March
March 28, 2010
It’s been quite a while since I posted. Since the last post, we’ve had: Thanksgiving, Christmas, my 40th birthday, the boys 5th birthday. In December, the boys tested for (and passed) their yellow belts in aikido.
After we set up the Christmas tree and brought the ornaments out, the boys shooed us off. Fifteen minutes later they had us come back in. The boys had decorated the tree all by themselves! Christmas was a much bigger deal this year than last.
They had a science fair at the preschool. They both gave impressive descriptions of their experiments.
The boys can casually read quite a few words, but they don’t normally sit down and read books. One exception is a book called “Shape Muncher” which they made at preschool. They colored the shapes on each page, stapled everything together, and wrote their names on the front. Andrew reads it occasionally when he finds it.
Andrew can now put together Legos from the instructions, all by himself. The other day he came outside with us, then raked a garden bed, planted corn, and watered it.
Both boys have been very helpful outside. We’re slowly cleaning out blackberries from our raspberry patch with the boys’ help. I think we’re going to get quite a few raspberries this year. The boys also helped build a nice archway which we’re eventually going to grow grapes on.
At the end of April we’re headed down to Disneyland with my family. My parents are driving in from Texas to meet us, and my sister and brother-in-law will fly out. The boys are getting very excited.
When we come back from that, we have a Kindergarten Roundup at the elementary school. I’ve been taking the boys up to play on the playground there to help them get comfortable.
Pictures
Andrew by the Christmas tree they decorated
Andrew flying a kite at Newport (March 27)
Andrew crossing a rope bridge
Andrew at the science fair
Andrew getting ready to blow out his candle while Owen and Papa watch
Boys carrying a green recycling bag
Boys golfing at Mimi and Papa’s
Boys hiding under umbrellas at Bridgeport
Boys holding hands
Boys after getting their yellow belts, with Scott
Owen flying a kite at Newport (March 27)
Owen in the wind wearing my sweatshirt
Owen painting a ceramic cat
Owen and daddy at the science fair
Halloween
November 20, 2009
A little late for the Halloween post, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.
The boys had a great time at Halloween. They went around with Chris and some of his friends. Andrew and Owen kept up and stayed out the whole time. We only managed to stay with them by sticking to the sidewalk–if we’d tried to go up to all the houses, we wouldn’t have made it!
Owen was practicing his writing last night. He’s really getting some of his letters down…especially O-W-E-N 
At preschool, he sometimes writes his name “Owin” because that way, he’s the only one in the immediate family with an “i” in his name.
The boys are really playing well together. They spent most of yesterday playing by themselves–they had their own family, they were playing knights rescuing princesses. It’s interesting to see them make up rules for themselves.
When they color now, they are much more interested in coloring different parts different colors.
Our weather was good very late this year (although it’s been pretty rainy for the past week or so), so the boys have gotten to spend some time outside.
We’ve taken Andrew gluten-free, and he seems to be doing better. After we took him off gluten, he said, “Oh, my stomach used to hurt when I ate wheat.”
Pictures
Owen standing next to a blue cow
Owen dressed up as a lion for Halloween
Owen at Red Robin
Boys climbing at Durham Elementary
Boys at the Oregon Garden
Boys playing on the tractor at the zoo
Andrew standing next to the blue cow
Andrew dressed up as a cowboy for Halloween
Andrew wearing my old cub scout uniform
New skills
October 19, 2009
The boys have acquired some new skills. The day I posted “we haven’t seen them read any books to themselves yes”, I heard Andrew talking in the other room. I walked in and saw him reading “Go Dog Go”. Owen helped with a couple of the sentences that Andrew couldn’t work out.
The boys ask us to read words all the time–they want to know what everything says. It’s exciting (and a little exhausting ).
Yesterday, we went bike riding. I brought along an old bike which doesn’t have any training wheels in case the boys wanted to practice. Owen wanted to try riding it. He couldn’t quite figure out the “you must be moving to balance” thing to get started, so I helped him balance and give him a light push to get going. He then rode about 100 feet, multiple times (we were on a large concrete area at the park, so he was riding across it). He really has balancing down, he just needs more practice.
The boys are coming up on their first aikido test. They’ve really improved over the past month or so, especially in terms of listening to sensei and paying attention.
The boys love to walk to preschool, weather permitting. It’s only about a ten minute walk, even with the boys (slightly less without them).
