Lights at the Wazoo

Somewhere recently, Veronica picked up the phrase, “Up the Wazoo” and is quite smitten with it. Last weekend, while she was playing, I must have heard her say it at least 20 times. “This car is going up the wazoo.” So on Tuesday, when we went to see the Zoo Lights at the Lincoln Park Zoo, I should have been surprised to hear her say, “We’re going to see the Wazoo Lights tonight!”

It was the warmest day of the week, and I work from home on Tuesdays, so we decided if we were going to make it this year, it was our one opportunity. The only problem with the Zoo Lights and our schedule, is they don’t start until 5:00 (because it’s not dark until then), and we pretty much have to get there right away if we want to do much before the witching hour that is also known as bedtime. 

Being there when the zoo reopens isn’t a problem. It’s actually better because it’s far less crowded. It’s just that 5:00 is also dinner time. So we ended up eating (mostly junk) there, almost as soon as we arrived. 

After we finished our snack/dinner, we went back outside and almost immediately ran into Santa. Veronica was very excited, but stayed glued to my side as she kept waving at him and saying “hi.” 

Once we got Colin pulled of the sculpture he was climbing in/on/through, he immediately marched up to Santa and stuck out his hand. It took Santa a minute to realize what Colin was after, but then he took Colin’s hand and shook it. Unfortunately, I was laughing so hard I didn't think to pull the camera out to get a picture. 

I’m not sure why Colin suddenly decided on the formal handshake greeting. He’s normally more of a big hug kind of kid. But it was definitely the funniest part of the evening. 

Zoo Lights 2013. Nighttime photos from a phone really
aren't the best approach. 

Christmas Frenzy

The twins are now at the age where they are able to anticipate things and wait a little for gratification. (Just a little.) That makes the holiday season very, VERY, exciting. We, as a rule, don’t start decorating for Christmas until after December 1st, and often not until the following week. But many of our neighbors took advantage of the mild weather around Thanksgiving to get their outdoor lights up.

Loving the snow (and our snow pants).

Trying to make a snowball. 

This put Veronica into a frenzy of excitement. Nearly every day she was asking us when we were going to decorate. Colin was not immune to the fun, either. Before it got so bitterly cold, we were going out for nightly “lights walks,” just like we used to do with Ethan. After dinner, we all bundle up and walk down a different street in our neighborhood to admire people’s decorations and lights. 

Unfortunately, that excitement didn’t hold up as well on the day we finally went to get our tree. We decided that, because we’re just in temporary digs right now, that we would store most of the Christmas decorations (including our tree) at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. We don’t have an outlet outside at this house, and the tree is very large and would overwhelm the living space here. 

So we headed off to Mennards to pick out a tree for this year. (I know. We go all out, don’t we?) We had just picked up our new van that morning (replacing the 1998 Grand Caravan that was starting to fall apart — literally; Veronica slid out of the door the other day and knocked a big old rusty piece off as she went). So between making the first outing in the new van and getting the Christmas tree,we thought the excitement levels would be high. And they were for Ethan and Veronica.

Big kids carrying the tree, while their brother
chilled out in a time out in the van.

Colin, however, was having nothing to do with it. He had such a tantrum in the parking lot, that John ended up taking him back to the van while the rest of us got the tree. 

After Colin snapped out of his “mood,” he was able to
join in the fun.

Luckily, Colin snapped out of it, and we were all able to decorate the tree together. 

With the super high ceilings we have in this apartment, our little tree looks positively tiny. But it’s pretty, and festive, and ours. 

Celebrating decorating success.

Just like big brother

Colin and Veronica are very enthralled by their big brother — even if they seem to spend the bulk of their time yelling at him and telling him to go away. Several things they’ve done recently reinforce that. 

We limit Ethan’s screen time to an hour or less a day, and he can only take it in half hour intervals. (We’ve found that allowing him to play games for an uninterrupted hour is not a good thing.) So he’s always asking if he can use his screen time, and requesting that we start timing him. 

A while ago, we picked up a Barbie “computer” for the twins at a garage sale. It’s one of those things that looks like a laptop, but comes pre-programmed with all sorts of basic educational games. The games are still generally too advanced for the twins, but they like playing around with it and pushing the buttons. 

Over the weekend, Veronica came up to me with their laptop in her hands, and said in a very serious voice, “Mommy, can I take my screen time now?” I had a hard time keeping a straight face when I told her she could — it was too cute. (Even cuter was her and Colin laying on their bellies trying to play the games together. “No, try pushing that button.” “Good job.”)

Then tonight, Colin had his “big brother” moment. Ethan’s other passion right now is the Yu-Gi-Oh cards. He collects, he plays, he sorts, he trades, he spends all his money on buying more. It’s really an obsession right now. (And where he got his head for strategy, I’ll never know.)

So tonight, before bed, I saw Colin gathering up four or five Matchbox cars and carefully wedging them together in a stack in his hand. He brought them over to the bed, where I was getting ready to read to them. “These are my cars Mommy.” 

“Your cars?”

“No. My cars!” (Colin still struggles a bit with his enunciation and when I’m tired, especially, I have a hard time understanding him.)

Finally I realized what he was saying. “Oh, they’re your cards. Like Ethan’s cards.”

