3/30/2014

Van turning on the charm

For mom

Van: "Mom, what's the biggest mountain in the world?"
Me: "Mount Everest"
Van: "Mama I love you as tall as Mount Everest."

For Grandpa

Van: "Hey Grandpa, I like your hair."
Grandpa: "You like my hair?"
Van: "Yeah, it looks like cement.
Grandpa: "It looks like cement?"
Van: "Yeah, because it's the color of cement."
Grandpa: "Thanks"

Super 3 turning 1

Yesterday we hosted a triple birthday party for three cute girls turning 1

Esther, Cayenne and Solveig

 

Singing happy birthday

 

Here is everyone unsure of what to do with the candle in their cupcake

getting a delicious taste

Solveig flying in the air

sledding

It was a beautiful day and fun to see friends visiting from out of the country.

 

Ski lesson

A blog post by special request.
Van at his Friday ski lesson.

Snow Removal

We got a lot of snow last weekend so Andy spend most of the day clearing it. Esther watched and Van even went out to help.

Esther the Artist

Esther likes drawing.

Here is one of her first compositions.

I'm pretty sure she used her left hand, so maybe she'll be a fancy artist like her Aunty Svea.

3/15/2014

Van: "The dog eats the food that the baby throws on the ground. That's part of nature!"

***

Van: "Sometimes things are messy and sometimes they are clean, that is part of nature!"

***

Me: "Van you need to clean up your room, it's messy."

Van: "Mom, you're messy sometimes too, that's just the way life is."

***

One thing Van does right now is make up words that mean something else. For example, I'll lay on my back and lift him in the air with my feet, and he likes to give me directions.
But in his own language, like this:

Van: "Mom, 'shooker' means lift me higher in the air. and 'rooker' means come back down and 'huck' means go up and down really fast. Huck!"

The funny part is usually he'll start making this list of what words and forget what they mean by the time he gets to using them. He'll say,

Van: "Ok, 'Kristi' means go and 'anky' means stop. Anky!"
(expecting me to go)
Van: "Anky!"
Me: "But you just told me to stop?"
Van: "what, no. ok let's start over. 'Anky' means go. Anky!"

A morning with Van

We've only been awake for 2 hours and already I have to start writing things down.
Here are some excerpts from today.


Van had come into our bed around 5. When he wakes up he rolls over to me and says,

Van: "Mom, Walrus ends in S, right?"
Me: "yes!"

***

Then I tell Van to go get dressed so we can make breakfast.
Van comes back wearing PJ pants and one of those sun shirts you wear for swimming.

Van: "It looks like I'm going swimming but I'm not. This shirt has Optimus Prime on it."

***

Van then wants me to wear a swim shirt on too. Since I was planning to go to CrossFit later I decide to put a sports bra on and I tell Van it's a swim shirt.

Van: "Is that just a swimsuit for your breasts?"

***

So it turns out there is 2 feet of fresh snow on the ground. So no going to CrossFit or anywhere else for a while. We go to play in the toy bedroom.

Me: "Hey who got chalk all over the window seat?"
But the phone rings before he can answer.
Then when I'm off the phone.
Van: "See mom, it's just my brain, it's always telling me to do bad things."
Me: "Your brain is always telling you to do bad things?"
Van: "Yeah. Like if you bring home some chocolate and then my brain tells me to eat the chocolate, and then I eat the chocolate."

He says the last part as if he really wanted to not eat the chocolate, but it was inevitable, as his brain had told him to do so.
I tell him about willpower, which I define as the ability to not do things, even though your brain is telling you to do them. We'll see if that catches on.

EN_P Van

Kids Meyers-Briggs types are defined by 3 letters instead of 4.

This one is Van for sure

http://www.personalitypage.com/html/ENP.html

Excerpt from the website above:

ENP Traits

1. They have a lot of energy
2. They're curious about everything, and seem to be always asking "Why?"
3. They have lots of ideas and love to talk about them
4. They always have several projects going on
5. They want to be original and interesting
6. They like to be leaders, and resist following
7. They're very social
8. They're very independent, and want to do things for themselves
9. They want to be the center of attention
10. They probably tend to be dramatic, and enjoy acting or performing
11. They're outspoken and energetic, and may interrupt frequently, or finish people's sentences for them

Potential Strengths

1. They're usually cheerful, optimistic, and fun to be around
2. They're enthusiastic and fearless
3. They believe that anything is possible
4. They have very good communication skills and a strong ability to persuade others to come around to their point of view
5. They usually have a good vocabulary, and can express themselves well in written and verbal form
6. They're very clever
7. They show an unusual understanding of people and situations for a child
8. They have good people skills and are usually well-liked
9. They naturally see the possibilities of a situation and the "big picture"

Potential Weaknesses

1. They frequently forget rules, or else they never knew them in the first place
2. They have a lot of projects going on at one time, and may be scattered
3. They frequently don't finish their projects
4. They're usually very messy, and dislike cleaning up
5. They tend to speak in a very loud voice without realizing it
6. They have difficulty making decisions, and often resist decisions
7. They are often unaware of their physical environment
8. They may not take good care of themselves
9. They're not usually very aware of time or schedules
10. They don't like being controlled by others, and may be rebellious
11. They dislike being asked to do anything, and will often act very "put upon" by any request

Haha, number 1 made me laugh. and number 5 for sure.

Esther's personality

Esther is so much fun to be around. She's so happy and has a great smile and a great laugh. She loves being held and cuddled but also thrown in the air or flipped upsidedown. She enjoys plenty of sleep, and is slow to wake up in the morning, but is always happy when she does. She can climb to the top of a 12 foot ladder, but hasn't yet started walking on her own.

She's very observent, she watches, thinks and then acts.

Yesterday while the kids were playing she picked up a pen and tried to draw on some paper. She also pretended to mix with a wooden spoon in a pot and she found one of my dresses and tried to pull it over her head.

Van is so different, quick to act and you can hear his thoughts as he says them out loud while he's acting. You can hear him reason out loud; you can see how he makes his decisions. My guess is when Esther starts to talk we won't have the same access. We'll be suprised by a complex thought only after she has completely worked out the details.

I really enjoy how Van and Esther are so different. Can't wait to continue watching them grow.

Esther's pink suit

My aunt sent Esther a pink suit for her birthday. Love it!

3/2/2014

Me: "Ah! Andy!"
Andy: "What?"
Me: "There's a spider on our bed!"
Van: "I'll be right up! (moments later) Where is it? I came right up."


This is great, now I have two rescuers. :)

***

Me: "How is that muffin?"
Van: "It's so delicious, I can't stop."

***

Van's alter-egos area so common to me I forget to write about them, but I should record them. In recent months, Van spends a lot of his time pretending to a puppy named 'pickle'.

Blueberry hill hike

Today Van and I went on a hike from Glen Alps.

First Van had to climb some trees.

Then he needed to borrow my sunglasses, it was bright out.

Thumbs up.

Stopping for a snack.

Trying to use the timer, running into problems.

 I like this one.

 We played for so long I didn't think we'd actually get anywhere, but then Van got serious.

 We made it to the top!

 What a view.

 "Whoa, look at that view" 

- Van