Aquarium

We spent the Friday after Thanksgiving on the Seattle Waterfront.  We enjoyed time as a family and the kids loved seeing all of the animals.  The fun thing about the aquarium is that we see a lot of the animals when we are up on Whidbey Island, so Andy kept saying, "just like at Whidbey!"  We feel pretty lucky that we have the "wild" aquarium at our fingertips.  The highlight was watching the Octopus eating a meal.  Kyle and I learned a thing or two as well!  After our visit, we went to Elliot's for a yummy dinner.

Bravely touching the sea anemones

Katie wanted nothing to do with the sea anemones

Thanksgiving 2011

It has been awhile since I have posted an updated on the kids.  Since it’s Thanksgiving – I thought that it would be good timing to post an update.  Considering they fill most of my list of what I am thankful for, it makes sense!

KATIE:

Katie has entered the “no” phase.  It’s not a simple, “no,” it’s an elongated, “nooooooooah.”  Most of the time coupled with a shove of her hand pushing away whatever you are trying to do (give her kisses, give her food, tickle her, put her to bed, even give her a silly look).  I have to say, I love it!  I know that sounds weird, but it’s the first stage of her showing her opinion.  She normally is such a sweet easy going little girl, but she definitely uses her “no” when she means it!  As mentioned in my previous post, Katie making progress with her walking skills.  She isn’t so close that she will walk tomorrow, but she is curious and getting closer.  She is quite an efficient crawler and climber and thinks she is pretty funny climbing up the stairs when she finds a gate unexpectedly open.  One of our favorite things about Katie is her deep laugh.  Andy has the highest little voice (we call him Beeker).  Katie…she inherited the Campbell gunner laugh.  Katie has two laughs – a gunner laugh and an evil, hahahaha laugh.  She makes me smile every time she laughs.  She also still smiles with her eyes.  A lot of the time, Katie has her thumb in her mouth, and she has mastered a smile with her thumb in place.  She has one big dimple on her left cheek and is working on quite the mullet.  Unfortunately she inherited the Campbell girl hair too…thin and wispy. 

Katie has a few words:  no, baba, thank you (tank oo), cheers (chis), bye bye, hi (hiiiii), mama, dada, peek a boo (pee boo), Andy (D), what’s that? (dat), walk walk (wak), uh-oh, nana (banana or any food), book (boo), baby (baybEE), baby bear.  Her favorite game is to ask for her baba and then shove it as hard as she can to the ground and then laugh about it.  She is a great sleeper – taking a good 2 – 3 hour afternoon nap, sometimes with a quick hour nap in the morning.  She goes down around 7:30 and wakes up around 8:30.  She loves sleeping with her lambie or anything with a soft tag that she can play with (just like her brother!).  She almost always has something in both hands and will try and crawl or pick up more things with stuff in her hands.  She likes to play with cups or bowls and place small items in and out of the cups and bowls.  She’ll cheer for herself, dance (sitting down) when music comes on, and give high-fives.  One of my favorite moments was when we were watching the Husky game on TV and the band starting doing the kick-off drumming.  She pretended to tip her hat like we did when we were at the game.  So proud!  She will eat about anything and gets most excited about Trader Joe’s applesauce (again, like her brother).  I should buy some stock in TJ’s since we clean out their apple/carrot/banana sauce whenever we stop by.  Katie is a happy girl who is starting to show some sass and we love the little girl she is becoming.

ANDY:

Andy is full of personality.  He is loving preschool, but also is picking up some interesting things at school.  He came home the other day and pretended to shoot me with on of his cars, hit me, and said in a mean voice, “I’m the bad guy!”  Seriously, at age 3?!?  He also is starting to say things just to see my reaction – like, “I don’t want to be your friend,” or “Katie and I aren’t friends anymore.”  Or he’ll just randomly walk up to Katie and hit her in the head.  These are the things that keep me up at night…but mostly, Andy is a happy guy.  He actually is quite a pleaser.  We are working on helping him understand that it’s okay to have a bad day or not be happy about something because even when he feeling really crummy from a cold/cough, he says, “mom, I feel much better…are you happy now?”  Of course I’m happy…just worried!  Andy is a routine person and will correct you if you get off the normal routine.  Wake up, oatmeal for breakfast, preschool/activity in the morning, lunch, book/prayers/little boy story before nap (and yes, still taking naps most days – phew!), wake up from nap, snack, afternoon activity watch a show, dinner, play a game, bath (aka, hot tub), book, prayers, little boy story.  The End. 

