Pumpkins and Elephants

Because it's so hard to find the time to blog...two blogs turn into one.
Next on tap: Ethan's pumpkin train ride. Stay tuned...

First up: Ethan and his elephants. His "guys" as he calls them.
Left to right is Horton, Africa (originally named by Ethan), Ernie (originally named by Andy), & the big man himself.


Next up: Last Sunday's project...buying and carving the pumpkins. We bought 5 mini pumpkins from Byerly's since the past couple weekends were either too cold or too busy for a trip to the apple orchard, which is where we typically pick our pumpkins. Our 6th pumpkin was the pumpkin that Ethan selected on his pumpkin train ride a few weekends ago. It was the biggest, and the best for carving out Ellie the cat.

I decided to just do the first letter of each of our names on each pumpkin...5 carving-size pumpkins would probably take up our entire front steps! In a few years I'm sure that Andy and I will forfeit our pumpkins so that the boys can have bigger ones to carve faces in...but until then, I think these turned out pretty cute. I only cut myself two or three times with the utility knife to cut the skins off the pumpkin and make our letters, so I'm calling it a success! Thankfully, Andy is a remarkable carver and he did Ellie cat and the slits in the letters so oxygen could get in to the candles.


Check it out! Mommy is in a picture!!

Ethan: Halloween preview

Spiderman, Spiderman. Does whatever a spider can.

I love the built-in muscles!!

Ethan has a fall party at preschool this Thursday and all the kids can wear their costumes...without masks. Actually, I'm surprised we got him to wear the mask at all when we did our practice run last night!

This year will be Ethan's first year of trick or treating!! Our neighbors are having everyone over on Halloween at 5pm. Not sure if Andy or I will accompany the trick or treating group, but one of us will do that, and the other will put D & Owen to bed (at least we will have an hour prior to bedtime at the party so they can wear their costumes....monkey and lion) and hand out candy. I'm thinking about dressing up. One of our friends from college used to have a Halloween party each year...and even though I don't drink wine out of a bag anymore (from within the box!), I really miss dressing up!

First haircuts!

Owen and Dylan were getting a little hairy.

All my babies were born with lots of hair...just like their Mommy.

I've got quite the volume in this picture. And um, could my Mom get any more gorgeous?! Wow!

Ethan on Day 2

Dylan & Owen at 3 weeks

But then they began to get male infantile baldness worthy of Nelson's Baby Toupees around 4 months old...so we shaved them.

Ethan pre-shave

Dylan & Owen pre-shave...Owen is rocking a serious receding hairline in this pic!

Ethan cleanly buzzed. And OMG, look at those rosy red cheeks! I want to pinch you!

Owen and Dylan no longer looking ridiculous...and pretty cute in their little buzz-cuts!

Before long, their hair began to grow back to stay and I was loving running my fingers through Owen's thick dark hair, and playing with the little curls that grew above Dylan's ears. But recently, it began to get less cute and stylin' and more unkempt and shaggy. We're big fans of the home haircut (not for me, but for the boys, sure!), but Andy wasn't sure he could trim the bottom while keeping some of the length on the top and not make it look like a reverse mullet, so we opted for the Kid's Hair "salon".

I made appointments for this past Saturday morning. We had lots of things we wanted to accomplish that day, so Andy suggested we divide and conquer. I quickly called "not it" on the haircuts. Let's face it, Andy's braver than me with taking the kids anywhere on his own...so he didn't have any issues with it and quickly offered to draw the short straw and take D & Owen in for their first haircuts on his own. He even brought a camera...and took pictures...and got their first haircut certificates and "hairs". I'm a lucky lady, I know.

So, with no more ado....

Before:Mr Owen

Dylan and his tongue

During:

Owen looks a little red-faced so I suspect there might have been tears, but he looks like he likes getting his hair "did" here!

Apparently Dylan did not want to part with his curly locks....neither did I. Thankfully, they'll grow back!

And....After:

Owen's hair is no longer obstructing his vision...hurray!

And Dylan is looking SO much like his big brother, Ethan. What is with that pointy tongue?! Always sticking out!

