"Dear Santa"

G1 "wrote" (someone else actually did the writing) a letter to Santa at school a couple weeks ago. Because of this letter I blame The Boy for all the snow we got at the beginning of last week.



I don't know why he signed his name so funny. He can actually write it quite nicely when he wants to. Maybe he was practicing to be a doctor and sign so no one can read it??

G2 and G3 are 3 today!!!

This evening at 7:02 PM G2 and G3 will officially be 3-years old!
They will start preschool on January 4th. They will go on Mondays and Wednesday, same time as G1.
We will have their 3-year check-up/preschool physical on Thursday (and I'm thinking I will have to take all 4 kids with me. YIKES!).
Both girls are completely out of diapers. Most nights G2 stays dry all night and if I remember to have G3 go pee in the middle of the night (when I go to bed) then she stays dry till morning too.

We had a party for G2 and G3 (as most of you know) on the 5th. We had a lot of people here and they had a blast.

I asked Marcia for a couple pictures for something and she emailed me 20. So here is a sneak-peak of pictures from their party.

I still have to go through the ones Matt took on our camera too.

We have a Holiday Program to go to at the preschool this evening at 7 (cross your fingers that G1 will actually participate!!!!) but I am still hoping to get a picture of G2 and G3 at 7:02 -it may have to be on my phone.

18-month check-up

Saturday G4 turned 18 months old.
Yesterday she got to go to nursery at church.
Last night she did her first somersault (sp?).
Today she had her 18-month check-up. Weight: 21 lbs Height: 31 inches

17 months 13 days

G2 and G3 were 17 months 13 days old when G4 was born. Today G4 is 17 months 13 days old.

Here is a picture of G2 and G3 17 months 13 days ago.
I tried to find separate pictures of them, but any that had them separate they weren't looking at the camera or they were a little blurry.

Here is G4 this morning eating her breakfast.

G2 and G3

No pictures in this post. I don't have any on this computer. Don't hate me!

G2 and G3 are enrolled in preschool.
They will begin in January.
We could have started them December 2nd but decided to wait a month.

G2 and G3 are daytime potty trained.
They still have accidents here and there, but so does The Boy.
I will be working on night-time training here soon.
I was going to start on Monday night but life got too busy.*

For poop training I had been giving two** cookies when they*** would go in the toilet.
Now that we have trick-or-treat**** candy they get to choose candy or cookies.

My babies are growing up so fast.

*For those that don't know, I have started watching a little boy (one-year old) a few days a week.
So, with adding him on and as much as we are out and about doing things, I just haven't had the time
or energy to put into potty training like I should.

**I decided on two because they all want a cookie when one gets some so the three that don't use the toilet get one and the poop goer gets two.

***Includes The Boy. They all informed me today that if I go in the toilet and not my underwear***** then I can get cookies or candy too. How nice of them.

****We went trick-or-treating with Grammy, Uncle Rob, Aunt Katilyn, Lydia and Joseph. I will try to get a post up before next Halloween.

*****No, I do not still poop in my underwear. I swear!

17 months 6 day

G1 was 17 months 6 days old when G2 and G3 were born.
Here he is sitting on Uncle Ricky's lap on that day.

Today* G4 is 17 months 6 days old.
I know it is a strange "milestone" to think about. Most people wouldn't even realize it. But I'm not like most people. So there you go.

*For those of you that looked on
Tuesday (or Wednesday for that matter)
no this post was not there then.
I technically posted on Thursday but back-dated.

Isn't she adorable!

We've been practicing

All about G3

"Interview" with G3:

Favorite color: pink
Favorite number: 1
Favorite letter: D
Best friends: "You" - Mommy
Favorite toy: A baby
Favorite movie: Shrek
Favorite show: Yo Gabba Gabba
Favorite food: "Pa-stuff"
Favorite thing to do: "Making paint" aka painting
Favorite drink: juice

G3, based on chart up to 3-years:

*Imitates adults and playmates
*Spontaneously shows affection for familiar playmates
*Can take turns in games
*Understands concept of "mine" and "his/hers"
*Expresses affection openly
*Makes mechanical toys work
*Turns rotating handles
*Matches an object in her hand or room to a picture in a book
*Plays make-believe with dolls, animals, and people
*Completes puzzles with three to four pieces
*Understands the concept of "two"
*Follows a two- or three-part command
*Recognizes and identifies almost all common objects and pictures
*Understands most sentences
*Understands places in space ("on," "in," "under")
*Uses 4 to 5 word sentences
*Can say name, age, and sex
*Uses pronouns (I, you, me, we, they) and some plurals (cars, dogs, cats)
*Strangers can understand most of her words
*Climbs well
*Walks up and down stairs, alternating feet
*Kicks ball
*Runs easily (we know she can run, but she rarely really does)
*Bends over easily without falling
*Makes up-and-down, side-to-side, and circular lines with pencil or crayon
*Turns book pages on at a time
*Screws and unscrews jar lids (and the like)

G3 talks. She actually does talk quite a bit. It just doesn't seem like it when also listening to G1 and G2. Unless she is excited about something and then I think she talks more than anyone.

G3 is working on potty training. Most days she wears "big girl" underwear and has very few to no accidents. We even went to Iowa and she wore her "big girl" underwear and did awesome!

G3 really wants to be going to school with G1. The other day when we dropped him off she had a full on temper-tantrum at the school because we had to leave. I feel so bad for her. :-(

G3 is always anxious to help me out, unless that involves picking things up off the floor.

If we are not home it is very hard to calm G3 down when upset. If we are home she just needs to spend a couple minutes in her room (with her "Happy") and then she is fine.

G3 can open doors, but doesn't do so very often unless told to.

She continues to like doing her own thing, although she has been playing with the others more lately.

G3 loves all things twins. She gets excited when we point out other sets of twins and seems to be drawn to anything twin-related.

We are so incredibly blessed to have G3 in our family.

G2 and G3 have really been conversing with each other a lot lately. I love how "grown-up" their conversations are getting. They are so concerned about each other too. It is so amazing to see the connection they have. Although, neither one will claim to be the other's twin. We try to convince them of it but they tell us no and then tell us that someone else is their twin.

All about G2

I haven't really posted much about G2 or G3 lately so I thought I would take the time to do that, starting with G2.

I will begin with an "interview" with G2:

Favorite color: purple
Favorite number: 1
Favorite letter: W
Best friend: Dora (she has a big stuffed Dora that she sleeps with)
Favorite toy: A baby
Favorite movie: Tinkerbell
Favorite show: Dora
Favorite food: Breakfast (no specific) "My like breakfast" she said.
Favorite thing to do: Play at park on the swing and in the dirt
Favorite drink: juice

I get emails all the time that tell me where my children should be developmentally. I was looking at those and decided I would post what they can do from those lists. Oh, FYI, when I post about G3, her and G2 will not have all the same things on their lists.

G2, based on the chart for up to 3-years:

*Imitates adults and playmates
*Spontaneously shows affection for familiar playmates
*Can take turns in games
*Understands concept of "mine" and "his/hers"
*Expresses affection openly
*Expresses a wide range of emotion
*Makes mechanical toys work
*Matches an object in her hand or room to a picture in a book
*Plays make-believe with dolls, animals, and people
*Understands concept of "two"
*Follows a two- or three-part command
*Recognizes and identifies almost all common objects and pictures
*Understands most sentences
*Understands places in space ("on," "in," "under")
*Uses 4 to 5 word sentences
*Can say name, age, and sex
*Uses pronouns (I, you, me, we, they) and some plurals (cars, dogs, cats)
*Strangers can understand most of her words
*Climbs well
*Walks up and down stairs, alternating feet
*Kicks ball
*Runs easily
*Pedals tricycle
*Bends over easily without falling
*Makes up-and-down, side-to-side, and circular lines with pencil or crayon
*Screws and unscrews jar lids (and the like)

G2 is quite the chatterbox. I don't think she is ever not talking. I'm not sure where she gets that from. :-P She uses the word "cuz" just about every other word. It's cute.

She only takes an interest in potty-training when the others are on the toilet. I am really going to be cracking down on this though.

G2 likes to sleep on her floor, not sure why but she does.

When she is in an affectionate mood, watch out! She likes to give lots and lots of kisses, long kisses at that.

She is quick to get upset (again not sure where she gets that from) but she is pretty easily quieted also.

G2 wants to try everything but is also afraid of everything. That sometimes makes things frustrating. But we will get through.

G2 follows her brother. Anything he does she wants to be doing.

She is such a sweetheart and I am so lucky to be her mommy.

The Boy is 4

Which we all knew he turned 4 this summer. But I am just getting around to blogging about his birthday. We had a party in Burlington on July 6th. We decided to have it there for a couple reasons. Reason one is G1 really really really wanted Ricky, Ginny and Skyler at his party. But with their due-date being so close to then I didn't want them to feel like they needed to make there way to us for his birthday. Reason two was so Matt's grandma and great-aunt would be able to make it.
We had the party at Perkins Park. There was a good turn-out. Pretty much everyone that was invited (with the exception of 2 households I think) came. The kids had a blast playing with water guns and also on the playground equipment.
Here is the cake:
Here is G1 blowing out his candles (he picked out super tall candles):
G1 got lots of fun gifts (and now as I am typing this I realize I did not get thank-yous sent out, OOPS!!). It is crazy all the things he is old enough for now.
Here he is playing with his Leapster2:
On his actual birthday (July 9th) we went to playgroup in the morning. Playgroup that day was at Kiwanis Park here in town, that is where the sprinkler park is. We took brownies to share with our friends. G1 was very excited to be turning 4.
After playgroup we had cupcakes and ice cream at home, with the 6 of us and Grammy.
Here G1 is blowing out his candles:

G4 eating her ice cream and cupcake:
G1 with a messy face:
G3 with a messy face:
G2, also with a messy face:
I can't believe my baby boy 4 already. The time has really flown by. He is loving preschool, although he will tell us pretty much nothing about it. His Sunbeam teacher came to the preschool on Wednesday to talk about butterflies (that's what she does as a profession). I think that was a lot of fun for him.

Here are a few things he told me about preschool:

Favorite things to do there: coloring and playing games
Favorite friend in class: First he said Mrs. Lozier, then he added Callie, Bryar and Briana
Favorite snacks at preschool: crackers, juice, applesauce and juice (I think he really likes the juice)
Has learned: how to walk in a line
Then he told me "Preschool needs two things...Me (Gavyn) and juice"
He told me there is nothing he doesn't like about preschool.

I found out today that G2 and G3 may be able to start going on Mondays and Wednesdays starting in January. That would make them so happy. We will have to see if we can swing that financially. That would be so strange to have only one child for those 2.5 hours two days a week.

G1 has preschool pictures next Friday (the 25th) and they will also do sibling pictures. We might have them take a picture of all the Gs and then G1's individual pictures. We just turned in his first book order this week. Man, being a parent with (a) child(ren) in school requires a lot doesn't it?!?

To be honest I wasn't sure I really wanted any of them going to preschool. I really would love to homeschool. But this has been a pretty good experience so far.* G1 is loving it and it is kind of nice to hang out with just the girls.

Onto some health stuff:
G1 got a tick on our vacation or right when we got back. We aren't too sure exactly. He has still had a red bump. I took him to the doctor a week ago to have it checked out. The doctor looked at it and said he didn't think it was Lyme's disease because there was no bulls eye. Instead he thought maybe G1 had a localized allergic reaction to the tick. So, he prescribed an antibiotic. Hopefully that does the trick.
While we were there I brought up G1 still pooping in his underwear. We talked about that at his 4-year check-up and doctor recommended giving him fiber gummies and something else I think. We've been doing that and it hasn't helped. So he gave me some literature to read that has suggestions of things to do. He also had us go down to get an x-ray of G1's belly. X-ray showed that G1 is pretty constipated. Now he is on Miralax and a laxative. He sure has pooped a lot, but still not in the toilet much. :-( Hopefully things will be straightened out soon.

*G1's behavior is not the best when he gets out of school for the day. That has actually been pretty hard for me to deal with. But every other aspect of preschool is great.

G1 started pre-school

Today G1 started pre-school. He was super excited. He woke up at 6:30 (which is not unusual) and did not want to go back to sleep. He just wanted the day to get started.

G1 requested pancakes for breakfast and sat in the kitchen talking to me while I made them.

Here he is after his shower. In between breakfast and his shower he said to me a few times, "Okay, let's go." I had to keep telling him we had to wait. It was hard for him to wait so much this morning.
*I'm not sure why the first 2 videos are separated by the picture, it won't let me change that. Also, it is 2 videos because G4 decided to climb up some stairs and then jump off so that is why the first one stops abruptly and you hear crying.

Leaving the house:

He told me "No more pictures!"
At the door to the pre-school:
Hanging his bag up on his coat hook, he remembered right where to go and found his name by himself:
With his teacher, Mrs. Lozier:
What he was doing when we left:
After school, while talking to me about it:

**Trevor is a friend from church. Oh and our address is on his book that he shows at the end that's why there is something blocking that.

Sprinkler Park Fun

June 29, 2009