Animals (and I'm not Talking About the Kids)

We went to a new burger joint the other weekend and after lunch discovered that they set up a small petting zoo outside the place every Sunday. Who knew. Jim thinks it is a brilliant marketing concept, considering that the waitresses have sort of a Hooters-ish feel, so they are appealing to both fathers and children. I'm not so sure they have pinpointed the true decision maker in most families...but nevertheless, the children, and husband, had fun. They did have the cutest assortment of tiny baby animals.

Natalie was in heaven feeding the baby pig and baby goat with a bottle. Liam loved brushing the goats. Owen was slightly overwhelmed. He has a love/hate relationship with animals. He was very excited by it all, but if the chickens and rabbits got to jumping around too much Owen would squeal and start to run. This is also the boy who was chased up a tree a few days ago by the neighbors teeny tiny dog. He literally climbed the tree. Used all of his gymnastics skills to keep his feet off the ground and away from the running dog. The dog was about 4 inches high. Seriously. The dog was fluffy and adorable, and weighed only 3 pounds. It had to jump very high to walk through the grass. Owen would laugh, but then he would cram his fingers into his mouth and cry. Poor boy. Not a fan of any animals that resemble rodents, no matter how cute and fluffy. I was impressed that he rode the pony, although he was quick to say "I'm done."

We all wished Aunt Amy was here - she would have loved these critters.

Learning Fun

Last week I had Owen's parent/teacher conference for preschool. Everything is going well. They used words like "joyful, enthusiastic, sweet, and compassionate." I would use those words to describe him as well. He is joyful. And I can't think of too many people I would say that about. They did say they are "working" on keeping hands to ourselves at circle time and sharing. Well, yeah. I can see that too. Both teachers commented how they recently added a new student to the class, and Owen has been very, very welcoming to the boy. Going out of his way to hug him and say hello when he arrives. They also mentioned how he lights up whenever he sees Natalie or myself, and how he knows everyone's name (including the teachers and staff that aren't from his room) as he walks down the hallway to his room every morning. I had to share with them my story from our Christmas trip, going out to dinner with Grandma & Grandpa, and Owen introducing every person at the table to the server, finishing with a sweep of his hand and the comment "all the peoples" and then wanting to know her name. I'm not sure the server had ever had a 3 yr old make such formal introductions before.

One thing that I asked his teachers about was his ability to sit at the table and draw...anything...shapes, letters, etc. I knew the answer to this, but wanted to see if he was different at school. The answer was that "well...he's too busy and energetic to slow down much for that." So I have been trying to think of ways to make it a little more fun. On someone else's blog I read about letting kids write letters in flour, so we gave it a try. I think we'll have to do it more often, because he did have a lot of fun. Right now I'm just trying to get him to do the four letters in his name. He can do the O, but has a hard time stopping at just one loop - he'll loop and loop and loop until it no longer looks like an O. I think we might be onto something though, using things like flour instead of just a pen. By the end, he was covered in white powder and started experimenting with how big of a poof it would make if he whacked his hand into it hard. Still, a good experiment overall.

