18 Months

Once again, Annabelle's age has completely caught me by surprise.  I think that there is a part of me that wants her to stay a baby forever, so I pretend.  But here we are!

According to the pediatrician, she is right on track.  She weighed in at 20lbs 10oz (23%) and 32.5" (74%, although I think they may have over-estimated by an inch).  

She isn't talking much yet.  She has about 10 words that she uses consistently, and that is beginning to frustrate all of us more and more.  Including her.  She communicates a lot through points, grunts and head nods, and that's part of the problem.  We do understand her.  But words would be so much more efficient!  She blabs a lot, so there is a chance that she thinks she has more words than we are hearing.  I think she and I are going to work on it a bit, because I can't wait to hear what's inside that little head of hers!

She does, however, say Hi and Bye to everyone and everything, with a wave.  So friendly.

She is, of course, still absolutely adorable.  Most comments center around her cheeks and hair.  I like the cheek comments, cause those are ALL mommy!  But her hair is truly awesome.  Tight spiral blond curls - so much lighter at the end of summer.  She gets the craziest bed head, and her hair will stay in place even after you take out a rubber band.  She already has product - she has a spray on conditioner to control the frizz.  Its fun.

I am also happy to report that we almost have 4 teeth!  Last week we felt the top right tooth and the top left is right there, too.  Some of her peers have a mouth full of teeth!  Her world may open wide up when she has both top and bottom teeth with which to bite!

We are starting to hear "NO!" a lot more out of her.  I think she should have to wait until she has a vocabulary before she moves into this stage of stubbornness, but she appears to believe otherwise.  Most of her no's are directed at her brother, but she isn't shy about letting her opinions be known with anyone.  She is also dipping her toe into the world of disobedience - I ask her to come, she'll look at me and walk away.  Which means that my easy-going, go with the flow girl is also entering the world of discipline.  I can't believe she is just now getting there - Sam was in time outs before his first birthday.  This is different though - she knows what I'm doing (she sees Sam do it all the time).  Here we go!

It may all be good timing, though, because she is also acting very toddler recently.  Emptying book shelves, pushing buttons on electronics, etc.  She is old enough to understand she shouldn't touch, so we get to enforce it. 

She has never been much of a fan of books, much to my dismay.  But finally, FINALLY, she has a favorite.  She wants to read "Where's Spot" every night, and love to open the flaps.  She kisses the monkey every time, only the monkey.

She is cuddly and sweet and loves us all - its clear.  Other than us, here's what she likes right now:

Likes:
-Animals (obsessed)
-Swinging
-Quinoa and Couscous
-Remotes
-Pens/Coloring
-Baths

Dislikes:
-Having Dirty Hands (she prefers utensils and asks to have her hands wiped mid-meal)
-Most Meats
-Not being immediately handed a smoothie upon waking in the morning.

Last Day - A Bond

 **I was going through old pictures tonight and realized that I'd never done anything with Sam's "Last Day Of School" pictures from last year.  So here you go!"

I wrote last spring about how much the school meant to us, so I won't recap all that for you.  I will show you the pictures:

 

Mrs. Zwahr

 

 Mrs. Stoerner

 

Mrs. Rogers and Mrs. Weistruck

I will tell you this - some people in this world are meant to be teachers.  I am not one of them, but Mrs. DeLuca is.  All the kids adored her, Sam was no exception.  Look at the difference in their pictures from the first and last day of their school year - I'd say they bonded!

A Week At Gommy's

Immediately after VBS ended - no really, our flight was schedule to depart 3 hours and 30 minutes after we dismissed children, and I was "working" until 15 minutes after we dismissed - the kids and I were headed to Ohio.  Ok, so the flight ended up being delayed by over an hour, but we were still there in time.  I know I know, two young kids by myself on a delay in an airport?!  Good thing Hubby gave us passes to the United Club, where we enjoyed snacks, drinks, TV, room to move, and a concierge who told us when to head to our gate.  We left when instructed, walked down the hall and I could see first class boarding.  We didn't even pause in line - kept walking until I handed the agent our boarding passes, directly onto the plane.  Smoothest delay EVER.

Why, you ask, would you schedule a trip under such tight time constraints?  Easy: because a dear friend scheduled her wedding for the next day.  She and I went to church together from first grade through, well, I've seen her once or twice at Christmas eve as grown-ups!  So on Saturday night I celebrated with one childhood friend as she pledged her life to another while another lifelong friend babysat my children in the home that I grew up in.  It was a strange childhood-meets-adulthood day that made my heart happy.

