And then Owen trying to sit on the pony behind Katie but not quite making it, so holding on to her.
Category Archives: Siblings
Watching Toy Story 2
Morning light saber fight!
I didn’t let Owen take a light saber up to his room at bedtime since I try not to let him have noisy toys that might wake me up in the morning…but he came in first thing and asked if he could go get it and I said yes. He said “Great! And I’ll be quiet and won’t wake up Grauntie Marge!” 🙂
After my shower, I walked in to see this.
Poop patrol and grandpa pants
Once more with the pool patrol—but this time she actually brought me the rake! And tried to rake it up herself!
Watching big brother…
Grandpa pants!
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!
Bringing out the bear!
They often play on the bear in Owen’s room, so he brought it downstairs tonight! Oh what fun they had!
Katie is there behind Owen. He’s got his face in hers. 🙂
Owen loves jumping into the bear. He usually says “To infinity and beyond!” (thanks to watching Toy Story and Toy Story 2 recently)! I caught him mid-jump!
TV time together
Owenisms 32
Me: Katie, you need to put that ornament back on the tree.
Owen: Yeah! Or Santa won’t be happy!
On the way to school:
Owen: Mama look! We’re holding hands!
Me: Awww! That’s so sweet!
Owen: Yeah, I love Katie.
A minute or so later:
Owen: I’m done holding her hand. My arm is tired.
On the way home from school, we were trying to think of G things Owen could take for Show & Tell this week.
Me: You could take garbage.
Owen: Nooo! That’s stinky.
Me: You could take our garage.
Owen: Moooom! That’s too heavy.
Me: You could take Gramma.
Owen: Which one?
Me: Gramma Jean.
Owen: No, she’s not here. [As if the other ones might have been?!]
Watching Despicable Me
Post-Santa Pictures
I can’t accept failure…so I had to try again. 🙂
First outside (cute but NOT my typical perfect shot—at least you can see the whole outfit):
“Come back and sit down, Katie.”
And then I tried inside again but it still wasn’t happening so I didn’t get THE shot today. Oh well…
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. 🙂
Pre-Santa Pictures
Katie just wasn’t having it this morning…and this first picture is about the best of the bunch. Then you can see some of the fun I had.
Sword fight!
It took about 50 pictures to capture this without blurriness—they were having a blast!
Whatcha doin’?
He’s doing something that’s making noise so she has to be right up there. (He’s practicing writing letters on the iPad.)
Sibling fun
Owen put the tiger in her hair and it stuck there…just long enough for the picture. 🙂
Copying brother, as usual.
Sibling Love
He starts off whining because she’s climbing up on him…but minutes later she’s still there and they’re both content. 🙂
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!
Gramma’s Little Lobsters
Gramma Jean brought back lobster t-shirts from Maine for the kids! It was warm enough this morning that they could wear them! Katie wasn’t being terribly cooperative so she’s looking away in all the pics where Owen was looking at me…and vice versa…or the pic turned out blurry. Oh well. I can’t always get a perfect shot!
Achievement unlocked: Embarrassing photos for the future.
MSU Kids
I didn’t even plan ahead to dress them for game day. Kind of. I went to get Katie dressed and her MSU outfit was on the top of the stack in the dresser. And it was at that point that I realized it was a game day and put Owen in his jersey as well.
This pic didn’t turn out too bad.
And these next two just make me laugh out loud. Owen gets the craziest faces when I tell him to smile.
Ahhh, that’s better.
Well, not that.
Sister can do it.
And then THE shot. Perfect.
And then outside after the farmer’s market.
Fish Feeding Frenzy
They love goldfish! And they were even feeding each other!
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!
🙂
Her favorite seat
Sibling Play
Caught by Gramma Jean!
Me, too! Me, too!
I asked Owen to go sit on the couch so I could take his monthly picture…and before I could get the camera turned on, Katie was climbing up next to him. 🙂
Gramma Jean asked Katie “Where is Owen?” and she was pointing to him. 🙂
Owen wanted to go for a walk…
So off we went. He put on his new fast shoes so he could run…but then didn’t do too much running because he said his legs hurt. I asked where and he pointed to his shins. I’m wondering if he’s having growing pains…? I think I was a bit older, but I remember my legs hurting and my parents telling me my bones were growing… So I told him his bones are probably growing. Of course he asked why and I told him that’s how he gets taller. Ohhhhh! I told him not everyone can feel their bones grow so he’s special…just like mama. 🙂
Then he wanted to push Katie. Needless to say we had to wait until we were back on our less-travelled street because he cannot manage anything resembling a straight line. Of course he’s hamming it up doing circles in the video, but it’s not too far off. Then he even had to stop to put oil on the wheels (using his sunglasses that he found in the stroller pocket). Unfortunately I didn’t get that in the video.
Katie Belly
Happy Halloween!
Owen was so excited about trick-or-treating that he started asking about 3:30. 🙂 I told him it would be after dinner, so that put him off until about 4 before he started asking if it was dinnertime yet. Since the kids have a somewhat early bedtime, I figured we’d start on the early end (“official” time was listed as 5-9). So I got dinner going at 4:30 and we started getting dressed at about 5.
Of course there were wardrobe malfunctions—unfortunately, the wonderful idea I had about permanently adhering the red criss-cross leg straps to the costume wasn’t so great in practice. It helped, but we should have done a trial run because the ties still hung weird and slid down because the legs were too long. I fixed some of it by hiking it up and holding it with the belt…and it still wasn’t really great but it was good enough for a four year old. 🙂 But, I was exasperated because I thought it would be a quick two minutes to get his costume on…and it turned into a 15-minute debacle that included me running upstairs to madly search for my fabric tape with Katie screeching the whole time because she was tired of being in her high chair. And I was sweating, which never makes me happy.
So then I needed to get pictures of him so I left Katie screeching in the high chair while we went outside.
“Give me a ninja pose!”
Then I had to go get Katie ready. I hadn’t done it earlier since it was WARM out and her chicken costume would also be warm. Luckily she sat pretty still for a few pictures.
Then we were off.
Owen: I can’t believe I’m going trick-or-treating! It’s my big day!
And of course, the excitement quickly turned into shyness as we hit the first house. He didn’t want to go up the driveway (I had to cajole him and go up with him), he didn’t want to say trick or treat, and he didn’t say thank you. After three houses of that, I told him if he didn’t start being brave, we were going home. So the next house he tromped off saying “I’m going to be brave!” 🙂 Then it was all good!
This is how Katie was traveling in style:
The only bad thing was (as I learned later) we were out too early. Yes, the official hours were 5-9 but there were so few houses participating I almost wondered if Halloween had been cancelled and I just didn’t know it. I was remembering last year when the streets were packed with raucous kids and I thought we were out at about the same time…but I was off by about half an hour because things started picking up around 6 and were quite busy when we were headed home at 6:30.
Katie was a big hit—almost everyone commented on her costume and she was happily saying “bye bye” to everyone and waving.
We made it home about 6:35 and went right upstairs. I didn’t want to have any lights on downstairs lest anyone think we were home and ring the doorbell (we didn’t have a pumpkin or any lights on, but that didn’t stop people last year). I let Owen and Katie share a bag of mini cheese balls and a mini Nestle crunch bar, which they both really enjoyed!
Then it was Katie’s bedtime—and she didn’t even squawk and was out in under 10 minutes. Yay!
I let Owen ramble on about how much fun he had while eating a few more treats, and he got to bed a mere 10 minutes late.
So overall, it was a good day. 🙂
Wagon Ride 2
