Little stories

Well, it's been a while again. I can't seem to get myself motivated to blog ever.

Here are some stories:

Nicholas got a string and told one of our kitties to come with him. Jon told Nicholas to walk away and the cat would try to get the string, so he did. And when the kitty got the string, Nicholas scolded him and said "Oviler, be nice!" (His name is Oliver but he pronounces it Oliver - something Ella used to do too).

Speaking of Ella and kitties, she LOVES animals. She wants to pick up the kitties so bad and pet them all the time. We told her she has to wait until she is 6 to pick up the kitties. She just wants to be like her idol, Olivia (the pig) and pick up the kitty. The other night,we watched an Olivia episode in which Olivia plays a "magic" trick on her brother and pretends to disappear. So when the episode was over, Ella announces that she was going to put on a magic show and buh-peer (IOW, disappear). Benjamin said it the same way. At one point, she announced that she and Benjamin needed to go their room so that we couldn't see them and buh-peer. Funny!

We started the kids on swimming lessons again and once again, Benjamin refused to get into the pool. We are thinking it is because the teacher is a girl and not Jonathan this time. No bribery was working on him. UGH! Nicholas, on the other hand, was in the pool with me and was doing great with swimming. I would hold him by the belly and he would go doggy paddling after the toy he just threw in the water. He was laughing the whole time and he even crawled over the float bridge thingy they made! Progress! Ella is doing well with swimming as well! I wish Benjamin would just get in the pool.

This past weekend was my 20th high school reunion and I didn't go. I really wish I would have. Had I scheduled things a little differently, I probably could have gone. Oh well. I hope I can get together with some people when I go over to Spokane sometime. We are going over there in September for a family reunion, so probably not then, but perhaps the next time. I hope!

Zoo

Yesterday afternoon we took the kids to the zoo. They seemed so excited at first when we got there, but as it got later in the afternoon, they started to get cranky as they were starting to miss their nap. We saw the penguins, turtles, snakes, elephants (of which Nicholas asked "what's that?" with a bit of awe in his voice), lions (sleepy lions), bears (briefly), giraffes, and hippos. At first, Benjamin was sad that we would not see a walrus, but they are at the zoo in Tacoma. Nicholas enjoyed just running wherever he could and didn't pay too much attention to the animals. Over by the elephant barn, he just wanted to run inside the barn and out in a circle while making an "AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" sound. Thankfully, the weather cooperated with us and ended up being a really nice day. I was really exhausted toward the end there especially with having to carry a preschooler for part of that time! My back is killing me! The kids, of course, once we got home and they woke from their mini-nap in the car, they went outside and ran around. Where did they get this energy? They didn't have it when we left the zoo as they wanted us to carry them!

Other than that, I took Benjamin to the McDonald's play area for a reward for going poo on the potty. Unfortunately, we still need this reward for both of them. I took him there after their last swim class for a while. We are going to try other things for a little while like a music class! After McDonald's, I took Benjamin to the library book sale to look for some airplane books. Our first book we saw when we got there - an airplane book! How lucky for us! Then even later, we babysat a 3 year old child of our friend while she and her husband went to a wedding.

I think that about sums up our weekend. We finally got the toddler bed rail for N's bed but being so busy this weekend, we didn't put it together. Hopefully, we will very soon...

Swim Class

As you may recall (if I wrote it down in this blog), that Ben & Ella started swim class back a couple months ago. They, at first, hated it, but gradually were warming up to being in the pool. By the last class that each attended, things were starting to look good. Then the pool closed for a few weeks to clean. I was afraid that would mean we would go back to the beginning but no! Ben & Ella hopped into the pool right away and enjoyed their class. Now, Benjamin is a bit more adventurous than Ella. He wants to go down the slide into the pool and he likes going around the pool in the float. Ella refuses to do both of those things. Hopefully, that will change and hopefully, they will both graduate out of preschool level 1 swim class this time.

This time, I also signed Nicholas up for a class. He has to go into the pool with a parent (you have to be 3 to take the preschool class). The first class was this past Saturday and I went in with him this time. He LOVED it. I would sit him on the edge of the pool and he would just jump at me. He didn't freak out when I accidentally put him under water either...though he did swallow some chorlinated water. Yuck! He didn't want to crawl along the one square float this last time, so maybe next time!

