We know Katie loves bubbles, so today we broke out the new bubble machine (the same one we had before but the old one died). She liked it, but wasn’t as enthralled as Owen was (but then, Owen was older when he first experienced it).
Category Archives: Firsts
First sprinkler fun of the season!
After yesterday’s water fun, we told the kids they could play outside in the water again since it was going to be nice—they just had to wait until after Katie’s nap. This was actually Katie’s first ever time in a sprinkler—and of course she LOVED it!
All three kids waiting to go outside! (Later, the cats were both sitting at the door!)
I didn’t really want to get wet, so I ran inside to get my telephoto lens. Ahhhh, much better!
It was at this point that Owen accidentally broke the sprinkler—he was attempting to jump over it but instead landed right on it. He wasn’t hurt but we told him that he had to be careful. Then Tom went over and determined that yes, it really was broken, so he turned the water off so he could unhook it while he went to look for a new sprinkler. And Owen lost his shit. He started crying and screaming uncontrollably. We tried to get him to tell us what was wrong (Was he really hurt? Was he mad at Tom? Was he just upset the water was turned off?) but he wouldn’t even quiet down enough to hear anything we were saying. We assured him he wasn’t in trouble and that it was an accident but he just wouldn’t settle down. We had about 10 minutes of what you see below. Tom did find another sprinkler and hooked it up and Katie kept trying to get Owen to come over to it, but he was still being a poop. It took another 10 minutes or so before he was finally back in the groove.
Someone loved playing in the mud puddles created by the sprinkler! 🙂
Our long walk on the first day of Easter break!
It was a gorgeous morning—about 70°, sunny, and breezy—so we went for our first long walk together! (Normally Katie and I just go up and down our street or to the golf course. I never get to walk with just Owen anymore.)
I tried to get a picture but Katie wasn’t cooperating.
Katie took a tumble while trying to run down the hill like big brother, but she was no worse for the wear. 🙂
At the top of the hill on the golf course (Owen used to play a lot here back in the day). He kept warning Katie not torun down the hill and to stay out of the golfers’ way. 🙂
Off we go!
Anyone want to go swimming in the community pool? I can’t imagine using the same water that’s been sitting in it since last summer and is now dark brown…? I know there are chemicals and stuff…but still. Barf.
Finally! Some wildlife! (Yes I know it’s not a duck but that’s what she calls it.)
Waving hello to the duck/goose. 🙂
She wanted to sit at the picnic table.
Owen collected sticks to make an art picture. 🙂
I saw this going on so I had to try and get a good sibling picture.
Ha.
At least I ended up with a decent one!
And then the ham:
And then someone was throwing sand and got warned so we had to go.
Stopping to roll down the hill.
Farmer’s market, a helmet, and the Easter Bunny!
She likes it up there—and it keeps her from wandering!
Coloring at the farmers market! Do you see that “YES” by Owen? He did that…starting with the S and working backwards!
She pretty much just sat there the whole time scribbling while mostly people watching!
Walmart! Someone got a new bike helmet!
We also got Katie her own pink Radio Flyer trike—stay tuned for pics of that!
We then lucked out and ran into the Easter Bunny! Owen refused, but Katie was excited! Her first Easter Bunny pic! It only took me 12 shots to get this perfect one (in about a minute)!
Phew! It’s not strep!
Owen has still had his low-grade fever and strep has been going around, so I took him to the doctor after school…just to make sure. So he got his first throat culture—and did exactly what I do (gagged and coughed) and he started to cry so I assured him he did awesome and that his reaction was normal! Thankfully it came back negative. The doc said it was likely just something viral that would last 3-5 days and be done.
Wasting time and playing with Katie:
Introducing the kids to Star Wars
Owen has been playing Lego Star Wars for months now, so Tom thought it was time to show him the movie. Katie was originally on my lap, completely riveted. Then I moved her to Tom’s lap and she sat still and watched for a good 30 minutes. Owen was super into it as well. Daddy was a happy guy. 🙂
Fudpucker’s
I stayed home so Katie could take a real nap (i.e. in total piece and quiet) while everyone else went to Fudpucker’s in Destin.
