Spring Things - a list of children stuff

My kiddies sharing a snack and waiting by the window for daddy to come home.

Iris can now say:
Hi
Hey
Bye (and bye with waving)
Ma, MaMa
Da
Ot (hot)
ashide (outside)
duck! (duck)
ack (quack)
ah-gie (doggie)
ah-le (dolly)
she eats with a big "ahhhmmmm" noise, the one you make when you are trying to get them to open wide. 
she can accurately nod "yes" or "no" to adult questions.
she tones a very high pitched "eeehh" when she objects to something you are doing, or making her do (like stay in your arms, or not climb out of the pew and crawl around the aisles at church)
she says many things that sound like sentences, which aren't in English but communicate desires none the less. She will eagerly point at something and say a bunch of goobley gook which means, "look at that cool thing" or "oohh! That's fuzzy and I want it! Its cute!"
She continues to do what she wants and eat what she wants. She's resistant to discipline. I don't remember if Clark was, but we also spent more time setting him on the right path prior to him getting into things that we didn't want him in.

Iris lays the smack down on Clark.

Iris can walk and runs around corners with a flourish. She totters around like a drunk man. Its adorable.
She loves to climb on things and is quite ambitious. She can climb off of our bed - something Clark just learned to do.  She can go up and down the stairs with no problem - although she did fall down them once.

We just built a sandbox and both kids are loving it!

Clark making sandballs

Iris objecting to us telling her that she isn't allowed to throw sand out of the sand box.

The Fam in the Box. It looks good doesn't it? Don't we?

Clark frequently asks for me to tell him stories. I am working on my memory of child's stories, but I find that many of them are pretty horrible, with animals or bad parents or bad witches eating children, really.  He loves the 3 pigs and the Big Bad Wolf. I made a modified story of Hansel and Gretel which cuts out some of the badness of the parents and witch, and quickly frees the children from her clutches.
I have been reading to him from chapter books. We've read Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, and The Fantastic Mr. Fox.  Right now we are reading James and the Giant Peach .

Clark is really interested in puzzles right now, and can do 12 piece ones, and kind of do 24 piece ones. Its amazing to see our wild boy sit at the table for an hour and do puzzle after puzzle.

Clark loves outside, talking walks, reading stories, digging in the sandbox, singing songs, and cooking with me.

We are taking a music class at our parish called Making Music Praying Twice. It is mostly modeled after Music Together classes, but incorporates some church songs too, like the Ave Maria, Angus Dei, and Chaplet of Divine Mercy. It was cool to see him singing along with the Angus Dei during Holy Week.  The kids get to play with musical instruments, shakey eggs, scarves, and a parachute. We do songs with hand motions and learn tonalities too. Overall, it is awesome.

Today we took a class at our Nature Center. It was about turtles. The first 30 minutes is "free stations", with parents, the kids go to various stations: books, art, blocks, turtle shells, and pretending to be turtles. Then there is a group story time, craft (finger puppet turtle), and then we go on a hike. Today we hunted for turtles but didn't find any.

In the past we've taken other classes including insects (turning over logs and rocks to find whats underneath), woodpeckers (listening to pecking, and finding holey trees), animal homes (looking for nests), and animal detectives (looking for scat and tracks).  A few months ago, the whole family went to a class on Maple Sugaring. We're having a lot of fun at our nature centers!

We also continue to do our little co-op preschool Here are some photos from Costume Day.  The kids are Owen, Clark and Emily. 

Poo, Dragon, Unicorn

Dragon, Belly Dancer, Astronaut

Rasta Man, Astronaut

 And here are some photos from Easter. We had a beautiful weekend and are looking forward to what the rest of Spring brings!

oh, just about everything

Iris can...

• ba like a sheep
• roar like a lion
• indicate who she wants by saying "ma ma" or "da da" 
• sign: nurse, pick me up, all done, more, feed me
• she's actually starting to walk more
• make a "cheese" face when she smiles for the camera - although I've never captured it properly. It involves her scrunching up her eyes and nose, and opening mouth for a giant smile. 



Super Cheese Face: head kicked back, face scrunched up, mouth big.

• clap, keep rhythm on her legs, and shake eggs to rhythm
• get whatever she wants whenever she wants it
• not sleep through the night yet. =(

I actually went into her room the other night and gave her a pep talk. it went like this, "I know you like to wake up and cry and then nurse back to sleep, but we're gonna be all done with that. I'll come in here and hold you, but you can nurse in the daytime." It amazingly seemed to help and for the rest of that night, and last night she enjoyed snuggling instead of nursing. This has cut down our nighttime visits from hour long snoozes on the mattress in her room to 2 minute cuddles. We'll see if it helps.

Inspecting the bath tub

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Clark is pretty amazing. Almost 3 is a cool age, he's smart and remembers stuff, and makes things up.

The other day I said, "Clark tell me a story" This was his story.
"Once upon a time......
there was a bad guy....
and he stole our pig....
wait, he was a good guy......
there were two good guys.....
and they went in their car...."
(and he drives his car off of a cup onto the counter in a big downward swoop)
"and bbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr (engine noises) ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (screaming noises)
down
the end"

he's very creative.

We are reading Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingels Wilder. We read a chapter a day. I'd like to get the activity book from the library and do an activity for each chapter. The first chapter was about killing the farm animals to have meat for winter, the second chapter is about killing wild animals to have food for winter. The third chapter is about cleaning Pa's gun. Then Christmas, then how boring Sundays are, then a story about 2 bear encounters.  I'm enjoying it.  I think Clark likes the cuddles best.

