Dog Walker in Training

Parker, low "child" on the totem pole, is taken out to do his business 3 times a day: morning, while the kids are napping in the afternoon, and before we go to bed.  He likes to bark at every dog, trash can, and moving object, so it's rare that he gets to go outside for extra walks.  If you feel sorry for him, you can have him.

On the rare occasion we include Parker on our walks around the 'hood with the kids, Evie has demanded to walk Parker.  I know my dog well and his less than stellar leash walking.  I was hesitant to hand over the reigns completely to my 24 pound girl.  Our dog is a solid 35 pounds and could easily pull Evie down if a squirrel crossed his path.  To my surprise, Parker walked extremely well with Evie.  Maybe it was because she was chit-chatting with him the entire time.  Listening to her repeat our commands to Parker is so darn funny.

While we were visiting MeMa this Mother's Day weekend, Parker got some extra fresh air and an ear full from Evie.  The video is rather long.  There isn't a big ending or anything special you need to wait 3 minutes, 48 seconds for; I kept the video rolling because she was hysterical bossing around Parker.

My dream of having a free dog walker might be coming true sooner than I think

Our Budding Gymnast

Evie has been a budding gymnast for years, and yes, she is only three years old.  In fact, I even blogged about Uncle Sam saying she would be one when she was 6 months old .  She is flexible and enjoys hanging on things, like the kitchen table and door handles.  Despite her pint size arms, she is a strong little thing.

So for Christmas, we bought her a trampoline.

If that doesn't just scream "future gymnast"

We've been waiting for her to turn three, since that seems to be the age most gymnastic programs begin.  Conveniently a local mom posted a flyer for a class very close to our house with a Spring/Summer session.  I signed her up and was excited to already know most of the moms/kids in the class.

Evie and I will go to gymnastics every Friday afternoon for the next 10 weeks.  After Daddy's success stories in swim class, I was eager to begin.  I want this to be our special Mommy/Daughter time together.

Week one was HORRIBLE.  Evie did not participate in any of the activities of the hour long class.  She either stood still sucking her thumb while twirling her hair, begged for me to hold her, or was having complete meltdowns.  I was so frustrated and embarrassed by her behavior as the other kids got along and tried every skill.  I want to blame that wretched time on zero nap and no snack.

After crying to Jason after week one, I decided to come more prepared for week two.  Jason, Braylen, and Evie practiced animal movements across the living room floor all week; she laughed and did every single one.  G also bought her a leotard.  Maybe if she dressed the part, she would act the part.

Positive- she was excited to put on her leotard.

Week two started off the same way.  I wanted to march her right back to the car and ask for a refund.  But I am the adult here and her cheerleader.  So after she refused to do animal moves across the mats, I brought on my A game.  She wouldn't do rolls down the elevated mat, but she would jump on the little trampoline and hang on the parallel bars after some major coaxing.   Things were looking up.

Evie attempted most of the skills if I was standing with her.  I figured out she was uncomfortable around the instructors, mostly the male one.  The teachers are the grandparents of one of the kids in the class and that age group tends to intimidate Evie.  Luckily the instructors picked up on this and Mr. Roger gave her some space.  Once we figured out the issue and removed some of that fear, Evie could shine.  She practically ran across the low beam and cracked a smile on the rope swing!  I was so relieved.  I gladly let her eat a lollipop on the way home, even if we were heading home for dinner.

Today was week three.  Evie refused to do stretches and animal crawls.  Instead she thought she would show off her mad skills of sucking her thumb while putting her pointer finger in her nose AND twirling her hair.  Sigh.  My mother will tell you I sucked my thumb and twirled my hair for years!  I still twirl my hair...

Once that trampoline came out and Mr. Roger backed away, she was good as gold.  Evie allowed the female instructor to help her with a backward roll.  She finished the routine by going through the tunnel, jumping on the trampoline, then hanging on the parallel bars.

The next station is climbing and jumping over different sized and shaped mats.  When the instructors weren't looking, Evie scaled the big rectangular one (you can see it in the background in the next photo).  They were surprised to find her at the top.  Then they move to the low balance beam, a piece of equipment that is easy for Evie.  This girl would rather walk the stone walls at the playground than go down slides.