That babysitter was none other than Miss Kristen Ferguson.  She lives in Columbus now working as a PA in the ER, which is totally awesome because now I get to see her whenever I visit my parents.  And see her I did, several times throughout the week.  So awesome to sit and chat, eat desert together, etc.  I miss her, and her whole family.  Important note: I was preparing Sam for who the sitter would be, "Her name is Kristen, but not Aunt Kristen.  Not Molly's Mommy.  This is Mommy's Special Friend Kristen..."  Sam now calls her "Special Kristen."  Quite the upgrade from "Little Kristen!"

The rest of the week: Sam is not big on going to class when out of town, so he hung in Big Church the whole time.  Not perfect, but I'm proud of his growth in ability to sit through it.  He actually really likes the singing part!  One day we went to the mall and played at their "indoor park," and we visited a few outdoor playgrounds as well.

Of course we hit up the Zoo.  The Columbus Zoo is the reason I only tolerate the Houston Zoo.  I mean, really, there's no comparison.  Their special exhibit this summer is a Dinosaur Boat Ride, and that was a big hit with both kids.  Sam actually needed to be reassured that the animatronic dinos were pretend (see recent VBS post!).  We hit up the playground, and Annabelle experience her first carousal ride.  Don't let the picture fool you, she cried through the whole thing.  Poor nap-less girl couldn't process it all.  No surprise she was asleep in the stroller by the time we made it to the train, so Mommy and Sam rode alone.  Oh, we saw animals, too!  Annabelle, my little animal lover, spotted, pointed to and greeted with wave and "Hi" ever animal that I saw.  My word, we saw Mama Tiger with her 4 little cubs - I kid you not she was playing with them exactly the way I wrestle with my own kids.  Fellow zoo patron: "Cutest deadly thing I've ever seen!"

Another morning we went to play at a swing set show room.  No really.  Ingenious!  Company sells high end swing sets, trampolines and basketball nets.  You can pay $5 to go play on all their floor models.  Sam mostly wanted to play basketball, but was tricked into the trampoline when I showed him the hoop mounted to the cage!  He and I had a lot of fun bouncing together!  Annabelle got in on it a bit, but that girl is all about the swing. 

Sam also played really well with the neighbors' 5-year-old boy.  He went out several times hoping to find his buddy in the yard.  On the last day, Sam even got to drive his jeep!  True story: a few days ago, about a month after we left, neighbor rang my mom's doorbell asking if Sam could come out to play. 

We finally made it to the pool (Gommy's neighborhood pool is very kid friendly) on Thursday afternoon.  Not gonna lie, it was a chilly experience.  Once we were wet, no one wanted to get out of the water.  Sam wanted to swim over to the diving boards because walking was too cold.  Annabelle splashed for a bit, but was content to be wrapped in her towel after a few minutes.  I shouldn't complain, one reason I wanted to spend a week there was to escape the overbearing summer climate here, and escape we did.  The kids and I actually wore sweatshirts when we went out to play first thing in the morning!  I nice break, but weird for July! 

So yes, we played a lot, and I ate desert a lot.  Both children were spoiled horribly by their grandparents, and mommy enjoyed the extra adult support as well.  It was a great week and Sam is already asking to go back!

Sam asked to peek in the cockpit on our flight home.  He was invited in by the pilots, but wouldn't go.  This was the closest he would get.  Turns out, he was worried because there were soooo many buttons and what if he hit one and the plane started moving or something?  So sweet.

So what was Chris up to while we were all gone?  Mostly cleaning out the garage, actually.  3 months in the house and we could finally get both cars in the garage!  Yes, it is a 3-car garage but there is no length - just enough for my car.  I know see that we will never park 3 cars in there!  He also checked a few other items off of the never-ending house to-do list.  And enjoyed a laid back last week at his old job!

*I can't believe I almost forgot to document Annabelle's love for the cat, Danny.  Obsessed, fixated, fascinated.  Every time she caught a glimpse of his fur she started waving and calling, "hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi..."  She was not afraid, but gentle.  She would sit in Gommy's lap while he ate, she would pet him, and search for him.  The girl is animal obsessed, and having one live with her was like a dream for her!

A Girl.

I believe that our household is an excellent case study in the notion that gender-related personality attributes are innate, not taught.  Honestly, there isn't much "girly" to do in our house.  We are super-loaded in gender-neutral baby and toddler toys, and all things boy for the preschool sect.  Accordingly, my daughter loves playing cars and making truck sounds.

But make no mistake, she is a girl.

