2015 Round Up

Checking in on the bigs these days:

This was Genevieve's first year selling Girl Scout cookies. She brought the form to my work and as it turns out, all one needs to do to sell a shit ton of cookies is lose one's four front teeth and smile. She's been missing the front two teeth since JULY. I expect Kiera's to be in before GG's. This brings our 6 year old's lost tooth total to eight. She has really come into her own this year in Kindergarten and I am bursting with pride watching her grow more confident in herself. She's silly and funny but still empathetic and a fabulous big sister. Takes great care of the baby when I need an extra set of eyes. She's now into asking us, "do you know what ______ is in GG Speak?" Then of course we say no and she is happy to inform us. FYI New York in GG Speak is 'Hootburg'. She finds Luke very funny and often just looks at us with a very grown up 'knowing' look, shrugs her shoulders, and says, "hilarious". This doesn't mean they always get along. One area I need to work on with her is her instinct to just clock Luke when she is angry at him. Not that he doesn't deserve it but we have got to work on that self control. Ballet continues to be her favorite thing and this year she's in not one but two dances in the recital. Double the costume charges, double the fun. She has not one, not two, but four boyfriends at school and her bestie this year is Addison.

Luke gets funnier every day. He has a whole variety of voices. One is a surfer-dude style when he likes to say, "Mom, can I have a treat?" but it comes out like "Mahm. Can I have a tray-t?".  Or the falsetto voice paired with the phrase, "So...can I saw Kiera?" and "So...can I have a knife?". So that's concerning. Even his regular voice is funny...it's part Bostonian, part New Yorker (or Hootburger). He calls walkie talkies hawkie talkies and announced that at his wedding he is NOT wearing a mosquito (tuxedo). His little brain goes a lot faster than his mouth and many sentence start with, "Nuh.....nuh....nuh...." while he tries to gather his words. He wears a dinosaur shirt almost every day, loves playing outside, and is starting to give up his naps. He's been potty trained since before he turned three but still needs a diaper at night. He woke me up the other night to go potty by first sneezing directly in my face and then announcing he needed to go. Lovely. Luke hates it, and I mean despises it, when I wear my hair up. Seriously if I put my hair up and walk into the room he looks straight at me, totally deadpan, and says, "Mommy, why's your hay-r up? I don't lite it. Put it down." Sometimes if I put it up he just looks at me and heaves a big, disappointed sigh. He's also my real-life Stewie, oftentimes saying "Mommy. Mommy. Mama. Mom. Mom. Mommy. Mom. Mom." To which I respond, "Yes?" and he replies "....Nothing" then walks away. ARUGH.

Quotable kids:
L to G: I'm going to punch you in the vulva!

G to me: Mommy, this is to convince you 

L to me: What he hell, mommy? (cue the stink eye to Matt)

L to GG: Let's play tball! You be da hitter and I'll be da glover

L to Matt: Dad, do you want to take off your shirt? Matt: No bud that's ok. L totally perplexed: But...we're men.

Spring! Kieks is 9 months

Praise the lord, winter is 'officially' over. Of course living in Wisco there's no guarantee but at least there are hints of warmth, traces of sunlight, and more chances to send the people in our house out for fresh air.

thanks to the harms's for this awesome snow suit!

these children are a walking lands' end ad

look at these cuties, ready to stroll

maio family, mush!

loved stuffing her into this little polar bear get up

There was one Saturday that was especially warm and sunny, so we bundled up the bigs to go burn off some steam. I didn't get through a single dirty dish when they came running back in, screaming "Mommy! Mommy!" I was instantly irritated, assuming either someone had to pee or they were already fighting. How nice to learn that no, it was just an update that there was a severed rabbit head right next to the play set.

so....that happened

Dead critters aside there was lots of random silliness from the month:

mommy milestone: first time i can use the big cart with the little kids

such a content girl

gg had to make a leprechaun trap for school. therefore lukas had to make a leprechaun trap

goin' to the chapel. which of her four boyfriends is today's lucky groom??

walkies for all

a glimpse of those top two toofies breaking through

hard to holler at him for not finishing getting dressed when he's busy reading in his unders

I figured that, as GG started ballet at age 3, it was time for Luke to get involved in something. He chose gymnastics and I signed him up for an 8-week class at the Y. It did not go well. The first two weeks he wouldn't go anywhere near the teacher and absolutely collapsed into gasping sobs of "Mommy! Mommy!" if I wasn't right by his side. So I got to do gymnastics with seven other 3 and 4 year olds. By the end of the second class he was begging to not have to come back which of course sounded good to me. But no! I paid 72 good dollars for that class! Instead we tried to spend time talking about what he liked about class and that it was ok to be away from Mommy for a short time. Genevieve came to the next class and fortunately the teacher was nice enough to allow her to participate next to him. Light bulb moment: I've been working so hard to make sure they are friends that I have caused him to be super reliant on GG being around. Not the end of the world, but I did not see that one coming. By week five he went from sobs to straight up naughty, running around out of line and out of control. Oh my god I was so embarrassed. Suddenly he was that kid and I was that kid's mom. I told the teacher to be stern with him but she was a softie, so now he was sitting in my lap as punishment instead of comfort. Weeks seven and eight saw some shoots of green with at least a few good minutes of participation requiring me to neither scold nor soothe. I look forward to continuing to push him through it with whatever class he chooses next. The beatings will continue until morale improves!

progress!

And a few more warm days lead to melting snow and what else? Baseball!

sa-WING batter!

line drive to mommy

crinkle nose in full effect

i d.i.e.

#maiosisters

time for some happy selfies

look at these nuts!

now THIS means spring

kieks in the famous brewers jacket. stuffed her into it with mere moments to spare

gg at 5 months

lukas at 4 months. oh my god that cute little man.

first bike ride and first springtime stop at the baby bench

Kiera had her 9 month appointment at the beginning of March. She came in at 28.5" and a tad better than 19 lbs. She came out with an order for occupational therapy. WHAT? True story, the lass is not only not crawling but she barely rolls. She's about 3 months behind in mobility (kind of significant when you're 9 months old) so our pediatrician ordered OT. I was really surprised and also just about collapsed under the mom-guilt. What wasn't I doing? I know I can't spend as much 1:1 time with her as the others but if I can't manage it in the first nine months how else am I going to fail her in the next 18 years? At the same time OT seemed a little rash. She'll get there eventually. But the more I read the more I realized how much arm strength is developed by crawling as well as some critical cognitive connections. And the reason I love my pediatrician is because she's aggressive. So if Kiera was 11 and needed help in algebra, I'd get her a tutor. Instead she's 9 months and needs help in moving. Let's get a tutor.

first day at therapy, teaching mama how to do our new moves.

this about sums up how kieks feels about it

Outside of the gross motor work, Kiera is doing beautifully. She's very communicative and actively waves, nods, and points at things. She laughs all the time and does 'so big' and says 'uh oh' (well...grunts uh-uh but in the right melody. Usually this is her warning that she's about to drop something on purpose). She loves to get in the fray with the bigs and just laughs and laughs when Lukie pulls her down or GG gets in her face. She has been loving the swing on the play set and continues to be a champion eater and sleeper. Here's our nine month spring time girl:

flower child

this month's "who, me?" shot

the inquisition

dear daddy: i dare you to say no to me

ha! i get everything!

those tiny little toes

crinkle nose

you again

done with this picture business

bro joins the party

that belly

oh and here are my toes. don't you wish to nibble them?

lazy lunker, featuring a drool pool

giggles

ooh she's getting fired up now

i'm out!