Zoo, Park, News

We spent time at the zoo this week... so much time.
Not only did we have the annual members supper, which we went to with friends but we also went to the Farmers Union Family night, where Dad served Dinner. He wore a red shirt - which was the uniform of the evening. It was so odd to me to see him in public in a t-shirt. The meals were good but the Farmers Union one may have been better, Grady loved the homemade shredded beef, the homemade buns were a beautiful addition that I liked.

Other than that the week was fairly slow. Work occupied our time. We ran errands on the weekend. E now knows how to look for parks and constantly suggests that we go visit or points out ones that she'd like to play at. Grady likes the swings - he gets to giggling.

The other big news came out. We purchased two frames.. with three slots for pictures in each frame. We put Eleanor in one hole in both sets and Grady in another... this leaves the third slot open. We presented the parents with a frame each. Matt and I did find the response interesting. Michele and Randy commented on Eleanor's hair and how long it had been. Matt finally told them the third picture would come in February and then answered their question of because that's when the baby is coming.
My parents did pick up on it a little quicker, asking who the third slot was! Was good to start telling people.

First day back to daycare after a few days off.
MJR: Do you see this?
ALR: No, I've been running late this morning, what should I see?
MJR: Them.
ALR: What's wrong with them?
MJR: They are sleeping.
ALR: Still?
MJR: Yes. Weekend or day off and they pop out of bed between 6:30 and 7 and cry and beat on their doors and demand that we be awake but the day that they should be functioning there is no moving. 
ALR: I think this may be a preview of the rest of your life.
MJR: We are raising jerks.
ALR: Inconsiderate jerks.

Big Trucks, HFM, Siblings

It's been a big week at the Remynse house - not for one particular reason but because our street is finally being paved. That doesn't mean much to Matt and I BUT to Eleanor, that means a whole new set of traffic to watch and explain. Given the runway project that Matt has been watching and working on, his knowledge of construction has grown so he was able to explain things more in detail but to Eleanor, we had a simple explanation of what was going on... "Big Trucks."

What defines a Big Truck... anything larger than Dad's pickup or louder. Skidsteer = big truck, Semi = big truck, Grader = big truck, Roller = big truck... you get the point. We would watch them work on the road and even tell the crew "good job".. I'm not sure they appreciated the 2 year old praise or even heard it but it was said none the less. When they moved on to other streets, we would go for walks and look at the big trucks. And after they were done in our neighborhood, we know looked for them on drives around town. It was a life changing week.

Eleanor is also growing full well into her "independence" or bossiness or mothering. Now, when we play in her room, she will tell Matt or I to get into bed, and go to sleep. She will then cover us up with blankets, turn on the sound machine, shut off the light and proceed to yell at us to close our eyes and keep our head down... it's all very soothing.


We have spent a bit more time at home lately.. the kids came home with hand,
foot, and mouth. So that means a couple days away from the daycare. Not exactly what Matt and I were hoping for as our plates are full at work but it was also good to slow down with both kids. Grady got it worse than Eleanor with a full body rash and blistered broke open bumps. E got it too but I think all things considered we came out relatively unscathed. After fevers broke and an attempt to get out of the house, we took them to the universal park and even set up the pool.

Eleanor had some quality Dad time while Grady was down for a nap. He and her washed the car. She was so intent on helping. Made me smile to watch it all play out. While he moved around the vehicle pretty thoroughly, she was pretty consistent in one spot and would scrub for a bit, throw her rag into the bucket, pick it back up and scrub that spot again.. and repeat. That was all fine until after Matt rinsed and began drying and she continued to focus her scrubbing on the specific spot. I'd like to think of this as presoft skill training.

Grady has begun to grow out of his shell a bit more... his personality is coming through. While we are easily down to one nap a day, the boy has become a bottomless pit for food. I'm not sure where it is all going but he will shovel food that he likes into his mouth more than E or I at some meals. He likes meat, will tolerate vegetables, and downs all fruit. He is starting to cruise furniture and takes on the stairs easily - if we come after him, he thinks it's funny... will begin to laugh and will try to go up them faster. He's retained his easy going nature and is quick to laugh. Daycare constantly says what an easy keeper he is and joy in their room.

Their relationship and tether to each other has become more and more obvious as they grown. E continues to call him her Grady-boy. He follows her around, does all he can to get to her toys, and watches her constantly. One of the mornings Matt stayed home with them, he was getting ready and heard her talking and him talking... and then it dawned on him, it was the same room. She had gotten out of her room, went into his and crawled into his crib.

Smell comes across the room.
MJR: Who pooped?
EER: Grady-boy.
MJR: I don't think so, he just did a little bit ago. Was it you, Eleanor?
EER: NO! Grady-boy pooped!
It wasn't Grady-boy.

Fireworks

The Fourth of July - an American holiday that kids are excited for and watch the skies. Well, we thought that this year may be the year for that for us. However at 9:30 when Eleanor looked at us and told us that she was tired and wanted to go to bed, we determined it probably wasn't going to be this year.

 

We actually celebrated a little earlier... after all Independence Day is really a celebration of liberty so we decided for our sanity to celebrate on the 3rd. We went and bought fireworks and went out to Mom and Dad's for supper and lighting them off. The hard part about summer in North Dakota is that it doesn't get dark until 10:00 practically and I was not going to let off fireworks that we had spent good money on in the light. So I insisted we wait - much to Matt's dismay. Sure we had some other distractions - wagon rides, new kitties, and snacks - but my children were ready for the show to be on the road. Grady crashed pretty early, which was no surprise - that boy likes a consistent bedtime. And E thought the fireworks were okay - she liked the fountains the best. Her dad preferred the roman candles.  He only burned up part of his shirt. They both liked chasing after the parachute. Nothing like carrying a bucket around looking for fireworks remains in the yard.

The next day, we did things a bit differently. We slept in until 7:45 - that's huge and then relaxed around the house. We got the bubble machine going, played in the yard. It was lowkey - there will be future days with parades and picnics and whatnot but why not appreciate these simple years.

The day after, we headed down to the lake to wade in. We haven't spent much time in/at the lake this year, we've wanted to dump the paddle boat in and go for a ride but it hasn't worked out and swimming with Grady hasn't always been conducive... it was fun to see them enjoy just wandering around. Sure there's always one (or two) who has to wade in too deep and get a wet diaper - causing the fun to be over and a walk to the house.