Mika at 4.5 Years

Height: 42"
Weight: 42 lbs.
Size: 6
Shoe size: 12
Favorite TV show: Barbie and Lego Friends (but Paul doesn't want her watching Barbie because it doesn't teach anything and it's basically like Real Housewives for little girls)
Favorite activities: painting, drawing, biking, swimming, cooking, baking

Still smears the paint all over her arms

Storytime and yoga at the library

Things she says:
"Ha ha ha ha ha, your birthday's longer, my birthday's shorter!"
Cheesy Factory = Cheesecake Factory (also thinks the brown bread there is chocolate bread)
"Wow, that's a big scrape!" (skyscraper)
She makes up songs that always start, "Hey, Mom. Dontcha know....."
She is starting to use the past tense verbs of correctly but still adds -ed to a lot of irregular verbs (like telled instead of told, teached instead of taught, stealed instead of stole).

She LOVES her doll. She named him Philip because my friend has a baby named Philip.

She loves taking him on our walks to pick up Jackson from school.

Mika likes to follow safe sleep guidelines :)

School:

• She LOVES preschool. She thinks it's so fun and loves playing with her friends there. Although she does complain that it's so long (I signed her up for the 9-3 option instead of the 9-11:30).
• Her parent-teacher conference went very well. I thought they were going to tell me that she was a problem child, never paying attention or following rules. But they said she's one of the very few who will listen the first time and do exactly what they tell her to do (why doesn't she do this at home??!?!).
• Her handwriting is really good. Her letters are big and legible. She is interested in academic stuff now, always counting and asking how to spell words. She is always spelling and writing her name.
• I LOVE her drawings. She draws eyelashes now because she saw me wearing mascara one day and wanted to incorporate that in her drawings. She usually draws the body, eyes, eyebrows, eyelashes, nose, mouth, hair, arms, legs, fingers, and toes.
• We are working on addition up to 10.
• She loves talking about rhyming words.
• She can count up to about 20. She had a hard time with 13 and 14 (she would say, "twelve, fourteen, fourteen, fifteen,...").
• We work on 24- and 36-piece puzzles together. She can do up to 12 by herself, but I don't think she could do harder ones.

First day of school!

So proud of the puzzles she did by herself.

Tidbits:

• When she's having an argument with Jackson, she'll yell at him that she's going to live in a separate house far away from him when they grow up.
• She still has a short attention span. Jackson gets frustrated a lot because Mika will ask to play a game, play for a few minutes, and then suddenly get up and leave.
• She tries to see the baby by looking in my belly button. She tries to feed him by shoving food in my belly button.
• She tries to sneak downstairs and watch the movies and TV that we watch. She watched the beginning of Deadpool, yikes! 
• She can snap her fingers and she's working on whistling.
• She loves wearing dresses and switching outfits 867 times a day.
• She likes to grab the inside sensitive part of my arm because she knows it tickles me. She loves being tickled.
• She loves playing dolls and Barbies. I think that stuff is so boring, but I try to play it with her sometimes.
• She still wakes up in the middle of the night whining for me. She does this about half the time and sleeps through the night half the time.
• She did so well in gymnastics this semester that she passed Pre-gym 1 in two months instead of the 4-6 that I thought it would take. I am going to encourage her to do gymnastics as long as she will do it because if I had to bet money on her doing sports, I would bet that she would be most interested in cheerleading when she's older.
• She lies a lot. She'll tell me she brushed her teeth when she didn't, that Jackson took the candy and not her, etc.
• She loves swimming and is always asking to go to the pool. 
• Sometimes she will throw me off guard by saying something that happened when she was two. I thought she wouldn't be able to remember that far back.
• Sometimes she has such an attitude! I'll tell her something and she'll sass back, "I already knowed that."
• She tries to do things by herself but can get frustrated and throw a tantrum when she can't do it.
• She usually takes an HOUR to eat a meal because she eats a large volume of food, she likes to talk, and she gets distracted and wanders away from the table.

Cheerleading clinic!

Finally gave got her first hair cut in October!