Respect The Hula

Oh yeah, I've got the hula hoop going again. Our old one bit the dust in an unfortunate grilling incident, and I couldn't find any new ones all winter. Now that Spring is back at Target, we have some new hoops. They are doing double duty these days. Not only do the kids get to hula (and Liam and Natalie are doing so much better this year! Liam has the body motion down!), but I also introduced them to the Hula Personal Space Meter. I read somewhere recently about a tip for making "personal space" more of a visible, physical entity for kids who have issues respecting personal space. Not that anyone around here has those issues...ha ha ha ha ha. OK, some of us, in particular one small one of us, has some major personal space boundary issues. So far the jury is still out on the long-term effects of the hula. I think they all thought it was funny when I instructed Natalie to sit inside one hoop and Owen to sit inside a different hoop, and I told them that if either of them crossed into the other's hoop space they would have to go to time out. Even Owen understood the concept. He sat right in the middle and said "This is my SPACE. Stay out of my SPACE!" Yes, well, until I left the room for a minute and they picked up their personal space and tried to hula with it, knocking into each other and getting angry. sigh... But, I will say that now if they are getting in each other's business (so I get to try this technique a LOT), I can say "OK, pretend you have the hula hoop around you and that is your space." and they can visualize that. They even make little noises like they are zipping themselves up in their space. Until, of course, one of them pulls out the invisible light saber or samurai sword (can I count on two hands the number of times I've heard Owen say "fwing" as he pulls out his imaginary samurai sword out of it's imaginary sheath this week and approaches me in a warrior stance, thank you very much Samurai Scooby Doo) and tries to slash through the personal space barrier. Well, I guess it's all a work in progress. If all else fails, at least they may learn to hula hoop. Owen tries to hula too, and it's amazing how many times the hoop will go around him before it falls. He keeps his body perfectly still, but he gives the hoop such a strong fling that it zips around his body half a dozen times before it falls. Still not sure how he does that. Small body, strong arms, I guess.

Might ReName Him "Tiny"

Art, Art, Everywhere

Natalie is our little artistic soul. Liam has had some phases where he was big into artwork as well, but he had a different style - lots of train tracks or maps or diagrams of buildings. He could be very detailed, but not as much into drawing people or animals. Natalie loves expressing herself in any kind of artistic way, and what that means for me is that my house is papered in bits and pieces of paper. She not only likes to create it, she likes to display it. And she knows where the Scotch tape is kept. So at any point in time I will find new things taped to my walls, or doors, or headboard. When I'm feeling cluttered it can drive me crazy, but it's so cute that I'm to the point where I hardly notice how much is hanging around. Every once in a while I pull down one or two and dispose of them quietly, or keep them in her "keep" folder if they are special. So far she hasn't complained.

At the beginning of this month I erased my whiteboard calendar that I keep in the kitchen so that everyone knows our daily schedule. Natalie begged for me to let her re-do the calendar. Silly me thought she was going to write in "January" and the numbers on the days. Instead, I looked over to find this picture. I liked it so much that I had to take a picture before I erased it and wrote in January. It is so typical Natalie - with all the little circles. She can fill a page with dots or lines or tiny little things. Or she can cover a page in two solid colors. In any case, she likes to fill the page with either details or color or both.

This particular time she drew a rider on a horse (the first I've seen her draw this, and I loved the way she gave the legs the proper perspective by making 2 of them smaller). She told me the pile of circles was a lot of apples for the horse, and then there is a little mouse hanging down below the ground. Love it. And I do love finding these little surprises whenever I turn around, even if it eventually becomes a roomful of homemade wallpaper.

Christmas Recap

So, OK, how far into 2011 is it? It's never too late for a Christmas recap, is it?

Yes, we went to Canada to visit Grandma and Grandpa! They were wonderful enough to get their snow to stick around just long enough for our visit. It mostly melted away the day after we left. Every one of the kids just loved the snow, and the trip, and the special grandparent time, from the first moments there when Owen blew his breath into the airport parking garage and announced happily, "I smoke!!" I had to laugh, knowing how the Russians love to smoke. Luckily in this case it was just due to the cold air. On a side note, Natalie enjoyed watching Frosty The Snowman this year, and was telling me afterward what a great guy Frosty is. She said, "He has a magic hat, Mom. A magic hat that makes him alive! And he SMOKES!" Aaaahhh, yes, Frosty is a smoker. How could I have forgotten that corn cob pipe? I can't believe they haven't expunged the whole pipe thing from the show in the name of good health. But I suppose it's much harder when an entire beloved Christmas song would have to be re-written.