“Yes!” And with a big grin, he proceeded to tell me about each “card,” just like Ethan does. 

They’re so fun sometimes. 

Imagination

Colin, being less of a chatterbox than his siblings, often is overshadowed by them. So when he has an opportunity to be out from under their shadows, he really shines and I’m reminded of what a funny little boy he is.

This morning, as I was getting ready to leave for work, I overheard this conversation between Colin and John:

Colin, singing Happy Birthday, stops and says, “Happy Birthday Daddy.” (It’s not.)

John, playing along: “Thanks Colin. Did you get balloons and streamers for me?”

Colin: “Yes. And eggs too. Lots of eggs.”

John: “Eggs? What for?”

Colin: “For throwing around. And then they’ll turn into ducks.”

The conversation continued for a while longer, but I can’t remember what else Colin threw in. But it was very inventive, and very funny. (And then Ethan and Veronica started fighting, and Colin’s moment in the spotlight ended.)

Settling in

Sorry for the long absence. Big changes have been afoot in our lives: we sold our house and have moved into temporary (probably a year) digs up the street. This has led to an abundance of chaos and little time for things like blogging. 

We decided to try to sell our house this summer because not being tied to that house frees us to [eventually] pursue our longer-term goals — like moving back to Wisconsin. Trying to do everything at once seemed overwhelming, so we felt like seeing if the house would sell in the price range we wanted was a good start. 

It was a very trying process (how did we accumulate so much stuff?) that had us showing the house nearly every day for more than two months. (Have you ever tried keeping a house that clean with three kids? Crazy.) Just as I had given up hope, we hit the jackpot with three offers on the same day. (Again, crazy.) We closed on the sale on October 1st, and moved into a rental up the street (really, just at the other end of the block) on the same day. 

We’re starting to get settled in now. One room remains filled with boxes and we can’t locate a few of our essential items (receiver for the baby monitor, second phone), but overall I think we’re getting close. We have the top two floors of a two-flat, which is nice. The kids can go upstairs and be as loud as they want without us worrying about disturbing the guy downstairs. And it gives us a little separation so we don’t feel like we’re in each other’s laps all the time. 

The apartment is a little smaller than our old house (we lost about 300 square feet), but we have the entire basement for storage, and a garage space that’s also currently being used for storage. And while we got rid of a TON of stuff before we moved, we still have too much that we aren’t really using. My goal is to continue to weed out stuff while we’re here, so that we move only about two-thirds as much out of the house as we moved in. 

In the midst of all this, Ethan started 4th grade and the twins started preschool (I’ll do a complete post on that, including some pictures soon). Chaos! Colin seems to be having the hardest time adjusting, both to school and to the move. The school adjustment doesn’t surprise me; we knew he would have to adjust to following the more rigid structure a classroom demands. Him having a hard time with the move caught me a little off guard. I guess because he is less expressive of his feelings than the other two, I sometimes forget that he really is a sensitive little boy. I need to keep that more firmly in mind. 

So Colin tells me daily how much he hates this house and wants our old house back, and when we’re back at our old corner playing with friends, it’s hard to keep him out of the yard. But overall, the adjustment has been less painful than I feared. 

Random bits I'm enjoying now

Colin and Veronica are at a very fun, very trying stage. So while I would be happy to lose the nearly daily tantrums (times two), I am enjoying the happy times very much. Here are some random fun things the twins are up to now:

Veronica calling Colin “Bud”
This probably stems from our informal "buddy" for Colin and "baby" for Veronica. But I think it’s so cute to hear her saying, “Look at this, Bud.” Or, “Hey, Bud … Do you want to do [this]?” 

Hide and seek
Not sure when this started, but they’ve been playing hide and seek a lot. Last night they were in rare form, and it was the cutest thing ever. One would go into their bedroom and “hide” under a blanket, and the other would count. “One, two, three. I’m coming to find you!”

Colin’s big smoochy kisses
Although on the surface he seems very rough and tumble, Colin is my snuggle love bug. I love when he comes over at random to whisper “I love you” into my ear, and when he puts his hands on my cheeks and give me big smoochy kisses. (Of course, I also cringe when he does that — he sometimes doesn’t realize how hard he’s squeezing.)

Amazing
Veronica has discovered the word “amazing” and uses it somewhat regularly now. My recent favorite: Last night after dinner she told me she was out of clean underwear and asked if I could wash some after she went to bed. I told her I would do that, and then I heard her in the other room telling John, “Mommy said she could wash some clothes so I would have clean underwear. Isn’t that amazing?”

Photos, finally

Well, I finally found the cable for my phone. So, as promised, here are some photos from our beachy fun:

The twins, building their fort from the inside out.

John, chief construction foreman.

Ice cream! And sand! Everywhere!

In the sun, the ice cream was melting faster than
Veronica could eat it. That didn’t slow her
down one bit though.

Mom and Colin

Mom and Ethan. (Not the most flattering self portrait of
either of us, but the best from the day.)

The girls, windswept and sun kissed. 

More construction.

Busy Weekend

This weekend was the last weekend of our summer — Ethan goes back to school today. So we packed in as much fun this weekend as possible, trying to make the most of it. 

