October + November in Review

Oliver has proven to be a very difficult and LOUD toddler for the past month.  He screams when he doesn't get fed IMMEDIATELY after the pantry door even cracks open.  He throws a tantrum like the best of them.  He sleeps horribly (wakes up in the wee hours of the morning, usually before 5am) and then is up around 5:30 and when brought into our bed only 50% of the time will fall back to sleep.  He HATES riding in the car...screams every time he gets into it and all the way to our destination, usually.  I have a feeling he'll do better the minute we turn him to forward facing, but I wanted to wait on that long after 2 if he could stand it.  He is getting more and more words every day.  It is incredible how much he understands (two part directions, questions, can point to all sorts of things in books) and still eats like a champion.  He is the SLOWEST eater, though.  It takes forever to get through a meal, but we'll try to take his plate away or ask him if he's done and he'll use his slow, signature, "Noooooooooooooo".  If we're having a conversation and we point something out to him he'll use his surprised and pleased "ooooooooooh" which is totally endearing.  He loves to do forward rolls and is bonkers about jumping.  Jumping on the ground, jumping over things, jumping off the furniture onto Daddy.  Loves it!  Jumping is usually paired with body slamming, also.  His favorite songs are "Run Baby Run" by Caspar Babypants and "Let it Go" from Frozen (which he sings along with on Zoë's Frozen microphone. "Goooooooooooo")  At his 18 month check-up he had dropped to the 75th percentile for weight and 80th for height (still 90th for head size, though), which makes me sad because he's not so roly-poly any more.  He's growing into 2T clothes now.


Zoë has been sleeping much better and our only complaint is that sometimes she is up early when O is and prevents him from going back to sleep when they're both in our bed.  She is attending a preschool at the Federal Way Community Center which is nothing like BCP in that it is in a super small room with 10 kids and definitely not play-based.  I'm having a hard time with it, but she seems to like it ok enough.  They spend about 20-30 minutes outside in a 3 hour time period and I know she would love it if there were more.  They do parent pleaser crafts about letters and Z can't tell me the letter she learned about each day.  I'm not worried about her learning her letters, I'm worried that she's missing out on playtime when they're doing so-called learning.  We have a lead in at the Nature Center preschool which is outdoors most of the time they have together.  I think she would love it.  We'll know in the next day or two if it's a possibility.

She is loving ballet and has her first recital in two weeks.  We are very excited!  She is attending up at the local community center and it is (cheap) wonderful.  The teacher is fantastic and there is nothing cuter than 10 three year olds in tutus prancing around a dance studio following their teacher.  I can't wait for the showcase!

I ran my first half marathon at the beginning of October, and was ready to run my next one within 24 hours.  :)  I had the best cheer-squad ever, even when, at 11.5 miles, I saw an unexpected hill ahead of me and was ready to quit.  I ran the Fall City Half, self-proclaimed as the fastest and flattest half in Washington and it was ALL flat except for that one hill (at the end!).  It was a beautiful course.  Chris says I'll enjoy running the Seattle Rock and Roll Half better because there are more people cheering and more energy.  I'm looking forward to it (crazily enough)!

And, Chris ran the Stein Dash, a 5K during the Oktoberfest festival at the Washington State Fairgrounds.  It involved chugging a beer at each mile.  He did great and ran like the wind!  It was fun to watch him run off the start line and then through the finish.  And then, of course, we enjoyed the festivities in the hall afterwards.  Something we'll do again next year for sure!

We enjoyed Halloween festivities all month starting with a party at the Center at Norpoint a few weeks ago and two fun parties the last two weekends with good friends.  Zoë had wanted to be a ghost since the first time we mentioned Halloween costumes a few months ago and she stuck with it.  I was disappointed because it didn't seem like a fun costume to make, but I think it ended up pretty great with some fun lights wound around her tutu.  I was trying SO desperately to come up with a fun family themed costume around Zoë's ghost request, but didn't think Pacman was cute enough for Oliver...so Chris came up with The Hungry Thing from the children's picture book and he fits the part perfectly.  :)  Trick or Treating was almost cancelled because both kids were sick but Zoë perked up at dinner time so we (as the amazing parents we are) took both out in the slight rain and cold.  They had a great time and were absolutely adorable.  We went around our street and cul-de-sac was the perfect amount of time for them to collect enough candy and to feel pretty accomplished.

November was busy with getting outside playing and, well, not much else that is super notable.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at the Seaman house and are ready to roll into the holidays with full force.  This year is going to be so much fun!!!

Preschoolers

What a big week last week!

