Halloween on his mind

This past weekend I was gone at a women's retreat with my church and so Evan was filling me in on his weekend with the kids.

Apparently Liam had a very difficult time going to bed Saturday night, which is very unlike him, he kept telling him that he was scared and kept thinking of the Alvin and the Chipmunks Halloween movie we let him watch occasionally. So, Evan told him that if he is going to be scared of those movies then he probably shouldn't watch them anymore. Liam said, "Yeah, let's take a break from those Dad."

On Sunday when I came home we were at the table finishing our dinner and I suggested to Liam that we tell stories to each other. Liam got very excited and immediately said he wanted to tell a Halloween story. To which I said that maybe that wasn't a good idea since he was scared the other night before bedtime because of the chipmunks and we should think of another story to tell. Here is our story, narrated by Liam:

L: "I think we should tell a Christmas story!  Once upon a time....(said in a scary voice)
M: "Liam! it's not supposed to be scary! You said Christmas remember!" (laughing)
L: "Oh right! Ok, Once upon a time there were three kids inside their house (still in a scary voice) named Violet, Eli and Liam. And they were wrapping presents and decorating gingerbread houses when they heard the door go crrrrreeeeaaakkk..... (very scarily)
M: "Liam! Christmas! Keep it about Christmas!"
L: "Then who should be at the door Momma?"
M:" Santa is at the door. And he had presents for all the kids, they opened them all and everyone drank hot chocolate. The End."

He clearly cannot tell an un-scary story. And it's hilarious.

The wild one

As Caroline's personality continues to blossom it is becoming more and more apparent that she is going to be our wild one. The one who doesn't listen. The one whom thinks that the rules don't apply to her. The one who will break curfew and the one who will tell her Dad, "I don't do A.M. radio" (sorry Ellen! It was just too perfect not to use that quote)

I am hopeful that this is just a phase. The phase of being a one year old. Where "no" has no meaning. I keep reminding Evan that we have to redirect her if we want her to stop doing something as this is the only way with a one year old. But deep down both of us know she is a firecracker.

At 15 months old Caroline climbs onto everything! A week ago our babysitter sent me a text that said Caroline was trying to climb on the back of her dining room chair and the chair fell back onto her but not to worry, she was ok! Two weeks ago she got away from Evan, booked it to the basement stairs at Grammie's house and fell down 4 or 5 of them before she was stopped. A few weeks prior to that she  tried to stick her finger into an outlet (!!!) but thankfully was stopped by Daddy and Liam. (Caroline your skeleton will turn on and off and on and off if you do that!)

Caroline had her wellness visit last week where she is weighing in at 17 lbs 7 oz and measuring 29 inches tall. She is now back in the 5% for weight and in the 20-something % for height. It's quite amusing watching her walk around the library or anyplace where there are other children around. She is quite smaller then the babies who can't walk yet so it's almost eerie watching her cruise around so easily.

Caroline talks all the time and probably has 20-30 words she will use, most without prompting, some she only says when she feels like it. She knows all of her body parts, where to go when we tell her to go to a certain room and has begun to make animal sounds when asked or while reading a book.

Her hips have even gotten better! We had her check up with Dr. Akeson in Peoria last month where the x-ray showed that her left hip had improved almost 10 degrees (from 46 to 36 in just four months) and her right hip had improved 5 degrees (from 36-31). So wearing her harness has improved things greatly and we will continue to put that on her at night for as long as she will allow us to do it. We also don't need to return until she is 2 years old for another x-ray. (we were going about every 3 months for xrays) At 2 years of age her hips should be at an angle of 25 degrees (in relation to her hip socket and the femur bone) so please continue to pray for her that God will continue to heal her and surgery will not be needed.

Preschool

We are about 3 weeks in to Liam going to preschool and the verdict is in! He loves preschool!

I really meant to post a first day of preschool post but life is busy. Yes, that's my only excuse.

Liam is enjoying his first year of preschool and goes 3 days a week from 8:45-11:45 am at the church we attend here in Bloomington. The three days just happen to be Monday, Wednesday and Friday so that means that Grammie Walles gets to take him and pick him up on Monday while I take him on my days off Wednesday and Friday.

