5 Years Old!!!!! (March 2018)

Ryder has really gotten into archery since Christmas when he got his bow and sometimes he’ll spend up to an hour in the basement practicing.  If he is practicing on his own, we have to come down and see every series that he completes!  He also likes his gear to be set up just like Daddy’s gear- he likes to have the same extra equipment and hang everything together; it’s so sweet.

He’s is still big into Risk; he’s played for up to a couple of hours!  Now that he’s been playing Risk for some time, he knows where almost all of the countries are on the map and can read almost all of the countries’ names as sight words.  The ones that he can’t read, he spells out for me and I help him.  When there is no one available to play with him, he sets up the board and plays against himself.  It’s pretty funny to watch him play against himself and celebrate when he wins a round!

Unfortunately, Ryder has turned into a bit of a picky eater.  Things that he would have eaten no problem a year or two ago, he turns his nose up to.  He loves fruit, breads and desserts, of course!  He is happy to eat pasta dishes, meatballs, tacos and fishcakes, but soups can be very hit or miss! He has a lot of opinions on vegetables and on dishes that we serve.  He doesn’t like to see an onion in anything!

When we turned the calendar to March, Ryder started a countdown to his birthday.  He got out one of his big red “permanents” and has been crossing off each day on the way to his birthday and his party.  He drew a special picture on each of those days also, which was very cute.  He reminds us how many days there are until each occasion every day.  Some days we just get a number and then other days we get the whole countdown, “Today there are 15 days left to my birthday, tomorrow there will be 14 days lefts to my birthday, then the next day there will be 13!” all the way down to 0!

His birthday party was a huge success- he had such a great time.  The look on his face when we were all singing him Happy Birthday was the best moment.  He looked so thrilled to being having his party and having us all sing to him.  He loved his presents, he got some more dino kits, two of the special dinosaurs from the Dino King show and some camo clothing, but his favorite gift was a new, more advanced bow.  He went bananas when he opened it and then jumped up and hugged Janda so hard; it was so sweet!

It was very hard to convince Vivi to let Ryder have a picture alone with his birthday banner!

I finally got her to come sit with me!

Eating lunch and being 5

Singing Happy Birthday

Blowing the candles out

39 Months! (March 2018)

Vivien has been refusing to take naps in her room since sometime in the fall- I guess she doesn’t like to miss any action.  Usually sometime between what we would like for a nap time (1-3ish) and what we strongly dislike for a nap time (4-6), she falls asleep in the living room.  It seems like most of her naps start after 3 now, which is a problem for getting to bed.  We usually try to give her a little rest, and then wake her up.  The main issue there is that when she wakes up she cries and/or wants me to hold her for at least a half an hour!  On the days when she falls asleep late, she takes much longer to fall asleep.  She will talk and sing to herself until 9-9:30 sometimes!

We have had a lot of winter storms lately and Vivi has been very excited for them.  She loves to play outside in the snow, so I'm sure that that's part of it.  She also likes to open her shade at night and watch the snow fall in the streetlight.  As long as she isn't scared of the storms so that she can't sleep, it's all good with me!

This month Vivien has learned how to spell her whole name V-I-V-I-E-N!  We made a little tune to go with it and she loves to tell people how to spell her name now.  She can't write it yet because she doesn't have very many letters mastered yet, but that's fine, she's only 3!  She really does want to do better with all those older kid things that Ryder can do, that's probably why she loves to spell her name.  She is a little frustrated that she can't draw or write like Ryder can yet, so this is a "big kid" thing that she can do!

Vivi's hair isn't really getting much longer- it's just getting curlier!  When it's brushed out, it's a bit past her shoulders, but once it curls up it bounces way above her shoulders.  She (reluctantly!) let's me brush her hair in the morning, but she's be totally against wearing her hair up until now.  She pulls it out after a few minutes, but she will wear it up in a ponytail, or more likely pigtails, for a short time.  Her little pigtail poufs are so adorable!  She looks so grownup with her hair up.

4 Years + 11 Months! (February 2018)

As with all other holidays, Ryder was very excited about Valentine’s Day.  We decorated the living room with lots of hearts.  We used some that they had made last year and then made a whole bunch of new ones.  Ryder learned how to cut out hearts while we were doing this, so he also made quite a few on his own.  He was very excited to give Valentine’s out at school and we picked some out online to print.  He really liked watching the printer go!  After we printed them out, I made a list for Ryder and he wrote the kids names on them and then signed them.  I expected that this would take a couple of sittings to finish, but once we started he didn’t want to stop.  When I suggested a break, he scoffed at me.  He got a huge bag of fun Valentine’s from school, so the whole thing was very exciting for him.

Ryder found a new favorite TV show on Netflix called Dinosaur King.  It’s completely insane, but Ryder loves it.  He got totally into it and every time that it was his turn to choose a show to watch, he chose Dinosaur King.  Dinosaurs are in cards and whoever has the cards can call the dinos out and have them battle, so right up Ryder’s alley.  There’s a bunch of more unusual dinosaurs on the show, so at least we’ve been learning something!

