James is 1000 days old!

I love, love, love this sweet little man. Superman swirl. Expressive eyes. Capricious smile. Snuggler. A boy who dearly loves his mama...and grapes.

1 Day Old

10 Days Old

100 Days Old

1000 Days Old

So glad to have had you this long, dear James-y.

A Blog Post by Alice

(as required in her chores this week)

"This week I went to art camp. It was fun. We went to the Pool 2 times. We had lots of fun."

Lost

I was helping at the church this morning to feed a bunch of people at a missionary Zone Conference. James and Matthew came along (Alice and Robert are enjoying Arts Camp this week. Woo hoo!). After the lunch was done and people were cleaning up all over, I suddenly realized I hadn't seen James for some time. My friend turns to me and says, "Have you seen B*?" Um, no. Both boys were missing. We checked the halls, the classrooms, the stage, the chapel, and even outside. Twice. No kids. Then we realized another toddler had gone missing as well.

Three whole kids just vanished! I started to panic a little. Then on my next sweep of the church building, I hear little voices coming from behind the closed door of the Mother's Lounge. Shouting, happy, giggling voices. I open the door and it crashes into one of those wheeled carts from the kitchen.

WHAT?!

I see three little toddler/preschoolers [James (2), B (3), and J* (2)] dancing on a pile of plastic silverware they had dumped off of the cart. James had a handful of plastic knives and he was swinging them around and making slashing sounds. The kids suddenly stopped and looked up at me. B says "What a BIG mess!"

You bet.

Apparently, they had the awesome idea to use the kitchen cart as a car. B had pushed James and J down the hall all the way to the other side of the church where they found the Mother's Lounge with its rocking chairs and closing door (James loves closing doors at the church. Don't really understand why.) and they decided to have a plasticware dance party and knife slash fest.

We had them clean up the mess and B "drove" the other two all the way back to the kitchen. James and J just laid on their bellies on the bottom shelf of the cart. I was surprised by B's strength and skill with the now heavy kitchen cart. It didn't take long to get back. I can see how the whole adventure evolved so easily.

Gotta keep my eye on this little James-y man.

*Name abbreviated to protect the innocent :)

Finger Walking!

Matthew has finally caught on to finger walking as a mode of transportation. He loves it, too, so don't offer this boy your finger unless you're willing to take him for a spin. A long, hunched over, squealy spin around the house until his legs literally can't go anymore. Your back feels fine until you try to stand up again. Ugh. If Matthew is on the same track as his elder siblings, we only have a couple months of this before he tries it on his own.

Alice took this video today of our littlest man taking his old man for a walk. I love hearing his little feet slap the kitchen floor in this video, and he starts panting a little towards the end.

Me idea!

James has been doing a lot of thinking lately. Every once in a while he'll just blurt out, "Me idea!" and then tell me something fantastic. Yesterday at breakfast we were talking about cereal choices when James shouts, "Me idea!"

"Me wy uh elicotter up, up, up an land uh top uh wire-wighter twuck." (He could fly a helicopter and land on top of a firetruck)

Then today he saw a tricked out motorcycle and thought of this: "Me tick uh man offuh moh-sie-coh an wive away. Me an Mommy an Wobuht an Alice an Daddy an Math-uh-yew all tuh-geth-oh on uh moh-sie-coh go to uh wocket and psssshew! All tuh-geth-oh fie up. (He would kick the man off of his motorcycle and drive away, then get the family on it and drive to a rocket that would blast off)

Kristin and her kids were playing at our house this afternoon and James asked for help getting into our Superman costume, complete with a cape for flying. He goes out into the backyard for a minute and comes back with a little disappointment in his voice, "It not working. Me no fly up uh sky."

Broke my heart.

He promptly asked for the costume to be removed.

Speaking of flying, Robert has been experimenting with plastic grocery bags as parachutes for his amazing, flying leaps off of high things. It's all been indoor experimentation so far. I'm debating whether I 1) work it into a science project and help him design a better chute or 2) let it go for now and hope he doesn't tinker with bed sheets and the garage roof in a few years.

Who's missing?

