our kids

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I have only ventured out with all four kids a couple of times. Two kids + two dogs = simply too much for this mama. But now that they kids are a little bigger and the dogs are a little slower, it's a lot better. This afternoon we all enjoyed a long (1.5 hour!) walk at the lagoon. I'm hoping to do this with all the kids at least once a week.

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Note: Meredith dressed herself. At nearly 80* today, I would not have put legwarmers on her.

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[Meredith update: Today was a huge day for her! She's been consistently using the toilet since she decided to last week, but she hadn't poo'd until today. Yesterday we must have made 30 trips to the bathroom, only to leave with nothing having happened. But this morning she changed that and oh boy! was she excited and proud of herself. We all are.]

Alison

Thomas snapped these photos of his special friend today

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Thomas doesn't mind going to Meredith's dance class. He has befriended another older sibling and the two have a great time every week. Alison is super cute and the two are really fun to watch together. They sit side by side on the bench, playing with her mom's iPhone, and giggling the whole 45 minutes of class. He's asked if she can come over to our house to play. This morning I spoke with the mom and she says her daughter loves Thomas and has told her that she's kissed him. !?!? Next week I think I'll talk to the mom about getting our 4 kids together for a playdate sometime soon.

When they sunblock themselves...

weekend with family

good times in La Jolla & Old Town (San Diego) today

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Some kids need a little time before they are comfortable with new people and/or people they haven't seen in awhile. Not ours. They've been anxiously waiting for (Mike's) uncle Steve and aunt Diane's visit and are thrilled to have them staying with us this weekend. Meredith wants aunt Diane to sit next to her in the car - not me. They both want to hold aunt Diane's hand - not ours. They want to cuddle with aunt Diane - not us. They prefer her lap to ours. It's no less exciting with uncle Steve either. His famous bear hugs are happily received and they love talking to him and enjoy his teasing. It's been a fun, short and busy weekend with them here. Tomorrow, uncle Steve and aunt Diane will continue on their vacation and there's no doubt they'll be missed. Our kids will be asking about them for weeks.

3 + 4 = 7

Thomas likes math. I didn't know he knows as much as he does until tonight. For over 30 minutes he worked in this little book, adding numbers in various ways. He writes his numbers really well, too. Two numbers are a challenge so we worked on those and with very limited help from me he improved his ability to write them very quickly. I was impressed with his concentration and focus this evening. He really seems to enjoy it.
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[Meredith update: Day 2 today with zero accidents. Yes, zero! We went out to some stores while Thomas was in preschool and did things around the house the remainder of the day. Not a single accident. You have to know this makes me one insanely happy mama!]

our big girl

This little girl is amazing. Just yesterday I was telling someone how I approach potty training with our kids. I test the waters here and there, but never push and so I patiently wait until they are really, really ready. With Thomas, it was a like a light switch went off. One day he just decided that was it and it really was it. Amazing.
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This morning Meredith woke up and decided she wanted to wear underwear. I wasn't particularly keen with the idea. I had thoughts of cleaning up accidents all over the house for a few hours and then insisting she wear a pull-up going through my head. Never happened. She did wear a pull up for about an hour in the afternoon. She had had two accidents and I thought maybe we should try underwear another day. She had other plans and a little later removed her pull-up, used her potty and wanted some underwear.
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It's like a switch has been flipped once again. And I'm no less amazed how this process can happen with these kids. Meredith wore underwear all day long. We ate out for dinner! We went to Target where she used the restroom -- twice! No accidents out and she made it very clear when she needed to go find a restroom. During the drive home this evening she was tired and once again needed to use the restroom, but we told her she'd need to do her best to hold it for the 10 minute drive home. She cried, wasn't terribly happy about it and said she couldn't do it -- but she did!
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She's in a pull-up this evening in bed and I don't know what tomorrow will bring, but I'm just so proud of this little girl tonight. Good for you, Meredith!

"extra-cise"

That's what Thomas calls exercise -- "extra-cise". He knows we need to extracise regularly in order to keep our bodies healthy. Whenever I pop in an extracise video at home the kids want to know what it's about, whether or not they can do it, etc. Two days ago I started a 30-day video program and the kids have been right there alongside me. Not always good (for me), but they are enjoying the daily extracise time with me. They have found that bottled waters make great hand weights. Thomas' favorite are arm circles during warm up and the punching sequence. Meredith's favorite are jumping jacks and lunges. It's nice to see them understand the importance of taking care of their bodies already...

sick day

The kids have colds. It's always a bummer to not feel well when it's almost 80* outside, but it is November and colds are running rampant. Ick. Today we laid low most of they day, only venturing out to make a much-needed run to Trader Joe's and then later for a walk at the lagoon to get some fresh air. The kids didn't mind the quiet day. They read books, played dolls, baked some bread with me, did some things around the house and worked in their activity books. Thomas' favorite are the mazes. He can visualize the solution quickly and then complete the maze with a crayon in no time. It's fun to watch him do these!

family photo

Can you see all four of us? We finished our morning out at the Carlsbad Village Street Fair (largest one day street fair in the country!) with a cool drink at Jamba Juice. I don't think our kids had ever had one but, of course, they loved them.