Anyway, back to Canada. Grandma has the most wonderful decorations, with dozens of decorated trees (OK, maybe not dozens, but it felt that way), and Christmas kitsch in every corner and hanging from every chandelier. The kids loved banging, er..playing, on the piano, watching the chickadees, woodpeckers, squirrels and bluejays at the feeders, and spotting the elusive "barn cat" slinking around the house. Owen crawled out of bed each morning bright and early (and with a wonderful bit of Christmas spirit, left me in bed for much longer) to help Grandpa throw peanuts to the birds or whatever else needed to be done. He even enjoyed helping Grandpa water the Christmas tree. I hear that after we left Grandpa kind of missed hearing "I help you!" in the morning.

All of them loved sledding, especially Natalie. She wasn't even deterred for long when she hit some ice face-first and got a bloody lip. She loved just being in the snow, rolling in the snow, sliding on the snow. Liam and Owen both really loved riding on the snowmobile. Mind you, this is the snowmobile that Jim used when he was a kid, so it's....well, it's old. I started to worry when Liam and Jim were gone for quite a long time and we couldn't hear the engine, but it turns out they were just on an "adventure" to a swamp. I'm still not sure whether I believe the swamp and the beaver-spotting story or not...But they had fun. Owen tried many times to take off on his own on the snowmobile. Luckily he can't work it on his own. But Jim had a hard time keeping him from steering and giving it gas during their rides.

Liam tried snowboarding on a sled. Owen tried shoveling snow everywhere with his Lightning McQueen shovel - several times dumping it right down his own jacket. They all loved pretending to ice skate on the pool.

We also made it skiing. Liam and Jim went 1 day on their own, and then the four of us (minus Owen - we just couldn't go there yet) went 1 day. The kids loved it, and want to go back for more. Although Liam would rather not ride the chair lift with me, since he accused me of pulling him down when we dismounted. I cannot say whether I did or did not. I'm not exactly the picture of grace on the slopes. Every man (or woman or child) for himself, I say.

Christmas dinner was wonderful, as always, and included the Christmas "crackers" that include the paper crowns to make us all look funny. Natalie was thrilled that Grandma let her do the flower arrangement for the centerpiece. It was lovely.

And the travel! Let me say that the travel could not have been smoother (OK, maybe it would have been smoother if someone...unnamed, but his name begins with a J...hadn't left a bag at baggage claim that he then had to go back and locate with the help of many airline staff). The kids were all great travelers. We had them all carry their own backpacks, and we had quite the assembly line going through security, taking off shoes, coats, backpacks, unloading electronics, then putting it all back again. I wouldn't have wanted to be behind us, that's for sure, but for 5 people we were actually pretty darn quick about it. On the flight home, we had all the kids lined up with their backpacks and boarding passes and passports out in front of us, and the lady checking us in made the comment, "What an efficient family! I guess you have to be, with that many." No, you don't really have to be with this many. And WOW I haven't felt like an efficient family in years. Years, I tell you!! It was true though - I felt efficient on this trip. Hallelujah! I'm not going to predict whether it will happen again anytime in the near future, but we were calm and efficient and travelled well this time around. Owen loved watching take-offs and landings, and quietly watched Scooby Doo on the DVD during the flight. The only time he got antsy was after landing. He is not a fan of waiting in lines, and could not understand why we had to wait our turn to leave the plane. To be honest, I find that part annoying as well.

We were all sad to go, and Liam even commented that sometimes he wishes we lived in Canada. What wonderful memories we made again this year! A great big Thank You to Grandma and Grandpa for showing everyone such a good time, and ending our year on such a great note!

Ski Bunnies

I have the most wonderfully articulate posts in my head. Really, I do. I just can't seem to muster the energy to write anything at the end of the day. I need to do a Christmas recap post soon, though, before it is totally irrelevant. We did have a wonderful trip to Canada, and many memories were made. Plus, we were able to get Liam and Natalie out on the slopes, and were thrilled to find that they both loved skiing. It almost made me wish we lived close to skiing. If we could only do that without the long, cold winter weather somehow...

I was able to embarrass Jim with my ski outfit. Apparently I am not up on ski fashion. Then again, Jim was wearing blue jeans, so I'm not sure he should have been laughing too hard.

Our Angel

Our angel, making snow angels in Canada. She loved the snow! Yay, Canada!