Letters to Aden: 22 Months

Aden,

You're 22 months old now! We have officially reached the stage when it becomes conversationally awkward to refer to your age by months.

Stranger: "Oh! How old is your [adorable] boy?"

Me: "He's twenty-two ... he'll be two in November."

Even I'm starting to forget the number of months you are!

You definitely act like an almost two-year-old. I was making lunch the other day and turned around to find you already sitting in your free-standing high chair. Somehow, you found a way to climb up there all by yourself. I walk by the bathroom at least 10 times a day and find water running from the faucet of the sink. A classic sign: "Aden was here." You're also tall enough now to open most of the doors in our house (stupid lever handles!) which means we have to keep the locks to outside engaged at all times. At the cabin, you can even push open the sliding glass doors if they aren't locked. You are observant and curious -- it's my job to make sure those qualities don't land you in trouble!

Speaking of climbing, you're also working hard this month to master the stairs. You're not interested in sitting or scooting down them any longer, but prefer to hold onto the railing and walk up and down. Sweetly, you started giving me kisses this month and also love handing out high-fives and "knucks" to others.

It was a month of several "firsts" and "lasts" for you. I stopped feeding you toddler formula with baby bottles this month, and now you're exclusively drinking soy milk via sippy cups. I thought the transition would be more difficult, but you only cried for a "baa baa" at one nap time, and then never asked for it again. You haven't been sleeping the greatest this month anyway, so I figured now was as good as a time as any to switch up your routine.

You were sick quite a bit this month, and that could've been to blame for your poor sleep. Daddy and I left you with a babysitter overnight for the first time in August while we went on a fishing trip in Canada. During that time, you came down with a case of the flu. Of course, you were alright but I felt terrible afterwards when I learned you'd been sick. You caught your first ear infection a few weeks later. You were MISERABLE for several days until the antibodics kicked in. Very little sleep and lots of fussing on your part this month. It's safe to say, you've been stuck to me like bees on honey.

Another big milestone this month was your first haircut! I was absolutely in love with your long blond curls this summer, but they seemed to disappear with the change in seasons and absence of humidity in the air. Suddenly, those precious tresses turned straggly-looking and I decided it was time for a trim. You were NOT PLEASED about getitng a haircut, but the end result is really too cute for words. I love how grown up you look now, and can't believe how much you resemble Tory now with shorter hair.

 
Finally, let me put on my proud mama hat and say how amazed I am by your intelligence. Your favorite book right now is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and you chant the words to the book along with me as I read it to you. Of course, it's a bit difficult to actually understand the words you're saying, but the rhythmic tone is there. You can also count 1-10 and have started increasing to 11, 12, 13 on occasion. I attribute this skill to Tory who constantly seems to be counting something. Apparently, you're listening and learning right along with her.

There is a huge soft-spot in my heart for you, Aden Boy. I love you so much. Thank you for being YOU!

XOXO,
Mom

38/52: A Weekly Photo Series

I started this weekly photo challenge to learn how to use our Canon 7D DSLR camera. It's been nine months since I began, and I think I've successfully achieved my goal to at least learn the basics of photography. I still have a long way to go, but am more interested than ever to continue onward.

In the fall, I usually hire a professional photographer to take pictures of Tory and Aden around their birthdays, and to capture a family portrait for our holiday cards. But in the last few years, I haven't been overly pleased with the photographs we've received. That, and taking staged family photographs is a stressful task! All that effort put into outfit coordination and location identification with the smallest glimmer of hope that at least one photo will turn out. I started to think Andi and I could take equally good (if not better photos!) of the kids by ourselves. Taking our own family photographs also gives us the flexibility to snap as many photos as we like in the relaxed environment of our family's own time. Since we already own all the camera equipment, the only cost is my personal effort in taking and editing photos.

With that in mind, I typically carry my DSLR camera everywhere I go. See what I mean about me being an amateur photographer? I don't wait until the light is just right or for the perfect scene -- I simply capture the moment at hand.

