Sprout Spot: June 2009

Monday, June 29, 2009

Zoo trip number 3? 4? of the summer

Not much to say, just feeling bad about my neglected blog. Today we went to the zoo with my sister and her boys. We started at the splash park, where her kids ran around and played, and both of mine sat on the concrete and cried because they were getting wet. Sigh....

So we moved on to the animals. Here a zoo employee was showing them an elephant tusk. He said, "This is an tusk from an Asian elephant". Anna replied, "My name is Anna" and he just sort of smiled at her and said, "Oh, well, that's nice". I've noticed that she gets a little over excited sometimes around other kids, so I've been trying to teach her how to introduce herself (instead of just making cat noises at people!) so I guess she was trying it out on Tusk Guy.

And that's all the pictures I have because my camera battery died. But I did take this one before we left of two happy kiddies in their sun hats :)

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Sunshiney

This week has been nothing but sunshiney days (as Anna would call them) but it's also been really hot. Earlier in the week I was going to take them to the pool in our neighborhood, but I lost track of time and it was in the high 90s that day, and we just never got there. So today we made up for it by heading to the splash park at the gym. The kids were thrilled. Even though Anna asked if Kendall was going to be there about 3000 times (since she was in town last time) she finally just sighed a happy sigh and said, "Okay. Well, I'll just play with all the other kids, and I will be friends with myself!". I mean, it's not like Noah was an option ;)

Brrrrr!

Noah saw a lady next to us eating pizza. I think he was trying to intimidate her into giving it up.

Doing ballet moves, pool side:

Sunbathing...in the shade.....with SPF 70....and with swim trunks off ;)

I am giving into this request way too often lately. Pizza restaurant. Twist my arm.

I love how both of their hair gets curly when it's wet.

After we had lunch we stopped by a park and Noah went crazy picking those little white flower weed things (what are those called?). I am normally pretty nuts about sunscreen and keeping myself and my pasty white children out of the sun. Just ask Nathan. I am actually really happy if we all come home from a vacation looking just as white as the day we left. But today it felt so good to just stand out there in the sun in our swimsuits and cover-ups, and take our time. Our whole routine has been off by a few hours for weeks now, but it feels fine for summer. Later to bed, later to wake up, later naps, and start all over again. So there's no rush and not too much structure to our days, which is nice. Now I understand why moms of school aged children actually like summer break!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

What We've Been Doing

Nathan:

I should probably have him write this but I think I have a pretty good idea of what he's into right now. What he spends the most time on right now is work. Work, work, work. He would agree with this I'm sure! I know he has a mile long list of house projects we would both like to complete. He's enjoying his weekly breakfasts with a friend from our parenting group. When the weather is nice he's been driving the Porsche to work which is always fun for him, and we even got to take it out together this past weekend on a date night! Nathan and his dad are taking a trip to Colorado soon where I know they'll have a blast seeing sights from when they used to live there, and taking 7 million pictures.

Jennie:

Boot camp: Three days a week, at 5:30am, I drag my reluctant self to the gym and work harder than I ever have in my life. But I'm actually going to be sad when it ends! The results are different than what I expected, but they're still great. I am not a size zero, however, I can now do real push ups, and my endurance is through the roof. I can run for an hour! That's a huge deal for someone like me who, before this class, could run all of maybe 3 minutes without hyperventilating. Best of all I am no longer intimidated by any of the other classes at my gym. I used to think they looked too difficult but now they look like a piece of cake compared to what we've been doing in boot camp. And I actually want to go to them. I've started to crave exercise on the days I don't have class which is so not like me!
I'm obviously doing other things too, but I went on too long about boot camp so I'll save the rest for another time!

hee hee, convertible hair!

Anna:

Soccer has ended and she isn't the least bit sad. Considering she walked out of one game for being "too sweaty", I think we're going to pursue some indoor activities for her this summer. Dance and music are on the agenda and I know she's excited. She continues to dance her way around the house in various costumes, and her love of all things fancy is still going strong. She's reading a little now, but she has a new interest in writing any word that she can sound out. Every day we seem to have these deep discussions about why people do certain things, why things happen in nature the way that they do, a ton of questions about God, etc. I just know this girl has a gift for language and I need to spend some more focused time with her on Spanish. I have a really convincing video of her singing in a "foreign" language that I need to download.

