This is how Owen plays with his sister in the morning to keep her quiet. Pillows, toys, books…all piled in the crib with her..and she loves it!
Category Archives: Playing
Sibling fun
Owen put the tiger in her hair and it stuck there…just long enough for the picture. 🙂
Copying brother, as usual.
A gift from Katie
She loves playing in the pile of gravel by the shed. Today, she brought me this, in a tiny closed fist across the whole yard:
Look at me being cute!
Guess what? We’re outside again!
I have a feeling this is how she’s going to get her first split lip or her first set of stitches…trying to climb up the ladder when I’m not looking.
And this is her complete glee at stealing my seat!
She climbed right in!
Then continued to play in it all morning!
Outside yet again!
Owen: MOM?! Can Katie come outside, too?
I don’t know why he wants her out there so badly…he usually plays with her for two minutes (if that) then is off on his own. 🙂
Yep, one shoe off after about 45 seconds…that’s about right.
This is honestly what 98% of my attempts look like. 🙂 Now aren’t you even more impressed when I get really good shots?!
She got out, he left, and she got right back in!
Watching Owen. (And I just now realized I took all these pics as Square—a new setting on the iPhone. Oops.)
Yes I get a little nervous when she’s that close to the edge. 🙂
He’s lucky I have a night to sleep on it.
URGE TO KILL.
I just went to the bathroom downstairs and thought “What the hell is running down the wall that’s sticky?” Then I got off the toilet and wondered why the seat was sticky. Then I noticed the mirror was covered in something…as well as the floor.
DAMMIT.
Owen got a hold of the spray gel that was in there (from when I did his hair a few days ago). So THAT’S what he was in there doing when he didn’t come out right away after going potty and “washing his hands.” GRRRRRRRRRR.
I will just say he was VERY lucky I didn’t discover it when he was still awake and I will have a night to sleep on it…because I was already on the edge from his snotty refusal to pick up like I asked.
Needless to say I cleaned the bathroom tonight but he WILL be cleaning it tomorrow because we clean our messes.
Breathe.
Funny face kids
GI checkup: 3-6 more months, minimum
Not much has changed…we have some good days and bad days, I still need to do the mini clean-outs every other weekend, and the doc said this is normal for three months post-hospitalization…and 6-9 months is the normal time frame before we HOPEFULLY start seeing more of the good days. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. (I hate marathons and sprints, but I’d rather do sprints.)
So anyway, we at least got updated stats:
Weight: 64.2#
Height: 47.12″
EEK! No wonder his 4-5T pull-ups have been looking a little tight…AND why he’s in size 8s.
Helping—she handed him his shoes then tried to put them on with him.
Playing together while waiting for the nurse.
More waiting. It’s frustrating because the actual time with the doctor is about five minutes (which is fine and all we really need) but since it’s just him and one nurse, it takes 20 minutes for her to come back and schedule your next appointment since she’s in with other patients. We always get in on-time (if not early) so overall it’s not bad (and it’s still way better than having to drive three hours round trip to Wilmington) but it’s just slightly frustrating.
Anyway, they both did pretty good waiting and Katie loved looking behind the blinds.
Then some family fun…
I noticed that Katie was sticking her tongue out (no idea why) so we all did! This might just be my favorite picture of the month. 🙂
A Smaller Slide
Since she’s finally interested in the slide, we pulled out the smaller one. The first part of the video is her first time on it, figuring it out all by herself!
I got a request to go outside.
She was standing at the gate saying side and making the more sign. 🙂
She knows how we get outside.
Finding her shoes.
Tasty!
She dragged the chair off the deck and around the yard before settling here.
The polish way of doing things. 🙂
Happy girl!
Climbing and whining.
Achievement unlocked: Embarrassing photos for the future.
Playset Round 2
Now she loves the tunnel!
Here, mama, look at my shoe!
Another slide montage:
Katie and the playset!
The kids wanted to go outside… (Just as an FYI, all pics were taken with my iPhone. I was really impressed today.)
Owen was laying down (pretending to be killed by a zombie thanks to the Mythbusters zombie episode we watched this morning!) so Katie had to do do the same thing.
