Tolerant Big Pup Sister

Niall loves our little (soon-to-be-nine) Pepper (as well as all dogs). She tolerates so much from him-- tail- and ear-pulling, and being walked, ridden, or sat-on.

 

She is such a sweet, good girl!

Growing up

Here are some recent videos of Iver, our oldest (who is proud to tell us that he is "not four, but four and a half!"), growing up and learning new skills!

1. Conquering the monkey bars. He was so proud he figured this out in a 30-min session!




A different park on a different day:

2. Spelling "difficulty"-- (he learned this from Matilda).



 

Cutting his own food

He's born in late December so won't be entering transitional KG (TK) or Kindergarten for another year but I'm amazed what this little guy can do/accomplish!

Swimsuit edition (and plum-palooza)

We have continued to have sunny, warm (for Humboldt, which means 70-degree) weather and we had some good times outside this weekend.

On Saturday, they eagerly put on their swimsuits to head to the "river," (nearby Pump Station 1 in Arcata.

We got some great shots of them in front of the fence opposite our house:

sand play

Our friend Sarah has a plum tree that is dropping plums like flies and we did some quality picking on Friday evening (many were turned into a plum crisp).

(What we think we look like)

(What our photos actually look like)

 While Iver and I were attending Matilda, K and Niall went to Mandy and Sam's house to Celebrate Connor's 5th birthday, where Niall thoroughly enjoyed the water play.

Let the sunshine continue!

Theater Duo

Iver has definitely been my musical performance buddy for the last year! We've bonded tremendously with these mommy-son dates, which has made my music-performance-nerd-heart extremely happy.

(Previously, we've attended together:


Wizard of Oz (August 2018)
Willy Wonka Jr. (April 2019)
Aladdin (May 2019)
and the movie theater versions of Aladdin and Mary Poppins Returns, his first in-theater movie [Dec 2018]).

When in Eureka Old Town for the Fourth of July festivities, I noticed a flyer for the All Star Theater Arts' production of The Sound of Music and was immediately intrigued. While Iver hadn't seen the classic movie at the time (nor has Kelvin in his life, actually [and very sadly]!), it is definitely one of my favorite films of all time and one of the handful of DVDs I own.   After I showed Iver the movie, he was immediately hooked on the songs and characters, we got tickets, and attended the show last weekend at Eureka High School.  While the performance was long (close to 3 hours, including an intermission), it was such a treat! The production featured adults and kids from the community (we sat behind "Kurt"'s parents, and the acting, voice and song quality, and staging was well done. Iver ("Where is Liesl?!" [his favorite character] he kept asking) really enjoyed the kids' performances and costumes, and was also incredibly attentive and observant ("What happened to the puppet scene?" he inquired, despite only having watched the movie once).  If I ever make it back to Salzburg, Austria (one of my favorite cities in the world and the setting from the movie's filming), I will bring my oldest son on the cheesy "Sound of Music" city tour again (which my good friend Laura and I did in 2003).

In front of the Alps vista

 

Local Greenview park re-enactment of the "I am Sixteen" Gazebo scene

We also found out that the Arkley Performing Arts Center in Eureka was hosting a Mainstage production of "Matilda the Musical," and so we had bought tickets about a month ago. Iver has been really getting into chapter books lately, and we read Roald Dahl's Matilda about twice, showed him the movie, and were ready (and excited) to see the musical version live today (Iver's first sentence upon awaking today was "It's Matilda day!"). (He also loves Dahl's The Witches, although, to my knowledge, there isn't a musical version, and per my recollection, the movie version starring Anjelica Huston may be a bit intense for a four-year-old).

While I don't love some of the language in the book (from evil headmistress Miss Trunchbull and Mr. Wormwood, Matilda's dad), it's still a pretty funny story about a precocious, brilliant and sweet young girl and a young teacher, Miss Honey, who comes to adore/appreciate/adopt her. Iver was really excited to see the scenes live ("how is she going to do magic with her eyes onstage or turn her dad's hair white [like the tricks she does in the book]?"). The actors, especially the young girl who played Matilda and the other kids, were engaging and really fun to watch. We saw several families we knew in the audience.

We don't have any other live theater performances lined up to attend in the near future, although I see that there will be future local productions of Peter Pan and James and the Giant Peach later in 2019 and 2020.
 
I'm sure my theater sidekick will be ready (and maybe he'll be up on stage sometime-- he did express some interest)!

Niall's 17-month update

Niall now:

- Probably weighs just under 19 lbs. He was in the 3% of weight (9% for height) at his 15-month check-up. He wears mostly 9 and  9-12 month clothing, and size 3-4 shoes (sandals mostly).

- has big eyes, long eyelashes, a big head, dimples and a great smile, scant but growing hair, and twelve sharp teeth (his lower two molars caused some crankiness recently)

- drinks somewhere between 4-8 oz of a blend (still about 70/30) of pumped breast milk/cow's milk from a cup at daycare. I nurse in the morning and before bed/naps and pump once during the workday around lunchtime.  He eats at a high chair in the kitchen, and I his appetite is definitely increasing. He loves fruits of all kinds, cucumbers, peas, broccoli, yogurt, noodles and soups, peanut butter and peanut puffs, and cheese.  He's getting better about incorporating some small meat pieces, but is still on an iron supplement. He loves to use his own spoon to feed himself and seems to have a left-handed preference. He also loves water and ice cubes (really, anything frozen). 