Maxwell at 1 Month

Weight:10 lbs. 1 oz. (50th percentile)
Height: 21 3/4" (55th percentile)
Clothing size: 3 month

Maxwell's Birth Story:
Paul's mom came into town the afternoon of Halloween. We took the kids trick-or-treating. After we got back, I went upstairs to rest and my water broke around 8. I went to bed to try to rest. My contractions started at 10. I labored at home until about 10 in the morning, sleeping on and off. We went to the hospital and they said I was a 4. I had been gung-ho about having a natural birth and getting a birthing suite with a birthing pool so I could use that for pain relief. But when the nurse told me I was a four after all those hours of labor, I gave up and asked them to just drug me up. Max was born at 3:02 p.m. He weighed 8 lbs. 1 oz. and was 19 3/4 inches long.

lots of hair, lots of heartburn

Random tidbits:

• He developed jaundice that was so bad he had to use a biliblanket (a special light we had to keep on his back).
• He lost half a pound and then ate himself back up to 10 lbs 1 oz in three weeks. He loves eating and is always hunting and grunting for more food.
• He is either eating, pooping, or wanting to be held. It's hard to get any housework done. I'm glad my husband understands that it's more important to hold the baby than to cook and clean. Paul helps out so much with the kids, housework, and cooking. As soon as he walks in the door from work he takes over for me.
• We still mostly use cloth diapers and we use disposables for travel. I also use disposables when I want to take nice pictures of him because the cloth diapers are so big and bulky.
• I forgot how much I have missed all the cute things newborns do- stretching, eat with their fists up at their faces, their startle reflexes, the shifty eyes, eyes looking crossed. Holding and smelling a new baby is heavenly.
• He is such a good baby (for now) and only fusses and cries when he needs a new diaper, is hungry, or is tired.
• He only liked swaddling for a week or two. After that it seemed to make him mad and he would fight to get his arms out.

He smiles about a minute after he stops eating.

first bath, so chill

Jackson was learning about early hominids and was having nightmares about an Australopithecus. So Paul started calling Maxwell "our little Australopithecus" to tease Jackson. Max does kind of look like a monkey.

Mika wanted them to take a picture in their turtle pajamas.

The one eye open, one eye shut thing cracks me up.

Jackson at 6 Years

Height: 3'8"
Weight: 44 lbs
Clothing size: 6
Shoe size : 11/12
Favorite shows: Sophia the First (though he won't admit it), Bill Nye the Science Guy

Some of my favorite things he says:
Crisper Columbus = Christopher Columbus
rabiowi = ravioli
What took you so short? (Opposite of "what took you so long?")
He talks about an hour of time as being in the ones, the twos, the threes, etc. He tells us he wakes up in the sixes.

When I think of Jackson, I think accurate, precise, methodical. He brushes his teeth for exactly two minutes. Time should be told exactly to the minute and not rounded up to the next multiple of five, as most adults have the habit of doing. He washes his hands for exactly twenty seconds. The first time we played Battleship, he started guessing at A1 and went over one space to the right each guess. He takes his shirts out of the drawer from the left row and going front to back. (I fold the KonMari way. Once I realized he did this I would move each row over to the left and fill in clean shirts on the right side so that he would cycle through all the shirts instead of wearing the same row.)

He also likes to count all 250+ lockers at Costco.

His perfect day would be to play Mario and board games all day.

I hate that I nagged him so much about hand washing and being clean because now he doesn't want to do anything if he knows he will have to wash his hands afterwards (like pet animals). He generally likes to be clean and inside playing some type of game or doing something math related. He also likes to play solitaire.

He can get on a swing and start swinging with no one pushing.

He loves climbing trees.

He is shy around adults but doesn't have a problem going up to new kids on the playground and engaging them in play.

He loves legos and still loves dinosaurs.

He used to be able to sit still and focus for long periods of time when he was smaller, but now his body is in constant motion all day. He'd basically be doing handstands on the couch while reading. It's really hard for him to sit still during meal times.

He hasn't lost any teeth yet.

He usually goes to bed around 8 and wakes up between 6-6:30.

School stuff:

• He finished all of his first grade work before his birthday. Last summer he was reading Bob Books and similar books that had lots of consonant-vowel-consonant words. We spent all kindergarten year on first grade easy readers. Most of the time he complains when it's time to read a book, but I know he is proud that he can do it when he's around other kids his age and older and is able to read like them. He likes to read signs now. He also leans over my shoulder and tries to read my texts and emails.
• Kind of dreading him going to school. He's a perfectionist and the grading system is going to kill him. He's the kind of kid who will come home upset about making a 98. 
• Paul thinks his grades are going to suffer in math because he doesn't like to show his work. He just does it in his head and writes the answers down.
• He's still learning how to tie his shoes.
• He has been doing gymnastics this semester. I think he's great at it, but he thinks he's awful and wants to quit.
• One of the things I liked most about homeschooling was if Jackson got antsy, I could give him breaks to go run around outside. It was also easy to do around our schedule this year since we were traveling a lot. I also loved the extra time Jackson and Mika got to spend together. Sometimes they fight, as all siblings do, but most of the time they get along very well. They are best friends.

Mika at 4 Years

Height: 3'4"
Weight: 37 lbs
Favorite show: Sophia the First
She loves: cooking, baking, cleaning, gymnastics, ballet, singing, skiing, painting, eating, playing in water, being outside, trying to play with insects and animals, hanging out with other girls, princesses, Frozen, getting her nails painted, wearing dresses, playing with baby dolls, playing with real babies, talking to strangers

Things she says:
scara= mascara
whipgwoss/whipstick = lipgloss/lipstick
frozebee= frizbee
It's gusta = Me gusta
fangs = things
cool = pool
cousit = cousin
tipsy roll = Tootsie Roll
Pugwix = Publix
barefeeted = barefoot
foursty = thirsty
Disuney Weorld = Disney World
mashed potatoes = the game Hot Potato
The Crackernut = The Nutcracker
Christmas Before the Night = The Nightmare Before Christmas
howey mowies = she thinks roly polies are called holy molies
Monser Inkers = Monsters Inc.
I need a question! = I have a question
Oh my gosh, Paul. (I guess I say that too much...)
On your march, get set, go!
I can count all the way to Spanish!

She is still overly friendly and goes up to anyone and everyone in public and starts random conversations. One of her latest ones included telling some lady she was going to be five, then six, and so on until twenty-five, at which point she would become a giant and have new parents. Almost everyone is really nice to her and will engage her in conversation. I always apologize because I'm afraid she's bothering them, but almost everyone tells me they don't mind. The only people who do mind are the ones already talking to someone or on the phone, she still doesn't understand that she shouldn't butt into people's conversations. She also loves to hop on one foot and show strangers how she does it.

Sometimes living with Mika feels like being in a horror movie. I'll be working downstairs, start to walk upstairs, look up, and she's just standing in the hallway staring down at me. Sometimes I'll wake up and she'll standing next to the bed staring at me. I'll be downstairs while she's sleeping, hear her scream for me, I'll run upstairs- and then she's asleep. And then my mind plays tricks on me sometimes and I'll be in bed trying to sleep, and I'll swear I hear her footsteps walking up to my bed, open my eyes- no one is there.

She goes to bed with Jackson (he has a full size bed) and sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night needing to see me. Sometimes she talks in her sleep.

She can't wait to grow up. She's always talking about how she's going to grow up and chew gum and wear mascara. She also wants to "scrape her legs" (shave her legs).

She keeps telling me we need to move to a brand new house because her friend Natalie is moving into a brand new house.

She still doesn't understand that Paul is living with us again. She keeps asking him if he's going to spend the night here.

She clicks her tongue a lot when she's thinking.

She uses the big kid swings and she can pump her legs the right way most of the time.

She loves drawing people and rainbows.

She loves trying to be independent. She likes to order and pay for her food by herself when we go to fast food restaurants. When we go to a sit-down restaurant, she can order her food and make extra requests for more to drink and such when the waiter comes back. She is very polite to strangers.

She doesn't understand that you have to pay for things before you leave stores. We went to Michael's and I looked back and she was just bopping along, happily swinging a lunchbox she stole. I tried to explain to her that we didn't give anyone money for that and I made her put it back. I don't know if I put this in a previous post, but I remember going to DSW with her and she put a purse in the bottom basket of the stroller and I didn't know it was there...until I left the store and the alarm went off.

I had Jackson write his birthday party invitations, and I had Mika write her name on hers. So now she "writes invitations" almost everyday and "mails" them to our next door neighbor (she hand delivers pictures she draws).

Sometimes I feel bad for the kids because they really want a pet, but I'm too cheap and lazy for that. (And we're out of town a lot, not dealing with that issue.) She tries to trap ants in her insect house and keep them as pets.

She is still very sensitive and cries at the smallest things. Sometimes she is annoying to be around because of that, but most of the time it is so nice to have her around because she's generally a happy person.

First dance recital

She LOVES ballet and gymnastics. It's pretty funny to watch a room full of three-year-olds try to do ballet. They did some little dance thing where they pretended to be princesses dancing for a prince. They were supposed to curtsy and say, "Your Highness." But she says "Your Highmess." And at first I couldn't figure out where she got that from and I thought she was calling me a mess.

