A Quick Hello and Goodbye to February

Baba helping with art at the Hands On Children's Museum in Olympia

It's been kind of a mundane month, not much exciting, not much new.  We have been busy busy busy doing fun things, thought, and the kids still surprise us with their new skills every day, so that is super fun.

Rooooooaaaaaaar!  At the children's museum with Dedo

Second time hitting the slopes this season for Z.  Grandma tagged along this time!

Baby's first time bowling!  After her first turn she loved it.  I don't think
she understood the point the first couple of balls she rolled.  :)

Zoë has been honing her patience skills with her brother and life in general.  She has become a tantrum queen when she gets frustrated or doesn't get her way.  Like, put in a time-out in her room, kicking the door, coming out before her time is up, screaming at the top of her lungs kind of way.  Chris took her doorknob off her door the other day because she wouldn't stay in her room.  That was not received well.


She is continually using words and phrases I would never expect to hear out of a four-year-old's mouth.  One day she was describing to a friend how Oliver feels about his Dedo.  "Yeah, Bailey.  Oliver is kind of obsessed with Dedo."  Obsessed?!  Both true and a hilarious word to hear from her.  Also, we were discussing how she got her name when on our way to the store one day.  She asked who picked her name, which doctor it was.  I told her that mama and daddy picked it out and she responded, "But, did the doctor give you all of your options?".  Such a smarty.










She is showing more interest in learning her letters and can recognize more than I think she lets on.  She's definitely got her name down (and great at writing it).  She told me the other day that she wants to learn more letters and about which letters people have in their names.  A great start!

Picture from the dance

Zoë and Chris went to a Daddy/Daughter Dance at the Federal Way Community Center before Valentine's Day and they had a great time!  It was a princess themed dance so all of the little girls wore princess dresses.  So fun!  Z's friend Bailey and her dad were there, too.  After the dance Zoë and Chris went and had Japanese food (the Spaghetti Factory was way too crowded, sadly) and then came home to tell me about their great time.

We've been to two preschool open houses within the past month to check out our options for her in the fall.  One, our first choice, is at the Tacoma Nature Center and has all outdoor preschool, but they have a lottery with not very many slots open.  Chris says we tend to be very lucky people, but I'm not holding my breath.  Chris attended the open house at the Tacoma Children's Museum this week and actually enrolled Z in their 3 day a week play based preschool as our second (and very good) choice.  We opted for the co-op model to save $100 a month which will require me to come in 2 or 3 times per month to help, but that will be fun.  There are no other responsibilities like meetings, fundraisers, or committee positions, so it was worth saving the bucks.

Z has been spending a lot of time with her friend Bailey (and my with her mama Marci) and we LOVE the two of them.  It is so wonderful to have a good friend within minutes of our house who I feel I click with so well.  Our parenting styles are similar and Z and Bailey get along well (minus a few 3/4 year old glitches that are to be expected!).  They do ballet together, too.

Oliver's first snow!

Oliver is getting more and more vocabulary every day that he uses without being prompted.  The other day he walked into the kitchen and declared "book!" and pointed at the one he had in his hands.  I think it's his first 'b' word he's pronounced correctly.  :)  He also loves to declare, "down!", "no!", and "'side!" (outside).  My new favorite thing he says is "NOPE" in perfectly appropriate situations.  It's hilarious.

It didn't snow and stick last winter, so he enjoyed his first experience with it.

He is a MASTER storyteller.  He LOVES to tell stories and recount what happened during our day to Chris over dinner.  His favorite story to tell is about the peacock that stole his sandwich last summer at the zoo.  Yes, last summer.  He tells it with great expression and conviction of how traumatized he was.  I can't believe how animated he is and his facial expressions are priceless.

Typical morning...in princess gear by 7am.

Tried out a hike today...didn't go well.  

He's also really loving gymnastics.  He does an OK job of staying with the group and following directions.  Every once and a while he'll run away which makes me cringe, but he usually comes back.  He also can't wait to do ballet like his big sister.  Every time she goes into class he whines, pats his chest and points into the classroom as if he's saying, "Is it my turn yet?!"

Oliver has also attempted to sit on the potty a few times in the past two days...but only for "numanumanums" (M&Ms).  We'll see if this has any momentum but this mama would LOVE for the potty training to start to get rid of these diapers!

I've been doing the Whole30 this month which has been easier than I expected.  The Whole30 consists of only eating whole foods and avoiding dairy, gluten, processed sugar, and preservatives.  I have 8 days left and will debrief more when I'm done, but I feel as if I've been eating really good for me food and conscientious of what I'm putting in my mouth.  I'm pretty sure I prefer Weight Watchers for the weight loss aspect and the fact I can eat whatever I want, just in moderation, but we'll see when I start to reintroduce some of these foods into my diet how I feel then.

Chris' birthday was celebrated at Smash Putt with friends!

Chris signed up for the triathlon in Sunriver in June and I'm training for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Seattle in June, so we're both trying to get ready for our separate events.  Should be a fun summer and I can't WAIT for the weather to be more conducive to getting outside (as I just looked up from my computer and outside, I see that it's trying super hard to SNOW...really?!).