Communication

Listening to the way these kids talk now is so cute. I love to hear them communicate with each other and play. It's especially hysterical because Lacey dictates everything that should be said during their pretend-play. Here's a hypothetical example:

L: Hi Barbie, what do you want to do today? (Then to Nate: "Say go to the park").

N: Go to the park!

He is always happy to oblige with however she wants the conversation to go. It's very funny.

Speaking of communicating, I have noticed how different they say the same word. For example:

Thirsty. Lacey says spirsty and Nate says bursty.
Cream Cheese. Lacey says Beem Cheese. Nate says Yoo Cheese.

With regard to Nate specifically, he used to say Excuse me like "a-woozy", but now he says it more like "a-goos me". So he's progressing.

Soon they will say everything the right way and I'll forget all these cute little things. Gotta stick these reminders in every so often.

Pool Pass

This year was a wonderful learning opportunity for the kids. My mom moved in last June and this year we took FULL advantage of her community pool. The best part of all was that both kids learned to let go of me in the water and swim on their own. This was especially true for Lacey because she now wears only arm floaties instead of both arms and tummy floaties. She can now swim alone and very well. She is amazing and I was very proud of her. She also did something that was very frightening for her, but she really wanted to try. She jumped into the pool from the side while holding her nose. It took some coaxing from us and her new little pool friend, but she finally jumped. She went completely under and popped back up. Breathless and scared, but not sputtering or choking. She did it! But it was so scary for her, she decided not to do it again. Still, she went out of her comfort zone and it was wonderful.

Nate also made huge improvements. He was so afraid of the water at one point, that he would just cling to me with just his legs in the water. Then I added both tummy and arm floaties to make him as bouyant as possible and step by step, we got him into the water, then holding him under his tummy, then holding arms, and then holding one arm, until we let go of him and he was off before realizing it. Once he knew he was safe, he was great! He can swim the length of the pool all on his own.

We had a great time this year at the pool. I am thinking about putting them in swimming lessons in the spring if its available. I think they would have a blast!

Things Change

It's occurred to me just this morning how very quickly things can change. One second, the focus was on playdates and playgroups, the next second both kids are in preschool at the same time, and there is no more one-on-one interaction. My playgroup attendance is dramatically different now. It's not a bad thing, just a sign that things are changing now and I guess I wasn't expecting that particular change; it surprised me and reminded me how things will start to be different. Both in good ways and sad ways. But I digress, I feel like I'm rambling.

The summer is ending as well. Yesterday felt very much like a typical fall day. It was 69, cloudy, and breezy. We all had to change into pants and tennis shoes by mid-morning after realizing it was just too chilly for shorts. And while the change in the air made me think ahead to Halloween and Thanksgiving days, it was a jolt that the end of the season is coming. (Hopefully AFTER our beach trip next week). I haven't done nearly all the summertime activities with the kids that I wanted to. I was planning on visiting the Land of the Little Horses and kept thinking we could do it later. Except later has never come. So I'm going to try to squeeze it into our vacation week. If I wait till next year, as I had originally thought, Lacey will be 5 1/2 years old, will she still be into them? And I decided I couldn't risk that. We are going now.

A lot of my friends have little ones that are starting Kindergarten this year and it has created a swirl of emotions for me. Suddenly, I am feeling like this is my last year with Lacey as my "baby". I want to make it wonderful and important and fun. Next year, she goes to school all day long! And I can already tell how hard it's going to be for me. In fact, my brain is already compensating for the radical change by processing "more baby, more baby" thoughts. Of course that is completely out of the question at this point.

And if you're curious, YES, I will be the only idiot crying on the first day of preschool.

School Daze

As this summer draws to a close, it's suddenly dawning on me that my littlest one, my sweet baby boy, starts preschool in September with his sister. (Sob! Cry!) I'm so very excited for him because he was a wreck all last year wanting to stay their with Lacey and he was so excited at the thought that he would be going too. And I am also excited for me because the way their schedules fall gives me Tuesday and Thursday mornings alone. BUT.....but.....but....

I want to cry! I was going through the normal routine of checking the playgroup upcoming schedule and choosing which events to go to and realized events and mall-walking I would have done with Nate, while Lacey was in school, I won't be signing up for this year. Since they'll be in school at the same time, we won't have those alone outings anymore. And that is something that makes me really sad. They are growing up and I need to find new ways to do things with them.

Lacey is almost 5 now. As if that's even possible! And this will be her last year of preschool. In some ways, I feel bad for her this year, she was in a class "younger" than her and I put her in the right one this year to make sure she was ready for kindergarten, but that means none of her best friends from her last class will be with her this year. And she thinks that she'll see them again. So yeah, I feel bad about that. And next year is the "real deal". She'll be gone...all day, every day. That is completely beyond my comprehension right now and, luckily, not something I have to deal with for a while.

Pedaling a Bike

Something I am learning about Nate is that you can't teach him anything over time. He has more of a "click" personality. You can try and try to direct him and nudge him and teach him the basics, but he doesn't "ease" into anything. He just all of a sudden DOES it. And not just doing it, but doing it like he's been doing it all along and you are the one that has been missing it! It's kind of like how he learned to walk. He never "tried". He never took a step or two and fell down. He went from standing himself up to taking off and never looking back. And the same is true now for his bike. I have been trying to teach him to pedal for weeks now. But he kept circling his feet backwards and not getting anywhere. Yesterday, he climbed on his bike and took off pedaling like he's been doing it all along. I almost didn't even notice at first because it was so natural. Makes me think ahead to potty training. Should I even bother trying to teach him? Or will he just show up in the bathroom one day with his pants down and ready to go like he's known how all along?