Jackson has a poster of the presidents in his room. Mika likes to point at each president and say, "He's not happy, and he's not happy, and he's not happy, etc."

She loves to play "Gwirl" (Girl). She pretends to be my mom and I pretend to be her daughter. She also loves playing hide-and-seek.

She is so sweet. She is always telling me that she loves me and that I'm a great mom. It's nice to get that recognition from at least one child. She was making me cry one night when she talked for a while about how she picked me to be her mom because she thought I was perfect.

Our First Family Disney Trip

One of the perks of homeschooling is going on vacations during the slow seasons. We went to Disney World February 6-9 and it was awesome! The weather was perfect, we spent minimal time waiting in lines, and I felt like we definitely got in enough rides and shows to get our money's worth. The only thing about the trip that I hated was that I tore my ACL the week before and had to do Disney in a wheelchair. I felt so bad for Paul and was apologizing up and down every day for him having to push me everywhere. We were so lucky that Paul's mom had decided to come on the trip with us. She pretty much saved our vacation because she was a huge help with the kids. I do have to say that I was impressed with how accessible all the rides were. It did help that I could use crutches to transfer into the rides. I could do every ride I wanted to do. The only one that was a problem was one of the rides (I don't remember which one) requires you to keep your legs in a small space and bend them at a 90 degree angle. That was a little painful at that point in my recovery process (and once I was in and realized it was going to hurt, it was too late to get out), but it was the only ride that gave me a problem.

We kicked off our Disney trip in Animal Kingdom. We did the safari, Festival of the Lion King, Rafiki's Planet Watch, Finding Nemo, Dinosaur, and Triceratops Spin. I was SO impressed with the Lion King show, and I also loved the safari and the Dinosaur ride.

 

We ended the day at Epcot. Our huge splurge of the trip was going to Akershus Princess Storybook Dining to see all the princesses. The food was great, the ladies playing the princesses were awesome, and Mika loved getting pictures with the princesses and doing the little parade around the restaurant. 

 

  

 

We started the second day at Hollywood Studios. We did the Frozen Sing-along, Beauty and the Beast, Disney Jr., Toy Story Midway Mania, and the Great Movie Ride.

 

We also went to Epcot the second night and between the two nights we did Soarin' twice, Journey into Imagination with Figment, Test Track, Spaceship Earth, and Living with the Land. We ate dinner at the Tangierine Cafe the second night and watched the fireworks.

We spent the last two days at Magic Kingdom. During those two days we did Mad Tea Party, It's a Small World, Mickey's Philharmagic, Peter Pan's Flight, Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, Under the Sea, Prince Charming Carousel, The Barnstormer, Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Country Bear Jamboree, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. We went to Gaston's Tavern for cinnamon rolls and we ate lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. I loved it, it was like eating Thanksgiving dinner in February and no one had to spend days planning, cooking, and cleaning up. We ate dinner at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe.

 I was having irrational mommy panic seeing my "little baby" go in his first real roller coaster.

We started our fourth and last day with breakfast at Be Our Guest. I loved the restaurant, and I also loved getting to walk around Magic Kingdom before it opened up to everyone. We got to mosey around Cinderella's castle and see the mosaics. We also got nice pictures of the kids in front of the castle without having 800000000 people in the background.

 

We ended the trip with the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue. The food was great and we all loved the entertainment. 

Paul and I hadn't been to Disney in yeeaaars and this one was the first one I had to plan, so...I was really overwhelmed by how much goes into a Disney trip. You really need to plan meals and rides for each day, or else you'll be standing in line way more than necessary. My biggest mistake was doing the four parks in four days with no rest days. It's such a first-world problem that I shouldn't complain about it, but we were exhausted at the end of the trip. Now I know that it's not smart to go more than two days in the park without a rest day. Some people recommend a rest day after each day in the park. We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside. It was nice and quiet, so the little rest we got was never disturbed by loud guests.

Of course I am already scheming on how I'm going to get Paul to do more Disney trips. I'd like to go when Mika is 5 or 6 so that she's young enough for it to be magical but old enough to remember it. I wouldn't mind saving money by staying in a value hotel, not doing the Memory Maker picture package, and not doing the dining plan. Basically bare bones everything except for a few sit-down meals.

Paul and I loved going to Disney from a young child's perspective. All the times I went with school groups was pretty much spent running for the roller coasters and interesting older kid/adult stuff. It was refreshing to do the little kid rides and shows again.