A Couple of Firsts and Owen version 5.5

At 17 months, Elliott has officially entered into my favorite age range: 15 months to 3 years. During this time, babies become toddlers and then preschoolers. Their personality emerges and blossoms, they learn at break-neck pace and are nearly always happy. Every day is something new. And the language development! That is the most interesting thing to witness. They understand so much and try so hard to get all those mouth muscles under control to say what they're thinking. The simplest actions and words turns into games like peek-a-boo and bye-bye. Elliott's bye-bye game is getting into the kitchen cabinet, saying bye-bye and closing the cabinet door. He'll do it over and over and think he's the cleverest kid in the world.

At 16 months I realized it was well past time for Elliott to start using eating utensils. It's not that I didn't ever let him try. I did. A few times. It's that he made such a huge mess and didn't get very much into his mouth. I don't have time in the mornings to give him a bath after painting himself head to toe in yogurt. So I figured I would wait a little while until he had better fine motor control to let him try again. My plan worked! He's starting to use a fork and spoon without bathing himself in food. Yippee! He has some trouble loading the fork and spoon but at least he's getting it from bowl to mouth without much problem. It's one small step for Elliott and one giant leap for me. I can do other things while he eats his own oatmeal! Oliver and Owen could use utensils much earlier but I had more time to work with them. And really, so what? It's not like he'd end up going to kindergarten not knowing how to use them. But it's one of those milestones we mommies are proud of. Elliott still has so little hair though that he looks like a baby pretending to be a big kid when he uses a spoon.





Oliver was recently in his first stage production at school. It was a musical version of Rumpelstiltskin brought by the Missoula Children's Theater. It only resembled the original story in the vaguest way because they had to stretch it and contort it to accommodate about 50 kids. This version had a king, a queen, a jester, 2 knights, 10 gnomes, 10 or 11 bees and whole bunch of villagers and of course, Rumpelstiltskin. Oliver was one of the bees. The bees had a couple of songs (no lines) and basically provided the "cute" factor as they were all the youngest players. Brian and I were thrilled that Oliver agreed to audition because the last time he was on stage for anything he nearly threw up. We simply can't have stage fright in this family! After the first live performance for the student body, Oliver realized it wasn't so scary after all and he loved all the attention he received. He wouldn't let me wash off his "bee cheeks" until right before his basketball game the following day. He's hoping for a bigger role next year and Owen can't wait to audition as well.





Owen and Oliver both love their hair now. Oliver's is getting too long actually but he thinks he looks like a rock star. He loves slinging his head around when he plays air guitar. Owen's hair is big and crazy and SO suits his personality. I finally took him to get it cut when it was standing about 6 inches off his head in every direction. And even then I had to force him into the stylist's chair! He looked so much better after the trim. So here is Owen version 5.5. (That means he's 5 and a half for those of you who don't get my pun.)

Hello 2009!

Goodbye 2008. It was nice while it lasted. Man, you were quick. 2009 means that my BABY will be two in August! That can't possibly be. Can it? Oh well. C'est la vie.

It took me awhile to get back into the swing of things after winter break. When the boys were out of school we were sleeping in every day, eating breakfast at 9:30a or 10a, lunch around 2p and then all of sudden it would be dinnertime and I would have gotten zero done that day. While it was relaxing it was also unproductive. I dislike unproductive days. They make me feel useless and lazy which leads to feeling overwhelmed at trying to catch back up. So while it was fun while it lasted, I'm glad it's over and the routine is back. Routine is good for me.

Christmas brought a couple of hand-held games to our house. These things can be very good and very bad. They can be good on the occasions when you need the kids to be occupied and quiet such as on a long car ride or on a plane. But they can be bad because they're addictive and the Os ask to play them EVERY SINGLE DAY. I don't let them, of course. And I usually limit their play to 30-45 minutes when they do get to play. Also, playing the hand-helds are in lieu of any TV or computer time that they might otherwise have. But out of the bad comes another good: because they want to play every day I have a powerful bargaining chip. I can tell them they need to finish all their chores before they can play the Didj or the DS (clean their room, take out garbage and recycling, help pick up after Elliott, etc.) I can tell them they have to be on their best behavior while we spend 3 hours going to the grocery store and Costco. It doesn't always work -- 3 hours is a long time for a kid to behave perfectly. But it's okay because I don't really want them to play those games at all.

Elliott has learned to climb. Bah! He climbs onto the couch and onto the end table or tries to get onto the windowsills. He stands in the middle of the coffee table as if it's his stage. He smiles one of those devilish grins that says, "Look what I can do even though you don't want me to." He climbs from the dining chairs onto the dining table. One morning, while I was at the gym, he even climbed onto his changing table and laid there waiting for someone to change him! Brian was getting coffee downstairs and when he went back upstairs to check on him, Brian found Elliott lying there giving the sign for diaper change. Funny kid.

He's also saying many new words: baby, cheese stick, bear, pear, outside, yogurt, cookie, shoes, moon, eat, belly button, bath and book. It's all very cute, of course, but the cutest is when he wants to say thank you. He signs 'thank you' but says "OK."

