Lessons

Finally the "no's" are starting to lose their battle.... J has finally decided to include the word "YES" in his ever increasing vocabulary. It's not a yeah or a yep ....it is a definite YES...with an added emphasis on the /s/ and I LOVE it! If you really listen to him...he can carry on quite a "conversation" with you! He loves to be just like his big sister.... and likes to say what she says....so I guess I have to give her most of the credit. She couldn't be a better teacher. I love to watch her read to him. They can fight like the worst of enemies...they are like night and day... but they love each other so unconditionally. It's so genuine.




Time seems to be flying...and there always seems to be less time to do all that we want to do. Halloween is quickly approaching and though we have been to numerous pumpkin patches for field trips and parties this year.... as of last weekend we had still not made our "family" trip to the patch. We decided to go to the KC Pumpkin Patch in Gardner as we had not been there since Sophia was a toddler. Despite the muddy patch...the kids had a good time finding pumpkins and taking the "hay" ride (though there was no hay involved) to the patch. Joseph loved riding behind the big John Deer and climbing aboard the wooden choo-choo, and Sophia was enthralled with the slides and tricycle track.





Lesson #1
As for pumpkins...it was slim pickins....guess we were a little late this year. But nonetheless....Joseph found his perfect green pumpkin and Sophia found her perfect round pumpkin. She of course thought J's choice of green was rather weird :) It was pretty funny to watch Joseph as he was choosing his. He sat down on every one he came across and just sat for a while.....like he needed to see how comfy it was before he made his final selection! Too funny! We had fun...but lesson learned...never go pumpkin picking after a rainfall...boy were we muddy when we came home....clothes and shoes came off before we even came into the house. Daddy spent a long time washing the dirt of those shoes that night. Sophia woke up the next morning and upon finding her CLEAN shoes...she told me that a shoe elf must have come to clean her shoes over night. :) Wish I would have thought to take a picture of the dirty shoes and muddy bottoms, but I guess I'll have to settle for some pictures of us on our pumpkin search! It was a very sunny afternoon...so sorry about the glare in the pictures!!







Oh wow! I guess I did get ONE picture of someone's dirty little tooshie!!!



Here are a few more pictures of our pumpkin adventures this week:







Lesson #2
Second lesson learned thus far this week: 6 girls plus a toddler for lunch and crafts can equal insanity! It was our week to host the girl's (from Sophia's school) play date. Since the girls are pretty excited about Halloween....I thought lunch and Halloween crafts would be great fun.... oh my....I'm guessing the girls had fun...but trying to keep everyone happy was quite the challenge...not to mention the gigantic mess that resulted in every room of our house. Did they really need to migrate to my bedroom to play...REALLY? We do have toys in every other room in our house it seems.....and I did ask them not to go in our room....hmmmm just wondering if other parents enforce boundaries...am I the ONLY one????

Here are just a few of the questions that are still ringing in my head from these busy little bodies :)
" I'm Still hungry"
"I don't like hot dogs"
"Can we play upstairs"
"I'm still hungry"
"Can we have popsicles too"
" I want some skittles"
"What kind of macaroni is this"
" Can we have another snack?"

Lesson #3... when life gives you lemons...make some lemonade. The easiest thing I did in preparation for our play date today was make some lemonade ...you know just the good ole Country Time Powder mixed with water. The simplest thing....yet it was the thing that was most agreed upon. Everyone loved it, except my Sophia of course (some day she will drink more than water milk and apple juice right? :))


Lesson #4...Boys talk later than girls. The Speech Pathologist in me cringes when I say this....b/c every child is different, I know, and I shouldn't make one statement and apply it to a general population...but I'm gonna break all the rules here....it's true...boys are much too concerned with movin and being all around busy bodies. Talking is not a priority to them... it just does not interest them...until, well, until they are ready!!!! I was so stressed when this little guy hardly said "mama" at a year....and I definitely wanted to hide when our pediatrician suggested he see a speech pathologist ( I hated to admit to her that I had my Masters in that very area!!). And what I hate to admit even more???.....that MY MOTHER WAS RIGHT! He just needed time. He may not be rattling off sentences yet...but he sure does have a lot to say these days! (in his own little way!) He's even becoming a bit bossy..."down mama" (when he wants me to sit and play with him) or ("back mama") when he wants me to put something back. Today he really shocked me and started identifying the colors like "bebow" for (yellow) and "back" for (black). I love how he says "daddy's truck" and "mama's car" and how when he talks to Pappou on the phone he says "hi Boo" and then blows kisses over the phone. He loves to talk about Calliou and Max and Ruby ...and he even told me when he went potty once this week!

Lesson #5.. BE PATIENT... Something I must admit is very difficult for me... But patience, I have a feeling, is something I will need a lot of in the next few weeks. Seems Sophia has come down with a bug and is probably passing it to the little guy. Poor kids. She has just not been herself lately....and she's such a trooper... hardly ever wants to admit she is sick...b/c she doesn't want to miss out on anything! Hope they are back to their little wild and crazy selves soooooooooon!