I Think I Saw A Putty Tat

VIDEO0105.3gp Watch on Posterous

Now that Rooney is in Kindergarten full day Ailbe and I can start doing our own things together.  One of the things I signed her up to do is gymnastics at Aryal's (formerly known as Gym Starz).  You may recall that Rooney was taking classes here and he learned alot.  Even got up to a cartwheel this summer.  After going to Rooney's classes her entire life and then being able to do Open Gym some days Ailbe kind of figured out what to do.  Once Rooney started his school I signed her up for classes this September and she is really taking off.  Today was the first day I didn't really need to assist her. She's getting really good at climbing (which I am not sure is a great idea since she is still in her crib), jumping and following directions.  Pip is a little more shy than Rooney so today she did get a little upset when she realized Mom wasn't standing next to her but she was a trooper and carried on with her beloved seat drops.  She talked about seat drops the whole way to class today. That was good because it took her mind off of her cat "tat" stamps she got in class on Friday.  She loved them so much, and wanted to look at that so much, that Mike had to roll her pant legs so she could see/show them off on Saturday (she proceeded to talk about them Sat, Sunday, Monday and still today).  She finished off class today with bubbles, a rousing rendition of Tony Chestnutt (which I definitely need to get on video) and 5 butterfly stamps.  Enough to keep any girl very tired and happy!

VIDEO0106.3gp Watch on Posterous

Look Who The Comedian Is Now

VIDEO0104.3gp Watch on Posterous

I know! I know! I am months, possibly a year behind in posts. The kids are still alive (you were wondering weren't you?), still growing and still cute.

I used to worry when Ailbe was a baby that she might get kind of looked over compared to Rooney. He has such a huge personality and fearlessly not shy that I worried she may be some kind of shrinking violet when around other people. Well thankfully I can see that will not be the case with Pip. She is definitely her own person and it is absolutely chockful of spit fire personality.

As evidenced by this video I think Rooney may be doing a little coaching.

A guy walks into a tire store...

This past July, I blew out a tire on the freeway. I got off, and changed the tire over to the spare:

Rooney really liked the spare tire look, so he was pretty disappointed when I told him we were going to go to Costco to get new tires that very evening.
We got to the tire center, and there were a couple of customers ahead of us. 20 minutes later, we finally got called to the front of the shop.
"How can I help you?" the guy asked.
Rooney bounced up to him. "We need 3 more spare tires, please!"

Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?

There are many moments when you feel proud as a parent but one of the most rewarding (so far) is when you realize your child has learned something you tried to teach them. There are two instances of this happening in this blog post and both happened moments apart.

First moment came when Rooney and I were counting his saved allowance. Roon really wants to buy a Puffle. For awhile now in an attempt to teach Rooney about money, what things cost and what it means to earn something you want we have been giving him an allowance. To buy things he wants he can use his allowance and or add it to a Wish List for birthdays, Christmas etc. We were counting his allowance & I told him he probably needed about $10. As I was counting I told him I thought he just had a little over $5. I didn't catch it at the moment but he replied "Oh this is going to take forever to get 5 more dollars!". I knew he knew some math but I was impressed.  Since he didn't have enough money I told him maybe he could earn some. Mike was mowing the lawn so I sent him outside to see if Mike had a job for him to do to earn some moolah. Mike gave him a job of raking which is what Rooney is doing in this pic.

In the meantime Renae texted me to see if Rooney could play with Felix. I figured Rooney's raking job wouldn't be too long so I said sure. When Rooney was done raking Mike said that there really wasn't enough of a job for him to do for $5 but would pay him $1. I told Rooney that Aunt Renae asked if he could play and that maybe he could earn some loot when he got home. Then he had his own great idea he was going to ask Uncle Dana if he had any jobs to earn $4 more dollars!

Maybe he learned 3 things here.

A Time For Smooches

VID_20110317_172642.3gp Watch on Posterous

Yay Ailbe has learned how to say No and give kisses. Thankfully she didn't say No to Momma's kisses.

What's Soft and White and Pink All Over?

Last week marked another milestone for Ailbe.  This is a milestone that many of us in this Wade house have never reached...our first broken bone. 

I recently noticed that Ailbe was starting to throw her leg over her crib rail when I would stand next to the crib.  I mentioned to Mike that we should probably drop the mattress down to its lowest level, but since Rooney never really crawled out of his crib (and certainly not at 16mo.) I didn't think too much about it.  I even snapped a few pics of her with her leg over because I thought it was kind of funny.  Of course it all came back to bite me (and Ailbe) in the ass when last Wednesday after Ailbe was put down for the night Mike heard her crying  I don't think she was wailing and normally Mike probably would have let her cry a bit to see if she would console herself, but this time he went in and found her on the floor.