The weekend started with our annual block party. Ethan went out promptly at 8:00, when they blocked off the street to start setting up, and jumped right in to scootering and biking up and down the road. Colin and Veronica followed shortly after, and pretty much had to be dragged back into the house for naps at noon. Then we were back out and playing as soon as they got up and had something to eat. 

The bouncy house was a great success. Veronica was a little timid, and got very upset at one point when another little girl was standing right next to her and jumping a little too vigorously (for Veronica’s taste), so I had to pull her out. But she went back in again eventually, so all was good. 

Colin was in his element. Even when the big kids were in there, he was having a blast and rolling around. Unfortunately, part of his idea of fun was to roll under the feet of anyone who was jumping particularly high. (I think he like the big bounce when they came down; we just couldn’t get him to understand the potential for impact.) Eventually we had to take him out so no one got hurt. 

I’m going to try to weigh Colin this morning (and avoid the scale myself). He ate more or less nonstop all day, so I’m hoping he might have added some weight. 

To cap off the weekend, we finally made it to the beach yesterday afternoon. (Yes, it’s nearly September and this is our first visit. But it was chilly for so much of the summer, it didn’t really feel like beach weather.) It was quite a process to get over to the lake, and approximately 1 million other people had the same idea as us. But just as we were going to throw in the towel (so to speak) and head home, we found a place to park and all was well.

All three kids had a blast. We ended up at the very north end of Montrose Beach, right next to the dog beach. There happened to be a little sandbar at that point, about 5 feet out into the lake. So Colin and Veronica happily splashed in the 6 inches of water between the sandbar and the shore, and dug out a giant sand “fort” with John’s help. 

Ethan and I went deeper into the water, and he worked on his swimming techniques and adapting to the waves rolling through. I didn’t have time to get a picnic dinner packed, so our trip wasn’t very long (only about 2.5 hours), but I’m glad we made it. And I’ll post pictures of our adventures as soon as I find the cord for my phone, so I can pull them off my camera. 

Fun, fun, fun

Although we still have our share of headaches with the twins at this age (they rarely sleep through the night, even now, and boy can they be stubborn), they also can be a lot of fun. Their imaginations are soaring, and they interact with each other (and us) much more. This can lead to some fun, and funny, moments.

Their kids
Both Colin and Veronica have kids — multiple kids, all of whom seem to be older than they are. Veronica started this long before Colin, always telling me what her kids were doing and going to pick them up from school (and her kids are in school A LOT). Colin jumped on the bandwagon a few months ago. 

Veronica usually has five kids — a mix of girls and boys. They are apparently gifted dancers, because they spend, on average, three days a week at dance school. They sometimes get in trouble, and while they seem very independent overall, Veronica occasionally has to run out of the room to comfort one of them. Her kids also are at their Grandma’s and Grandpa’s house a lot. 

Colin also has multiple kids, both girls and boys, but it’s harder to pin down the exact number. They have a penguin mommy and a monkey daddy. I can’t get a straight answer from him as to whether that means he’s a monkey, or they have another daddy. Either way, I spent quite a while trying to envision what these kids look like. 

“So Colin, do they have feathers like the penguin or fur like a monkey?” “Feathers.” 

“Do they waddle like penguins, or have tails like a monkey?” “They have tails and like to swing on things.”

Cars and Playdough
At home, both kiddos love playing cars and playdough. They both prefer to do these activities together. Unfortunately, they seem to have the desire to play at different times. Yesterday, Colin was begging Veronica to play cars with him in the morning, but she wasn’t interested. After dinner, Veronica was trying to get Colin to go upstairs and play cars, but he wanted to read stories. 

They both enjoy the playdough, but have vastly different styles of creation. (Unfortunately, both styles involve a lot of mess, so we don’t do the playdough every day.) I had made them several different colors of dough, which was a mistake in retrospect. Today they have a large mass of black dough. Next time I think I’ll stick to just one color. 

The Y
We recently rejoined the Y, in part to get the members discount for the twins’ Kiddie Kollege tuition. We had been members for years, but finally quit when Ethan was two because every time we tried to take him there to play in the kids area while we worked out, he would end up screaming and we would have to go back home. 

It has been a totally different experience with the twins. They got to go into the kids room for a few minutes when we signed up. (I asked because I wanted them to see what it was like to make dropping them off a little easier.) Since then, they have asked several times to go back. So John finally made it over for a workout yesterday, and practically had to pull them out physically when it was time to go home. And they’ve been begging to go back ever since. I’m planning to go work out today, so they’ll get another chance to play right off the bat. 

Maybe John and I will be able to get back into an exercise routine after all. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. 

Playing Catchup

Once again, it has been a month since I last updated the blog. This summer has been jam-packed with activity, leaving me with no excess energy for things like the blog. We have a little over a week before school starts again for Ethan, at which point I really hope life settles down a tiny bit. 

We have enrolled Colin and Veronica in preschool (Kiddie Kollege) at the Y one morning a week for the first semester. We thought it was better to ease them into the structure of school (and the much-later nap) by starting with just the one day. It’s also much more expensive to do anything when you have to do it times two. I’m starting to shudder at the thought of college. 

