Updates

The summer has really flown by for us! It's already the second week of August, and soon Oliver and Buttercup will be going on a long road trip with their daddy to visit Grandma and Grandpa. In some ways I'm looking forward to it (a week of baby time! and a quiet house!), but I know I will miss them so much. I have no doubt that the week will drag by!

We've been pretty busy since the last update, here's what we're up to these days:

Oliver:
He seems to be getting over his Star Wars obsession, much to the chagrin of his buddy Nathan, ha ha. Oliver doesn't seem to have too many favorites right now -- he kind of likes a little bit of everything, but mainly sharks and sea creatures, army guys, policemen, and pirates. He's also really getting interested in reading, but he prefers to memorize the words (sight reading, I guess?) instead of actually sounding out the letters and figuring them out for himself, ha ha.

He's in a different swim class now, which seems to be a better fit for him. In the new class, there are only two other kids (at the most) in his class with him, so he gets to spend more time working on the strokes instead of hanging onto the side of the pool most of the time. At the pool over the weekend, he had the chance to do the swim test so he could slide down the big water slide, but he opted out since he didn't have a friend with him. He said he would wait until Buttercup could do it with him, so sweet!

Oliver is also looking forward to "preschool" (Mother's Day Out) starting next month. He talks about it almost every day and I know he's looking forward to seeing his school friends again. Not to mention getting to create things without having a little sister go behind him and destroy them. :-P

Buttercup:
She is continuing to be quite a stinker most days, but she is just so sweet and funny. She also has the most beautiful smile, and her laugh is so infectious and I love hearing it!! I love the way she dives headfirst and gives her all to everything she does -- whether it's playing "sunday school," swinging herself outside, coloring, getting her big brother in trouble, or being defiant, ha ha. She is so much fun, and I know God has awesome plans for her.

She desperately wants to do everything Oliver can do, especially take swim lessons. I think she feels like she's been waiting forever to be 3 years old! She's also very interested in letters and words, and she's working on learning how to spell her name. So far, she has the first 3 letters down. :-)

Like Oliver, she is very much excited about starting preschool next month. She wants to start NOW, so I've had to fill up our calendar with playdates, outings, and fun activities just to get us through the rest of this month! :-)

Theodore:
He is such a fun little baby! He loves to smile and coo at us, and it just warms our hearts when he looks at us and gives us a big, gummy grin. LOVE it! And, he's always been a good sleeper, but last week he surprised us by sleeping from 7:30pm to 4:30am three nights in a row! Since then, he's pretty much kept the same schedule, except he's been waking up closer to 3:30 instead of 4:30.

Both Buttercup and Oliver are my big helpers with him. I can always count on one of them to help out and bring me something for him if I ask. They also like to lie next to him on the floor and hold out their fingers for him to grab, or talk to him. Theodore likes to wave his arms and move his legs like he's running -- we call it "riding his bicycle" -- and the other day Oliver laid next to him on the bed and moved his legs the way Theodore was. It was very cute. :-D

Another Lego police station

Oliver made another police station with his Legos last week. His last police station was pretty neat, but this one has even more detail!

Like this prison cell:


See? There's a bad guy inside!


It even has a drive-up ATM:


And a swimming pool:


I really like this coffee maker:



And here's a trash can for all of the garbage:


Good job, Oliver!

Go fish

The other night, we were all playing cards in the living room after dinner, and it was so much fun that Theodore was able to sit with us, too!




He's still a little wobbly in the Bumbo chair, but he really likes sitting up and watching what everyone else is doing. :-) (As a side note, I especially like how the camera flash emphasized the droopiness in his big, squishy cheek, ha ha.)



Somehow I didn't get a good picture of Buttercup that night, so here are a couple of her from earlier that day.

Painting:


And making a funny face (which looks very similar to the Disgruntled Toddler expression she wears several times a day):

Big girl bed

Last week, Dennis flipped Oliver's bed so he could sleep on the top bunk, and we decided to make the lower area into Buttercup's big girl bed. We weren't sure how it would go since the first attempt (over 6 months ago) went so poorly, but she has been doing pretty well!

The first night, we put her back into her crib because she wouldn't settle down or stay in her room. But ever since then, she's been sleeping in her big girl bed.




She's still been having trouble settling down and staying in her bed (or her room), so I made her a sticker reward chart to see if some positive reinforcement will help. If she stays in her bed and is relatively quiet during naptime and at bedtime, she earns 1 sticker. After she earns 4 stickers, she gets a prize. (You can see my terrible artwork below, and yes, the second picture is supposed to be Hello Kitty.)



So far, she's off to a good start -- she earned 1 sticker this morning for excellent behavior at open gym, and she will also earn another sticker after naptime today for staying in her bed! Hopefully we'll continue to have good results. :-)

All About Me

I got this idea from another friend's blog -- a list of questions to ask the kids each year, and see how their responses change as they get older!

Here's the 2011 edition (let's hope I remember to do it again next year, ha ha):

Maria: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Oliver: A Lego person who designs new Lego sets
Buttercup: An ABCD person

M: What is your favorite color?
O: Blue
B: Purple and black and ABCs

M: Who is your best friend?
O: Nathan and [his stuffed] Elephant
B: Big Baby

M: What is your favorite food?
O: Macaroni and cheese
B: Chicken

M: What is your favorite game to play?
O: Star Wars, when I fight Nathan with my light saber
B: Lightning McQueen! [I'm not sure what she was talking about]

M: What is your favorite song?
O: Time to Go Night Night [his bedtime song]
B: You Are My Sunshine [her bedtime song]

M: What is your favorite book?
O: My Star Wars Lego dictionary
B: The Hello Kitty book in my big girl bed

Hand puppets and more baby pictures

Oliver wanted to "make something" with the items in our recycling bin the other day, so he made this boat (which he aptly named The Titanic):


Buttercup made a boat, too . . . (or rather, she colored on a cardboard tube and then cut it up into tiny pieces):


And I made these puppets. Buttercup was calling them finger puppets, until Oliver pointed out, "Those won't fit on our fingers, unless we're gigantic brachiosauruses!" So we decided that they are hand puppets. :-)


I can't wait until Theodore is old enough to "make stuff" with us, too! In the meantime, we are enjoying him just as he is. He is 10 weeks old today!

Random thoughts, July edition

-- In some ways, going from 2 kids to 3 kids is a lot easier than going from 1 kid to 2 kids. We've all had to make adjustments of course, but what helps is that this time around Oliver and Buttercup have each other for company/distractions while I'm busy with the baby.
-- I'm soooo thankful for my hubby, sister, and mom for their constant support and help. You guys are the BEST!
-- I'm so glad that the older kids have the opportunity to have a day to themselves with my mom or sister.
-- It's weird that our cat is now on antidepressants.
-- I am so proud of Buttercup for doing so well in her big girl bed! She really is a big girl now. Of course, as I'm typing this she's calling to me (loudly) from her bed, but the point is that she's IN her bed. ;-)