Noteworthy

We have- hopefully temporarily- misplaced our camera :( So no pictures for awhile....

Here are a few funny things I have heard recently (probably only funny to us):

Luthien: "Dad, you're doing it all wrong, let me try it."
              "Mom, I'm so into Rhonda." (your music teacher)

Bastian: "Lu, I can't... I'm reading my book right now, sorry."
(we have some issues with you, Luthien trying to tell Bastian everything to play, think, and do all day long, I hope you will appreciate his standing up to you by the time you can read this)

Love,
Mama

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday my sweet Bastian boy.  Although you are showing more attitude, resistance and stubbornness lately, you still are a very sweet boy.  You continue to say please and thank you unprompted, and love animals and babies almost as much as balls.  You seem to be having a growth spurt lately, requesting mass amounts of fruit and protein.  Yesterday for breakfast you ate 5 eggs with kale, yes 5, as well as half a banana and a huge bowl of pineapple.  I'll be sure to tell that to the pediatrician when/if she bugs me about your weight like she did last time :)

We had a little party for you a few days before your actual birthday.  It was windier than it has been lately, but still a fun day at the park.  Today for your birthday we had fun playing only things you wanted to play for a change (vs. Luthien), like ball, lots of outside time, and reading all your favorite books (Clifford and Henry and Mudge are some that come to mind right now).

Pink and purple (strawberry and blackberry) ice cream was served per your request

The best gift ever from Nana/Grandad

I can't believe you are 2!  

Love,

Mama

Easter, plus other happenings

Dear children,
You say the funniest things every day and I wish I was better organized to record them.  Here are a few recent fave remarks:

Bastian:
"Dad, I can run really fast with my poopy pants!" (we have never used the phrase poopy pants in our household)
"I love you and you love me mom." (a commonly used phrase these days)

Luthien:
"I'm going to town on this bread."
"I'm growing moles and hair on my arms so I must be growing up!"
"Dad, my arms don't reach all the way around your tummy..."

And now for a few pictures......

we finally got one of these, crucial for our new method of learning art; these are your first drawings with it

we love talking about fairies, goblins, and nature adventures (sooo Waldorf, as Dad would say), which somehow transpired into reading these ultra cheesy fairy books with our great friend Sebastian

playing with the "nest" material with preschool playgroup friends, more fun than dying the Easter eggs

showing off a new haircut- one for you, Luthien and one for mom, by none other than stylist Rome Rapier

showing off a homemade hot chocolate face

more creations: note the marker on the chalkboard by Bastian, and Luthien exploring the many ways of using/holding chalk as well as patterning

inspired by dad, Luthien, you decided to take up the art/business of grooming and styling too!

a new friend's doggie, Red, and awesome backyard!

 Easter was a nice, relaxed day with quite a few fun things to wake up to, in addition to gifts and treats from relatives.  New books, a few "natural" treats, and soft dolls were the highlights.  Bastian, this is the first time I realized how much you love candy- or perhaps you only now have developed the demanding method of requesting it, and stubborn attitude when you are told "no."

"Carbon-offset Chet" for you, Bastian!

Mom was a little obsessed with these....got them at her new "job!"

Bastian you have just transitioned to sleeping in Luthien's room!  It lasts until usually about 2 a.m.!

Love,

Mama

Reflection

Dear Luthien,

Too often I become frustrated or worry about the things you aren't doing or don't seem to show interest in, or the fact that you are so shy.  I am sorry.

Today during lunch we had another discussion about organic food and why we found a caterpillar on our kale and why that is a good thing.

Then, you sat for a LONG time staring and talking about that caterpillar and teaching your brother how to be gentle with it; and I was grateful.

Grateful for a little girl who may not be interested in picking up a paintbrush at the moment, but for a sweet girl who has forever been a lover and respecter of living things.  A girl who thinks, asks questions, and observes a lot for her age.

Miss Luthien, almost 2

Luthien, 3 1/2 

If you ever did such a thing as drift off to sleep, tonight I would have sung you a song I have sung since you were born, with the lyrics, "....you are you, and there's never going to be anyone like you."  Even Mamas need to be reminded sometimes.

Love,
Mama

More things we do

Forgot to include this classic shot from the Children's Museum awhile ago!

We build high towers with cool new blocks...

Read stories to eachother....

Allow Mom to make a few splurge purchases when she feels her children have been too cold/wet for too long....

Take swim lessons (note: until the experience proves to be not so traumatic for you Luthien, I will refrain from taking any pictures of you)....

Look really cute...

Make a batch of homemade playdough and decide to make pillows for our animals....

Build really cool castles with more new blocks....

Play LOTS of basketball and football together...

And build "cities" all by ourselves that include beds for our pinecone people!

We are oh so busy, can't you tell?!  Actually we have felt rather busy around here, and are continually trying to figure out ways to be home more.  Luthien, note in the last picture, you have been holding your jaw in an underbite position for weeks now, ever since reading about "Zeke" the bulldog from the Mr. Putter and Tabby series!!  It is driving me crazy!  I am trying not to bring too much attention to it and am hoping it will pass.  As we read that book from the library over and over one week, I watched the wheels turn as you stared at the pages and started pushing your lower jaw out.  And you haven't ceased since you figured out you could look like Zeke.  Really funny.