I wasn't sure how I would feel about Liam being gone on the days that I am at home. At first it was so great to be able to spend quality time with just Caroline. I love the quiet mornings that we have together. I also enjoy being able to attempt to clean and reorganize with only one child following me around.

However,  now that a couple of weeks have gone by I kinda miss the kid. He is pretty great after all. But nothing is more exciting then picking him up and getting to hear all about his morning with his new friends, the games they played, the books that they read and the crafts that he did. I love how excited he is about this new chapter in his life and I know that when its time for kindergarten my little, shy, kind boy will have no problems making new friends and being a good listener for his teacher.

But for right now let's just keep him in preschool. I am not ready for him to be in kindergarten yet.

Chicago

Ahhhhh, isn't she beautiful! 

So I left off with the fact that our trip was on the verge of being cancelled because of a sick child. However I was fairly confident that Liam would soon feel better and let Evan go up Friday night anyway. With the understanding that I would join him Saturday morning and we both prayed that Caroline would never get it. My amazing mother in law was going to come to our house Friday despite our sickness but I think I would have had massive mom guilt leaving him. 

I think our elated faces say it all. Time away with no schedule to follow at a super chic hotel with awesome restaurants was just what we both needed. We even got to do the architectural boat tour at sunset that also takes you out on Lake Michigan. I highly recommend it. 

We also got to meet up with some lovely friends for lunch on Sunday before heading home. 

This trip was perfect. And while it didn't start out ideal we were still able to fully enjoy every moment together without the kids. 

And just like that

our whole weekend just got flipped upside down.

This weekend Evan and I have been planning for the last 3 months. Maybe even longer. This weekend was going to be a time where we could get away together just the two of us to Chicago where we didn't have to worry about a schedule or naptimes or ending our day at 8pm.  We were going to go to a comedy club, maybe kayak, do an architectural tour on the Chicago River and most importantly eat at some awesome restaurants. Maybe we could have taken a couple naps and enjoyed the sounds of silence. Met up with Ethan and Erik or gone to an art museum.

And just like that we have a sick child who now takes priority and our wonderful weekend of reconnecting is thrown out the window.

Sometimes being a parent just sucks. And yes cleaning out the puke bucket sucks.

Strawberry shortcake

Liam and I were enjoying our dessert of Strawberry Shortcake and had this conversation.

M: "When I was a kid I used to have Strawberry shortcake all the time at my Grandma Fink's house."

L: "All the time?"

M: "It was definitely a lot. It was kind of her special thing with us."

L: "But then how come you don't make it for me a lot? That doesn't make sense."

M: "Well, it's because she was my Grandma and Grandma's get to do fun things. I'm your Mommy."

L: "Yeah,  you never do fun things."

Apparently when it comes to dessert I just need to make strawberry shortcake every night and then I will be a fun Mommy.

My favorite things

Right now in this moment in time these are a few of my favorite things.

I love that Caroline has begun her love affair with books. I love watching her walk over to her bookcase and reach high to pick out a book. I love to watch her sit down with it and read it to herself.

I really love when Caroline sees me watching her and brings me the book she picked out, hands it to me and then crawls into my lap so I will read it to her. Seriously, it's so adorable.

I love watching Liam play with Caroline. I love watching them together and I love when Caroline "wrestles" Liam to the ground, throwing her hands high above her head and then giving a big roar when she comes down on him.

I love it when Caroline has the Batman figurine and "flies" him in front of her making the same "swooshing" noise that Liam makes when he flies his action figures around the room.

I love how gentle Butters is with Caroline. Since Caroline has Liam to entertain her I don't expect Butters to hang around us like I did when Liam was a baby. But usually Butters will find us during the day if we are all playing together and will just come and sit next to me. She really loves to be a part of the family.

I love getting hugs and kisses from both kids but there is nothing like a wet slobbery kiss from a 1 year old.

These are a few of my favorite things and I hope I never forget them.