Mother's Day 2012

This Mother's Day was awesome on so many levels. We decided to celebrate Mother's Day on Saturday. Johnny had the day off which in and of itself was great. We started the morning off by going to the Race for the Cure. We had planned to run it with the jogging stroller but the registration form said no running with strollers. Honestly we probably could have run it with a stroller but to be on the safe side we decided to carry the kids on our backs. After the Race we headed home for a nap. All four of us napped for several hours which was fantastic. After nap time we headed to Warm Springs Golf Course to hit a bucket of balls. Both Pennington and Piper are getting noticeably better every time we go. After golfing we headed to Kyoto for dinner. We had never taken the kids to eat at the grill so we decided we would give it a try. They did awesome. I was so happy with how well behaved they were. They both ate really well and tried eating some new foods. They also both learned how to eat with the chopstick trainers. Earlier in the day I opened up my Mother's Day gift from Johnny and the kids. They got me two work dresses and a new pair of TOMS. I love, love , love all of it. After dinner we head home for some playtime outside. Some friends came over to hang out with us, have a few beers and make smores. The kids loved roasting the marshmallows and eating the chocolate and gram crackers. To top off the day Piper slept through the night for the VERY FIRST TIME. It was AMAZING!!!!! I woke up around 6:30am and realized that she never woke up during the middle of the night. What an amazing Mother's Day gift. 21 months later my daughter finally slept through the entire night without waking up. Hallelujah. Below are some photos taken on this wonderful Mother's Day.

Princess

I mentioned in an early post that Pennington's imagination is runny wild. Today he insisted on being a Princess/Ballerina. He wanted to wear one of Piper's dresses with his green snow boats. I let him put it on at home but then he insisted on wearing it to Tot Shabbat. I told Pennington that he had to wear something else to Tot Shabbat but he just cried his eyes out. He really wanted to be a Princess. So in the end I gave in and let him wear the yellow Princess dress with his green snow boats. At first I was super embarrassed about it but then other parents at Tot Shabbat told me that their sons have done the same thing. Below is a picture of Pennington the Princess. I also have a picture of our Princess Piper working on the art project after Shabbat Dinner.

Tumble Time

The kids were invited to Elias' birthday party at Tumble Time. Elias is a friend from K'tanim. The kids really enjoyed the birthday party. It was my first experience watching Pennington really participate in a large group activity. They did a warm up to "Who Let the Dogs Out". I so wish I had taken a video of it because it was awesome to see how excited he was. The kids ran all over this place jumping on the trampolines, walking on the balance beams, and playing in the ball pit. I tried to take photos of Pennington but he was running so fast that the photos turned out blurry. Below are some photos from the birthday party. Grandma dressed Piper in a Kimono which everyone thought was super cute.

Pennington - 33 Months

Pennington has changed a lot over the last few months and I thought I should share some updates.

1. Bye Bye Pacifier. Johnny and I kept telling him that we were not going to buy any more and if we lost them that they would be gone for good. Well that day happened last week. Both Pennington and I couldn't find his pacifier so he went to sleep without it. 48 hours later Nonni did find it but I told her to throw it away. It has now been a week and he isn't even asking of it anymore. I was totally shocked how easy it really was to get rid of the pacifier. I honestly think we as parents assume something is going to be harder than it really is.

2. Imaginative Play. We have some serious imaginative play going on now. Over the past week he has pretended to be magician and a bear hunter. Not really sure where he came up with the bear hunter idea but we were on a bear hunt to find a black bear. He has also decided that he is Kipper, I have Pig, Piper is Arnold, and Nonni is Tiger from Kipper the television show. This has been going on for days now. It is so awesome to watch the imaginative play in action.

3. Full Conversations. I think we are at the point now where we can have a full conversation with Pennington meaning we can discuss things back and forth several times and he doesn't repeat the same thing over and over again. I will say most of our conversations center around sports but it is still really awesome to be able to discuss anything with him.

4. Pee and Poop. Pennington is still not potty trained but I have realized that he loves to pee and poop pretty much anywhere but at home. For some reason other potties are way cooler than the ones at home.

5. Sleeping. I mentioned this in a early posting but Pennington has not slept on his bed in two weeks. He insists on sleeping on the floor next to his bed. He calls it his little bed. I sort of thought that it would only last a few days but now it looks like it might last a while. Nonni had a good idea to tell him that sleeping in his bed was like sleeping in a tree house. For now that seems to be working as he thinks it is cool now to sleep in his tree house (aka his bed).

I think that is all for now. Recent photos of Pennington will be posted shorty.

Swim Lessons

Piper and Pennington started swim lessons last week. They are in a parent/child class for 6 -36 months old children. There is a wide range of ages in our class. I think Pennington might actually be the oldest. The kids have been learning a lot and definitely look forward to going on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. There are eight classes in total of which I will be attending all of them, Johnny will be able to attend 4 and Nonni will attend the other 4. Last week the kids worked on jumping into the pool on command. They also held onto the edge of the pool by themselves, walked along the edge of the pool like little monkeys and pulled themselves out of the pool. Both of them can do this without any assistance. They also worked on kicking, reaching for floating objects and blowing bubbles. One really cool thing that I liked is that they put a table in the pool so the kids can stand in the middle of the pool and practice reaching down to grab rings off the table. The table is deep enough that the kids have to get their faces wet to reach for the rings and even hold their breath for a few seconds. Overall I am really happy with the class so far. I'm interested to see what class they will be in next since it sounds like you have to be 3 years told to be in a class without a parent. That will be interesting to deal with next year when Pennington is 3 and Piper is 2. For now I think we will plan on having them take swim lessons every May so they can get some practice in right before we open the pool at our house. After swim lessons we let the kids play around in the Kiddie Pool for a while. Below are a few pictures from swim lessons.