Lacey's "Ear Holes"

All of a sudden, out of the blue on a Thursday evening, Lacey announces to me that she wants ear holes (her words). And she wants them BAD. To my knowledge, there was nothing to initiate this request. But there she was asking me, begging me, pleading with me to get them. NOW. So of course, I decide to try and divert, possibly dissuade her. I didn't think she knew what she was getting into. So I gently explain to her that getting ear holes is something that big girls do, that it hurts when they do it, and that she would have to let me clean them and turn them and that she was NOT allowed to take the earrings out for any reason. I explained all this in several ways, but she wholeheartedly agreed and promised to do it exactly as I said. So the next morning, I said nothing. I was wondering if maybe she had forgotten about the whole thing. But around 10am, she remembered and made me promise to take her. So after our Friday ritual of going to the farmers market, we pit-stopped at the mall to check it out. Lacey sat up on the counter and picked out her favorite earrings. She asked me again if it would hurt and I was honest and said that it would. Like a shot at the doctor (although my guess is that it's worse than that). But she stayed vigilant.



So we put her in the chair and I was thankful that there were 2 ladies on staff to tag-team her. I was concerned that if they only did one ear, we would never get the other done. So they gave her a special bear to hold on to and started marking her ears up.

They let her look at the spots in the mirror and they lined up the guns. They told her they were just practicing, but she tensed up a bit when they started counting. But that little trooper stayed completely still.

That last photo was taken at 2. Right before they shot her at 3. I was so proud. She put her tight little fists up to her mouth and started sobbing. She was so upset. Even I got teary-eyed for her. Nate was so fascinated by her earrings that he wanted to touch them so badly, and when he got the chance, he did...sending her into another fit of ters because it hurt to touch them. But we got ICEE's and that seemed to make her happy. That night, she was nervous about me touching them and cleaning them, but was relieved when she realized it didn't hurt like she expected. So Lacey has earrings now. I was sure I had taken pictures of the finished product, but I can't seem to find it. I'll update with another.

That was only 5 months ago

I just happened to be going back through some posts and found the one dated January 14, 2009 where I had posted some of the words Nate was saying. What a difference a few months make! Once that child found his voice, his vocabulary EXPLODED and he says so many phrases and sentences and words now that I couldn't possibly list them. He is a fully communicating child now and I can't believe how quickly it grew. He's been communicating WELL for over a month now so it really happened very quickly between December and April. Good for him!

Waiting for the weather to break

The cold weather has been ridiculously persistent this year. We had a couple of sporadic warm days in March and then it continued to be chilly into April. We had a warmer day here and there but it stayed mostly chilly. Then we had a heat wave all of a sudden towards the end of April. Three 90+ degree days in a row and then...COLD again. Weird. In fact, it's been chilly and raining for several days now. And on top of that, the kids have been sick so we have been in the house climbing the walls. I took them to the store yesterday before it started raining again just so I could get them out. There are several more days of rain ahead of us too. I am starting to wonder if we will ever get the warm comfortable weather of spring, or if it will just stay cold and then slam us into hot, humid summer.

So my thoughts are of warm days where the kids can toss their sandals on (or no shoes at all) and go outside without coats or sweaters and play. Sunny days, warmth, fireworks, BBQ, beach, vacations, all the good stuff spring and summer brings. And I can't wait!!!

Down by the Stream

We have a little stream next to the house and one day the kids and I spent some time enjoying the weather and playing in the water. Here are some pictures from that day:

Easter 2009

Easter was so much fun at the Eckhart household this year. With both kids at the age of understanding, they were super excited to come down and find their baskets that morning. A few days prior, we took them to the mall to meet and sit with the Easter Bunny. As we approached him, Nate suddenly became very fearful (as expected) and asked me to hold him. When we got up to the picture area, he hid his face in my shoulder and refused to get down. Lacey very cautiously approached him and climbed on his lap for the picture. I had to pay for the shot and managed to peel Nate off me and set him down. He hid behind my legs and announced "Scary Monster". HA!! The Easter Bunny has joined the list of scary monsters. Another year with a picture of only Lacey with the bunny. Eh, maybe next year.



We also had a playgroup Egg-stravaganza Egg Hunt the week prior to Easter as well. I was worried because the eggs are strewn about on the lawn while all the kids are there and they are only allowed to pick up a certain amount of eggs (to make sure all the participating kids get the same amount of eggs). This is a great and fair way to run it. But in my head, I was imagining my kids completely melting down about having to wait and then subsequently, having to stop when there were so many more eggs to pick up. Happily, they followed the rules without question and without meltdown and it turned out to be a GREAT day.


And so the big day finally came. They woke up in the morning to find baskets the bunny had left for them on the kitchen table and were SO excited. And after they had some breakfast (and after I froze my tail off in the cold morning running around hiding eggs), we went outside to find eggs. Nate was not into this at ALL at first and we couldn't figure why. Lacey was running and grabbing everything and Nate would just stand there and cry and not want to participate. FINALLY, he decided to get with the program and get some eggs before his sister confiscated them all. They had a great time. It was unseasonably cold though and it would have been much more pleasant if the weather had been warmer. But the kids didn't care and we all had a great morning. The rest of the day was spent at Grandmom & Pop's where the bunny had left ENORMOUS easter baskets loaded up with candy and toys and all kinds of fun stuff. They were completely exhausted and sugared up by bedtime.