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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

The boys started preschool last Monday. It’s been a big change for them. I think they’re still feeling a bit overwhelmed.

They do enjoy the pedal cars, though.

We went to Black Butte the week before preschool started. The boys had a great time. They rode bicycles and tricycles and went swimming every day.

On Friday night, as we were coming in from playing in the back, Owen insisted on putting all of the toys under cover. He put all of the cars in one place, and all of the tools stacked up in the corner. It was very cute.

Another day, we were in a hurry to leave. Andy looks around the great room and said, “We can’t leave–the room is messy.”

Pictures

Andy sitting on the couch with daddy; Mimi watching

Andy playing with toys at preschool

Boys in a treehouse at the Oregon Garden

Owen playing with the cash register at preschool

Owen climbing pillows

Owen playing with playdo