Halloween 2012!

What a Halloween – a fun time, but I am about ready to be done with the festivities.

Friday night, we went to our friends, the Shumways, for a little Halloween party.  Logan was totally freaking out for the first while – I don’t know why, but he was screaming hysterically.  He finally calmed down enough by the fire outside and as we did donuts on a stick.  We played a couple more games and then had some baked potatoes.  Oh, my goodness – Andrew sat there for like an hour and ate 3 baked potatoes!!!  Potatoes is obviously his new love.  We also enjoyed a delicious apple pie that I made for the occasion and watched Charlie Brown’s Great  Pumpkin.  It was a fun evening.

Last Saturday, after Andrew’s swim lesson, we drove to the Central West End for trick or treating.  We love it because it’s in the day, it’s fun with lots of energy, and it’s just a nice way to spend time together.  We got there just as the trick or treating was started, so we missed the kids parade.  The boys did a good job looking for the signs in the windows – we went to pretty much every business, I think.  Logan had a fun time, too, watching from the stroller.  We got a picture in front of the fountain – like last year, but I am a lot skinnier!  Afterwards, we had some true St. Louis pizza (super super thin crust, square cut in square pieces, though I’m not sure if the cheese was Provel).  It was great and hit the spot!  We finished in time to watch some of the pet parade / pet contests.  I can not believe how many dog costumes there are and how elaborate some of them are.

That evening, we donned the costumes once more for our ward Trunk or Treat.  The young women were jointly in charge, so we helped make some games, but I don’t think anyone played the game we made.  We had pizza again and hot dogs and cider and roasted some marshmallows.  The kids did a little costume parade and then twice around the Trunk or Treat cars, as seems to be the tradition in this ward.  It was pretty dark, but always fun.

Tuesday, Seth has his class performance in the morning and a class party.  If I can, I will post the video later.  He did a great job!  That evening, Andrew has his kindergarten sing along in costumes.  He did a great job, too.  He didn’t dance much, so I asked him and he said that he wasn’t nervous, but when he looked out into all the audience, he forgot to move his arms.  Seth was singing along to all the songs – it’s amazing how quickly he picks up anything that Andrew does.

Today for Halloween, Logan, Seth, and I went to the library for their trick or treating.  They go all through the headquarters and it is so cute!  I just love it.  Logan got his hands on a Kit Kat and was completely devouring it, even with the wrapper on.  He was covered in chocolate!  Good thing the costume is washable.

That afternoon, Andrew’s school had a costume parade down the street.  Logan in the stroller and Seth on his tricycle went up the street to see.  First, the police came by.  Then, the bagpipes and drum and finally Andrew, up front with the kindergarteners.  We followed them till we went to the school then went home till it was time to pick Andrew up again.

 

Finally, we did the real deal this evening – Trick or Treating.  As is customary in St. Louis, you are supposed to tell a joke, especially if asked (or do a performance).  Andrew learned this joke – “What do you call a witch in a sandbox?”  “A sandwich”.  Andrew would rush up the house and say “I have a joke” and proceed to tell it.  He was definitely taking charge.  Andrew was shocked when someone knew the answer – he said they must have looked it up on the computer and learned all kinds of jokes so they would know all the answers. 

Seth was trying his best to keep along.  First, he would make up jokes “What is a pizza?" “A chicken”.  Yeah …. so, then Seth would repeat Andrew’s joke. Seth got so excited about the joke that sometimes he forgot to get candies.  Then we gave Seth a joke to give “What does a ghost say when he is hurt?” “Boo hoo”.  Seth did good, but sometimes he would forget a word and it wasn’t living up to his perfectionist tendencies.  Then, he was also feeling sick and just wanted to go home, so he wouldn’t tell a joke at all.  Poor kid – he was doing such a good job.

Andrew also informed one house that he knew who they were and wanted to be friends with them, but that their son wasn’t nice to him on the playground.  I was a little mortified at that house.

Logan was super excited about the beginning.  He wanted to run along and was making all these excited sort of noises.  At one point, he didn’t know where I was (he was with Katsu) and he was going up and down the driveway looking for me.  He took a couple candies, but mostly just wanted to be along for the ride.  By the end of it, he was totally exhausted and just wanted to go home and go to sleep.

