Bar-Rettes

This last week was a busy week for us again! On Wednesday, Missy, Gavin and Emmett came in. They had driven to South Bend for Gavin's spring break and came down here for the day. Mom and Michael came up and we all spent a great day together! The kids played here at the house in the morning. For lunch, we were making individual pizzas. Miles loves to do this and I thought the other boys would as well. Emmett got into it and did top his pizza with sauce, cheese, and 1 pepperoni right in the middle! Gavin is on an eating strike and didn't want to top his pizza, so we baked it with nothing on it!

After lunch, we headed outside for an Easter Egg hunt. Miles decided he was scared of bugs in the backyard and refused to hunt for any eggs, tightly holding onto Uncle Michael. Then we just played outside for quite a while (he finally let go of Michael and did play). Soon enough, Missy left to meet up with some friends and we headed to the park for more fun then back home for spaghetti.
On Friday, Andre, Emily and Evelyn came up to visit and meet Hailey. Evelyn is getting so big and is so beautiful! We had a great visit and a great dinner that Ahmad fixed up for us.

Saturday we headed over to our old neighbor's new house for Robyn's 2nd birthday party. We had a nice visit and once Miles warmed up, he had a great time playing with all the girls.

Ahmad was trying to convince the girls to pull him. They did try, but didn't get too far!

Happy 2nd Birthday Robyn!

Mary and Hailey are a month apart in age.

Then on Sunday, Amber, Jeff and Lauren came for a visit and early dinner. It's been great spending so much time with our friends and family lately! When Ahmad came back from the store from getting things for dinner, he surprised me with a beautiful flower arrangement! He said it was for our very busy last 2 months. :) I love surprises!

Miles is up to so much these days! He's really asserting his independence (in both good and bad ways!) and just seems to be getting so much older these days. He came back from school last week and had learned the high five gig- "Up high, down low, you're too slow!". He thought that was hilarious and had learned it from a "big kid at school". He moved up to the 3 year old classroom and I told him that was for the big kids, so now he's very proud he's a big kid!

He talks all the time about being big or being little and comparing himself to us and to Hailey. It cracks me up that he can't wait to get bigger so he can sit in my seat in the car and drive! He then tells me that I'll be little and will sit in his seat. In the words of my dad "when you get big and I get little..."! While Andre and Emily were up visiting, Ahmad was grilling out back and had the door open a lot. Miles was helping him grill and then sort of just wandered into the yard. He began picking up sticks and putting them in the fire pit and then playing on the swing set. Ahmad had come inside, but Miles remained out there (despite the bugs he was afraid of during the Easter egg hunt!). I was glued to the window watching him and seeing him play all by himself really made him seem old! It's definitely not something I'd let him do on a regular basis, but he did play nicely!

He's into bugs lately and can't decide if he's scared of them or if he likes them. It depends on the day and the situation as to how he feels. He was telling me that bugs were going to come out of his eyes or that they would get his eyes and eat him. Then the next time we talk, he says bugs are nice. Go figure! He seems to be "scared" of a lot of things lately-bugs, lions, the dark (sometimes) or of situations-playing with new kids, going down a slide, etc.

Miles also discovered a few weeks ago that he can cross his eyes and that it drives me batty! I can't stand seeing him do this for some reason. He'll do this and tell me to look at him repeatedly. I cover his face and tell him not to do that, which of course drives him to do it more! I also introduced him to a knock-knock joke. I thought since he was into the high fives, he might like jokes. I only taught him one-"knock knock; who's there?; boo; boo who?; why are you crying?!" He thought this was great! However, he needs to work on his delivery!

He did have a bit accomplish over the weekend...he stood up and put his pants on! He was so very proud of himself for doing this and not having to sit down, put both legs in and then stand up to pull them up. After he was dressed, he even came out and took off his pants to show Daddy how he could put them on!
It was funny...the other day, I came out in the morning and was going to pump milk. Miles has seen me do this and sometimes shows great interest and sometimes pays no attention. That day, he was interested! He came over, took the part that goes on my breast, lifted his shirt and put it on his chest! He told me to turn it on and he'd give Hailey some milk too. It was too cute and if I didn't think a photo would have been damaging, I would have taken a picture! He got a bit upset that I wouldn't turn it on and kept saying it wasn't working and he didn't have any milk.

