Friday, April 26, 2013

Park Addiction

We have been going to the park on both of my days off each week. I think our boys are addicted, especially Dexter. Today we were there for just over 2 hours. The boys were exhausted so we put them down for a nap as soon as we got home. The first thing Dexter said when they woke up was "Play on the playground? Yes??" No buddy, not until Tuesday. They have so much fun there and they exercise nonstop. I am thrilled that they want to be outside so much. In between trips to the park we are trying to take them out in the backyard every day, too. We put up their little climber and are building a sandbox to make the yard more fun and kid friendly. Hopefully my next post will be about it being completed!

This is a picture of the super awesome, addicting playground. It's huge and this doesn't even show the 2 ponds or all of the sporting fields!

 This teeter totter does not go crashing to the ground if your partner jumps off. Simon will never know the betrayal of his brothers setting him up for failure and a hurt butt.

I can hardly believe that Linus only recently graduated from PT. This kid climbs like a monkey! 

 Dexter was a maniac with the swings wanting to be pushed higher and higher.

 Simon has some serious balancing skills. He went back and forth over this thing several times and never fell.

More climbing from the monkey boy.

 I was really proud of Dexter for going down this tall slide. He's a bit more apprehensive then his brothers about such things.

 All 3 boys kept going up this hill then down the stairs. Not sure what the big attraction was, but they sure had fun doing it.

The whole time they were at the water's edge, they were throwing dead grass clippings into the pond. One duck swam over to see if there was anything edible, but quickly left. We saw 6 ducks this trip. Next time we are definitely bringing them some food. I can't wait to see the boys faces when they come over en masse!

Friday, April 19, 2013

6 Long Months of Silence

Well, it's been 6 long months since I last posted and so much has happened! I even have a few half written posts sitting in the que long forgotten. Anywho, back on the horse.

The boys are doing amazing. They are getting so big and learning so much! Simon & Dexter are often mistaken for 3 or 4 year olds. If you haven't been following Linus's page, let me tell you right now. He is a freaking rockstar. In the year since his last surgery he has learned to stand, walk, run and jump. He's begun eating by mouth at a rate that makes us very very close to weaning his g-tube. His heart muscle is remodeling and he's down to only 2 medications! I can not say enough about the progress 14 short months has brought him. 

Since I last wrote, we've moved. We're in a much better neighborhood with all sorts of perks and activities very close by. This house also has a backyard for the boys to safely play in. I swear it's our most favorite feature even though it's so covered in weeds and clover that there isn't a single blade of grass. In a few years it will be beautiful. The only downside is the house is a major fixer upper. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we're up for the job. In the last 4 months we've already tackled numerous DIY projects and had to pay the experts to come in a few times. Slowly, but surely, this place will see a transformation over the next several years.

This week we decided to find and take part in some of the free kids activities around town. The boys LOVE reading books at home so Tues we went to a book store that hosts a story time followed by crafts and a cookie. The boys had a great time playing with the puzzles and could not have cared less about the story if they tried. They were a little too loud for our comfort, but I took solace in the fact that several other toddlers were giving their mommies grey hair, too. Dexter and Linus really enjoyed craft time. Simon threw himself face down on the floor and stayed there a solid 10 minutes. At least he was quiet... When he finally got up, he went and found a book about animals and "read" to himself for the remainder of craft time. After cookie time the boys were insane. INSANE.

We decided that it was high time to run off some of their pent up energy and went searching for a park we'd heard about. Oh my goodness, did it ever live up to our expectations. They had so much fun! In no time at all they were climbing and running and sliding to their hearts content. It was little difficult to keep track of the 3 of them in such a large structure, but we did pretty good. They had such a blast that we went back today and stayed a few hours. We also explored some of the outlying areas of this huge park including one of the duck ponds and the soccer fields. Being able to let the boys run for yards and yards without being afraid they'd reach a street or some other danger was invigorating. We're going to try to go back at least once a week. I think we need to give story time a few more tries, but Trina remains unconvinced. We'll see...




 Puzzles are awesome. Stories...not so much.

I had a minor freak out when they gave scissors to the toddlers. Eek! Linus was a pro at stabbing this sponge and not slicing his fingers to bits. I did breathing exercises and prepared to hold pressure on the impending wounds. 

 Dexter used almost an entire bottle of glue while sticking a never ending stack of papers to this plate. Trina told him he'd used enough, but I decided if they handed him a bottle of glue, not a tiny paper bucket, they must have meant for it to be used in excess. They DID put 3 bottles on each table. 