In addition to being all about pirates, this month, Ryder started playing “British” more and more.  We found a pair of hand me down boots that are perfect “British” boots, based on what he has seen in Pirates of the Caribbean, and turned his pirate outfit into a “British” outfit. 

Sometime at the end of January, Ryder discovered our old Risk game in the sunroom and has become obsessed.  The cover of the box shows some British soldiers, so he was instantly hooked!  Despite our initial misgivings, we let him play with the game.  We started him out with a bit of a simplified way to play the game.  He gets  little too competitive when he plays with Vivi and he occasionally makes a mess of the tiny pieces, so he has lost the game a few times, but mostly he does a great job and has a lot of fun with it.

heading out for a walk with our Jolly Roger, of course!

Very serious about his job

There's a good look at the flag

Vivi got a turn but Ryder needed to help of course

Ryder's gotten all wrapped up!

38 Months! (February 2018)

February was a bit of a long month because Vivi (and Ryder too) spent the month sleeping poorly.  Vivi has been in her bed for over six months now and she never woke up more than occasionally or when she was sick, but this month it felt like she woke up every night.  Usually when they wake up we have them come sleep with us for a couple of hours and that’s that.  But this month Vivi was waking up very early, lots of times before 1am even, and it was very consistent.  What made it even harder to deal with was that all of this upheaval was somehow affecting Ryder and there were several nights that both of them were with us!  Vivi really loves to snuggle with me when she wakes up in the middle of the night, so I do actually like it, but not every night!

Vivien was pretty excited about Valentine’s Day this year.  They did a lot of activities at school, plus we decorated a lot at home and then they had a party at school.  She picked out a Valentine’s card that she liked online and then I printed them out for her.  She loved to watch them shoot out of the printer- she stood in front of it and held out her two little hands to catch each sheet as it came!  I wrote her classmates’ names for her, but she did sign them.  She can write Vivi, although sometimes she writes it out of order!  We did a couple of sessions and she signed them all herself.  The bag of Valentine’s and treats that she brought home was huge!

One of Vivi’s most favorite toys to play with is play-doh still.  She pulls out that bucket of play-doh and tools most days.  She got a gift card for Christmas and she picked out two packs of play-doh, plus she had gotten some new play-doh as a present.  She used it so much that it was starting to dry out a bit, so I got her some more for Valentine’s day.  She was thrilled!  She’s very good at the roller now, so she rolls out her play-doh and makes tons of little play-doh shapes.  She made a couple of dozen hearts and gave them to me in a little bowl!

Vivi taking a turn carrying the Jolly Roger

She's having a good time!

Striding down the street

Ryder got all caught up

Of course, if Vivi is doing it, Ryder needs to 'help'

4 Years + 10 Months! (January 2018)

We had a huge storm that brought 2 snow days with it early in the month and we had a lot of fun with the kids for that long weekend.  There was enough snow that the plows made a huge pile next to our house, so the kids were able to get some sledding in even when we were stuck at home.  We went out several times over the course of that 4 day weekend- the snow clothes were constantly hanging up to dry in the living room so that we could go out again later.  The first day, during the storm, it was quite cold and windy- so windy that when we went to look at the super high tide at the river, we couldn’t even look down the stairs to the beach because the wind was whipping our faces.  After we came in from that, it was time for a hot chocolate while we warmed up by the fire!

Since most of Ryder’s Christmas presents were pirate related, it’s been all pirates all the time since then.  The train table has turned into a pirate table, as the kids got forts and ships and all sorts of Playmobil pirate stuff.  It then migrates onto the floor as Ryder sets up a whole world of pirates.  He also loves his pirate costume, which he throws on most days to play life sized pirates.  His drawings were mostly pirate themed this month too- huge ships with tons of cannons and pirates with big beards!

It was a little bit of a tricky transition back to school after having school vacation and then a couple of snow days the first week back, which, coupled with Ryder’s treatment wearing off meant that Ryder had some anxiety being away from home and me.  In the mornings, he didn’t want me to leave for school and there would be a little tearing up at school when he was dropped off.  He genuinely seems to like school though, so hopefully this is just a little hiccup.

Just laying int he snow

Enjoying all that white stuff

Covered!

Getting a little tired and cold, I think

Sledding

January

37 Months! (January 2018)

One of Vivi’s favorite Christmas presents was her new paints and paintbrushes.  Her old paints were just about running out, so she was thrilled to have a brand new set.  She wants to paint practically every day.  She likes drawing and coloring, but she is definitely much more into painting lately.

Vivien also got new books for Christmas and some of those books in particular she loves and we have to read every night.  Some of the books that she got we Curious George books, which we call Georgie books.  Unlike our other Georgie books, these ones tell the same stories that the kids have seen on the show.  Vivi found that to be especially thrilling; she liked to read the stories and then watch them in the morning.

