right now the littles are...

Autumn showed up this month. Our neighborhood trees are colorful, and we crunch leaves underfoot when we walk around. We have coats, hats, gloves and the like unpacked and ready. We're doing fall things. Candles, soup, snuggling under the big yellow blanket, watching Harry Potter (that's mostly just Ricky and I), and plenty of walks to admire the beauty.

Nicolas has quite a bit of homework this year: spelling words, a math worksheet, and reading to do each evening, along with special projects. He was also selected to be part of the school spelling bee in December, so we're working through word lists for that. His reading is really improving. He finished Charlotte's Web, and we just started Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which he's reading out loud to me after dinner. He's at the age where he realizes he has the ability to lie, so we've had some issues with honesty about how many pages he's read. Having him read out loud seems to be the solution, for now. He's learning some big lessons, transitioning into a different phase of childhood. It's painful to see sometimes. I have to remind myself that childhood is the perfect, safe time for learning. He needs to fall on soft ground.

He loves silly humor, anything related to martial arts, dancing and building Lego creations. He's occasionally excited to go work on riding his bike, but tends to need some encouragement for that. He's been going to a karate class every Monday night and will probably get to test for a belt soon. There are a lot of similarities to what he learned in Taekwondo. It's so cute--he's quite focused and serious about it. He's still working on piano, although we haven't been as consistent with lessons since moving here. Sometimes it's just too much. Still, he's making his way through his book and coming home from music class at school with quite a bit of new knowledge. I think I'm hearing a pretty nice singing voice these days too; he's learning to control his pitch a bit more.

Silas is, well, toddlery. He's sweet as can be when he's sweet, and will fight to the death when he doesn't like something. It's challenging, but we have our nice moments and I truly savor them. He takes to the role of big brother well, and seems to feel quite a bit of responsibility for Aimee (this morning he helped me dress her. It took forever, but it was pretty cute.) He's learning his letters and shapes, and how to say please and thank you. I find that if I can spend pockets of quality time with him, the day goes a bit more smoothly (because toddlers never say spend time with me, please. They simply empty out all of the construction paper and slide around on it.) 

He's inherited a nice stash of hand me downs this fall, from Nicky's garage box. It makes me happy to see them out again.

He wakes up early and heads downstairs to watch "shapes". This is how I find him, usually. Or I hear his raspy morning voice saying, "Come on, Nickboy. Let's go downstairs." He usually commands Penny to come wherever he's going, too. He consumes crazy amounts of apples (seriously, like 3 or 4 a day), insists that cheese is really pronounced chee, and wants me to kiss his ouchies. He likes to put on his backpack and boots and explore the backyard, and brings me any and every dandelion he can find, with great excitement. He's just the delicious epitome of toddler boyness.

Aimee took her first steps this month! Some days she's excited to give repeat performances, and some days she just doesn't want to. Her development has always been like that, so we take it slow. She's curious, and she pulls back. I think it's partly her personality and partly a fearfulness that comes with her history. I have to reserve a special kind of patience for her; one I'm still figuring out. She's repeated a handful of words back to us: ball, Pa, up, cat, Si (for Silas), neigh (for the sound a horse makes), duck, and goat. She says "hi! hi!" and "deh-deh" for thank you all on her own though. For a while, she's been answering questions with a quiet and serious "Yeah."She loves to play with her brothers. We've discovered that she loves to swing, too. She's been too small to put in the infant swing at the park for so long, but now she fits. She laughs hard when the swing starts; it's wonderful and sweet.

I think she's transitioning to one nap, which is actually nice because it lines up with Silas' after-lunch nap/rest time. She still just about falls over with excitement when her Papa comes home. She gives kisses and offers her cheek for them, saying "ooooohhhhh". She gives high fives.

She's learned the art of feeding her food to Penny when she doesn't want it, but she's by far the least picky of our three. She's cutting three teeth right now.

So, those are the littles right now. Growing and changing all the time. On to November!

flying

“You seemed so far away," Miss Honey whispered, awestruck.

"Oh, I was. I was flying past the stars on silver wings," Matilda said. "It was wonderful.” 

-Roald Dahl, Matilda.

just because

Just because I had an early meeting, and now I'm gathering tax documents and folding laundry, crossing t's and dotting i's, and days behind on my reading,

just because I want to remember how Silas runs with his arms bent up high, a little like Sid the Science Kid,

and because Nicky-boy ran and jumped up on me when I picked up him from school,

and because Silas likes to wear hats,

and because of her lashes, and little yellow dresses, and grass that's starting to turn,

and just because my boys play together so much now,

and because a nice old man gave them a walking stick. Pick one out, hijo, that's right, go ahead! Because honorary grandparents exist all around.

