Friday Evening at the beach

It seemed like it took us forever to get to the beach.  The trip started as an idea back in June, and after much planning, packing, and preparing (and all the accompanying lists) we were finally ready to go Friday morning.  Except Zac and Simon woke up with eye infections.  A few phone calls later, we had prescriptions waiting for us at a pharmacy on the Outer Banks and we were really ready to go.

The drive should have only taken 3 1/2 hours, but with stops for gas, lunch, and a screaming child who appeared to be trying to poop (but with no results) we arrived at the outer banks something like five hours later.

We went to the pharmacy and the grocery store, then headed to our beach house.  We made a quick supper, then finally, finally, went to the beach.

Our beach house was in a little cul-de-sac one block from the beach, so it was a quick little walk to the beach.  To Alice's delight, the beach house came equipped with a bucket and a net.  She was all ready to catch some fish.

It was windy that first evening, and Alice was afraid of the waves, so she stayed pretty far from the water.  But we took a nice walk along the beach and enjoyed the seashore.

Flotation devices

Today's we went to Lukas's house for his birthday party.  They have a pool, so Alice was thrilled, but unfortunately it ended up being a cool 80-degree day.  She was undeterred even when she was shivering and turning blue.  This girl loves the water.

The other kind of neat thing was that Alice demonstrated some signs of becoming a functional human being.  She sang along for the happy birthday song (whenever there is group singing when we've been at daycare she always sits there like she's never heard the song before).  After that, she wanted cake immediately, but I suggested we go back out on the deck and finish eating the snacks while we waited for the cake line to die down.  She agreed without a fuss (delayed gratification!).  Then, when she asked again, Zac and I were busy feeding Simon so I told her she could go up to the porch and asks Lukas's mom for some cake.  She did just that, (keep in mind this was a pretty big party with lots of non-daycare strangers) and managed to carry it back down all the steps and put it on the table without dropping it.  Then, she ate it with her fork and only made a slight mess.  It was amazing.  I mean, not really, but just that she was able to successfully navigate the physical and social requirements of the task with ease. Another example is that at the beginning of the party, she made some beads out of clay that was then baked, and the kids were supposed to string them onto necklaces later.  She remembered this at the end, when we were changing Simon out of his poopy swim diaper (definitely a two-person task) and so I just said she could go up and ask Lukas's mom about it.  A few minutes later when I went back in the house, I found her sitting on some random woman's (not a daycare mom) lap, stringing beads onto a necklace. I'm confident this girl's going to make it in the world.

Can I look in your mouth?

Once, when Alice was sick, I took a flashlight and looked in her mouth.  Ever since then, when she comes across the flashlight she sometimes ask to look in our mouths.  We always oblige (maybe she'll be a dentist, we think) and one time, Zac had the camera on his lap and got this cool shot just by luck.

Grandpa and Julian visit

Just the kids: Julian (5), Alice (3), Simon (1).

Counter cute

Alice managed to explode her milk and graham crackers.  It was all over her arms, face, and clothes, plus the chair, booster seat, and floor.  I thought this picture was a good record of the flip side of all the cute pictures I normally like to post, since both kids look slightly deranged.

Izzy's birthday party

We went to Izzy's birthday party today.  We really like going to these sorts of things because it provides the entertainment for the day, along with snacks and Alice's friends from school.  Plus, we go to enough of these that we're getting to be friends with the other parents too.

At this party, the kids painted pre-made wooden bird houses.  Alice loves painting.

Simon is completely undeterred by his inability to walk.

Although catching a lift on daddy's shoulders is always nice too.

Just getting a drink...

Simon and Alice

 

Alice's antics

This basket monster was spotted running around the house this morning.

Alice gathered up all the toy fish and put them in a container and said it was her fish tank.  When I asked her what she was going to feed the fish, she said, "Cars and machines. The fish inside the house eat fish food, but the fish outside eat cars and machines."

She was supposed to be helping Zac wash the cars, but instead she was putting her boots on her hands and pretending to be a dog.

Bedtime snack

Watching nursery rhyme videos on my phone.

And Simon is 13 months old today!

Simon's first bite of spaghetti

Watermelon squeezer

Simon loves to squeeze his food (more fun for him than eating, apparently).  He also likes pinching peas and shooting them across the kitchen, but we haven't been able to document that yet.

Failed photo shoot

We tried to take a photo shoot of Simon to get a portrait-style photo of him at 1-years old, but his face was not cooperating and all the photos came out blurry or with weird expressions.  These are actually the best shots we got.

