Play It Again, Sam!

If you've been to our house, you know our dining room is our catch-all room. It's a play room, party room, occasionally a dining room, and now, most recently it's a music room. We have a piano!

I didn't know you play the piano, you say. Well, you're right! But in Michael's continuing effort to give our children very well-rounded educations and appreciation of the arts, it was important for us to have a piano for our kids.

We found this beauty on craiglist, and it was right in our price range -- Free! (Lamp and bench included!) Seriously, there are pianos posted online all the time for free, and it may need a little cleaning up, but you won't beat the price. All the owner asked was that it go to a good home.

Remarkably, her notes sound pretty good! No tuning required yet. She just needs a good bath. I've been slowing cleaning her ivories, and the outer casement could use a good polishing.

But the boys love it. Sam just recently discovered the instrument and enjoys slapping the keys and laughing at the sounds and he loves listening to other people play.

We are a little premature on starting lessons. (What's the rule on moms sitting in and learning alongside?) But we know it's something we definitely want to start some day.

And we have a rule... if you're going to play you must also sing!

Adam has always enjoyed the piano at Aunt Karen's house... look back at a year ago.

He's available for bookings. Call us for rates!



And a very special thanks to Josh and Dad for helping move this sucker. (Mom and I just moved it across the room and I was shocked at the weight!)

Swim Lessons

We recently joined the local YMCA (Hooray! After talking about it for almost 2 years!) and are already loving the community feel that's there. So much nicer than the big box gyms we're used to. I tell you, on week nights and Saturday mornings it's the place to be! (which translates to our first workout being the walk from the back end of the parking lot to the door!) So many fun activities for the kids going on -- ballet classes (love the little pink slippers!), tai kwon do, tap classes, basketball, climbing wall, etc.

We haven't taken advantage of everything yet, but I'm looking forward to trying out some of the classes and getting back into the pool for lap swim (and the hot tub).

Speaking of pools, we're taking a break from Adam's gymnastics and have enrolled him in swim lessons offered at the Y. I took him one Saturday to open swim just to get him comfortable in the water again and he did pretty well! I thought he would be very tentative and clingy, and while he's not near the comfort level he was a couple years ago (Exhibit A and especially Exhibit B), he is comfortable enough to participate in the swim classes.

He generally stays focused on class, or at least as much as the other kids do! Though he is more prone to be caught doing this than the others...

Eat the snow. Drink the pool water. That's how we roll.

He seems to love the class, and we really love his teacher Ms Pat. 

Here's a little bit of him in action:

We love that he's loving it and loves being at the Y in general. In fact, he gets upset that he doesn't get to play in the Kid Zone after his class, which is a great sign that he won't mind tagging along to future work outs with Mom and Dad.

Plus, like I said, it's a great community feeling there. One of the other moms of a little swimmer is my OB nurse, and last week I heard a little girl say, "That's Adam!" I love that we are developing a little community here... finally.  And hopefully developing a little swimmer, too.

Can't wait until Sam is 2 for the parent/child swim class!

Sam I Am, 15 months!

Ahh, I can't stand it. This little munchkin is THE cutest little being on the planet! So mild mannered, so easy going, so stinking adorable. My favorite thing is when he scrunches up his nose, squints his eyes and smiles big.

He visited the doctor last week for his 15 month checkup.  Here are the highlights from the appointment, and his other accomplishments:

• 32.5" long
• 23 lbs, 9.5 oz
• Head circumference 49.5 cm
• Belly looks good, after the all the poop a few months ago
• In the 80-90th percentile for height and weight
• {Mostly} off the bottle
• Still takes 2 naps but we're close to dropping to one
• Can now climb up on the couch (!!)
• Plays "So Big!" (see below)
• Often crawls or walks backwards
• Sometimes, on a slippery surface, he'll purposely crawl in place, like on a treadmill
• Gives high fives and head butts on demand
• Knows where his tongue is
• Knows where his head and belly are
• Loves to "go hide" and then run out to see you
• Still loves Peek-a-boo
• Signs "milk" and "all done"
• Sticks out his tongue when you ask him for a kiss
• Doesn't love the bath. Would prefer to just stand there until you take him out.
• Loves to see what you're eating and take a bite
• Won't clap his own hands but loves to clap yours for you
• Loves when you count with your fingers to five
• Favorite foods -- popcorn (!), chicken, cheese, peaches, and lately, broccoli
• Loves to play with his big brother, chasing after him
• Loves to roll the ball back and forth with you

He is all action -- a mover and shaker, getting faster, loving to climb and run.We're excited to hear him start to develop words beyond "Dada" and "Zaza". I think his little brain has been learning too much about doing than he is about saying!

love Love LOVE him!

FOUR!

Usually when one of our little ones' birthdays roll around a little part of me wants to deny it. Time has gone too fast, another year has slipped away, and 'wasn't he just crawling yesterday'?

But this year, for Adam, I am ok with FOUR. I really am. He's my smiley, happy, smart as a whip little boy that makes me think instead, 'he is just now turning 4'? It really feels like he's been 4 for a while.

After the craziness of Sam's birthday and the holidays, we I took the easy route with Adam's birthday party -- an ol' fashioned cake-and-ice-cream-after-family-dinner party. Yup, no theme, no special menu, just your average Monday night.... or it was, until I came home from work to find balloons and party guests!

Gramma, Aunt Kim and Jake and Lilly surprised Adam at school with balloons, stayed for the birthday snack time, and then brought him home early to play. I was surprised, and touched, they they drove up just for the day to help him celebrate.