Colin had his three-year-old doctor appointment last month, and I have twice located and lost the slip of paper on which I wrote down his height and length, so I’ll have to do a side-by-side of the twins after I find it again. He continues to grow at his own pace, but is not “gaining” on Veronica at all. It’t hard to know if he’ll always be my little peanut (I’d say probably), or if he’ll get a big growth spurt at some point and shoot up. It doesn’t really matter to me (although it may to him, come junior high), but I do wonder about it from time to time. 

The potty training is going mostly smooth. Colin probably could get rid of the pull-up at night, except that he only lets us know about half the time when he needs to poop. So for now, we’re keeping him in it. Veronica does great during the day, but has only stayed dry overnight once or twice. And I’m perfectly happy with that for now. 

Colin and Veronica generally play very well together now. Their imaginations are soaring, and it’s fun to hear the scenarios they create. The other morning they decided our staircase was an escalator. But since it wasn’t moving, it must be broken. So after breakfast, they spend some time fixing it. Unfortunately, when Ethan tried to use the stairs to go up to his room, it caused quite an uproar. 

It’s fun to watch their personalities blossom, but somewhat exhausting too. We’re still in the throws of what people refer to as “the terrible twos.” In our family, that tantrum-filled, I-want-it-my-way stage seems to land more in the threes. Veronica, in particular, is a very strong-willed, stubborn little girl. (Colin just conveniently goes deaf when he doesn’t want to hear what you’re saying — and having to repeat everything 20 times a day gets old very quickly.) 

Colin’s tantrums tend to blow up and pass quickly. Veronica can go on forever. The girl has good stamina. That will no doubt serve her well in the future. But it may kill me in the present. 

Big girl

Veronica had her three-year-old checkup yesterday. We finally decided to split the twins’ appointments up with this one, because it was becoming very long with both of them, and everyone left the office very crabby. (Colin goes in next week.) 

I think Veronica enjoy it being an outing for just the girls, even though she was very nervous about going to the doctor. Colin tried to reassure her as we were leaving. “I go to the doctor all the time,” but I don’t think that helped. We talked about everything that the doctor would do as we walked over to the office, and she was very brave. You would only know she was nervous by the way she needed to hold my hand or be very close to me, and by her racing heartbeat. 

As we already knew, Veronica is doing great developmentally, and is showing many signs of being another smart cookie like her big brother. Like him, she has an ability to look at a situation or a series of facts and put the pieces together very quickly. (I think Colin is very smart too, but his brain works differently than the other two so he won’t suffer as much from being compared to Ethan.)

Veronica weighs 31 pounds, which puts her at the 60th percentile on the CDC growth charts, and is 38.25 inches tall, which puts her at the 75th percentile. And she is very proud of how tall she is getting. She tells us at least five times a day how much taller than Colin she is. (She’s lucky that for now, that doesn’t bother him — he is unaware of the stigma that is often attached to being short in our society.)

You would never know, watching Veronica, that she was born three months early. She is all caught up and not looking back at all. You go girl! 

But I like to talk

While we were camping, I was going to bed with the twins so they wouldn’t have to be alone in the tent. (They were staying up later, so it worked out nicely for tired Mom.) They each have a very different style of self-soothing before sleep, which was very apparent when I was laying in between them. 

Colin fidgets. He tosses and turns, plays with his buddy, endlessly adjusts his blanket and his water bottle. This can go on for an hour if you aren’t able to get him to hold still. But once he finally stops moving for more than three minutes, he’s out — and he usually stays that way all night.

Veronica talks. And talks. And talks. (No, really, she isn’t just like me. Why do you say that?) 

One of our first nights of vacation, as I was telling Colin to lay still and Veronica to quit talking, she turned to look at me and said, “But I like talking.” Five minutes later she was asleep … midword.

We’re back

I’ve been a terribly negligent blogger, but it’s been a crazy busy two months for us and blogging just fell off the bottom of the list. So here is a quick rundown of what’s new in our world:

Potty Training Success
After a bit of a rough start with Colin, and a little setback with Veronica, we can now declare daytime potty training a success. They both are now telling us when they need to go, and are staying dry 99% of the time. We’ve even mastered staying dry through naps (including a monster three-hour nap one day). 

Veronica still has issues with going poopy on the potty, but she’s getting a little better with that. She also overcame her fear of public toilets this week while we were camping. (That makes travel so much easier.)

Colin has developed an obsession with going to the bathroom whenever and wherever he can. Every time we stop somewhere new, he asks if they have a bathroom, and then announces he has to use it. He also was so interested in the outhouses (or porta-potties as he called them) at the campground that at one point he was asking to go every five minutes. He has stayed dry most nights over the past two weeks too.

Early Intervention Graduation
Colin has officially “graduated” from Early Intervention now that he is three, and has no recommendations for continuing therapy. He remains at the 5% level on the growth charts, and still has some struggles with his gross motor skills, but these are things we should be equipped to deal with at home. 

As part of our goal to keep him challenged in developing those gross motor skills, he and Veronica are taking gymnastics this summer. They just missed the cut off for the three- to five-year-old class, so they’re very much the big kids in this class. Veronica could easily do a more advanced class, but this seems good for Colin’s attention and she had fun at our first class so it’s not a problem. 