Tory, Aden and I had a free morning today, so I decided to take them to a local park just down the road from our house. We don't usually visit this park because it's playground equipment is too advanced for toddlers, but it contains beautiful wooded trails and a lake / beach. Tory looked so cute today in her pink tutu dress today and Aden, too, in his new khaki overalls. The air just felt like 'fall' today, so I thought it'd be a good time to take some fall season photos. At the last minute, I tossed the FarmAll tractor that was my grandpa's into the back of the SUV ... just in case I spotted a good place to take pictures.  

I think we had the entire park to ourselves on this chilly, partly cloudy morning. I found a grassy spot by the lake and let Tory and Aden loose to run free. And while they did, I stood back and snapped away with my camera.

Together, they watched flocks of geese fly over head ...

And, Tory demonstrated her best ballerina twirls ... 

Seriously, could they be any more adorable?

We had a really fun, relaxing morning taking photographs -- just the three of us.

Labor Day Weekend 2015: Summer's Last Hurrah

Memorial Day weekend brings the promise of warm weather days at the lake while Labor Day weekend signals the end of summer fun. Superficially speaking, of course. It's not like we won't have more happy memories at the cabin this year, but nothing compares to the absolute joy of summer. It's our family's favorite time of the year.

Fortunately, we were able to sneak in one last summer hurrah over Labor Day weekend when my parents, my sister and my brother traveled from Nebraska for a visit. It was their best trip to our Wisconsin cabin to date. I've been trying to pin-point exactly what made their visit so wonderful, and I think it might've been because there were no other celebrations happening that weekend to steal our focus. Together we ate, drank, relaxed and socialized for three days. It was lovely.

My sister Ashley, her husband Jason, and their daughters Brooke and Neeley were first to arrive to the cabin on Friday afternoon. The weather was warm and sunny, so we spent the evening outdoors where the kiddos ran wild. There really is something special about family, isn't there? Even when these cousins don't see each other for months at a time, they all pick up right where they left off.

 
My brother and his girlfriend Carley arrived a bit later Friday evening. We realized it was the first time in our adult lives the three of us - Ashley, Adam and I - had spent time together without our parents. We had to laugh because it felt like we were getting away with something!

That night, we all ate dinner together and the boys may have had a few too more cocktails. Ha! We let the girls stay up way past their bedtimes and then Andi decided to take them "froggin'" in the backyard of the cabin. They caught four frogs and toads using nets and flashlights, and the rest of us listened as Brooke, Neeley and Tory squealed with glee. They were having the time of their lives.

One of the tree frogs clung to the sliding glass door, and then Andi brought it into the cabin so the girls could each hold it in the light. Of course, the creature jumped away from one of them and all the guys proceeded to chase it around the living room. Finally, Jason lifted up the sofa and Andi snagged it with a net - phew!

Early Saturday morning, Ashley and I woke up before the rest of the crew and decided to take our coffee to-go on a paddle boat ride around the bay. It was so nice to spend quality un-interrupted time with my sister. We're used to talking on the phone, FaceTime-ing or sending text messages, so having the opportunity to sit next to one another and chat was priceless.

After breakfast, everyone piled into the pontoon for a trip around the lake. Boat rides are old hat for Tory and Aden, so it was fun to see Brooke and Neeley's faces light up with excitement. Like most kids, they loved having the chance to drive the boat and eat unlimited snacks.

My parents arrived to the cabin early Saturday afternoon, and together we all spent the afternoon soaking up the (partly cloudy) sunshine. The lake water temperature is already pretty cold -- too chilly for me to swim any longer! -- but the kids didn't seem to mind.

Fishing was a big hit with the adults and kids alike. My sister spent most of the afternoon in the paddle boat with one or more kids in tow, fishing around the bay.

My brother's girlfriend, Carley, brought her hammock to the cabin, and Andi hung his in the trees next to hers. Both Brooke and Tory were enamored with hammocking all weekend and could often be found lounging in one or both of them. It was too cute!