Seth is 3 years 4 months old!

 

Seth is a handful this month … poor kid, but he just is trying my patience this month.  I got a book about “Your 3 Year Old” and it talked about how hard the year was, how getting help if you can was really work it, yadda yadda yadda.  I thought it was a bit of overkill, but now … well, I can see.

Seth is having a tough tough time.  He is super duper whiny.  He usually can try to pop out of it if we remind him of it, but otherwise it is the default probably 90% of the time.  He also has become really really emotional.  He bursts into tears, melodramatic crying, and a big fit whenever he doesn’t get his way.  Like every little thing – the wrong color cup or not getting to chose the way home from school or whatever.  It is … slightly exhausting.  And he just seems to be upset a lot lately.  He is also extremely clingy.  He wants to be with me all the time – as in, like holding my hand or hanging onto my pant pocket when we are at the park.  Or holding another adult’s hand.  He gets nervous when other people’s parents are watching their kids.  He needs to know where all the adults are all the time. 

He won’t get out of the double stroller when we go and pick up Andrew and won’t play with the other kids anymore.  He takes like an hour to warm up when playing with other kids.  At the Botanical Garden today, he only warmed up to playing with the friends we met up with after an hour or two.  Even at his favorite part (the boats and locks), he would just hold the boat and wouldn’t play with it in the water.  And I can’t sit and play in the water with him the whole time because I am chasing Logan.  So, I told him, he either had to share the boat (there weren’t enough boats for all the boys to play with) or go with play with it, and he gave it away instead of playing with it.

On the other hand, Seth seems to be doing really well at preschool and really enjoys it.  His teacher says he is doing a great job.  So, yay!  He seems to like most parts of it and has started asking for play dates with the kids from preschool right now.  He loves whenever he gets to hang out with other 3 year olds.  He is still a bit hesitant.  He didn’t want to get on to the fire truck because he thought it was scary but then decided to because “Mom will want the picture”.  I’m not quite sure what that says about me, but it’s kind of funny.

Seth has such a gentle heart, though.  He has become very observant of everyone.  He will put out the blue cup for Andrew, because that is his elementary school’s color.  He will pick out and read a favorite book to Logan.  He is starting to want to do chores and help me out.  He loves to vacuum with the little vacuum, dust, and help cook.  He can pick up well, but does not divide and conquer – he wants to do one thing together and then move on.  But boy – this age is such a struggle!

Seth is really working on his concept of time.  He hasn’t quite got the hang of “today”, “tomorrow”, and “yesterday”.  He is always saying “the other day”, which I think refers to tomorrow, but sometimes it is hard to tell and is almost infuriating when you are trying to discuss when something is going to happen.

Speaking of which, Seth is OBSESSED with Halloween.  He is SO excited.  He picked out the costume he wanted (a tiger) and has been asking every day how long till Halloween.  We made a paper chair to count down, which worked for about 5 days until Logan tore the whole thing to pieces.  He loves the little decorations we have up and has put most of them in his bedroom.  He was enthralled with the black cut out faces I put on our lamps.  He picked out new pumpkins to carry around Trick or Treating and takes them around everywhere in the house.  He colored a pie pumpkin we got from Pumpkinland.  He can not wait to go trick or treating.  He is SO excited about every new decoration that pops up in our neighborhood and there are tons.  He screams and squeals when he sees scary ones – really loudly.  We are probably scaring the whole neighborhood.

Seth really enjoys dressing up lately in all our dress up clothes.  He usually is wearing about four and then running around with the sword or Light Saber.  He is especially obsessed with super heros – Batman, Spiderman, etc.  Today he told me our house is Gotham City.  So cute!  He always picks out all the books at the library and wants to read them over and over and over.  

He doesn’t want to go anywhere, still.  Though he can be convinced about the zoo and the botanical gardens sometimes.  Even the library, especially if we want to go to Story Time, is a no-go.  Sometimes if it involves a treat, he will go.  But Seth is still not a big eater, will very often eat one or two bites of dinner, and then is off.  He does love food from Trader Joe, though, and doing his little shopping cart and finding the stuffed elephant so he can get a sucker.  I don’t think he missed Katsu too much when he was out of town – he was mostly excited to eat so much food from Trader Joes.

