*Murdock Canal
There is a canal that is about a block from our house, which has always been a funny thing. There was a service road next to the open, concrete path for the water to flow. But since the government didn't want to be liable for anyone falling into the water there were big signs that you were trespassing if you jogged/biked on the gravel path beside it. So, naturally, everyone used it anyway. A level trail with no cars that runs for miles is just too tempting.
Thankfully, they have spent the last few years running the water through an underground pipe and making a nice paved trail on top. It is so great to ride on now! I love that we have somewhere nice and flat to take the kids with their bikes. Up until now, the kids could only bike a couple of houses each direction on our sidewalk if someone was out there to watch them (our street is just busy enough to worry us). If we wanted them to get practice on the bikes, we had to load them up and drive to a park. This new trail means we will probably go biking once a week, instead of twice a summer. Hooray!
Of course, Kaitlyn had outgrown her bike, so Daddy set out to get her a bigger one. I thought he would get one second-hand, but instead he came home with this pink Princess explosion.
The dolly seat cracks me up. She's doing really well (now that she gets actual practice with it), so hopefully both kids can work up to getting the training wheels off by the end of the summer.
Jasmine has a little seat, too, but she isn't as fond of the helmet. I guess the seat just comes up too high for the helmet to fit right!
We actually got a new seat from my sister-in-law that puts the baby in front (like the baby dolly above), so we'll hook that onto my bike soon. And we might just buy a new bike for me, since I've never been a fan of leaning forward on my 20 year old mountain bike. I test drove a cruiser the other day, and I was a convert. Since Daddy just got a new mountain bike, I guess that makes Tyler the only one whose bike from last year is doing just fine!
And I'm so glad that Tyler is doing well on his bike lately! He used to ditch the "tall" bike in favor of his Big Wheel. He must have felt more secure when he was low to the ground, because he would zoom like a maniac on the Big Wheel and then crawl like a snail on the regular bike.
He's getting the hang of it now, though.
*Peanut butter
Speaking of Tyler, one of my favorite stories is from this last weekend. You see, when he was younger peanut butter and jelly sandwiches was one of his favorite foods. And then about a year ago he informed me one day that he did not want peanut butter. "Just jelly." And while I was proud of him for vocalizing that desire, jelly on white bread isn't exactly packed with nutrition. I have just about stopped sending him a packed lunch to school, since he likes the school lunches and I couldn't figure out what to send that kid.
And then, over the weekend, I brought out a stray jar of creamy that I got to make a recipe with. "Peanut butter with no nuts in it!" He exclaimed, as if he had seen the Holy Grail. "I want peanut butter with no nuts in it!" He then took a slice of bread with just creamy peanut butter on it and inhaled it.
So ALL of this time, he just wanted creamy instead of crunchy. And since I had no idea anyone else had a preference, I have only bought crunchy because that's what Daddy likes.
Having a kiddo with disabilities is always an adventure, I tell you.
*The battle of the sleeping baby
It seemed like Jasmine taught herself to sleep through the night at about four months old. Jackpot! But slowly, the extra feedings got more and more common, so that by the fall she almost always woke up once at 3am. And then, slowly, she added a midnight feeding as well. I think the main problem was that she truly was hungry. She has never been a very consistent eater - she will inhale scrambled eggs one morning, and then angrily chuck them off her tray the next day. So I figured we needed to get the feeding down before I worked on the nighttime stuff.
And then, a week or so ago, she went through some sort of sickness/growth spurt/something that made her cranky ALL weekend and up every hour of the night for a week. Ugh. I let is slide before that, but once an hour is not cool.
So I broke down and bought a sound machine. She has always been a light sleeper, waking up when the kids were too loud or Daddy and I made too much noise getting into bed. I kept putting it off, since there are free apps that do the same thing, but I don't have an iPod that I want to leave next to her crib for every single nap and evening! Thankfully, this has been the best $20 I have spent in a long time. She is sleeping much better, but most importantly, going to sleep much better. It isn't perfect, but it is helping.
*Thanksgiving Point trip
There isn't much to say here, but I just wanted to include these pictures. My kids always love the Children's gardens and playing with their friends.
Jasmine loves to carry things when she walks around now. I guess that's part of the novelty of walking instead of crawling. "I can take things with me!"
Thankfully, I've been here enough to know the kids WILL get wet, so you might as well prepare for it.
And nothing tops an open stage in Kaitlyn's mind. Time to prepare "the show"! I swear, every time she has friends over she continually talks about "the show". We have to make invitations to "the show", we have to practice, we need to get the costumes ready. But the few times she has actually had an audience sit down to watch, nothing really materializes.
*Baby mood swings
Baby Jasmine is a very sweet, fun baby when she is happy. She loves to babble in her own cute little language, push her little cart all over the house, and play with her big siblings. In fact, Tyler loves her so much that he squishes her into (much despised) hugs whenever he can, but she still toddles along after him and laughs at his antics. And when she gets the chance to retaliate, like waking him up in the morning, she gleefully shrieks while she pats him and tugs at his hair. My favorite was a month or two ago when she crawled into the room, saw that Tyler was sitting on the floor distracted, and laughed to herself as she crawled at ramming speed and bumped her head straight into his side. She was so proud of herself for getting him!
But unfortunately, this girl has serious mood swings. If she is tired or hungry, look out. And if she sees something she wants, she has decided to shriek until she gets it. Loudly. I have been desperately trying to teach her signs and words so she has another (quieter) way to communicate, but mostly my attempts are met with blank stares and more shrieking. She just doesn't have the idea yet. Thankfully, my training with Tyler has given me more technique than I would otherwise, so hopefully she will catch on soon. I don't want this to become a habit.
*Moose shed
We went to our cabin for Spring Break last week, and when Christopher was exploring he came home with one of these!
He said it was just laying in the gravel road. Wikipedia told us that they often shed in the same place, so we went back to hunt for the other one, but didn't find it. (And yes, Tyler is wearing the hat and scarf in our snowman kit. We accidentally left it on a snowman this year, so the kids were happy to rediscover it once the snow melted.)
I love spending conference weekend up there! (In our church, twice a year we have a weekend of talks broadcast from the church leaders instead of meeting at our local churches.) We tried to find friends to come up with us, but ended up just hanging out together. Which is just fine by us.
Kaitlyn invented a new game of dragging the baby around on a sled, which she thought was pretty funny.
And the kids got back into swinging around on the play dome.
We even planted some bulbs for our garden.
*Forgotten iPhone pictures
I borrowed Christopher's phone to get a couple of pictures for this post, and discovered some lost ones!
First of all, we stopped on our trip back from Vegas in January to have dinner at our favorite place. But when I cut into my panini, my plate broke! Christopher made fun of me for a while on that one.
Christopher had a fun trip to Moab with his friends a couple of weeks ago. I am really glad that he has friends that enjoy his hobby so much . . . since I really, truly don't.
My sweet Aunt and Uncle still host Sunday dinners for their family and invite us up occasionally. And in March she made an adorable little Panda cake for each of the one year old babies! I still can't believe two of my cousins had babies the same month that Jasmine was born. Three mommies and three first birthday kiddos.
This time, however, Jasmine really didn't want to eat any cake. Which was her loss, because it was delicious. Hope (the little girl with dark hair) figured that out pretty quickly. She inhaled it, smearing the cake and frosting everywhere!
Jasmine was more interested in putting that leg up and sometimes trying to kick the panda. Funny girl.
1 comment:
You are so strong Sarah!
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