I love you two!

Mama

The Things We Do When Dad Is Away...

Dress up like one and two headed ghosts after reading a new favorite Tommie dePaolo book (ghosts with no eyes mind you, because we only have one white sheet...imagine me yelling, "Hold out your arms and look down on the ground so you can see!").  We dress up like "Mary" and put daddy's boots on, make lots of things with our new pattern blocks and learn how to deal with Bastian attempting to destroy our creations after about 30 seconds.  Luthien, the yellow hexagons are people, and the long blue line is a giant mouth of teeth.  Your drawings and other formations of people at this point are just eyes, noses, mouths, and legs.

Here is what we don't do: turn on the t.v.!  Isn't it glorious?  I recently made the decision that we would not turn on the t.v. to watch shows/movies anymore except for a once a week movie night as a family.  We didn't watch a lot before, just 1 half hour show each day usually, but it is still a huge deal.  It has been a difficult transition for Dad, but has really become a non-issue for us.  You both used to ask me if you could watch a show at some point or multiple times during the day, but now you NEVER ask.  And when we all snuggle on the couch on a Friday night together to watch something, let me tell you, those times are really special.

I am learning and growing and love every minute of it.  Yes, today was a good day and there most definitely are bad, but I am continually working on finding joy throughout all of it.

Love,
Mama

It snowed, and the birthday

Dear Luthien,

You are such a reader these days; we average about 2 hours of reading a day.  Current favorites are anything Poppleton, Mr. Putter and Tabby, Billy and Blaze, and Little Bear (all are series and you love chapter books now). Also anything by Jan Brett (Fritz and the Beautiful Horses is our new favorite).  We still discuss phonemic awareness related skills but this is not the center of our "homeschooling" days, we just talk as we read.  Yesterday you asked me what quotations were, and I loved that it was a natural conversation initiated by you, not me.  Multiple times per day I catch you amidst a pile of books reading aloud to yourself or Bastian.  You LOVE to pretend to be anything but Luthien, so all day long I refer to you as various people or animals- currently you are enjoying being Max the dog, Simba/Nala/Mufasa, or mom to your babies (you love babies and dolls now).  You still love to sing, and you make up words to familiar tunes- a few days ago you were doing this and became really frustrated and finally said, "Uhhhh, I'm having such a tough time with this song today Daaad."  

Bastian,

I have told you for awhile (around 18 months) that you have been speaking in sentences, and I promise I am not exaggerating.  Your intelligibility used to not be great, but now that has improved a lot, and when you combine that with your expanding vocabulary I am constantly amazed at what you are able to communicate to us (actually it takes friends and family pointing it out since you are our second child and your skills often get overlooked, sorry)!  Just as an example a friend pointed out the other day that you said, "Mommy, I want to go outside and play on the slide."  There might have even been a "please" on there, I'm not sure though.  And Kim, our friend understood every word I believe (correct me if I am wrong and/or if I have his utterance wrong Kim!).  You are a sweet, polite boy, always saying please and "thank you mommy."  

Also, last week you started saying prayers!  Before dinner when we announced it was time for the blessing, you said "I want to say it, I want to say it!"  You then proceeded to say the following:

Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.  Thank you for my food.  Thank you for my bowl.  Thank you for my snowman.  Please bless it.  Name of Jesus Christ Amen.

So there you have it, your first prayer, initiated by you at 22 months.  This has been especially good for Luthien, who has never been interested in the concept of gratitude :)  But now there is a fight over who says the prayer, which is certainly refreshing.

And lastly, Bastian your passion for balls, especially basketball and football gets more and more intense.  After getting used to playing ball with your cousins, uncles and grandparents in AZ it was pretty heartbreaking to come home and have you ask me all day if we can play ball with them.  Then it switched to, "Mommy, I wanna play ball with the big boys" multiple times a day.  So we started taking you to the YMCA to play ball with Dad on Saturdays...we will see how that goes, but at least I can tell you whenever you ask me that we will go that day.  You truly have good form with your basketball shot which has surprised me since it was good before we even started working on it!  I am sure this comes from Dad's side of the family.

Dad had a long day at school on the day of his birthday, but we celebrated with a yummy dinner, chocolate cake (a first for both of you), and a movie.  The next day was even better; we went to Providence, ate a delicious lunch, and went to the absolute best children's museum for young children I have ever been to.  Fabulous day and the weather has been very mild so we played outside while there as well.  

First and only snow, Dad took you out which you can tell by the absence of mittens

Thanks Uncle Beau/Aunt Maria for our puzzle!  Luhien loves them.

"A walk through time" exhibits at the museum.  What I loved about this museum is the amount of dress up clothes they had for every activity!

Bastian the beaver

Mom as a turtle on hands and knees with the kids=head-butt to the mouth

Outdoor area of the museum was complete with dress-up too!  Bastian the salamander exiting the tunnel via the less "scary" route.  Luthien you did brave the actual animal tunnels but cried in the middle.  The most amazing set-up for an animal feast using all natural/raw materials is in this area as well.  Needless to say you both cried when we left that day.

Love,

Mama