Puddles, Dirt and Other Kid Stuff

Here is the scene: it has been raining heavily on and off for a couple of days. The kids have figured out that the back yard is a very fun place to play. It is Sunday afternoon post-nap and we have trees to plant in the yard. If you are quiet, you can hear the sound of the ground slurping up the massive puddles that are scattered about the yard.

Knowing that I relished my time playing in mud and puddles as a kid, I wanted to give Ella and Noah the opportunity to step bare footed into a puddle and to feel the dirt in their fingers. I chronicled the experience.

Ella immediately found water to stand in.

...and splash in...

...and to put on her head...

Meanwhile, Noah was doing manly things like checking out a pile of dirt.

(Side note: If you look closely you can see that he is spitting out some dirt. It apparently does not taste as good as he thought that it would. If you were to hang out in my back yard, you would hear me say, 'No, we don't eat the dirt,' over and over again.)

...and testing the depth of a puddle...

...with a ball in hand, just in case he needed to throw it or something...

He then wised up to the fact that Ella was playing in the 'deep water' so he decided to venture over. (Have I mentioned that they are both walking??)


And together they climbed, splashed, squealed, and got supremely dirty.

All in all, a good intro to the world of backyard messiness.

And a little video of them toddling around...I love the fact that they are so serious about their play that they can barely look up at the camera.

Easter Morning

Easter this year was, again, a reminder of the life that we have in our Savior. The story of the cross never ceases to humble, amaze, and change me.

After the service a dear friend of ours, Brent, took pictures after the service. I love 'em!

For those of you with little ones, you'll appreciate the series of pictures. Getting one with everyone looking is just not really going to happen at this stage.

15 Mo Check-up

Yep, today marked another check-up with the kids' doctor. All in all, they are healthy, though both are still on the lean side. For the first time, the kids seemed to know what was coming when the nurses cleaned their legs with the alcohol wipes. Wailing and sobbing abounded so we (Mom and I) took the kids to Oberweis to get milkshakes. Once Noah got his mouth around the straw he did not give it up until he was done. Ella happily ate hers from a spoon. Hopefully, they will both take a long nap and I'll finish the remaining bits of the shakes.

Spring Piggies

D A D D Y - O

I've been meaning to post this for almost two weeks but am just getting to it now. Pish was in NY for a few days and then worked late the following nights. The kids had not seen their dad for 5 days, so we kept them up one evening so that we could all spend time together. When they finally saw him, both of them let out shrieks of excitement. It reminded me of one of our favorite CDs: Fascinating Creatures by Frances England. I always think on her song 'Daddy O' when Pish gets home. Some of the lyrics are below.

I had a great day full of friends and play
But my favorite part is always coming home to you,Daddy-O
Did so many things, where do I start
Gonna tell you everything and not leave out a single part

D-A-D-D-D-Y, oh how I love ya
Oh, how I love ya
D-A-D-D-D-Y, oh how I love ya
Oh, how I love ya

So here is how the our time played out --it was so typical for each of the kids. Ella showed off her walking skills and carried froggy around the room. Noah, who does not do anything until he is 100% sure that he'll succeed, took a few steps but made sure that he had a safe landing spot.

Once they were exhausted from walking, Noah settled in on Pish's belly to explore every last detail of Pish's wallet. He carefully took out the cards, inspected them intently and then worked diligently to get them back into the wallet.

Ella, in perfect Ella-ness, found a small nook under her Daddy's legs and spent time burrowing and cuddling with Froggie. It was darling.

Must.Have.Froggie.With.Me

I stuck Froggie on the dump truck with E.

Floppy Froggie slides off the seat.

E struggles to get Froggie back with her.

Perfect.

She proceeded to lay her head down on Froggie for a quick cuddle, but I missed the shot. Froggie is well loved. (Too bad we did not get a couple of them.)

Small Graces: when the sun pours in

1. I'm starting to find toys in odd places and it makes me smile. One morning, I found a stacking cup in the muffin tin under the stove. And last week, there was a Saltine cracker neatly stuck in the toe of my boot.
2. The surprise of sunshine. I came to accept the fact that Chicago winters would just be long and dreary, but truly it has not been terrible. When we have amazingly sunny days, I am utterly delighted.
3. Watching Ella stand on her tippy toes to get a better look at something. Or better yet, watching her wobbly little legs and feet as she walks along side me, holding my hand.
4. Realizing that Noah understands lots of what I say. The other day, we were packing up to leave a friend's house and out of the blue, he says 'bye' and waves his little hands. Or, yesterday morning, he was missing a sock and I asked him where it was. He got up and went right to it.
5. These tulip fields -don't they just make you happy to look at them?

Source

Noah Faces

Shopper girl

Ready for spring

We had a dear friend visit the other day. When she left, the kids stood at the screen door and looked outside for a long time. The idea of being outside is pretty mesmerizing to them.

They then proceeded to find small bits of pine needles from our Christmas wreath. I love the way that they inspect things with their curious little fingers.

Yep, he's still pretty bald.

This one seems to have hair that grows overnight.

New Tricks

As I've mentioned in the past, Noah is really into his nesting cups. We have a few sets and they are always out. He gets them all nested together and then takes one out of the middle and sees if he can get it back in sequence. Pretty fun stuff when you are one. The cups below were a Christmas present and he especially likes this set because he can take a cup, turn it upside down and then stick it on the next smaller cup, and they stick together. Today he figured out that he could build a tower (oh.my.goodness!) and he was infinitely proud of himself.

Next accomplishment: getting on the dump truck. For a couple of months, he's watched as Ella get on and off and he finally figured out how to hold on while lifting his leg over the seat. Also infinitely proud of himself on this one...big grins when he finally gets on and even bigger grins when he gets the school bus on the truck with him. We are talking real accomplishment here, folks!

And drum roll, please... Ella started to take a few steps! The first ones were right as we started with the stomach flu. The best part is that Nana P and Matt were her to see them! She was so mesmerized by a cell phone that she'd walk to get it. Since then, she's increasingly taking more steps and getting more confident in standing on her own.

Momma and Bean

Today Ella discovered that she could see herself in the camera's screen. This makes for some very sweet pictures.

Little people doing litle people things

I decided that even though it makes a massive mess, I'd let the kids feed themselves their breakfast this morning. It is not a big deal when it is finger foods. But, knowing that kids this age get a real sense of accomplishment when they learn to use a spoon, I decided that it was time. I let go of the fact that their chairs, faces, hair, clothes, fingers, floor and dog would be covered in food and gave them each a bowl of yogurt and bananas with a spoon. They were actually pretty good with their little utensils.

Of course, we had to take a bath after the meal. A few post bath shots are below.

looking out the window

pulling books off shelves

doing his new gorilla walk

Isaac

This is a little video for Isaac. He really likes Noah and watches the other videos of Noah fairly regularly. I know that it must get old for his mom to watch the same thing over and over again. So, actually, this video is for Meg and Isaac.



And one more...I promise that Ella is not generally dressed like a little boy (except when I run out of girl jammies.)

Suburbia

I'm sitting at my desk, checking my email, and noticed that an unleashed dog just pranced down the sidewalk. Looked closer --not a dog. A coyote just pranced down the sidewalk. Hum. I'm glad that Moses was not outside. Back to emails.

PS-we are finally over the stomach bug that plagued our family. I'm now in the process of trying to get weight back on the kiddos, accepting recipe ideas for high fat foods...