Oliver and Owen started basketball a few weeks ago. Neither of them have ever played before and I don't know that I'll encourage them to play again. They struggle with the basics and get angry that traveling is allowed in their age division and stealing the ball is not. I don't think they're sure about any of it yet. Brian may take them to a local college game soon so they can see how it's supposed to be played for real. That might get them more excited about it and answer some questions for them.

The snow finally melted when it rained and rained and rained. Then we got a WHOLE WEEK of dry. I think I even saw a bit of blue for a minute or two which is practically unheard of this time of year in Western Washington.

I was feeling spontaneous last Sunday when I got up and told Brian we needed to go for a hike and take advantage of the dry weather. He wanted to do a river-type hike down low. I picked something that was closer to home and easy-to-moderate. What I did not realize was that it was in the foothills of the Olympics. We were surprised when we arrived to see snow still on the ground everywhere. We should have just gone back home. But as is usually the case when the Watkins step out, we did not do the smart thing. We got out there anyway. It was crazy! We were all stepping in snow up to our knees at times and had snow filling our boots. Brian forgot the hiking poles and had Elliott on his back in the pack. So he was constantly worried about toppling over with a baby on his back. Poor Owen has no hiking boots and was out there in regular sneakers. They were SOAKED. I felt so badly for him but he was tough. Fortunately, we took a wrong turn and got off the trail. We ended up on the main road toward our car and it saved us about 45 minutes of further misery.

Ah, but the story does not end there, no. As we are walking on the road, Oliver picks up a rather large stick -- about 3 feet in length or so and about a half-inch in diameter. He proceeds to stab the stick into the snow with every step he takes. I was walking behind him when I suddenly see him lurch forward with his face toward the stick. He stumbles, throws the stick down, and covers his eye with both hands! He wails. I grab him and turn him around expecting to see blood running everywhere and the remaining vestiges of his deflated eyeball oozing out from between his fingers. There was no blood but I had to see behind his hands, for the love of all that holy!

He wouldn't take his hands away so I ended up throwing him down on his back in the snow attempting to pin his arms. Meanwhile, Brian casually strides over and tells me to stop panicking. I looked at him all wild-eyed with blood rushing in my ears while sitting on top of my injured 7 year-old and yelled, "I'M NOT PANICKING!!!"

Hey, I'm his mother. What can I say?

It turned out okay after all. His eye was very red and injured looking for a couple of days. Like hand-held video games, the snow was both good and bad. Oliver probably wouldn't have gotten hurt if not for the snow. But since he did, it was good that I was able to scoop some into a bag so he could hold it on his eye.

And a couple of other funnies:

Oliver was shivering one morning and I asked him why he was so cold. He replied, "I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm so thin."

The boys asked to watch at TV show one weekend morning and we told them it had to be educational. Owen asked to watch The Backyardigans. We told him The Backyardigans was not educational. He retorted, "Well, it teaches imagination." Nice try, buddy.

Christmas!

Christmas Eve was relaxing and enjoyable with Linda, Alex, Vanessa, Mark and Leon. We had some yummy food and played some games. Christmas Day was fun but messy. It took a while (as usual) to get everything cleaned up and put away. Santa came to see the boys, much to my surprise. I told them I was sure they had gotten themselves onto the naughty list this year. Santa must be more forgiving than me.

Consequences

Elliott at 16 Months

Snowed In. Shoot me now.

Winter break officially started yesterday. But because of the crazy amounts of snow we've received, the boys have been home every day for the last WEEK. Sure they've been having fun in the snow but they can only stay outside for so long. So they keep bugging me to watch TV, play on the computer, play their Leapsters, etc. I've been encouraging them to find other, more creative things to do but it's not going as well as I would like. Oliver has gotten his Erector set back out. He took apart the airplane and is building a motorcycle with it now. Owen played with Play-Do for quite a long time the other day. The cutest thing they did was to host a birthday party for Nutty, their stuffed animal squirrel. Nutty had lots of stuffed animal friends attend the party. The animals played a game of kickball together with the whoopie cushion serving as home base. That was a riot.

As I write, all I hear is a raging din coming from downstairs. All three of them are yelling and laughing like wild men. NPR is in the background as Brian is in the kitchen. I just heard Owen yell, "Dad, Oliver took off all my clothes!" Must I go down there and face it? Sigh. I guess so. I just have to remember they're not always like this. Sometimes they're like this:


I did get out the other night to take the Os to see The Tale of Despereaux. It was lovely. A bit dark but that's the story. The book was much better, by the way. I also took Oliver to hear a sing-a-long of Handel's Messiah last night with a friend and her daughters. I thought it was one of the coolest things I'd ever been to. Oliver was totally bored. The Messiah is pretty boring as music goes. But there were between 75-100 people who showed up to sing the chorus and it was beautiful. The sopranos in the audience were the highlight of the night for me. They were having much too much fun. The conductors were having fun with it too. Most of the musicians were high school students but you would NEVER know. There were all the cream of the crop from the local area high schools. There were several violins and violas, quite a few cellos, one bass, one percussionist, two trumpets, two oboes, one bassoon, and a HARPSICHORD! It was most excellent.

