Aedan: 54 Months, Week 1
Owen: 12 Months, Week 4 (Week 56)
Sunday morning the Clemons family was still at our house visiting, and Ben and I were scheduled to teach small groups for kids during church, so we all decided to go to the first service. Then, instead of making the kids stay at church for two services, Christy and Matthew volunteered to stay home with our kids while we taught at church, that way the kids could have more time to play together. Here are some pictures and videos of them playing that morning (with Samantha reading in the background).
The Clemons family left to go back home after having lunch and hanging out for a little while. Then, I got Owen down for a nap and Samantha and Aedan had some quiet time playing in their rooms after a busy weekend with lots of people around. We decided to not have small group that night because not enough people could make it, and we didn't mind just having time together as a family before the week started.
Here are the kids playing and being silly together that evening. Aedan and Owen decided to go into Izzy's kennel, and Samantha put her leotard on so she could practice her handstands and things for gymnastics.
That night as we were getting the kids ready for bed, we realized that we didn't know where Happy Bear was. We looked all over, and we asked Aedan where he thought he might be and he had no idea, so we ended up giving up looking for it for that night and let him sleep with a different bear. He didn't seem to mind, which was good, but I just wondered where it disappeared to. We planned on doing more searching in the morning.
Monday was technically Ben's fall break. Especially since he took Friday off to go to the conference, he decided that he couldn't take Monday off at all. He needed the day to work. However, he was able to take our van in to the shop in the morning to get the back tires replaced. Especially after getting a hole in one over the weekend and needing to replace them anyways.
That morning the boys and I didn't have any plans, and I usually use Mondays to get caught up on things around the house, as well as laundry. Aedan and I took some time to look around the house more for Happy Bear. I searched every bin and hidden area in his room with no luck. Then, I moved on to Samantha's room, looking all over her closet, and finally finding it in her laundry basket, buried in the middle. Even though Aedan didn't let on that he really cared that much, he was so happy when I found him. Here he is snuggling up to him, rubbing his soft fur against his face.
The rest of our Monday continued on like normal with making a quick stop at Walmart to find a few things, give the boys lunch, drop Aedan off at preschool, and then put Owen down for a nap. Since Ben was just on campus working, he offered to come home so we didn't have to wake up Owen in order to pick him up. Then, we gave Aedan a bigger snack before getting him ready for hockey. It was my turn to take him that night, and I was excited to see how he would do. I talked really positively to him on the way there, encouraging him that he can do it, and reminding him about how he used to skate across the ice when he took skating lessons two years ago. It helped having him get ready before getting there, I just had to get his skates, helmet, and gloves on. We got there early, with plenty of time to spare, so Aedan actually got on the ice before 5:30. He was able to get one of these metal frames to push around, and that helped him a lot, just to realize that he can move confidently with just a little assistance.
I went down to the ice several times to try to encourage him, and one of the female coaches spent a lot of time with him, helping him scoot his feet forward a little bit at a time. I was so proud of him skating all by himself without holding on to the metal frame. At one point he fell down pretty hard, hitting his head on the ice when he fell. I could tell that he was crying, and the coach was trying to cheer him up and make sure he was okay. I went down to check on him and encourage him about how well he was doing, and I got a couple of close up shots of my little hockey player skating around the ice.
Towards the end of practice, I encouraged Aedan to get his hockey stick and use that to help him stand up. He was able to do that, and even stood up by himself a few times without any help and without using the stick. When it was almost time for practice to be over, Aedan had to go get his stick from across the ice, so I told him if he got up and skated over to get his stick and back, that he could get off the ice and be done with practice.
Here's a picture of Aedan all dressed in his hockey gear after practice that night. I was so proud of him, and I made a big deal over how well he did, and how I couldn't wait until we got home and I could tell Daddy and Samantha all about it.
