Book!

All of my kids have liked books at a young age, though Joshua liked eating and throwing them until very recently and sometimes we still have relapses. But Hannah is definitely more into them than the other two have been and she just loves them. If she sees a book on the floor, she says, "Book!" and crawls (almost always. We are seeing some walking occasionally now) over to it to look through it. She is very gentle and can handle paper books as well as board books. This book is a photo-book that my parents made the kids for Christmas that they just love and Hannah enjoyed looking through it.

Cabinet Kids

When Meghan's parents moved to Florida a decade or so ago, they gave us their china cabinet.  We found a place for it in our house at the time, and it was really nice to have it, and it was really useful.  When we moved to our new house, we decided the room that was designed to be the dining room would be a play room for the kids.  We already had a built-in china cabinet, and we weren't going to put a big glass hutch in a play room, so we decided to use just the bottom half (the cabinet part) as a toy cabinet and not use the top hutch.  It's actually worked out really well, as it obscures the messiness of the toys, but it gives an easy way for the kids to access them whenever they want.  Recently, though, Joshua realized that there is another way to make use of the cabinet: a cool climbing tunnel system with multiple visibility panels.  He realized the awesomeness of it, and then invited Clara to join him, who thought it was a great idea.  So now they climb in one door and out another, and if someone is nearby, they will request that we open or close doors as needed.  Here they are, looking like someone asked them to pose for this picture, but really they just happened to be in the right place at the right time for a pretty great picture.

Poor Guy

Last week the kids got colds, but it wasn't a big deal because kids get colds all the time and it's only a mild discomfort. But then Monday night Joshua woke up in the night sick with stomach flu and that has been much more of an issue. It hasn't been a severe flu at all, which is good, but in a way that makes it harder because he feels fine most of the time and runs around all the time and then he relapses. I have not found a great way to get him to rest during the day. Even TV is only marginally effective because his attention span just isn't that long and he would rather jump and run while watching. Hopefully we will be done with this sooner rather than later.

Deep Freeze

One of the nice things about my business trips is they take me to places that sometimes are reprieves from the weather at home.  Last week I noticed the weather in KC was going to get very cold early this week.  But, I had a business trip scheduled for Tuesday, so maybe it would take me someplace warm.  Houston is in my territory, for example.  Instead, my destination was Minnesota.  I arrived last night when the temperature was something like -8.  But early this morning as I left my hotel to go to the customer site, it was a brisk -20.  Yes, the temperature was -20, not the wind chill.  The wind chill was -36.  That's fine if you're in Antarctica or northern Canada or something.  But that just shouldn't happen in the continental US.  Poor performance, Minnesota.  Stop trying to impersonate other countries that no one wants to go to anyway.

Prior to taking the above picture earlier today, I seriously debated if it was even worth stopping my walk to my car and attempting to hold on to the camera to take the picture.  That facial expression is neither an attempt to smile nor an over-dramatic wince.  That's just my face's natural position as it somehow tries to defend itself against the wind and cold.

As I prepared to get out of my car in the parking garage last night to walk to my hotel, I thought about how it would feel, and I assumed it would be something like "Wow, it's really, really miserably cold out here".  Instead, thinking back on it, this was seriously pretty much my exact thought process: "Ow, this is really painful.  I'm surprised it's this bad.  Why is my skin burning?  Is it already frozen?  Is this what frostbite feels like?  I can't tell if my fingers are completely numb or burning in pain.  Why didn't I bring thicker gloves?  How much further is it to the hotel?  Why didn't I just spring for valet parking?  I bet they're getting a lot of business tonight for their valet parking.  Wait, people choose to live here?  Who would choose to live here?  I guess it's nice in the summer.  But it's not THAT nice in the summer.  At least in Alaska they pay you money to live there.  Alaska also has mountains and glaciers and stuff.  They mostly just have lakes here.  Doesn't seem worth it.  I wish I were wearing one of those bank-robber facemasks.  Ow.  This is awful.  Wait, there's the hotel!"

The Disassembler

When we were at the Hansons' on Saturday, Callie noticed that Joshua was such a dissembler. They have a large foam puzzle with a lot of pieces and I said that I wasn't sure I would have that out because I would get sick of putting it back together all the time. She said that none of the 7 kids that live in that house ever take it apart. That pretty much blew my mind because Joshua takes everything apart (including that very foam puzzle as soon as he noticed it) all the time. One of the Christmas gifts we got him was a plane that comes with a drill that is made to be disassembled and then reassembled. It's always hard to know if kids will like anything you get them, but this has definitely been a hit. He needs help to reassemble and actually isn't all that excited about reassembly. But his incredible enthusiasm for disassembling makes up for it.

