Kleinland

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

She's FOUR!

Only a month ago (see not too late!) Nory turned FOUR!

This girl is so ... complicated.

I can't make a list for this one. I wouldn't know where to start. Her personality is so deep. Funny, grumpy, loving, jealous, smart, fun, athletic... complicated. Like a real person ;).

She loves her brother. But is still working on not grabbing her brother and being patient with him.

There is a lot of work left in this area!

She loves cake. But otherwise has kind of stopped being interested in eating. She lost a couple pounds a couple months ago and has been floating around 33 pounds since then. She complains often that her tummy hurts. We've seen a few doctors in case this is actually something serious but haven't found anything yet.

She's started learning to read, as in sound out words instead of just recognizing sight words.

And she enjoys writing in small quantities.

But honestly she would rather be running laps around the kitchen, doing handstands and cartwheels and forward rolls, or swimming or biking.

And she's an introvert. SERIOUSLY cranky when she's around other kids for too long. Never talks in school, ever. All year long she never spoke to the other kids. (I made an introvert? IMPOSSIBLE. Yet true.)

And we love her exactly how she is.

Crazy hair.

Shy.

Funny.

Short.

Little Miss Bossy Pants to her brother.

Picky.

Sensitive.

Curious.

Smart.

Lovely.

Wonderful.

Socks make the outfit. I know.

And PS she will not smile for photos. Will. Not. Smile.

Which is how Dan came home with this last month when we needed passport photos.

He's TWO!

Waaaaay back in April, Elliott turned TWO!

He's 24 pounds and change, and short, although I have yet (oops) to take him in for his 2 year checkup to get the official digits.

He's happy All.The.Time.

Except when he sees me at which point he becomes whiney and clingy and starts shouting "murse! murse!"

(It got so bad that I shipped him to Wisconsin for the week with daddy. Weaning bootcamp. Apparently he's been an angel.)

He eats anything. Lots of it. And then he eats Nory's.

Sometimes we call him Belly-ott.

He can do a forward somersault without help, walk on a balance beam at full speed, and jump off things about 3 feet high and land on his feet.

Caution is not really his first thought. Or his last thought. Or any thought at all.

But he has yet to end up in the ER! He still has all his arms and legs and his head is still attached to his body! Go us!

He finally started talking. I like to think that ALL of his development for the first two years was going into his large motor skills instead of speech.

He doesn't get tired. He sleeps about 9 1/2 hours a day. TOTAL. No naps. Goes to bed around 9 and wakes up at 6:30. Seriously. This has made our lives extremely exhausting!

(and during weaning week I've been sleeping like a dead person)

He's potty trained, but has (pee) accidents when he's tired or sick or reallllllly involved in something. This is new for us, Nory potty trained much later but never had accidents.

"Two?"

He loves those crocs. Refuses to wear any other shoes. What a character!

He's a lot of work. But a lot of fun. I can't imagine our lives or our family without him.

Although after this "girls week," I think I'm going to have a monthly "boys day" where I get to sleep as much as I want and can get more done around the house in 6 hours with Nory than I can do in 6 months with Elliott. Seriously. Maybe weekly.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Where we are

My last blog post was at the beginning of April, and there are a couple of reasons why it took me so long to post a new one.

The first is that my beloved grandma Wilma passed away on April 9. She was a wonderful woman with a beautiful sense of humor, family, and soul, and she is missed. And also, she read my blog. Whenever I went too long without a post, I thought of how she must wonder what we were up to and want a picture of the kids and to hear about our days however uneventful. The blog is for me, but also a little it was for her. My 90 year old grandma who turned on her computer every day, logged in, and read the blog.

Also, in April, I went back to work a 4th day a week, so I'm now full time Monday through Thursday. Work had become super stressful because I just wasn't around enough to do my job well, and since I've gone back an extra day things are a million times better. Elliott turned two and the timing seemed right. I'm still off with the kids on Fridays and I think I'll keep that schedule until they are both in school. I feel good about this decision but poor ol' blog definitely took a back seat.

And also we lost the laptop for a while. But found it today.

Anyway, enough excuses, I'll try to fill in where I can. I hope to blog retroactively about the following events over the next week:

Nory turned 4

Elliott turned 2

Kitchen remodel

Trip to Arizona

Visit from Uncle Dan

Camping with Uncle Lindy and Auntie Elsa

The end of Nory's first year of preschool

Elliotts weaning trip to Wisconsin

See you soon!