Kids

Gwendolyn at the window. And Lucas playing with his new tow truck. Tim taught him how to hook toys and reel them in.

The boxes had it coming

Whenever I'm not looking, Lucas shreds every cardboard box he can find. Into tiny little pieces. And scatters them all over the house. I have no idea why, but it seems to make him really happy. This morning I set out ten boxes for him. He spent about an hour meticulously ripping them up. And then he asked for more. I scrounged through the recycling and found four more boxes for him. He spent another half an hour shredding those. It made him SO happy. I'm trying to think of some way to use these ripped up boxes in a craft project. Maybe a giant collage?? Glue is always a big hit!

Beads

Lucas always *thinks* he likes perler beads. Until we start playing with them. Then he really doesn't. Go figure. He asked to play with them today. Of course! I got them out, with a flower board to put them on. He put exactly three beads on and announced he was done. But then he realized that there were sequin mixed in with the beads. And he picked the sequins out. Then he asked me to put beads on the flower. And I did. And he dumped all of the beads off. Repeatedly. Good fun for a small boy!! I'm hoping he will take to filling up the board with beads because I think he would love seeing the finished product once it was ironed.

Megablocks return

Our megablocks have been missing for months.

I change the kids toys out every two or three weeks with a set that has been in storage (it keeps them from getting bored with their toys). I put the megablocks away a few months ago when both kids were in a dumping sort of mood, not a stacking sort of mood. And they went missing. Which is really odd. I always put all of the kids' toys in the exact same spot in the basement. So I don't lose any of them. Well, the bag of megablocks wandered off. (I think on little Lucas feet) I went to go get the blocks a few weeks ago and couldn't find them. I've been searching the basement for them for ages. And I finally found them today! Woohoo!! The kids were so happy to see them again!! I think the blocks will be scattered on the livingroom floor for many weeks to come. :)

A day at the zoo Pt2

A day at the zoo

Organizing

I just reorganized the kids' art shelf. Again. Hopefully it will be a little more kids friendly now. I moved all of the stuff the is fine for Gwendolyn to play with to the shelf that she can reach (crayons, markers, colored pencils, pencils, pens, paper, stickers)The next shelf up is Lucas's activities. Things I don't want Gwendolyn into, but that I would prefer Lucas has free access to. (today's activities are: a hole puncher and a few pieces of paper, random clips and a cup to clip them onto, a small container full of coated wire for making wire sculptures, and a matching puzzle) I moved all of the 'needs Mama's supervision' art materials (glue, paint, beads, stamps) into the bottom part of the shelf that has door Gwendolyn can't open. And all the rest of the stuff moved into a three drawer plastic organizer thing. (wooden puzzles in the bottom drawer, alphabet, shape, color and other 'teaching' stuff in the middle drawer, and random fun supervised activities - marbles, confetti, dry erase markers, tape, games- in the top drawer)
Someone little is screaming for me :)

Logistics

Lucas is now old enough to play with teeny tiny swallowable and dangerous things. Like magnets. He can usually resist the temptation to lick things. Gwendolyn cannot. So I'm looking for a way to store Lucas's swallowable toys that he can still easily get to them, but Gwendolyn can't. Oh, and a place for him to work. Because she now enjoys standing on the art table. Hmm...
We went out for a walk this morning. It was great!! We haven't been out walking much since the warm weather has come because there's just an awful lot of attack dogs that run free around here... We haven't really seen any of them lately, so we're venturing out again. Woohoo!! We love going for walks!! Gwendolyn sat in her stroller and cooed the whole time. And Lucas walked along with me. It was a pretty short walk - maybe a half of a mile? But it was starting to get hot and I forgot to bring water with for the kids. oops! After we got home we played in the driveway for a while. I got out a bucket of water and some towels for the kids to clean off their outdoor toys with (it's a favorite past time around here - I have no idea why) And instead of playing with a wet towel, Gwendolyn dumped the bucket of water out and scooted around on the wet driveway :) It somehow didn't occur to me to put them in swimsuits before I gave them a bucket of water. Live and learn! They both had so much fun this morning. And are happilly napping. Tired kids are SOOO enjoyable!!
In other news: Gwendolyn is trying so hard to drink from a sippy cup. And she almost can. Almost. But not quite. She is having such a hard time with the concept of tipping the cup up to drink. She tries to suck on it like a straw. Lucas had the exact same problem. I got him a few thermoses with straws. And they worked wonderfully. But were nearly impossible to find. All of his are lost or missing parts. Ack. I'm hoping Gwendolyn will get drinking out of a regular sippy cup soon or I'm going to have to start looking for another thermos (did I mention they're also ridiculously expensive, when you can find them). Oh, and she *can* drink out of a regular cup with help. But she's a very independent tiny person. When she tries on her own, she dumps the whole cup of water in her face, screams, and won't go near a cup for a few weeks.. So I'm looking for a better alternative :)

