Samantha: 55 Months, Week 3
Aedan: 20 Months, Week 1 (Week 88)
Before our second Christmas celebration in Upland, we had a couple days at home to enjoy together. On Tuesday we invited the Schroers over to for a play date so that Samantha could play with Matteo, Aedan could play with Bennett, and I could talk with Andrea for awhile. It was nice to still spend time at home, but have it be different with friends. Isabelle, Matteo and Bennett's older sister, came over as well, both Samantha and Aedan took to her quickly. Aedan kept bringing books to show her, and Samantha got out her coloring book and markers so that she could color along with her. After awhile, Isabelle, Matteo, and Samantha all went into the play room to play together, closing the door to keep the little boys out so they wouldn't mess up the game they were playing with the play kitchen and little people. We had a good morning of playing together, and I'm glad that we've gotten to know this family over the past year.
It was only 11:15 when the Schroers left, and I felt antsy to get the kids out of the house somewhere they could run around and play, which is difficult to find in Oxford in the wintertime. So, on the spur of the moment, I decided to take the kids out for lunch at Chick-fil-A, mainly so they could climb and play in the play area. They both ate lunch really well for me. In fact, Samantha beat Aedan because she was so excited about going to play. We don't go out for lunch very often, so this was a special treat for us. The last time we went to a Chick-fil-A was probably back in September when we traveled to Chicago for Brielle's birthday, and at that time, Aedan was still learning how to climb and therefore couldn't climb up the play set very well on his own. This time, however, Aedan was climbing all over the place. Samantha was a great big sister and helped him climb up the stairs. She even showed him how to climb into the car or the helicopter and went down the slide with him. It was funny to see how they came down the slide, for one time he was sitting between her legs, another time she came down feet first with Aedan going down head first and they were holding hands in the middle, and at the end he would come down the slide all by himself. I was so proud of him, and he was so proud of himself, that he would smile and clap every time he got to the bottom. They were having such a great time that I hated to stop them from playing, but it was getting late and we needed to get back for nap time. Even though it was a spur of the moment decision, it was a good idea to get out and let the kids play for awhile.
We can get pretty silly at dinnertime in our house, and Tuesday night was one of those times. We had watermelon with our dinner, and when Aedan was trying to pick up a piece once, it slipped out of his hand and went flying across the room. That action made everyone erupt into laughter. And of course, since we all laughed, that made Aedan do it all the more, and Samantha tried to copy him as well. It may have been bad to encourage it that evening because it will probably occur again in the future, but it sure was funny, and now Aedan has learned a new skill. :)
On Wednesday morning we had plans to meet our friends, the Kidds, at the Cincinnati Museum Center. Again, I am so blessed to have a husband with such a flexible work schedule, allowing us to do these types of day trips together over the holiday break. Since it was the day before New Year's Eve, apparently other families had the same idea, for the museum was the busiest we have ever seen it with long lines just waiting to get into the parking lot. However, the kids didn't care and were very excited to see each other and to play and explore in the museum.
We started in the Holiday Junction area and even stopped at the steamboat which we had never noticed before. It's always interesting to see what different kids find interesting because Daniel is a lot more focused, playing with one thing for an extended period of time; whereas Samantha tends to flit from one place to another more. However, all four kids enjoyed riding on the train together.
After that we played in the water area for quite awhile and both kids got their sleeves so wet having fun in the water. Samantha enjoys finding a whale or an octopus and taking them around in the water, like they are swimming down the river. Aedan likes to play with things to make the water splash and spray around or will hit a clear plastic tube into the water. I got to pretend with Samantha which was fun. She had me put a life jacket on her, and we got in the boats together that are built so you can rock them back and forth slightly. We pretended we were in a bad storm and water was spilling into the boat, getting us all wet. She has a very creative imagination right now and loves to pretend with us. It's by far her favorite way to play right now. She will say "Pretend you..." and tell us what she wants to do. Sometimes it is difficult for me to play along with her because I feel like she has a certain idea in her mind of how she wants to play, or sometimes I feel like I am not creative enough to play along with her. It's definitely something I need to work on in my interactions with Samantha since it is her favorite way to play right now.
We went to the ball area to play for awhile, too before going into the pretend area with the grocery store, house, restaurant, and vet clinic. Although it was getting late in the afternoon and our kids were getting tired and somewhat aimless. They were still having fun, but all the kids were playing in different areas, making it more difficult for the adults to talk with one another. At one point Samantha and I were near the Lego building area, and all of a sudden I looked down and she was gone. At my first look around, I couldn't find her anywhere and I started getting worried. Ben helped me look for her, and we eventually found her in the vet clinic area (which I should have figured because that's where she disappeared to last time as well). We decided it was time to go and used getting ice cream before left as good motivation to leave fun and friends.
We planned to go to Upland to celebrate Christmas over New Year's weekend, so we got packed up on Wednesday night, planning on leaving as soon as we were ready the next morning. We arrived before lunch on New Year's Eve and spent the day hanging out and playing. Everyone else had already arrived, so Samantha and Alaina got right to playing. Aedan was excited to play with all the toys, going straight for the singing Larry Boy toy. He loves all the toys that sing and move at Grandpa and Grandma's house.