While we were at hockey, Ben stayed home with Owen and Samantha, and he got dinner ready for us. We decided to try eating dinner afterwards this time, to see if that would work better than trying to get Aedan to eat quickly before practice. However, we decided it was just too late to to wait to eat until after 6:30 at night, especially for Owen who is usually hungry from when he wakes up from his afternoon nap until we get him dinner. Here is a picture of him laying on the floor throwing a fit because Daddy wouldn't let him eat Izzy's dog food.
Tuesday, October 9th was another MOPS day, which is always fun, but makes the morning feel busy. I am always rushed trying to get everyone ready and out the door to get to MOPS on time. It was a good meeting with time for good discussion at the tables and a chance to really share things with other moms about how life might not be what you thought it would be and how you handle that. I always enjoy MOPS, and it's nice to have the boys taken care of and to have a "morning off" from chasing them around and entertaining them. Once MOPS was over, I tried my best to get things cleaned up quicker, while also lugging Owen around on my hip. More people volunteered to help me carry the bins and sweep the rooms, so that was nice. We were able to leave and go home and eat lunch before dropping Aedan off at preschool and then trying to keep Owen awake until we got home for nap time. He is always extremely tired on MOPS days, and it's difficult to keep him up until after 1:00 when I drop Aedan off at school.
I got Owen to sleep just fine on Tuesday afternoon, but then he was awake crying about half an hour later. It took me another half an hour to get him back to sleep and then he only slept for another 30 minutes before waking up again. So he was already awake when Calla came over to watch him so I could take Samantha and Aedan to gymnastics. He was having a little bit of trouble right before I left, so I tried to distract him with snacks and get him to be happy before I left. Luckily, he did well for Calla, even though he didn't nap for very long, and she did a great job taking care of him on her first time watching him by herself. I definitely enjoy not having to take him along and to not have to walk around and chase him during gymnastics.
We always eat dinner once we get home from gymnastics, a little bit before 6:00, and then we do quick baths and showers for all the kids before tucking them into bed. Here is Owen playing with toys, banging them together, as Ben and I cleaned up dinner that night.
Owen really enjoys playing with combs and brushes when we comb hair after bath time. He takes the brush or comb and tries to comb people's hair, which usually turns into him hitting the person (usually Samantha) on the head with the comb or brush. Here he is attempting to comb her hair that evening. She thinks it's funny most of the time, unless he starts whacking her too hard.
After a not so good nap time on Tuesday, I was worried about how the night would go with sleeping, but you know what Owen did? He slept through the night! From 8:00 when I laid him down until 7:30, when he woke up for the day. I couldn't believe it when I woke up that morning with my alarm instead of waking up with Owen in the middle of the night. I actually had to think a minute about whether I actually had gotten up and just didn't remember it. I love it when he does this because it give me hope that he actually can do it, and that I won't be waking up with him in the middle of the night forever. However, it gives me false hope for it to continue, but usually these nights are just once in a blue moon. But hey, I will take them when they come. I'm certainly not complaining about getting a night of uninterrupted sleep.
Wednesday morning, after getting ready and playing at the house for a little while, we went to the library for story time. Aedan enjoyed listening to the stories about dinosaurs and making a dinosaur puppet with a paper bag. Then, after that, the librarian sprayed some shaving cream on the table for the kids to practice writing letters, their name, or just drawing shapes or pictures. Aedan thought this was a lot of fun, and it gave me the idea to try that at home to get him used to the motion of making letters in with the correct shape before we even move onto using paper and pencil. Aedan also enjoyed spending with his friend, Owen. They really like playing together, and it's fun having this time at the library when they come.
Aedan's preschool has a different theme of the week each week, and this week it was studying fall, nature, and leaves, along with a visit from the fire department on Wednesday. He came home from school on Wednesday with a leaf crown that he made, and as we were getting ready for AWANA that night, he put it on and wanted me to take his picture. I will gladly take his picture anytime he asks me. Isn't he such a cute little boy?
