The Fun That Led Up to The Fall

Dear Nathan and Hannah, 

80 degree temps in Febuary? I'll take it! These past few days have really been wonderful. And with cedar levels on the low side, we've really been able to take advantage of these beautiful days and spend lots of time outside. 

On Thursday we met up with Nathan's all time best friend Abi at the park. This was the first time we played outside in awhile and when I put you both on the swings, you both got a bit scared, but by the end, you guys were begging to stay on. 

One weekend day we went on a bike ride. You had a pretty big fall and so you are a bit reluctant to get back on the bike again. I don't blame you. So we decided to try taking off the pedals so that you can ride the bike like a balance bike...turns out the bike is a bit too big for you to do that. You just need to grow a couple more inches and you'll be set. 

Hannah was pretty excited to wear you helmet and ride in the trailer, however, after seeing how much fun Nathan had riding on the bike seat, you really wanted to ride it too. 

 At the end of the bike ride, I took off you helmet and just threw it onto the lawn. When you got off of the bike seat, you picked up Nathan's helmet and threw it into the grass too.

 And then you both helped Daddy put the training wheels and pedals back on the bike.

 Pretty much are geniuses because you knew exactly what to do.

 On Friday, Nathan and I visited the dentist. I got my check up and teeth cleaned while Nathan, you watched so patiently and intently. You asked questions about what different things were and then soon it came to be your turn. You were pretty excited to sit on the moving chair and were pretty brave when the dentist poked around in your mouth for a quick examination.

Afterwards, we had a chinese get-together at our house with lots of kids and Chinese speaking mommies. I love it when we all get together because by the end of the party, you are actually speaking Chinese for about 80% of the time until Daddy gets home. It's super helpful that the other mommies are very encouraging when it comes to having the kids speak Chinese. 

While most of the kids who were here were younger, there were a few kids who are about the same age as you. You guys played Carcassonne for a bit. 

Sometimes when I'm loading groceries into the car, I put both of you in from the trunk and let you guys climb into your seats from there. Lately, it's been a race to the front seat. One day I opened the door to retrieve both of you and there you were, sitting right beside each other, happy as can be.

 Sunday, Hannah ended up with a slight runny nose and when I looked at the allergy reports, sure enough, Cedar was back to being high. We tried to stay in the remainder of the day and the next day, Nathan went to school. On the way home, Nathan was very quiet and sleepy (which is not normal) and didn't even fight the nap. I then suspected that a virus was among us. Both kids woke up groggy and grumpy so to pass the time, we baked a batch of brownies. We practiced taking turns at stirring the batter and Nathan got a chance to crack an egg into the batter all by yourself.

When the brownies were baking in the oven, I let both of you lick the batter off of the cooking utensils this afforded me a nice and quiet moment where I got to clean up the kitchen in peace. Ahh. 

And at some point, I found Hannah using an ice-cream scoop to drink water out of a cup.

That evening, while giving Hannah a bath, Nathan casually strolls into the bathroom with a thermometer under your arm pit. I didn't think much of it, but then I heard the fast, high pitched beep indicating that a fever was detected. I reached for the thermometer and it read 38.2 degrees. I had no idea if that was a fever or not, so I took my temperature and it read closer to 35.7. We take your temperature again, positioning the thermometer correctly under your shirt and sure enough, 38.4 degrees, fever. 

The next day, besides Nathan coughing and Hannah with a runny nose, fever was gone and so we pretty much just hung out at home in the morning. By 9:30 everyone was getting a bit stir crazy, I decided that we would go grocery shopping and on the way, pick up a set of new wheels for my skates. 

Nathan was super excited about helping me put them on. You were so anxious, fearing that I would do it myself, that you told me, "Mommy, don't look at them. I'll do it!" I assured you that you would be able to change my wheels out for me after you took a nap and that was enough to get you down for a nap. So while you were sleeping, I changed out the bearings from my old wheel to my new ones and set the wheel back to where you had left them. After you came down from your nap, you immediately proceeded to take the old wheels off, put the new ones back on, and with my help tightened the bolt. 

I found that I was having trouble getting you two to drink water while you guys were sick, so by accident, I found the crazy straws and bam, immediately, you two are drinking like camels! 

Today, we hung around the house again and we played with a few toys that we haven't played with in a long time. 

 And Hannah's fine motor skills are improving as well. You are now able to peel a partly peeled sticker backing off of a foam sticker and stick it onto a surface. We decorated the heck out of that empty blueberry container, which by the way, is the only multi-syllabic word that you can say, "bu-buby"

And Nathan, over a week later, your crystal is pretty much as formed as it's going to be until we discovered this little patch growing along the side of the cup this morning. I decided to tip the container a bit to see if this would help it grow some more, so we can see where this goes. 

 But I'm quite proud of your observations. For a 3 year old, I'll take it. You are able to describe what you see, including the shape, the coloration and the texture of the things inside the jar...you just have a tough time transferring it onto paper, which is ok.

Hannah is starting to enjoy storytime a bit more and is able to sit still for longer periods of time. You still enjoy books where you can lift flaps, but there are a few books with real pictures of objects that you like to look at and read with me.

Nathan is really enjoying the Junie B. Jones series. Each day we read a couple of chapters and I find that you've picked up on a lot of sayings and are relating things that happen in the book with your own life. "Just like when Junie B Jones did this..." is a common phrase that we hear lately. You also like the Frances books and like us to replace Frances and her sister with Nathan and Hannah.

It's also interesting to see that when we are reading a picture book, I can see your eyes quickly scanning the page and when I finish reading the page, you would ask me questions about either what I just read or the picture on the page. I'm glad that you love books and hope that you continue to have a passion for books as you get older.

Well, that's about it for now. Nap time is over. Until next week,
Love,
Mommy