It happened again...that feeling...I looked around me and I had to count the kids three times because I just knew someone was missing...my life at that moment was far too under control...something HAD to be wrong.

Nope, everyone was accounted for. A new normal. Kids growing up. Breathing a little easier.

Shortest Telesurvey Ever

"How many working televisions do you have in your household?"

"Zero."

"I mean how many working televisions."

"Yes, zero."

"How many working televisions do you have in your household?"

"None. No televisions."

"None?"

"That's ri--"

"You have NO televisions?"

"Yes. We watch everything we want to see on the computer."

"Oh...um...let me see...well...thank you for your participation. That concludes our survey."

*click*

Behavior Club for Preschoolers

I just sent this advertisement out to our Relief Society listserv:

My 8-year-old feels like she needs more to do this summer and she's decided to host a "Behavior Club" for preschool-aged children (3-5 yrs). Kids will meet at our house for an hour a week to learn about manners and proper etiquette. By the end of their experience with the club, she anticipates participants will know more about manners and be better behaved at home. A few details:

--Behavior Club meets Wednesday afternoons 3:30pm-4:30pm on June 17, June 24, and July 1.

--I will be on site at all times to assist, but this is Alice's project. Please direct all questions/concerns to her.

--Enrollment is FREE, but limited to 3 participants.

--Parents are invited to attend the last 10 minutes of the last class period for the awards ceremony.

Email or call me to reserve a spot for your preschooler. I suspect this will be highly educational for all parties involved :)

If I were on Twitter...#thisgirliscrazy #whathappensnext #allowhertofail #justplainAlice #awondertowatch

June Garden Picts

I love, love, love my garden in June. This year I have more flowers. I kinda like them there.

Left: strawberries. Center: snap peas, herbs, zinnias, petunias. Right: curcurbits, nasturtiums. Far right: peach tree. Far back: rhubarb, hard white wheat, corn, marigolds, bush beans, and swiss chard. Front: blueberries

A closer look at the herbs and flowers in the middle bed.

Points of interest this season: I grew snap peas in the second bed and they are using the chicken wire fencing as a trellis. Can you see how high they've grown already?! I love to plant peas as early as possible and I always think I'll get around to trellising them properly before it's too late. It's too late.

Robert's "birthday hole" was filled in. You can see it next to the three blueberry bush planters. I filled it in after an episode of disobedience regarding mud and Sunday attire/behavior, but I filled it in after the kids had gone to bed. When Robert discovered the change a couple days later, he thought the rain that night had magically swelled up the dirt to fill in the hole. He was thrilled! Terrible mom that I am, I have done nothing to dispel that belief. 

In other news, James has decided he likes to take pictures. His favorite subject last night:

I wonder how many flashbulb shadows/after images Matthew had floating around after this photo shoot. He certainly enjoyed James' attention.

I showed Matthew how to use my fingers to stand up from a sitting position. A couple days of practice later and he's eager to go finger walking. He's not very coordinated yet, and all the exercise gets him panting and drooly, but he's determined to get around! This evening, he steered himself towards the couch to play with James. Then he stopped and stared at a toy he wanted to pick up. He leaned and leaned and leaned until he was straight as a board leaning right over it. Couldn't figure out how to get to it from there. I bent him in the middle and sat him down right by it and Matthew burst into tears. Toys are fun, but mobility is far more important. Once he gets strong enough to hold himself well on two legs, I'll let the little kids take over all the finger walking. My aching back!

Fishing for Mom

I've been wanting to blog about this unique behavior for some time. Bobby and I call it "fishing for Mom." When Matthew starts getting tired or hungry, he looks for me. He scans the people around him until he sees me. Then he'll make a little giggle or squeal or some sort of cute noise to get my attention. It's always a cute one. That's why this works. When I'm making eye contact, he'll smile and giggle and coo, never dropping eye contact. No distraction. No grumpiness, just happy noises with a little urgency in them. All that charming conversation just lures me closer and I can't help but pick him up. It didn't take him long to realize this was a very effective way to get scooped up by his mom. Cracks me up.

Who, me?!

