Art, parks, and ribs…

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”
-Pablo Picasso

As Ashlyn nears the completion of her 3rd year with us we have begun to move away from simple videos and games to learning inspired activities.  This is where mom comes in because my activities typically involve throwing things at the pets.  We only throw soft things of course!  Heavy objects would be too heavy for Ashlyn to have good accuracy with.  Below is a collage of fun things that Mom has come up with.

From top left:  Cutting paper with crazy scissors, painting toenails, playing with water beans                                                    From bottom left:  Gluing paper together, mixing colored vinegar with baking soda, dyeing rice

We can’t forget James of course.  He may not be as interesting as Ashlyn is right now, mainly because his days are filled by filling diapers and eating, but we love him all the same.  Ashlyn is fond of him too.  This will probably change, but for now we’re thankful that she approves of him.

Ashlyn is probably ok with it all because we still find time to play with her each and every day.  It’s tough sometimes dealing with two small children, but we do our best to make time each evening to play with Ashlyn and let her know that she’s still important to us.

With the cool front this weekend (only 95 degrees!) we headed out to the park with Cousin Heidi and Uncle Bruce.  Ashlyn had a great time, and baby James slept. 

Mom has been bugging me for weeks to smoke some ribs, so we picked up a package from Costco this weekend.  There were three problems:  we had too many ribs, Ashlyn needed a haircut, and Grandma and Grandpa Wolfe hadn’t seen Ashlyn in a several weeks.  We solved all three problems by inviting them over to eat with us.  Ashlyn helped prep the meat, she got her haircut, and Grandpa got up close and personal with James.  From the looks of it, James doesn’t have a taste for beer yet*. 

*No babies were served beer during the creation of this blog.  Any insinuation of the contrary is purely coincidental.

Smiles and water from the sky…

"How paramount the future is to the present when one is surrounded by children."
-Charles Darwin

We’re fortunate to live in a house filled with smiles.  Sure, we don’t see smiles all the time, but there are more grins than frowns and I can sleep well at night feeling that we must be doing something right.

A crazy thing happened this weekend.  Out of sky came water, countless drops of water that fell on everything.  I hear this is called “rain”, and it seems like I’ve seen it before in a previous life.  But whatever this “rain” stuff was, Ashlyn loved it.  She ran out into the yard, jumped on the trampoline, filled cups with it and poured it on the dog, and in general had a great time.  Ashlyn even drug mom out to her play house and then locked her outside.  Ashlyn eventually let her in.

Since it’s Texas, the rain stopped and was sunny the following day.  The weather was great, so mom took Ashlyn and James out to Uncle Bruce and Aunt Tracy’s house, or what Ashlyn calls “Heidi’s house”, for some swimming.  Cousin Amy showed off her pet rat, and Ashlyn thought it was funny.

This was also a weekend for passing James around.  And when that happens, we take pictures.

Tune in next week for another installment of home science experiments, and possibly some arts and crafts by Ashlyn.

Baths, science, and toilets…

"Bath time is successful when your kids get wetter than you do."
-Dee Ann Stewart

Bath time for infants does not always equal fun time.  Bath time for toddlers, at least our toddler, does equal fun time.  So we thought that if we added the two together, we would get something in between.  It didn’t really work out that way.  Ashlyn has fun, baby brother does not.  Although when we gave them their bath on Sunday evening, James did look up and smile at Ashlyn once as she was signing.  Or he had gas, you just never know.

Ashlyn is getting old enough now that we thought we could begin teaching her some of the fun things you can do with simple things around the house (shhh…  don’t tell her that she’s learning or she’ll want to watch more videos on her iPod!).  This weekend we did the simple corn starch and water trick, which she got a kick out of.  The only experimenting James has been doing has been in his diaper, and he seems to be doing the same experiment over and over again.

Ashlyn has been talking about going swimming again for weeks now, so we caved in and took her to Nina and Papa’s.  We forgot her normal life vest though, and she refused to use the new one we bought her.  Mom even put it on her head to show Ashlyn that it was ok, but it didn’t really work.  Baby James isn’t quite ready for the pool yet, so he just hung out on the porch.

In other exciting news, I’m happy to announce that Ashlyn is fully potty trained!  Yay!  She still needs to learn to get up at night, but that doesn’t normally happen for a few more years.  Progress is progress!  James on the other hand, isn’t quite ready.  For now he’s content to lay around in laundry baskets (yes, those are clean).

 

Family, friends, and brisket…

“Schizoid behavior is a pretty common thing in children. It's accepted, because we adults have this unspoken agreement that children are lunatics.”
― Stephen King

James continues to get bigger, now weighing over 10 pounds.  And despite him being right at 6 weeks old, he’s already wearing 3-6 month clothes.  Larger 0-3 month outfits still fit, but he’s definitely outpacing what the infant clothing industry feels should be the appropriate size for his age.  He’s smiling more and Ashlyn continues to be a good big sister.  If he makes a peep, she’s usually the first person there to shove a binky in his mouth.

Friends came over on Saturday to see James and eat some BBQ.  This worked out well for Ashlyn since a lot of our friends have children of their own (we weren’t the only ones fooled by the brochure).  We had the house cleaned on Friday, but the children collectively managed to spread an impressive amount of debris everywhere.  Dexter, the one photo-bombing the picture with the girls below, is only 16 months old but was able to contribute more than his fair share of chaos.  I suppose this should give us a taste of what we’re about to get into with James.

Friends came on Saturday, and family came on Sunday. Both James and Ashlyn were entertained by the visit.  James showed his appreciation by filling his diaper on both Nina and Auntie Sisa.  Of course, if that’s how he shows his appreciation then he must really love us.

After this weekend, I can only hope that both of them crash tonight. Mommy and daddy need some sleep.