Swimming seems so much easier when it's warm out.... :) Since the swimming pool is not outside (duh!) I'm not sure exactly WHY this is, I guess it's a simple as the lack of clothes over the boys swim gear and the bulky coats to cart along.
In any case, we're back to swimming! I want proficient little fish before the kids head off to Mexico in the fall, so we're doing two "summer intensive" swim units.
Bentley has made great strides. He can swim about 10 feet on his own and is working on learning the crawl stroke right now.
Jake and Viva are making progress. They are working on their "water comfort" and are just starting to push off from the wall, towards someone. I'm hopeful they will make big jumps forward because once you realize you can tread water it's easy to gain confidence (in my 29 year old opinion - I understand the 4 year olds don't feel the same way necessarily!).
The past few weeks I've been working on creating a bedroom for Lincoln. His crib has been set up in the middle of our "craft room", because there was no room to put it anywhere against the wall/set up any furniture for him in there (too many craft supplies in the hope of someday doing them)! So I figured that with Lincoln's little brother on the way it was time to make some room for kids in the room. :)
We moved stuff around (and are still busy finding new homes for all of it, so fun... ), and Matt did some painting! Two walls are green (they were all green to start) and two walls are blue. We think this is probably the most painted room in the house. We found evidence of two shades of brown, a dark green, and a yellow under the current green.
We gave Lincoln one of the big lazy boy rocker chairs, and some new curtains. Next up? A bit more furniture, and maybe something for the pretty (but empty) walls. Finding space in the closet for him will take a bit more time...
The next project? When Lincoln's older siblings how easy it is to paint they started getting ideas about THEIR room. They favor a John Deere green that has a hint of lime in it. Hmmmmm.... we're still negotiating on that one!
I think we have a tradition! The kids headed out to check out the 3 Baron's Fair with their Dad this past weekend, and had a blast. This is at least the 3rd year they have attended? They all managed to get some sun (I think they were there for 4 hours?!), and came back chattering about the good times and scheming to find someone to take them back THIS weekend. We'll see how that goes. :)
The highlight was the living chess game, but they also enjoyed some food, booth wandering, and a few games.
Lincoln passed on it this year (he had a cough and we didn't want him outside that long), but I'm sure he'll join in the fun next year!
Isn't this a beautiful pencil drawing? Disregard the wrinkles. I'm afraid Lincoln may have gotten ahold of the picture once or twice... :)
Bentley went out adventuring with Grandma a couple of months ago, and when they came home he raced inside to grab his paper and pencils. He told me that he was inspired by a bird he saw while they were driving, and he needed to draw his picture based on what he saw right away! There was no thunder and lightening in the sky, but an artist is allowed to make some dramatic enhancements to reality, right?! :)
Lincoln walks! I am a bit slow in documenting this, as it actually occurred on May 17th - 2 days after he turned 10 months old. I told him he gets the blue ribbon for earliest walker to date in the family, I'm not sure if he was dutifully impressed with himself for that reason though.
He is, however, clearly pleased with his new mode of getting around! Here he is catching the vision:
Grandma crawls, Lincoln walks. That's the unofficial subtitle. And yes, he was a sweet little guy. He walked for the grandparents too - mere hours before they got on a plane! What timing.
Just a few minutes later, he was really cruising!
Impressive, right?! Why is he holding balls and drum sticks? Because I tricked him into walking. I knew he could, but he didn't believe me. But when he had something in his hands he was distracted from sitting back down and walked instead!
He can walk without balls and sticks now, although he does sometimes walk with his hands held straight out in front of him (like they're holding onto an imaginary walker... !). Or, even better, I love it when he walks and throws his hands way up high towards the sky. This, of course, sometimes results in a lack of balance and a land on a cushioned diaper butt. :) This morning Bentley told me Lincoln was RUNNING to catch up to him. I didn't see it but I'd believe it!
Lincoln, and his siblings, and loving his new transportation skills. So fun!
Matt has really been enjoying spring time, AND being home. Quite the combination! Lincoln has been enjoying finally being old enough to really enjoy some of the quality outdoor time that Daddy brings to the table! (I'm trying, but I'm just not the outdoor fun loving type... really am working on it though! Slowly!!).
On Monday Matt took all the kids to the playground. He let Lincoln eat pinecones and dirt. At least he looks happy, right?
Today he took the kids all out for a long walk. Lincoln was awfully excited to head out the door WITH his siblings - score! He really hates being left behind. When his older buddies go out the front door to bike he stands there at the glass and cries. Tears. He wants me to take him out. Right. Away. So he can be part of the fun!