Exhibit 1: Painted Toes.

She been noticing and pointing and my painted toes for quite some time.  And then one day, as I sat down on the bathroom floor to begin painting my own toenails, she walked over, took a look and sat right down next to me.  She sat very still and watched very intently as I worked.  She even allowed me to touch them up with a Q-Tip.  The next time, as I finished the painting, she reached for the blow dryer.  And she even held her foot out with pride to Gommy to show off her beautiful toes.

Exhibit 2: Shoes.

Again, the obsession started several month ago.  While Sam enjoyed lining them up and moving them around as a toddler, Annabelle's enjoyment of shoes is much more fashion-oriented.  Any shoe that she finds on the floor she will try to put on.  Sometime she is even successful.  Sometimes she can even take a few steps!  She asks for them all the time.  Yes, although she doesn't have many words, "Shoe" is definitely one of them.  You can only imagine her excitement when I pulled out her new sparkly Toms!

Exhibit 3: The Finger

So I guess that I do hold up my finger in a "warning" position when I am telling her no.  So I guess that she has caught on.  So sister-child has started wagging her little index finger at other children when they do something that does no please her.  She wagged that finger at a child who tried to use her toy at swim lessons, and she wagged her finger at a friend who tried to take her turn on the slide.

Exhibit 4: The Cuteness.

Ok, This has nothing to do with personality, but I mean come one.  This is one stinkin cute little girl!

SHINE Like Stars for God!

The week after soccer camp it was that time of year again - Vacation Bible School!  I know that it is a ton of work (admittedly much more work for many other people than for me), but I really do love the whole week.  I love spending time with other moms/friends during the week, I love feeling purposed with a job to do, I love the high energy of the week, I love the lessons taught.  Most of all, I love watching the kids learn about and worship God.

Which is why I loved my job again this year.  For the second year I was "stage manager" for the big opening and closing productions in the sanctuary each day.  Sounds like much more work than it is (again, for me).  Someone else wrote the scripts and the songs and did the scenery and made the slide shows.  I ran copies, handed out binders, gathered props, directed the "motion girls," wrote cue cards and pulled falling pieces of scenery off of the motion girls (don't worry, we used copious amounts of painter's tape the second time).  And while I was overseeing everyone else's performances, I watched hundreds of children and youth grow more and more riveted in the stories of our pretend journey through space and our real journey towards the one true star of the bible, Jesus.

And this year, I also got to watch Sam and his little buddies.  As Pre-K's this year they got to come to the sanctuary for the opening and closing and then participate in the preschool program throughout the morning.  I watched these kiddos, many of whom have been in class together since they were 3 months old sing, dance and play during the songs.  I watched them recite their memory verse - and they can't read, so you know its from memory!  I watched them grow fearful and excited as the week's plot unfolded.  And it was all so. much. fun. to watch.

I'm not kidding about the fearful part!  On day 1 our actors, who also happen to be the "youth guys" and best friends, executed and trust fall from a balcony 7 feet in the air.  I had to go hold a few hands in the front row as I saw little lips start to quiver and eyes being covered by little hands.  By morning 3 it was evident that we needed a quick talk, so the 4's and 5's were held back.  Our Children's Ministry Director brought the actors out without costume, showed them there were no real buttons on the cardboard space station controls, and reinforced the idea of make-believe.  It was all so exciting, and it was just a little hard for them to understand which parts of the script were real and which weren't.  Precious little tender hearts!

Sam loved it and totally owned it this year.  While he was happy to help with my set-up each morning, he was more excited to go sit with his class.  He learned the preschool bible verse in his class, and picked up the rest of the verse, that the older kids learned, in the opening and closing.  He mostly told me about the games and snacks each day, but when prompted he would speak to the bible stories as well.

And the music - the only word here is obsessed.  Honestly.  He requests it in the car, for nap time, he turns it on in his room for play time.  He stands on his bed, as if it were a stage, to sing and do the motions.  We listened to it for - literally - hours on end during our road trip last week (now Chris will sing it, too.  Hahaha).  This is no small thing - the child is very particular that music is only for the car and that he decided who is allowed to sing and when.  Perhaps all that is about to change...

Oh, and now he'll tell me, "I'm into space."

I must add that I am very impressed with the work done by our church staff this year.  They chose to write their own curriculum, which is a HUGE amount of work.  There are skit scripts, bible lessons, snacks, games, science experiments (which must reinforce the day's message!), station scripts, etc.  And they wrote and arranged music, produced a CD, designed and logo and t-shirts, etc etc etc.  That on top of all of the work that goes into VBS if you buy pre-designed curriculum.  Wow.  God is good to have placed us in such an amazing church!