Noah:

What is Noah not into these days?! He's busy being a boy that's for sure. He runs runs runs all day long. He loves Anna and sometimes seems like her little parrot repeating everything that she says and does. But other days he seems to intentionally do the opposite of what she wants. Ahh, sibling wars. He still loves cars, trucks, planes, anything that moves. Since our trip to the Children's Museum he has a new interest in dinosaurs and spends a good part of each day growling and making mean faces, which are pretty funny. In spite of all his boy-ness, he's still most interested in being snuggled and loved on, which is just fine with us. If he had his way he would eat yogurt, berries of any kind, and toast all day long. Every night before bed he does "Noah racing!" where he runs from the back of my closet, through the sitting room, through our bedroom, down the hall and into his room. Over and over and over.

So maybe this isn't so much What We've Been Doing as it is so much What We're Into Right Now!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Talker

Noah was a bit slower starting to talk than Anna was, and he still talks less than she does over the course of an average day. But lately he has been cracking me up. Sometimes he knows he's being funny, and sometimes it's just his cute little mispronunciations that make me laugh. Just today he started talking a lot about crocodiles, or as he calls them, croco-day-dles. I've already made him say it about 300 times just so I can giggle.

This evening he was sitting on my bed driving his little cars around in his usual serious manner, and I was just looking at his little feet. They're still so baby and round. So I asked him if he has dough feet (everything about Noah is dough-like!) and he said, "Dough feet? Yeah, Noah dough feet". He went on to say dough feet about 30 times and I was laughing. Then he yelled out, "Believe it, mama! Believe it!". Not sure where that came from!

But most of the time it's just the everyday things he says that make me smile. Obviously he is his own person and he's becoming much more of a boy than a baby, but I'm still surprised by how much he can say now. I love talking to these kiddos!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Just Busy

We've been so busy! There are plenty of stories and pictures to share, just not enough time to sit down and write them all out. I mean, you know we're busy if Noah will just abandon a half eaten cookie like this:

Friday, June 12, 2009

Ice Cream

Last week we drove up and had lunch and ice cream with my sister, her boys, and my mom and stepdad.

The kids were pretty happy.

Cute little buddies

I think Noah ate his own body weight in ice cream that day. He had his own cup and some of Anna's.

I think he had a bite of Max's too, and when Sam abandoned his cone we found Noah finishing it off.

After all that ice cream the kids had to run around for a bit. Here's Pop being trampled by all four.

Ahhh, summertime!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Dinosaurs and Dentists

Anna has two new subjects that she's very interested in. Somehow she got on the topic of dinosaurs and she's become very concerned about what happened to them, and where they went, and will they ever come back. Yesterday we were driving home from the grocery and we were having the conversation we've already had a million times, "But why are they extinct? Will God make more? Were they all mean, or were some nice?" etc, etc, etc. Frustrated with my lack of clear answers she decided to go to the source:

Anna - "Mom, I'm just going to ask God about dinosaurs....Dear God, why are all of the dinosaurs gone? Could you please make some more?"

Anna, in a different voice - "Okay, I'll make some more. And I'll put them in a sandy desert."

Anna, back to her normal voice - "Mom! He said yes! He said he would make more dinosaurs for me!"

I decided not to give her a dose of reality here, and just let her feel happy for a while. Looks like it may be time to review her dinosaur book ;)

She's also really into the dentist, brushing her teeth, and avoiding cavities at all costs. She's been to the dentist several times now and she always does fine. She does not have any cavities. But earlier this week I let her watch Sid the Science Kid and it was all about cavities. Now she's obsessed. She wants to brush her teeth after every single thing she eats or drinks. I try to tell her that a few times a day is plenty, but she will actually cry if I don't let her brush immediately because she thinks she'll get a cavity. Yesterday I got a lecture from her about "bac-ta-teria" on teeth and now every single thing I lift to my mouth is met with, "Mom, is that good for your teeth?". In trying to calm her fears I mentioned that even if you do get a cavity, the dentist can fix it, but we will still try our best not to get cavities. I showed her a filling I have to stress, again, that it wouldn't be the end of the world. She looked in my mouth cautiously and then said, "You got a cavity because you didn't try your best". Smarty pants!

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Also known as....

Anna is obsessed with writing letters and reading short words right now. Since she's started to put words together she wants to practice her new skills all day long. So much so that she cries if I don't pause at each sign long enough (while driving) for her to read it or spell out the words. Today she was writing on an old folder while I was drying my hair. She told me she would write my name on it and I said that was fine, knowing that she would not be able to write Jennie. But when I was finished she handed me the folder and this is what I saw:

There's my name! Mom, mom, mo..... So proud of my girl. I can't believe how fast she can learn!

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