Since it was New Year's Eve, we decided that we should join the crowd and stay up until midnight to ring in the new year. (We normally decide it's not worth staying up late when we know our kids will be up early the next day.) Of course, our kids were in bed, but the adults played Ticket to Ride while a football game played in the background. Ben and I were pretty tired, but we made it till midnight and then went to bed, ready for another fun day and our time to celebrate Christmas together.
On Friday mid-morning, Uncle Andrew arrived, and we celebrated our Toll family Christmas. We tried to take turns and go from youngest to oldest, but again, it was hard to pay attention to who was getting what when Samantha and Aedan were all over the place and all they wanted to do was to open all their presents. Upland Grandpa and Grandma, Uncle Timmy, Aunt Jeni, and Uncle Andrew definitely spoiled our kids for Christmas. Here are some pictures from our present opening time that day.
This next video is of Grandma opening the present that Samantha made for her. It is the Elsa statue that she painted at You're Fired in Oxford, and Samantha was SO excited for her to open it and see if she liked it. Grandma did a great job of showing a lot of excitement and making a big deal about this special present. I know Samantha felt good making Grandma so excited.
Aedan got a few fun gifts that make noise like this drum set and a fire engine that moves on it's own.
The rest of our time in Upland went by pretty quickly. The girls played with their horses most of the rest of the weekend, and we just enjoyed time together as a family hanging out, playing, talking, and watching a movie together on Friday night. Saturday late morning was a family reunion for Ben's dad's side of the family. Most people I had never even met before, but we had a good lunch and more time for the kids to play. We originally planned on staying through until Sunday, but everyone else was leaving on Saturday afternoon/evening, and since we had a busy week coming up with leaving for Puerto Rico on Wednesday, we decided it would be best to get back home for another day. Plus, Samantha was doing what she typically does in Upland. She's super tired because she doesn't sleep enough, but then she refuses to nap which compounds the problem. It's so frustrating with her sometimes because it seems like this has been happening every time we've come to Upland lately where she won't calm down and let herself sleep which then makes her more disrespectful. We gave her more time outs in those few days that we were there than we do in a whole week or more at home. We know that she gets excited and revved up by being around family that she loves, but it sure would be nice if we could find a way to help deal with her throwing fits and being disrespectful. This whole experience also made me really worried about how things would go next week when the kids come back to Upland for the time that Ben and I will be in Puerto Rico. I hope that Samantha behaves better for Grandma and isn't hard to deal with like she is for us sometimes.
It was a good idea for us to come back after the get together on Saturday. We left pretty late, about 3:45, so both kids were pretty tired. Aedan passed out right away and slept most of the way back. Samantha took a little while to fall asleep, like she usually does, and then only slept for like fifteen minutes because she woke up when we stopped at a stop sign. However, she did a great job just sitting quietly in the car seat for the rest of the trip until Aedan woke up as well. She's pretty respectful most of the time, so I have to remember that during the times when she isn't as respectful and I feel frustrated.
Sunday was a good catch-up day for us. We went to church in the morning, and then I was able to get all the Christmas decorations taken down and put away. I felt like I really accomplished a lot that day, as I wanted to get them down before we left for Puerto Rico so that I didn't have that hanging over my head for when we return. The kids both took really long naps that afternoon, so you could tell that they were trying to catch up on some missed sleep from our time in Upland.
Then, Monday was a pretty normal routine again with Samantha going back to preschool after having a two week break. I was invited over to Stephanie's house for a play date, so that was fun for Aedan to be able to play with other kids. Aedan and Isaac get along pretty well and are silly together. For example, several times over the course of the morning, they both went into the bathroom together and Isaac locked them in. One time they even unrolled the entire toilet paper roll. Silly boys! They certainly keep us on our toes.
And to end this post, here is a picture of the kids sitting together watching a show after their naps. Aedan loves to join Samantha on the couch. He even has picked up on the fact that she usually gets to pick candy to eat after nap time. He will run out into the kitchen and point to the cabinet where we keep the candy until we get some for him.
It was free week at the Rec Center at Miami, so we decided to take advantage of a chance to go swimming for free. Samantha LOVES the water, loves jumping in and putting her head under the water. Aedan has fun, but he is a little more unsure about it than Samantha is. He doesn't like to get water in his ears, and he gets cold easily since he is not moving around on his own yet. We put a life jacket on him just to help him bob in the water a little easier. His favorite thing to do in the pool is to dunk the basketball; however, that evening they were doing swim lessons in the area of the pool with the basketball hoop, so he was a little upset that he couldn't do that for fun and didn't understand why we weren't letting him. There were lots of other kids in the pool as well, and the kids had good, long naps that afternoon, so we stayed swimming until close to 8:00 p.m. It was a fun family night together, and I'm so glad that we can take advantage of these free days whenever we can.
(Blog about December 29, 2014-January 4, 2015)
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