So tired

We had to go to DeKalb today to get a part for Tim's car. The Honda dealership in DeKalb is the closest place we can special order weird stuff from. While we were there, we went garage saleing (of course). And to a kids toy store that the kids really like. And then we came home and Tim had to fix his car. While I played with two very overly tired kids. I just put Gwendolyn down. And she's having none of it. SHe's too tired to fall asleep. So she's quietly whining to herself. I need to make dinner. And do the millions of chores around here, that always seem to be waiting. But Lucas asked me to sit with him on the couch. Well, of course I'll sit on the couch with a snuggly boy! A very happy ending to a very tiring day :)

Technology is so entertaining

So I came across this spiffy widget on another blog. And I am so entertained. I guess it's for social networking. So I put it on my blog. Check it out!! It's a forum that (I think) anyone can post to. Hopefully it will make it a little bit easier to keep in touch with everyone :) Which is always a good thing. Come and post!!!

Missing dot

Lucas just got a new game to play. It's a miniature travel Connect Four game. He is loving putting the little dots into the board thing. And dumping them out. I think dumping them out might be the real fun. One little dot has already gone missing when Lucas dumped them out a little too enthusiatically. I'm sure Gwendolyn will find it soon :) The dots look like neon candy. Anyways, tho Lucas has no real concept of the rules of the game, this is great for his fine motor skills. He *really* wants to be able to write. But he just doesn't quite have the fine motor skill necessary yet. But he's close. We do all sorts of activities to help.. Like playing Connect Four, and clipping clothespins to lawn furniture, and stringing beads, and using tongs to pick up tiny things. And we practice writing. Can't forget about that one. One day soon, Lucas will be able to write. It seems kind of hard to believe he's old enough for that. To me, he still seems like the tiny baby that practically lived in his baby carrier..

Elusive carrot pt2

This is what Tim thought of my photography attempts. He was literally rolling around on the floor laughing.

And Lucas. He was jumping up and down on the couch next to me asking me to take his picture between mouthfuls of giant carrot.

Elusive carrot

We went to this awesome smoothie/juice place a few days ago and I got some carrot apple juice. It was beyond awesome. So we went to the store and bought a giant sack of carrots and a giant sack of apples so that I could make my own carrot apple juice. (Yes, this has something to do with the pictures.. eventually..) Because we live kind of far from said awesome juice place. (It's in Geneva and called Froots, in case you wanted to know) Well, Lucas asked to eat one of the carrots. So, of course I gave him one. And then Gwendolyn wanted one. So, of course I gave her one. Then Tim and I needed one... They are really good carrots. And oddly huge. They're each like 18 inches long. So the kids look beyond funny eating them. And they've been eating them everyday. So today I tried to take a picture of Gwendolyn eating a carrot as big as she is. And this was the result (See? there was a point, afterall.) She saw the camera and took off skittering. I finally got a picture of her and the carrot. But by then, Lucas had come along and bitten off a lot, so it just looks like a regular small carrot...