The food was taking longer than expected and the gator show was about to start, so they sent the kids off by themselves to the show.
Then it was back to sign their names—and add some drawings—to the wall…
And then Owen tried—and liked!—alligator!
But got pizza for his lunch!
And then it was time to feed the alligators!
And a few photo ops:
Then it was off to get ice cream!
And a gun that I’m sure he wanted but he did not come home with:
Tom said Owen had a great time! And Katie had her very best nap all week—just over three hours!
Afternoon at the Zoo
Today we all went to the Gulf Breeze Zoo — it was Katie’s first zoo experience!
Stole the cup right out of his hand!
Owen can jump as far as a tree frog!
Who can jump farther?
Train ride!
Hugging the stuffed animals!
Owen picked a bat mask at the gift shop!
First real daddy haircut!
Owen was getting pretty shaggy and I’m tired of spending $12 every other month so Tom took a go at it. It went pretty well!
It feels good to be outside!
It was 50° and sunny so we took the kids to the playground on the way home to burn off some energy.
Then little miss learned how to walk up the slide. Only a little heart-stopping.
Katie’s first driveway nap
After my eye appointment today on base, we had a 40 minute drive home…right around Katie’s naptime…so yep, she fell asleep. She does not transfer well—a five-minute car nap means her real nap will be postponed for a few hours. If we were going to be at home, we’d try again, but that wouldn’t be possible today because we have Owen’s valentines party.
What was really surprising is that she didn’t wake up when the car stopped OR when I opened my door…either of which typically happens. So for the first time ever, I left Katie in the car to take her nap. (Actually, it was the first time I’ve ever done it with either kid!) And while I know she’s safe—it’s sunny and warm in the car plus I keep checking on her about every 10 minutes (and she hasn’t even moved)—it still feels weird even though I know people do it.
That said, she slept about an hour. I had hoped for even more but an hour was pretty good and better than nothing—and likely as best as I could hope for today. 🙂
And it was warmer in the car than I thought—she was a little sweaty. 🙂
Nothing yet…but she likes trying!
She watches like a hawk when any of us go to the bathroom (she’ll even sit on the stool in front of the sink to wait) and she has started wanting to go in herself. Of course she hasn’t actually been successful yet…but our fingers are crossed since we definitely deserve an easy potty training experience after what we’re going through with Owen (he had a few tiny successes early on like this, but they were just flukes). (I just looked back and the first fluke of Owen peeing in the potty? At 27 months!)
Isn’t she just SO cute?!
Working on Valentines
These are the valentines we’re doing for Owen’s class:
Except I’m not being quite as cute with the cellophane bags and tie—we’re doing ziplock sandwich bags. 🙂
Here’s Owen writing his name on them. He only has the patience for about 4-5 at a time so we’re working on it all week.
He’s pretty good writing his name, though the W could use some separation and the N is often backwards. And we’re working on keeping the size consistent.
Owen’s first attempt on a real bike = FAIL
Once again, I had grand visions of Owen’s first bike-riding experience. (Well, minus the balance bike we attempted a long time ago. And the tricycle he never got the hang of.) I mean, riding a bike IS NOT HARD. Right? Especially with training wheels. Right? I mean, you just get on, push a little with your feet, and off you go, right? RIGHT?
Wow.
Either Owen has absolutely ZERO coordination and/or he’s just being stubborn…or I completely underestimated the amount of ability necessary to ride a bike and/or I am not a good teacher. He cannot seem to grasp that you need to push forward with your feet in a continual motion. At the first smidge of resistance he stops and says he can’t do it. I tell him, show him, push the bike with his feet on the pedals…and nothing. Inevitably he slams his feet backwards, which is—of course—the brake.
Am I expecting too much? Is riding a bike really harder than I think it is? For a kid who has never really ridden anything?
All I know is I have officially passed the teaching-Owen-to-ride-a-bike baton to Tom. 🙂
Happy 5th birthday, Owen!
We had Owen’s 5th birthday party at one of the local gymnastics places. We invited his entire class (16 kids) as well as our friends. Half of his class RSVPed (of which two asked to bring other siblings, which was fine) and I was annoyed but honestly pretty impressed that we got a 50% response rate. However, of those eight that RSVPed, four didn’t show…two of which were the ones that asked to bring extra kids. 😐 So that cost me extra because I opted to go with the 25+ kids plan (which allowed for another employee to be scheduled) because we were right on the line with RSVPs and I figured we’d likely get some that would show up without having RSVPed. So we ended up with 15 kids total instead of 23. Oh well, it’s only money, right? And Owen had fun so that’s what matters, right? But he did have fun so it’s all good!
Ursula made the awesome Ninjago cake!
When I called Owen over to see it (he was out playing) he said “It’s Jay!” (Of course, he was right, Jay is the blue ninja.)
Owen with two of his classmates, Tanner and Braxton (who I’ve posted pics of before). You see that Owen really isn’t the same size as the rest of his class. 🙂
Katie having fun running around:
Katie was very interested in what was going on in the bounce house—but we put her in with the kids and she screamed. So she was content to just peek in for a bit.
I showed Katie how to hang on the bar and she loved it! She’d hang and swing then drop off—over and over.
And then she got in the bounce house because it was fairly empty:
Back at the bar showing daddy her tricks!
The birthday boy in the middle of the parachute!
And here’s a 6 minute video of the parachute fun (pretty much for the grandparents). 🙂
Each kid got to do their own thing in the middle of the parachute balloon. Owen did a spinning twist.
A few last runs before leaving…
The last pic of our best friends for quite some time—our friend Tom is deploying next week and we’ll be moving this summer…
As Ursula was getting the cake packed up to go, Owen saw that the head was off to the side and was VERY concerned that it wasn’t coming home and kept asking about it. We assured him Jay was coming home. Then he saw Ursula carrying it to her car (to bring to our house) and he was concerned that the cake itself wasn’t coming home at all!
Overall, it was a great party for Owen’s first REAL birthday party (not just something at our house with a few friends or family). 🙂
It’s a good, good morning.
The plan was for me to go in to Owen’s room as usual and then have Tom come knock on the door. Tom was up super early (before 5) and once I knew he was up and moving around I was paranoid that Owen would hear/see him and ruin the surprise…so I got up and dragged Tom back into the bedroom while we watched Owen on the monitor. Owen dutifully waited until his nightlight turned green at 6:30 before turning his bedroom light on and I went in shortly after.
I thought he would have been much more excited…but it was still sweet. And then people (on Facebook) pointed out his wiggling feet and I guess that’s how he shows excitement. He also sounds a little choked up toward the end. (Facebook only got a snippet. This is the whole thing.)
The Facebook comments were great:
- I like the wiggly feet…..
- Awwww. This is priceless. I think he was very excited. His little feet!
- The wiggly feet give it away!! So sweet!
- Those feet!!!!!
- Awww. Those feet! I totally cried. Both times.
- The boy who emotes with his feet. What an awesome moment.
- I love the little foot wiggle.
Then first things first—he had to show daddy his Lego book!
And then it was time to surprise Katie. She doesn’t seem to recognize him at first…but don’t worry, she was saying “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” the rest of the day and didn’t want him to leave her sight.
And daddy even did the morning diaper change!
Gee, what a surprise–Owen likes hot chocolate.
I tried to get him to try it a week or so ago and he flat out refused. REFUSED! I told him he loves chocolate and chocolate milk, and this was just was warm chocolate milk. Nope. I promised he’d love it. Nope. I promised him a piece of chocolate if he tried it. Nope.
/urge to throttle him
So today I was drinking some again and he said he wanted to try it.