Sunday morning, we woke up to rainy weather so everyone lounged around indoors. Adam and Ashley brought their birthday gifts for Tory, so she opened those and then the kids played with the new toys. Ashley gave Tory two new Barbies and a Barbie car, and Adam gave Tory a Connect Four game and a make-your-own-puppet set. I turned one of the dining room table benches on its side and the kids used it as a stage for their puppet show.

To kill time and appease my sister, we all ventured to the Cheese Factory down the road from the cabin to shop around. When we returned to the cabin, the rain had stopped. The air temperature was actually really warm and humid despite it being cloudy outdoors. We played in the lake for the rest of the afternoon.

Tory and her best buddy, Adam.

Lisa and Morgan (our cabin neighbors) dropped by on their jet ski and Lisa offered to take Tory and Brookie for a ride around the lake. The girls were so excited!

We ordered broasted chicken to-go from The County Line Tavern for dinner, and Andi and my dad went to pick it up at dinnertime. While we waited for the food to arrive, Carley and Aden started dancing around the living room to music playing in the background. Soon, all the kids started dancing with them and eventually the rest of us joined too. My family is not a group of dancers AT ALL, so it was all very strange but also really fun.

After dinner, we put the kids to bed and then my sister and her husband, my brother and his girlfriend, and Andi and I scooted out to The County Line for their annual Labor Day weekend party. The bar hired a band for the evening and we continued the dance party there. It was SO MUCH FUN. One of the highlights of my summer, for sure.

Bright and early Monday morning, my family packed up their cars and headed back to Nebraska. Andi and I were each nursing a pair of hangovers or suffering from weekend exhaustion, if nothing else. We stayed up too late the night before! So, Andi and I did what we always do at the lake -- we loaded Tory and Aden onto the pontoon boat with snacks and juice boxes and took a long, leisurely boat ride around the lake. There had to be one hundred seagulls on the lake that Labor Day Monday. I'd never seen so many on the water. The four of us had a fun time watching them all fly around. 

More hammock-lounging later that day ...

And, Tory and I snuck in a few dozen rounds of Connect Four lake-side that afternoon.

My heart felt heavy saying good-bye to summer, but it sure when out with a bang. What a wonderful Labor Day holiday weekend at the lake. 

Letters to Tory: 4 Years

Tory,

You're four years old now! I know it's cliche, but I can hardly believe it's been four years since you made me a mom. Every fall, I'm flooded by memories of your early baby days. I remember wandering around our house in a sleep-deprived state, still in utter disbelief God had entrusted your dad and I with this precious baby girl to raise. What they say is true -- the days are long, but the years are short. Here we are, four years later, rocking this momma / daughter thing!

You are the absolute light of my life, Tory. We spend nearly every minute of every day together and yet, I still miss you the minute to fall asleep for the night. You're my side-kick, my constant companion, and I love you to pieces.

As I re-read the letter I wrote to you at 3 1/2 years old, I couldn't help but notice how much you've matured in the last six months. Physically, you look like a little girl now -- no longer a trace of babyhood. The chub in your cheeks is gone, your hair is styled differently now, and your legs have grown about a mile since the winter. Perhaps, even more noticeable is your personality and the way carry yourself through everyday life. You're confident, responsible, thoughtful, loving and interested in the world around you.

The last six months or so have been a breeze with you. Dare I acknowledge that fact aloud or you'll likely turn into a pumpkin at midnight, but it's true! Ninety-nine percent of the time you are an absolute joy to be around. You're smart, funny and inquisitive. You're a great help around the house and excellent at following directions. In fact, this is one of things most adults tell me after spending time with you -- how well you listen to instruction and follow along accordingly. You're able to perform many daily tasks on your own now, like getting yourself dressed in the morning and clearing your own plate after meals. You're also really great at entertaining yourself, which is wonderful since you're no longer taking a nap during the day. You'll quietly sit and play dollhouse in the living room, or paint at the dining room table for quite some time on your own.