Great Day

We went to story time. Lucas stared off into space and layed on the floor (an improvement over running around and roaring..) And Gwendolyn screeched at the top of her lungs because I wouldn't let her eat a book whole. The book that the librarian was holding and reading to all of the kids.
Gwendolyn fell asleep in the car on the way home. An hour earlier than her usual nap time. She took a super short nap. And Lucas didn't nap at all.
We took the delightful children out to the splash pad. And ran them around. Rather than play in the nice clean water, they played in the puddles of mud. And ate the mud.. And buried their toys in the mud and asked me to retrieve them. Then a whole bunch of other kids came and dumped water on us. This went over less than well with Lucas because he hates having water poured on his head. As he tells me loudly at every bath time.
We went home. Washed our muddy children. And hung laundry out on the line. I convinced Lucas it was more fun to clip clothespins onto our lawn furniture than to poke Gwendolyn with a stick when she swung by in her swing. He actually took to the idea.
Then we surely didn't invite our neighbor over to light off fireworks. Because, it would be irresponsible to light off fireworks with small children around. Oh no, we wouldn't do that. Even if they were AWESOME fireworks.
And now, it's nine o'clock. Two hours past Gwendolyn's bedtime. And she is tossing and turning in her crib. It's not looking likely she will go to sleep. I'm waiting for the screeching to start. Lucas is overly tired and is hopping around. He won't go to sleep until Gwendolyn has. It looks like it will be a while.
We really had a great day. Really :) It reminds me of the song Just Another Day In Paradise.

Happy Father's Day

We definitely had an enjoyable Father's Day today :) Grandma and Grandpa came to visit and we grilled steaks. And lots of other things. Anything that would stand still long enough, actually.
And we celebrated Grandma's birthday, as well. (because it's tomorrow - Happy Birthday!)
Lucas has been unable to say 'Grandma' (although he has been trying) until just a couple of weeks ago. He's always said 'Grandpa' when referring to either Grandma or Grandpa. But after much practicing (and coaxing from Grandma) he can finally say 'Grandma!!' He still enjoys calling Grandma 'Grandpa,' tho. Because then he can say 'TWO GRANDPAS!!!!!' whenever he sees them standing next to each other :) And, really, it *is* delightful.

Little girl

I think it may be time to cut Lucas's hair. I have heard several comments in the last few days about my 'little girl' And they weren't about Gwendolyn. They were about Lucas.
I don't know why people are so willing to think he is a girl. He's just about always dressed in blue and something truck/boat/plane. His hair isn't even *that* long.
Maybe a haircut won't help. When he was smaller, I always had his hair buzz cut and still people thought he was a girl.
Our last hair cutting experience didn't go well, to say the least. (I cut his hair) After I snipped one little patch, he told me he was done and tried to walk away. I told him he needed to have the rest of his hair cut and gave him the choice of doing it at that time or waiting and doing it later. He shrieked at the top of his lungs, fell on the floor and kicked... And this was after begging for a haircut for days.
I'm not really looking forward to another haircutting incident. And I like his hair longer, anyways. It's so sweet and soft and blonde and starts to curl.
Maybe I could just make him a few shirts that say 'I'm a boy' Or simply 'Boy' Hmmm.. That might clear up the confusion and save his hair :)

Pieces of a puzzle

Gwendolyn has really been enjoying doing puzzles lately. She doesn't quite get putting the pieces back in the right spots, but she sure does try to put them in. Mostly, she likes pulling out the pieces and leaving them for Lucas to put back in. I've been trying to convince Lucas that this is a fun game and that Gwendolyn is really trying to play with him. He's not sure, but the idea is growing on him. Sometimes when he finds a puzzle dumped out on the floor, he gets really happy and tells me 'Gwos shares wif me. I like Gwos!!!'

Lucas is feeling better today. He's been tired and says his stomach still hurts. But it's an improvement.

Gwendolyn is about the same. Sick, but kind of upbeat about it.

Poor Lucas

Lucas has been up all night throwing up. Poor small boy... He's curled up watching another movie now until he feels better. I don't think any of us are going back to bed tonight. It's 3 a.m. He woke up the first time at midnight and threw up all over his bed and mine. So we changed him and the sheets. And he watched a movie with Tim. And we went back to bed. He barely fell asleep when he started throwing up again. Another bath. And we changed the sheets again. I think we're running out of clean sheets.
It sounds like Gwendolyn is up now, too. Again.
Poor sick, sleepless kids. Maybe one day they'll feel well enough to sleep..

