Summertime in the City

Friends

We've been having too much fun this summer to slow down and write about it, so this is going to be another one of those brain-dump postings to catch up on the last 3 weeks.

A nice development over the last couple of months is to see the kids actually play together. Daniel can still be protective of his toys and dominates the play, but he can also be a really sweet big brother and honestly play with his sister. It's fun to watch - Rachel absolutely adores him, so she really feeds off his positive attention when he wants to give it.

This is the catch-up on video posting too. One reason for that is that we've been trying a new suntan lotion, and while it works well, it makes the kids look blue in virtually every picture from July.

The first video is from the children's museum, which has a lot of fun activities and is a great place to escape to when it's too hot outside. Daniel got to build a tractor, and both of the kids love the oversize legos in the construction zone.

Then there's the second video, where Daniel gets to help make dinner. Thanks to aunt Sara for the idea. He also got to fry up the mushrooms afterwards, and showed a proper level of care around the stove, so it was a great experience for him. It's not faster to have the help right now, but eventually it will be.

Video #3 is a quickie from the annual carnival/festival that our town throws. We missed it last year because of Iceland/Norway, but it was an impressive arrangement that will be fun for years to come.

















There have been a number of trips to Pirate's Cove and the beach for swimming (no pictures due to the "blue" issue mentioned above), trips to Tinytown and weekly concerts in the park. Last week Daniel had his friends Harrison, Carly and Eli at the concert and impressed everyone with his flirting skills. He regularly picks up girls that are 8-9 years old and gets them to dance with him all evening long. He has a strong preference for redheads...
















On the last post I promised a picture of Daniel in his new helmet and pads. So there you go. Stylish, isn't he? Daniel's been continuing swimming lessons with Ms. Jenny at the local pool and is making some nice progress. Now that he has swim goggles, he's not afraid of sticking his face in the water ("talking to the fish") or turning it to the side to breathe ("listening to the fish") - pretty soon we expect him to start using his arms to swim, and then he'll be off to the races.

Daniel's been showing some selective hearing lately (eg: ignoring his parents when he doesn't like what we say) that has gotten him in some timeouts. Just typical 3-year old behavior, really.

And if you're thinking - this has been a Daniel-heavy post, you're right. There's an 18-month-old who's getting a posting all to herself tomorrow.

Until next time.

A.D.R.E.

Kicking the habit....

Friends

It's been a fairly eventful couple of weeks since the last update. Lots of little things to get noted down. If you're a longtime reader of this blog (and seriously, aren't all of you? it's not like we're some sort of general-interest blog) then you have probably noted the subtle shift away from posts designed to inform and entertain you, the anonymous readers - to an online diary format. Hopefully when the kids are old enough to read, they'll enjoy having detailed notes from growing up.

The title refers to Daniel - he's been "Fa" (pacifier) free for 9 days now. He only used the "fa" when sleeping, but it was still time to get rid of it before it became a serious attachment. It wasn't pretty, but it could have been a lot worse - a couple of nights of missing it and he's over the loss.

Last Friday, Daniel got a small package delivered on the front doorstep from "Fiona the Fa Fairy" with an empty envelope and a letter. Apparently Fiona was running low on pacifiers and needed them for the new babies, so could Daniel please send her all of his? Daniel agreed that this seemed reasonable (there was also a hint of a reward), so we went around the house gathering up pacifiers. For each one he found, he popped it in his mouth, gave it a couple of sucks as if to say goodbye - and then threw it in the envelope. Envelope went on the front step, and the next morning there was a nice lego set of "Rollie", "Muck" and "Wendy" from the Bob the builder series waiting for him there. The nice thing about this approach is that giving up the pacifier was truly a voluntary action, so he wasn't ever mad about the "fa" being taken - just a little sad that it was gone. (over now).