Because it's a windy first day of Spring, and I miss them while I cross things off my list. Just because.

the littles, right now

Nicky will spend a few minutes describing to you the "features" of whatever weaponized Lego spaceship he just built, then run off to watch Tinker Bell on Netflix. He's well-rounded like that ;). He's a bit more emotional these days. I read something once about a six year-old developing more of an internal life, and I think that's happening with him. This is the part of parenting where kids start to need their own tools, it seems, more than before. I can't climb inside his head and fix things, but I can try to help him express his feelings and adjust his expectations (bedtime often comes as a harsh blow, when he's trying to squeeze 17,000 things into one evening.) He can recite his times tables like a pro, and play his chords and scales on the piano more easily and in time with the metronome, thanks to lots of practice with Papa. He comes home from school talking about girlfriends and break-ups, and generally has no idea what he's saying, but it's leading to some Conversations. We're trying to balance maintaining his sweet innocence with not throwing him to the wolves at school. He loves pizza and a movie night, usually Friday, and I love how he reminds us of it and takes joy in picking out a movie. He's still so little, but getting so big. 

Silas says "beedy" for really. As in: beedy hot, beedy cold, beedy good. He's putting lots of phrases together, like can I see this? and singing his abc's and counting to ten; it's the magical memorization stage.   He's all about Youtube toddler songs, playing swords with Nicky, reading books before his nap, and saying "I say" before letting us know just what he wants. He's mastered the art of being a cute scoundrel (how do toddlers know these things?). When we pray before dinner, he covers his face and whispers something like thank you for this food and then Amen! and looks around smiling. He breaks into song here and there throughout the day. Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle and BINGO are favorites. 

Little Miss loves baths these days. She and Silas have that in common; it's a source of entertainment some days. Another development: she's a squealer, especially when she sees Ricky. She's scootching around on the floor a bit more, and looking bigger too. She has two bottom teeth, holds her own bottle, and loves to stand while holding onto things. She also doesn't mess around when she wants something. The girl is loud when she wants to be. She's more of a snuggler lately. She cries to be picked up, not necessarily just because she's hungry or tired or needs something else. I love that she misses us, and how much more connected everything feels these days.

Silas turns 2

Today Silas is two years old. He still has some baby in him, thankfully. I'm not ready for him to grow up yet! The Toddler is here though: all that cute baby-ness trying to find its way to Big Boy-ness. This morning he was lying next to me, snoozing away, then woke up suddenly, sat up in bed and said "Mommy. Papa. Bettis. Kay?" And climbed off the bed, saying "Laler!" as he shut the door behind him. Translation: Good morning, Mommy. I'm going to find Papa, because that's where the breakfast is. Okay? See you later! He makes me smile.

We celebrated on Saturday morning with friends and family (or "buddies" as he calls them). It was cloudy and cold, and we were cozy inside with brunch and various dog-themed activities.

his buddy from birth

The menu: egg casserole (the kind with bread baked in, soooo good), cheddar biscuits, apples and caramel sauce, coffee, cider and tea, and spice cake with cream cheese frosting.

Little Miss sported some doggie ears, but Nicky avoided wearing his. He's outgrowing such things I guess.

Silas ditched his costume early on and spent the rest of the party in his shirt and diaper....there are only so many birthdays you can do that and still be considered cute. He also showed off his wolf-howling skills, and blew out his candles like a champ.

Doggie cake, and The Knife. Oy.

Nicky made a birthday banner the night before, on his own initiative, with help from Grandma.

This was our first morning birthday party, and I liked it. Lots of work the day before, but the day of was all about enjoying company and then relaxing afterward. We watched Brave, and ate leftover Chinese food, and got lots of snuggles in. It was a perfect day to celebrate our little guy.

At age two, Silas is:

• affectionate
• charming (it works a little too well on me, and he knows it I think)
• stubborn and cranky, quite dependent on naps
• curious
• a lover of books, especially ones about animals
• good at making animal sounds
• navigating ipads and smart phones a little too well (his favorite app is Peekaboo Barn, and he can call Ricky from my phone with no assistance from me)
• talking a lot, repeating pretty much everything we say
• imitating Nicky, playing more like a big boy
• still quite an early riser
• getting pretty good at throwing and catching a ball (bouncy balls have not lost their magic)
• saying some fun words, like "mine", "now!", "candy" and of course the favorite "no".
• balancing all that out with some serious cuteness

What a delight he has been, and continues to be. Our Silas Nathaniel.

right now Silas is.....