Pictures
Andrew playing with blocks at preschool
Andrew at the Buddy Walk
Andrew sitting on a pumpkin
Boys in a goat cart at a Renaissance faire
Boys at the Pirate festival
Boys with Sheldon and Grandpa Larry
Owen riding a bicycle with no training wheels
Owen sitting on a pumpkin
Owen at the Renaissance faire
Updates
September 28, 2009
It’s been six months since I’ve updated the site. There’s no way I can cover six months in one post, so I’ll try to hit the highlights.
Stats:
Andrew is 47 inches tall and 55 lbs.
Owen is 45 inches tall and 45 lbs.
Although they’ve slept since then, so they might be bigger.
The boys are doing really well in aikido. They are learning to concentrate and listen to sensei. They are also picking up new physical skills. They really like to roll and jump.
They have started back to preschool, but now they are in a Pre-K class. Last year they were in a 3-4s class. It is a big step up–the teacher is expecting more, especially because almost all of the kids were in a 3-4 class last year. Andrew was so tired from the second day of class that he was asleep by 6:30! Usually, we start bedtime around 7, hoping for them to be asleep by 8.
The boys can read quite a few words. We were at REI one night, and Andrew glanced at a sign and said “Exit Only”. Words they don’t know they can generally sound out. However, they still prefer to be read to, and we haven’t seen them read any books to themselves yet.
On their first day of preschool, one of the stations had little plastic birthday cakes with holes in the top for plastic candles. Each cake held a different number of candles. I asked Andrew, “How many candles are on that cake?” He said, “6, no wait, 9.” He read the label on the cake instead of counting the candles. I asked Owen how many candles were on the cakes, and he also read the labels. I told the teacher about it. She said, “Clever kids.” Both boys think Teacher Susie is high-energy
The boys did really well at swimming this year. My parents took them to swimming lessons, and the boys are very comfortable in the water. They are still using floaties (Owen, mostly) and a noodle (Andrew) to help them swim.
I went camping with the boys one night in the backyard. Nancy joined us for a while, but she got too cold and went back inside. We’re hoping to get the boys out camping regularly next year.
Pictures
Owen climbing a wall at Black Butte
Owen wearing his own hat design
Owen found a spot where his bike gets stuck
Boys hiding in a blueberry bush
Boys in the Iris gardens
Boys at their preschool graduation
Cowboy Andrew at Buster’s
Andrew and Papa walking in Central Oregon
Andrew playing pinball
Birthday
March 31, 2009
The boys are four now! (Well, belatedly since their birthday was three weeks ago).
The boys are huge. At their four-year appointment, Owen was 42 inches (95th percentile). Andrew was 45 3/4 inches. Owen is 41 pounds and Andrew is 49 pounds.
The boys are coming along well with their reading. Both boys recognize and know to spell both of their names and the words “Zoo”, “Exit”, “On”, and “Off”. Andrew has read the words: “Book” on a T-shirt, “Shell” on a Lego box (he was so cute–it was a Shell tanker truck and Andrew said, “It’ Shelly’s Soup truck”), and the word “Bookmark” on my computer (I think he was just remembering that, but maybe he sounded it out).
The boys are very active. On the weekends (when I’m watching them), they will sometimes exercise / play for 4-5 hours. Nancy adjusted the blackout curtains in their room, and they seem to be sleeping a little later (8:00 - 8:15 instead of 7:30).
Owen was so polite last week. I did something for him (I think I picked up a book). Owen said, “Thank you, daddy, for picking up my book.”
Our preschool has a series of one-week camps this summer, 9-1 each day. The boys are really excited about space camp, but they have to be able to use the potty at preschool. We offered the boys a space sticker for each day they use the potty at preschool. Yesterday, for the first time ever, they finally did it! All the adults helping with preschool were very excited–I’m not sure the kids cared
We had to replace a section of our back fence recently. The boys were a big help. They are getting so strong–each of the boys grabbed a fence board and marched off with it. They helped me saw and helped with the drill. By the time the fence needs to be replaced again, the boys should be old enough to do it themselves.
Andrew has started putting Legos together by himself, following the directions. He still needs some help–some of the pieces are hard to put together, and sometimes he puts pieces off by a row or two, but he does really well. He also put together a little balsa-wood model of a car by himself.