Evie had a lot of fun on the rings this week.  She is getting the hang of (no pun intended) running on the mats then swinging with her legs bent.  Once again, she wanted me to be her spotter.  I tricked her by telling her I wanted to take a picture of her, so she needed the instructors to help her.  

She's smiling!

The last station is the rope swing.  She requests to go "higher!"  She has no problem butting in line for this activity!

I am grateful it only took two weeks to get Evie to participate.  I hope by week 10 there will be no thumb sucking/nose picking/hair twirling for the first 15 minutes.  Don't all Olympic athletes start out that way?

My Favorite .2 Seconds of the Morning

I am a morning person.  I have been one for a long time.  I always arrived at school early as a student and was one of the first teachers to school when I taught.  I can accomplish the most between the hours of 6-10 AM.

My kids throw a wrench in my productive mornings.  I am now waking begrudgingly between 5-5:30 in order to get in a workout, empty the dishwasher, fly through the shower, and maybe have a few quiet moments to think before they rise around 6:45.  Once the kids wake up it is all about survival until everyone is dressed and fed.  Mornings have turned into something I dread; they are a far cry from my quiet mornings of checking things off my to-do list.

As I rush through the morning routine, I try to pause and enjoy a few seconds of cuteness: Evie starting her morning with a song, Braylen saying "Dadio" when Jason opens his door, and E & B's sweet morning faces.  My favorite moment is on the mornings when Jason gets Braylen dressed.  Braylen will bust into our room with this smirk on his face to show me his outfit.  It's like he knows he is a stud and I will smother him in love once he finds me.

I few comments before you watch- my voice is more annoying than normal.  One word sums up this time of year in Maryland- allergies.  Also, I was thrilled to see the green Eagles sweatshirt makes an appearance :)

Easter

A typical question in my family is "so, what are you wearing for _____"  (fill in event or holiday).  For Easter, I feel pressure to dress Evie in some fancy dress thanks to my mother, I feel pressure to decide on outfits months in advance thanks to my MIL, and I feel pressure to have my family's outfits all coordinate thanks to my sister.

So I found a somewhat "fancy dress" for Evie in her hand me down bins, I had my MIL buy Braylen an Easter outfit weeks in advance, and I laid our outfits out together on my bed Saturday night to see if we would clash or match in the obligatory family photo.

Insert family photo here

Don't try clicking, there is no family picture.  

We spent Saturday night/Sunday early morning alternating between crying/screaming children.  I think that was the night I slept in Evie's toddler bed two different times for 45 minutes rubbing her back trying to convince her to sleep.  I noticed before bed that Braylen has some creamy goop in his one eye.  I thought it was milk at dinner, since he flings milk all over the place.   

As I fought Evie to take off her pajamas in the morning, Jason asked if we were going to church.  I promptly said, "YES!  We are going unless Braylen's eye is swollen shut".

Jason walks into Braylen's room and comes back to Evie's room with a pathetic looking Braylen with his eye practically swollen shut.  Evie at this point was screaming her ear hurt.

Scratch the Easter attire, put on sweatpants, we are going to Kinder Mender.

So instead of going to church on the holiest holidays, we were at Kinder Mender with two sick kids.  Evie had an ear infection and Braylen had pink eye.  Lovely.

There went our plans of having a yummy dinner at Auntie Laura's house.  There went an egg hunt.  (Yes, I could have done one at our house, but we have 4 eggs).  There went my awesome evening of no cooking (selfish, I know).  I might have shed a tear as we ate some thrown together chicken thigh recipe that wasn't good.  

There you go- Easter 2014 was a real dud here in the clothing, egg hunt, and eating departments.  The good news is Easter is way more than clothing, eggs, and food.  So although we didn't celebrate the way our culture tells us to, Christ is risen, and that is enough for eternity :)



Just for the blog record- Evie dyed eggs with her cousins before Easter

Fascinated by the fizzling color tablet

All smocked out

Bray observed while enjoying some goldfish

Hannah ran the show.  The younger ones lose
interest after the tablet stops fizzing.

