Hoot

Our current sleeping arrangement is unique.  We have, I would argue, made forward strides as we no longer have 4 persons migrating during the night - we now just have one migratory family member.  Our current arrangement - Henni and I in one bed, Davis in the guest room (with Charlie (in crate)), and Oliver in his room - well, in his room until he decides he no longer wants to be in there.  When Oliver gets up he makes his way in to bed with Henni and I or into bed with Davis.  Sometimes he gets in bed with me, gives me a kiss and then says, "sorry, mommy, I actually want to sleep with daddy," and then he leaves and heads off to find Davis.

This rather unique sleeping arrangement is due to the fact that it is impossible to fit 4 people in our bed. In an effort to bring the total number of people in the bed to 3 (one being Davis), I tried having a conversation with Oliver about what we could do to make him want to be in his room all night.  Oliver suggested we move the vacuum from the kitchen to the basement.  An odd request, but I complied.  It didn't work (strangely enough).  Oliver then suggested a trip to the toy store so he could get everything he wants.  I said nice try.  I then suggested a special clock - one which changes color when it is ok to get up (and one which I knew had been successful for many people).  Oliver thought a clock would be fun; he picked out one that looked like an owl.

The couple nights we say no change, but chalked it up to a rough start.  But then we were a week, two weeks...with no change.  I asked Oliver about it, and his response was: "Mommy, the clock doesn't work.  When I want to go to your room it just doesn't turn on."  I reminded him that he needed to wait until the clock turned on..."Mommy, that is just not a good idea.  That owl doesn't know the right time to snuggle."

Now the other morning I had to go into Oliver's room to grab my sneakers.  The room was dark - and empty save for the owl.  That owl scared the sH*&$%T out of me - his head glows green when it is ok to wake up and his glowing green head is frightening.  Honestly, after seeing the owl at work I would have understood if Oliver said he came in before the owl lit up just so he could avoid seeing the scary owl.  Davis got a look at the owl a few mornings ago - he too is petrified.  Scary owl is currently Craig's-listed.

Since the owl doesn't know the right snuggle time (and is down right horrifying), and our bed is too tight with 4, we are making things work.  And, as I said, the number of people migrating has decreased, Davis is now sleeping wonderfully...I believe we have made some strides.

This video cracks me up. It is Oliver whistling.  He tells everyone he knows how to whistle now and he makes this hysterical owl-sounding noise.

Fire and Water

Both Oliver and Henni are slaves to fashion, or rather they believe they are.  Both choose their outfits each morning and their pajamas to go to sleep.  Oliver has a really tough time saying good-bye to favorite clothes and his "fire out nose" jammies (jammies that have dragons on them - some dragons blowing fire out their nose and others roasting marshmallows on said fire) are a favorite.  The other night Oliver literally had to jump up and down and be squeezed into the jammies.  As luck would have it, the Hanna Andersson catalog came the next day and in it - fire out nose!  With a new set of fire out nose, both kiddos can wear dragons to bed, or just to wrestle snakes.  Or - as is the case below, party it up by mixing fire out nose with "animal print pants out of control" so one can properly dance to LMFAO.

My parents had a special dinner with Oliver and Henni on Saturday night and Davis and I had a special dinner of our own.  When we returned we had a tough time finding the kids as it appeared they had been consumed by bubbles.

Flap

There is joy and then there is JOY.  JOY is what Oliver, Henni, Hollie and I experienced yesterday.  

While at the Museum of Science we spotted some pretty fantastic looking kites.  After purchasing said kites we decided to cut short our day at the museum and head to the beach.  Oliver's kite was the first up in the air and, once flying, Oliver named it "Flap."  Oliver was a champion kite flier.  It must have been the combination of his smile and determination, but he flew the Flap for more than an hour - Flap's return to ground-level occurred only because we had to go home.

Henni was so excited to learn that the big plastic container she had been lugging happily around actually contained a kite for her to fly.  She held on to her kite so tightly and alternated between smiling and concentrating.

Both Oliver and Henni seemed mesmerized by the kites - astounded by how they could fly and that they were the ones making it so.

Both Hollie and I left the beach utterly content and joyful.  The two of us felt so lucky to be able to share in the happiness and joy Henni and Oliver experienced flying their kites.  And, to be honest, I am not sure when the last time I ran down the beach trying to get a kite off the ground and then *poof* - getting the kite to soar -- I love that my children are helping me to experience life.