Owen has been working on his computer skills: typing and using the mouse.
Pictures
Andrew riding a pretend roller coaster at Chuck E Cheese’s on his birthday
Andrew jumping
Andrew on the play structure
Boys at Nye Beach in Newport
Boys at their birthday, playing with their laptop
Boys at their birthday with Mimi and Auntie Heather
Owen playing with their laptop on his birthday
Owen on the play structure
Owen smiling
Aikido
February 13, 2009
The boys started aikido a couple of weeks ago. They are really enjoying it, and they are doing really well. I’m impressed with how far they’ve come in only a few lessons. Also, two of their friends are joining them on Wednesdays.
We have a couple of good stories from aikido. One day, the instructor was having problems getting the kids to pay attention. He finally got all of them to look at him. Then he said, “The teacher is in the front. There is no teacher in the back.” So Andrew had to turn around and check to make sure there was no teacher in the back.
Another day, one of the other instructors was working with the four new kids (ours and their friends) how to do backwards rolls. He started with Owen, but then he spent too long with child #2. Owen proceeded to do forward rolls while the teacher was facing the other way.
The boys are changing quickly. We’ve heard that the last part of the 3 to 4 transition can be a little wild, but that things should settle down at 4. Both boys have a lot of energy. Last week, the boys went to an hour of aikido, we had lunch, and then the boys played hard outside for four more hours.
New words: “golf field”, gi (aikido uniform)
The boys have gotten much stronger. They can now pick up a full gallon of milk without problems. Andrew was picking up bags of dirt the last time we went to Al’s. The last time we went to the park, Andrew managed to hold himself up on his arms (rather than hanging down from his arms, which he could already do).
Pictures
Owen on the mat at aikido, in his gi
Owen painting with a quill at preschool
Owen sitting on a fountain
Boys rolling at aikido
Boys playing in the snow
Boys with umbrellas at the Oregon Garden
Andrew wearing his gi at aikido
Andrew sitting in a playhouse with paper
Andrew lifting bags of dirt
Christmas
January 12, 2009
Well, we survived the snow. Inches and inches of snow. We measured out back at the height of the snow–14 inches. We were inside for almost two full weeks with only rare breaks.
Christmas was fun. Last year, the boys handed out a few presents, and we had to help them with all of the names.
This year, the boys handed out all the presents, and they could read all of the “Andrew” and “Owen” tags. We only helped them with the others.
The boys helped: put up and decorate our tree, put up and take down our outside lights (we went with a minimal display this year). They got to do a bit of sledding in our backyard. We have a slight hill, and with mom and dad pushing, the boys had a nice time sledding down it.
The boys are really getting into music. They like the group “Stomp” which does percussion using improvised instruments (think brooms and basketballs). The boys have done their own Stomp with their broom. They also gave me a concert one night in the kitchen. They pulled out bottles, buckets, and plates, and used two pencils as their drumsticks. Owen gave me a ticket, and they turned off all the lights except for the light on the refrigerator where the ice and water come out.
They both received instruments for Christmas. In one of the pictures, Andrew is playing his new electronic keyboard. Owen was very interested to learn that I own a saxophone, so we had to pull that out. He and Andrew have both been able to get a sound out of it.
The boys have learned how to make inside-out cheeseburgers (as Owen calls them) or inside cheeseburgers (as Andy calls them–as he says, “the cheese is on the inside”). These were a big hit, and we discovered that the boys both like Gouda.
One day, we were going to have bread and olive oil for dipping as a snack. Owen said, “Not the cooking olive oil daddy–we need to use the good olive oil.”
Pictures
Andrew chose an ambulance as his special Christmas present
Andrew in his new police outfit
Andrew giving me a concert
Boys opening Christmas presents
Police boys sitting with Mimi
Owen at the Children’s Museum
Owen on the couch with mommy at Christmas
Owen at the zoo
Thanksgiving
December 16, 2008
The boys really enjoyed Thanksgiving. We went over to Jill’s this year. Our boys played with their cousins very nicely.
Potty training is coming along really well. Owen has worn underwear for two days in a row now. Andy and Owen have both used the toilet at various places while we’ve been out (grocery store, restaurants, etc.).