Miles seems to be on the verge of giving up his naps. Ug! I hate to see this happening! He still needs them because if he doesn't take one and sits still long enough (sometimes only 10-15 minutes!) he'll fall asleep in the evening about an hour or two before bedtime. If he keeps moving, he stays awake, but sometimes this turns into some bad behavior from being over tired. When he changed rooms last week at school, he stopped napping. I wondered if he'd nap in there because whenever he visited that room, he wouldn't nap. I asked the teacher about his napping and she said she thought he was just one of those kids that didn't nap because he never seemed tired. She also said there are other kids in the room that don't nap. If people are up having fun (not that they are, but they aren't sleeping), Miles will stay up too. I explained that he does nap and usually takes great naps and she agreed to try harder to get him down. Well, Saturday morning, Ahmad was at work and Miles just wouldn't go down. It was quite a battle and I think we were both in tears at one point. He finally went to sleep and got about an hour in before we had to leave for the birthday party. Sunday, he went down and then ended back up, never napping. Monday, another battle and no nap. Yesterday, no battle-he stayed in his room, but no nap. Hmmm. We'll see! It will be sad if he's done with naps!

Exhibit A: 5pm Sunday evening after no nap earlier in the day

I took him yesterday to the mall to play on the indoor play land and then have lunch. It took him 20 minutes to get off my lap and then another 15 to stop playing on the benches and actually play on the equipment. He's funny how it takes him a while to warm up to situations with other kids sometimes. It's like he needs time to observe, figure out what's going on, and then he'll join in. I can't blame him though-I was shy as a child too. He ended up having a great time and ate a bit before coming home. This all happened after a power struggle over taking a bath in the morning. Let's just say I ended up jumping in the tub with my pajamas on to get him washed and rinsed. It was not a great start to the day and I knew I didn't want to try to entertain him at home all day. That's how we ended up going to the mall. Then after he didn't nap, I needed another plan. It was fairly warm and very sunny, so we headed out for a walk. I put Hailey in the wrap on my tummy and pushed Miles in his stroller. Wow, that was a lot harder than I thought it would be! I was tired half way through, so when Miles wanted to stop and look at the pool and than play on the little playground next to it, I agreed! It had rained the night before and it was a bit muddy and wet still. He ran around for a bit and then was trying to get up the courage to go down the tunnel slide. There was a puddle at the bottom of it. I told Miles it was there and he could go down if he wanted, but he'd land in the puddle. He finally decided to do it and got a wet butt. After a few more runs, he wandered over to the sand volleyball court, which was all wet and full of puddles. He stood next to a puddle and looked at me. I figured, he's already wet and it's fun to play in puddles, so I gave him the ok to play in it (I was impressed he restrained himself to even asked first!). He had a blast! He played in the sand and puddle, used a stick, damned it up, connected it to another puddle, so much fun! He was a mess! I wish I'd had my camera, which I had almost brought, but did capture a few shots on my phone. Finally, we were ready to head back home and into the bath. We had ended up being gone for about 2 hours!

Hailey wearing her barrette- I think she liked it!

I haven't forgotten to talk about Hailey! She's doing awesome and is really developing rapidly. She's able to turn around when she's on her belly (scooting in a circle), is opening her hands more, talks and smiles so much! She loves having her diaper changed and just talks away and smiles at me the whole time. I swear when I say "Hi!" she says it back! She had 2 almost giggles yesterday too. I can't wait to hear them again! She was all dressed in purple the other day and Ahmad decided she needed to wear a matching barrette, so he got one out and put it in her hair. It lasted just long enough to get a few pictures, but not much longer. She also loves "standing" on your lap and looking around. It's too adorable when Miles plays with her too-she looks at him and just smiles so big! They are a great pair. I hope they continue to get along as they grow up!

Playing cups with Hailey

Well, I think I've rambled enough for this week. There's always something going on here! Can't wait to see what happens next!