A day is a day

Until it's night. Then we watch Thomas the train movies. Yup. Lucas is watching movies while I type. Because he asked so nicely. And who can say no to a sweet grinning boy that says 'Pease mama, watch moofie, PEASE?' And when I told him he could, he danced around singing 'Mama say YES'
Gwendolyn is feeling better today. She stopped throwing up. But her stomach still hurts. Hopefully she'll be completely better by tomorrow. Sleep seems to do her a world of good.
We went to the new Splash Pad right by our house today. We've been waiting for it to open all season and it finally did. Woohoo!! Lucas loved playing in the water and splashing around :) Unfortunately, there were a lot of yucky people there. It was like an episode of Jerry Springer Junior. Really. It was THAT bad. There were parents there yelling and swearing and smoking. And encouraging their children to be disrespectful and hit other children. SO we couldn't stay long. Because I didn't want the kids to be around that yuckiness. I think we'll have to try going early in the morning rather than in the evening. And maybe there will be a better crows..
We also went to the library today. And the kids got Baby Einstein movies for their summer reading program prizes this week. They were so excited!! They both love the one that we have. And we have been wanting to get a few more for the kids to watch on days when they don't feel very well and just want to lay around. Because these movies are really the only thing that Gwendolyn will watch calmly and that we let her watch. We're happy.
And, for my last random thought of the night: Apparently, Lucas *can* be tired out. I didn't think it was possible!! For a very long time now, we have tried everything we could come up with to tire Lucas out. But he's just a tiny ball of energy. We didn't think it was possible. But it is. We took the kids out to the library, and to the Splash Pad, and we played out in the yard. We ran him around the whole day. And when we were playing in the back yard this evening, hanging clothes on the line, Lucas asked to go inside. I asked why, since he usually loves playing outside. He told me he was too tired to play outside anymore. WOOHOO!!! I am all sorts of happy to realize it is possible to tire him out! And I will redouble my efforts in the future. I'm so fond of a tired boy that keels over on the couch :)

Sick baby

Gwendolyn is sick. She's been up for hours throwing up. Poor little person. She finally calmed down and ran out of things to throw up. She's sleeping in her crib :( It looks like she had an allergic reaction to something. But I have no idea what. She hasn't eaten anything strange today that she hasn't had before and been fine with. Hopefully, in the morning, Tim will tell me that he fed her a bowl of peanuts or something outrageous, so I'm not worried about her eating her normal fare. I was REALLY hoping she wouldn't have food allergies. She eats all sorts of food and has never had a problem with anything. She even tolerates limited amounts of cows milk. *sigh* I see how hard it is for Lucas to avoid foods he's allergic to. People feed him all sorts of 'harmless' food and he gets sick. I have to carefully watch everything he eats and read ingredients and deny him treats because they contain something he can't have. I guess now I'll have to watch what two kids are eating... I hope we figure out what Gwendolyn is allergic to in a hurry. It took me and Tim months to figure out Lucas couldn't eat legumes of any sort. Because it's such an odd allergy. And we spent many nights up with a very sick, sad boy. Poor tiny pets...

Family fun

Today was Family Fun day at Tim's work. It really was fun! They grilled hotdogs and hamburgers. And they had snow cones. ANd lots of cool bounce house things for the kids to jump in. Lucas had so much fun jumping around! His favorite activity lately has been jumping in bed, so the bouncey things were an extra special treat for him. Even Gwendolyn liked crawling around in them. It was too funny to watch her try to crawl and keep tipping over when Lucas bounced by. And, of course, there were fork lifts driving by beeping. The kids LOVE machines! It was oh so enjoyable to get to jump around while watching machines :)
(I'm not sure I've ever blogged about it, but I think most of you know that Tim works at a WalMart distribution center- hence the forklifts driving by)
It's so happy that Tim works for such a family friendly company. All of the upper management for the facility was there thanking us for coming. And telling stories about their kids. It's nice that they actually appreciate family participation.
On a completely unrelated note - we went to story time this morning. And I think I like it less and less. Gwendolyn crawls around and menaces on things. Or screams when I gently encourage her to sit with Lucas and me. And Lucas mostly stares off into space or talks to me about something completely unrelated to what we're doing. Or gets up and walks off... I'm debating not going anymore. But the kids love seeing other kids there. And Lucas always seems so excited about story time and asks to go into the story time room every time we go to the library. But now it's on a day that Tim is off of work (we used to go to keep us busy while Tim was working). So it's kind of lacking to get up and rush out the door in the morning to go somewhere that I don't really like going. Ack. Who knows. We'll probably keep going. But I might have to whine about it.

