Swimming Pools, Movie Stars

Will had a business trip last week, so the kids and I stayed with my parents for a few days. We got to do a boatload of fun things: walking down to Dairy Queen for ice cream, playing in the wading pool, going to the park, and visiting Grandpa at work. This last one was intended for Graham, who was promised a chance to sit on a putt-putt. In Grahaminese, putt-putt means tractor. (My sister thought we had taken him mini-golfing.)

Dad took us to the university's machine shed, and Graham first got to sit in a green John Deere tractor that was large enough to have a cab. He was in heaven. Baby C was ambivalent. Next, Dad decided to up the ante and let him sit on the giant red combine. Graham sat there for about 10 seconds before he started violently shaking his head "no". He wanted to go back to the real putt-putt. This combine was the wrong color.

When we got home, Aunt Kim and Grandma were visiting and we got to hang out with them for a day. We're hoping Aunt Kim will find an accounting job in the area and get to stay even longer!

In other news, Graham's potty training seemed to be going okay until he had 8 accidents today. We used to be able to go an entire week without 8 accidents, so I'm not sure what's going on. He is also violently allergic to something in sunscreen. We've tried 3 different kinds with the same result: swelling and hives. We have resorted to going out after 4pm. Here he is in the pool at Mom & Dad's...



They enjoyed playing in the splash mat that was a birthday present from Great Grandma Funk. I particularly liked the fact that it said "No Diving".



Baby C is by far the most accident-prone child I have ever seen. He uses his forehead as a battering ram. Will finally got down on his level today and said, "Use your eyes! If you see something in front of you, stop!" Maybe he just needed someone to tell him that. He has learned the signs for "more" and "all done" and is learning to use a spoon.

Gabriella has her two bottom teeth now and chews on everything she can reach, including other people and the legs of chairs. She enjoyed all the attention from her grandparents because it meant she was held most of the time. Here she is enjoying the splash mat from her seat in the Bumbo:



She started solid foods this week and is doing pretty well with rice cereal:



And finally, Graham still enjoys baking. I showed him how to sprinkle the filling for a coffee cake, and he insisted on doing it himself. He is saying "Sprinkle! Sprinkle! Sprinkle!" until he gets bored about halfway through.



Here was the finished product:

Growling and Destruction

Gabriella is starting to act like a dog. She has found her tongue and sticks it out of her mouth just about 75% of the time. She also growls unabashedly, and it is quite a shocking sound to come from such a petite little girl. Of course, she wouldn't do it for the camera, so here is a video of her basically doing nothing.



(The growling in the background is Baby C or Graham, I'm not sure which. It must sound like we growl a lot.)

Gabriella had been crying on the couch on Sunday, and Graham went over to make her feel better. He had been tickling her for a minute or so and she seemed to like it. I tried to zoom in, so it's blurry.



He is becoming a very devoted older brother.

Baby C is a master of destruction. We can clean up an entire room, vacuum, leave, and re-enter the room only to find that he has pulled out every single toy he can reach, scattered Cheerios across the floor, and wiped his nose on each couch cushion (makes you want to visit, doesn't it?). Seriously, it's like he is a giant toy-magnet, and as he walks through the room, things fly at him. It's Mary Poppins' "Let's Tidy up the Nursery" game in reverse. Will calls him "Entropy Boy".

In other Baby C news, we may not have to refer to him as Baby C for much longer! We may be able to adopt him within the next few months if things go as planned, although we have been warned that things rarely go as planned. Pretty exciting!

Outside

The title explains it all. We spend every available moment outside these days. Will tilled the garden, and when he asks Graham what he wants he wants to play with, Graham takes off running pell-mell for the shed. He emerges with his garden trowel and a bucket, then spends the rest of the night digging in the garden or the flower beds. He will be sorely disappointed when we put up the fence.



Baby C loves playing in rocks and hates to come back inside. Gabriella is content to sit, as long as she's not in the sun.



They will love all their water-themed birthday toys in a month or so.

Gabriella's Dedication

Gabriella's dedication at church was this weekend, and my parents and Will's sister Kim were able to make it in for the occasion. The kids did really well up front, despite the fact that they were all getting cranky by that time. It was funny to hear the collective 'awwwww' when our pastor held her up. Then they prayed for her and after the 'Amen', everyone started laughing. I looked up to see Gabriella grabbing a handful of his nose. He announced that she had already found his beard during the prayer.