And imagine that—he loved it. 🙂
After Dinner Surprise
It was her first time in the big tub and she was a little freaked out (like actually starting to cry!)…until Owen got in with her. Then it was game on! 🙂
Then Owen was splashing and they were both laughing and in constant motion so I’m amazed I got a picture when they were both looking!
A snippet of the fun:
Her first Tommy Hilfiger!
Gotta love hand-me-downs!
Escapee!
I just turned on Katie’s monitor to see if she was asleep yet…and I swear I heard walking-around noises. Owen knows not to go in…so I keep watching and…yep, there she was…the little shit got out of her crib! I had been in the shower so didn’t hear anything and Owen says he didn’t hear anything, either. Egads.
I’m not ready for this. She HAS to wait until Tom is home—I really don’t want to deal with taking apart her crib and buying a bed (even though friends have offered to help me get a bed home and/or dismantle the crib and/or put together a new bed). But honestly…I’m just really not ready for the Super-Nannying I’ll surely have to do to keep her in her bed/room…
All her toys will come out tonight so she has nothing to stand on. (I was too gobsmacked just now to take them out plus I watched her until she fell asleep.) I’ll give it another day or two of watching like a hawk before I make any major decisions (which I fully understand could come back to bite me in the ass).
Katie’s first time-out.
No, she didn’t do anything terribly wrong, but I figure she’s gotta start learning sooner or later…so when she didn’t do something simple I asked her (after I counted—and she understands the counting!) she got a time out. She was a little perplexed.
Also note her new (hand-me-down) Elmo slippers! She LOVES them and didn’t even try to take them off!
Owen eating oranges!
Gramma Jean brought down some Cuties and Owen tried them but didn’t love them. We also have some so tonight he said he wanted one. Ohhh-kay. I peeled one and gave him a section. It disappeared. Three more times. So we got out another one and he wanted to peel it.
And he ate a few more! YAY!
Triple Tails
Gramma gave Katie triple pig tails today!
Pre-Christmas Chili Dinner & Parade
We were invited to a friend’s house for a pre-Christmas chili dinner today. This is before we headed out. Yes, it was unseasonably warm.
Owen accidentally found his old Buzz Lightyear that I was going to surprise him with on Christmas…so I made him “help me around the house” to earn it—and he never set it down except to get dressed! (We just watched Toy Story for the first time a few weeks ago and he loves it!
Katie wanted to go outside.
Owen had fun playing with all the kids there—running around outside (with Buzz, of course!). And Katie had fun wandering in a new house. There were enough other parents there that you didn’t actually have to keep a dedicated eye on your kids so it was more enjoyable than I thought it would be.
We originally weren’t going to stay for the parade because it started at 7 (Katie’s bedtime) but they changed it to 5:30 so we were able to go! Our first parade! And a small-town parade at that! It’s been A LONG TIME since I’ve seen any parade—let alone a small-town one—and I was reminded just how interesting they were…about five police cars (county and city from surrounding areas), six fire trucks, ambulances, people who were running for mayor/commissioner/whatever, girl/boy scout troops, etc. Blah. Let’s just say I’d never have gone except I wanted Owen to see it since he’s in love with everything Christmas. And it was warm (it was 65).
But I have to say a parade in the dark is kinda crap. There’s lights on the trucks/floats/etc. but you can’t see any of the signs. But Owen had fun so that’s what matters!
Waiting for the parade to start:
The posse we were with (not everyone):
Yes, Buzz came with him. Owen never set him down all night.
Clapping!
Waving!
They were throwing candy and Owen got a raspberry lemonade sucker that he didn’t like—but Katie did!
The fire trucks were loud!
Happy boy!
Santa ending the parade!
Then it was a quick walk back to the host’s house, goodbyes, and we were home by 6:40!
This is what I walked in to see this morning.
Yep, jammies completely off and apparently working on the diaper! Owen never once did this. I have a feeling we may be turning her jammies backwards or putting her in a sleep sack (backwards)…
I just caught Katie in the cat food…
Putting the stray pieces BACK in the bowl. 🙂
Hanging snowflakes!