Happy Halloween!

first there was trick-or-treating at the outlet mall...
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then trick-or-treating the neighborhood...
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and last, checking out the evening's loot!

crazy hair Thomas

Today was "crazy hair day" at preschool. They asked no costumes be worn but that instead the kids just simply come to preschool with crazy hair. It's probably a stretch to say this clown wig is not a costume, but this was our interpretation of it today. He wanted rainbow hair and the clown wig was less money, less work and less mess than 4 cans of colored hairspray. He loved it. Not only did he wear it to preschool today, but he didn't take it off once. And after preschool when we met up with a friend for a late afternoon walk at the lagoon, he continued to wear it while greeting everyone we came across with "Happy Halloween". He's such a fun kid!

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girls' afternoon

Meredith loves to paint. That's all she wanted to do this afternoon while Thomas was in preschool. She didn't mind that it was cool outside and sometimes the wind was quite gusty (brrr!). It didn't matter as long as she could paint so I made a cup of hot tea and read catalogs outside while she painted to her heart's content. Afterwards we took turns drawing chalk outlines of each other (her idea). I was surprised by how much of my profile she would draw without any help from me. I didn't have to say a word -- she would just jump from one side of me to the other, drawing my right arm and then my left, drawing my right leg and then my left, etc... It was a very fun afternoon for us today!

tap, tap, tap, meow

Thomas is such a terrific big brother. He's always so supportive and encourages her to try new things. He also applauds her efforts during dance class. Today he wanted to photograph parts of Meredith's dance class and actually snapped a couple of good ones. In this photo she practices the tap, tap, tap, meow sequence of steps.

asleep

I turned around 20 minutes ago to find Meredith fast asleep on the kitchen table's bench. Not the most comfortable (or safest!) spot to be snoozing, but she clearly needed a little rest and this is where she's taking it today. Since giving up her regular-and-in-her-own-bed nap last March it's been tough. Most days she'll go all day without a nap. Other days she'll drift off in the car until we reach our destination. But just about every day she could benefit from a 20 minute cat nap so I'm glad she's decided to take one today.

party animals

Whew. What a day. Two parties -- one for a little friend this morning and one for the playgroup in the afternoon. Nearly 6 hours of "party time" equates to way too much sugar for two little bodies. And for their mama, too. Thank goodness for bounce houses and our children's love for them. I think most of the sugar-induced high was bounced out before Spiderman & Little Bo Peep returned home, ate a quick dinner, took a bath and went straight to bed -- all in about an hour!

Halloween party prep

This afternoon the kids and I made some cupcakes to take to our playgroup's Halloween bash tomorrow. They both helped at every step from measuring and mixing ingredients, to prepping toppings, to frosting the cupcakes with me. Thomas' favorites are always cracking the eggs and using the mixer. Meredith's favorites are using utensils she hasn't used before (a knife today!) and the mixer. And we all enjoyed decorating and eating our very own cupcake!

Notice Thomas in two different shirts? One of the six eggs he cracked today got a little messy...

two for her, one for him

We're taking another look at potty training and today is day two. Yesterday we actually had some success which was encouraging to me. Three yesterday and once this morning -- all entirely initiated by Meredith and all successful. The reward of "two m&ms" per potty is helping. She gets two and he gets one every time she pees in the toilet. Why him? Thomas has been extremely supportive in this endeavor. He cheers her on, congratulates her and tells her what a big girl she is, and pretends to be excited when she tells him she's wearing her princess panties. The boy deserves an m&m for his part in this project.

project night

The kids and I picked up a couple of our neighbor's gigantic pinecones this afternoon and talked about what we might do with them. I had ideas of some kind of fun little "creature" with loads of yarn wrapped around the body, some googly eyes attached, etc. The kids wanted to make bird feeders, or more specifically, hummingbird feeders. We researched it briefly on the internet and then pulled together some items from our pantry to make wild bird food. Not sure exactly who will be eating our concoction but we completed the project this evening and hung them outside on a tree in the front yard. We'll see if they look any different tomorrow!

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After hanging up the pinecones we turned around to catch the tail end of a gorgeous sunset. One of the best things about living exactly where we do are the sunsets. We'll never tire of them.
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good mail

The kids love to check the mailbox and when there's something for them it makes the whole experience that much more exciting. In today's mail, three things came for them -- the latest copy of Thomas' magazine, a birthday party invitation and these awesome wands and tiara. The kids have been running around the house making things disappear with them and doing magic tricks. They love them! And we love our friends who may live far away but think about us just the same. Thank you!

The Monster Mash

Seaworld - SS Monster Mash from c on Vimeo.