Another Overdue Update

Well, the kids are still taking swim lessons and still freaked out by the water. Ella did o.k. when I took her on Monday night to go swimming with me. She let me put her on her belly and on her back to swim as long as she was holding a long pink spaghetti noodle. I'm hoping this means she will get in the pool with the teacher tomorrow, but I'm not holding out any luck on that.

Benjamin also refused to go into the pool during class last week and didn't let go of Jon when they went on Wednesday night...though he did well the prior week in class and in pool time with papa.

Nicholas has had his first ear infection. He got a 103 temperature the other day. I took him to the doctor the next day and he has ear infections, so he started on antibiotics on Monday. He was throwing up last night - something that he and at least one of the teachers at school have.

Cute Stories:

the other day, I'm driving the kids home and I hear them say the following:

Ella: Benjamin, do you want to wear the pink things? (I think she is talking about the pink wannabe crocs).
Ben: ...
Ella: BENJAMIN! Do you want to wear the pink things? Yeah or no?
Benjamin: ELLA! Boys like to wear pink sometimes too!


Last night, I was cleaning up their room trying to find where Nicholas put his boots (turns out he put them in Jon's boots). Ella & Benjamin were out in the livingroom pretending to be mommy and baby. I hear one of them say "do you like your soda? I like my soda" and I was thinking they were pretending because they see Jon and I drink soda. Well, no, they found a coke bottle I had left in my lunch bag (I had forgotten about it) and they were pouring the coke into their sippy cups and their other cup and drinking it. I only came out when I heard Benjamin scream out "it's too full! I got it too full!" He put too much in his cup and it was spilling out. Ugh! Luckily, they did go to sleep in a somewhat peaceful manner (in comparison to other days).

Speaking of swimming, last week when I took Ella to swim, she was staring at the womean and little girls walking around - some of them in the nude. I told her it wasn't nice to stare. Later, after "swimming", we went back to the locker room to change and she apparently thought I was staring as she said "mommy, it isn't nice to stare".

Nicholas is sick again today so Jon is home with him. Benjamin also stayed home since his nose kept running and he needed a tissue constantly. He was going to keep Ella home, but she said she really wanted to go to school. I'm not sure right now if she went or not.

That's all for now. Hope everyone feels better soon and that Ben & Ella do very well in their swim class tomorrow!

Swim Class & More

This past weekend we started Ben & Ella on swim lessons. I'm going to start something with Nicholas next session hopefully (hopefully, the first class isn't on his birthday party day!) Anyway, both kids were very hesitant about this whole getting in the pool thing. Thankfully, they were not the only ones so I didn't feel all too bad. Ella did go in after a while and even floated across to the platform on the other side with the help of the teacher. Unfortunately, she let go of the pole on the platform and went under the water. After that, she was rather nervous about the whole thing so she only spent a little more time in the pool.

Benjamin took more time to be o.k. with the pool. I tried putting him in there but he was lifting his legs up and had he just put his legs down, he would feel the bottom. Eventually, he went in and realized that there was a bottom and he wouldn't go all the way in. However, he didn't last long in the pool. I blame myself for not introducing them to the pool sooner (which is why I want to get Nicholas in there as soon as possible though with him it will be with the parent tot class as you have to be 3 to be in the class Ben & Ella are in.

We are going to try to make it to the Friday night family swim night so the kids can go swimming then with our assistance. I hope this will make them o.k. with the saturday swim class that goes on for another 5 weeks.

Speaking of the twins, one night Benjamin got hurt (he had bit his finger when eating a sandwich) and he did this thing he always does that I hate in which it seems he is not breathing and to top that off, he had food in his mouth so I got a bit nervous he would choke. Ella started to freak out then because of that and I thought it was sweet she was so concerned that something was really going on - but it wasn't. All was cool once I got Benjamin to actually breathe again to tell me what happened.

As for Nicholas - he is saying more and more sentances. He has been saying thank you for a while, but last night actually said you're welcome to me - though I think it was more you elcom. He also says "soos me" for excuse me and it was so cute because last night, he was riding on a little scooter car thing and he said "soos me mommy. Soos me!" Such a polite little boy.


Also - potty training. I THOUGHT we had made some progress when all 3 went poo on the potty over the weekend, but nope. It feels neverending.