It's hard being so much younger. Good thing he'll have his own little playmate soon. Or at least relatively soon. :)
Jake gave a talk in church this past Sunday. I am never completely certain what to expect from my little charmer...
The talk was about baptism and the sacrament. We sat down to write it on Saturday, and I helped him finish it up with a charming line about how he's looking forward to turning eight and being baptized himself. :) We then practiced the talk a few times, and each time we practiced he would insert:
"I am NOT looking forward to turning eight... !" (and then he would laugh hysterically).
Cute kid.
I warned his Father he might go off the script, but apparently he belted the talk out at full volume and stuck to the party line. I didn't know he would be a yell into the microphone type - but just goes to remind me that each kid has their very own style!
Bentley has a empty space in the front of his mouth! His tooth has been loose for the last few weeks, and it has been REALLY loose for a few days. Thankfully (for him) it wiggled right out on its own on Saturday afternoon - before his Father resorted to measures involving string and doors or chairs.... :)
He was excited about it, and I think he's awfully cute with the gap in the front. He was most excited, of course, about the tooth fairy. I'm just hoping Viva and Jake don't start wiggling their teeth as hard as they can in hopes of the tooth fairy visiting them sooner than she would if they let their teeth be!
Camping 2012 is off to a successful start... ! I hope the rain holds off for the entire trip for them. Lincoln helped Matt pack up his stuff, and he was a good helper!
Daddy scored. The grilled corn was a hit with 2 out of 3! I put Matt in charge of picking up all his own food, I told him I couldn't handle that much responsibility this week!
Bentley took care of cooking the smokes, it appears Jake and Viva found that hilarious:
And, of course... summer in Alaska. Bedtime and it's still light, light, light. Good luck with that one, Daddy! Tents don't come with black out blinds!
My nanny and her husband are on a cruise. AND? My husband went to Barrow Sun-Thursday. Despite all this the children are still here AND in good spirits! Or good enough, at least... I have photographic proof:
I love pictures. Without the volume and the attitude children are adorable. Sometimes they are adorable with sound and attitude too, but sometimes not so much.
And now that my husband is home? He took three of the kids out to kick off Memorial Day with a night of camping. I tried to get him to sign a statement in writing that he would return home with three children... he laughed. I don't think he took me seriously when I warned him that they can be quite vexing at times!
Viva loves mosaics. Jake likes to do them, too. His mosaic set is magnetic so you can use the same supplies to do a number of different scenes or you can redo the same one over and over. Four year olds like repetition. They will put something together and tear it apart and put it back together a day or two later. Jake has a favorite puzzle (dragons and a knight) that he does over and over. Viva builds a Friends Lego set, let it sit on a table undisturbed for a month or so, and then rip it apart and immediately rebuild it. If that's what she enjoys, so be it.
This past week Genevieve finished up her year of "Creative Movement" (aka pre pre ballet?). The year ended with a big show downtown at the Performing Arts Center. Viva was very excited about the show, no stage jitters or fright in this kid! She skipped all the way to the theater and was excited for her moment in the spotlight.
She wanted all of us to come and watch her, and we all trooped down. Matt, Lincoln, Bentley, Jake, and I. AND - Grandma Karen! The rest of the grandparents are all out of town, but we were lucky Grandma Karen could make it!
It was a very loosely structured number (that's putting it kindly!), but what mattered was the fun had by the dancer. She was right at the front edge of the stage, scooting, taking an extra curtsy at the end before leaving the stage.. I think she found the stage to be her friend. :)
Here's Viva with the lovely flowers she talked Grandma Karen into after the dance number:
Until the fall! The ballerina tells me that her dance class was not entirely serious enough for her, so we shall see if the new fall dance class and studio meets her standards of excellence for serious 5 year old dancers (said in all seriousness... !).
We don't post about great-grandma very often, but she is a major fixture in our home. She's here with Kara and I and the four young ones twenty-four seven. She is downstairs from nine or ten pm until eleven am or so, but otherwise she's on the main floor hanging out with us.
Bentley and she are occasional Sudoku partners. Great-grandma does a game every day and sometimes Bentley joins her. Once in a while he confiscates the board and does a game on his own. He's a busy kid with lots of interests.
Lincoln and great-grandma spend the most time together. He seeks her out when he's playing. He chases her when she gets up. He talks to her when he's trapped in his high chair. She growls at him and he laughs. He growls at her and she laughs. He likes her walker, he likes her magazine container, he likes her!