My car is snowed in and there are NO snow shovels left in the stores. Not that I trust my tires on snow. Brian has fancy new snow tires so if I want to go anywhere I have to wait to take his car. He's off work starting now. He's barbecuing brisket for Christmas Eve. I'm glad he's home to help me control those things that have replaced my children since the snow came.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

Santa Photo 2008

Doesn't Santa look sweet? We thought he was just great. Poor Owen. Unlike Mr. Photogenic (Oliver), Owen is not the most comfortable in front of a camera, is he? That's ok, he has good hair. ;o) Do you love Elliott's scarf? I knitted that a few years ago for Oliver and thought it would dress up Elliott's outfit. I'm so glad I put it on him! He looks like such a little man.

Santa in Seattle

We went to Seattle last night to see Santa and attend an annual caroling party. It was COLD! But it was dry for most of the night so it was nice. I like it to be cold and dry at Christmastime. It makes it seem so much more Christmasy. (Is that a word?) We had dinner at the best food court in the world (Westlake Center) where I got to eat the honey-lemon chicken from the Indian place I frequented as a Seattlite. Then we took the kids to ride the carousel and see Santa at Macy's. Seattle Macy's Santa is now better than Seattle Nordstrom's Santa in my opinion. They had a really fun set up with lots of great decorations and the photographers worked really hard to get a good shot. The best part though was that they accept appointments or give you a return time for your photo so you don't have to stand in line! What a relief. At Nordstrom you have to stand in line for 2.5 hours or you can forget it.

The caroling party took us out around Green Lake and it was beautiful. The snow started coming down while we were out there and the Os caught many on their tongues. We all had snow in our hair. It was good times.

The tree at Westlake Center.

The Os were so silly. They kept holding hands with all the inanimate decorations.

Poor Linda could hardly hold onto Elliott until the ride got going. He's so wiggly!

What is it with my family and nose-picking?

Elliott was not the happiest camper being stuck in the baby backpack.

These reindeer were animatronic. Fun stuff while waiting our turn to see Santa.

Preschool with Owen

Brian and I got to spend the day with Owen at preschool last Friday.  We played, did crafts, listened to the kids sing a few songs on the stage in the sanctuary, watched a slideshow of the kids dressed up and role-playing the Christmas story and had lunch together.  Only one kid in 24 got stagefright and thankfully it wasn't mine!

Owen and I count the links on his countdown-to-Christmas chain.

Brian and Owen color a Christmas tree with melted crayons on a hot plate.

Owen takes a whiff of the lemon-scented marker.

Owen tries to get Brian to take a whiff as well.

Their completed cooperative artwork.  What a masterpiece!

We had a wonderful time with Owen at preschool and enjoyed watching his performance.  He was very proud to have both of us there.

BINGO Night

Kindergarteners and 1st graders got together on a Friday night for some serious BINGO. This is Oliver at the beginning of a round.

And this is Oliver's scary looking competitive face when the letter he needed to win didn't get called.

Still Getting Into Everything

It looks cute, right? That's because you don't have to pick all the junk up that he drags out of these drawers!

Where D'ya Get Those Peepers?

This was a random snapshot out in the front yard when I was playing with my new lens. Dang, look at those eyes! Click on this one to see the big, clear version. Blogger fuzzes out the photos for some reason.

Scouts Cake Auction

I knew I couldn't escape participation in Scouts forever. The pack had a cake auction in November. Cakes had to be decorated according to a theme: scouts, patriotic, outdoors or sports. I'm no cake decorator so I had to sell Oliver on something easy. At least I thought it would be easy. Have you ever squeezed firm icing through one of those tiny star attachments? I thought my hand would fall off! My cake decorating career is over before it begins. AND I will never eat cake with buttercream icing again as long as I live. When it has to be pure white like ours was for the American flag, there is no butter in the so-called buttercream. It's CRISCO. Greasy, nasty vegetable shortening with this fake butter flavoring and a lot of powdered sugar. Disgusting. But it looked pretty!

I think the Hot Tamales put people off. We ended up buying our own cake. For a measley $12!

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving was great as usual. Brian smoked not one, but TWO turkeys so there were plenty of leftovers for everyone. Brian also made sweet potato casserole with the cinnamon, cloves and marshmallows. He made two loaves of bread, cornbread dressing and bacon-wrapped, cream cheese stuffed, grilled jalapenos. I made a pumpkin pie for the first time ever and it was perfect! I was pretty proud of myself. Linda brought the cranberry sauce. Mark was in charge of the gravy and green beans and Vanessa made butter with the Os. Homemade bread AND butter. Yummy! Vanessa also made a dessert with huckleberries she picked on Whidbey Island and Linda made whipped cream with the Os. Alex made snide comments and kept the couch warm.

The chefs at work.


Alex forced Linda to watch showed Linda photos from his recent trip to Europe. One hour and 220 photos later....

Brian isn't used to so many carbs anymore and passed out for a few minutes on the floor.


Vanessa read to the little guys.

While Mark got crazy with the medium-sized guys.

Oliver and Owen go totally nuts when a grown-up gets down to play.