No More Bottles
Yes, we still were giving them bottles at nap and bed time (Colin needed the extra calories, and it was just a lot easier for us to continue the habit), but this week we ended that habit. We had told them the bottles were ending when they turned three, but we actually dropped them a few days early to coincide with our camping trip. Since their routine was going to be different and one of us would be sleeping with them anyway, it seemed like a good time to make the change. And since we were successful, I think we made the right call.

Turning Three
This week the twins celebrated their third birthday (where did the time go) with a camping trip in Wisconsin. They slept like champs, ate like crazy and generally had a good time. (They also were typical three-year-olds and, along with big brother, had me threatening to cancel the trip several times a day.) 

The campground (Lake Kegonsa State Park) had a nice playground, and a great beach (with another nice playground), and after we went to Walmart in Stoughton to replace all of the things I didn’t remember to pack (including their outdoor cars and trucks), they had a lot of fun playing at our campsite too. 

Ethan and I were able to get in some good hiking, and he and John went fishing one morning. (They didn’t catch anything, but Ethan claims he had four nibbles.) We all went swimming once, and at more s’mores than was healthy. The weather was about perfect (just a little chilly at night), and surprisingly the mosquitoes weren’t too bad. 

Both kiddos are continuing to make great strides developmentally and surprise us regularly with the new “big kid” skills they’ve learned. Now if only they would sleep through the night consistently. 

Jury duty

I was called for jury duty today. Of course, as I was getting ready, Veronica wanted to know whether I was working at the downstairs office or the downtown office. I told her I had jury duty today.

“Oh, you’re going to Jury’s [a restaurant near our house]? Can I come too?”

“No sweetie, I have jury duty. That’s different than the restaurant. I have to go to a court and listen to people who are arguing and help decide who is right.” (Well, you try explaining jury duty to a not-quite-three-year-old if you don’t like my explanation.)

“That’s easy,” she replied. “I’m always right.” 

And with that, she flounced off in her new princess dress to go play. 

Ch…ch…ch…changes

Wow. It’s been a month since I last updated the blog. I have really fallen down on the job. Sorry. Somehow life has gotten in the way of blogging (although that’s better than the opposite happening). Spring is always busy, and this has been busier than most — at work and at home. 

So a quick overview of what’s been going on:

We are done with diapers (mostly). On Wednesday last week, we ditched the diapers and started potty training using the cold turkey method. Veronica took to it like a fish to water (until yesterday, when she had three accidents in a row) and has been doing swimmingly (so to speak). She is rocking her new Hello Kitty sparkly shoes — her reward for going three days without an accident.

Veronica rocking her new Hello Kitty
sparkly pink shoes after staying dry
for three days. 

Colin chose not to participate for the first two days. I know it can take kids up to a week to figure it out, but it was very frustrating because he has stayed dry for whole days in the past — I know he is capable and understands how to tell me he needs to go potty. 

John suggested that maybe we wait longer for Colin and just focus on getting Veronica trained, something I argued against. But by the end of the second day, I was so frustrated (Colin would just pee whenever he felt like it, and if you pointed out he was wet, he would shrug and say something to the effect of “huh”) I was ready to throw in the towel. And I told him as much. 

Suddenly, Colin was telling John when he needed to use the bathroom, and was staying dry. Unfortunately, he made it through one whole day without an accident, and has yet to do it a second time, so he hasn’t yet gotten his three-day reward — a pair of light-up Thomas shoes. He did get a new Thomas book for his one day dry.

So proud of himself for staying dry (and showing
off that goofy smile). Colin with his new
Thomas book. 

We also had Colin’s spring follow-up with the pulmonologist. His last ever. Yeah!!!! Colin’s lungs sound clear — no more rattle. So he no longer needs the inhaled steroids to strengthen his lungs, and he no longer needs a pulmonologist. So unless something happens and we decide he needs to go back, his lungs are now considered healed. I am so very happy about that. 

Beyond that, we’re spending a lot of time at the park, riding scooters (Veronica’s new obsession), going for walks and playing in Tommy, our sandbox. 

Little learners

For all the frustrations that come with two-year-olds, this age also can be quite fun. Two-year-olds are exuberant — they feel frustration to the maximum (hence the tantrums), but they also radiate excitement about so many things. And they’re so proud as they master new tasks. It’s fun to watch them learn and grow.

John and I were commenting last night about how far the twins have come with their swimming. In just about one year, we have gone from Colin screaming through at least half the class (from the side of the pool, not in the water) to him putting his face in the water while swimming using the noodles. And Veronica is getting so comfortable that during our last class, there were several points where I was barely providing any support to her while she was swimming. She hasn’t quite gotten to the point of putting her head under water, but she is otherwise still quite the little fish. 

Colin has gotten quite far in his mastery of letter and number recognition. If he feels like focusing (the key in all things for Colin, who is simultaneously more laid back and more stubborn), he can correctly identify nearly all the letters and he rarely misses a number. Veronica struggles quite a bit with this, but she is spot-on with her colors (where Colin has problems). Both are regularly able to count three objects now, and do so at every opportunity.