Will's parents had planned to come for it, but Joe & Gwen had their baby and needed some help with their boys. Congratulations Joe & Gwen!! We are so happy to hear that little Isabella is doing well!

In other news, Baby C chewed through two more pacifiers, so we reluctantly took them away and expected a couple of very long nights. It was a non-event, though, and he did fine from the beginning, which was a really nice surprise. He is walking everywhere now and is enjoying his newfound ability to chase his big brother around.

The other day, we let Graham get out of his highchair and he ran over to the couch. He stayed there for several minutes and we finally noticed that he was perched in the window, licking the window and watching the cars go by. Cheap entertainment.

What a week.

It has been a rather strange week. All three of the kids have been sick, so it's been a thrill-a-minute, especially at night. For instance, last night, Graham was up 6 times, Gabriella got up twice to eat, and Baby C screamed for 45 minutes straight. Maybe this lack of sleep is the cause of Graham's random behavior. The other day, I heard him close the trash can lid and discovered that he had just thrown away a $20 bill. Thursday morning, he tried on three different shirts before deciding he'd rather go shirtless and wear a hat instead. Yesterday, I had to cut a bucket off his head because he had pulled it down over his face like a feed bag and couldn't get it off.

I was holding Gabriella last night and we noticed her shadow on the wall. Check out her faux-hawk:





And here's the real thing:

Easter 2010

Although we didn't get to be around family again this Easter, we still had a good time with the kids. We went to church on Saturday night and tried to get pictures of them in their outfits before we left. We have a nice pictorial series of the two boys together, the two boys with a screaming Gabriella, Graham throwing Gabriella off his lap, and the two boys plus my arm (rescuing Gabriella). Who needs a video camera? Here's the one before Gabriella's departure:



The next morning was Easter, and we had the kids go out into the yard and "find" their baskets. Gabriella just sat on my lap and squinted into the sun.



Baby C was excited by his animal crackers and never noticed anything else. Graham discovered his bag of "digadigadees", which is how he pronounces jellybeans, and then busied himself with Baby C's basket.



All in all, it was more successful than last year, when Graham just barked at the neighbor's dog.

That afternoon, we went to a friend's house for dinner and an egg hunt. Again, Gabriella squinted, Baby C was fixated on one thing, and Graham was more interested in everyone else's basket. Here he is a moment before he ran off with his friend Lincoln's bunny:



Hope you all had a happy Easter as well!

Moving on up.

In the last six weeks, we have had two birthday parties with two out-of-state trips, Baby C began getting about 8 teeth all at once, Gabriella has decided to stop sleeping so well, and Graham has begun potty-training. It has been a crazy time.

Baby C's birthday party at my parents' house was a lot of fun. We filled their inflatable swimming pool with balls and had a slide for them to jump off into the pit. I tried another pinata, and again, nothing came out when we pulled the string, so I think we're done with pinatas for now. Baby C's Great Grandma and most of my aunts and uncles were able to make it, which made the day more special. It seems strange to post pictures of his party when he can't be in them, but here are a few (very small) images:





Gabriella is rolling over all the time now, and as a stomach sleeper, this does not make it easier for her to get to sleep. She is still a sweetheart, though, and it's been so much fun watching her grow. She has just begun to grab at things and suck her thumb. Baby C loves to bellyflop on her when she's playing on the floor, so we have to be careful. She has an uncanny ability to sound like a tomcat sometimes. This is a rather uneventful video, but you can hear how loud she is...



Here's how we go on walks. She refuses to keep her hands inside Will's coat.



And here's how we found her one morning after she had been talking for half an hour:



Graham is starting the potty-training adventure, and so far he seems to do okay. We're bribing him with a Skittle each time. Unfortunately, he prefers for me to put it in his mouth using the bucket on a small tractor. This tractor phase is getting ridiculous.

At his two-year appointment, the doctor said he is growing fine, but he is right at the minimum in his ability to speak. SO... At the end of March he'll be starting speech therapy. I think what we learn will be useful for Baby C also, since he seems to be a little behind also.

Here's our ghetto slide, which he and Baby C loved playing with:


Here's Graham at his birthday party. He had so much fun at the farm that weekend, and he did really well at the party, which was a nice surprise.



Here's our house afterward:



He and Baby C got a mudpie maker that they played with for 2 days straight (even without the mudpies).

Here's what the basement looked like after Graham "helped" Will paint his birdhouse last weekend: