Owen 17 months?

Must do what Andrew is doing, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Ok, remember when I referred to Owen as fearless? We've learned a few new things about Owen in the last few months:

1) Owen is scared of cookie monster. When cookie monster goes crazy and actually eats the cookie with the intensity of a lioness bringing down a gazelle Owen gets a little freaked out and starts to cry.

2) Owen does NOT like big turbulence on an airplane. When we were on our approach into Kona, our plane did an exciting "drop" that Owen did not like one bit. I can't really blame him for that though because when it happened the lady next to me grabbed my arm and yelped a little bit. (Who knew that I would be the "strong" one in that situation?)

Owen still puts EVERYTHING in his mouth - sand, dirt, rocks, chalk...he does know better now though. When I catch him doing it, he immediately spits out what's in there and sticks out his tongue to prove it.

Bed time is tricky right now. He doesn't go down quietly, but I now let him cry for up to 15 minutes and he usually falls asleep in that amount of time.

He still loves to eat and will eat most things we put in front of him.

He's as active as his brother and can hold his own just fine in the Capron Smackdowns.

His drop offs at Kindercare are just fine and we've gotten to the point where I can open the door to his classroom and he'll just walk right in and start playing. I really really hope this lasts - leaving a distraught child at school is awful.

He's still mostly babbling, but does say mama and baba (bottle).  

Owen is super snuggly and a smiley little person to have around.

Andrew 41 Months (or thereabouts)

Which rock shall I pick?, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

"Those who do not learn from the past are destined to repeat it..." I'm not sure who said that but if Eric and I don't learn soon about how nap time is non-negotiable with Andrew, we will never go on vacation again.

Exaggerating slightly there - Andrew was great on the trip (was a model child on the airplane for both flights), but the re-entry has been a bit rough. Today our drop off at Kindercare was full of tears and inconsolable wailing. His routine has been disrupted and he lets us all know that he's not happy about it. I think after a week on his normal schedule, he'll be back to his usual programming. Also, note to self Andrew prefers baths at night!

Andrew's newest interest is dinosaurs. Go Diego Go has a new dinosaur episode that we will be keeping on the TIVO indefinitely.

Andrew has become quite the conversationalist and will happily tell you all about going on a airplane, going to Hawaii, and finding sea turtles (aka hanu's). My mom visited a couple of weeks ago and he was the chattiest I'd ever heard him. I think he saves his best material for the grandparents.

His Kindercare experience is evolving from daycare to preschool. He's displaying a lot of pre-reading skills. He actively spells out words he sees and is very interested in words and books.

Andrew continues to be ACTIVE (I think I will be writing that sentence for as long as I blog). Our poor couch won't be able to take much of his rough treatment. He jumps on it constantly. He and Owen wrestle a lot. (Owen's classmates are not happy about this. I think Owen warms up on them before he faces Andrew every night). Although I'm glad they do "play" together, I can't leave them unsupervised for more than a moment. If I do, I inevitably hear shrieks of laughter disintegrate into tears.

Andrew seemed to enjoy Hawaii - his favorite time was in the sand bottomed kiddie pool at our hotel.  By the end of the week he was turning into quite a fish and fully submerging his head under the water (big break through).  We may take advantage of this development to get him back into swimming lessons before the summer is over.  One of his best friends is in gymnastics and I'll be signing Andrew up for the same class.  I think he'll really like all of the running, jumping and general "activeness" of it.  I'll enjoy the general "wearing out of the kid" of it.  

He's still a picky eater, but I've learned to sacrifice a quiet car ride home and withhold snacks to allow for more food-food to get into his system at dinner.  Telling him that if he wants to grow big he needs to eat is working too.  

A really fun things he does lately is to pretend he's different animals. Sometimes he's a dinosaur, or a tiger or a shark.  Whatever animal mode he's in that's how he likes to be addressed: "I'm the hanu, not Andrew!"

He's keeping us on our toes around here but he's so much fun.

Sunset

Sunset, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

We're back. Back from lovely, warm, mellow Hawaii. Ten days of flip flops, bathing suits, and the beach. It was a nice get away. I won't say it was relaxing... our boys were up at 6:30 everyday and needed to be out the door and in the pool by 7:00  (every morning I was nervous that the lovely people at the Marriott were going to ask us to move because we were so noisy in the morning! )  There was no sleeping in, or napping, or lounging lazily by the pool, but there was awesome fun at the beach, in the pool and on the go.   

I am looking forward to our next Hawaiian vacation already.  Here are pictures from the trip. I've got a few more to upload - they're on Eric's computer - the hotel internet connection was seriously on Hawaiian time and attempts to post drove me insane. I will get them up this week.

[For those following my vegan cleanse adventure, the cleanse ended with the pepperoni pizza I ate the day before we left and hit its nadir with the loco moco I ate about day 6 of the trip. And I'm back on the caffeine.]

Water and Sticks = Boy Heaven

Water and Sticks = Boy Heaven, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Today we went to check on the duckies.   The boys loved their sticks and making big splashes in the little creek that runs through the park.

Afternoons like this are just about perfect.

My Little Monkey

Untitled from Leslie Capron on Vimeo.

Andrew is really singing a lot these days. This is one of his favorites. Another favorite? Those shoes. We bought Andrew some "crocs" at Target a few weeks ago and he's been wearing them ever since (on his hands, on his feet...)! Yesterday we bought him true Crocs (same color). These will be perfect for him in Hawaii.

Fourth of July

Fourth of July, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Happy Fourth! We celebrated the birth of our nation with some quality time at the park, good naps and hittin' the hay early. This year we weren't awake long enough for fireworks! We had planned on going down to the high school again this year and watch the "stars that go boom", but we decided that this year we didn't want to stake a place several hours early to get a good spot on the hot football field with two rambunctious (and very mobile) kids. Our alternate plan was to show up right before the show started at 9 PM and watch from the bleachers, but by 8:30 Owen was already asleep, and we were enjoying the peace.  Ok that's our excuse for staying in! (You may recognize this as the reason we stayed in on New Years.)

But to be honest, today the Fifth, I have a pang of regret.  Andrew's getting old enough to remember the activities we do now, and now is the time to be earnest in our family traditions. I think fireworks on the Fourth of July is a very basic shared tradition that we need to show up for. Next year we'll participate - then let the kids sleep in.

Favorite New Game

I'm so torn here - they are having fun together, yet my ears are bleeding....

Favorite new game from Leslie Capron on Vimeo.

They like to do this a lot.  It works for Andrew because its loud, it works for Owen because he can do it just like Andrew.