Daniel is also weening off the anti-seizure medication that they proscribed after the last seizure, and tomorrow he gets his last dose. The doctors at children's recommended that we put Daniel on a preventative medication when we were at the ER. A couple of weeks ago we were able to get a consultation with a neurologist who basically confirmed what we suspected - that the medication might stop the next seizure, but might not, that it offered no long-term benefit, and that the seizures - while scary, are not dangerous. So there's a lot of information wrapped up in a paragraph, but the bottom line is that Daniel will probably have more seizures until he (most likely) outgrows them at age 5-6 and that medicating against it isn't necessary, so we won't.

Whew - you can already tell that this is going to be a big post, can't you?

On to Rachel, who really ought to have been the headliner here, since she turned 17 months old. The big news is really that she's in the middle of a remarkable verbal "explosion" - she's had great comprehension for a long time, but didn't really talk a lot. Now she uses words all of the time. Her favorites are predictable; "Up", "Milk" and "Mine", but she has a number of others too. As before, Daniel is her great hero, so anything he says/does gets copied more readily than anything we might say. Oh, and she knows her first brand name - she calls her "Crocs" by name.

Rachel absolutely loves the water. Between the bathtub, the small pool in the backyard and the beach, there's nothing she likes more than to splash around naked in the wet stuff. Yes, naked -our backyard is a little nudist colony these days (hurrah for high fences) and when asked to wear a swimsuit at the beach, she was noticably agitated about that.

Rachel has a daredevil streak that is stronger than her brother's. While Daniel never really took to the swing, Rachel loves it, and she'll slide and jump off of things much faster than he will.

This posting is still going on? Finally a wrapup of some recent activities. Last weekend we jumped on our bikes and rode the bikepath all the way to downtown Denver (about 14 miles) where there Daniel rode the trolley. Back up the hill was much less fun for the adults. There have also been bikerides to the local beach.

The 4th of July we celebrated with a BBQ over at our friends Doug and Meg. And Daniel is the perfect age for fireworks - he just went giddy with some of them. Then, (finally, I knew this blog had to end sometime) we went down to Colorado Springs yesterday for Harrison's third birthday at the zoo. We fed the giraffes, rode the carousel and generally enjoyed ourselves.

And as a teaser, Daniel now has a helmet, some kneeguards and his little Razor scooter that he got for his third birthday came out of storage. More on that next time.

Whew.

A.R.D.E

Dancing...

Friends

Every Tuesday night during the summer, there is a free concert at a local amphitheatre. Nothing too fancy, but a great place to bring dinner, a picnic blanket and sit and listen to some tunes.

And the kids run around and dance. It's great fun.

The attached video shows Daniel dancing with some "big girls" who he has hooked up with for several weeks now, and also shows that Rachel can cut the rug with the best of them.

Until next time.

Summertime - and the living is easy...

Friends

The last couple of weeks have been a lot of fun around here. The weather has been fabulous, and that means lots of time spent in the backyard and on the cul-de-sac. We've biked over to the local beach a couple of times, and as you know - both Daniel and Rachel are complete water-hounds.

Last year's splashing pool is too small for two kids, so we inflated a larger one and filled it with water. The first day it was out, Daniel jumps/dives off the deck and into it. Not to be outdone (ever!), Rachel immediately does the same and stands up with the biggest grin you've ever seen.

Other water sports include getting sprayed with the garden hose as well as our first trip to Pirate's Cove (a municipal pool/fun center) of the season.

Rachel has grown a couple more teeth since last time, which she hasn't enjoyed much. She's also discovered two-syllable words, and can now say "melon". The poor girl never gets a word in edge-wise if her brother is around, though.

Daniel hit a bit of a milestone today in that for the first time, he was genuinely helpful when there was a job to be done (cleaning the garage). He's certainly been "helping" for a long time, but today he sprayed, scrubbed and vacuumed and was a real help.

He is a whiz on that tricycle -> earlier in the week, he rode it all the way to the grocery store and back (about a mile), and he would have zoomed around inside the store if Anida hadn't put her foot down on that.