Letterboxing and Guinea Pigging

This week, the kids and I decided to participate in the Urbana Park District's Wild About Parks Quest. It's a letterboxing treasure hunt sort of quest. Alice and Robert love a good mystery, so it didn't take much convincing. James kept asking about when we would find his part of the treasure. Matthew, well, slept through most of it.

We found four hidden boxes in about an hour and left our mark(s).

Alice signed up for a research experiment that's examining the connection between fitness and cognitive performance in kids. She went through her first series of tests on Saturday...FOUR hours of them. Holy cow. Most were cognitive tests and one was a fitness test where she got to jog on a treadmill until she just couldn't run any further. She had a blast! This girl loves tests. Loves worksheets. Loves feedback from adults that she's doing well or exceeding their expectations. It was like a party for this girl. Kinda reminds me of me. I did not get any pictures of her running on the treadmill, but she looked a bit like this with all the VO2 max measuring equipment on her face:

This summer is different

Matthew is just starting to get a regular 2-naps-a-day kind of schedule. It means he's asleep in the morning, wakes up when all the other kids are in "quiet time", then starts another nap just as the kids get out of quiet time. Not my favorite schedule, but somewhat predictable, so I'm content to work with it.

Things are different this summer. Very different. Jarringly different.

For today's quiet time, Alice and Robert played out front together. We've experimented with it this week and found it a viable quiet time option. When James woke up, he ran outside to join them. The neighbor kids came out for a while, too. So far, I can trust Alice and Robert to play out front without my constant supervision. They even keep James out of trouble.

Do you know what that MEANS?! That means I'm in a quiet house with a napping baby. It's a new era for me...er, uh, a lot like when I only had Alice. But not. I have four kids now, so this trust and peace means a whole lot more to me than it did back then.

Things have changed. My kids are getting older.

Another "aha" moment came this morning when we were at the park with some friends from church. Alice didn't really have anyone to play with. Robert is usually glued to her hip, but this park had a sand pile and a little stream that pulled him away from her imagination games. He just wanted to dig and splash and scoop and climb, no narrative required. Alice wandered around a bit, quietly playing her own imagination game. I felt sad for her. This summer, suddenly, she's not the same kind of girl she was last summer. I can't count on the same old activities to keep everyone happy. Will she even want to attend this regular park day anymore?

It occurred to me that Alice is getting older. Things have changed.

Then, towards the end of our time at the park, Robert was ready to play with her again and she somehow managed to get a whole cluster of preschoolers to play "bird family". She was the mommy bird and they were all babies of various ages, flying around and in and out of the play birdhouse at this park. They were having fun, but Alice didn't mind when it was time to go.

I wish...I don't know...I'm happy and excited to see her change like this. She's becoming something new, something more like her true self, I guess. Slowly. Quietly. She's so graceful. Every once in a while I just stop and look at who she is and...I dunno...it just makes me want to hug her tight.

Massew so sweet!

We all love our Matthew. Alice and Robert play dress-up with him:

Hey Barney fam, recognize the headband and glasses?

Action shot!

And the big boys feed him strawberries from the garden:

 

James tells me just about every day, "Massew so sweet!" and he knocks the poor babe over with all his enthusiastic hugging, kissing, and "sharing" (a.k.a. shoving a toy in Matthew's face).

In other news, I've had a lot more energy. We've had unseasonably cool weather, which extends my time outdoors. The yard and garden look great! The kids celebrated their first official day of summer by playing outside all day. Alice can be an excellent leader and friend to the boys when she feels like it :) The kids helped me make pot stickers for dinner (Alice taught me how to fold them, Lara! And we still love your recipe the best.), then we biked to Larson Park after dinner and played there as a family for a little while. I just want to enjoy outside as much as possible before the heat and humidity settle in.

Speaking of bike rides, Robert has quite the range. In the last week, we've traveled 7 miles by bike and he hasn't complained once. Alice is also getting more confident with directions and riding in the road. She led our party home from the park tonight with ease. James and Matthew rode like royalty in my bike trailer/stroller. James was singing some sort of song about the ride, "Biiiiiiiiiiiiig bumps, here they come. Gooooooo stop sign." He's also managed to lose his new summer sandals somewhere :(