Soccer Camp

In the spring, when I was super-emotional about moving, one of the things that I feared was a looong HOT summer in a new area with few friends close by and nothing to do.  Yes, we have a pool, but one can only swim so many hours of the day.  So I started planning and researching and scheduling to find things for us - which mostly means Sam - to do.  We invited friends "out" to the new house to play, we attended an early summer bible study, swim lessons, and of course there were the trips.  And Sam went to soccer camp!

Having very little exposure to the concept of camp, Sam really thought he might be sleeping there.  Even after I explained that the little kids only go for 1.5 hours a day, when we arrived he asked where the big kids sleep at the camp.  Insert explanation of week-long, activity-related summer "day camps" here.

Yes, so my friend mentioned a soccer camp back at our old gym, I googled it and found that there was a location in Katy.  And it was $15 cheaper than the in-town camp!  Signed him up.

He was very excited and he really did have a very good time each day.  Of course Mommy and Annabelle, who thought they'd be dropping him off each day, were a little too hot on the sidelines, but I enjoyed watching him, too.  The camp was sponsored by a league in Katy and run by a British-based company, so all the coaches had fun accents.

Sam's coach was great with the 4-5 year olds.  She had a nice balance of gentleness and get-over-yourself-ness that is totally appropriate for the crowd transitioning from preschool to elementary school.  He was one of the youngest ones in his group, but he held his own pretty well.  And he didn't cry when someone kicked his ball away, and yes that happened a lot.  To be fair - he did cry when they tried to switch hi to the other coach's group, so they let him stay.  I was embarrassed, but by Friday, actually really glad he did it.  The other coach was NOT good with that age group - Sam could sense it!

They play fun drills that involved surfing, superheros, monsters and sharks.  They play quick one-on-one battles and worked up to two-on-two.  Sam looked good in his individual skill work, but will need some guidance to really go after it in a game setting.  And he'll need improved focus, but that is true in EVERY aspect of his life right now.

As part of the registration fee each kid received a jersey and a ball.  The coaches wrote names on all of the identical balls first thing.  And then 30% of day 1 was spent listening to "she has my ball!" and "which one is mine!"  I told Sam on morning 2 that it didn't matter whose ball he used, just use one and we'll make sure we go home with yours at the end.  He was fine with that, others still struggled.  So Tuesday night we were given instructions to decorate the balls - no 2 alike!  Problem solved.

At the end of it all he got a certificate and a t-shirt and got right in the mix with all the big kids and teens at the closing ceremony.

And now he is registered for a soccer team this fall.  Organized sports, here we come!

Hilton Head Island 2013

We did it, we survived another one of our marathon drives.  This time it was 17 hours-ish (each way) to Hilton Head Island for a beach vacay with my parents, brother and sister-in-law, sister and brother-in-law and niece.  11 People, 5 bedrooms, 7 days.  Lots of fun.

They stopped renting out the house we used to stay in, so we had to find a new one.  While there were things we missed about the other one, there were two things that made this one a winner.  Item 1: The bunk room.  Molly wasn't ready to join the party yet, but my kids slept in there together.  They probably didn't sleep as much as they would have if they were on their own, but they weren't in our room and THAT was a beautiful thing.  Plus, Molly and Sam really enjoyed climbing all over the beds, up the ladders, and playing "Bed" together.  I mean, how sweet is this:

Items 2: The view.  Its not an oceanfront house, but some skilled design allowed for beach views from a couple of rooms, including a nice balcony.  Not too shabby my friends, not too shabby.  And a nice short walk to the beach with all the short people and their gear ;-)

The beach.  We have two little beach bums in our house.  I am so very thankful!  Sam was in his element from the moment his toes hit the sand.  Every time we went down there he was non-stop, moving from one activity to the next without more than 30 seconds to pause in between.  There was football throwing with the boys and sandcastle building with mommy.  There was wave jumping and paddle ball with Papa and tide pool swimming with Baby Belle.  There was "beach wrestling" with Uncle George and Shark Spotting with the entire beach.  I'm not kidding, but more on that later.  The boy would get knocked down HARD by a wave - hard enough that I'd hurry over to pull him out of what I was sure was a near-drowning situation - and he'd pop up laughing.  He always wanted to go deeper.  And oh, there are treasures to be found on the beach!

