Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

I see two little bears reading together!

Dane has (finally) taken a much larger interest in books and being read to. We read a lot of books most days because Gavin has always loved to be read to. Dane now has several books that he really loves and we read several times almost every day. One of those is Brown Bear, Brown Bear. Last week I was able to get a picture of Gavin reading the book to Dane. Apparently Gavin has heard the story enough to be able to "read" it by using the pictures as cues for what color and animal is next. He does it perfectly and it is incredibly sweet to watch and hear. He has been doing this for a couple weeks and I finally was able to get a picture of them!

Silly Week!

We have been stuck at home a lot because of the weather, our friends being sick, and the cough that Gavin had (and now Dane has one - at least we had about 2 weeks cough free and it certainly could be worse). So, other than errands and a playdate or two, we have only really had each other for entertainment. Sometimes we play together, sometimes Gavin and Dane are off together playing, and sometimes they are playing on their own.

We have done some fun projects together, played out in the snow, and rotated through some toys to keep life more interesting, and done as much running and jumping inside as possible when it has been too cold to be outside much.

Dane went off to his room to pull out some toys there that he hasn't played with in a long time. He found some pacifiers mixed in (apparently we need to rotate out some of the "baby" toys) and put a couple in his mouth. It was really funny. Gavin and Dane never had any interest in pacifiers, so it is funny when they come across one and the put it in the mouths. I am grateful we never had to worry about breaking a pacifier habit now that they are older!

We pulled out my exercise ball and put air in it again. It was put away not long after Dane was born because Gavin was getting a bit too wild and reckless with it. It had provided a lot of entertainment, as well as another way to burn more energy for all of us! We have rolled it, bounced on it, and tried various experiments to see what would happen. So much fun!

Gavin loves to practice using scissors, so he was allowed to when Dane was napping so there was no fighting over scissors, which always seems to happen even though they each have their own kid scissors

Dane loves standing at the counter to help, this day he was more interested in the container of carrots, cucumbers, and tomatoes and dipping them in the hummus.

The boys brought up a smallish soft outdoor ball to roll around as well. It is great having a long hallway for them to roll and run back and forth through!

We have pretended to be race cars and run through our race track. We often pull out my phone to time each other because a little competition makes it even more fun for them. Gavin gets really into it and often pretends to crash and ask for a pit stop to be fixed. Then Dane does his version mimicking Gavin. They are so dramatic about it, its really funny.

We have done a few science experiments that they both enjoyed. We blew up a balloon using baking soda and vinegar. We also put some food coloring in milk and then used dish soap to watch the colors swirl through the  milk, away from the soap. It was really pretty.

We have read, a lot. I have really enjoyed reading books that I had when I was little, to Gavin. He has taken an interest in the Berenstain Bears and the various golden books we had. It is fun to see where I had written my name in the books or put stickers or written other things as I got older. I am glad I have some books to share with Gavin as he is starting to enjoy much longer stories.

Overall, nothing too exciting in the last week  but being stuck inside has forced us to be more creative! We likely have a couple more months before it will be warming up and we will be able to spend more time outside, so I am sure we will be trying out lots of other new ways to have fun!

Fun Month!

Since getting home from PA and returning to normal life, we have been making some changes to our routine. Some I have been wanting to be more committed to doing for months but hadn't made the time to follow through yet and others were a result of wanting to eliminate more of the "junk" from our diet.

The first things I implemented were new charts for Gavin and Dane to give them a visual of our day, our expectations of their "contributions", and a way for us all to work together in improving their skills and learning new skills. It is essentially like a chore chart that covers making beds (they help to make them), brushing their teeth (they get to do their own in the morning and I do the night to make sure they have clean teeth before bed), reading/workbook/"school" time as well as regular just reading books before bed or whenever they ask throughout the day, helping to put away clean silverware and loading dirty silverware into the dishwasher, and helping to clean up toys. Although they each have their own chart, Gavin has the added incentive of a reward chart to help work on some other behaviors that seemed to become a bit of a problem again. It serves as a reminder for me to be more patient and help him work through issues and him to remember the tips he has been given to manage frustration, helping out when asked, and being a good listener. We used this in the past in a slightly different form and it was very helpful. It really is only a temporary solution that has helped us get back on track after a few tough weeks between birthdays, holidays, illnesses, and travelling. So far Gavin has been really embracing the helping out more and he loves his new chart. Dane is mostly indifferent to it, but he already loves to be heavily involved in any cooking and cleaning that happens so he doesn't always need to be reminded to participate.