We had to put him in the rocking chair since he still doesn't sit for more than a few seconds.

This boy needs to learn to walk!

Zac got this weirdly-lighted shot of Alice and the bubbles using an extra flash.

Simon loves giving "high fives"

 

Fashion diva

I never tire of taking pictures of Alice decked out in her sunglasses and hat for an August car ride.

The results of a chocolate cupcake

When I got back from the grocery store late Friday night, Alice came out on the porch to greet me.  She was wide awake, and couldn't have been more cheerful and happy.  We blame the chocolate cupcake she says she had at daycare this afternoon for Izzy's birthday.  Alice is really good about going to bed normally, and will even stay in her crib and sing to herself for an hour or so when she can't fall asleep.  But sometimes something is different and she's just wired and refuses to stay in bed.  We usually indulge her on these rare occasions since she is so good normally.  She's also often really talkative at night when this happens, so when she sat down to eat a banana, I took a little video:

Downward-facing dog

Simon often does this yoga pose, probably to rest his heavy head when he's crawling around.

Umm!

We're trying to fatten Simon up, so we were happy to discover that he likes the traditional (higher fat) Oikos greek (lots of protein) yogurt (bummer about all the sugar though).

When Simon is not cooperating when we're trying to feed him, I will sometimes play YouTube videos of nursery rhymes on my phone to distract him while we shovel food into his mouth. That's why when I get my phone out to take this video, Alice keeps asking me to play videos.

Net and spoon

Simon loves holding things with long handles.

What they said today

I wish I could record everything the kids say, but here is just one memorable thing from each kid today:

Simon: Car!

Alice: I'm going to have a good dream tonight. I'm going to dream about dinosaur day at school!
(This week they are learning about dinosaurs at daycare, so Alice is thrilled.)

Back to school!

Simon had his first day back at daycare today.  Zac said drop off went well.  I picked him up two hours later (this being a transition day) and he was sitting on the floor with one of the teachers when I got there.  I thought he would be thrilled to see me, but he was indifferent. I later found out he had just woken up, so he was probably just groggy.

I had been dreading giving him up, but I think it's good for him to be back in daycare.  Lately he's been going through an attachment phase when I'm home alone with him where he cries and follows me if I'm more than five feet away.  This can become quite wearisome, as I felt like I was being held hostage by this child who wanted to be picked up all the time.  I think daycare helps because he learns that he can be away from me and his needs will still be met.

All Aboard for Oscar's birthday party!

We went to Alice's classmate's birthday party, and it was pretty fun.  The party was at Oscar's uncle's house, and he had a great flat front yard for games and a nice wooded area in back with goats.  Add to that a bubble machine in the side yard, and you have a pretty fun party for 3-year-olds.  

But wait, there's more!  Oscar's dad has his own business that provides inflatables, and apparently a little train for parties.  He said Oscar had never actually seen the train before, so his third birthday party seemed like a fine time to debut it.  Alice was in heaven.  We went on four separate train rides around the neighborhood.

Simon's sleep song

Sometimes Simon takes a while to put himself to sleep, and he's been especially vocal lately.  From our spy cameras, we can record a video, so here is what Simon sounded like one night while putting himself to sleep:

Walking in the rain

It is an understatement to say that Alice loves playing in the rain.  We had a long, lovely rain on Saturday afternoon, so instead of a nap (because sometimes she can go without) she and Zac went for a nice long walk in the rain, ending up at the neighborhood park.

Simon's first haircut

Simon's hair was starting to get a bit shabby, so we decided to try giving him his first haircut ourselves. Simon didn't exactly like the haircut, but he tolerated it.  Cold milk is worse.

We started out without much of a plan.  I am holding my phone which is playing nursery rhyme videos to distract Simon from the trimmers.

At some point he noticed his hair was being cut, and he wasn't happy about it.  Then I had to hold his hands (and sometimes move his ears out of the way) so we propped the phone/video player on a box.

Alice was very interested in the whole process and gently brushed Simon's sheared hair when it was all over.

 Before and after

Evidence

Here is a video of Simon on the porch this morning where I get him to perform some of his recently acquired tricks such as talking and clapping.

This is how he sits, although it is still rare.  He usually does it with an object in his hand, as if that helps him to forget that he's not holding on to something.

He also climbed on to the top of this little picnic table the other day.  On his way back down he lost his balance at some point and fell backwards, thunking his head, so although he tried it again today, he was a little more cautious.