Both kids started preschool.  :)  They'll be attending the Burien Cooperative Preschool in, uh, Burien.  Which is also where I am teaching this fall.  I'll be teaching the 1s and 2s classes (Fireflies and Dragonflies), so I'll have Oliver in my classroom every Tuesday.  For the first few weeks Chris is going to be coming with us, thank goodness, so I can concentrate on being a teacher rather than worrying about Oliver.  Last week, however, it went really well and Oliver was pretty excited to be getting as messy as he wanted to (see: paint EVERYWHERE).



















He continues to be quite the charmer and INSISTS that you watch him do all sorts of things by yelling until he gets your attention.  He has pretty much given up riding in the stroller (screams much of the time he's in it) but really does like the hiking backpack, which is good, because we've been using it a lot.  Is almost has mastered getting up on the couch by himself (sometimes he does it just fine and others he screams until we help him) but can get up at the dining room table no problem, has mastered stairs (mama won't let him do the flight of stairs inside by himself yet, but he does the front steps to the driveway just fine), runs and chases his sister like a pro, and is a dancing fool.  He. loves. to. dance.  He has also mastered flinging himself down onto the ground in a full out tantrum.  But, if he's standing on the wood floor when he ramps up to this he'll make sure he runs over to a carpeted area before he does so.  It's hilarious.  He still only has mastered mostly words that start with the letter B (balloon, ball, baba, bubbles, baba), but he is slowly adding more words to his vocabulary (today he said car several times, he knows dog, and he attempts tons).  The way he gets us to "cheers" with him is absolutely adorable.

Zoë's first day of preschool was later in the week and had me a bit more teary than Oliver's first day.  Because she was ready.  And excited.  And looks like a preschooler with her backpack and cheesy smile and big bow on her headband.  I cannot believe she is old enough to have a preschool picture and be dropped off without one of us with her.  Every Thursday her Grandma and Dedo will be trading off being the "serve day" parent in her classroom since I will be teaching and I'm so jealous they'll get to watch her play.  Last week she played with shaving cream, climbed on the playground, and created some kind of art with glue and glitter that hasn't come home yet.  She has a spot for her backpack and is just oh-so-cute talking about Teacher Gloria.  She sang the ONE song she learned so far ALL. DAY on Thursday after she came home from school.  Something about monkeys and alligators in a tree.  I'm pretty sure her first day of Kindergarten is going to wreck me completely.

We went to the Puyallup Fair last week and enjoyed eating our way around the fairgrounds.  :)

Ummmmmm, I forgot about this post...

Oliver:  Obsessed with elephants (truly, he spits like a mo-fo every time you ask him what an elephant says and it's hilarious), feeding himself, his big sister, books, eating pretend food

Zoë: Loves to climb, jump, run, and twirl.  ESSSCITED for preschool,

We spent a weekend camping at Dash Point State Park at the beginning of the month which turned out to be really fun.  After our first camping experience with Zoë when she was Oliver's age turning out to be a little disastrous (we were on Orcas...a million miles and dollars away from turning back home) we decided to stay close this time.  It took forever to get the kids to fall asleep next to each other in the same tent, but they had a grand time eating, playing in the dirt, and taking some walks along the trails at the park.  We spent part of one of our days at the Point Defiance Zoo, too, and met up with our Photos and Playdates group to have some fun, which broke up the time perfectly.

The kids and I have been spending a LOT of time outside on walks and hiking by participating with the Hike it Baby group.  We've met some really fun people and tried out some fun new trails.  It's actually been quite a helpful, saving grace on our days when we have nothing planned.  I find that when we are out of the house doing something we ALL (including myself) behave better.  ;)

Chris' best friend, Drew, got married and we went and spent the weekend up in Everett where he and Michelle got married.  It was a great way to spend some time together and be a part of a fun celebration.

Summer!!!

It is crazy how busy we've been this summer.  I have NEVER ever felt this busy doing...what feels like not much.  Not much is parks, playdates, swim lessons, a trip to Sunriver, working in my new classroom, a trip to Portland, training for the STP, training for a half marathon, hosting BBQs, swimming in the pool, and, well, more.