I hate the little white 3M tabs, but I gave up on the suction cups this year because they never stay stuck (we tried putting them up last night and half fell down before Owen went to bed).
Owen hopes Santa will like these!
First parent/teacher conference!
I honestly wasn’t surprised at most of the stuff she told me—we know he’s a smart kid.
He knows all his colors and shapes. He apparently didn’t know what a rhombus was—but I think that’s okay for Pre-K. 🙂 (But in his favor, he does know what a trapezoid is from one of his games but they didn’t ask that.)
She was very impressed that he knows all his uppercase and most of his lowercase letters. I said he knows ALL of his lowercase letters (and has known them for almost two years) but he often gets sidetracked when questioned. She agreed—she says she’s seen it, too. So she’s going to start working with him more on sounds (which they’ve already started). I told her he can say the alphabet backwards—and she really didn’t believe me. He got to about T then fizzled out because he was playing with Katie. But she was impressed. 🙂
She said he can count and recognize numbers to 13—and again I said he knows to at least 20 and he likely lost interest or got sidetracked. She agreed, as she’s seen him recognize other numbers. I told her he can count by tens to 100 and asked him to do it, but of course he wasn’t in the mood so he didn’t get very far.
He can write his first name so they’re going to start on the spelling of his last name. But they are also going to work more on him writing his name a consistent size. I said “OH YES! At home, he will write a huge O, then a tiny W halfway across the page, then a teeny E, and a sketchy N.” 🙂
She said his fine motor skills have definitely gotten better. He can now walk along the balance-beam-type-rail they have on the playground instead of falling off and he can jump from one spot to another (I haven’t been on the playground to see what spots she’s talking about). He can’t skip, but she said not many of them can.
He does well with verbalization—his speech is getting a lot better (she says she can understand just about everything) and he can express his emotions well. “Owen shows great language, social-emotional, and cognitive development. He’s able to express his feelings and use his words to explain himself.”
So, overall a very good report!!
Our first picture with Santa!
Over the years we just never cared about getting the picture with Santa. I hate crowds and I hate holiday crowds even more…so we just never did it. Then, once Owen was a bit older, we tried…but the commotion was too much for him and we had to leave before Santa even arrived.
Fast forward to this year and he’s showing A LOT more interest in Christmas—like things he wants and asking about Santa—so I thought I’d have to try this year (of course, the year Tom is gone). Thankfully, the local autism society planned a sensory-friendly event at the mall (two hours before regular pictures with Santa started) and we were first in line!
Owen was good at being patient (just asking a handful of times how many more minutes) and overall it was easy peasy! Of course Katie wasn’t her normal smiling self, but I was just happy she wasn’t snotty and/or screaming and/or wiggly and actually looked at the camera. I think they only took four pictures! Owen was great, too—and was EXCITED to see Santa. (Last night when I was telling him about the “mystery trip” to prepare him, he asked if it was the real Santa or a pretend Santa. I had no idea where he got the idea of real and pretend, but I told him it was a pretend Santa because of course the real Santa was getting ready at the North Pole. He accepted that.)
Of course the picture packages are a complete racket—but I ended up with a $40 package because it came with a $20 Shutterfly credit. I could have gotten cheaper packages but they only came with $10 Shutterfly credits so it was cost efficient (for me) to get the bigger package. So I will have actual photos to mail out this year. 🙂
On the way out, Owen wanted to ride in this kiddie car. I just happened to have the required quarters, so I said okay.
As you can see, Katie lasted about four seconds…and Owen only lasted about three more. 🙂
Feeding his sister
I let Owen eat breakfast watching TV this morning. Of course it was impossible to keep Katie away after she was done with her food…so eventually this happened.
And then I took a video without moving from my spot so they wouldn’t stop what they were doing. I should have zoomed in but I was too intent on making sure I caught it. 🙂