If you leave any piece of clothing out, she’ll put it on. Today was Owen’s pants.
They aren’t cooperating!
Category Archives: Videos
Net head!
Gramma Jean got them this net. Katie loves it. 🙂
And you’ll notice the tights came off—she trued to pull them off herself but got frustrated when they didn’t come off as easily as socks!
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. 🙂
She always has to show you her belly.
Those tongues again…and Katie’s words!
Laundry Basketball
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. 🙂
The Chair Wanderer
She loves the little chairs we have. She hauls them all over. Here, she’s trying to figure out how to get it up the step. Owen is singing in the background.
The poop song, versions 2 and 3.
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. 🙂
Singing the poop song.
He sang a funny on-the-spot made up poop song for me so I asked him to sing it again so I could record it. Of course it wasn’t anything close to what he originally sang, but it was still cute. PLUS! I got the bonus of a pee song. (It’s obviously school-related since he talks about teachers and going back to your “center” which is the different learning areas of the classroom like Library, Housekeeping, Art, and Science.)
I’ll try again another night and see what I get!
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.
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! 🙂
Side! Siiide!
Katie can definitely tell you when she wants to go outside. She stands at the gate, points, and says “SIDE! SIDE!” 🙂
So since it was nice today we went for a walk before going to pick Owen up from school.
Channeling Owen
I gave her yogurt today and the first thing she did was dunk her string cheese in it.
And then her fingers…
Snack time! More!
Owen was having a cheese stick so she wanted one. Maggie isn’t looking at her because Owen also has a cheese stick plus the crinkly wrapper.
She definitely knows the sign for “more.”
Katie making faces
She does this frequently. Some of it is her mimicking what I’m doing, but not every time.
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.
This is happening far too often.
I don’t like this stage where she has a mini tantrum when she doesn’t get her way. Thankfully it never lasts too long, as you can see in the first part of the video.
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. 🙂
The drama queen.
Katie didn’t get her way…at first.
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!
Katie’s first spoon
She doesn’t often eat (like) yogurt or applesauce so we don’t have many options to try out spoons. But tonight we needed to keep her busy in her high chair so I brought out some yogurt, a bowl, and a spoon.
Her fingers were the first thing in the bowl. 🙂
Christmas will be fun this year.
Katie opening a present…
Putting toys away by song
This is what they sing at school. 🙂