They look so old to me now...real BIG boy haircuts!! They were a success. And turned out much better than Ethan's first official haircut.

Lloyd Christmas, anybody? Lesson learned. Spend the extra cash on the kids' hair "salon" instead of choosing the nearby women's salon that specializes in blue hair dye, if you catch my drift.

You know you've really arrived when...

you start covering your furniture in vinyl....

I purchased toddler booster seats for Dylan and Owen last night. A few years ago when we bought this dining room set with off-white fabric on the chairs, I wasn't thinking about how dirty it would get when we had kids. So I found these sweet chair seat protectors at Bed Bath & Beyond this morning. And now it smells like shower curtain in my dining room...but it's worth the ease in clean up! Red sauce, here they come!

The house already looks more spacious without those two gigantic highchairs blocking our natural light from the picture window.

Dylan says, "Hey, what's on your tray?"

Oh fun...they can see out the window from their chairs...meals with a view!

I'm loving these little green trays...they snap right off and they both fit in the drying rack at the same time...with other items too! The highchair trays were bulky and odd-shaped and were a serious pain to clean...which is why I left them dirty so much. Hey, a Cheerio from today is just as good tomorrow!

**Look at those haircuts!! Will post before and after pics soon.

Rollin'

This picture cracks me up....

10 months

Ethan & Owen

Dylan on the move. Next time I'll set the camera to the setting for sports or something...he is FAST! He reminds me of somebody else when they were 10 months old....oh, tear.

ROAR!!!

Owen is as sweet as a lamb, and roars like a lion.

I meant to post last week...on Thursday...but you know, time gets away from me.

Last Thursday, my BABIES were 10 months old. Suddenly, their babyhood is slipping away from me, and fast. Officially, they aren't toddlers until 12 months, but it doesn't feel like there are any babies in this house anymore. We have boys....toddler (and preschool!) boys!! Some things get easier as they grow up, and I appreciate that, but all of sudden their first year is going WAY too fast for me. Earlier in the year, it was all, "I can't wait until x month because then they'll probably sleep through the night", "I can't wait until x month because then they will smile and laugh", "I can't wait until x month because then they will be able to play with Ethan"...and now I'm trying to flashback to those middle-of-the-night feedings because then they were so little and it was just me and them, in the quiet, snuggling over a bottle in the middle of the night...and I miss it.

Don't get me wrong though, I LOVE this stage. I love the giggles, the hugs, the absolute amazement in their expressions when they discover something new.

Dylan is a cruising crawler. He has been pulling himself up for awhile too, and every so often, he'll free stand. I'm sure he'll walk before his first birthday, if not yet this month. He is super physical, wants to climb up everything, pull on everything...he has super-human strength...for a 10-month old.

Owen is still army-crawling, but he's incredibly fast...like a snake, really. He's so limber and graceful. He gives the best hugs. He's comfortable doing his own thing when his brothers are demanding more attention...but then he'll slither his way over to you and pull himself up and give you the biggest hug...he's too sweet.

Both of them are SO vocal. Yelling, singing, babbling...and Owen roars...it's awesome, and fitting because he's going to be a lion for Halloween. Dylan is going to be a monkey.

Ethan is enjoying preschool and got his school pictures back today. Gramma Leslie and I were skeptical that they would turn out well. Not that Ethan isn't incredible handsome, but when asked to smile for a picture, he gets kinda goofy. I thought we'd get some crazy smirk, but the pictures were just wonderful! He's even smiling in the class picture. Just as Gramma and I were admiring the pictures and I commented on how I was going to keep all 10 pages for the $70, Ethan spilled on them. Gramma kept me very calm, and we dabbed them off and let them dry flat and I think they are saved!

Ethan: belated 3-year check-up update

Love that green frosting on the birthday cupcakes!

Enough about me...back to the kids!

Ethan had his 3-year check-up last Thursday. Just as I'm writing this, I'm realizing that I don't have any percentiles to post...oh no! Maybe at this point, they don't check kids on the percentile chart...who knows. They were never given, and I forgot to ask. But, he's tall. Tall, tall, tall. Lots of people assumed he was turning 4 at his last birthday.