I love his little boy stories because it reminds me of when my dad would tell me stories when I was growing up.  The stories always are about a little boy and we talk about what he did that day.  He often fills in the gaps or corrects me when I am telling the story.  Sometimes the little boy stories are how I find out what he did at preschool or why he is sad, etc.  During the day, Andy narrates most of his day and likes to ask lots of questions.  He is curious, thoughtful, stubborn, silly, and very perceptive.  We can’t get much by him these days!  It is so much fun to see the wheels turning in his head.  He loves books, puzzles, eye spy games, linkin logs, legos, anything to do with cars, airplanes, or boats (or anything related to the Cars movies).  He has a great imagination and is starting to enjoy singing – often making up words to his own tune.  He still isn’t the best eater.  Mostly because he doesn’t want to sit down for more than 3 minutes.  He loves “smoothies” (yogurt shakes), applesauce, oatmeal, pasta, cottage cheese, chicken nuggets, anything with ketchup or ranch on it, olives, pretzels, frozen grapes…and that’s about it.  Oh – and anything sweet.  Not sure where he gets that from : )  He is starting to have an opinion on what he wears and is officially potty trained!  Woo hoo!!  I love spending time with Andy and talking about whatever comes to his mind.  He is a sweet boy and surprises us with random, “I love you’s” throughout the day.  His current obsession is “blowing his boogies” even when he doesn’t need to. 

Kyle and I feel extremely blessed to have these two little ones in our lives (and Henry, of course!).  We are thankful for our family and our health.

Almost...walking

Yep, Katie almost is 1 1/2 years old and still is not walking.  I told myself not to worry until she hit the 18 month mark...and it's approaching quickly.  I know that she will walk, eventually.  I know that she is taking her time.  I have been comforted by many a mother who have told me, "you do know, when babies walk later it means their brains are working more and they are smarter."  Hmmmm.  Don't think I believe that one.  Either way, she is making progress.  She is curious.  She is starting to get frustrated when she can't walk because something is in the way of her wagon or truck.  So...it's a matter of time.  But, we get pretty excited when she does try to walk...as documented below from this morning.  I mean, when you have a brother who doesn't like sharing the spot light and pushes you down every time you try to walk (because your parents cheer for you)...why would you want to walk, right?

Turkey Hands

I will admit, we have been watching a little too much TV these days.  The weather has been horrible and there is only so many activities indoor that can keep a 3 year-old entertained.  I realized that we reached the "too much" level when I asked Andy what he was thankful for.  He answered, Turkey Hands, like Blue's Clues.  Grrrrreat.  Already quoting TV.  So we are trying to lower the level of TV intake...and decided to copy Blue's Clues and make Turkey Hands.  Andy just wanted sparkles on his Turkey Hand Cookies and really just wanted to make a mess with the flour.  I did my best to have fun with cookies, even though, sadly, I was thinking about how much of a mess we were making.  Such a simple little project takes 3 times the amount of time to clean up.  Let it go Annie, let it go.  Katie even made her own Turkey Hand cookie.  She has been fighting a cold off and on for at least a month.  So, all she wanted to do is take a nap, but we made it through. 

Happy Birthday Mags!

Happy 6th Birthday Maggie!  We celebrated Maggie's birthday at the local gymnastics place.  Andy was all set to go in his warm-ups.  He loved it!  It's crazy to me how grown up Maggie is - I can hardly stand it.  I love you Maggie May!  And I love your purple hair feather : )

Ready for the party!

Roller Skating

We celebrated Bri's 16th birthday by going roller skating on the base.  It was an 80's themed party, and it was humorous to see all of the outfits that we actually wore in the 80's.  Andy's skates had wheels that didn't move (so he didn't hurt himself), but he enjoyed "walking" around the rink in his skates.  Happy Birthday, Bri!  It was a fun day celebrating with family.

Pee-Boo

This is what Katie says to get your attention.  She plays peek-a-boo all by herself...until you play back.  I love her little "pee-boo" and how she peers through her open fingers.  Katie always has smiled with her eyes.  When she is playing peek-a-boo, I love how you can see the glimmer in her eye while she is waits for you to say... "I see you!" 

Kyle and I both want to stop time with Katie.  We feel like she is changing so much every day.  Her little personality is exploding.  She has discovered "no" and uses it only when she really means it (for now, at least).  Mostly when we hand her a sippy or food and she is done.  She jabbers quite a lot, and I can't wait until her baby talk turns into words so I know what's going on in that little head of hers!

Halloween

Halloween this year was so much fun.  Andy got it - and he loved it.  We headed up to Queen Anne Avenue where all of the businesses open their doors to trick-or-treators.  It was CRAZY, but fun to see Andy so excited and to see all of the creative costumes.  Andy ran into a friend, Jack, from preschool and they held hands and teamed up to get candy.  It was pretty cute to see him with a new buddy.  Both kids were pretty tired after an hour and we headed home.  After a pack of mini m&m's Andy was in full force again.  The highlight of Halloween for him was having people knock on OUR door.  He was throwing candy at kids and was chatting up a storm.  At one point, Andy opened the door and yelled at the kids who were passing across the street and said, "hey guys, come to our house!"  He kept at them until a dad responded, "we'll come in a little bit, buddy."  Silly Andy.  All in all, it was a great night.