Me Too

Clara wants to do everything Joshua does. I actually think if we ever get Joshua potty-trained, that she will then be trained pretty quickly just because I am not sure she could stand him doing something that she can't. So since Joshua has been helping me with cooking more and he cuts with butter and sometimes a paring knife, Clara wants to be a part of that. At her age Joshua was able to handle a butter knife with soft foods and I think she isn't too far from that, but she isn't quite there yet. But she doesn't let that stop her. I gave her a piece of garlic and she was happy using her plastic knife from her play kitchen and one of my pig-shaped cutting boards.

Bringing the Chaos

Tonight we went over to the Hansons' house. It had been quite awhile since we have been able to get together so it was really nice to get to hang out. They had respite care for their foster kids this weekend so for once we were the family that brought the chaos and they enjoyed relative relaxation. Jason brought out glow sticks for the kids to play with, which they very much enjoyed. We also still feel like Tucker and Hannah look more alike than you would expect completely unrelated babies to look. It was a fun evening that we really enjoyed.

Our Jewelry-Loving Girl

When Hannah got her earrings, Clara really wanted them too. I took her to get them done in early January. She was a trooper and barely even cried because she wanted her earrings and was really excited. Unfortunately, the person who did such a great job with Hannah was not available and in fact the person working this time seemed really dumb and marginally competent. I should have just gone back later, but long story short, I stayed, and they put them in crooked. We left them in for awhile to make sure the earrings really were as crooked as we thought, but they were. So last week, Jason took her to get one of the earrings redone. Again the person we really liked wasn't available, but the manager was working and did it and she seemed very experienced and competent. Now Clara has two well-placed earrings that she seems to really like, though she is kind of over the twice-daily cleanings, which unfortunately have now been extended because of the re-pierce.  The above pictures are from today as she models her jewelry, and below is a flashback picture from the day she actually got them re-pierced as she enjoyed her consolation lollipop.

Sleep Troubles

When Joshua grew tall enough to open door knobs, we put door knob covers on some of them.  Among the places we used them was on the inside door knob in his room,so he wouldn't come out during naps and at night.  But soon he figured out how to defeat them through his brute strength.  Since then, we've mostly been okay, as he pretty much stays in his room if we tell him.  But there were a couple times where he was allowed to stay in our room overnight, and that apparently made him realize how much better he likes our room than his. For awhile, it was really difficult to put him to bed, as he would cry "Joshua want to sleep in Mama's room!!!"  We didn't give in, and he'd eventually relent and fall asleep in his room.  That's pretty much where we are now, but there's still the problem of what happens if he wakes up in the middle of the night.  When he wakes up, it's like he realizes he has a better option, so he'll come in our room and hop into our bed unbeknownst to us.  The last couple nights I've shut our door, thinking he might then just stay in his own room.  But tonight I was up late working on a project for work, and when I opened our door I saw where he had apparently wanted to come in our room, noticed the door was shut, and instead of going back in his own room, he decided to sleep by the door on the floor.  I'm not sure why this was a better option than going back to his own bed.  Hopefully we can get past this phase soon.

Hannah's Boot Scootin' Boogie

Hannah is starting to finally try to walk a little more, but it's still not her primary means of locomotion.  She still crawls sometimes, but for awhile now her preferred way of getting from Point A to Point B has been to do this little scoot motion.  She kneels down on her right knee, and then sticks out her left leg and uses it to pull herself forward, sliding along on the shin of her right leg until she's up to where her left foot is, and then she repeats the process until she arrives at her destination.  Ron has dubbed this her "Boot Scootin' Boogie" move.  Brooks & Dunn would be proud.  Although this has been cute, we are ready for her to be walking more than scooting.  As I mentioned, she's getting closer and closer, so I wanted to take this chance to take some pictures of it and have a post about it so we don't forget this cute (and very long) stage of her development.

Bedtime for Three

I had long-hoped that our girls would be able to share a room. I still have that hope, but I have realized it's not going to happen for another year or two. Clara is finally going to bed really well so I do feel like we could be fine for night time, but now their nap schedules don't line up so the daytime wouldn't work. Them sharing a room is my end-goal, but I don't see it actually happening until Clara is done with naps or possibly until they both are. So for now we have finally given Hannah her own space, in our former guest-room. Since we are not going to be putting a crib in Clara's room, we had space to get a loveseat, which I have really been wanting to get. It is very difficult to have bedtime with three kids on our rocker. It works okay with two kids, but three is just a tight fit, plus we often have one or more dogs and an occasional cat on there too. So I moved the rocker to Hannah's new room and got a loveseat for Clara's room. It is working out really well and now everyone can have a spot during story time.

