A whole new world

Since we last checked in here, so much has changed!  We moved, of course, and are making our home in Michigan again.  At least, we are making our home in the Pannings home for the moment.  There is much that is new in our lives right now.  Here’s a brief glance:

Dad- New job!  Also working on getting a new car.  Sleeping in his childhood bedroom, though, so at least that isn’t new. 

Henry- Enjoying Atrium and Liturgy of the Word for Children at Christ the King, as well as Little Ninjas Karate for a few weeks.  He also just learned to ride his bike without training wheels, which is pretty new and exciting.  He loves the big backyard to play in.

Lucy- Loves the attention of so many doting relatives (but NOT the dogs).  She continues to sing and smile her way through life. 

Charlie- Is walking!  All over the place.  He’s also working on a couple new teeth.  And still refuses to sleep through the night in his own bed. 

And me?  Well, I’m doing the same old things, but in someone else’s home.  Snacks, diapers, library, shopping, bedtime fights, etc.  So grateful for a place to call home for a little while, but anxious to have a home of our own. 

So that’s where we are now.  We miss you,Virginia friends!  But it is nice to be “home.”

Celebrating 4 years!

We had such a nice time with Henry celebrating his 4th birthday.  After weeks (months) of counting down, he was so excited to finally have his special day.  The first thing I heard from his room yesterday morning was “It’s my birthday!”  We started the day with some blueberry pancakes and a special birthday t-shirt from Grandma and Grandpa Panning, then sent Henry outside to check out the new members of his “team.”  He had a great time introducing all the new trucks to the old ones and they seem to be settling in nicely to their new home. 

Henry requested tacos for lunch, then he opened another present, and we got ready for Mass.  (Incidentally, this was our LAST Mass in the parish center…  new church dedication is this week!  Henry even managed to injure himself on the makeshift kneelers one last time.)  Don’t miss the “I’m dressed like a priest outfit” in the pictures below. 

When we got home, it was cake time!  We made truck cakes last year, so when Henry asked for another construction-themed cake, I wasn’t super excited.  We had a set of toy trucks to give him, though, so Matt and I worked together to make a cake using the toy trucks.  We had fun, I found a new kind of frosting to love, and the kids played with the cake for a long time.  We finally had to take it away after an hour or so just so we could move on with our day.  The cake didn’t get a great glamour shot beforehand, but it was a cake made to be played with and it definitely served its purpose.  And was delicious. 

I should have gotten an “after” shot.  The demolition job accomplished by the trucks was pretty impressive.  They’ve all gotten a good bath and are happily playing with the other toys in the house. 

Henry opened a few more presents from his grandparents and Aunt Katie, then ran outside to play with the bubble machine and rocket launcher for the rest of the day.  We finished up with a few minutes of his new Bob the Builder movie, a round of Superhero Chutes and Ladders, and a much-needed soak in the bathtub. 

Crazies

Just a couple days until we have a four year old in the house.  How about some kid updates? 

Charlie

…is 8 months old.  He crawls and cruises all around the house and loves nothing more than climbing as fast as he can up the stairs.  If I come after him, he gives me a big grin and climbs faster.  Today he got all the way up the stairs while I was in the kitchen getting a glass of water.  He currently has 6 teeth, but always seems to be working on more.  Nicknames around here are plentiful, but a recent one that seems appropriate is Chuckles (or Mr. Chuckles).  He has two moods: crazy happy or desperately unhappy.  I prefer the former.  Fortunately, he has two entertainers in the house who think it’s great fun to make him laugh. 

One of the best things Mr. Chuckles does to entertain us is what we have dubbed the “banana dance.”  Here’s a video of an early version of it.  Now that he knows how much it makes us laugh, we can expect it at just about every meal and with great enthusiasm.  But not always with a banana.