• "reading"--mostly about animals and their sounds
• 21 months old
• sporting some long curls that I love
• talking up a storm

• very attached to his Mama 
• obsessed with the Beethoven movies ("doggie? dogg-eeeeee?")
• coloring on the walls, and on paper occasionally
• trying to get away with riding in Nicky's booster seat instead of his own carseat. He climbs in, sits in the booster and tries to buckle himself in, all the while saying "yes, okay....ummmm" and avoiding eye contact
• having a much easier time with bedtime and taking naps. He's used to his big boy bed now, and seems to really enjoy being in the same room as Nicky

• telling Penny to sit, then giving her his snacks
• bashful around people he doesn't know well, even other kids. He'll just freeze and look down. And yet, he says Hi! to every person we see at the store if he's safe in the basket.
• quite the collection of emotions; very much a toddler
• so excited to see big brother when he gets home from school
• very sweet with Little Miss
• waking up really early. One morning this week, I set my alarm for five (five!) so I could have some quiet morning time and he was awake before it went off.
• starting to enjoy helping and picking up. The other day he handed me clean dishes from the dishwasher, one at a time, saying "here" loudly with each one. It took forever of course, but it was so cute. 

This little guy has been such a blessing from the start. He just melts my heart. I can't believe he's almost two.

morning walk

It was beautiful and breezy this morning, so after we dropped Nicky off at school Silas and I went for a walk. I'm trying to incorporate exercise into life more lately, which is pretty cool since I haven't felt the need to do anything exercise-related in months (it's been a seriously lazy winter).

Fresh air is good for the soul, and I'm brimming with gratefulness for several things today. First, I heard from my mother a few days ago that the hip replacement surgery we thought was inevitable doesn't have to happen. It's pretty amazing--she's had a broken hip for months, and the way it was broken typically disrupts circulation, but it's healing properly on it's own. I'm so glad. She just has to walk a lot and build up her bones, but she gets to keep her own bones! What a relief.

And secondly I just feel so grateful to have all this space in my life, to breathe deep and be creative and spend non-stressful time with my littles. What a gift that is. Of course there are the cyclical things like housework and laundry and my incessant battle with dog hair, but seriously, right now I'm sitting with an iced coffee, blogging, while my toddler explores and plays around me, and I get to watch him discover the little things. I get the joy of putting him down for a nap, and getting him up from a nap. I have time to make things, to enjoy the fruits of my labor. It just seems like the little things--feeling the breeze on my face, preparing food, smelling bath-clean hair, reading a new book with a dog on my feet, laughing over verses in Ecclesiastes with Ricky, filling moments with music and silliness, looking forward to a square of dark chocolate with sea salt after the boys are asleep--those are gifts and I get to unwrap them everyday.

I get to inject excitement into my children's lives, to teach them gratefulness as well. There are things that are hard, like Nicky taking an hour to do one worksheet last night and consequently having no free time to play (and having to stick to my guns even though I so wanted to let him stay up later), or when Silas overturns a full basket of clean, folded laundry (happening as I write this) and the moments where I'm just wanting to accomplish something or think a full thought but I'm needed for something else--but wow, life is so sweet. And I just have to laugh as he runs around the house with my pajama pants on his head, declaring loudly in toddler-speak. I want to always remember this feeling, this windows-open, seeing the beauty, giving thanks moment. Thank you.

right now Silas is

• 15 months old
• saying a few words: mas (more), ball, this, and wuh-wuh everytime he hears a dog bark :)
• pointing at body parts, like nose, belly, feet, hands
• clapping and dancing
• loving balloons, balls, music, grapes, strawberries, Goldfish and being outside
• shaking his head no when he doesn't want to eat something
• doing the classic "I threw it on the ground" routine
• still using Penny as a pillow
• roaming the house with Penny by his side, looking for mischief
• giving kisses and waving hello/goodbye
• still nursing here and there
• playing the little game we caught in this video:

embrace the camera: post-nap

Here's a fun Thursday thing: embrace the camera! I discovered a fun new blog that makes me smile and inspires me to boot. Linking up :) I'm definitely one of those people who's much more comfortable behind the camera than if front of it, even though I've been known to whine that I'm not in many of our family pictures. So, at least once a week I'm going to be in a picture. I'm going to have to figure out how to distract certain children a bit more though. Most of these were super blurry because Silas was running to attack the camera and I was attempting to keep him in the shot with hey I'm clapping! hey look at the book! This was after a nap and I must say I am enjoying his much better moods lately after all the sickness last week.

Anyway. It was work, but camera has been embraced. Happy Thursday!