Thursday, October 11th was a big day because Owen had his 12 month checkup at 8:30 that morning. Ben agreed to stay home with Aedan so that I didn't have to drag him along to the appointment, too. It was a few weeks after when he actually turned 12 months old, but that was okay. He measured at 30.5 inches in length which put him in the 63.5 percentile. He grew an inch and a half since his last appointment on September 13th! He measured at 25.66 pounds which put him in the 81.5 percentile. He really did not change much in weight at all from his appointment on September 13th, so apparently our little boy had quite the growth spurt over the last month. That definitely explains why he can reach more things now and climb up on things he could never get to before. There were really no other concerns that I had for the doctor. He has been sleeping better, generally only waking up once per night to nurse and go back to sleep. And he has been taking better naps, especially now that we are pretty much going down to one nap in the afternoon unless he wakes up super early. Those afternoon naps are at least two hours, if not longer, and he doesn't wake up much in the middle anymore like he used to. He has been transitioning away from baby food pretty well, and we were beginning to work on getting him used to a sippy cup, so everything was going pretty well with him. After Owen was checked out and the doctor said that he looked perfect, he then got four shots, two in each leg, one being the first chicken pox vaccine, and one being a flu shot. He was obviously not very happy about getting shots in his legs, but once I was able to snuggle with him, he calmed down right away.
Then, once getting back home from the doctor, Ben went to campus, and I took the boys over to the Arts Center for a family concert with a group called Gemini. Samantha's class was also going there for the concert, and she was so excited when she saw us walk in. Miss Allison said that Samantha could come down and sit with us, which Samantha wanted to do, and it was fun to have all my kids together in the middle of the day. I wasn't sure how it was going to go with Owen lasting on my lap for an hour long show, but I hoped that the music would keep his attention enough. Owen did really well for about the first twenty minutes, and he found it fascinating to sit on my lap and watch the men play and sing. Once he started to get antsy, I tried to distract him with some snack and changing his position every so often. Samantha and Aedan really enjoyed the concert. They sang and danced and did motions, and it was amazing to hear them singing the songs for days afterwards. In fact, it was probably a week later when Samantha was singing and acting out the entire "Stingy Man" song. Here is a YouTube video of the actual Gemini guys singing the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B25wAX7tJA
The concert was simple, but great, perfect for kids. It's fun to live near a university and be able to experience things like this at a very cheap rate. Telling stories through song and rhyme is so fun, and I love how captivated Samantha and Aedan were.
After the concert, we said good-bye to Samantha, and then the boys and I went back home to hang out for awhile and eat lunch before taking Aedan to preschool. Owen took a nice nap for me that afternoon, giving me a chance to get some phone calls made, bills paid, and other things checked off my to-do list.
Then, on Thursday night we actually decided to go out to eat for dinner because Zorba's had been sounding good to us for a long time, and we decided to be adventurous and go out to eat with three kids. Samantha and Aedan do well, but Owen is the wild card. Sometimes he can be fine, and other times he will just scream in his high chair during meal time. Samantha and Aedan sat on the same side of a booth together and colored on the back of their place mats. Ben and I kept Owen in between us on the bench for awhile, giving him some Cheerios and letting him climb around a little more until our food came. We didn't want him to be cooped up in the high chair for longer than he needed to be. We tried giving him some of our food in bite size pieces, and he ate some of the cheese and bread and french fries. We gave him some of Samantha's pizza, but he wasn't too big of a fan of that. Overall, our eating out experience went well. Ben and I couldn't remember that last time we went out to a sit down restaurant with the kids, especially since Owen has been eating regular food because that makes it a little more complicated because we have to make sure there will be something for him to eat there. I'm glad we were adventurous enough to go out, and I'm glad that it went well and everyone enjoyed themselves.
On Friday morning it was Ben's turn to volunteer in Samantha's classroom, and the boys and I had plans to go over to Valerie's house to play. We haven't seen much of them lately, which is sad considering we live around the corner from each other. Aedan was looking forward to playing with Bridget, and there was another boy there about his age, too, that Valerie was watching for the day. Owen and Carly found it fascinating that there was another little person their size. Aedan took a little while to warm up since there was a new person there, but after awhile, he got right into playing, and it was so fun to watch the kids all getting along so well. It's fun to go to a friend's house to play, to experience new toys and different playmates, and since they also have a toddler in their house, everything is baby-proofed, so I don't have to worry about Owen getting into something that he shouldn't. All that to say, since everyone was playing happily, I was able to actually sit, talk, and have tea with Valerie.