 

Annabelle developed a real appreciation for playing in the water on this trip!  Those little tide pools that appear when the tide heads out were her very favorite spot.  The water gets all warm and its shallow enough for her to be on her own.  She found a little slide she liked to use to get in, and enjoyed the challenge of climbing out at the steepest part.  She would sit, walk, splash and crawl.  She even demonstrated a self-taught (assuming she learned through observation) skill for bubble blowing in the water!  Don't get me wrong, she also enjoyed the big ocean - so fun to have grown ups help you fly over the waves.  She would run towards them, too!  And she also enjoyed digging and filling her buckets.

The pool didn't get quite as much love this year.  Everyone enjoyed it just fine, but there were no elaborate games, or even really any times when all of us were out there at once.  I have no pictures of the pool.  But Sam did display his new swimming skills and Annabelle enjoyed floating in Molly's raft, and throwing the rockets to the bottom, announcing "Uh-Oh" and demanding that someone retrieve them so that she could repeat the activity.  The adults enjoyed lounging pool-side during nap time.

We did head out on the Island a few nights.  Once we went to "the place where the cook right in front of you" (Kurama, the Japanese Steak House), which was a huge hit with both of my children.  Turns out Sam is quite adept with the kiddie chop sticks (he calls them pork chops, and asked for a pair recently when I served pork chops for dinner) and that my daughter love hibachi shrimp.  One night we went to The Wreck of the Salty Dog, where the kids enjoyed some type of street performer outside the restaurant so much that it was difficult to get them to eat.  We're talking tutu's, hula hoops, wigs, silly songs and more.  And of course we did Harbor Town for dinner at Crazy Crab and a performance by Greg Russel.  My preschooler sat on this stage this year!  Yes, I was a few feet behind him, but he was up there, paying attention, listening to the songs and having a good time with it.  He's really getting into music for the first time, and its fun to watch.  Annabelle played in the grass during the show, but she had fun with that.  Oh, and Greg talked to me.  He asked who in the audience had come as children and was now back as a parents, and of course Kristen and I raised our hands.  He pointed to us and noted that we hadn't made it too far (still sitting on the edge of the stage with our preschoolers) and asked if we were nannies or moms.  Ha!  If only I traveled with a nanny!

We did a lot of hanging at the house as well.  The kids played cars and princesses, and poor Annabelle was constantly having something stolen from her by the two opinionated first-borns of the group.  Sam even dressed up in a princess outfit because mommy failed to bring a police outfit.  The kiddos did group bubble baths in Gommy's giant tub, and Sam participated in Molly's story time every night.  The grown ups played games, some nights in a much more slap-happy manner than others, and caught up on TV. 

Two anniversaries were celebrated, as well!  Gommy and Papa only got a key lime pie as recognition of theirs (and only after Kate stole their forks!), but Chris and I actually got to go out on a date to a fancy restaurant while the other 6 adults fed our kids and put them to bed.  Ahhh.

In order to optimize the timing of our return trip, the Hunnifords and Stegmillers didn't leave the Island until after lunch on Saturday.  The left us some time to kill once the house had been packed up, so the 7 of us hit Harbor Town again.  This time we got to climb the light house and play on the really awesome playground they have their now.  We hit up Hilton Head Diner for lunch (Sam went twice that day.  He got to join the early-leavers for their breakfast there as well.  He sat down with us and said, "Hmm, what should I order this time?!").  The table split an order of Oreo Pancakes, which was an excellent decision.

 

Oh!  I promised more about the shark watching.  I tell ya, this was the year of drama - thankfully always near us, but not us!  One day we heard an ambulance getting closer and closer, finally we realized it was on the next street over and they were heading to the beach path on foot with stretcher and equipment.  We used the excuse of "Our Old People Are Down There, What If It's Them" as a reason to send Matt and Kate to find out what happened.  Poor man tripped in a tide pool and tore his Achilles tendon.  We saw another ambulance at one of the restaurants, turned out a guy had a seizure!  And finally, there was sharky.  Probably 3-4 feet, so shallow that the water was only calf-deep.  It was Wednesday when we first saw him, us and the mound of people that followed him up the beach, yelling at fellow swimmers as we went.  My dad motioned to one guy to pull his daughters out - he saw the crowd and didn't know why, but he started moving FAST.  We ended up seeing sharky several more times, so after that we were on high alert when anyone was in the water.  One time Uncle Matt swooped in and grabbed Annabelle when he spotted the swimmer.  Frightened SamMan a bit, but we'll still credit Matt with the save.  My first time ever seeing one in person, so it made me nervous.  They are so shinny! 

 So there we have it, Hilton Head Island 2013.