Fun Things This Month:

• Mom’s groups – Shaw Park, Conway Park, and the Botanical Gardens
• Clayton Vehicle Fair – they missed the fire truck, but had fun seeing the other things.  Always a fun trip.
• General Conference – the boys always have a lot of fun – they love playing bingo (with candy corn!) and were super duper excited about the cinnamon rolls.  It was a fun weekend.
• Zoo with Andrew and Logan while Katsu was out of town.  We had a lot of fun checking out the Halloween decorations.  Seth pointed out like every pumpkin – there must be thousands, because they pretty much line the paths.  Pretty funny.  They had a lot of fun in the reptile house this time, especially.
• Pumpkinland for a birthday party.  Seth got lost right at the beginning and was pretty upset.  ON my part – I was waiting at the exit, but they got scared and came out the entrance and he was with Andrew, too, but some of the moms were giving me evil eyes.  Give me a break.  Seth wasn’t technically invited to the birthday party, but they said we could all come, so he had a hard time with not getting a goody bag and pumpkin of his own to take home.  He even insisited on bringing two presents, each in it’s own giftbag.  It was a ton of fun, though, and Seth has already asked to go back.  The boys had so much fun running through the mazes, going down the slides, and playing on the pirate ship – all made of hay bales.  The hay ride was fun, too, though I was worried that Seth would topple right off – he wouldn’t sit on his bum and looked quite precarious.
• Botanical Garden – twice – and it was tons of fun!  Seth especially wanted to spend time in the sand box.  The first time we went, especially, was fun because it was cloudy and rainy so there was hardly anyone there.  Perfect!

Andrew is 5 years 5 months old!

Another busy month with Andrew, although he is at school so long, it feels like he is gone most of the time.  We sure miss him.

School is going well, or at least mostly.  Andrew enjoys going to school and is already ready to go back on Monday.  He usually has good days.  He had a few grumpy days last week – he told us that he wasn’t playing with anyone at school or recess and would just go sit by himself in a quiet place.  It seemed kind of sad, but now I think he is back to playing with the other kids and having friends.  My hypothesis is that Andrew is having a tough time dealing with not being the center of attention at school.  They are having volunteers at school each day to talk to the kids during Writer’s Workshop.  Andrew gets really jealous when other kids get talked to more or first.  He is like this at home, too, though he has gotten gradually better as he has gotten older.  Sometimes, I think he feels like it isn’t fair and then he is in a bad mood the rest of the day.  I am coming to volunteer today, so he is really really excited.  We have to drop Katsu off at the airport right after that, but I think next time I will stay for recess and lunch because I think Andrew would really enjoy that.  He must like school because he has already told me that when we move, he still wants to go to the same school through elementary.  Unlikely, but we’ll see.  I like the school too.

Andrew is learning quite a bit at school.  They are taking it slowly with reading.  They did a unit on wordless books and are spending a lot of time talking about books – what you can discover from the pictures, themes, stuff like that.  They have learned about vowels and are learning to recognize them in the names in their class.  I think they also have talked about syllables and starting / ending letters and things like that.

They are starting their writing workshop up now, so I will get to see that, today.  I know they have sketchbooks that they draw stories in and then throughout the year, they gradually improve in writing the stories to go along with the pictures. 

I hear the most about math.  Andrew really enjoys math a lot and tells me about it all the time.  They did a number walk at school to see what numbers are around and copied them.  They learned to write all their numerals and are working on numbers up to 100 (I think).  They are also doing addition and subtraction (Minus Mouse and something Plus).  Andrew likes to do adding at home a lot now.

They have started checking books out at the library and the school bought them all personalized library bags!  I think it’s kind of crazy.  Andrew always brings home non-fiction books, about animals and planets, so far.  He is enjoying PE.  He is starting to have school pride and likes to tell me all about his school (although he doesn’t seem too interested in going to school events).  He is singing all the songs from music.  They have a song about a Witches’ Brew that he sings all the time and this weekend he decided to make an elaborate picture with construction paper cut outs of everything that is in the brew.  They will have a performance for Halloween in the evening that I am excited to see.  He doesn’t seem too impressed with art (considering that he lives in craft center), but brings home interesting pictures where he is learning to use his “illustrator eyes”.  We recently sent in paint smocks, so I know they are painting now.

Andrew loves to run around with the boys at school after we pick him up.  He is especially enamored with their younger siblings, too.  Andrew just really has a talent with young children and loves to tell me about it.  Then he usually comes home and plays with Seth and Logan – building big train tracks, playing army, reading books or chasing or rolling balls with Logan.  He did tell me earlier that he is too old for playing, but now he is back in the thick of things.  He has a lot of restless energy at home – especially on days we don’t play at the playground afterwards.  There is a lot more noise, jumping off the couch, and wrestling.  Lots of wrestling.  I almost go into shock after we pick Andrew up because it is so loud and busy again, but I need to get used to it, because we only get a few hours of him everyday.

Andrew wasn’t too into soccer, but I think he is enjoying it now.  He is probably one of the oldest kids and so he pays 100% more attention than most of the kids.  He is really good at sticking on task.  He is getting better at kicking and dribbling – the main thing is getting him to run or at least jog.  He tends to just walk and slowly kick the ball.  He has one last class this Saturday and then the next week he will start swim classes again.

Andrew still spends a lot of time at home doing crafts and is really into markers.  I bought him a huge set because he already used up all the ones I got at back-to-school.  He is already upset because the black is all used up and is always sneaking my permenant markers.  Next time, he’ll have to use allowance.  He did use his allowance to buy a coloring book, but otherwise is not interested in money. 

We are still doing reading lessons off and on.  I am less pleased with Teach Your Children to Read in 100 lessons when they switch to normal writing and so I am thinking of going to Phonics Pathways instead because it gives so much more practice with words and phonics.  I think it is a lot clearer on figuring out vowel sounds, too.  Andrew enjoys doing the lessons, but sometimes it is hard to find time.

Fun Things This Month

• Continuing soccer
• Forest Park Balloon Race - is always a favorite, but this year it was fabulous! We got there early to get parking and then parked ourselves on Art Hill and the boys chased and wrestled and kicked around a soccer ball. We were so excited when the Energizer Bunny went right behind the Art Museum and we waited around till we saw at least 40 balloons chasing it. Because of all the wind, they went far away and we could see them going over our home in Clayton when we got home.  Andrew really enjoyed kicking the ball around with Katsu and wrestling while we waited for the balloons.
• Disney on Ice – Katsu’s dream, but the boys got to come along, too (ha ha ha). Andrew really liked Peter Pan and the Lion King.  Surprisingly, he wasn’t so interested in the Princesses (I am surprised because just as of this week, Andrew picked out a Cinderella cupcake at school instead of a Spiderman one).
• Father/Son Campout – Katsu, Andrew and Seth went for the night. Andrew loved the campfire and eating. But they were excited to have a tent close by to friends from church.  I think they would like to go again soon.
• Flu shots – always a joy.  Andrew was screaming and trying to hide again and this time it was just me with all 3 boys.  We finally managed it.
• Pizza nights continue to be fun every Friday.  Andrew wanted to stay home for our movie night instead of go to the school one with his friends.  I was surprised.
• David and Goliath lesson for FHE where we threw marshmallows at Goliath’s head after answering correctly questions from the story was a big hit.  Literally.
• Friends over for dinner and the park.
• Clayton Vehicle Fair – the boys always love seeing all the trucks, but they missed the fire truck this time.  Today is fire truck day for the kindergarteners so hopefully that makes up for it.
• General Conference – for some reason the kids LOVE it.  We had pigs in a blanket on Saturday and played bingo with candy corn.  Andrew took it pretty seriously and even seemed to listen to some of the talks, especially the one about missionaries (probably because he is not so sure about being a missionary himself).  On Sunday, we had cinnamon rolls which the boys were VERY excited about.  We did the yearly walk around the neighborhood to look at Halloween decorations.

Logan is 11 months old!

The biggest news – Logan is walking and walking well.  He started walking a few weeks ago and is now all over the place.  He took the first week a little slow and he still crawls as needed, but he loves to walk.  I just love watching new walkers – it is so darn cute to see them get their balance and toddle everywhere. 