You've just started preschool again this fall, and absolutely love going to school. You have the same teacher and classroom as last year, and there hasn't been any issue with separating from me like previous years. As a mother, it's an awesome feeling to see you strut into school with a smile on your face. This fall, you also started gymnastics class and afterwards when I asked if you liked it, you said "I didn't like it, I LOVED IT!" That's music to a mama's ears; I just want you to be happy, Tory Girl.

GROWTH
At your recent yearly well-child doctor's visit, you measured in at 38 inches tall and 32 pounds. You were the perfect patient, Tory, answering all the doctor's questions about yourself and cooperatively participating in a hearing and vision test. You currently wear size 4T clothing and size 8 shoes. You prefer to wear only dresses (with shorts or leggings underneath) and nightgowns.

SLEEP
For once in your life, sleep is a pleasant topic of discussion! You no longer take an afternoon nap and make it through most days without any major meltdowns from exhaustion. You typically go to bed around 8:00pm (asleep by 8:30pm) and wake up around 7:00am. Over the summer, you got in the habit of sleeping in late some mornings -- sometimes staying in bed until 8:30am! Very rarely do you wake up during the night anymore, and have started verbalizing when you're tired by saying something like, "Can I close my eyes for a little bit?" Best of all, you've learned how to roll over and go back to sleep on your own when something (or someone, ahem, Aden) wakes you up before you're ready. Sleep is finally going well for you, and I'm so glad.

MILESTONES
Recently, you learned how to pedal a tricycle and this has been a key factor in gaining independence and confidence. You can now ride your trike to the neighborhood park and back, no longer limited to walking or riding in the stroller with Aden. For some reason, it was really hard for you to grasp the concept of pedaling forward with continuing momentum. One day this summer, I took you to the park where you rode your tricycle around on a flat basketball surface and it just clicked. You got it!

One thing I've noticed about this age is your interest in drawing pictures, specifically family portraits. All of your drawings look the same -- you draw a circle for a person's head and two long vertical lines downward for legs. Then, you draw several horizontal lines above the circle head for the person's hair. There are no bodies and no arms or legs. Sometimes, you'll draw eyes and a mouth "if there's room." I can't get enough of these little drawings of yours. I think I've saved a dozen of them!

You now recognize all the letters of the alphabet, and your handwriting is coming along well. With assistance, you can spell words of your own and easily write your own name T-o-r-y. You like to count to 100 and can reach number 39 before you have to ask, "What comes next?" When someone gives you the next prompt (i.e.: "40"), you'll continue to count along until you're stuck again. Funny enough, you're teaching Aden to count without even realizing it. He chimes in with numbers 1-20.

FAVORITES
Right now, your favorite television show is Octonauts. You'll watch back-to-back episodes of that show and know all sorts of interesting facts about sea creatures because of it. Recently, you've also started to watch Doc McStuffins again, and specifically request the "Doc is sick" episode where the main character has the flu. I suspect it's because you like to make-believe playing hospital with your dollhouse and princess figurines. For your fourth birthday, you received Barbie dolls, a Barbie mansion, a play hospital and an ambulance so now you're really able to set the scene.  

THINGS TO DO
This summer, you've enjoyed going to various parks in the area and having picnics outdoors. You made up the cutest names for all the usual playgrounds we visit based on their characteristics -- the wood chip park, the tunnel park, the sand park, etc. You took a ballet class this summer which you really enjoyed. You also like doing arts & crafts (mostly water-color painting, ink stamping and cutting paper with a scissors). Most of all, you love spending time at the lake cabin and had an awesome summer swimming in the lake, jet skiing, tubing behind the pontoon and building sandcastles. What an awesome place to spend your childhood!

FOOD
You're a hearty, but selective eater. You eat mostly butter and jelly sandwiches, chicken fries, frozen waffles, yogurt, grapes and bananas. We have the hardest time getting you to eat "family meals" with us, and any vegetable other than corn is a no-go. I wish you'd be more adventurous in eating, but most days I just don't feel like battling you on the matter. Recently, I have been successful in convincing you to at least try one bite, but you practically gag on whatever food it is I'm insisting you try before you even get it into your mouth. You've usually made your mind up that it'll taste horrible and wouldn't admit to liking it even if you did.

