New Wheels

Today was the big day --- The Tumbleweed got her first bike. The Eagle took her out to the local bike shop & she picked a pretty purple bike. At first she was a little puzzled - as she had been told that once she was good on her tricycle she could get a bike with 2 wheels... so why did this one have 4? Daddy told her that once she learns how the petals & breaks work, she could then learn to balance on 2 wheels. After a test ride in the parking lot, they were sold.

It was a beautiful spring day so on their way home they stopped at a local park and she got to ride around the basketball courts. The Eagle said she really enjoyed it and got the hang of breaking pretty quick. She came and was very excited to show me how well she could ride. Our driveway was a little tougher - with a hill and a few depressions that don't combine well with training wheels - but after a few times around she was pretty comfortable.

Watch out world - she's getting faster!

Paper Gowns

At 4, the Tumbleweed has moved into the next phase of life, even at the doctor. She got to wear a gown at her check-up today. It was a cute paper gown with Dr Suess characters on it. At first she thought it was pretty cool, but then found it to be itchy. But while she was waiting for her shots, it did make a good place to hide from the nurse. Although she didn't actually avoid the shots.

The Tumbleweed has jumped up on the charts this year, moving to the 75 percentile for height and 50th for weight. I am pretty sure she crammed for her physical, because she has been eating us out of house & home for the past couple of weeks.

Since both kids survived their shots, and it was 60 degrees & sunny, we went for ice cream. Daniela chose "Strawberry Shortcake" (strawberry ice cream with cake mix-ins) and ate her cone with no problem catching the drips. She seems so big!

[On a side note - Cameron refused his ice cream... what's up with that?!?]

Attack of the Birds - Year 2

Thwack, thud.

What was that? I start looking out the window to see if someone was in the driveway & attempting to leave something in the door. No. Must have been the wind.

(a few minutes pass)

Thwack, thud.

Definitely something at the front door... I open the gate and go down to look. "Aha moment." There was a ruffled looking robin on the steps. Yup, the confused bird is back, and we have thrown him an extra curve ball this year by putting the storm window in the front door. My walking down the stairs spooked him enough to fly away and stop banging into our front door.

Hopefully the weather will stay warm & we will put the screen in soon... although, he will probably just choose a new window to scare me at.

Veggie Boy

The Dandilion has definitely developed some unusual eating habits lately. Here are some examples...

1. Tonight at dinner, we had mixed vegetables & chicken nuggets. I know not too creative. Anyway, midway through dinner he had eaten all of his veggies and not one bite of meat and was begging for "that, that, THAT!" (pointing to the veggie dish on the table). What 1 1/2 year old kid begs for more veggies? All told he had more than one adult serving of green beans & carrots. When the veggies were finally gone, he ate his chicken.

2. Last night at dinner, the kids had pasta with butter & parmesan cheese. I made two different types of pasta because there wasn't enough of either one. Wouldn't you know the Dandilion would only eat one kind - he had three servings of "wheels" but wouldn't touch the "farfalle".

He is a strange kid sometimes.

Ski School

The Tumbleweed was so excited that she is finally old enough to go to "ski school". Over the weekend she went for the first time while we were at Attitash. She had a little meltdown before hitting the slopes, but once she was on skis she had a blast. By the end of the lesson, the instructor decided she was ready for the chair lift & took her up the mountain for the first time. After class she and Daddy & Papa got to make several more runs down the mountain. She "went super fast!" (and she fell asleep before dinner!)

The Magic Chairs, Again

About 1 year ago, I started posting about our "Magic Chairs" --- the Green Kid-sized chairs that usually sit around our craft table. First there were posts about how the Tumbleweed used them (April 2008), then about how how the Dandilion was using them to learn to walk (May 2008), and then how I had to take them away because the Dandilion was trying to stand on them (September 2008). Well, I didn't mention it in the January Clean Sweep post, but I had decided they could return to the playroom. Since then they have been mostly used appropriately. That is, until last night.


He did this by himself! No help from his big sis.

Say goodbye to the chairs again....

Four

Finally? Well, I guess I have really been looking forward to the Tumbleweed turning 4. It seemed like 3 lasted forever. I know I am going to look back on this post and think how crazy I was to wish that she would grow up faster, but 3 has been a wild rollercoaster.

For the past couple months I had been counting the days until her birthday, partially because she was excited and partially for myself. I am optimistic that she will finally outgrow some of the difficult phases that have been with us for much of the past year --- temper tantrums, demands, and "holding it" until she has an accident. But the biggest thing that I hope comes from turning 4 is her confidence in a group of kids.

In the past couple of weeks she has come home from school saying "I wish I was 8. Then I would be bigger than everyone else". I still haven't gotten to the bottom of it, but basically she feels that the kids at school are calling her "little" and she doesn't like it. She had always been good friends with the other kids in her class, so it makes me sad to hear that she isn't happy. I hope that she will soon feel more comfortable with her classmates again.

A New Hope

aka: Socks without Partners, Part 2

After a long weekend (thanks to a snow day), there is new hope for the socks without partners. I searched under the couch, in the car, behind the crib and just about everywhere else and have come up with several of the missing socks. Once they are washed there is a good chance that the Socks Without Partners Club will be getting significantly smaller.

I was also reminded by a friend that putting socks in mesh bags when washing is helpful for maintaining order. This reminded me that when the Tumbleweed was a newborn, and we did our laundry in a public laundry facility, I used to use mesh bags religiously. I had one for her "light" socks and one for "darks". It worked pretty well, but now that we do laundry in our own home I had tossed them aside. Maybe it is time to go looking for them.