It's Been A While!

Between all of the birthdays and tributes (plus, actually living through all of those), we haven't had a "regular" blog post in a very, very long time. Pretty much missed the spring. So my deepest apologies about that...I'm going to make a brief attempt to "catch up" and then hit more of a routine.

This past spring we've done a lot: a couple of camping trips, visits from Nana & Papa, GIANTs games, tee-ball games, Earthquakes games, fun at Great America, parks with friends, meals with family, a much-deserved night away from the kids (where we attended, *pinkie out* a charity gala with some great friends) and countless hours of fun with a dash of stressful moments to add some spice. There's been so much with so many pics and videos, I made a slide show to contain them all (with a few choice ones posted regularly).

E finished up his 3-year-old preschool program and I'm just floored with how much the handful of hours per week changed him. He can write is name, phone number, alphabet, numbers to 20, and knows all the planets. His artwork bloomed from "just lines" (as he described it the first day) to stick figures complete with zig-zag hair. We couldn't be happier with the little man he's growing into and are very excited to see the steepness of the learning curve when he starts a 5-day-a-week program in the fall.

Honestly, when we decided to sign E up for his T-ball league (and his team, the LUGNUTS), and I saw the number of games, weekly practices, and the size of the other kids (most were already 4 or 5 and I swear had underarm hair), I was concerned. I wanted E to enjoy himself and he can barely watch a 20 min TV show, so you can see where my concern was with several hour long commitments every week. BOY, was I wrong. LUGNUTS games were the highlight of the week. He went from barely making eye contact with the coaches (contact with the ball on the tee was ok) to hitting an actual pitch on the "majors" field during the final game! And now I understand the pride parents get when their offspring are publicly recognized when he got "Most Improved Player." I can't say enough good things about his coaches (Dave, Mike, & Chris), the team mom (Saint Candice), and Santa Clara Westside Little League. Can't wait for next year -- nor can J...since she loves the Snack Shack as much as E loves his games.

E is still into all things baseball, NASCAR, construction & space. Though he's adding the Sharks & soccer/Earthquakes into the mix also. He's treating Bailey really well, too, ensuring that he's there for storytime or when they play in the backyard.  During the dinner prayer, E often asks God to make sure Cody has lots of treats and pets. Mostly, he's the sweetest older brother...(very, very rarely, I question if he's hugging or strangling J).

I love the nights when both kids put on a "show" for us or I catch them reading books to each other. There is double the age gap between my brother and I as compared to my kids and they are developing that play-based friendship that I hoped they would. They look up to and look out for each other ("How come you're not eating your egg?", "Let's go to the dugout, Jules." are common things I overhear).  They love playing "dada enchilada" with me -- which is basically a dog pile with me on the bottom -- and those giggles will echo in corridors of my heart forever.

J is...well, Nana coined her as "spunky." She is independent, funny, sweet, hard working, knows precisely what she wants + when, and has focus that people who design lasers aspire to have (the aiming of that focus, as Papa says, is the challenge). E has been dressing himself, washing himself, takes himself to the potty, etc. the first steps in his independence, and well, of course, J wants to do all those things by herself as well. "No, I got it," is a go-to phrase of hers. And know what? Most of it she can do on her own. Maybe we babied E, but there was never a moment after he'd just turned 2 that I would've expected him to run into the bathroom, push the heavy wooden stool to the potty, pull down the toddler seat, climb on, go, *attempt* a wipe...and you get the idea.

And while she loves the rest of us, there is a special something in her heart for Bailey. She now feeds him his dinner 99% on her own -- I have to open the garage door (she can't reach), scoop out the food (she can't reach), and add the water (she could reach, but trust only goes so far). Since Cody's passing, I think she worries about Bailey being too lonely, so she's requested we move his bed into her room while she falls asleep. At first, I thought this was so, so sweet. And it is...IF she could go to sleep with him in there. For instance, the other night, after about a good 45 minutes of silence from J's room, Lisa opened the door to let Bailey out and found J sitting up. "Why are you not asleep?" Lisa asked. "Because I'm looking at Bailey," J replied. Now, of course, Bailey is part of the routine and we're trying to figure out if it's worth the fight to change it (see notes above about focus and independence and knowing what she wants).

Speaking of Bailey, I know a lot of people have been asking me how the B-Bear is doing. Mostly, he's good. He doesn't like being outside alone very much or for too long. We've found a routine that he seems to be fine with...and he's definitely getting a ton of attention and ALL of the crumbs. I still have moments where I feel Cody is just in the other room. Or I say, "C'mon, boys" when speaking to Bailey. Amazing that it's been over a month. Anyway...we'll continue to pet,  pour our love on, and take Bailey on so many adventures. 

One cute thing that I love about J is that she says "me" instead of "my." As in, "Can I get me water?" There's Irish in her blood, true, though I never expected that much. I grin each time because I hear in my head, "Where's me lucky charms?" Also, it sorta adds to the overall "spunkiness." One time, when Nana & Papa took them to "Old McDonalds" for a happy meal, J -- to their surprise -- ordered the chicken nuggets. After eating a fair number of them she asked, "Where's me hamburger?" Nana explained that she's eating the meal she picked and nothing else was coming. J blinked. Then very slowly and louder asked again, as if conversing to someone who doesn't speak the language, "Where's. Me. Hamburger?"

Also she calls her doll, Victoria, "Vicky-toria." And loves the word "ha-pih-TAL" (hospital) -- probably because we laugh every time.

Another cute, quick story: The other day Lisa took both kids to Target. She paid quickly in the self-checkout. Now, I dunno if the kids weren't paying attention or whether they were just unaware that you could do self-checkout, but either way: as they were exiting, J shouted, "We forgot to pay!" Lisa tried to explain, but J only shouted it louder. "WE FORGOT TO PAY THE LADY!" She finally accepted that they had, in fact, paid, but only slightly after one of the Target employees came over to verify the receipt.

Or one for E: We've been turning the inevitable toddler tantrums into growth opportunities. I explained it to E about making positive learnings from bad situations (like being pulled kicking and screaming from REI and figuring out that daddy just wants them to be safe and not pull down all of the cast iron camping griddles on their heads). I was really thinking I got through to him and then I made the mistake of saying "We're making lemonade from lemons." After that, we had to actually go pick lemons and make lemonade. 

Ok, ok. I hope that this is the last of the massive catch-up posts (mostly since I don't want to have to write another tribute one for a long, long time). Thanks for enduring the pins' n' needles that you endure waiting for my post.