Back Yard Fun on a Sunny Winter Day

I had today off of work because of MLK Day, and the weather was pretty nice, so I decided to take the kids outside while Meghan made lunch.  All three kids wanted to swing.  Joshua and Clara took turns in the big kid swing, and as you can see, they had a great time.

Hannah actually had fun too, but since I was trying to take pictures, and because it's hard to push both kids at the same time, usually one is getting neglected.  Hannah did not approve of this when she was the one not getting attention, as you can see here.


Swinging was not the only activity, as Hannah also enjoyed playing in the rocks, Clara enjoyed striking a model pose, and Joshua enjoyed playing in the dirt, of course.

Boxhead

Joshua's not afraid to try new things.  Sometimes that includes things that aren't good ideas.  Today we had an empty cardboard box that originally held Pepsi Next cans.  I asked him if he wanted to play with it, not sure of what he would do.  He decided it would make a good hat, which seems reasonable.  He then decided to pull it completely over his head and walk around just to see what he would run into. He slowly wandered around like a blind man without a cane, gently running into various objects such as support columns and couches.  Every time he crashed into something, he would then change direction and wander somewhere else.  I admired him for his bravery but had some reservations about his judgment.  Later, he decided the hat was too tall, so he modified it to a size that was more to his liking, although sadly it ruined the potential for blindly crashing into things.

Johnson County Choppers

Joshua just loves helping with anything in the kitchen. Sometimes it is too much for me to handle/manage while also preparing dinner so I don't allow him to help. But many times I can find something for him to do. Recently I have been helping him work on cutting skills and this week I let him use a sharp knife for the first time. Before I had only given him a butter knife, but that is frustrating for him for most things because butter knives won't cut much of anything with a lot of force and he isn't a moron so he knows when he isn't actually cutting. So I bought him some really small paring knives that are a good size for him. He still can't cut really hard things like sweet potatoes or even regular potatoes. But this is great for softer things like garlic or herbs or onions. He is doing really well with it and so far has been very careful with it and listened to all my safety instructions. The main challenge is he often forgets which side is the cutting side so that is something we are working on. Some of the kids' knives I considered had cute little drawings on them to help kids with that. Like I think there was a shark with a fin on the top and other things like that. But all the reviews for those said they were no sharper than a butter knife so I didn't think it would work well. He has really gotten much better at dicing even in the short time he has been working on it, so I think he will figure it all out relatively quickly, though I think it will be quite some time before he is ready to cut anything harder or move to a larger knife because I think that requires thought processes he isn't ready for yet.

Downscale Date Night

Tonight was our scheduled date night.  Although sometimes we go out to a nicer restaurant, tonight we decided to keep it a little more downscale.  Before we had kids, we used to go out to dinner every Friday night, almost often to a Mexican restaurant, as those are our favorite.  Now that we don't go out nearly as much, it's somewhat of a special occasion to be able to go to them, even though they aren't fancy restaurants.  So tonight we decided to go to Chapala, which is in Olathe and is probably our overall favorite.  So it was a simple night, but it was still special and fun, as we love our date nights no matter where we go.  Incidentally, Chapala does not look like our house.  We took this picture at home once we got back from the restaurant.

Haddie and Huddie

My friend Jason, who is one of my best friends, chose me to be the godfather of his first child, Hadley.  It was an honor to be chosen, and it's not something I take lightly.  Although it was likely I would have a pretty close relationship with Hadley as she grew up just by virtue of her being Jason's daughter, being one of her godparents gave me resolve to ensure that we have a relationship instead of just letting it happen by circumstance.  One of the responsibilities of a godparent is to assist in the spiritual development of the child, and that's something I look forward to doing.  Hadley knows me from multiple interactions through the years (birthday parties, family get-togethers, etc.), but until recently she hadn't really been ready for one-on-one time with people she didn't know really well, such as family and very close friends.  Today is the three-year anniversary of her baptism, so I asked Jason if he thought Hadley might be ready to have some one-on-one time, and he thought she would.  So tonight I went over to their house and brought Hadley a children's Bible as a gift.  It's Joshua's favorite, though it's a little advanced for him, but he still loves it.  I read Hadley a couple stories from it, and she seemed to like it well enough, though she thought the illustrations were weird (they are, actually, but that's part of the charm of the book).  We then spent a lot of time playing with her dolls and toys.  She was excited to show them to me, and for us to play with various ones.  It was a fun time, and I think it was a great step in the building of our relationship.  Jason was there, but he spent most of the time caring for Hudson, who is Hadley's new little brother, as Kelli was at the gym.  I made sure to get some time with Hudson as well.  He's a big guy but very cute.  

Ready Set Go Game

Joshua loves making up games.  Awhile ago he started doing the activity (game might not be the right word) of starting at the front door holding a football, and running across the entryway and then throwing the football as he crosses into the living room, followed by falling/crashing down on pillows or cushions. And then you repeat it over and over.  It's sort of a random sequence of events, but that's what he does.  Because this game involves a ball, he insists on wearing a hat of some sort.  At some point after it became an established occasional activity, I joined in, and in order to ensure that we left at the same time, I instituted the rule that we start with a hand on the door, and I'll say "Ready. Set. Go!" and then we'll take off simultaneously.  Joshua took note and began using that for the game's name, and now if he wants to play, he'll invite me with "Dad, want to play Ready Set Go game with me?" which I of course can't turn down.  Clara quickly realized this seemed like a fun activity, so she now joins in as well.  She likes to use the small stuffed K-State football while Joshua and I usually use the bigger inflated K-State footballs.  Tonight after dinner, we played a few rounds, as you can see here, with Clara also including Joshua's stuffed Daniel Tiger.  Hannah seemed more interested than she ever has, but since she's barely sort of walking and far from running, it'll be awhile before she joins us, but it's really only a matter of time.

An Age-Appropriate, but Not Delightful Phase

Hannah is overall a very easy-going baby and is pretty happy. She does not like being messed with so if you try to wipe her nose or clean her ears or anything like that, she isn't thrilled, but otherwise as long as I don't leave the room, she is super happy. In my growth and development email about her age-group I got this week, it said, "If your 15-month-old has started whining or screaming, you're experiencing his intense desire to interact with you. Children thrive on their parents' attention, and a toddler this age will do just about anything to get yours.". I am not sure if that is her motivation or not, but I guess it's good to know that her new phase of having small tantrums is age-appropriate. I feel like it really seems more like she has realized she has choices and she can decide to do what she wants rather than an attention thing, but I am not really sure. What I do know is there are more moments like what you see above than there used to be.

A Nice Respite

It has been a long time since we have been able to really get outside for any reason other than getting to the car just as fast as we can. I really love four seasons and would be sad to give them up (though ask me again in ten years and I may change my mind), but winter does get long once Christmas is over even though Kansas doesn't have winters that are all that harsh. However, yesterday was an absolutely lovely day and today, though not quite as warm, was still quite nice so I took the kids on a long walk in the neighborhood to enjoy the weather. We had a nice time being outside.

Hannah: Master of the Red Button

Hannah is learning more all the time and has become very interested in the world around her. Today Jason was doing some cleaning with our mini steam-vac (sadly with three kids and three pets we have a vast array of cleaning tools and we use them all to maintain a modicum of non-grossness in our home) and Hannah wondered, "What does that big red button do". And then she realized she had control over a big noise starting or stopping. Once that happened, she felt powerful and cool and happily played with that for quite some time. I am pretty sure she was majorly impeding Jason's progress at that point, but she was so happy that he let her have some fun for awhile.

Chatting Across the Miles

Since Joshua is getting better at conversing all the time and it had been awhile since my parents had talked to him, we decided to do a video chat today. It went really well. Clara and Joshua both seemed to get it and had coherent, albeit disjointed conversations with my parents. Hannah kept trying to touch them, so I don't think she is there yet. It was nice for the kids to make the visual connection since we probably won't see my parents before we go to Florida in May.

Edging Closer to a New Car

We've been considering trading my car in for awhile, as it doesn't hold enough car seats (at most two, and only if one is front-facing), it's a stick shift (so Meghan can't drive it), and it just generally not practical.  Also it's getting up there in years where it is more likely to have expensive repairs.  On the other hand, it's paid off.  But I've been looking at cars so when it's time to pull the trigger, I have an idea of what I'd want.  I really like the Ford Edge.  When I dropped my car off for service at the dealership, I noticed they had a Ford Edge in the pre-owned car lot.  I decided to test drive it since I was there anyway, and the dealership knew I was going to be without a car for a few days, so they told me I could just keep it as a loaner car during that time, which was nice.  They also were hoping I might like it so much I'd buy it, so their motives weren't completely altruistic.  Although the model I prefer is the Sport model, this was the Limited, which is still very nice.  I've been driving it for a couple days now, and I really like it.  The SYNC and MyFord Touch system is really nice and convenient. I can voice-command almost everything, and it even reads text messages that I receive while driving. And it's black, which is the only color of car I want at this point.  But it lacks a sunroof, and that's one of the most important things to me in a car.  So I don't think I'll be buying this one, and I'll keep my little RX-8 for now, but I liked it enough that I will strongly consider a Ford Edge Limited when the time comes to replace my car.