Stamping

Here is Lucas trying out his new stamp set. He is loving the super long handles. I'm not sure they really help the image turn out any more clearly than his regular stamps, but they sure are enjoyable. And loud. Which makes them even more enjoyable. We were doing this while Gwendolyn was napping. Apparently, Lucas can stamp loudly enough to wake Gwendolyn up from her nap. She was only too happy to join in the fun. She watched Lucas stamp for a little while and wanted to try, too. Our ink is indelible, and I just wasn't that brave today. We got out the markers for her instead :) I think we're going to have to go out and get a few washable ink pads. After Lucas finished coloring his stamped paper, he sized it up for a while. And happily told me it was for Daddy. To make Daddy happy. :)

The pets were nestled..

all snug in their beds. In hopes that Daddy, soon would be home.
(Yes, I call my children pets. They really are just like little tiny pets. I feed them, walk them, pet them, play with them, and clean up their poo. Sounds like a pet to me.. Tho I maintain they're better than dogs..)

We went out shopping this morning to get Gwendolyn more summer clothes. Because really, she can never have too many cute dresses. :) Most of the summer clothes that I got for her are already too small. We went shopping a couple of months ago and I got everything a size or two too big. And all of the clothes *barely* fit now. She is growing SO quickly!! She already is wearing the same size as Lucas. It kind of cracks me up that the kids are almost two years apart in age and are just about the same size. I wonder if we'll start getting twin comments soon.

Oh, and we got a really sweet little pink swim diaper with cherries on it :) Can't wait to go swimming and try it out!! Sadly, I think we're too busy this week - maybe next week :)

More to think about

"If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason." Jack Handy

Baby steps

Today, the camera came in the kitchen with us. Even out in the backyard. I'm not sure I'm quite ready for taking it out yet, tho. I put the camera safely in the pocket of my shorts after I was done with it outside. Well, I forgot it was in there. Naturally. After we came in, I took off my dirt encrusted shorts and threw them across the room into the dirty laundry. And I heard a loud *thunk* Oh crap! The camera survived, but I think it's scared now.

(I'm really kidding about all of this. Well, not the misfortunes of my poor camera. Those are all true. Unfortunately. But it really doesn't occupy my thoughts. I just need something to entertain myself while the kids sleep. And what better than a camera saga?)

Right, about the pictures. Gwendolyn was helping me sweep the kitchen. I set the broom down for a minute. To move Gwendolyn out of the pile I was sweeping. Again. And she thought it was her turn to use the broom. Patient little one.

Lucas sitting at the table eating his cereal. Lately, he sits at the table in the morning pondering the mysteries of life. And talking endlessly. While eating bowl after bowl of cereal. He sits there for at least a half hour every single morning. That's why we were cleaning around him. It turns out, Gwendolyn can only sit at the kitchen table for so long...

And just a couple of outdoor pictures - the kids usual activities. Swinging and riding bicycles.

Sage advice

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

The missing camera

It's not actually missing right now. I know just where it is. Sitting on the table next to me in the living room. That is where it lives these days. That's why there is only pictures of the kids in the living room. Whenever the camera moves from that spot, I lose it. Really. It's gone missing many-a-time. Like whenever I take it out with us. It was lost under the carseat for about a month once. And at the bottom of our travel diaper bag for longer than I care to admit to. But I'm getting tired of taking pictures in just one room. I'm debating taking the camera out with me again. I'm trying to think of some way *not* to loose it. I mostly wear yoga pants these days, so no pockets to stuff it in. I'm not even going to chance throwing it in the diaper bag. I want to put it on a necklace. Tim found that outrageous. For some odd reason, he just doesn't like necklaces that much... Hmmph. I guess I'll have to keep thinking. Or brave the possibility of loosing the camera and just taking it out without some safety feature. Yeah, probably the latter. Maybe tomorrow there will be a picure of some other wonderful place. Maybe.