I was in the middle of supervising Rooney in the shower when Mike brought her in.  Mike had hurt his forearms in a freak gym accident so when he asked me to unzip her sleep sack I thought it was too help him because he couldn't.  Ailbe was kind of crying but I was flipping her around trying to get her out of Mike's arms and trying to unzip the sleep sack for him.  I thought he was just going to change her diaper but as I was juggling her around he asked me to look at her elbow and then told me he found her on the floor. 

I got her out of her sack and checked her arm.  I noticed she was grabbing her taggie blanket and pacifier.  She was holding onto me but was also grabbing her right hand with her left.  I kept inspecting but it did not appear anything was broken.  I was going to take her to the ER, then I wasn't, then I was, then I wasn't.  I just wasn't sure.  Eventually I decided to wait until the morning because she could move her hand & grab things so I thought maybe it was just sore and/or bruised.  Rooney had the longest shower of his bathing career and Ailbe went down for the night.

The next morning when I noticed she was reluctant to use her right hand to help herself stand up I decided to see the MD.  Pip was not crying too much and at times she would giggle.  I still wasn't sure if anything was broken but I thought she might come home with a splint or the MD might say that she had a hairline fracture in her hand.  It was a long afternoon at the MD's but after a couple of x-rays it turns out Pip broke both the bones in her wrist.  She ended up with a cast on her right arm that extends from above her elbow to the first digit on her fingers. After the first afternoon Ailbe stop noticing the cast (and stopped walking in circles) and may have even found some benefits to it such as bopping Rooney on the head.

Cast Shmast.  What broken wrist?  As you can see from the video below she's adapting pretty well.  Only 3 more weeks to become a permanent lefty.

Homemade Heeleys

Download now or watch on posterous

VID_20110226_112906.3gp (16750 KB)

What can't a little 3M Scotch tape and a 5 year olds ingenuity create? Rooney came in at 7:30am to share this little gem of an idea with us. There were doubters in the house but Rooney knew better.

Peanut Butter Goatee

VID_20110222_084332.3gp Watch on Posterous

I was taking a random video of Ailbe here. She does alot of cute things so sometimes I remember to get my camera and sometimes she continues to do the cute thing I got the camera for. I can't remember what she was doing for me to take this video but after rewatching it I am pretty sure she said the word "banana". I didn't catch it at the time and even correct her (which I feel like a jerk for now) but see if you can catch it.

Crayons Are For More Than Eating

Ailbe decided to take a little break from her hour long snack session to draw a little picture. Right now her drawings are just a series of lines but she seems to be doing a great job holding the crayon and her first impulse was not to put it in her mouth. Just her second.

Backstroking

Download now or watch on posterous

VID_20110215_172512.3gp (15842 KB)

Rooney is ongoing in his swimming lessons. Here he is demonstrating his fabulous backstroke. He does such a great job when he is in class. In swimming and karate I can see the difference in his maturity. Makes a Momma proud!

Ailbe Contributes to the Art Wall

Last week I wrote about AMAT's Drop In Art Class. Today we went again, just me and Ailbe, to make drip paint heart garlands for Valentine's Day. Pip really loved using the little dropper we used to drip the color and she also loved trying to dip her little fingers in the color too! We did dress for a mess but thankfully we didn't have any spills. We did have a tumble however, off the chair Ailb's was standing on. She brushed it off no prob. Ailbe is battling a cold and even though she was obviously not feeling up to par no amount of snot could stop her from her beautiful craft.

Pip did a great job and now her crafts can be posted on the art wall right next to her big bro's.

A Craftsy Chinese New Year

Today was going to Momma and Ailbe day @ Creative Mom Toys but a resurgence of Rooney's cough kept him out of preschool and made it a family outing (almost). AMAT recently set-up a Storytime and Art/Craft drop-in with some friends and their businesses. I am excited about expanding our group into the surrounding businesses because I feel this could be a baby step into more family friendly places and giving the valuable resource of the local moms more of a voice in the community. Plus we get to do something really fun with our kids. Here Rooney, Ailbe and I are making Chinese Dragon crafts for the Chinese New Year.

Winter Play

This is a picture of the first time Rooney and Ailbe were swinging together. I thought it was sweet because the time is starting, although probably brief, where they can actually start playing together.