Cousins

When we arrived in Utah my dad dubbed Michael "the marauding band of one." Then Jax started moving and the band doubled in size - and impact. Its numbers have doubled yet again as Cari and her kids came into town last week. We've all been having such fun together! In addition to roaming the house, looting and plundering, the kids have been lucky to have a steady supply of snow to play in.


We have also learned that Kaden and Lucas are very imaginative and active - opening a whole new arena of childplay for Michael, Jax, and me. So far we have eaten our favorite icecream made by Kade's invention (the "Kadenator 2000"), pretended to squirt each other in the eyes with water (does this game make it obvious that, when Gavin comes down to visit, we have four boys under the age of five at the house?) and done lots of tumbling and dancing. We've also had time for a few calm activities (which are far more easily photographed) like reading, coloring, and playing with Grandma's stickers.



After Jax grew accustomed to the noise and chaos she wanted to jump right in. Lucky for her, the kids really love her and try to be very careful when she is around.

2007 In Review

I put together a slide show to celebrate the past year! (Well, okay, after my sister gave me the idea - so she didn't have to scroll through all the posts to look at the pictures...)

In the spirit of the season, I also wanted to list some of my favorite things that happened this year with the kids.

Michael

• When hearing the poem where the dish runs away with the spoon, Michael had something important to add: “Dirty spoon.”
  
• One day Michael and I passed a horse trailer. He pointed to it and said, "The car dropped off the trailer!"
  
• After excitedly sharing his full name with everyone all day long, Michael decided his name was getting old and he wanted a different one. What would he prefer? "Yellow. And Purple."
  
• Michael’s deep question that he sometimes ponders aloud: “But why, why does the cheese stand alone?” (hi-ho, the derry-o…)

Jax

• After giving Jax vegetables for several weeks she showed me how much she hated the sweet flavor of applesauce - shooting me an expression I would have expected if I'd fed her a lemon.
• Hearing Jax “talk” in her sleep early one morning (raspberries). Jax working so hard for days to turn over from her back to her stomach, always having such a problem with her head.
  
• Getting help from Jax during our game. We grab her leg as she crawls and then pull her back toward us. After one or two pulls she’ll crawl away at break-neck speed for a few "steps" and then come to a complete stop, leaving one leg behind for us to grab.
  
• Saying “la, la, la” one morning when I noticed Jax watching my mouth intently - then having her say it back to me.

Christmas!

Christmas is so fun with kids! This year Michael enjoyed everything about Christmas, and thought it was quite amazing that Santa came to the house to fill the stockings (and ate all the cookies, and drank all the milk!). He loved unwrapping gifts from friends and family, each gift so thoughtful and fun, and even waited patiently as we unhooked all the crazy twist-ties that hold toys so securely in their packaging...

Jax got into the action, too, with an added enjoyment: eating the wrapping paper (should we have been surprised?).

We also enjoyed all the Christmas lights hung on houses in our area. The owners of one home nearby have their lights designed by a professional company that links the whole set-up to Christmas songs on the radio. We visited this home several times, as Michael was always asking to go see the "blinking, blinking, blinking lights."

Entertainment at Grandma and Grandpa's House

When Michael was three weeks old he heard an organ playing for the first time and his little soul searched around excitedly for the source of the amazing sound. Since then his interest in musical instruments of all sorts has only increased, and he's been in heaven trying out all of his grandparents' old castaways. In a show of how much his tastes have broadened, he especially enjoys playing backup to Uncle Scott's Wii Electric Guitar...

A few days ago we attended Scott's high school music program. Michael was transfixed throughout the entire show (this was, quite honestly, a big surprise. I had expected to take him home after about three songs - thinking that he would be unable to sit still and quiet for the length of the show). One of the performances included a cello solo, which Michael thought was amazing, and now the violin doubles as a cello at times.

Jax, too, loved the show and kept jumping up and down to dance with the music, spicing things up a bit with an occasional turn. I should have expected her dancing - when we're at home she has a seemingly involuntary bounce that starts the moment music is turned on.

In addition to enjoying all sorts of music, the kids have also been enjoying their introduction to television. Michael's high anticipation of our new "Monday Movies" (fans of "The Office" may appreciate the reference) seem to be helping him learn the days of the week.

Snow, Snow, Snow

We're out in Utah and thoroughly enjoying the snow! Michael and I made a snowman, and I learned a lot about snowman-making-with-children through this experience:

1) Don't expect much help until it gets really interesting (Michael only wanted to help once the snowball got really big and he could help roll it).

2) Once it gets interesting, don't expect the child's interest to last long (I got only about five or ten minutes out of Michael while making the base snowman, then he went inside).

3) If you make the base large enough to get the child's interest, and you're a weakling, expect immense difficulty getting the other two pieces of the snowman on top!

I also learned that it is worthwhile to have the face-makings picked out in advance. After the snowman had been built, I enlisted my brother Scott to help complete the snowman with whatever we could find. If you look closely you'll see two huge rocks (recently dug out of the cold ground) for eyes, a baby carrot for a nose (which pretty much disappeared the next day when it snowed again) and several pieces of celery shaping a mouth. Scott also learned that branches (snowman arms) pulled directly out of a tree can dump a whole lot of snow on an unsuspecting person...

Despite not knowing all these going into it, we all had a really good time building the snow man, and again the next night when Michael and I threw snowballs at a tree to watch them splat, and then chased each other around the snowman throwing snow at each other. Jax stayed inside and looked at us longingly almost the whole time!

How did Jax watch us longingly? Because she crawled! She made the first right-left crawling motion the day we arrived in Utah, and quickly turned "pro." Whenever we were outside she would hurry over to the long window and push herself up to standing so that she could look outside. Our little girl is mobile!

Arrival in Salt Lake City

Wow - flight with two young children is CRAZY! Thanks to a huge amount of help from Mel and Cherry, who accompanied us on their way to a wedding (and got us some fabulous seats in first-class!), we made it to Utah alive and with minimal battle wounds. It was a close call, though, because I was a total idiot and left Michael's car seat in the car rather than bringing it on board with us (I have no excuse but stupidity). All through the security line (which is a long time indeed) I was dwelling on images of families being kicked off planes because their young children refused to stay seated... Thankfully Michael did alright - and I plan to buy a car seat while we're out here so that he's well-secured during the return flight!

Even though it hadn't been long since we'd been here last, both Jax and Michael had a tough time adjusting. Jax was just beginning to experience separation anxiety before we arrived and wouldn't leave my sight (and often my arms) for the first week. Michael did better, but his concern for Jax was apparent. Little by little, though, they began to have fun and overcome their fears!

Playing at Home

Jax is quickly upgrading her position from Michael's "baby" and becoming his playmate. This month the two of them developed some new games, one where they play tug-of-war with a soft soccer ball, and another where Michael pulls Jax in her "car" using a jump rope. The two of them have so much fun together. Jax doesn't yet move enough to steal Michael's toys, so there haven't been any altercations yet!

Jax is starting to move a little bit, though. Instead of doing a normal crawl she break-dances across the floor by tucking her knees up next to her elbows and tumbling forward. I've also seen her reach a toy that was too far in front of her by turning a half circle, backing up to it, and then turning back around (she's quite the industrious little thing). As for true crawling, right now she can't decide if it has to do with her knees or her feet - but she's quite sure that it has nothing at all to do with her arms!