Lucas as is

Some days I get it in my head that I want a picture to look just so. Lucas quickly cures me of this. :) He was wearing his safety glasses all day. Really. The whole day. So I went to take a picture of him. Because an eccentric child is just so enjoyable. :)And he took them off. And walked away. And put them in his truck outside. And drove them around for a while. But wouldn't put them back on. Which I find terribly funny.

I think a series of pictures of Lucas taking off his glasses, looking at me and walking away is so much more Lucas than one lone 'just so' picture of him wearing his safety glasses. Because Lucas isn't a 'just so' kind of kid. He's an awesomely unique, enjoying himself, always in motion ping pong ball of a boy. That usually wears safety glasses.

Lemonade

Daddy feeding Gwendolyn a cup of lemonade. So sweet. Until I realized how much sugar is in lemonade. I've never seen Gwendolyn so hyper. She was crawling around the house in circles at light speed. And power whining. It was actually pretty funny. But I think we may need to limit lemonade intake in the future.

Fluffy Girl

Gwendolyn is such a fluffy little person. She has such soft, fluffy hair. And she likes to rub her head lovingly on us. She's really so sweet :) So there are some random pictures of her in her sweet little fluffiness.

Sleep

Lucas decided he didn't need a nap today. Despite what me and Tim thought :) Lucas often decides he doesn't need a nap these days. He asked to watch a movie tonight after we put Gwendolyn to bed. And since he's not feeling very well (allergies), I let him. (Usually we go and play in the back yard for a good long while, then read books before bed) He was sitting so quietly next to me. I looked over a few minutes after the movie started and he was keeled over to the side, quietly snoring. At 7:15. Awesome! It's typically a colorful challenge to put Lucas to bed by 9:30. Now, the question is - just how early will he be up tomorrow morning? Hopefully not before the sun. :) My rule for the kids' wake-up time is that is has to be after sunrise. I just don't much care for getting up when it's still dark out. This works soo well during the winter. It turns out the sun comes up really early in the summer time... I think I might go look up the earliest sun rise date for the year.
5:15 AM... early.... But it looks like on June 20th, the sun will start rising later again. A light at the end of the tunnel. Or would it be a sleepy darkness at the end of the tunnel? For now, I will get the coffee maker ready.

No Such

I was looking at the new blog design on this website:
http://mommainflipflops2.blogspot.com/
And am totally loving the polka dots! I'm all about the polka dots. So I wanted to add some to my blog, naturally. But due to my proficiency with computers, I really have no idea how... So I asked Tim to polka dot up my blog. Because he's really good at computer programming. Apparently, there are different types of computer programming.. Go figure. No polka dots for me. Alas, I'll have to look at Andrea's blog and admire *her* polka dots. Because they are pretty awesome!

Beads

Lucas's new activity - three colors of beads in a tray, with three little compartments to sort each color into. With tongs to pick each bead up. I think you can see him chasing a bead across the floor with his tongs in the above picture... Maybe next time we should try something like pom poms. Bigger and less slippery :) Lucas calls the tongs 'hotdog' because Tim uses tongs for grilling hotdogs. The boy likes hotdogs. And tongs. So easy to please!

They play together

We just brough some cushions into the living room for the kids to play on. They are loving playing there! Playing together!! Lucas is teaching Gwendolyn the fine art of driving trucks on a track. He is convinced the cushions are his own personal track for driving vehicles on :) Mostly, she grabs the vehicles and throws them across the room. It's a work in progress....

They draw

Gwendolyn finds Lucas and all of his activities irresistable. He was drawing on his magnetic drawing thingy (I can't remember what it's called - magnadoodle, maybe?)

Being the sweet boy that he is, when he saw her coming, he pushed it over so that she could play with it. He watched her play with it for a while, chewing on the pen. Then he showed her how to draw on it :) It's so nice watching them play together, and getting better at it everyday.