In all honesty, I am being driven crazy by the two screamers I spend my days with.  Between Oliver, who yells if you don't get him food fast enough, and Zoë, who's having the hardest time sharing, not clotheslining her brother, and, in general, being a reasonable human being, I am ready to crack a bottle of wine every. single. day.  Oliver is SO dependent on me and refuses to go to Chris if I'm in the room.  Zoë whines and cries about every thing.  Every thing.  More on this later, let's get to the more fun stuff.  :)

We went to Sunriver at the beginning of the month for the Fourth of July and had a great time.  We stayed (for the last time) in the smallest studio condo at the resort, which had some challenges in getting two kids to sleep at night, but it was also the cheapest condo in Sunriver.  :)  We enjoyed doughnuts every morning from the Hot Lava Baking Company, ice cream every night at Goody's, went on lots of bike rides (Chris did a training ride up to Mt. Bachelor, too!), visited the Nature Center, ran a 10K (almost a 10K...it was actually a mile short), watched the fireworks in Bend, had the most delicious Mexican food at a restaurant called Hola! in the Old Mill District, swam at the SHARC, survived Zoë getting sick from what we believe was a little dehydration+excitement over the day's activities, Zoë rode a pony, they both rode the small train in The Village, and bounced in the bounce houses.  It was a big week and the kids even did ok on the car rides to and from (we found the perfect half way point up at the Mt. Hood summit).

We traveled down to Portland the day Chris did the STP and spent the night after a fun day of the Hands On Children's Museum in Olympia, meeting him and his friend Bobby for lunch in Chehalis, having dinner with Avery and Alison once we made it to Portland, and hanging out while we waited for the men to arrive in Portland.  Nearly 17 hours after they left Seattle the guys arrived.  I am so proud of Chris, what an accomplishment! He has since hung up his bike, he says, until next year.  But, a pretty cool thing to be able to say he did.

Oliver is RUNNING, walking straight off of things (like the couch, stairs, pieces of playground equipment, etc), climbing, able to get up the playground by himself and slide down the slides that even his sister, until just recently, wouldn't even go down.  His sleeping has been ok, until about 4:30am at which point Chris has to go in and put him back down because Oliver wouldn't go back to sleep for me (I'm a sucker, apparently).































































Zoë has just been growing like a weed.  I swear she's put on a few pounds since her birthday and definitely grown taller.  She took swim lessons for the last two weeks and was the only child that cried every day.  I didn't have to force her to go, she LOVED going, but she didn't like being dunked under or playing "shark" with her entire class, so that would usually end in tears.  Her teacher was firm but really gave Zoë positive feedback when she did something new.  But, for the entire summer so far she has insisted on holding onto me in the pool with a death grip and screaming if I somehow get away from her.  It's been difficult holding onto both kids in the water when Chris isn't around.  On Saturday we had a BBQ and all of a sudden she said, "I want to get back in the pool".  I grabbed her, held on to her, she told me to put her back on the side, and then all of a sudden she let go and started kicking ON HER OWN.  It was AMAZING and my proudest moment of the summer!  And then she didn't want to get out of the water.  SUPER cool.  I can't wait for her to get back in!

Two months later...

Finally settled in two+ months later, we have been enjoying our new house.  More pictures to come a bit later, but our two monkeys are growing and changing like crazy.

Zoë is still testing out her independence daily.  She has become way more adventurous at the playground and climbs everything (except for the slide...still won't go down the slide).  She is enjoying gymnastics so much and loves her teachers.  She definitely misses her two BFFs Avery and Jossi and being further away from them is hard.  I'm so excited for her to start preschool in the fall because I think she'll do so well being around kids her own age every day and away from me, honestly.  We butt heads more than anybody and getting her to do anything for me is like pulling teeth.

She is so hot and cold with Oliver.  One moment loving on him, offering hugs and kisses and "are you OK"s and then the next clotheslining him with her arm as they both spin in circles in the family room.  She is quick to yell when he yanks toys away from her but insists that she's justified in do the same to him.

















We have been going through a tough period of sleep with her, but I think we're on the tail end of the bad part.  She would refuse to go to bed in her room and would sneak into our bed while we were downstairs watching TV at night.  We'd go up when we were ready for bed to find her surrounded by books and toys she'd dragged in there and sound asleep.  We did a couple of nights of "sleep training" her where she SCREAMED and SCREAMED and SCREAMED (and, yes, woke Oliver up several times) at bedtime.  It resulted in one night of me camping out in our bed and putting her back into her room time after time and her finally falling asleep in the doorway of her room curled up in a pitiful ball.  But, now she's going to bed easier and only waking up one or two times per night.  :)  And, she's up super early too, but...not as early as:




Oliver.  Who is now waking up between 5-6am.  Seriously.  AND, a few weeks ago 4:30 was the norm for a few days.  It's out of control.  Yes, he has his entire window blocked off from sunlight.  Yes, he's napping regularly during the day.  Yes, he goes to bed (and is wrecked) by bedtime easily and without fuss.  I think he just gets enough sleep?  MAYBE?!  The blessing is that I'll pull him into our bed and he'll snuggle for a few minutes, then get down and play with any number of things he can find upstairs in the playroom and our room and let us keep sleeping.