Plus, we already had plans to go to Georgetown the next weekend to celebrate with family there.

Doesn't he look so grown up here??! 

Gramma's snow plow cake -- appropriate for a January birthday!

This boy is pretty loved.

Thank you to everyone who helped celebrate our little man, who sent thoughts and gifts over the miles. He's already telling us he's "almost five." Whoa, there.

Here some other things he's also telling us/showing us:

• READING! We've been working on sight words since last summer, and over the course of time he has started reading on his own. He reads everything -- words on road signs, the tv, the cereal box, and books, books books. I love that he loves books! It is so heartwarming to see him sit in his room surrounded by a pile of books, or when we tell him he can take one thing in the car with him, he'll choose his Big Purple Book for Beginner Readers (or the Red one). 

• An amazing memory. He remembers details and pulls them out months later to associate with what we're doing in that moment. The other day Michael clapped his hands together and started rubbing them back and forth and Adam said it was "like Mr. Miyagi" (from Karate Kid). I think he taught him that back in June!
• Favorite "kiddism" these days -- "Lemalade" and "Deliverly" truck
• Still loves Jeopardy! though we've graduated from just singing the song and watching the show to now pretend-playing the game. He's the host and names off the categories and we're the contestants. It's the most remarkable thing to witness! He even has the different phrases Alex Trebek typically says. 
• We took him to the Dentist, his second visit. And while he did fairly well, we only managed to get two teeth professionally cleaned. We made his next visit for 6 months time, and in the interim we're supposed to be helping him floss. (He's not going to like it.) Here's hoping he'll let the dentist clean more teeth next time. (Plus we made a visit for Sam....now that will be really interesting!)
• We also took him for his 4 yr checkup. Best part is -- no shots! He's 39.75" tall (38th percentile) and 33 lbs. (23rd %) He had an apparently nasty ear infection that we had no idea he had. No fever, no other symptoms. I expected a battle with the medicine, but he took it without complaint. (Because he's 4 now?) He passed his eye test but failed his left ear due to the infection, so we'll take him back next week to be rechecked.
• He still loves his cars, fire trucks, dump trucks, garbage trucks, trains... basically anything that self propels.
• One of favorite things he'll say: "let's snuggle." Hope he never outgrows that (or at least, any time soon).
• Still doesn't eat birthday cake!! Icing? Yes. Cake? Nope.
• We're working on basic math. "If you have three apples and I take one away, how many do you have?" That kind of thing. We haven't worked as much on spelling but the other day he told Daddy, "You know how you spell funny? f-u-n-n-y"
• Still likes to do things "all by myself"
• Interacts more and more with Sam, especially loves to have Sam chase him. The other day I heard Sam awake from a nap and Adam said, "I'll go get him."
• Still attending gymnastic classes, though has now moved up to the older class and struggles a bit with the concept of "focus"! We are excited to be joining the Y very soon and getting him in gymnastics or swim lessons over there, too.

We are loving Age 4! Happy Birthday, Adam! You'll never know how loved you are.

Star Wars Explained

Michael has been introducing Adam to the greatness of Star Wars. We have the original three movies on our DVR and we've been exposing Adam to them a little at a time.

Here's Adam's version of Star Wars: Episode 4, A New Hope:

And, yes, he named a third droid named Jack. That character must not have made the movie's final cut.

Snow Today, Gone Tomorrow

More snow, please! We've been waiting for a snowy winter since we moved to Ohio 2 years ago, and after early snow in November we were really hopeful that this would be a year for inches and inches of the white stuff, plus a white Christmas.

Alas... in true Ohio fashion, snow comes down one day and a few days later rain comes in and melts it all away.

We are ecstatic about the snow when we get it, though, and an early December snowfall of over 6" really had us excited.

Adam had his first chance to go sledding and absolutely loved it.

 

And when he wasn't sledding you could find him constantly tasting the snow. Rest assured we've had a number of conversations about eating dirty snow, icicles off the cars, etc...

Sam, on the other hand, doesn't know what to make of the snow. Or maybe he's just too bundled up for his short arms and legs to move.

Unfortunately all this snow didn't stick around to give us a white Christmas, but another post-Christmas snowfall gave us enough to test out Adam's new snow sled. More "light accumulation" snowfalls are expected this week. We're always happy to have it.

If it's going to be cold (can you say Polar Vortex?... high of -4 and low of -15?!... seriously?!), it might as well snow!

Holiday Roundup

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year... Happy early MLK Day!

We were so busy this holiday season visiting and playing and eating and unwrapping (and cleaning and dieting) that blogging fell by the wayside. We had about four different Christmas celebrations -- the first just our little family of four, then with all the Moreland cousins, then with all the Elder cousins, and then one more Moreland family dinner. It's so wonderful, but also so bustling that sometimes it's hard to sit and enjoy the still quiet of the holiday. 

Just after New Year's (which was a quiet, low key "celebration"), I started thinking about how ironic it is that just as it's time to pack up the decorations for another year is the time that I really have a moment to enjoy them. I'm finally still, content, and appreciative.

First new year's resolution: 

Go slower. Appreciate the little stuff. Take the time. Do less. Just be.

So, in that spirit, I'm going to just let the photos speak for themselves.

Here's a little of what our holidays were like this year.

One last holiday activity -- Train display at the Children's museum. New holiday tradition.

Christmas morning

Christmas with the cousins

Off to Gramma and Grandpa's house.

Annual holiday photo

One last family gathering.

We hope your home was as filled with love. All our best for 2014!