All grown up

4 years ago. 7 weeks early. 3 lbs 13 ounces. 17 days in the NICU. 

1 month later...still a tiny little peanut. 

4 years later...

Future Blackmail

I would feel a bit guilty if she hadn't grabbed the hat and baton herself. She started walking with the baton like it was a cane. T & I were rolling around laughing and I knew this would have to go public.

A King, a Jester and a Dragon

What do you do when you are a 4 year old boy and you are invited to a princess party (royal attire requested)?  Well,  you dress as a King, a Jester or a Dragon, of course. I was happy to have another reason for him to sport his Easter clothes, so we added a crown and voila! There were two other boys and they were dressed, you guessed it, as a Jester and a Dragon! Adorable. 

Serious kudos to the host King & Queen for the fabulous party. Love the refrigerator box castle, the treasure hunt, the tiara making, etc. Way more creative than I can fathom. 

Pump Up the Birthday

The Big B turns 4 this coming weekend. We had a great time at play group today - an outing to Pump it Up (indoor inflatable bounce house park). 

The kids were literally silent as they watched the instructional video. Can you tell they are learning to listen and follow directions at preschool?

Mommy gets into the action on the big slide.

The two B's share a friendly game of air hockey.

Then the girls get into the action. 

Here we are - our "little" play group. 6 families. 7 olders (3-4 years old). 5 youngers (18 mo - 2 years). 2 more on the way. 

The Beautiful B. 

And yes, the shirt is true, but that is another post all by itself! 

Elton John goes swimming

B has never been what I would call a joiner. Once he had the words to voice his opinion, he has always chosen to do his own thing rather than play a team sport or work on a group project. As an example, when we go to the local "pizza-playground" and they have story time and crafts, B would rather skip the story and art and head back to the slide. Last year during summer camp at his school, he cried on the first day of basketball camp. When the teacher explained that he didn't have to play, he could just sit and watch, he calmed down. The next day, about 1/3 of his classmates decided they'd rather sit out with him. Finally, when I asked him if he wanted to join some of his play group friends and take a soccer class this winter, he told me, "But Mom, I already know how to play soccer. I don't need to take a class."  

So, I was a bit leery about enrolling him in swimming lessons.  We'd gone to the pool with both B & G and saw how uncomfortable and unfamiliar it had become for him. (B & I took toddler parent-baby swimming classes for about 6 months so he'd been in a pool quite a bit but it had been more than a year ago.) I signed him up and we talked about it a bit in advance. He started to explain to me that he didn't need lessons - he knew how to swim. I told him that even Tiger Woods takes golf lessons to get better, so he was going to swimming - end of discussion. Well, he loves it. He tells me several times during each week that he is excited for Monday because he gets to swim. His class is small (4 students ages 3 - 5 years) and his instructor is very no-nonsense. They get into the water and she helps them put on fins and goggles. She doesn't give them a chance to say no, she just works with each of them through each skill and they get to go on the slide at the end of class. 

B chose his goggles himself today. I think he may have a future in show business...

7 down, 3 to go

T has been busy traveling on the East Coast and into the UK since last Monday. When he's gone, I try to fill the time, especially weekends, with lots of outings. Today was no exception as we traveled to see my parents and my middle sister and her family. We ate at Red Robin, played at the park, went to ice cream and topped it off with some time at my sister's house, bouncing on their trampoline. It was no wonder that both kids crashed in the car on the way home. 

B spent the time at the park running and refused to pose for the camera. I only got this shot with the help of a fast camera since he turned only for a brief moment. 

G, on the other hand, was happy to pose for photos.

A well-deserved DQ stop with the grandparents. 
Check out the chocolate ice cream mustache on Big B.
And the vanilla ice cream mustache on little B.
My beautiful mother and sister pose for the camera. 
G wanted to hide from photos.
Then turned it into a game of peek-a-boo or "pete-a-boo" as she calls it.
Finally, bouncing away on the trampoline. It took LOTS of prompting to get them to stop bouncing long enough for G to be able to get to her feet.

It didn't last long.
But they really had a great time.
And all went down for a nap...(not)!!

Happy Spring!!

Nature vs. Nurture - The New Spin

We were off to the park today to visit with some families who have also adopted from Ethiopia. Today, we had 6 families and LOTS of kids. I didn't take photos of the entire group, but took a few at the end as I was making a few observations with another mother. Our discussion revolved around Boy Energy and Girl Energy. I got a great set of photos to prove the point. 

Here is B. Posing for a nice happy photo. Notice the stick in his hand. 

Enter G. She wanted to play around the tree, too. 

She even wanted to play with sticks.

But when the option to play peek-a-boo with a friend comes along, she'd rather play.

As B attacked the tree with his stick, then decided it was a fire-shooting weapon, the girls started to walk around, hand-in-hand. So we have my little nature boy with his sticks and our little nurturing girls holding hands. Ahhhhhhh.