Cubbie Bear

So, kiddos who think it's perfectly acceptable to get out of bed multiple times during each naptime and bedtime create a world not fit for having time to write a blog post. I'm hoping to come up with a new strategy for this addressing this behavior as the current one of threats/yelling/punishing (in no particular order) doesn't seem to be working.

Anywho, last post I mentioned I wanted to share Ava's Cubbies experience from this past year. This was her first year in Awana, and she loved it! There's a book to use with a story and memory verse for each week and at the beginning of the year, she was not content to stop with one story and one verse. Even as we got closer to the end of the year and the end of the book she wanted to go back and read past stories. It makes me happy to see her excited about learning God's Word.

Toward the end of the year, there's a Cubbie Bear fair complete with all sorts of carnival type games, balloon animals, face painting and, of course, treats. A parent is supposed to attend, so I got to go with Ava. She had lots of fun, but it was pretty clear that she is not going to be the athlete of the family.... the girl throws like... well, a girl. Sometimes I was really wondering if she even had her eyes open. I felt sorry for the teens running the games who had to run hither and yonder to retrieve whatever item Ava had attempted to throw in their direction. We did find one game where she excelled - a shooting game, surprisingly enough. She pointed that little gun, pulled the trigger and shot down each one of the targets. At first I thought it must be rigged somehow to let the kids "win" easily until the next little girl took her turn and couldn't manage to hit a target after several tries. Go sharpshooter Ava!

She doesn't look it, but she was pretty happy about the face painting.


Ava with her Cubbie Bear award earned for finishing her book & saying all her verses!

Next year, we'll have 2 Cubbies! Well, we will if Carter can figure out this potty training stuff. He can stay dry all day (even most nights!), but the other, oh the other... why, oh why would you want to do that in your pants if you can help it? And I know he can help it!

Creative Juices

Ava seems to be learning things by leaps and bounds lately. She's been very interested in letters and words plus she's started drawing more (for a while, she'd only draw faces... when I asked if she'd like to try other things, I'd get a, "I don't know how to draw anything else." I didn't think 4-year-olds were supposed to be afraid to try things!). She has been on a card-making kick - drawing pictures and writing her name as well as the recipient's. Most have been for me or Mark, but we've also mailed a few and if you come over, you'll probably leave with one of her creations. I love it! I recently got a "Hooked on Phonics" learn to read set for a great deal, and she wants to "play it" all the time. I'm finding it a challenge to know whether we should focus on writing or reading, but I'm letting her guide me.

She also seems to be more sensitive to spiritual things. I love to hear her talk about how God loves us! Sometimes I think concepts are a challenge to understand, though - she has mentioned several times that she is going to ask Jesus to be her Savior, but she wants to wait until after we go to the beach because she wants to go there before she goes to heaven. I've explained on several occasions that we don't go to heaven immediately after asking Jesus to be our Savior, but so far, she's not buying it.


She loves to sing and make up songs, too, and Carter's even caught on to that one. On Mother's Day, he sang a great little ditty with the lyrics, "I love you, Mommy." Of course, the next day I heard the same song tune with the slightly different lyric, "I love you, cars," but I'm willing to share his affection. He also loves puzzles (in addition to the old favorites of trains, cars & trucks). He surprises me with how well he can put them together, but that's probably because when I'm trying to explain something important to him (like why pulling all the covers and sheets off Ava's bed when he's supposed to be taking a nap is not appropriate), he just looks at me with a blank stare. I must have confused boredom for lack of intelligence.

One of many garage sale finds!

Audrey has become the champion roller. She can sit by herself, but is rarely content to. (At least that's what I'm telling myself when she topples over after a few seconds!) She is constantly rolling toward or getting into Carter's toys and he can't stand it! We're working on teaching/learning that she can't hurt them and it isn't kind to viciously grab them out of her hand or roll her away from them. Baby girl also loves to pull off her socks and chew on them (see picture below for proof!). Tights? She pulls off as much as she needs to reach her mouth and sucks away.

I started writing this several days ago, and since then, she's started creeping. She's quite a sight - reaching out with her hands and at the same time propelling herself forward with her toes! Carter is out of luck. We may have to move his toys upstairs!

I'll post soon about Ava and her first year of Awana!

The Cutting of the Hairs

Before

After

Ava's been asking for her hair to be cut short for about a month. I had no strong feelings about her having long hair; the fact that it got long was more due to my laziness in getting it cut (and my cheap nature in not wanting to pay upwards of $15 for a haircut for her!). Great Clips is having their $4.99 sale, so we went for haircuts. This is actually shorter than the "to her shoulders" that I requested, but since she kept asking for it to be cut chin-length, I guess she got her wish. I thought I'd have a harder time getting used to her shorter 'do, but I'm a little more sad about Carter's - there's something sweet about him waking up from his nap sweaty with curls all over and now all the curls are gone! Mark reassures me that they'll grow back, but I do miss them a little.

Carter Reads

I was feeding Audrey breakfast one day while Carter was reading to himself. I grabbed the camera (which is to blame for the very poor quality) and asked him to read some so I could tape him (but was a little distracted by his sisters which is to blame for me cutting off the top of his head repeatedly). Please pardon the dress-up clothes strewn about, the hacking courtesy of Ava and the various other background noises of Ava trying to entertain Audrey. She obviously isn’t as entertained by Carter reading to himself as I am.

Blue Hat Green Hat by Sandra Boynton

(hopefully you can understand him – each page is a series of different colors of the same item on an animal, but the last animal isn’t wearing it properly, so the text is “oops.”) Also, Sandra Boynton books are the best!

