Are we having fun yet?: status quo. I love status quo

Jeremy decided he wanted home made apple pie. Everyone got really excited, especially Whitney. We went to get apples from the store and Whitney said "'We want to jump in the pie!' That's what the apples say, Mom". They helped load the food processor, practiced their cutting skills under Papa's supervision and tasted the filling over and over again. They also really liked the dough. Amazingly they caught on to the rules about handling knifes and practicing cutting really well. Jim taught Whitney how to correctly hand over a knife and to watch where the knife is. They helped him remember the rules, too. Tucker got really thirsty with all the samples and was so cute in first getting Whitney's water bottle for her because he was "the gentleman taking care of the lady". He takes it very seriously at times. Other times he hits her because she has his toy, but you know. The idea is in his head.

After making and eating raw pie middle (sugar coated apples) they played wild horsey with Papa. Then they picked playing a game with Papa over watching movies. After attempting to play, we played a matching game. Tucker wasn't as excited about it, so he asked for the original plan. Watch Mahna mahna and Yip Yips discovering a telephone.  Apparently Whitney and I have the same sense of humor. We both laughed at the Yip Yips. Tucker laughed a little delayed, like he was supposed to think it was funny. I think he still enjoyed it, though.

He really enjoys music. That's what he will spend long focused periods of time doing with me. Playing the piano. Whitney likes it, but not like Tucker.

It was sunny so we went to the park for a bit with bikes. This is the first time the big kids went for a long bike ride for a significant distance. They really liked it. There is also a small skate park on the walking path we went on. Tucker went up and down the ramps no problem, while Whitney was a bit more cautious, but still had fun. She informed me if they accidently went a little too wild, it would be ok because she had her helmet on. I'm glad that is processing. She really doesn't like wearing her helmet. Tucker thinks it's funny that he gets helmet hair.

I've been taking a lot of pictures of the amazing fall color that is hitting right now. I guess I've been doing a lot of it because Tucker said "Look Mom! Look at those trees with their beautiful fall clothes on. You should take a picture!"

Of course we had to visit the potty while at the park. I think Ethan is like Tucker. He really doesn't like the sound of toilets flushing. It startled him and he cried a bit but got distracted by the running water from hand washing of the big kids. Phew!

Ethan is picking up on rolling over. He purposely rolls over to get to preferred positions. He is also holding his sitting postures independently for a good 15 seconds no problem. He also is starting to get up on his elbows and knees to rock back and forth a bit. He goes "swimming" on his tummy once he rolls over to play. Now. He just need to roll to the left. He can only really roll to the right. Kind of a problem. He rolls around in his crib, but then gets mad that he can't roll into his preferred sleeping position because he gets stuck against the side of the crib. So we have been very tired because we have to wake up about every 2 hours to roll him back so he can go back to sleep. Physical therapist mommy is working on rolling both ways, ASAP. With all these skills he is suddenly grasping this week, he is very impressed with himself. He always has a great big smile on his face when he accomplishes them.

One night both Ethan and Tucker were frustrated. Ethan rolled over a bunch of times in a row and then landed on the train track and fiery Flynn. Ethan was frustrated and crying because it hurt to land there and Tucker said "Get Ethan off! He pushed fiery Flynn off the track!" Tucker is very convinced Ethan knows exactly what he is doing with his body. Tucker also doesn't like it when Ethan spits on his blanket or "wipes snorks" on Tucker.

The big kids played with their pandas and the buttons. The white buttons were bamboo for the pandas. They gave them food, then took it away when the pandas were playing too wild at the table.   They also change panda diapers by using the white baby blanket from the doll house. They played for an hour with those buttons. And here is what is amazing. In order for them to play buttons I told them they had to keep the buttons on the queen size sheet. Last time they played buttons they flung them around the room. Getting them to clean that up was a big huge pain. So they played for an hour in the square footage of a queen sheet. They did get off the sheet to bring other toys over, but for the most part, they stayed put. After that they had to go outside and play a bunch in their trees.

There are a lot of mushrooms sprouting in our yard this year. I think it is because Rocky isn't around to eat them all. Lots of changes have occurred in our yard not having dogs. The deer sleep in our backyard. There are also some resident bunnies that hang out in the open. Lots of mushrooms are growing. The other cool thing is that a woodpecker family stayed for a few days. They were teaching their baby woodpecker the finer points of finding bugs. Apparently we have a rich supply of bugs in our east and west facing walls. It's really loud when they are working. Tucker and Whitney like finding them. They are amazingly good at not touching them. I've told them over and over just to look at them and they remind me of the rules, thank heavens.

Tucker found a sword while looking at mushrooms. He told us "the tree dropped the sword for the gentleman to find it".

They had some friends come over this week. It was interesting to watch the dynamics. One friend was 2 and the other is only 2 months younger than them. With the 2 year old, they didn't play with her much, but let her use their toys and took care of her. The one that was close in age? Well, that was more like Tucker and Whitney vs Aisley. They ran and hid toys from her and played games that were sure to exclude her. Hmmm.

It cracks me up how much they like pandas. We went to the Asian market and they noticed the panda eating bamboo on the label.    They were excited to see that.

We went to Wiggle Works. They had a blast there. A friend invited us to go with her and they had a blast. Especially in the "wild balloon" area.

Whitney is getting the concept of reading. She is starting to realize that the letters have sounds. Tucker does, too, but he isn't into having the patience to sound out each letter. He likes to just know the word. If you ask him, he will say he doesn't know and then tell you the answer. Whitney is fascinated with it. She has always been interested in reading books and will go read books by herself often.

She is into miniature things right now. She has always liked small things, but likes getting the "miniature" version of things. When I vacuumed, she went and got her dollhouse vacuum and said "Hi Mommy vacuum!" with it. I think doll house miniatures will be a hit with her like they were with me.

Although, Tucker likes some things miniature, too. He helped me with sorting laundry a bit. He pulled one of Ethan's socks out and said "Oh! Cute little Ethan sock"

Tucker loves video games. I got an app called gazilli science that I don't mind as much. Whitney likes the seed one where she can plant flowers and Tucker likes the water one that he can get Purple floating. But they also incorporate some of it in their play. They've been having a great time laughing about "Oops! A toy scuba diver is non living!" There is a part in the game that says that and Tucker likes to make it say oops. So they go around and say that about living or non living items in the world and laugh hysterically while they categorize it.

With all this play, we've had lots of fun together. The best part for me this week is when I asked Whitney what she liked best about her day and she said "I like playing with you, Mom". Made me glad I had played with her that day.

Another thing that absolutely melts my heart is the fact that my kids have figured out how to sing together. When I play the piano, they can sing with me and with each other mostly on beat. That is also true of the CD that is playing in the car. I think it melts Jeremy's heart, too. He requested that I play a song that Whitney knows so he can hear her sing. They both sing with such gusto, and Whitney is loud and on tune. We love it. It especially melts my heart at night. We usually sing calm songs about Jesus before bed and they have started singing them with me. It has made me think maybe the past 4 years of teaching and singing to them might be sinking in.

Tucker has all the songs and which number on the CD that it matches memorized. He requests certain numbers so that I play the songs he likes. Already. But I guess it is worth it because he is also learning to count in the teens better due to the CD number that appears on the display. He comments about what number will come next. It was a bit confusing the time I accidently hit RANDOM on the control panel while driving and had to stop later to figure out how to take it off random.