain, lucky.  When we go to the Children’s Museum, they have this old whack-a-mole arcade game converted into a game where you throw these little bees into these flower holes.  Most kids can reach up and put it in the first row of holes.  If you can toss it higher, they go into the back row.  Adlyn frequently gets hers to go into the back holes, and I really don’t know how.  She doesn’t seem to be aiming, but they seem to go in. 

Yesterday, I was home for a quick lunch.  They have this mini basketball and Adlyn was trying to make a basket on the adult sized hoop on the garage.  I watched her a few times from the kitchen and she wasn’t doing too great.  I went outside, and she said, “Wa me.”  (This means ‘watch me’)  I watched her, and guess what, she makes a basket!  She was as shocked as I was.  She tried a few more times and made it again!  Then, she made a basket by going through the bottom and out the top!  Three baskets in a matter of a few minutes?  I think she is lucky.  Perhaps I should buy her a lottery ticket. 

Swimming

Last weekend, I had the kids at the pool.  Adlyn jumped into the deep water all by herself, and loved getting her face and hair soaked.  She was having so much fun and she is such a little dare devil.  It was the first time that I thought to myself that they might be ready for swimming lessons this summer.  Brooks will jump in as well, but still wants me to catch him so he doesn’t get too wet.  Today, Adlyn jumped into the baby pool all by herself (maybe 2 feet deep).  She did great, and once she got the nerve to do it once, she did it over and over again.  Brooks was also jumping into the baby pool by himself.  He does a half spin during his jump, pretty fancy!  They also love the hot tub, and so do I.  By rotating between the three areas, we can keep entertained for a good hour or more. 

Frequent Phrases and Words

Brooks and Adlyn have a few more unique words and phrases in their language.

Favor means favorite.

Instead of O.K., you will hear Brooks say, “Oh, O Quay!”.

When Brooks is ready for something, and you aren’t, you ask him to wait patiently.  He’ll look at you and say, “Ready, ready, ready, ready, ready.”  He’ll repeat it until you can get him to stop.

Adlyn calls oatmeal ‘em-em’.  It took me awhile to figure that out.  I thought she was asking for M&M’s for breakfast. 

Popcorn is ‘pop-a-corn’. 

Basketball is ‘back-et-ball’.

I'll add to this list as I recall more.

Down Toe Toe

Only those who spend a lot of time around Brooks and Adlyn would know what ‘down toe toe’ means.  Downstairs, of course.  We here it frequently, and our wonderful neighbors know what it means as well.  They love to play in Cheryl’s basement, and she quickly had to learn what ‘go down toe toe’ means. 

Sled Dogs

We love when the sled dogs come to town!  What an amazing thing to watch.  Definitely something I was never exposed to as a kid.  A few Saturdays ago, Zach and Grandma took the kids downtown to see the sled dog teams.  The following morning, Grandma and I took Brooks and Adlyn up the mountain to watch them start their 40+ mile race.  We spent a good hour watching the teams take off in 3-minute intervals.  It was a little cold, lots of people, and we parked far away.  The kids weren’t smiling, but I know they were having a lot of fun.  Those dogs are so psyched to race and you can tell they love what they do.  Next time we’ll bring something to sit on, some blankets, and we’ll dress a little warmer.  We can’t wait for them to come back to town in 2013!

Sledding

We went sledding in January up at the golf course.  They have a nice hill that is perfect for the kids.  It was our first time sledding this winter and it was a perfect day.  Adlyn loved every minute of it.  She is daring and adventurous.  She even went down the hill head first, on her stomach, several times.  Brooks might have gone down once.  He preferred to watch from the top, or, pull the sleds back up the hill.  Perfect combination.  We were trying to get Brooks to sled, but we determined he was having fun doing his own thing.  There were several cross country skiers around the area and Brooks also enjoyed watching them.  We look forward to sledding again!

Preschool Update

After a month of preschool, we have made a lot of progress.  We can now get them ready in the morning without any tears, and the transition of going to school and dropping them off is now seamless.  We have gone from one extreme to the other.  I think they really enjoy preschool now, but two days is just about right for them.  I think if they were going more often they would be burned out.  They like circle time, playing outside together on the teeter-totter, writing their name, making crafts, painting, playing, and so much more.  Brooks just started taking a few sips of his milk out of his ‘school cup’ after weeks of refusing it.  Adlyn loves the opportunity to play with dolls and likes that she rarely has to share.  The class is male-dominated and there is only one other girl in the class.  Their vocabulary is expanding and they are talking more and more.

Pics from 3 Years Ago

These pictures are from three years ago this month.  The first picture we titled, "Valentine's Kiss."  Brooks looks so cute puckering up to his sister.  The second picture makes me laugh.  We call it, "What Sound Does a Lion Make?"  With a two pound size difference at that time, Brooks looks like a giant, and Adlyn looks so tiny!  Both of these pictures are at cousin Jen's house.  We had to make a trip back to Denver for their would-have-been-due-date for an eye check-up at Children's.  We spent that weekend in Denver, and watched the Super Bowl with our cousins.  It was a fun time, and I'm glad that we had a nice and caring home to stay at after our long drive back to Denver.  The shirts are also from the cousins, and I'm glad that they got to see them wearing the shirts in-person.

The Would-Have-Been Due Date

This week we have surpassed Brooks and Adlyn’s would-have-been-due-date and third birthday.  It is a fun day for me to reflect on where we’ve been and how far we’ve come!  Someday, I’d still like to focus some of my time blogging on their NICU days and the first few months of life.  A few weeks ago I showed them some of their baby pictures and they loved to see themselves at that stage.  Last year, the day before their due-date birthday, we took away all of the diapers, wipes, changing table, etc.  We went cold turkey on the potty training adventure.  I wanted to start the process before they were officially two years old, but that didn’t happen.  So, I started on the day before their due-date birthday.  (close enough)  The processed worked ok, and I’m glad we did it.  I haven’t missed changing a diaper in the past 365 days.  What a nice stage to be past!  A year later, Adlyn is nearly perfect, and maybe has an accident once a month, if that.  Brooks is perfect when he cares and tries, he loses interest.  But, I can say that since preschool started, he has made even more improvement.  I’m happy to say that they have each woken up dry in the morning once this week.  Maybe this year we can focus on the night time situation.  But, both willingly wear their ‘fluffy’ at night, so I can’t complain.  Everyone is happy in the morning, they are sleeping through the night, and the situation is working out well for all of us.    

A Lesson in Diversity

Last month we were all at church one Sunday morning.  Brooks was being a jabber-box and I tried to get him to be quiet.  We were in the back pew, probably a good place for us to be on this particular morning.  Brooks was pointing to a dad a few rows ahead of us, and kept telling me, “No have hair,” in a giggly voice.  Yes, he was bald.  As was another man in Brooks’s site.  I was trying not to laugh myself, but I tried to remain serious as I whispered to him, “Brooks, some people have different types of hair.  Some people have no hair, some people have hair and it comes in many colors.”  I thought that would get him to be quiet.  Then, he told me, “No see green hair,” in a giggly voice.  I told him, “No, no one has green hair.”  He then told me, “Brooks see lots of poopie colored hair,” in a giggly voice.  Well, he is correct.  Once again, I’m glad we were in the last row.