 - is in cloth diapers during the day (pocket diapers at daycare and fitteds at home), and size 3 overnight Huggies at night. He is pretty regular and will usually poop on the potty in the morning (sometimes in the afternoon/evening after dinner) and will often pee on the potty when diapers are removed for changes.  We're working on him communicating when he has to go.

 - is one of the older kids in the infant room at daycare, where he attends five days (two as three-quarter days). He loves his teachers, but loves to see us when we pick him up. Besides the recent teething crankiness and one febrile illness at the start of K's parents' visit at the end of June, he has been healthy.  He may move up to the toddler room sometime in the next few months.

 - is extremely playful, "faking" falling asleep in the backseat while Kelvin is driving, and "ignoring" his brother next to him, by turning his head to the side. He likes to test his boundaries with a great big grin.
- loves running around the house, climbing, being chased and tickled. He loves to play with pens water, ice, cups,  cabinet contents,  keys, Pepper,  and his brother, and loves to be outside on the deck and in the grass (he loved the beach time earlier this month).  He absolutely loves to read book after book ("more books" was his first two-word phrase), and will endlessly bring them over, plop down in our laps and ask us to read to him. He'll also pass time flipping through books himself. He does well in his convertible but still rear-facing carseat, walks or runs in Bob stroller and the front-facing Lillebaby carrier. He is a great assistant during shopping trips with papa and a companion at church.

- hates: lying still for diaper changes, getting his teeth brushed, and having fun toys taken away by us or brother.

- has a rapidly increasing vocabulary with close to 20 words (the latest including "snack" and "there" [Iver was playing hide-and-seek with me, and when I asked Niall where he was, he pointed and said very clearly, "THERE!", giving his brother away]. He identifies brother "Ivah!" and himself "Nih." He'll do a few two-word phrases ("more books," "more milk"). He continues to sign along with verbalizing (especially for "milk," "water," "dog," and "books" and a few other animals, including "bird" and "cat." and will point these out in books). He can identify many body parts including head, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, bellybutton, hands, and feet and demonstrate animal sounds ("moo," "neigh," "roar"). He follows commands really well (even some in Vietnamese) and seems to understand everything we ask him to do.

  - continues to sleep well in a crib at night, with no signs of climbing out, in a room with his brother. After a bath, nursing session, and reading a few books, he is put in his crib awake in jammies and a sleep sack, and he'll fuss for a few minutes before passing out around 7:15-7:30. He wakes happy around 5:40 and eager to find me to nurse. He has pretty much transitioned to one, longer nap around 11:30 a.m. or 12 p.m. until about 2:30 p.m.



He is truly a little joy to be around, and a little ham, as you can see from his pictures.

Rarely without a book in his hands

With big bro

"Opening" the church door

"Walking" Pepper

Triptych

Showing off his knowledge of body parts

I had to share this sign I saw in Eureka Old Town

 

This is what Iver was doing at 17 months.

Happy 17 months to our happy little man!

Backyard Bounty

A few years ago, I had blogged (My Black Thumb) about my complete inability to sustain growth of any plant in my custody.

Our current house has some nice planter beds that the previous owners cultivated, and there were some chives, artichokes, and some other green-leaf plant that was actually growing (and continued to grow) after we moved in.

However, three years in, the area had pretty much been overtaken by mint (which I've been told is pretty much an invasive weed). 

Kelvin's mom (when she visits) has tried to plant some green onion bulbs and a few other things.  This spring, my friend Kellie asked if she could come over and use the space to plant some seeds, and she did, putting into the ground some peas, bok choy, radishes, and one other thing I can't remember right now.  She has also been diligently watering the plants twice weekly, letting herself in the back gate when we're at work.

What do you know-- we have thriving snap peas and rooted radishes that seem ready to pick! I insisted that Kellie reap the success of her borrowed garden patch, but she encouraged us to keep the veggies (which my kids actually will eat).

I have heard that root vegetables and greens do grow well in our environment, and I would hope that I would be encouraged enough by the above results to continue cultivating our little patch of soil. However, I don't have high hopes that I'd be able to keep it up.  I think I'll leave the gardening to the real gardeners.

Bookworms

I am proud to have two little kids who love to read.   We watch some movies with Iver but besides Facetime and background TV tennis, Niall has had 0 minutes of actual screen time in his entire life and absolutely loves turning book pages, and bringing books to read, plopping himself on our laps.   Both kids love visiting the local library.  We limit Iver to two books (lately we've been doing book chapters-- including Matilda and Peter Pan) at bedtime; otherwise, he'd never go to bed. Enjoy these photos.

Little Bear's Bible

If You Give a Moose a Muffin

Touching and feeling a dog!

Harry the Dirty Dog

 

Making a "red balloon" association with Goodnight Moon

Video with communicating animal sounds from a favorite page-turner

 

Boys caught together in their room

 

Long live reading! Love my lil' bookworms.