Colin’s vocabulary has once again exploded, although he can still be hard to understand sometimes. I was listening to him last night after dinner and was blown away by how much he now says. And to think that in the fall we were worried he might be falling behind in speech. Ha! 

Veronica, of course, talks like a 10-year-old (okay, maybe just like a five-year-old). Her perception (and her hearing) is quite impressive. She always is listening to what is going on around her, and is able to make sense of it and bring back what she has heard correctly in a different context. 

The constant chorus of “no” and the tantrums about every little thing do get annoying (really annoying when it’s happening repeatedly times two), but when Veronica crawls into my lap before bed and tells me, “I love you so much, Mommy,” it all becomes worthwhile. 

Easter fun

Although we totally overscheduled Saturday (somehow I failed to make the connection that the Saturday of Spring Break, when we scheduled Ethan’s birthday celebration, was also the Saturday of the Easter Party at church and the Easter Vigil, when Ethan was heavily involved in the service at night), Easter was a lot of fun this year. 

The weather on Saturday was nice enough that we were able to take the Burley out for the first time and bike over to church. The party butts right up against nap time (okay, it really cuts into nap time), so being able to bike home saved about 20 minutes of “commuting” time. (John and Ethan had to leave with the van to pick up his friends for the birthday celebration.) 

Colin and Veronica were old enough this year to really start to enjoy the party — especially the egg hunt in the garden. And there are TONS of kids at church in their age-range. Even better, now that they’ve been going to Sunday School, they know many of the kids. 

You can tell they’re very comfortable at church now, because as soon as I got them out of the Burley and their bike helmets, they were off and into the building. (I turned around from getting the lock off my handlebars just in time to see the door closing behind them.) Fortunately, more kids were coming in, and their grandma was able and willing to “pick up” Colin and Veronica to shepherd them up the stairs while I locked up.

They mostly just wandered around the party watching all the activities (and raiding the snack table) until it was time for the Itty Bitties to do their egg hunt in the garden. I gave them each their baskets when it was time to line up, and told them we were going to find eggs to put in our baskets. I turned my back for a minute and suddenly there they were with their baskets filled with eggs — the hard boiled eggs the other kids had colored. 

Smart cookies. Next time I’ll have to be more specific. 

So we put those back and went to gather the treat-filled eggs instead. Despite insisting on opening each egg as they found it (and spilling treats all over the grass) they had a blast and ended up with full baskets. 

Unfortunately, I never took any pictures of them all dressed up in their Easter clothes. You'll just have to enjoy these instead.

Colin and Veronica get a little help from a friend.

Wild hair girl rocking her new pink skinny jeans.

Oh look! A purple one.

Hello, Kitty

Colin has quite the imagination. For a long time, he was far ahead of Veronica in imaginative play. She has since caught up, but Colin is still the master. 

Coin is the only one of the kids who has an imaginary friend, Eddie. Unfortunately, Eddie causes a lot of fights because Veronica refuses to recognize Eddie’s ownership rights to any of her toys: 

“No Roni, that’s Eddie’s. That’s Eddie’s!”

“No it’s not. It’s MINE!”

“No! It’s Eddie’s!”

And suddenly everyone is crying (including Eddie, I’m assuming). 

Right now, one of their favorite things to do is to pretend to be someone or something besides themselves. Veronica typically is Queen June or Queen June ballerina (although on Wednesday she suddenly told us she was Mary — not sure where that one came from). Colin is Kitty. The funny thing is, when Veronica tells us she’s Queen June, she clearly realizes that she actually is Veronica calling herself Queen June; Colin seems to think that he actually is Kitty.

If Colin is being Kitty, he will refuse to answer us when we address Colin, other than to insist that he is Kitty. He gets quite angry when we make him turn back into Colin, especially if we are trying to get him to do something he isn’t interested in doing — like brushing his teeth. In fact, he seems to forget he’s Colin most often when he doesn’t want to do something … hmmm.

He also purrs. 

The other morning, I was in the bedroom with Colin and Veronica, and Colin climbed up on the big bed with me for a morning snuggle. Veronica was still asleep, so we were trying to be quiet. He snuggled in, and told me he was Kitty. I was stroking his hair, and he snuggled in closer and started to purr. “Kitty’s happy.”

He also purrs sometimes when he’s playing and having fun. It’s very cute. (And makes me grateful that he’s not a tiger or something equally destructive.)

Fun times

Yesterday, overall, was a very fun day with the kids. It started out a bit rocky, with Veronica moving quickly into a grand temper tantrum that caused her to lose church privileges for the day. (Yes, we’re probably the only family that takes away going to church as a punishment. I doubt it would be effective for Colin, but it worked for Ethan when he was younger, and it’s a big punishment for Veronica — she LOVES going to church.)

But after nap and lunch, everyone was back to being in a good mood. Because the sun was shining, the kids and I decided to walk up to the library. So we loaded up the 50 pounds of library books that were either due or we were done with, bundled up and headed out with our strollers in hand. (Ethan had a scooter, being a bit too mature to want to push a stroller when he walks now.)

The three of them went out and played “chase and bump” while I got snacks and water bottles packed and the stroller loaded. It’s always a good afternoon when they will all play together. I love to listen to them laughing and squealing with happiness — it’s probably one of my favorite sounds in the world.