I particularly loved when Ava tried to help and Carter about bit her head off. Just another day at our house.

Wiggle Waggle by Jonathan London

This is only a small clip of one of our current favorite books and a great way to distract/pass the time when we’re out somewhere. One night after reading this book for one of the first times, I was putting Carter to bed and heard him say under his breath, “Bumble Roll, Bumble Roll” (how a bear walks for those not so informed), so I started going through all the animals and was impressed with his comprehension of how all the animals walk.

Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard

This is my favorite to hear Carter read. I added subtitles in case you can’t understand him.

Who needs TV when you have Carter around to read?

Six Months

I can't believe Audrey has been here for 6 months (well, outside my womb, that is). She's come around to trying out new foods and she's also become a championship roller. If left to her own devices, she'll keep rolling and rolling until she gets stuck. I've been warning Ava especially that her teeny tiny toys cannot be left on the floor or they might get eaten.

Carter will not be happy about this

Moving on...

... and stuck... but SO happy! (Don't you wish you could kiss those cheeks? Aren't you jealous that I get to all day long?)

Spring has Sprung!

Spring is officially here and I have a newfound appreciation for being outside after months of being stuck inside. We did finally make it to a children's museum a few weeks ago where we may just have to become members when the weather turns cool again this fall. A few weeks ago, they had free admission, so we went to check it out and the kids loved it (Audrey showed her excitement by sleeping most of the time).

Carter LOVES mascots!

Audrey will be six months old this week! She's been rolling from back to belly for a few weeks but has yet to master belly to back, which has led to a very unhappy baby from time to time when she rolls over in her sleep and can't figure out why she's on her belly. She's also discovered her feet - one of my favorite baby achievements. She has no desire to sit up yet, instead diving for her feet anytime I attempt to put her in a sitting position. We've also started some "solids" but the first few items were of no interest to her. Ava & Carter were ecstatic to try solids, so I wasn't sure what to do with her, but kept trying and once we hit bananas, she's been good to go!

Slacking!!

The last post was over a month ago! I kept meaning to post, but the longer I took, the more I put it off because there was so much to update. So, I'm just going to jump in. Here's a quick snapshot of what's been happening.

Several months ago (even before Audrey was born), Ava started waking up several times a night. She'd have a few good nights and then she'd go back to "needing" something ("ummm... ummmm... Mommy, I'm going to be hungry in the morning." Seriously? You woke me up at 3am to tell me that?). I didn't want her to feel alone and scared, but all of us needed better sleep. We tried various incentives to reward her for getting through an entire night without calling out for us. This would work for a night or two and then she'd have enough and would yell out only moments after I'd put her to bed, "I don't want any m&m's in the morning!!" Our original plan was to move Audrey into her room once Audrey started sleeping through the night, but we kept putting it off because Ava wasn't. We finally decided to move Ava into Carter's room about 3 weeks ago. The arrangement is still new and exciting which means they take longer to fall asleep and wake up earlier, but she is waking up and calling out much less frequently during the night... and they're both taking great naps! Ava has also recently become more and more interested in writing her letters. She knows how to write her name, but wanted me to show her how to write Carter's (significantly more difficult, of course!). I was so proud!

I've also been trying to be very consistent in my discipline of Ava. She has gotten quite used to doing EVERYTHING her way, and I've not done much to curb that. She is quite the negotiator and manipulator. When I ask her to do something, her response is not immediate compliance. I'll often get a "when I'm done with..." or "how about I..." I found myself getting frustrated with her and realized I was the one who let it get to this point. So, I'm working on re-training her on what it means to obey. She definitely is the one who challenges me the most as a mom, but as I am consistent each and every time she disobeys, I'm finding her responsive to the instruction. She definitely wears me out!

Carter has been talking up a storm. He still loves his trains and cars, but if Ava's getting dressed up like a princess, he usually needs to be beautified as well. I try to remember to take out the barrettes before we go out of the house. One of my favorite things these days is to observe him reading to himself. I so wish I had the video camera out when he was reading Grumpy Bird, a story about a bird who wakes up on the wrong side of the bed and as he is walking (too grumpy to fly), all his animal friends ask what he's doing. The answer each time is "walking" and he gets more and more irritated the more he's asked. As Carter reads it, he'll turn a page, say, "What are you doing?" then respond in the grumpiest voice he can muster, "WALKING!" until he gets to the end where they all stand on one foot and such. OH. MY. I could not stop laughing! While he's not the negotiator Ava is, he is starting to have opinions about being obedient as well. Usually all I have to do is ask if he'd rather be disciplined, and he jumps to it, though. He also LOVES to help in the kitchen. He'll drag a little chair over to see what's going on and loves to pour and stir and especially lick the beaters if something sweet is being whipped up. He also loves to help wash dishes (otherwise known as playing in the water).

Audrey continues to be sweeter than sweet. Although she must have been testing us lately, too, because after sleeping through the night (and usually sleeping in until around 8am each morning) for a couple months, she started waking up at all times of the night and continued to do so for about 3 weeks. I'm guessing a growth spurt hit it off and then she got used to waking up and getting a full meal during the night. I'm glad to say she seems to have gotten past it and has slept wonderfully the past week. She also seems determined to such her thumb. Ava used a pacifier for a short time and Carter was never interested in putting anything into his mouth (which was interesting when it came to teaching him to feed himself), so thumb-sucking wasn't an issue before. I know it's very normal, but I hear so many horror stories about teeth problems or breaking the habit later. We keep pulling it out, but I think we're fighting a losing battle. If I check on her while she's sleeping, she almost always has the thumb in (it is rather sweet, though!).

For more pictures from the past month, go here.