 

Crazy summer days

The weather here is a bit confused.  The past several days have been in the 70s as opposed to the normal (according to weather.com) of 45 degrees.  We (big and little people alike) have no complaints.  

Trouble

"Mommy, I named him Peter!" (No surprise, all of our worms are named Peter.)

In response to my request for Oliver and Henni to get themselves together: Oliver chooses 3 snakes and sun glasses and Henni puts on winter boots, a rain coat and grabs an eye patch.

In response to my request for Charlie to get himself ready, he chooses to jump into the stroller basket.

Mud

More mud

Even more mud

And even more mud.  Yes, I have ceded the yard to the young ones.

Miss Opinionated

Henni is a toddler, there are no two ways around it.  Henni is no longer a baby and she will screech at the top of her lungs and let you know that she too has opinions.  And when I say screech I mean screech (she does the bit where she gets quiet, turns blue, we all have time to cover our ears and brace, then - *bam* - one of the loudest noises ever heard).  Henni has said many many many words; however, most words she has said just one time.  When asked, "Henni, can you say 'cup'?", she responds "Yes" even though I know full well she can say that word.  The only words she consistently uses (with the except of animal sounds which she throws around willy nilly) are mama, dada, Oliver, Charlie, banana, and chicken.  Given the few words she concedes to use on a daily basis one can hear her ear piercing screech many times throughout the day as she tries to make sure we know what it is that she wants.

So what does she want?  Well, she is following in her brother's footsteps and insists on picking out her own clothes.  She likes pink and ruffles and dresses.  She agonizes over her drawer and closet each morning (and several times throughout the day as many days are 4 outfit days) chooses her outfit.  God help anyone who might try and suggest an outfit or try to sneak on anything that is not pink.  She is getting pretty good at getting her own clothes on.  She manages to get on her own pants, hat (again spending an agonizing amount of time selecting the right one), and her own mittens.

 

Henni also loves bags.  She carries one around with her at all times.  She also  likes to try and upgrade her bag.  I have to watch her at the playground, for example, as she will walk around, look at all the bags and then select a super nice designer bag and grab it, leaving one of her bags in it's place as a trade.  Seriously, this girl always chooses the most expensive bag "available."

Broccoli.  Henni is head over heels about broccoli.  There are days when she eats it morning, noon, and night.  The other day at the store I was pushing the cart and had to grab Henni as she attempted to lunge out of it -- trying to grab a head of broccoli as we went by (silly mommy, how could you even consider going by broccoli).  The other couple of items she tends to put back are cucumbers and bananas.  She will, in minutes, consume an entire cucumber and bananas - she ate 4 today (it would have been 5, but Charlie managed to snag the 5th).

Speaking of Charlie, Henni and Charlie are two little trouble makers.  The first word out of Henni's mouth ever morning is "Charlie."  She follows him around, throws balls for him, gives him treats, feeds him a ridiculous amount of food he should not  have despite my best efforts, and generally adores him - that is, when she doesn't.  Charlie loves Henni to pieces and gets so excited when they really get playing that sometimes his little puppy teeth get in the way.  Henni let's us know (and those a few towns over as well) when this happens (or when she things it might happen - I've noticed her screams are usually more preemptive then occurring after or even during the fact).  Given this I try to keep the two small ones separate when my eyes can't always be on both of them.  But this works only momentarily as Henni tends to open the gate the for Charlie or herself so that rather then be separated, they are cordoned off together.

There is so much laughter, love and mischief in Henni that I could go on and on.  But rather than do that, I will share just one more story.

The other morning I was at the gym and got a message from Davis suggesting I come home as the house was freezing and the kids and Charlie were crazy.  Once home I tried to calm the monsters so Davis could look at the furnace.  He was unable to determine why we had no heat so I called the plumber.  The plumber came and looked and looked and then mentioned he couldn't figure out why the furnace was getting no power.  I asked if anyone had checked the emergency switch in the kitchen.  No one had and...it was off.  I flipped it on and we had heat again.  How did that crazy switch get shut off?  Later in the day I was standing by the back door holding Henni and waiting for Oliver to get his shoes on, I hear a sneaky cackle and I look - Henni had just shut off the furnace again.  She did her trick again with Hollie.  We went to Home Depot and bought a cover for the switch.

Seize the Day

The weather has been a bit funky as of late.  The last two weeks have brought with them the only two snow storms of the winter, close to 70 degree days, and a few days that have been a bit pear shaped.    As it is unclear what the next day will bring we have embraced each and every day.