39 3/4 inches and 34.8 lbs. They no longer measure head circumference...bummer...that's always a fun one for the Sandberg kids and their big heads. Dr Paul did said that after a certain point in development, they expect BMI to go down, and his is. Not like I was worried or anything...Ethan is a healthy boy, but he is a bean-pole...tall and lean!

There wasn't much to the appointment. However, it was noteworthy to me, just the difference between taking Ethan to the pediatrician last week, and taking Dylan and Owen with Liz the week before. With Ethan, I snatched him up early from preschool and we headed to the clinic. No diaper bag (though I probably could have had the foresight to bring a snack!), no stroller, no planning around a nap or meal...a fantastic difference. I need to reiterate that I am NEVER wishing away these baby days, but some things get easier over time.

When we were called in, I talked to the Nurse while Ethan went with another Nurse to get his hearing and eyesight tested. Ethan was unsure about going with the other Nurse at first which reminded me that I need to be a better Mommy and have the "don't go with strangers" talk...Ethan is so capable of communicating and understanding, that I/we really should have had this talk with him awhile ago. Anyways, I assured him that he would be brought right back to me after a short trip with the Nurse, and he was. He got undressed and into a robe (that was new!) and then Dr Paul came in to talk with us.

I think I might have pushed him over the edge with my "What do you think about the Flu?" questions, but hey, I have a right to ask. Children's Clinic is like the only place on Earth that doesn't have the seasonal flu shot available yet. I'm so annoyed. If any place should get them, it should be the freakin' hospital for kids! But he told me that they don't have as much buying power as say Walgreens or Cub, and that makes me sad.

Ethan was shy during the exam, so when Dr Paul asked me if he could talk in sentences I tried my best to explain just how off the charts he is...but you know, every Mom thinks their kid is amazing.

Since they didn't have the flu shot, he only had one shot to get. He had to lay down on the table and we held hands...the Nurse didn't say when she was going to give him the shot and so he was surprised. He cried, hard, and gave me a look like I had betrayed him before he threw himself into my arms for a hug. He kinda milked it by limping around on our way out of the exam room...but it worked, I'm a softy. Now he talks about the shot like it was no big deal..."Just like a little pinch" he says.

Each visit comes with the pamphlet of what your child might be doing at this age. Let's recap:

Nutrition:

• Your 3-year-old can sit nicely at the table. Yes, but only when someone else ISN'T trying to talk.
• Eating and drinking aren't quite the mess they used to be. No, but just tonight Ethan stuck his hands in his milk glass...why? Just to see what would happen.
• You may also find your child prefers the same foods day after day. After day after day after day. Peanut butter and jelly (both grape and strawberry!) in "triambles" for breakfast, lunch and dinner...if we'd let him

Toileting:

• Around age 3, children may be able to tell you when they need to go to the bathroom. Ethan has been able to tell us since early Summer...but now he takes it to a whole new level of telling us..."no pee or poop is coming out of my pee-pee or butt"...I'm sure that his preschool teachers don't find this very amusing. We're working on when "bathroom talk" is not appropriate. Work in progress.

Sleeping:

• Toddlers are usually sleeping 10 to 12 hours at night. Yea! Ethan is very good about sleeping at night. Every so often he'll come into our bed in the middle of the night claiming bad dreams...we remind him most nights at bedtime that he should stay in his own bed until morning-time, but really, I don't mind the snuggles.
• Many 3 year olds stop napping in the afternoon. Sweet Jebus, NO!!! Daddy, Gramma Leslie, and Liz would join me in this protest. Granted, some days his nap is very short...like an hour. But you can tell that naptime was short for the rest of the day. He NEEDS it. It's not a battle anymore, he doesn't protest it...let's let this happen for awhile longer!

Growth & Development:
At 3 years, children may:

• ride a tricycle
  
• draw shapes and use crayons
• be curious about body parts
• know their full name and age
• have imaginary friends
• use sentences
• learn to use pronouns
• brush their teeth
• have more bladder control
• follow instructions and make a game out of daily routines and tasks
• be ready for preschool

Looks like we're right on track...and then some!

He never fails to amaze me, this one!