Lucy

…is 2, potty-trained, and more than a little crazy.  She’s capable of being sweet and helpful, loud and whiny, silly, stubborn, and SO cute (all within a few seconds).  One of her favorite tricks is to get up in the middle of the night, cry loudly (right next to Charlie’s bed) that she needs to go potty (sure way to get me up quickly), and then sit on the toilet looking at me with an irresistibly sweet smile.  She loves to play with her brothers, read library books, and make up silly words to songs.  Some of her favorite characters: Dora, Ponies (any of the My Little Ponies), and the Wendy's: Wendy the Pooh and Wendy the Queen (you might know this one as Lightning McQueen).  And Curie the George.  She also calls giraffes bo-jraffes, asks Mary to “pray for us dinners,” and insists on praying for “going to mountains” every night at bedtime.  *edit: A couple more Lucy-isms from this morning: She chose to wear her “orbi-alls” (overalls) and asked for “key-butter and jelly” for breakfast. 

A conversation I had recently with Lucy while I was washing dishes:
Lucy: Mommy, I have a question.
Me: Ok, what’s your question?
Lucy: It’s about a joke.
Me: Oh? What’s your joke?
Lucy: It’s about dancing.
(dances off into the next room)

Henry

…is almost 4!  He still loves trucks and anything that involves dirt and digging.  He has what I like to call “selective hearing,” in that he listens carefully to everything we say, but only pays attention to a particular word or phrase that sounds interesting to him… not always heard correctly and not usually important.  But we can always count on him asking bizarre questions about what he thinks he’s heard.  He is excited about going back to school so that he can play with his friends, talks often about going to Disney World (and prays for it every night), and loves being a big brother.  Henry is my go-to babysitter when I need to run to the bathroom, kitchen, garden, or laundry room. He can keep Charlie entertained and off the stairs, which is my primary concern.  He pays a lot of attention to the world around him and we spend lots of time in the car talking about what street we’re on and where we’ll be turning next.  He’s also very interested in putting together his outfits each day.  His favorite outfits to dress in are: all black on Sunday (to look like a priest), all red (to look like Spiderman), or all blue.  Another fun(?) thing about Henry is that he is very interested in learning procedures.  Some time ago, I showed him how to count out 4 squares of toilet paper, fold it, and use it to wipe his bottom.  He is very meticulous about this (even at 4:30am this morning when he woke up “needing” to poop).  We have also had more than one *major incident* when he cried about his teeth turning yellow because we told him he couldn’t brush his teeth right at that moment. 

The Currency of Poop

From M&M’s to stickers to jelly beans to yelling loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear, I’ve tried a lot of different motivational strategies to help the kids learn how to use their underwear appropriately.  You may remember some of our frustration on that front a couple years back.  Well, we’re now facing a second battle.  Lucy has been (predictably) very different as a potty-trainee.  Some good, some bad.  For the most part, things have “clicked” pretty readily for her and I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about her having accidents.  She is perfectly happy to have jelly beans as her exclusive potty reward (I knew there was a reason I didn’t throw out the bag after Easter!).  Right now the rate of exchange for Lucy is as follows:

Pee in the potty: 1 JB
Put on own underwear after: +1 JB
Poop in the potty: 3 JB
Big brother does something useful in the process: 1 JB for him

One key to the success of this system is the fact that I think these particular jelly beans are gross and there’s no way I’d steal them from the stash. 

Henry, of course, has his own issues (yes, STILL).  While we’ve tried all manner of bribery, promises, threats, yelling, not yelling, etc., we just can’t seem to win this war.  Here’s my current system:

1 day with clean underwear (no poop): 1 book from library
1 week with clean underwear: +1 movie from library

This is a weekly system, with a weekly library trip included.  So far we’ve ranged from as low as 1 book all the way up to 6 books.  We’ve yet to hit our magic number of 7 and earn a movie.  I like this system because I don’t feel bad about the rewards, the goals are manageable and easy to keep track of, and it encourages me to make sure we get to the library once each week. 