Classic Fun

Joshua has long-enjoyed playing in dog cages. You can see him doing it almost two years ago here. I really thought he had out-grown this though. Because, I mean it's a cage. And it smells like a dog. It's hard for me to see the attraction. But apparently I am missing something huge because Terrence went to the vet today so the cage was out and Joshua was super excited to play in the cage even though it is a little tighter of a fit than it used to be. Clara and Hannah also later got in the act after they saw what fun he was having. Cages: They are all-ages crowd pleasers.

A Sticky Beard

One of the books the kids have has a page with stickers in it.  Tonight we were playing with the stickers, and Joshua took two of them and stuck them to his face, one on each cheek and just grinned at me.  I asked him what it was and he said "Look, I have beard!"  It reminded me, probably much to the chagrin of some of my family members, of the episode of "Beavis and His Friend" (as it was known in our house) where they (mistakenly, as it turns out) think they'll have a better chance of picking up girls at the mall if they have beards.  So they cut chunks of hair off their heads and glue it to their faces.  Comedy ensues, depending on your definition of comedy, I suppose.  Anyway, I'm pretty sure Joshua isn't going to have to resort to any stunts in order for the girls to be interested in him when the time comes, which hopefully isn't for a long time.  

Healing Serum

We recently noticed Terrence had a dent in his eye. Like a small divot, basically. Pugs are known to have eye issues, and combining that with his age, we were worried it might mean he would lose an eye. It was sort of scary, because it looked like his eye was deflating and caving in. But when I took him to the vet, I was surprised when they told me it could be fixed with eye drops. They gave us two drops, one regular one, and one that was made with serum from his own blood. They said it was a relatively new technique. We were supposed to apply each type of drop three times a day. So we've been doing that for a few weeks now, and his eye really is getting better!  As you can see in the picture, it's still a little cloudy, but the divot is basically gone, as the drops have regenerated the eye tissue, which seems crazy, but I guess that's what's happening.  His vision is poor, but at least he still has both eyes and can at least see somewhat out of them.  We are thankful for modern veterinary medicine.

Staying Warm in a Polar Votex

We hardly ever have to deal with truly unpleasant cold in Kansas City. But today it is the coldest it's been since 1996 due to the polar vortex that is sweeping the nation. So it's really really cold. Luckily our heat is working well, but it just isn't that great even so. We spent the day indoors, under blankets, in warm jammies (except Joshua who really hates shirts) and had a nice time watching some shows. It was a cozy day despite the weather outside.

What Happened Our Christmas Tree?!?

Today during naptime, Meghan and I took the ornaments off the tree.  After Joshua woke up from his nap, he came downstairs and was surprised to see the tree without ornaments and wasn't sure what to make of it.  He also noticed some dark spots.  One of his cute verbal mannerisms (which Clara has copied) is if something has changed, he says, "What happened" followed by the object in question.  So he repeatedly said, "What happened our Christmas tree?!?" over and over.  We tried to explain that the Christmas season is over, so we're taking down the Christmas stuff, but that seemed to make him a little sad, so we changed the subject.

Prepping for the Cold

The weather forecast is calling for some pretty ridiculous temperatures for us.  Late Sunday and into Monday we are supposed to have temperatures well below zero, which doesn't happen that often here in Kansas.  You can see the details on the screenshot I took from my phone last night.  (Although I seemed to get little sympathy from my family and colleagues in Minnesota, probably because their projected Monday low is -26 and the high temperature is supposed to be -14.)  To prepare for this, I need to do a few things around the house, such as put insulation covers on the outside faucets and fix the weatherstripping on the front and back doors.  So after soccer I took Joshua with me to go to Home Depot, and as always, he was a fun and happy little co-shopper.  We then went to Costco, but by the time we were done it was nearly lunchtime, so I decided we would eat there.  It reminded me of the time he and I ate there what I thought was not so long ago, but after I looked it up in the blog, it was a year and a half ago!  Look at how little he was!  This time he could eat a piece by himself without needing it in bites, and he seemed less in danger of completely falling off the bench.  In the window next to him, he spotted the pizza-maker guy.  He found this fascinating and couldn't help but stare at the guy and the pizzas as they were being made.  The guy probably didn't love being watched that closely, but I would guess when your job location is right next to a large glass window where customers sit, you probably get used to it.