I don’t know if it’s a stage that she’s going through or just her personality, but Vivien loves to help.  I cannot cook anything without Vivi dragging the stool over to help!  She loves to watch and she loves to get involved too.  She has long loved to play in the dishwater when I’m washing dishes, but now she also washes dishes when she’s playing.  Some of them weren’t exactly dirty to begin with but that ok!  There are other little chores that I ask the kids to do and if I ask Ryder to do some vacuuming, then I had better find something for Vivi to vacuum too!

We had a crazy storm early this month and Vivi was thrilled with all the snow that we got.  We went out during the blustery storm and I pulled Vivi around in her sled, after we did some sledding down our snow plow hill.  Ryder and I walked down to the river, pulling Vivi along in the sled.  The wind was absolutely whipping our faces, so we were all hunkered down into our scarves.  After we checked out the river, we made our way home, at which point I noticed that Vivi had fallen asleep with her face tucked into her scarf while I was pulling her!  It was freezing and windy as can be, so we were all amazed that she managed to fall asleep!

Out in the storm

A little cold swinging

She fell asleep!

Out the next day

She loves riding around in her sled

4 Years + 9 Months!

On the first day of December, the Christmas Countdown calendar went up, which Ryder remembers very well from last year.  He was so beyond excited that he was jumping around and hooting and hollering with joy.  Each day he got a little something in his bag, sometimes candy, sometimes a Christmas themed item and some of them were little paper Christmas houses to build.  At first he was unimpressed with the paper houses, and even crumpled his first one up.  But after seeing Vivi with hers, he changed his mind and I printed him a new one.  Then he arranged them as decorations. 

Ryder has always been very excited about decorating, so I expected him to be all over that, and boy was he!!  But this year he was also super into wrapping presents. They did a present wrapping activity at school most days, so he obviously really like it because he spent the month wrapping up his toys as presents.  He wrapped a few and put them up where Vivi couldn’t get them, but then he started putting them under the tree.  As Christmas got close, he wrapped a bunch more and then piled them all into a big reusable grocery bag and pretended to be Santa with his sack of toys, all the while wearing his Santa suit PJ’s that I got him.  It was very festive!

Ryder has always been helpful and has done many things around the house, often without asking.  All summer long he was the recycling king; a task which he still enjoys!  With the Christmas season upon us, he has been extra helpful, in hopes that Santa would notice what a good little boy he is!  He even unloaded the whole dishwasher by himself one day- I love it!!

The last couple of days leading into Christmas were so much fun this year.  We had a lot of activities planned, so we really kept busy.  There was a visit with friends, a trip downtown to the police station to see the lobster trap Christmas tree, our annual Christmas Eve trip to Rockport followed by a screening of the Grinch, and of course, Christmas morning.   Ryder was so excited and he loved his presents so much!  The pirate ship and fort was a huge hit, as well as the pirate costume and the nerf guns.  The kids got loaded up with art supplies and of course some practical items that the parents really appreciate!

He loved that ornament

So happy!

Showing off that ornament

Looking spiffy!

3 Years Old!!!

This year Vivien really knew what Christmas is all about, so this was the first Christmas that she was really excited for because she knew what was coming instead of because Ryder was all hyped up.  We did our Christmas Countdown calendar again and this year she understood all of the parts and what to do for them, whereas last year she needed hands on guidance to do her activities.  She was able to glue on her own pom-poms to our Santa's beard picture and get out her own stickers for the card that we hung up.  Basically she and Ryder could do the whole thing on their own.

Vivien loves to do “activities” basically anything where she does some art or science-y activity that Ryder and I do with her.  All month long in December, we did Christmas themed activities, painting ornaments, making cards, making decorations… so Vivi was in heaven. 

This month the pre-school had a little concert downtown with some singing, a visit from Mrs. Claus and ice cream.  Vivien was super nervous and shy once it was time for her to get up on “stage.”  She willingly went and sat on her chair, but she hid her face in her purple lamb and didn’t sing for about half the concert.  Towards the end, she got into it and dropped lamby to the floor and started singing and doing the hand motions with her class. 

Vivien celebrated her birthday in the middle of the month with a small party.  I couldn’t really get any sort of theme idea from her, but she knew that she wanted a ducky cake, so she got a ducky cake.  That was more than enough to make her happy!  She loved all of her new presents and didn’t want Ryder to steal them, so all of her presents immediately went into her room.  In fact half of them have a special place on her bed- like the baby carriage!

Even though Vivi remembered some things from Christmas from last year and had been hearing about it all month long from Ryder, she still wasn’t quite as into it and excited as Ryder on Christmas morning.  Ryder waited patiently for a half an hour or so, and then woke her up.  She wasn’t sure what to make of everything and wasn’t ready to dive in immediately like he was, but once she opened her stocking and had some of Santa’s special apple juice, she was into it.  She was thrilled with her play-doh and started zooming around on her scooter right away! 

Playing with the lights

Playing with some candles

Ready for her party

Someone is three!

So happy to be seranaded

She loves her presents!