 I'd be lying if I said this book did not come home with us turning our free outing into a $7 outing. Look at the joy on Simon's face, though! That kid loves everything about animals to the point of obsession.

 Post cookie craziness. Can you spot 3 kid shaped blurs?

Off to the park for climbing and sliding and running around!


 Much to Linus's dismay, you still get a time out at the park if you don't listen to Mama.


 Park outing, take two!

 The boys loved watching this lovely pair of Mallards. They pointed and yelled "Duck!" and quacked at them quite a bit, too. Mommy made them all sit down for fear one of them would fall in in their duck fueled excitement.

Next we ran through the fields and picked grass to throw into the wind.

Then I spun the boys round and round and watched them try to walk a straight line only to fall onto their face when their sense of balance betrayed them. 

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Birthday Boys

Well, our boys turned 2. I'm not sure how it happened really. It seems that just a moment ago they were tiny, little babies. Now they're kids. Kids! We had their birthday party at the Children's Museum. They LOVE that place so it was perfect. Trina meticulously planned every detail and hand made almost everything. It took weeks of diligent crafting. The actual party was over in a flash. My memory of it is a blur of primary colors, laughing, running, crying, playing children. Adults scattered about, trying to corral or herd various children and then poof, it was over. I don't remember a single conversation I had with anyone. I'm told people had a good time, so that's nice. I didn't think the boys had enough time to play, but when we were leaving, none of them cried. They always cry when we leave so I know they didn't share my same disappointment. They had a great time and really, that's the only thing that matters to me. 


I took off their nice shirts so they wouldn't be stained. I actually brought specific "cupcake eating shirts" but decided naked cupcake eating was fine. We don't stand on ceremony around here. Simon and Dexter dug right in. Linus touched his once, realized it was messy and started wiping his hands and yelling for a spoon. 


Mmmmm, ice cream. Not sure where Dex ran off to...


I love the look on Linus and Dexter's faces in this pic. Linus is driving like a mad man and Dexter looks terrified. 


Dexter had fun spinning these flower shaped sun catchers.


Simon sliding all by himself. I remember when I'd have to hold him upright so he didn't fall back and hit his head.


Linus putting balls in the holes and watching them bounce around as they fall to the bottom.


Wouldn't you know the only thing they all wanted to play with was a little baby toy. All 3 of them sat still for like 15 minutes with this thing. I may need to buy one...


Linus having a solo tea party. he ket stirring the tea, taking a sip and saying "Mmmmm."


Dexter and Linus took turns driving the truck while Simon loaded the bed.


Big cheese from Dexter. 


PT is definitely paying off. Linus can take the stairs like a champ!


Simon has a little stuffed panda that he is VERY attached to. He wanted to bring it along, but I wouldn't let him for fear that he'd get lost and Simon would be heartbroken. Well, Simon found a big stuffed panda at the museum and he was ecstatic! He was yelling "Pah!" and signing panda over and over. He carried it around the whole time we were there. I started getting scared that he would be sad to leave this surrogate panda behind. Luckily I was able to distract him as we left. Whew, crisis averted.


Linus in awe of the giant bubble tube. He kept signing "ball" and "bubble."


Simon was digging the cow in a major way. Here he's saying & signing cow.


Driving around in the choo choo wagon playing with water.


Three very sleepy boys after a long, fun day.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Cheerio Fiasco

On the mornings that I am in charge of the boys, I have a basic routine. This routine involves me serving the boys breakfast at their table then going to pick out their clothes for the day and grabbing diapers and such. That way I can change and dress them as I clean them up from breakfast. Apparently during the 3-4 minutes I was gone they decided that they needed more cereal. Being the independent, helpful boys that they are, they got it themselves. Looks like it may be time to change my routine...

Dexter was picking each piece of cereal up and putting it back in the box, Simon was shoveling the evidence into his mouth by the double fist fulls and Linus fled the scene of the crime.

 Dexter: "1, 2, 3, 4..."
Simon; "Ooh, look, a hat!"
Linus: "What cereal? I'm just over here eating yogurt like a good boy."

 I'm *that* mom, so I made them help me clean up. 

Them swinging the brooms like golf clubs was *extra* helpful. How else could I have gotten all that cereal under the fridge and the stove?

Linus: "Ooh, look, a hat!