Colin and Veronica walked more than half a mile before they decided they were ready for snacks. They both wanted to keep walking and eating, but I made them get into the stroller if they were going to snack. Unfortunately, Ethan had to walk and eat, and ended up dropping his cup of treats and spilling it all over the sidewalk. (Fortunately, he’s also old enough that I can give him $5, and he will go into Starbucks by himself and order a scone. No more having to unload everyone. Yeah.)

Everyone did very well at the library, until it was time to check out. Veronica and Colin both wanted to stay, so we had some serious crying when it was time to pack up. And I had to tell Colin to stop doing things so often that even the security guard was calling him by name before we managed to check out — “Colin, you can’t play with that. Colin, you need to stop that.” Oh the joys of an active boy. 

On the way home, Veronica suddenly called me from the stroller. “I want to go to a restaurant today.” Since I was already stressing out about getting something on the table for dinner (it was approaching 4:30 at this point, and we were still only half way home), I decided that sounded like a good idea. All three kids agreed to behave, and so we decided to go out. 

After a quick stop to pick up John and change some diapers, we headed off to Wishbone. We haven’t actually taken the kids to a restaurant in probably at least three months, and what a difference those three months have made. They both sat in their chairs (without boosters even — so much easier!) and were very well behaved. They ate like champs, and even stayed relatively quiet while we waited for the check. 

Of course, it helped that we had the most awesome waiter ever (Veronica called him the boy with the black napkin [his apron] as in, “Where did the boy with the black napkin go?”). Colin really enjoyed himself, and kept announcing throughout his dinner, “This is great! I LIKE this!” And we made it home without me feeling like I’d just run a marathon. 

My tummy is very happy

We started Colin back on dairy on Sunday, and he is one happy, happy boy. For lunch, he and Veronica requested Mac and Cheese — one of their favorite meals, and one they haven’t had for six weeks. They polished off the entire box. I wish I had thought to grab my camera to record the moment; Colin was very cute.

On Sunday afternoon, Colin, Veronica and I walked to Trader Joe’s to pick up some cheese and bananas. Colin saw the string cheese and danced for joy. I gave him a package, and he walked through the store clutching it to his chest (until he decided it was too heavy and threw it into the basket). 

On Monday, John gave them Goldfish crackers for snack. Colin announced, as he was chowing down, “My tummy is very happy!” 

Clearly, our boy has been missing his dairy products. And we haven’t even gotten to the ice cream (maybe this weekend) or the pizza (on Friday) yet. 

So far, going back on the dairy doesn’t seem to have made a difference. (Going off the dairy didn’t seem to make a huge difference either, after his initial problem cleared up.) We will continue to monitor his digestive health and comfort, but I do have to say that it’s quite liberating not having to watch everything he eats and to come up with creative (and high calorie) meals that don’t involve dairy. 

I have a new appreciation for the pain parents whose children have food allergies must face — not even factoring in the “my child might die if he or she eats the wrong thing” fear that so many people face. 

But for me, I hope, the no dairy chapter may be closed. And now we can go back to focusing on getting Colin to grow. Because that also is something he hasn’t done for the past six weeks. And that’s not good. 

Plague House

This has been a bad winter for illness in Chicago, and up until now, we have mostly been immune to it. Other than one set of colds early on, and Ethan’s Christmas illness, the kids have mainly stayed pretty healthy this year. 

Until last week. [Warning — if you have a delicate stomach you may not want to read on.]

It started on Thursday night, when Veronica walked in the door from Ethan’s swimming class and immediately told me her stomach hurt. I, being in the middle of cooking dinner, told her to go take off her boots and sit on the couch and I would be out in a few minutes. At the dinner table, she didn’t take a single bite (and it was pasta — and easy favorite), so I took her out to the couch and we snuggled while I rubbed her tummy.

She was happily chatting away on my lap, when suddenly … urp. She threw up all over herself (and me). “What was that?” was basically her response. “You threw up honey. That’s probably why your tummy hurt.” 

After getting her changed into her pjs, she started playing until bedtime (really, just a 15 minute gap there). She went to sleep just fine. For about 45 minutes. Then she threw up again. And again. And again. For the next 9.5 hours.  (We moved Colin into our bedroom so he could sleep.) 

Veronica’s sickbed style was this: thrash, thrash, thrash. “Mommy I going to throw up.” Sit up. Throw up into towel/cloth diaper (she wouldn’t have anything to do with a bucket). Pick up chatting where we left off. Until the stretch where she was getting sick every 15 minutes, she was just a cheerful little chatterbox. 

Next morning, her stomach was fine, but she had a sore throat and a bit of a fever. 

I felt queasy on Friday, so stayed home. The last thing I wanted was to get downtown and start getting sick. How on Earth would I get home?

Saturday morning, Ethan woke up and said he wasn’t feeling super good. He came down and ate breakfast as usual. Then he and Colin spent some time playing with Matchbox cars while I tried to get Veronica to take a nap (at her request). We gave up the nap when Colin started howling because Ethan put him in timeout for trying to eat the wheels off the Matchbox cars. (Really Colin? Do you have to destroy everything you touch?)

Suddenly Ethan was howling that he thought he was going to get sick. “Well then get into the bathroom and do it!” I’m such a caring Mom. 