And then, there's the fact that he added "Stupid" and "Poopy" to his vocabulary. If he'd been in daycare, this happy day probably would have come much earlier, but as it is, he got it from an older kid. We may have squashed the use of "stupid" as it relates to other kids at least - time will tell. Poopy - well, he's just looking for a reaction.

The neighborhood we live in is overrun by rabbits. You can see them everywhere when you go for a walk. Recently, the baby rabbits have been out. Rachel adores them, and points them out when riding in the stroller. Unfortunately, the cats seem to have also discovered baby rabbits, and have brought a few into the house. The first one we found when it was too late, the second one we escorted out of the house again.

Anida spent Father's day visiting Ms. Monica in San Francisco and had a grand time there. That left Eric alone with the kids. With the responsible adult out of the house, a party was called. So we had a bunch of fathers and kids running around. A good time was had by all.

I'll do a separate quick posting of some video from the local concert series - Daniel is quite the player....




When Eric was little, he had a red stool with this ditty painted on it:

This little stool is mine
I use it all the time

To reach the things I couldn't

And lots of things I shouldn't.

That about sums up how Rachel has embraced the new stool/steps. She can push it around the kitchen and with her long arms, she can reach *everything* on the counter. If she wants grapes - well - she'll go get grapes.

And that's about it for now. Until next time.

Love, A.D.R.E.

Norway and Sweden 2008

Friends

We've been away on vacation, and recognize that we sort of left on a sad note, so first things first - Daniel is doing fine and has fully recovered from that seizure. Anyhoo - we went to Norway and Sweden for 2 weeks in a slightly scaled-back trip from last year, when Iceland was on the agenda too.

The travel parts mostly went incredibly well. By the time we took off from Newark to Oslo, both kids were sleeping and stayed that way through most of the long leg. On the way home, Rachel found something to upset her and so she became "the screaming kid that gets glared at"for an hour or so, but overall the kids are seasoned travelers and did great.

The agenda was mellow, with several days down at Stugan with great weather and good times with the cousins, aunt Sara and Uncle Michael and of course Farmor and Grandpa. The boys had a good time playing together and Jacob was a good sport with the younger ones.

Back again in Oslo we got to see Jacob play soccer, and spent several afternoons at Sara and Michael's place. Great aunt Marjan (oh, she'll love knowing she's a "great aunt") was in town by chance and finally got a chance to meet the kids. All in all a "slow" but very rewarding vacation.



Rachel has gained a lot of skills and confidence in the last couple of weeks. She started singing/humming and has 2 distinct songs -> "Twinkle, Twinkle little star (trad.) and "We Will Rock You" (Queen) - it's hilarious to hear a 16-month old rock out.

Rachel really warmed up to everyone after a couple of days of being mama-centric, and had a great time playing on the beach and eating new foods. Her favorite activity is eating and she's good at it. Farmor cut her off after she ate 8 waffle-squares which didn't seem fair at all.

Other than that, her hair is getting thicker, and she has this massively scandinavian look going on with piercing blue eyes and a beautiful smile that get compliments wherever we go. She's very much into books these days, and will demand to be read to by making the book sign or bringing over her favorite picture book. She's also started to feed her stuffed animals which is a milestone of sorts.



Daniel got to ride on Leo's bicycle and thought that was fun, and by jumping on the trampoline with the other boys he learned how to jump with both feet at the same time (previously it sort of looked like he was jumping hurdles).

Daniel now understands the concept of a joke and has started telling his own. He tries them out carefully "How about.... SOGGY?" and giggles a little, but if he gets laughs in return, he escalates both the joke and the laughter. He thinks jokes are the best fun. He also makes up songs by substituting in his own words to known melodies. Some of these are better than others...

And of course, he also picked up some Norwegian phrases: "Hva heter du?" (what's your name?) was a popular one.