As Aedan and I walked outside to go the play date that morning, this is what we saw...it was actually snowing! I couldn't believe that I was seeing snowflakes in the air on October 12th. This was much too early for my liking, as I am still in denial about winter time coming soon.
As Aedan and I walked outside to go the play date that morning, this is what we saw...it was actually snowing! I couldn't believe that I was seeing snowflakes in the air on October 12th. This was much too early for my liking, as I am still in denial about winter time coming soon.
As I was cleaning up lunch that day, the sun was shining so brightly on our birch tree that the yellow leaves shone so brightly in contrast to the dark sky in the background. I wish I would have taken a picture when all the leaves had first turned yellow because it was full and beautiful, but I have enjoyed watching how the seasons have changed the view I see outside my kitchen window.
I got Owen down for a nap easily on Friday afternoon, but then he woke up crying in the middle of his nap. Luckily, I was able to get him back to sleep relatively easily. Ben had planned on coming home to work that afternoon so that I could go grocery shopping before picking the kids up from school. It was a little bit of a rush trying to get the shopping done and picking everyone up on time, but with our busy mornings that week, I didn't have a chance to go any other time, and I was grateful for Ben being able to come a little early.
After dinner on Friday night, Owen sat down and started playing with this ring stacking toy. I had never seen him focus on it so much, nor had I seen him actually try to put the rings on the post. He sat there for quite awhile taking the rings off and putting them on over and over again. He was so focused on doing this, and it was cool to watch him guide the ring on by placing his finger on top of the post and letting the ring fall down. I had to stop cleaning up from dinner so I could take a video of him. I love watching Owen learn new things.
Friday night we had plans to go to our first Laker hockey game of the season. Originally, we planned on bringing Owen along and just seeing how he would do. However, after taking him to the concert on Thursday morning and trying to wrestle and corral him, I knew it wouldn't work very well keeping him happy at the hockey game when he is normally wanting to go to bed. So, I contacted Valerie to see if they could return the favor of coming to sit at our house while Owen slept, just like I did for them a few weeks back. Ben, Samantha, and Aedan left for the game a little before 7:00 while I started to put Owen down to bed a little earlier than usual so I could not miss too much of the game. He gave me a little bit of a hard time going down that night, almost like he knew I was trying to go somewhere. I was a little nervous leaving him there with Jeff, in case he were to wake up crying, even though he hasn't done that in a long time. However, I was glad to walk over to the Norris Center and spend the rest of the night with Ben and the big kids, enjoying the hockey game, some snacks, and a fun night out.
On Saturday we tried encouraging the kids to sleep in since they were out two hours past their bedtime, then we spent the morning just hanging out at home and giving the kids some downtime just to play, something that they don't get too much of during the week. Then, we ate lunch and I tried to get Owen down for an earlier nap because we wanted to go out and do something that afternoon. We thought about driving down to Pond Hill Farm for their fall festival and then to drive through the Tunnel of Trees, but we decided it would make for too busy of a day, and the kids would enjoy being at home just as much, if not more. So after Owen woke up from his nap, we headed toward Brimley to stop for a hike around Monocle Lake. I was looking up places that we could hike and found Monocle Lake, which we didn't even know existed. It was right near Point Iroquois Lighthouse, so I don't know why we've never checked it out before. But here was the drive into the area near the lake. It was kind of like our own Tunnel of Trees.
We had a great afternoon exploring the outdoors and enjoying some time together in nature. From there, we went to a friend's house for dinner, and we had a yummy meal, good company, and the kids were very respectful in a stranger's house. They enjoyed playing with their two dogs, and it was fun for Ben and I to get to know another couple that we serve alongside at church. We love being invited over to people's houses, and we were glad they invited us, kids and all. It was a fun way to spend our Saturday.
(Blog about October 7-13, 2018)
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