PLAYMATES, FRIENDS and FAMILY   
Ask you and you'll say your best friends are Ashley (who lives in Kentucky) and Hannah (your friend at the lake cabin). You've also developed a friendship with Sophie from ECFE preschool last year and specifically requested she attend your princess birthday party last month. Grandma Janie continues to be your favorite person on Earth, and you soak in every bit of attention she shows you. Of course, Aden is your constant playmate and little buddy. The two of you have a sweet sibling relationship, and he looks up to you with so much adoration.

Finally, I thought it'd be fun to continue the tradition of "interviewing" you on your fourth birthday. Here's what you had to say about life these days:

How old are you today? Four.

Where do you live? In Minnesota.

What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Go skiing because we went skiing a really long time ago.

What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Make crafts.

What is your favorite thing to do with Aden? Play baby stuff with him.

What is your favorite color? Pink. Pink, pink, pink!

Who is your best friend? Ashley.

What is your favorite book? Picture of Ashley (A Shutterfly book I made of the two girls together).

What is your favorite food to eat? Cupcakes.

What is your favorite thing to play? Dollhouse.

Where is your favorite place to go? The cabin.

What is your favorite song? The ABC's

If you could buy anything at the store, what would it be? I don't know.

What is your favorite animal? Zebra.

What would you like to do when you grow up? Be a mommy.

What do you want to do on your birthday? Eat cupcakes.

------

Here's to a great year being FOUR! Can't wait to experience it all with you.

XOXO,
Mom

Tory's First Day of Preschool (2015-2016)

'Tis the season; it's back to school time!

Tory is enrolled in a two-day preschool program again this year. In fact, it's the same classroom and the same teacher she had last year. While many of Tory's peers moved on to various three day/week programs, I stood firmly in my decision to keep Tory in this program for another year. This was for a couple of reasons:

1) First, Tory has a late August birthday which means last year (and the year before that), she was the very youngest kid in her classroom. Some of the students were almost an entire year older than she was, and it was evident by their physical differences in size, large motor skills (like knowing how to skip or pedal a bicycle, for example), and in their willingness to separate from their parents during class how immature she was. Yet, there were many other ways Tory was on par or more advanced than her classmates.

This year, I wanted Tory to have the opportunity to be one of the older kids in her classroom; to truly see where she fit in best. This year's experience will help Andi and I decide if we should send Tory to kindergarten next year as a young five-year-old, or wait two more years and enroll her as a young six-year-old. Tory loves this school and her classroom so I know, if nothing else, she'll excel in an environment where she feels safe and supported.

2) Selfishly, my second reason for enrolling Tory in the same two day/week preschool program is to keep our family's extracurricular commitments to a minimum. Our days together in the official "pre-schooling" years are fleeting, and I want to spend as much time at home with Tory as possible. Over the course of the year, Tory and Aden participate in gymnastics, music, swimming, play dates with friends, and trips to the cabin where they play and explore outdoors so I think it's safe to say, their learning environment is far from limited to the experiences she (or someday, he) have in school.

So! As I said, my mind was fairly made up to keep Tory in the same two day/week preschool program this year. Tory has the same teacher, Ms. Janna, and she couldn't wait to go back to school this fall to see her. All I heard for the weeks leading up to school starting again was, "Is it fall-time? How many more days until I get to see Ms. Janna?" My girl was beyond excited.

And, I have to admit, if felt pretty awesome (for both Tory and I) to march into the preschool building on that bright and sunny September morning and see a familiar classroom and a welcoming face.

       
Of course, all the children in Tory's class are new this year so that makes this school year different than last year. The curriculum is the same, but I'm not worried about it being too boring for her because kids love knowing what to expect (at least Tory does). Tory's teacher already committed to tailoring the preschool lessons to Tory's skill level, so she won't be repeating the same instruction all over again. It's not like she was some sort of expert of the alphabet at four-years-old anyway! So far (one week into the school year!), it's smooth sailing. Hallelujah for easy-breezy beginnings!