We have also been doing more consistent pre-school type work and activities together. Since Gavin has a later October birthday, I made the decision a long time ago that I wasn't going to send him to kindergarten when he was 4 turning 5. The expectations are so much different now with far less play and interaction time and far more sitting, I want to keep him home so he can enjoy being a kid longer before he gets put into the school system. Since preschools are so expensive here, it is highly unlikely he will be attending preschool outside of home so I thought it would be good to help him start working on some skills he will need in a more fun and relaxed environment. Some days we spend 5 minutes and he is clearly done and we move on to just reading or a fun project and others he spends 30-45 minutes happily practicing various skills in his workbook or asking for new mazes to complete. It is fun to sit with him while he works on it and to have that time with him. Dane is often there but is usually bored with coloring or any activity pretty quickly so he usually bails to go play independently.

As far as changes to our eating habits, it has gone pretty well. Overall, we do eat pretty healthy. Lots of fruits and vegetables throughout the day which is great but some of the snacking was getting out of hand. So I eliminated the availability of most crackers and replaced with pretzels as an occasional snack and then nuts and raisins/craisins and even more fruits and vegetables being available. We also often have yogurt and kefir which Dane loves. We replaced white bread with whole grain whole wheat (which Scott isn't happy about but Gavin and Dane don't seem to mind) and cut back on grains overall. In the summer we eat far less in the way of grains but in the winter it is much more appealing with the cold and yucky weather. Plus the variety of fruits and vegetables available at reasonable prices is so small, it is definitely harder to keep things interesting without falling back on having pasta or breads fill in the gaps. I think we were eating so much excess from how things were the last few months, that we are all really appreciating getting back to healthier eating habits. I know I feel much better when I am eating normal amounts and more healthy food choices and limiting the "junk".

It has been hard being inside more because of the really cold weather we have had, but we have managed to have lots of fun even being stick inside.Art projects, making play dough, science experiments, running around/playing hide and seek, bouncing on large balls, jumping on beds, and making tents. We have enjoyed Gavin's new tackling dummy. Lots of fun ways to burn off the extra energy that is so much easier to burn when they can spend the day outside!

So, all in all, we have had a fun start to the year and I have lots of fun things still planned to spread out over the next couple of months before it warms up enough we can start spending our days outside again.

Happy Birthday Dane!

I guess I finally have to accept Dane is no longer a baby, although he will always be my baby, right? Kind of like how Gavin will always be my baby, right? That doesn't make me crazy, does it?

Regardless, it is an exciting day for Dane and while I do share in that excitement, I am also sad that the time seems to pass me by before I even realize it. Dane is an amazing little boy. Sweet, fun, silly, thoughtful, happy, smart, and so much more. He brings an irreplaceable element to our little family and we are so thankful for it. He is certainly becoming a much more willful little person and that can be hard at times, but it is still awesome to see him go through the changes that happen as children grow. It is so different from Gavin, so it is fun for different reasons.

Dane is getting so big, he is up to 35.25 inches and 29 pounds, 7 ounces! A huge different from where Gavin was at 2, so he seems so small still, but he clearly isn't small! I think it must be he looks so skinny because he is all muscle, just like Gavin, just on a smaller scale.

Dane loves to help out with anything I am doing. He loves to help cook (especially if there is stirring involved),vacuum, dust, make beds, move laundry, and pretty much anything else going on each day. He is so curious, he loves to figure out how things work and to be involved in fixing things as well. He is actually a great helper most of the time. During clean up times, he is able to sort toys to the various bins/shelves. He is usually gentle and careful when helping to stir so he loves that I let him even help stir hot things on the stove. He is pretty good at cleaning up after any messes he makes when eating and vacuuming up things that were dumped by accident, as well as just general vacuuming. He absolutely loves when he gets to help, it is so sweet to watch how excited and proud he is of his contributions!

Dane loves food in pretty much any form. He rarely refuses food in front of him and it usually means he just isn't hungry. He loves a huge variety of foods and eats pretty much everything we eat with very few exceptions. He loves to try pretty much everything. If he has something different (or he thinks is different) than what we have, he is always asking for a bite. It is amazing how much he is capable of eating! Not that he is small (70th-80th percentiles for height and weight pretty consistently), but the amount of food he is capable of eating makes me wonder where he could possibly put it. He must be burning off even more than I realize with all the running and playing he does!

