Put Your Face In It

This last weekend provided the boys with some photo ops.  And they are generally good enough not to let such opportunities pass them by.

Round 1: Barnes & Noble Harry Potter day.  Michael's Ukulele club performed and then there were HP activities for all.  There was even a sorting hat and we were duly sorted.  But somewhere along the way, the boys got tangled up with He Who Shall Not Be Named.  These are my children and they are wanted by the Ministry of Magic.

Round 2: Estuarium where there or may not have been a festival.  It was small and we've never been there before so I didn't know what to expect.  I do know there was a prize wheel to spin and ocean themed cupcakes.  It was very cold that morning and we were excited to go inside.  But first things first.  These are my children and they do appear to be being eaten alive by a shark.  (We watched a documentary on sharks this week and a shark eating is much more messy than this.)

Santa and the Baby

For most families, Santa is a magical part of Christmas.  He's jolly and brings presents.  And, really, who doesn't love a man with belly like a bowl full of jelly?

Well, it turns out, every. single. one. of. our. kids.

NONE OF THEM HAVE LIKED SANTA.

In person anyway.  They like the cartoons.  They like the books.  They really, really, really like the presents.  But put them anywhere near a man in a Santa suit and crying ensues.  It has almost become a tradition.  

So you can see why we didn't feel too badly telling the boys the real deal with Santa.  Life actually goes more smoothly this time of year when we see Santa if they know it is just some guy in a suit.  Weird, I know.

Enter Isaac.

He has no idea.  And we haven't decided how to deal with the Santa story with him.  But in the meantime, I definitely wanted a picture of him with Santa this year.  I knew it would be good.

And it was.

Poor littlest man.  The rest of us thought it was kind of funny.  In case you think I am sadistic, I snapped a few pictures quickly and then we released Isaac from his jolly captor.

While he was recovering in the arms of his loving Daddy, I got a nicer shot of the older boys and Santa.

And they were totally fine with that because he was just a man in a suit.

Baby Rage Turns TWO

Ten days before Christmas and we have a birthday to celebrate.  Baby Rage turned two and we had a little celebration.  Little because Christmas is in ten days after all.  Oh, and he won't remember this day for sure.  But I needed the photos (well, and the chocolate) and so we invited Rachel and some friends over for cupcakes and ice cream.  

Isaac knew right away that he wanted in on the cupcake action and was actually more patient than expected while we sang to him.

Then he did give blowing the candles a good go, but it wasn't enough so Daddy helped him out.  In the end, that was probably for the best since blowing hard at Isaac's age often involves spitting.

Another chocolate lover in the family.

Oh, yeah, that's the good stuff.

This lot were all pretty wound up before we gave them sugar.  I was lucky to get this picture of all of them with the sugar.  Note the preteen in the background with his preteen face.

When they finished with dessert, we moved to the living room for presents.  I figured this would be a trial run for Christmas and that we'd have to teach him how to unwrap presents, but it turned out this kid is a natural.

This was followed by chaos as the 7 kids in the house ran around and around the house like the mad men (and one woman) that they are.  Adults did some chatting and then everyone went home or to bed.  As far as I am concerned, a great birthday for a 2-year-old.  And he seemed to be happy with it all as well.

Happy Birthday, Baby Rage!

Another Snow Post

Two in one day might be overkill, but I had a lot of shots of Isaac to work with.  I don't know how "normal" kids interact with the world, but all of our boys have struggled with the following in the first few years of life: sand, water, snow.  

We often find new things distressing.  

Today when Isaac was enthralled with the idea of going out in the snow, I knew it wouldn't last.  Which meant having the camera ready to go right away if I wanted any pictures before the tears.

Here is what I imagine he was thinking:

What IS this stuff?

Can I walk in it?

Um, Mom....does it do anything?

Snow, you shall do my bidding.

Maybe not.  And it's cold.  And it's wet.
Somebody taller than me better come get me RIGHT NOW.

Ahhh, safe behind glass.  Until next time, evil snow.

Frozen Crystalline Water

After much anticipation tempered with disappointment followed by increased anticipation moderated by delay, we got SNOW!  It started about three in the afternoon and was coming down heavy enough that Josh bore a close resemblance to a snowman by the time he walked home from the bus stop.  It kept on coming for several hours and into the night (yellow-tinged by light pollution....I hope).