Jake and Viva interact with great-grandma as they eat breakfast and lunch and dinner. They show their projects off to her. And they recently started reading with her. I had to turn over my reading duties with the twins to great-grandma because I was going on vacation. She has lots of patience which she will need when working with Viva. Viva is very wiggly when reading. (My photo below makes it look like Jake is the wiggly one, but I'm telling you it's usually Viva.)
Actually is one of Jake's favorite words. (Viva likes to use it, too, but not quite as much.) Jake draws out each syllable when he says it and it never fails to make Mark and I chuckle when we hear him. He uses it appropriately--that's not why we laugh--it's just amusing to hear a four year old say "Ac--tual--ly...."
One day Jake said to me "I don't know what you mean. Actually, I don't usually know what you mean." I was chuckling over his use of the word, so it took me a minute to process his sentence. Really?! He doesn't usually know what I mean? He was just being silly. He's quite bright and I'm pretty sure he knows what's going on 90+% of the time.
Tonight I heard him pull it out with the Ninjago Lego skeleton dude. He said "Actually that guy with four hands has none of the four weapons." (I think I asked if I had given him all the Lego pieces for the set. I guess I didn't. I don't actually know where the missing weapons are.)
Jake has helped me to see that most of us underutilize the word actually. Go ahead and work it into a few conversations today. Don't forget to draw it out dramatically. It's more effective that way.
I love my children! And I love spending time with them. But, I think, there are few things cuter than napping children. They look so peaceful. And angelic. And it's NECESSARY! Lincoln still takes two naps a day, although sometimes we miss the 2nd one and sometimes the 1st one isn't as long as it could be. But considering all the noise he has to put up with? He tries his best! All of my kids have taken an afternoon nap until they were at least 3. I pushed for 4! Jake could still use one but he doesn't agree, darn it. t know some parents say "my kid just won't nap"... so they let their 2 year olds give up naps. I say? Nap time is sacred! Important to both child and parent health.
Wednesday Viva finally consented to let her father teach her to ride her bike. She likes to teach herself how to do things, but she wasn’t trying to learn how to bike on her own. She was just avoiding her bike. But then, for whatever reason, she decided she wanted to learn and she allowed Matt to give her a few pointers and she was riding on her own within the hour.
Yesterday I went out so she could show me her new skills. She's a speed demon. She likes to go down the driveway with its slight decline. The boys were leery of it for a few days after learning to bike on their own. Not Viva. She tackled the driveway before she mastered biking. That's Viva!
She and Jake were out doing circle on the main driveway and I felt like I was in the middle of a game of chicken. I did not know which way to dive when they aimed their bike at me. Would they turn? Would I be mowed down? I made a mad dash for the porch. Crazy four year olds!
It's not exactly tropical out there, but it is definitely getting warmer! The adults (not me) around here have been working on the grass, and it is starting to turn green! We have sunshine and the kids have been spending hours outside every day. I hope we have a record breaking FREE summer - no record rain, no record snow... I'm not greedy, I don't need record sunshine. But a nice warm delightful summer would not be unwelcome!
What's new with Lincoln? Still just the 8 teeth, but he's thinking about getting some more! He told me so.
To make up for the lack of teeth development he's been growing some hair. He rubs bananas in it for me to use as a hair gel and spike it straight up. Way cute.
He still likes food, and is still very vocal, and he still isn't convinced that babies ought to be able to walk. :)
He likes to put his right foot up on the table while he's eating. None of the rest of us do this, so I'm not sure why he thinks it's something we do at the dinner table... he gets away with it, however, because he's small. And cute.
He went on his first walk in the stroller yesterday with his Dad, he looked dazed at all the sunshine. Maybe he didn't know there were so many trees out there?!
It's been a fun month, can't believe he will be 1 in just 2 more short months!
On Thursday Bentley and Jake finished off a school year of gymnastics! Their classes did a showcase to give us a look at the skills they've learned this year, and it was fun to see how much they've learned this year and how much fun they've had. They were full of excitement to give us a look at their skills (nervous excitement, that is! they flew through their "routines"... !)
Bentley is making great progress, he switched from the beginner group to the next level up in the middle of the year. I was told he should move up to the NEXT skill group in the fall! Jake, being a year and a half younger, will no doubt make similar strides forward in the fall if we pick up gymnastics again. The joys of an older brother who isn't TOO much older - his skills and abilities look achievable, but he's always a bit ahead of you. :) They both did awesome, and I look forward to seeing what they learn next!