So that's what we've been up to lately. The touring schedule for 2008 is our lightest yet - we were originally going to take a trip somewhere in the USA in August, but that's off. We did, however, get a family tent and some other camping equipment, so we might do some camping.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Love, A.D.R.E.

What's worse than finding a worm in your apple?

Friends

You all know the answer to that one - it's "finding half of a worm". Rachel thinks that ladybugs are edible, so we've had to scrape some sad-looking ladybug remains out of her mouth.

Since last time, we've graduated from the first year of playschool (we're no longer a "young three") and Daniel was voted most likely to succeed. Well - sort of - the actual commendation thanked him for being social, but Sue pointed out that she really meant "most likely to succeed" - Daniel made quite an impression on his class. At the lunches we got to hear "Oh, that's Daniel - I've heard a lot about him", while with us Daniel took the approach that "what happens at playschool, stays at playschool".

Daniel and Anida took another ride in an ambulance and got to test the overnight facilities at Children's hospital after D had another seizure yesterday. Everyone is home now. Reducing it down to a one-line statement might somehow give the impression that this is not a big deal, or that we're used to this by now. We're not. It's an absolutely heart-stoppingly terrifying experience each time.

"I can't imagine" is the most common response we get, and here's hoping that none of you will ever have to do more than imagine the sequence of wondering if your child will survive, then whether they'll be OK, then whether these seizures will stop happening. I think I'll leave it at that - it's scary.

We'll be back soon, hopefully with some fun updates. There should be a fun trip in the near future, and summer is here already - that's bound to bring some fun times. Oh, and more Rachel-coverage, she got sort of neglected in this post and is definitely developing a personality.

Love, D.A.R.E.

There's Trouble in Capital City, and that starts with T

and that stands for... Timeout

Friends.

Reading this little online diary, you might get the impression that Daniel and Rachel can do no wrong. This is just not the case. In the last couple of weeks, we've had a dramatic increase in Daniel not listening, or testing his limits by deliberately not doing what we've asked him to. There's also been a marked increase in food aversion - the kid who'd eat anything suddenly says I don't LIKE it. And the occasional hitting of his sister. And so there are timeouts - three minutes on a chair by himself to think about what he did. Daniel does not like this.

As one of Eric's friends said when told about this - "thank goodness, he's a normal kid" -> and really, this is probably true. We never saw anything that resembled a "terrible two", and even the current state is only notable because it's so unlike him. As Garrison Keillor says "all of the children are above average"

Rachel has been in decent spirits, considering that she's teething again. The poor girl doesn't do teeth one at a time - she batches them up and is popping another 3 or 4 a the same time. So there were some sleepless nights.

Speaking of which, Rachel is now finally off the bottle alltogether. She gets a sippy cup of milk and some cheese at nighttime, but no more bottles. This is a good thing. She's also gotten into books. Until recently she wasn't too excited about them, but now she'll make the sign for book and demand to have 3 or 4 stories read to her at night.


Daniel's concept of time has really advanced pretty significantly in the last couple of weeks. For a long time, anything that happened in the past was "yesterday", but now he knows about "last week", "2 months ago" and "when I was little" among others. He also knows about the days of the week "On Friday, I will go to Playschool" and about events that are scheduled to happen. He doesn't always get the details right, but he's showing a much greater understanding of time. "Yesterday, you said that I could have big waffles today" - yeah, I guess I did say that. Note to self -> kids hear everything, remember everything, and can remind you of everything.

We took the bike trailer for a little ride the other day, and went over to the beach on the other side of the state park that's right next to our house. This was a popular excursion - the ride was exciting, the beach was a big hit. Rachel was just giddy wading in the water, while Daniel thought that maybe it was a little too cold.

Daniel's first year of playschool is coming to an end this week, with end-of-year parties and an evening celebration on Friday. The experience has been good for him, and he'll be going back in the fall. This summer there will be lots of other activities. Some travel, some visitors, some undetermined activity. It'll be fun.

That's about all for now.

Love, D.R.A.E