Family and Life updates

It's been almost a month since my last post. And the last few posts were menu posts, so I thought I would post a general update and such. Time is always marching, even when I don't sit down to write. So life happenings.

 This winter the boys have all been in an activity of some sort. Ian has been taking tennis lessons. He will have his last lesson next week. Ian seems to really love these lessons and always looks forward to them. In fact he already told Mark he wants to take more again this summer when they are offered again. I took him to his few few. It was fun to watch him do the drills. Of course this means he bring these drills home. Lately he has been setting up chairs or other large objects across the floor. He and his brothers then run through them, weaving around them in what every way Ian determines. If they are not sitting they see to be running. Mark has been taking him these last several weeks. Leaving me to take Cai and Aiden to their dance classes

Aiden is in a creative dance class for 3 year old. He is the only boy but doesn't seem to mind. It he fun to watch how his own dance movement at home has changed due to the class. This week was watch week. Meaning parents could sit and watch the whole class (rather than just the last 10min normally allowed). It was really fun to watch him. I was surprised he stayed focus on his teacher and not me. But he did great.

Cai also has a dance class following Aiden's. His is called Dance Sampler and is for 4-5 year olds. He too is the only boy but for the most part doesn't seem to mind. Cai had a lot harder time focusing in class with me there. I'm not sure if his lack of focus is normal, but I know I was the distraction this time as he was constantly waving and looking at me. It was cute even as I felt bad for his teacher. He too was fun to watch, when he was actually focused on what he was doing. :)

March 2nd was Dr. Seuss' birthday. Ian's class celebrated on the 1st (Friday) by watching the newest Lorax movie. Neither Mark nor I have seen it yet. In fact I had not even thought it an option to watch with the boys as I figured they would get scared. So I was nervous when Ian told me that watched it in class. Last time they watched a feature length film he had to walk out and stay in another room. But he told me that while he was scared at first he stayed for the whole movie. And HE ENOYED IT! I'm so proud of him. He stayed despite being afraid. This is one of those times that I'm grateful they don't stay little forever. It's nice to see Ian learning to face his fears and conquer them.

Cai got to celebrate his 1/2 Birthday (since he is a summer birthday) at preschool on the 1st. We decided to bring Dr. Seuss themed snack. I searched Pinterest and found lots of ideas. I pinned a few but this website gave us the ideas for our snack. We made One Fish Two Fish jello. Next time I will add the Swedish Fish right before serving instead of the night before. They got alittle soggy. And I made Marshmellow and Strawberry Cat in the Hat hats. Cai loved it. And it seemed to go over well with the class.

Our Dr. Seuss kick has continued into this week. I think we brought home 8 or so Dr. Seuss books from the library yesterday. And less than half of those I picked out. We also got 4 Star Wars easy reader books. The Lego one has Ian's name in it. The character is actually Han Solo but the H on his name tag gets turned to look like an I, so until the last page you think this the boy is named Ian. Cai loves it. Ian has not had me read it yet. But something tells me that as soon as he figures it out it will become the most demanded book of the week.

Since homework is one of Ian's afternoon chores and he doesn't not always bring homework home (only about 3 out of the 5 days does he have any), we recently decided that on non-homework days he gets to read to us for Book-It. This week he has read Green Eggs and Ham, The Foot Book and I Can Read With My Eyes Shut. This last one caused him a few problems in places but really he is flying though these books. I'm constantly amazed at his reading abilities. I guess one could probably guess we are a book loving family. Last night while he was reading I Can Read With My Eyes Shut, he was struggling with a word and Cai read it. I'm not sure if he picked it up from the picture or the rhyming scheme or just recognized the word. Either way it was impressive. He will probably start reading soon too. Fun things are happening at our house.

Underwear, Angry Birds, Creature Power and Mario?

My boys are growing up. And I'm noticing it in many ways. Aiden's is the most noticeable as he is in the middle of potty training. Like Ian, Aiden just decided it was time to use the potty.

 It started small. Him telling us on occasion that he needed to pee or poop. As I stated in my Boyne post, our trip back lasted much longer due to his telling us he needed to pee. Yesterday, after telling me he wanted to pee I asked if he wanted a diaper or underwear. He chose underwear. He wore a diaper for nap and one again after wetting his underwear while playing outside, and of course at night. But this morning when he woke up he again chose underwear.

More often than not he is wetting his underwear. But he trying to let me know when he needs to potty. And we always race to the potty to try. I figure it took Ian three solid days of being wet before I saw improvement and he was 3 months older than Aiden is currently. Cai took a solid week of no success before we even got him to use the potty once. And he was almost three. I think Aiden is doing well. And while there are moments I wish I could have planned this into my schedule, it is nice to see him making his own decisions on the matter.

 My toddler is quickly growing up.

The other boys are getting older as well. And I see this manifest itself mostly in their play. Both are more imaginative. Ian, especially, has gotten more aggressive. Which to be honest is very, very frustrating. Ian comes home with games about Mario and Bowser and I wonder does he even understand what it is he is playing? Sure Mark has let the boys play MarioCart and the original MarioBrothers on our mediaPC (a computer Mark creative for our TV), but he didn't start this game until months after said games were played. The joys of peer influence.

Of course, while some of his games are too aggressive for my taste and we have to sit down and talk about what is appropriate behavior and what's not, other games just make me smile. A favorite PBS kids show for Ian is Wild Kratts. Often for days after watching this show Ian and Cai will run around the house with "creature power." They have been hawks, shark, bears, and many other animals. No longer are my boys satisfied with pretending to be cats, dogs, dinosaurs or lions. No they are polar bears, great white sharks, and other animals I forget they even know about till I remember "oh yeah, they saw that on Wild Kratts."  The fact they even remember half of these animals illustrates how much they are growing up.  And while they can become aggressive in their play with these "creature powers" it more often than not make me smile to see them incorporating what they learned into their play.

 Yesterday a new game was added to their list: Angry Birds. Now Ian loves playing this on Mark's phone when he gets a chance. Mark doesn't allow them to play on his phone often, but when he does Ian tends to either play Angry Birds or some racing game. Cai likes Super Why game. Yesterday the boys set up balls on our couch. These balls were the pigs. And the boys then pretended to be the birds and would run and jump onto the couch and balls. I'm still not sure how I feel about this game. I do know that I'm grateful that they were not running and jumping on each other. And really they were kinda cute all running towards the couch together.

 My boys are growing up fast. And while I don't like everything this brings, it sure is fun to watch their transformations.

Firefighters, Cowboys, and Lions Oh My!

Dress up has started to become common play around here. The most common of which is use of the firefighter coat and the cowboy hat. And yes sometimes at the same time on the same boy. :) Ian is starting to actually act out his play. Riding from room to room on his stick horse with his cowboy hat on. Using parts of my vaccum cleaner as a fire-hose to put of the fire. Turning blankets into capes and flying around the house as a super hero. Taking his drill, hammer and my clamp (which is used as a saw), putting on his hard hat and going to work fixing my house. The excitement never ceases around here. Cai is just beginning to show use of his creative and massive imagination. Mostly he like just putting on the hats and coats. But watching him in other areas such as making noises for his cars and trains, making animals noises when playing with the barn, taking care the baby doll. And cooking! Oh how that boy loves to cook for me. Sometimes in the boys' kitchen and sometimes in mine. It is no longer safe to assume my pots and pans are in the cupboard. Because more times than not they are scattered around the house. :D But the greatest joy of all is watching the boys slowly learn to play together. To share an activity. Although there is still plenty of screaming and frustration, they are truly beginning to play together. Such a gift for mama.