So now I’ve got two sick kids and one totally wound up boy with zero empathy. And John was at the park registering Ethan for swimming. 

Ethan is the WORST sick person in the world. I am not exaggerating. The Worst. His illness mirrored Veronica’s, and while she stayed happy throughout for the most part, Ethan wailed. Constantly. At the top of his lungs. At the height of it, he was screaming, “Someone is trying to kill me. I think someone is trying to kill us all.” 

We were impressed that Colin seemed to have dodged the bullet. But we were impressed too soon. My mid afternoon, he was throwing up too. Apparently he was driving his truck along the side of the big bed in their room, when suddenly … urp. He didn’t really seem to miss a beat, and kept on driving. 

So Veronica is a chatty sick patient, Ethan thinks someone is trying to kill him and Colin barely takes note of it. Hmm … 

Colin didn’t want to use the towel method that Veronica preferred, so he got a bucket (less laundry for Mommy and Daddy that way). The problem was, when he was throwing up he would stick his head so far into the bucket that his face was very nearly in the mess. By 5:30, Colin had crawled into bed and covered himself up and told John he was ready to go to sleep for the night. 

He only got sick one more time, so he suffered the lightest hit. But he woke up at 10:00 and was thirsty and was VERY angry that I would only let him take a few sips. He got a few more at 10:15, and a few more at 10:45, at which point I gave in and figured that if he hadn’t gotten sick from the water at that point, he wouldn’t. So between 10:00 and 5:30 the next morning, he drank a water bottle and a half of water, plus a large sippy cup of juice. And he still woke up thirsty. 

Ethan made a full recovery the fastest, and was fine by Sunday afternoon. Both Colin and Veronica continue to have very little appetite (although last night Colin reversed that — thank goodness) and obviously aren’t fully recovered. I am completely wiped out. Between not feeling well myself, and caring for three sick kiddos (all night long) … 

And the laundry. The mountains of laundry. And our dryer broke in the middle of a load on Friday morning. (Fortunately, it is still under warranty, and Sears had an opening on their service schedule that afternoon, so we were back up and running after dinner.) I’m just now getting caught up. 

I hope this is the last plague of the season. Ugh.

All about Veronica

Veronica has enough personality to rule the world — and with it comes a long memory, a vivid imagination, a bucket full of empathy and a stubbornness that rivals my own. Oh my, we’re in trouble.

Veronica is very much a nurturer. She loves her babies, and she loves to Mommy Colin (and the rest of us) too. She and I were outside running recently (something I haven’t been able to do because I dislocated my femur a while back, and it’s taken a while to completely heal). Suddenly, mid-stride, she looked at me and said, “Mommy! You’re running. Your hip feels better?”

Several weeks ago, Veronica came up to Ethan and I and announced that she had “babies in her tummy.” “Babies?” I inquired. “How many babies?” “Three,” she promptly announced. Not long after that, Veronica started talking about her triplets: Aba, Iba and Una, who apparently sprang forth very far ahead of the curve developmentally. 

Aba, Iba and Una all play soccer (both indoor and outdoor). They also swim, and Una does yoga. They seem to spend a lot of time in school and, of course, already are potty trained. It’s very funny to hear Veronica sigh and say, “My kids …” and then tell us something they’ve done recently. Una appears to be her favorite, and is the most athletic. I hear more stories about Una than the other two. 

Most evenings, after dinner, Veronica gets dressed and goes to pick her kids up from school.

Veronica, ready to go pick her kids up from school.
Their school is somewhere along Irving Park Road.

She is becoming more of a fashionista every day, and has very definite ideas of what she wants to wear, always. I took her to Carters recently to buy her a couple of new dresses, since most of her favorites are getting rather small. Everything I picked out was studied and met with an “umm, no” until she spotted the dress she’s wearing in the picture above. She also selected a “Mommy’s little girl” t-shirt, because (she told me) that’s what she is. 

This is what I got when I asked if I could take
a picture of Veronica. Perfect pose. 

She also is very independent, and wants to do as much as
possible by herself. That is what makes her new rain boots
especially wonderful. Easy on and off. 

Despite being a dedicated follower of fashion, Veronica is easily the most naturally athletic of the kids, and continues to ask me when she can start playing soccer and taking yoga. She loves the Athleta clothing company catalog (her poses magazine), and can mimic nearly all of the yoga poses the models are doing without help. 

And finally, the stubbornness. Although many people have expressed their disbelief when I say that Veronica has a wicked temper, it is true. When she is unhappy, she gets very, very mad. 

Veronica responding to being put into time out.

And on an unrelated side note: We’re nearly through our month of dairy-free eating with Colin. We’ve really only had a couple of “I want cheese/the other yogurt” meltdowns, so in that respect it hasn’t been too bad. But I’m not sure dairy is the culprit behind Colin’s longer-term digestive problems. He is back to his old self, but that old self still has eczema, sometimes has very painful gas bubbles in his tummy and can easily get constipated. He also still is not really growing. 

So, we are not expecting to have problems when we reintroduce dairy, but we also may need to continue to explore whether some other intolerance is causing Colin problems. Of course, that just could be how his system operates. Who knows?