We took a walk to the playground yesterday afternoon with the neighbors. When we got there Lex and Eve immediately started filling their pockets with acorns. There were a lot of acorns at the park! When I asked why they were doing this (silly thing to ask, I know!) Lex said, “so we can make an acorn tree.” Of course! I was super proud of the kids because they walked all the way to the playground and back. Maybe we won’t need the double stroller as much this summer. Anyway, when we got home the babysitter was just arriving. Date night! The kids showed her their pockets full of acorns and I told her she’s welcome to do an art project with them if she knows of any. We came home to find that Lex had, in fact, made an acorn tree :) He said the babysitter drew the outline and then they “used all the green crayons we could find to color the leaves and all the brown crayons to color the trunk.”
Monthly Archives: March 2010
Another beautiful afternoon at the playground
My new hobby
It is a beautiful day today. The kids are napping. Lex called in “tired” to school this morning and stayed home and played SUPER sweetly with Eve all morning. I’m pretty nauseous today and it was nice that they entertained each other so well. I think the time change may have affected him more that it has in the past. Or more that I remember it affecting him in the past anyway. They’ve been going to bed at about the same time each night, but he isn’t falling asleep until 9:30 or 10pm and then I have to wake him up for school every morning! Ugh. Last night it was 9:30 before he fell asleep, then when we went in to check on him at 11pm we discovered a wet bed. He threw a horrible tantrum in the middle of the night because he didn’t want to change his PJs and then continued the tantrum when he discovered I’d thrown his blanket into the wash. It was almost an hour before he was back to sleep. I decided then that he could skip school today and get caught up on his sleep. Guess what? Eve woke him at 6am anyway! But he wanted to stay home so I let him. It was nice. They entertained each other so nicely, playing “Mr. Tomato Head” and building a fort and throwing a party for pink baby. It’s always someone’s birthday around here! Lex even read books to Eve and helped her sound out words.
Now they are napping, the sun is shining, and I am working on my new hobby. Quilting! :) Baking makes me fat and knitting aggregates the carpal tunnel, so I thought I’d try quilting. After two days of trouble-shooting my sewing machine I’m finally on my way! I’m making a modified “around the world” pattern, under careful guidance from my friend who already knows how to quilt :) Basically it’s shades of white and purple squares, like a checkerboard. I’ll let you know how it comes out.
Eve’s ponytail
Excited for the new baby
Guess what Lex told me this morning at breakfast? He said, “Mom, I’m so excited for the new baby. Then there will be FOUR people in this house for me to hug and love.” Isn’t that sweet!?! He told me he would hug the baby gently and he could could carry the baby if I needed help and he would always have lots of books ready to read while I nurse. Yesterday he asked if the baby would have birthday cake and, if so, would the baby share with him :) Eve has decided she needs to learn how to read so she can read stories to the baby (she isn’t actually making much effort that way though!) She also includes the new baby when she’s divvying things up. Sorting fabric pieces the other day she said, “One for me, one for Lex, one for the baby, one for mommy, and one for daddy.” I love how these thoughts come on their own, not in relation to conversations we’ve just had or anything, but all on their own. They make me happy.
Water confidence
After today’s swimming lesson I noticed a marked change in Lex’s water confidence. Until now he’s been very happy in the water, eager to play, but clings to me like his life depends on it (it does!) when we are in deep water. Eve will put on a floaty and happily bob along in the current pool, but Lex clings. He loves it, but maintains that death grip! Today he was much more relaxed in the current pool. He still refused the floaty (bummer!) but held on much more loosely and even let go of me once or twice, as long as I was still holding on to him! :) He was also very eager to show me a trick they learned in class to dive for rings at the bottom of the pool. We went into a small area with bench in the water and he happily dropped the ring and then “swam” to the bottom to retrieve it. Very cool. I helped him find his way back to the bench a few times, when he needed it. Overall he was so much more confident in the water than I’ve seen before. Yay!
Playground!!!
Do you know what I miss most during the winters? Besides sun, of course. I miss being able to stop at the playground on a whim. Being able to kill 20 minutes (or an hour!) at a playground instead of driving around or going somewhere to eat. We went grocery shopping today and my un-napped, crazy energy, boy chose to ride in the cart the whole time. I had promised him a show after grocery shopping (a new DVD from the library), but by the time we got done shopping he was bouncing. Then I had a brilliant idea… the playground!!! It was 55° at 5:30pm and the sun was still shining. What a day! We stopped at a nearby playground and I ran them! They wanted to sit in the sandbox and I said no way! They climbed and slid, and swung, and we ran and ran. It was great!
Quick checkup
We had our first baby checkup today. Mostly a meet-n-greet with the midwife. Eve was nervous that the appointment was for her, but got very happy when I told her it was for the new baby :) All is good. I’m going in next week for an early ultrasound to try and more precisely date the baby, since I was a week and a half late before finally (FINALLY!) getting a positive pregnancy test and since both of the other kids were overdue, the midwife thought it would be good to try an early ultrasound. They did the same thing with Eve, settled on the original due date, and she came 6 days late anyway :) We’ll see if the date changes with this little bean. Not much else to report. I scheduled my next two appointments (early ultrasound and first exam with heart beat) for afternoons so Lex can come too. He was very pleased when I told him. I love how excited they are :) How excited we all are!
Dry nights
I’m a little nervous to write this and jinx us, but Lex has now gone six nights in a row without wetting the bed! Could he possibly be done with diapers? He has been marking D on his calendar each morning that he wakes up with a dry diaper and Alan told him that when he gets four Ds in a row he can try sleeping with no diaper. This week that happened! And then two dry, diaper-free nights followed! Yesterday Alan promised Lex a trip to the playground today if he had another dry night. This morning Lex was dry but the weather outside was most certainly not. Somehow, in Lex’s mind, that reward trip to the playground morphed into a trip to the “ice cream store” (the village store) and then when Alan woke up the plan became lunch at Friendly’s with ice cream to follow. I suggested a trip to the science museum afterwards to burn off the ice cream! The boys went out and had a great time! Eve wanted to go, but Lex decided this was his special treat (which was fine because she really needed a nap anyway). She was sad to see them go. Here’s a little video. Sorry again for the sideways.

Eve watching the boys drive away. She decided she need to wear Lex's hat and mittens to wave goodbye :)
We had fun, somewhat, at home without them. I was pretty tired so we ended up cuddling in the big bed and taking a nap together. Morning sickness and exhaustion both hit this week and I’ve been happily napping with the kids each day. I love naptime! I woke up and exercised and Eve woke up an hour later in tears because I wasn’t in bed with her anymore. Oops! A few cuddles later she was fine.
Anyway, back to Lex… done with diapers? I’ll keep you posted! (and I’m sure I’m ruining it just by writing this!)