Dane loves spending time with Gavin and learning and playing with him. He clearly looks up to Gavin so much already. If Gavin does it, Dane wants to. If Gavin says it, Dane is trying to say it. It is very sweet to see them interact. Dane does sometimes end up in trouble because of it, but he has also learned a lot from following and mimicking Gavin. The few times it is just me and Dane, I actually think he is bored because he doesn't view me as nearly as much fun as Gavin. He will go looking for him, Dane clearly misses him when Gavin is not around. So incredibly sweet!

Dane is a little monkey like Gavin, they both love to climb, run, jump, and be wild and crazy boys. Dane is really getting the hang of how to properly jump and be more aware of his surroundings/edges and to take turns so he and Gavin don't collide. I think he makes everyone else more nervous than me, which I see with Gavin all the time. If you have never had a climber, I guess it is shocking to see. I am just so used to it, that I work with them when they start climbing so they know how to safely get up and down, wait and ask for help when needed, and learn their own limits. It seems to have worked so far, even though they do sometimes climb things I wish they didn't and at inconvenient times, at least if you give them a safe space, it is easier to manage.

Dane is super friendly, although he is pretty cautious with strangers and new/unfamiliar places. It doesn't usually take long for him to warm up and then he is his usual crazy and happy self. I am glad at least one child has a bit of fear of strangers!

I am fairly certain Dane is a lefty. More and more he favors his left hand for everything and he is clearly more comfortable using it. If you hand him something, he almost always reaches with his left, if it is handed to his right or otherwise ends up in his right, he usually quickly moves whatever it is to his left. He does amazingly well with silverware and his left hand (sometimes I think he is better than Gavin is at 4 - very careful and doesn't miss much). It is really amazing to watch him and I am glad there are so many easily available things for lefties now so that he doesn't have to make due with scissors and such that are meant for right handed people. There are actually quite a few people in both of our families that are lefties, so it is fun that Gavin is clearly right handed and Dane is left handed!

Dane is starting to pick up more new words, although I think Gavin and I are the only ones that understand most of what he says. He has been putting short phrases together more and more as well. It is so cute to see him try to say new things and so sweet how proud he is when he gets it or gets really close. I am sure he will get even more chatty as he picks up more each day. It is nice to be able to communicate even more with him.

Dane and Gavin were being super silly and playing in Dane's room, so I got out the camera to get a few pictures. Dane makes so many great, sometimes crazy, faces!

I made a small cake since we won't be having his party for another week so that both my parents and Scott's dad could make it. Gavin really wanted to make Dane a cake with sprinkles in it, so I went looking for a from scratch "funfetti" cake recipe. I found one that looked good from a site that I have previously found good recipes on. Initially we were going to make them cupcakes but Gavin changed his mind and really wanted it to be a cake, not cupcakes for Dane. So, I put the batter into a cake pan. It did not come out as expected at all. I thought about it while it cooled enough to take it out of the pan and decided I would just turn it into a layer cake to try to salvage it and make it look decent and hope that it ended up tasting ok. That proved difficult since it didn't exactly cooperate when I tried to remove it from the pan. I pieced it together as best as I could and then tried to cover it up with frosting and decorations. It turned out ok and at least it did taste fine. I definitely won't be saving the recipe to use another time, it was fine but I was just not impressed. Oh well, Dane loved it and Gavin loved helping to make Dane's cake and that is ultimately what matters.

All in all, we had a fun day! It will be fun to have his birthday party in a little over a week. We are super excited that Pappy Hank will be back up to visit for Dane's birthday, Thanksgiving, and Scott's birthday! It should be a lot of fun to have him here again to celebrate with us. I am really excited to see all the party plans come together and I am sure he will have a blast!

Leaves!

Having fun on a very chilly day with rakes and jumping into leaf piles!

Start 'Em Young!

My Smallest Helper...

Dane wanted to help make breakfast this morning. Gavin requested Pancakes so Dane helped to stir the batter. He had fun stirring as I make pancakes. We pulled out cookie cutters to make fun shaped pancakes. They loved the snowmen, stocking, and tree shaped pancakes. It is a little more work and cleanup when they want to help but it is fun to have them involved. Plus, usually, they play nicely together while I deal with the extra cleanup!