After Dinner Entertainment

Here is a glimpse of our life with Evie.  She is one passionate, spontaneous singer

Molar Madness

Braylen is cutting molar #4 of his first year molars.  The top two were first, followed shortly by the bottom two.  Tylenol and Hyland's Teething Tablets are our teething remedies.  It's all about sleep around this house.  Molars may hurt coming in, but they bring welcomed chewing support.  I feel more comfortable giving Braylen harder foods and meats with molars.  12 teeth in... 8 more to go!

And speaking of molars- Evie went to the dentist today.  No lie, our dentist's name is Dr. Mohler.  Cracks me up every time.  

We decided to bring Evie to our dentist instead of the recommended pediatric dentist.  She went in about a year ago for her first "check-up".  It was more like Jason held her down while Dr. Mohler quickly painted some fluoride on her teeth.  We were in the conference room, not even a real room.  I think it was unnecessary, but something I could answer "yes" to when the pediatrician asked if we have seen the dentist yet.

As with swimming, I prepped Evie weeks in advance for the dentist by reading her a book about going to the dentist.  She asked questions and pointed out different things on each page.  She allows us to brush her teeth, so I felt like we might be in good shape for today.  Wishful thinking!

I sent Braylen to Lisa's while I took Evie to see Dr. Mohler.  We waited 35 minutes in the waiting room (boo!) BUT in that amount of time she warmed up and was asking for Dr. Mohler.  The wait might have been worth it.

Evie had my normal hygentist, Angie.  We were both skeptical after Evie kept her thumb in her mouth and said no to everything.  The air/water sprayer turned her around.  I was really pleased how well Angie handled the appointment.  She showed Evie all the instruments and asked if she wanted to touch them.  Evie allowed her to count her teeth.  Then she showed her the tooth brush for polishing which had a zebra head on it.  Evie thought that was cool.  Evie willingly opened her mouth and let Angie clean every one of her teeth!  I almost cried happy tears.  I was so proud of Evie for doing it (I might have bribed her before we left the house with two Hershey Kisses if she opened her mouth).  Evie loved the water sprayer in her mouth and quickly picked up how the suction straw worked.  When asked if she needed more water to clean her teeth, Evie happily replied "one more time".  

Attempt #1

Attempt #2.  I kept the first attempt so you
could tell we were at the dentist.  Notice Baby
came with us.

Evie was not as comfortable with Dr. Mohler even though I told her he would be just like Daddy (ie same age, has kids about the same age as us, goes to the same gym).  He was able to look around and paint her teeth with fluoride.  We had been at the dentist for over an hour at this point, so I can see why she was antsy.  He commented about the thumb sucking.  We have another year before we really need to start working on that.  Good.  Because that is the last thing I feel like doing right now.  

Evie picked up some prizes from the tooth bin and got a new toothbrush.  She proudly ate her two promised Hershey Kisses in the car.  A total success!  

And a huge THANK YOU to Lisa for watching Braylen for me.

Last Swim Class

Evie had her last swim class tonight.  She asked me to come watch her "jump off starting block".  Apparently last week they practiced jumping into the pool from the wall and then off the starting blocks!  Daddy said she jumped in a few times, taking on a ton of water.  I was excited to see her in action this week.

Unfortunately, Miss Sam, her swim instructor, was not there today, so there was a sub teacher.  She didn't do any of the normal fun songs with them.  How disappointing for her last class.  From my two times at the Y to watch her and from Daddy's stories, I am thrilled with her first swim class experience.  It was a great bonding activity for her and Daddy and she clearly made progress over the last 7 weeks.

Check out her jumping and dog paddle skills-

This one makes me laugh-

Evie was cold and timid around the sub, so the starting block jump wasn't the big finale we thought it would be.  Nevertheless, I captured something.  (this one is slightly painful to watch.  I promise, she does go in)  

Since she needs to take the same swim class again based on her age, we aren't signing her up again.  Instead, she starts gymnastics next Friday!