Andy has picked up signing again and is really working on learning to read. He points out different letters whenever I read to him, and he’s starting to recognize words or parts of words. He knows that “zow” rhymes with “ow” One of Andy’s favorite things to sign is “I love you”. He signs it, then I sign it with the opposite hand. We touch the signs together, and he says “I love you fingertouch!” Andy recognizes printed numbers up through at least 20, as does Owen.
We’ve have had a serious amount of snow, at least for Oregon. Sunday morning was clear and cold. By Sunday afternoon, we had snow covering the ground. As I write this, we’re looking at two more snowstorms coming in over the next five days. We’ve gone grocery shopping whenever we could to stock up (and to give us all a break from the house).
We took the boys out sledding in our backyard. We have a very small hill (our perspective), which the boys think is great fun to slide down (especially when mommy or daddy is pushing them). We tried to build a snowman, but the snow is too dry. It’s been interesting watching it blow in the wind.
Our road is a little icy but not too bad. As you get out to the bigger roads, they are clear and dry where the cars have been driving. However, everything is likely to be really slick tomorrow, even before the snow starts coming down again.
Right now, the boys are helping Nancy make cookies. We’re looking hard for things to keep them occupied. Their preschool has closed until after the new year (they closed a week early because of the snow).
Pictures
Owen dressed as a doctor at the Children’s Museum
Owen sitting with the dogs, Reigny and Callie
Owen with Santa at Royal Oaks golf club
Boys decorating cookies at the preschool winter party
Boys riding on a toy at Fred Meyer’s (snow in the background)
Andy with his face in his hands
Andy playing in the sand at preschool
Andy playing on an old tractor
Halloween
November 23, 2008
Halloween was fun this year. The boys really got into it. Owen was running down the sidewalk from one house to the next. He called out to Andy, “Come on Andy, we have to be quick!”
The boys went as pirates this year instead of firefighters. They really enjoy their costumes. They ended up with lots of candy.
We went to a local farm to get pumpkins. Owen walked over with the biggest pumpkin he could carry. However, that wasn’t big enough for him, so he took a nylon belt he was playing with, wrapped it around the stem of a bigger pumpkin, and dragged it over to us.
Andy was content to pick out a large pumpkin for me to carry.
The boys are changing again. They are no longer three, not quite four.
They are working on potty training in earnest now, at least at home. Both boys will voluntarily use the bathroom on their own–not every time, but frequently enough that we’re pretty happy.
We’re slowly working on the concept of “picking up” after taking things out. At least the boys are in that helpful stage where they want to do things. They also like to cook. In fact, at the preschool the kids get to cook. The preschool teacher told us that it’s obvious the boys are comfortable in the kitchen. Owen was ready to nuke his own hotdog yesterday
We’re getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas (the boys can hardly wait).
Pictures
Andy on a hayride at the pumpkin patch
Andy hiding from the rain in a sign outside Hayden’s
Pirate Andy
Andy, Owen, Christopher, and Daddy visiting Al’s Garden Center’s Christmas party
Boys playing on the luggage carts at the airport
Owen playing on the dirt pile at JJ and Carlos’ new house
Owen and Auntie Heather riding the carousel
Pirate Owen
Pirate Owen with his sword
Texas
October 31, 2008
We went to Dallas for a week and a half. The boys had a great time. They did very well on their first plane ride. They bounced around a bit between sitting with Nancy and I and my parents, but they settled down nicely after a while.
We saw several different sets of relatives. The boys slept very well in Mimi and Papa’s Texas house.
I sometimes forget just how strong our boys are. We had been picking up leaves by the sidewalk, and we were finished. Andy grabbed the large recycling cart, tilted it back, and rolled it down the sidewalk.
In the Portland airport (on our return), the boys each grabbed a full luggage cart and pushed them out to the shuttle bus.
We picked pumpkins earlier this week, and both boys carried their own (smaller) pumpkins.
The boys are coming along nicely on biking. I think they’re almost ready for us to take off the training wheels, except we’ve lost the biking season here in Oregon. By the time they can bike again regularly, they’ll be in larger bikes.
The boys are adjusting to preschool. They went from 2 kids, 1 adult to 20 kids, 5 adults. It’s been a switch.
Pictures
Owen cooking breakfast
Owen on the plane
Owen sliding
Boys playing in the dirt at JJ and Carlos’ new house
Boys playing piano with Mimi
Boys plowing at the Arboretum
Andy and Papa cooking breakfast
Andy on the plane
Andy and his cousin Savannah sliding
