8/20/12: Museum & words

Callen has a few new words today.  He clearly pointed to doors several times today and said "doh" (door).  He also signed & said "nana" (banana).  He constantly amazes me with what he understands and remembers.

Today I took the kids to the free day at the Denver M*useum of Nature and Science.  Both kids had fun.

Quick shot on our way in

Elodie looking at a telescope in the space exploration exhibit.

The first thing we did was go to the Space Exploration exhibit since we had just studied the sun and the moon.  I think this exhibit was harder for Elodie to get into because there's so much information and science jargon.  She did listen to an entire presentation on why blood can boil in space (change in pressure).  Then we met up with some friends in the Gems exhibit, but then they were going to the Space one so we took a break for lunch.  We never did catch back up with them, but some other friends found us while we were eating and ate with us.  After lunch, we went through the dinosaur exhibit.  Again, Elodie listened for a very long time to a hands on presentation on dinosaur stuff.

Lastly, we did the human body one and I think it was both kids' favorites (I know it was Elodie's...guessing it was Callen's).

I couldn't catch him fast enough, but he was making the skeleton do as he did :)  Then when we got home tonight and were showing daddy the photos, he remembered exactly what that was a photo of and started moving his arms out to his sides. :)  Smart boy.

Simon Says

Ribbons!

Tonight, Elodie had her first real soccer practice.  She's in a U7 girls' team with practices twice per week and games on Saturday.  She's going to miss 4 games when we're in California, but she get to go to three in October.

Baby brother worked daddy out while we watched :)

He was loving to plunk himself down hard into daddy's lap!

the only photo of me from the day :)

goal!

my cuties

and one from yesterday... Elodie likes taking photos :)

8/18/12: Picnic at the Park

Today I wanted to do something special with Elodie but she picked to have the whole family come so we all had a picnic lunch at the park!  Since we were slackers in planning, we picked up P@nda Express on the way so we actually had something to eat during our picnic. :)  We even brought a few books to read.  It was a gorgeous day... warm/hot in the sun, cool in the shade with the breeze.

"napping"

Someone wanted in on the action :)

8/8/12: C, potty, & words

Tonight, Callen pointed to the window well and said "da-doe" and so I was guessing things and he was shaking his head no to all of them.  Then I finally said, "window" and he nodded.  I gave him a high-five. :)  So now Callen can spontaneously say "da-doe" (window)!

He's also been saying "Bao!" for "boom," while sweeping his arms out wide.  He likes to say it when watching the best helicopter video ever in the world when the helicopters are blowing things up. "Bao!"  He also can say "yeah" (yes) and he likes to shout "yay!" when he's excited about something, like getting to go outside. :)  He knows his speech therapist's name and recognized her photo tonight and said, "mi-mi" (Mandy).  Originally, he was saying it better, like "ma-dee" but now he's saying mi-mi consistently.

Yesterday, Callen pooped on the little potty all by himself.  I had got him out of his crib, changed his diaper, and put him down and he came to me with his fingers on his nose.  I asked him, "are you stinky?", but he wasn't, so I said, "do you need to go potty?" and he ran into the bathroom.  I stuck him on the toilet but there is no kid seat so he didn't do anything and I said, "Let's go find the little potty in the basement" so we got it out and had him sit on it.  Then he sat on the little potty seat on the big toilet and then back on the little potty. About this time, I went outside to put something in the mailbox and then encountered some yellow jackets on the porch that I killed, and by the time I got back inside, Callen came running into the dining room, making a face and sticking his tongue out.  It occurs to me that maybe he actually went so I asked, "did you go potty?" and we walked into the bathroom, and sure enough, there was a huge #2 in the little potty.  After I cleaned him up and took care of the business, we gave him lots of praise!  It will be interesting to see if he'll be interested in continuing to tell me, or if he's grossed out by it all since he kept making a face and sticking out his tongue for awhile afterwards. :)  This morning, he did come grab me, saying "mama mama mama" loudly and pinching his nose with his fingers so we put him on the little potty.  After a few minutes (I had gone back to the kitchen table to leave him to his business), he signed "all done" so we put his diaper and clothes back on.  Not long after, he was stinky so I guess he did have to go but just didn't want to wait it on on the potty?

8/4/12: C's words

Tonight, Callen held up a S*rry! game piece and said "boo" (blue).  He's such a smartie.  He knows "boo" because he likes to say "boo" when he turns on his blue stars at night. He also said "ah-pull" (apple) clear as day tonight.  He was saying it pretty consistantly, but then he was only saying it if I made him say "ahh" and then "pull."  This week he's also picked up a few other words.  Elodie taught him "tattoo" and he's pointed to things like his wet, muddy socks and said, "doe-do" (dirty).

8/2/12: Water Park!

Today we moved school outside and met Jenny, Chase, and Kenzie at the water park for some fun and swimming.

We were there for about a half hour before they got there so we started in the kiddie pool.  Elodie immediately went down the mini-water slide and Callen walked me around in the pool.  Then Callen wanted to go down the slide so I had Elodie walk him up and go down with him so I could catch him at the bottom.  Then second time she took him up, she shoved him down by himself and unfortunately, he fell back onto his back and his back got scratched on the way down.  Poor Callen! Then Elodie wanted to move over to the playground, which I told her she had to be super careful on since I didn't want a repeat trip to stitch up her chin.  She played on that while Callen walked me around that pool area.  Then we went swimming.  And then Elodie wanted to go down a water slide so I stood in the water holding Callen up on one side and then Elodie would slide down and I'd reach into the water to grab any Elodie part to hold onto her.  :)  It was much better when Jenny got there because then Jenny took Elodie down all the water slides, while I hung out with Callen.  We walked around in the pool a ton, went swimming (I'd say "weeeee" as I pulled him towards me in the water and he'd repeat "weeeee"), and went down the inter-tube water slide. :)

wrinkly toes!

He was purple and shaking when I took him out of the pool to have lunch and he still didn't want to get out.

Picnicking

mommy was there too :)

cousins!

8/1/12: Prayer for Kazakhstan

Today Elodie picked to pray for Kazakhstan:  Dear Jesus, Please help the Christians that have Bibles not get put in jail or killed.  Please let the government know you Lord and have you in their hearts.  I just want to say I love my Jesus. Amen.