The only thing currently missing from our system is the payment for Mommy.  I figure there ought to be some compensation for each pair of poopy underwear I have to hand-wash, every screaming child whose lower extremities I have to hose off in the shower, and particularly for every time it’s necessary to pull out the carpet cleaner to take care of a poop-tastrophe all over the basement (ahem, that would be today).  I initially thought that for each offense I ought to earn at least one glass of wine, but there are some days I look at the line-up of wet underwear in the bathroom and have to admit that we simply can’t keep enough wine in the house for that to work.  Oh well.  I guess we’ll just lump them all into one glass at the end of the day.  Now if only I didn’t have to smell poop on my fingers every time I took a sip. 

High Five with Charlie

1.  Crawling (for real now)

2.  Sitting (and the important transition of crawling-to-sitting, which I think he’s gotten way earlier than the other kids)

3.  Standing (I think that screaming from upstairs is Charlie standing in his crib)

4.  Splashing (suddenly baths are fun now that he’s in with the big kids and he can splash water with them)

5.  Eating (tonight’s favorites at the picnic we went to included watermelon and Popchips)

Happy 6 Months, Charlie!

I took this picture tonight, on Charlie’s 6 month birthday.  I think it says a lot about him. 

Happy
Mobile
Toothy
Scrawny
Spitty
Adventurous
Charming

He’s not eating a whole lot yet, mostly because I refuse to do cereals and I’m too lazy for purees.  He does like to gnaw on carrots (cooked), but his solid food diet consists mainly of paper and cardboard.  Charlie has been scooting around to his heart’s content for a while now, but is really anxious to be crawling on his knees.  Very soon, I think.  I’m anxious for him to stop ruining all of his white shirts by sliding around on his tummy.  He checked in at the doctor this morning in the 9th percentile for height and weight (but 50th for head).  He doesn’t have a whole lot to say, but he does love to screech.  He is sleeping in the bedroom with the other kids now, which is a bit of an adventure.  Charlie loves his siblings and they adore him.  It’s a fun time. 

April Updates

1.  Scooting

Charlie will be 5 months tomorrow.  He  is cheerful and fun and loves to watch his older siblings.  His favorite place much of the time is in the doorway jumper.  I think he has springs in his legs.  This is also the perfect spot for him because he can watch all the activity in the living room and dining room, which is where we spend most of our time when we’re inside during the day.  When he is out of the jumper, he has been spending more and more time on the floor (happily).  He can inch his way around, but just as often ends up going backwards as forwards.  Sadly, I will have to move him out of the co-sleeper soon because he keeps wedging himself into the corners. 

2.  Dropping (the Nap)

Lucy hasn’t been much interested in going down for an afternoon nap since she turned 2.  I don’t have the desire to fight over it, but clearly she still needs a little extra sleep in the afternoon.  If she doesn’t take a nap in the car or stroller, here’s where you might find her sometime in the afternoon:

dining room floor:

kitchen cabinet:

couch (good choice):

dining room table (most common):

3.  Recovering

Lucy recently had an adenoidectomy to help her breathe more easily.  We are fortunate that her huge adenoids were only interfering with her breathing and not causing some of the other problems that often go along with that (sinus infections, ear infections, etc.).  She did such a great job with the whole thing.  No crying at all, not going into the surgery or coming out of anesthesia.  She was a little extra-sleepy when we came home, but bounced back very quickly.  The next day, you’d never have known she’d just had surgery!  Lucy was very excited about her new Dora pjs (and slippers) and we did a few other special things for her to help make the process as unintimidating as possible.  I know she doesn’t look super excited in these pictures, but she really did do a great job.

4.  Gardening

Last weekend Matt replaced our old garden box with a pretty new one.  The kids helped me plant some vegetables in it and we did our best to make it “scary” for the birds.  Haha.  I will say that after a couple days of rain, we’ve had birds all around the yard but I haven’t seen any of them in the garden.  So maybe it’s working!