Of course, home life has totally disintegrated.  Logan is EVERYWHERE and in EVERYTHING and I can’t quite figure out a way to keep him out of everything.  Everything really problematic is on top of the fridge or the bookshelf, but as that is about all of our space in this apartment, we are stuck.  I completely emptied under the kitchen sink, only to have him climb in there while I was taking a shower and unscrew the pipe!  How is that even possible.  Katsu started cleaning some dishes only to realize that something sounded funny – right, the pipe isn’t connected.  Yikes!  He reminds me a lot of Andrew getting to everything at this age.  Logan especially loves getting into:

• Joe’s food and water.  I have to keep it out of reach because otherwise he instantly dumps all the water on the floor and then eats a handful of cat food.
• Cords, cords, cords
• Anything he drop onto himself – especially lamps, the kids’ basketball hoop, etc. etc.
• Cd cases
• Cookbooks – he’s already broken one
• Opening the DVD player or CD player and throwing the discs on the floor
• Litter box
• Laundry basket we use to store balls – he can barely reach it and gets on his tippy toes (so cute when he does that) and dumps them all on the floor.  Usually right before bed.
• The printer
• Keys, phones, remotes, anything with buttons and be ready for the screaming if you take it away.
• And that’s just the beginning

Someday I will have time to clean again, ha ha ha.  What a difference a month masks.

Logan says “Mom” and maybe “Dad”.  He might also say things like “Hi” and “Bye”, but it’s hard to tell, you know.  He definitely “talks” a lot lot more than he does.  He jabbers on and on and also attempts to sing.  So cute.  Unfortunately, he has turned into a screamer.  And oh my gosh – the scream!  It is awful and super super loud.  Our poor neighbors.  It is our first screamer.  But it seems to be mostly when we are eating and he wants to eat faster or when I am cooking and he wants to either see what I am cooking or get tastes.

Eating … Logan is definitely our biggest eater at this age.  He is still having a love affair with string cheese and could live on it.  Also loves bread products and graham crackers.  He has discovered sweets.  Martha gave the boys cookies and I left them on the coffee table while I went to do something in the kitchen.  I came back to find a baby boy covered in cookie crumbs and cream and smiling everywhere.  But he loves to eat.  Fruits and vegetables.  He has really been enjoying carrots and parsnips this week.  He is not a big fan of meat.

He is really loving balls now – he will catch and will throw it.  He likes to lift it over his head and then toss it down.  He likes to play with his other toys some, but prefers to play with the big boys toys – cars, train tracks, dress up clothes, swords, etc.  He gets so sad when the big boys go into the other room and play without him.  He LOVES his brothers.  He also LOVES Joe and is always grabbing him, petting him, and pulling his tail.  He is finally interested in books and likes to look through them and turn the pages.  He especially loves touch and feel books.

Logan is still so happy.  Everyone comments on it.  The only time he is really cranky is when he is sick or teething really badly.  Just a happy boy.

• Cardinals game for Labor Day. His first major league game.  And he … hated it.  He still has a hard time with crowds and every time anyone cheered or made loud noises, he screamed and cried.  So, we had to take him out and walk around behind the stands with him.  It was a good game so there was a lot of crying.  Poor boy.
• Seth started preschool so Logan now gets one-on-one time.  Library story times.  He falls asleep in the car going there and usually on the way back, so most nap times are spent in the car – which really contributes to getting nothing done at home.
• St. Louis Art Fair – Logan spent most of the time going back and forth to the library while the boys made crafts.
• Playdates with the Mom’s group.
• Forest Park Balloon Race is always a favorite, but this year it was fabulous! We got there early to get parking and then parked ourselves on Art Hill and the boys chased and wrestled and kicked around a soccer ball. We were so excited when the Energizer Bunny went right behind the Art Museum and we waited around till we saw at least 40 balloons chasing it. Because of all the wind, they went far away and we could see them going over our home in Clayton when we got home.  Logan loved watching the balloons and was so excited when he saw them.
• Zoo with friends. Always fun.
• Being babysat – he cried most of the time unless they were outside.  Poor kid.