It gets dark pretty early here, so this morning was the first time they could all get out and enjoy the backyard.  And because we are in the beautiful era when the older boys feed, clothe and prep themselves to go outdoors themselves, I told them to wait until at least 8am and then they could head out. (You're welcome, neighbors)

Michael made it out first.  He quickly shed about half this gear as he started playing.

I am sure that Isaac has no memory of snow from last winter (which is probably for the best given our miserable epic trip across the country in it).  I bundled him up and we went outside.  I got a few pictures before he decided that he hated it.

We passed Josh on our way back in.

He was very interested in getting a snowman put together, but I told him that he kind of looked like a dung beetle.   (Maternal love runs strong in my family.)

His first snow person.  There were more to come, but subsequent battles all but destroyed them.

This guy spent much of the morning happily observing from inside the house.

Ben was the last one out and into the fun.  My picture taking stopped here since there was no one to stay inside with Isaac while I photographed.

Over an hour and a half later and they are going strong.  Soaked and cold, but strong.

The American Academy of Pediatrics

Part of the difficulty of being a parent is keeping up on what you are "supposed" to be doing.  It gets easier after your first child because you get better at ignoring advice whether it is kindly meant or professional or not.

I remember stressing about tummy time.  None of my kids have liked tummy time.  It usually started and ended with an unhappy baby.  So, by the time we had Isaac I completely disregarded instruction to do it.  The kid sits, stands, walks, and runs like a maniac.  I think he's fine.

I also remember a discussion I had with our pediatrician when Ben was an infant.  All of our kids slept in their infant carrier car seats for the first month or two.  It was easier and lowered the chance of reflux.  At one of the early doctor visits, our ped told me that I needed to get him out of the carrier and start him sleeping in the crib.  I just looked at him.  Then he said, "You know what? I don't live in your house.  So do what you've got to do to make it through. It's not going to hurt him."  That's when I knew we'd stick with him as our doctor.

I really appreciated his practical candor.  Seriously, you can find a million opinions on how you should be a parent (most of them are contradictory), but if the kid is alive, fed, and dry at the end of the day - call it a WIN.

Which brings me to my biggest beef: the American Academy of Pediatrics.  Seriously, those people don't live in my house.

My guess is that they probably don't have children.

Or have ever seen a child.

Or read a book about one.

Why so bitter, you ask?

WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND RECOMMENDS KEEPING A TODDLER REAR-FACING UNTIL HE IS TWO???????

Robotics

Josh is lucky enough to be at a brand-new middle school this year.  A brand-new middle school with brand-new robotics and applied tech tools.  Josh ended up in both classes this semester and I think they are his favorite.  So, he was very excited when the school started a Robotics Club with his current robotics teacher and former STEM teacher coaching.  The Robotics Club is based around preparing for the First Lego League competition.  The competition consisted of two parts: creating a robot designed to complete a set of tasks and (this year) develop an improvement on a product used with animals.  Josh's team did something with a bird feeder.

The robot competition happened yesterday at a middle school in Olympia.  After an internal struggle between attending church and participating in the competition (we let him decide), he worked out a solution of going to the competition and having his personal chauffeur pick him up and take him to sacrament meeting and then back.  This meant wearing his church clothes all day.  And that meant wearing his bow tie all day.  But that didn't bother Josh.  Bow ties are cool. 

The robot competed three times, but Josh missed the first two since he was at church.  He made it back in time for the final round, however, so we were there to do a group photo.

I don't know what the tasks were exactly or the rules, but I could tell they were having some technical difficulties.  Josh ran the last task and it was the only successful one of the round.

They ended up placing 9th out of 26, which I thought was fabulous for a new school with a new team with new coaches that started a month after all of the other teams.  But the top 8 move on to the semi-finals, so they were all a bit bummed.  Especially since there were some technical difficulties with the table in the second round that were not their fault.  So that is a little upsetting, but sometimes that happens.

We are very proud of him and his hard work.  Hopefully he'll get on the team again next year and will get a chance to do this again.