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Well, we definitely have a gluten problem of some sort, and I'm bringing the kids to a specialist tomorrow. I've been glutenating them for the past few weeks.

little Iris rash from "cross contamination" - things that said, "made in a facility that also processes wheat"

the following week after having many things that were contaminated, and a few bites of gluten

and now after having cake and donuts and croissants.

this is Clark.

this is Clark too. =(

They are pooping more frequently, and covered in rashes.  It stinks, but we are enjoying all sorts of previously terrifying foods like cake, croissants, and we went to Dunkin Donuts!  I hope we get some good samples for the testing. I'll keep you updated about any outcomes.

Tom and I are also feeling "foggy" and tired this week, almost like a hangover, and having more tummy troubles. Boo this stinks!  We are all looking forward to being gluten free again, and eating our healthy diet of vegetables, fruit and meat!

Iris, you're doing it wrong.

 Here are the cuties, Clark is being Precious and Iris is being Adorable - just as they are named.

I get what I want.

Iris Lists

Here's some lists of things about Iris at 1 year and 3 weeks. This is originally a Clark list from the same time. The original can be found here . I'm just going to modify Clark's list by crossing things out and adding some so you know what Iris is up to, and can compare her to Clark as this same age.

IRIS Clark can make the following word-like sounds...

• mama
• dada
• yumyum
• eggeggegg
• oh no/uh oh
• bababababa
• do (dog)
• ttttttt (turtle)
• kkkkkkk (Clark)
• (S)he also "sings" along with me when I sing to him, its like humming with an open mouth and its precious.
• (S)he also sings a high note when I play the guitar or (S)he gets excited or when she plays with her Singamathing
• SHE can say mmmmmm after taking a big bite of food. 
• SHE has conversations back to you, even though you don't really know what she is saying.
• She makes engine noises when driving a car or train or other machine
• She can do our "pee pee" high five that we do with Clark after he pees on the potty. Its a high 5 with a "ptsss" sound
• She clicks at cats.

Iris Clark can...

• clap
• wave hello
• wave goodbye (although a minute after the person has left) (as soon as you start discussing going somewhere)
•  indicate all done (kind-of)
• shake his her head "no"
• stab with the fork (like a murderer)
• get food on his fork
• fork food into his mouth
• put the spoon into the bowl/food area
• put the spoon into his mouth (most of the food falls off, but he's getting better)
• open cabinets
• climb stairs
• go down steps face first - crawling style
• walk
• stand up without pulling-up on an object
• bang objects together
• "play" the guitar and piano
• climb into a cardboard box
• sit happily on his potty chair
• stand on the potty stool and get his hands washed
• hug
• kiss mama and dada
• blow on our bellies =)
• sing a very high noted aria.
• almost always sleep through the night until 6am (we are now working on a 7 am wake up/expect mommy to get-to-work time)
• Iris can additionallly....
• climb down the stairs, and slide down on her belly like a rocket
• eat with desire and pleasure
• slap her legs to a rhythm when certain songs come on
• dance back and forth
• swing her arms like holding a baby
• point
• feed us food on a spoon
• put food in my mouth, or in the Singamathing's mouth
• get us to do just about anything she wants at any time... go figure.

things Iris Clark doesn't like...

• wearing hats
• wearing his bike helmet
• being laid down to get his her diaper changed
• balls or balloons or things that are larger than his head.
• getting knocked over by Clark (or Owen) 
• not getting what she wants when she wants it

things that will make Iris Clark ridiculously happy...

• being ticked on his knees, toes, and neck
• extreme peekaboo
• running between dangling things (strings, curtains)
• watching himself on video
• Tom's funny faces
• plastic Solo cups
• Iris additionally loves
• dogs, cats, and any fluffy real or stuffed (including her Elmo chair and pillows)
• music
• being lifted up into the air in order to enjoy things on the ceiling or on a high shelf
• climbing up onto anything so she is higher
• Clark's funny faces
• food

things that Clark really likes to do right now.
Drag things around the house including:

• Alligator Piano/Xylophone drug by the string and mallet
• Puppy Dog drug by the leash
• Camera Case drug by the shoulder strap
• Shoes drug by the laces

Chew on things and walk including:

• very large cardboard boxes
• pencils, spoons, long stick-like objects (we remain vigilant for his safety)

Door interactions

• stand by the door and look out at the world
• bang on the door
• open and close the door (but not his fingers- that goes under "dislikes!"
• climb face first out of the doorstep

Other things

• walk around with toys and leave them scattered all over the house
• open and close cabinets and doors
• inspect everything that looks like a button, grommet, knob or protruding round thing (and see if it has milk in it)
• turn things like gears or handles and generally try to modify the environment
• this kid really loves mechanics.

Iris things

• play with balls
• play with cars or trains or busses or things with wheels
• color on a magnadoodle
• play with an electronic "ipad" thing that she got for Christmas
• anything that makes music
• opening and closing desk drawers
• taking things out of boxes, laundry baskets, cabinets
• putting things into boxes, laundry baskets, cabinets. 
• going down the slide
• swinging
• climbing stairs 
• climb the playground structure and go down the curly slide all by herself.

We love him. 
We do love Clark, be we love Iris too. She's amazing.
Love, Veronica and Tom.