Then I was only half watching because they were both all over the yard when I looked up to see someone was trying to climb up the playset ladder…
So I lifted her up into the playset so I didn’t have to deal with her falling off. And she LOVED IT! It was her first time walking around up there!
Owen tried to get her to go through the tunnel—she was intrigued but didn’t go through.
A sliding montage…including her first lone trip down the slide!
Someone got stuck!
She finally went through!
And then back to the other side!
And then Katie stepped in dog poop (I just cleaned the yard yesterday so obviously Maggie pooped right by the playset this morning) so Owen ran to get the pooper scooper and HE wanted to do it. He needs practice, but I think it will be a good job for him! 🙂
Where’d you go?
And the original pic, which was cute, too.
One version of his Candyland.
“Blue’s in trouble! Super Green, Super Red, Super Yellow to the rescue!”
“Mama, Super Red is a really good runner and skater.”
And it went on and on from there for a good 10 minutes. 🙂
Fun shopping with mom
I was worried about keeping her busy while I looked at winter costs for Owen, but luckily the toys were right behind us. She had a ball!
I didn’t find a coat so after we picked up Owen we went to Kohls. This is a blurry pic but Katie loved riding in the cart.
And EVERYONE at Kohls loved her pig tails and commented how cute they were. And of course she was saying HI and BYE to everyone. 🙂
And once we got home…Owen in his new coat (a size 8)! He loves it and wanted to wear it out to play immediately. 🙂
Katie at Play
Snow? Snow! Snow.
I swear it was snowing last night before bed but it couldn’t have been because it was still like 38 degrees…but it really looked like it. This morning, I woke up to this:
Owen was VERY exited! When I got out of the shower at 6:50, he already had one flip flop on because he wanted to go outside to play! So we got him dressed quickly, put tennis shoes on, and off he went! “Mama! I love snow!” He’s obviously not my kid.
Little ragamuffin
I let her pigtail be completely askew after her nap and it just kept getting worse and worse. 🙂
Right to the mulch, as usual.
Morning Katie
Mom, I’m Indiana Jones.
Another surprise mystery trip!
Much closer to home this time—the elementary school just down the road. 🙂
Katie’s first slides! I missed her very first one but she kept coming back (though not one right after the other). A few times I thought she’d go down frontward but always flipped over.
She also really liked swinging with me. She’d say “Wheee!” And would swing back and forth a few times then want down. She’d wander off then come back and put her arms up. 🙂
On the way home.
Owen: Mom, that was AWESOME! Thank you so much for taking me to the playground!
🙂
Our Blue Ghost
She loves walking around like this.
Belly fun!
Birthday Bowling + A Toe Tragedy
Today we had a birthday party at a bowling alley for one of Owen’s classmates.
He had great fun using up his allotted tokens:
And I played one game for him and won over 100 tickets! He liked feeding them into the counting machine! (I thought we were done at this point which is why I turned them in so early. By the time the day was done, I had three redemption slips!)
Then it was time for pizza, cake, and opening presents. Overall it wasn’t too bad, but the party room was SUPER tiny for all the kids and let me just ask: If you were having a birthday party at a bowling alley on a limited time schedule with little kids with a short attention span, why on earth would you bring ALL your personal presents (at least 10-12)? Bring maybe 2-3 from mom and dad (if any at all) and open the rest at home. But anyway.
Owen was really very patient, and finally it was time for bowling. He wasn’t thrilled with the shoes but I told him he had to wear them. The first few frames went pretty well (they had the bumpers up) but honestly, trying to corral ten or so ~5-year-olds into bowling is like trying to herd cats. Kids running here, running there, between lanes, down the lanes while others are bowling, not waiting their turns, wanting to punch all the buttons on the display… And the noise level? Eeesh. Owen started complaining that the shoes hurt his feet and even though they felt fine, I let him take them off. I bowled in socks as a kid and so could he.
Here was his first go at it!
Then they brought out the helper stands—which made a HUGE difference in the success of each turn.