But!  He's running like a crazy person, takes the stairs like a big kid, stepping down the ones in the living room and falling and giggling and doing it over and over again.  He has figured out how to put the shapes in his shape sorter toy, delights in dumping the gigantic bucket of balls over and over again, and screams when we don't get his food prepared fast enough.  He communicates in grunts and yells and a few words (ball! being the first, followed by balloon, bubbles, dog, and go).  He also learned how to open doors like a champ last week.  Thankfully, only the lever-type doorknobs we don't have in our own house, but he is FAST at opening them.  His big sister took FOREVER to learn only because she was too short to reach them.  ;)

Oliver and I went to Albuquerque for cousin Mason's 1st birthday party and had fun!  Oliver did TERRIBLY on the plane ride down there.  He wanted to run in the aisles the entire time and screamed for about an hour in the middle of the flight because he had to sit down.  He was NOT a happy camper no matter how many snacks I offered him.  The ride home was MUCH better as he had his own seat since the plane was not full (thank heaven!).  It was great to see the two boys playing together and I can't wait to see them as they get older wrestling and chasing after each other.  They're going to be the best of friends!  I sure wish my sister lived closer, but I'm glad we get to see each other a lot (mostly thanks to her and Jed's traveling schedule).

Happy First Birthday Oliver Finn!

 How, oh how, can you be one today, Oliver?!  You were never tiny, but you still fit into the crook of my arm.  You came out a large lump, a mass of boy that surprised us with your heft and charm from the very beginning.  You charmed your sister, your parents, your grandparents, your aunt and uncles.

You smiled early.  Crawled early.  Walked early.  Ate mightily from the start and laughed easily and early like we were all simply jesters in your majesty's royal court.  You are my serious little boy.  Your smile has to be earned, much like your dad's, but it creeps across your face and into the most charming little boy grin.  Usually followed by a sound that can only be described as sounding like a seal.

And you slept.  Oh, how you have slept.  Thank you.

You are mischievous.  You pull cords and carbon monoxide detectors and night lights out of the wall sockets with a grin and a look of glee.  You throw food.  And peer over the side of the tray on your high chair to watch as Fiona gobbles it up before one of your tired parents can stop her.

You dance.  A bobbing and bending at the knees that cannot be given justice by description but simply enjoyed whenever a beat comes on the radio or when Zoë and I sing a song in the car or in the living room.  Your whole body shimmies as you pivot on your left foot (the only one you will pivot on thus far).







You insist upon feeding yourself.  Hands, spoon, fork, it doesn't matter.  You want to do it yourself.  Even when you squeeze the veggie pouch too much because you're excited and it squirts up and into your hair, you do it yourself.  You've mastered a quick stab of food with a fork and feeding yourself yogurt with a spoon.

You play with anything Zoë is playing with.  You just want to be near her, doing with her.  And even when she's had it up to here with you following her around, you persist.  I love watching you watch her across the dinner table, or peer across the vast space between your carseats when she's trying to keep you awake on the ride home.  The way your whole body shakes with excitement as you clap and laugh and shake your head at something she does or says.

You laugh and run towards the door when Dad walks in after work.  You stand on tip-toe and watch him leave the house or work in the yard.  You body slam him, all 26+ pounds of you falling on his abdomen (or elsewhere...) with a giggle and then you stand up to do it again.

And, you love me.  You run to me, you whine for me, you insist on Mama holding you over everyone else.  You are becoming so independent, I see it more and more everyday.  But you still come back to check in with me; get a quick hug and then you're off running again.  I love that you back up to me to sit on my lap.  For the first six months of this past year, I responded to "aren't you so glad you have a boy?" with "I'm glad I have an Oliver".  Which, was my way of saying that I didn't know if I was too keen on this boy stuff yet.  Well, I've changed my mind.  You are my boy, my little man, my monkey, my baby.  My backwards-hat-wearing, crawl-around-in-the-dirt, food-shoveling little boy that has stolen my heart.

I'm devastated to technically no longer have a baby in my house.  Nor will I ever again until there are grandchildren playing with the few toys we've already packed away to keep for them.  I hope you know how much I've cherished this year of your baby-hood and how much it changes my own identity to know you are no longer a baby but instead a toddler.  I'm not sure how I'm going to remember how you smelled, slept, or snuggled but I hope these pictures and words can remind me even when you're taller than me and writing words of your own.

I love you sweet boy, my Oliver Finn.