So it was only Owen and another kid on the last lane. This kid seemed to be a little older and a little bit of a brat—and I have NO idea who his mother was/parents were because no one was ever once close to him the whole time I was there. Well, in about frame six, this kid grabs a ball off the ball return and I guess was trying to be nice and bring Owen a ball for his turn… And just as I’m realizing this could go horribly wrong…yep, bowling ball to the toe. Screaming, wailing, tears, and a little boy sobbing in my lap.
A few moms and kids came over to see if he was okay (he was, he just had to cry a bit and settle down) and one offered to get some ice (oh, yeah, that would be good—I was so concerned with calming him down I had completely zoned on getting ice). Anyway, that was the end of the fun and he just kept saying he wanted to go home. I said we could but we had to leave the ice on for a bit first. The other kid never apologized (I’m sure he didn’t think anything of it) and whoever was there with him never came over (I recognized the few moms that did come over) so that was kind of annoying.
We did have to stop and redeem his tickets on the way out. He had picked out what he wanted earlier and of course they were out of that item. But the guy said we could pick ANYTHING in the case! (I mean it’s all cheap crap, but Owen was excited!) So he picked handcuffs! 🙂 Then it was a slow hobble to the car (I obviously can’t carry him) and he really was a trooper for as painful as I know it was. On the way home I tried to get his mind off it it and had him smiling and laughing. And since he can take pills now, I stopped at Walgreens to get some children’s Advil.
Of course he couldn’t wait to get home to tell Gramma and Grandpa about it and show them. We asked him if he knew the kid and he said no, but he always drops the bowling ball on his foot. 🙂
Sibling Play
Caught by Gramma Jean!
Surprise mystery trip to the beach!
Gramma Jean wanted to go to the ocean and take the kids, so we picked Owen up from school and headed out! I knew Owen hadn’t eaten much lunch (the menu for the day was mostly stuff he wouldn’t eat) so he ate turkey rolls and cheese on the way. We were going to the beach on base since we were already part of the way there from picking Owen up. So, it occurred to me to call the commissary and find out if they had fresh lobsters (the last time mom was here and we wanted them, no place had them). And they did! So we stopped off there first—and what should have been a 10 minute or less stop turned into at least a half hour since no one was in the meat department to help me, no one was answering the buzzer, the sushi guy went off to find him, and then it still took a good 10 minutes for him to come back, then he had to catch the wily critters. Then the traffic was pretty bad (even though we were going the opposite direction)…so we finally got to the beach about 4:00 (we picked Owen up at 2:30!). GRRR.
But all was well because Owen was very excited:
Owen: Where’s my suit? Can I get my suit on?!
Me: I didn’t bring your suit. It’s too cold to swim—but you can get wet because I brought a change of clothes.
Owen: OKAY!
Off and running! No looking back!
Okay, maybe a little looking back. 🙂
The weather and water were actually pretty nice for it being November—both were warmer than we had in Myrtle Beach in March!
Katie had NO fear of the water and went right for it. Unfortunately…the ocean got the better of her…a few times. She just lost her footing and was rolling around in the water and then would get up and fall over again. The water wasn’t deep and she wasn’t in any danger and never once made a peep! Mom and I were both recording her, but mom’s video is better:
So, we weren’t at the beach for more than five minutes before she was completely soaked. 🙂
She loved grabbing handsful of sand and carrying them around and giving them to grandma!
We were only there about a half hour before we needed to call it quits—damn time change has it getting dark at 4:30 plus the kids were both wet and sandy.
Unfortunately, we then had a looooooooong ride home in after-work base traffic so we all got to experience what Tom goes through every day. One hour and 15 minutes to drive 26 miles (but really one hour to drive 15 miles because the last 15 minutes was smooth sailing).
But both kids had a great time and before we even got home Owen was asking to go back!
First Sibling Bath
A week or so ago, Owen asked to take a bath with Katie. She’s old enough now to sit up herself without me having to constantly monitor her, so I agreed…but I did want to wait until Gramma Jean was around to help just in case. 🙂
“Katie! It’s time for your bath!” Just like Owen, she heads right up the stairs!
Cute jams!
