For Father's day, Gwen gave me her first "high five for daddy".
Then, today while Frances, Johann and I were getting out team t-ball picture taken, Gwen took her first step. Or so I'm told...
mwz
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Weekend
This weekend, Arial and Gwen went up to Wisconsin. This left Frances and Johann with me.
I wanted to make it a fun weekend for the kids (since they would be missing Arial). The following is a recounting of yesterday's events.
Friday, I had shown them these little typing games (TuxType) on our netbooks (which are the perfect size for their small hands). Johann was terribly excited to try them out. (So much so, that he got up at 6am and wanted to play them. I made him wait until I got up at 8:30.)
The default word lists were too difficult for him but the game allowed me to add new lists of my own. So, I made a list consisting of "asdf", "fdsa", "jkl" and "lkj". Johann was able to do these and it emphasized the need to keep your fingers on the home row.
They both had so much fun that it kept them busy most of the morning while I did some work.
For lunch, I had a special "Things on crackers" meal planned. The night before, I had purchased several interesting things to put on crackers. The one rule that we had was that they had to eat one whole cracker with each item on top.
We started with little squares of Spam. Predictably, Johann liked the Spam and Frances didn't.
Next up was kippers. Also unsurprisingly, I was the only one that liked them.
Third was sardines. I figured there was no way that they would like sardines but it's a good thing to be able to say you've tried. Strangely though, they both liked them (I got a slightly upward turned thumb from Frances indicating that she sorta liked them).
Finally, I brought out the Easy Cheese. Actually, it was Hy-Vee brand, which was a mistake because Easy Cheese is better than store brand. They still liked it.
After everyone had eaten one of everything, then we could eat whatever we wanted.
The cheese got a lot of use, of course. Johann ate quite a bit of the Spam and they both ate a fair amount of sardines. I mostly ate kippers.
They liked the meal so much that, when given the choice for today's lunch, they chose it again.
After lunch (and after more work), Frances asked me to play Red Light Green Light on the deck. I agreed. But when she stepped out on the deck, she immediately said, "It's too hot" and came back in.
I decided to have them put on their swimsuits and run through the sprinkler. They did that until they started tearing up the yard. That's when I had an idea.
We have this yellow slide that came from a backyard playground thing. Sometimes we lay it on our hill and the kids slide down it. Yesterday was the perfect time to try it out as a water-slide.
I put the slide on the hill, set a running hose at the top and cleaned it off (it tends to collect dirt and grime). Frances went first.
There was a worry that this wouldn't be any more fun with water than it was without. That fear was alleviated when she hit the water that collected at the bottom of the slide with a big splash.
From then on they had a blast splashing down the slide. At the end of the slide, Frances tended to run right down the hill whereas Johann would slip and slide on the wet grass. Frances was the first to go down on her stomach feet first but Johann didn't like that because it was too scratchy.
While they were doing this, I made a poor attempt at weeding the garden.
They were fairly muddy, so they got rinsed-off in both the bath and the shower.
I wanted to make it a fun weekend for the kids (since they would be missing Arial). The following is a recounting of yesterday's events.
Friday, I had shown them these little typing games (TuxType) on our netbooks (which are the perfect size for their small hands). Johann was terribly excited to try them out. (So much so, that he got up at 6am and wanted to play them. I made him wait until I got up at 8:30.)
The default word lists were too difficult for him but the game allowed me to add new lists of my own. So, I made a list consisting of "asdf", "fdsa", "jkl" and "lkj". Johann was able to do these and it emphasized the need to keep your fingers on the home row.
They both had so much fun that it kept them busy most of the morning while I did some work.
For lunch, I had a special "Things on crackers" meal planned. The night before, I had purchased several interesting things to put on crackers. The one rule that we had was that they had to eat one whole cracker with each item on top.
We started with little squares of Spam. Predictably, Johann liked the Spam and Frances didn't.
Next up was kippers. Also unsurprisingly, I was the only one that liked them.
Third was sardines. I figured there was no way that they would like sardines but it's a good thing to be able to say you've tried. Strangely though, they both liked them (I got a slightly upward turned thumb from Frances indicating that she sorta liked them).
Finally, I brought out the Easy Cheese. Actually, it was Hy-Vee brand, which was a mistake because Easy Cheese is better than store brand. They still liked it.
After everyone had eaten one of everything, then we could eat whatever we wanted.
The cheese got a lot of use, of course. Johann ate quite a bit of the Spam and they both ate a fair amount of sardines. I mostly ate kippers.
They liked the meal so much that, when given the choice for today's lunch, they chose it again.
After lunch (and after more work), Frances asked me to play Red Light Green Light on the deck. I agreed. But when she stepped out on the deck, she immediately said, "It's too hot" and came back in.
I decided to have them put on their swimsuits and run through the sprinkler. They did that until they started tearing up the yard. That's when I had an idea.
We have this yellow slide that came from a backyard playground thing. Sometimes we lay it on our hill and the kids slide down it. Yesterday was the perfect time to try it out as a water-slide.
I put the slide on the hill, set a running hose at the top and cleaned it off (it tends to collect dirt and grime). Frances went first.
There was a worry that this wouldn't be any more fun with water than it was without. That fear was alleviated when she hit the water that collected at the bottom of the slide with a big splash.
From then on they had a blast splashing down the slide. At the end of the slide, Frances tended to run right down the hill whereas Johann would slip and slide on the wet grass. Frances was the first to go down on her stomach feet first but Johann didn't like that because it was too scratchy.
While they were doing this, I made a poor attempt at weeding the garden.
They were fairly muddy, so they got rinsed-off in both the bath and the shower.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Catching up
Haven't posted in a while. Here's a rundown of things that are going on with us.
- Gwen has been crawling all over the place for a while now. We're not terribly good at picking up the Cheerios and puffs (baby treats) that have dropped on the floor. So, she tends to crawl around scavenging for them. I'm pretty sure she likes having a snack available sometimes. We have to be quite careful not to leave non-edibles on the floor though.
- Sometimes at night while Ariel is putting the other two to bed, I'll let Gwen crawl down the hallway and into Johann's room. Frances is always happy to see her.
- Gwen can say "mamama" but it may just mean "parent" to her. She can also say "bababa" but I don't think that means anything.
- Both Johann and Frances have learned to ride their bikes w/out training wheels in the last couple weeks. We've been trying to teach them this spring because Frances will need to ride w/out training wheels in her triathlon. They were both very scared but moving them into the street (with me along side) helped a quite a bit. There they had enough room to weave a little. Johann had "Bike Day" at pre-school last Friday and so we made a big final push to get them to ride by going to parking lots. Apparently, it worked. He had a great time (I'm told). At one point he told me "I can't believe I was scared".
- Gwen still doesn't have any teeth.
mwz
- Gwen has been crawling all over the place for a while now. We're not terribly good at picking up the Cheerios and puffs (baby treats) that have dropped on the floor. So, she tends to crawl around scavenging for them. I'm pretty sure she likes having a snack available sometimes. We have to be quite careful not to leave non-edibles on the floor though.
- Sometimes at night while Ariel is putting the other two to bed, I'll let Gwen crawl down the hallway and into Johann's room. Frances is always happy to see her.
- Gwen can say "mamama" but it may just mean "parent" to her. She can also say "bababa" but I don't think that means anything.
- Both Johann and Frances have learned to ride their bikes w/out training wheels in the last couple weeks. We've been trying to teach them this spring because Frances will need to ride w/out training wheels in her triathlon. They were both very scared but moving them into the street (with me along side) helped a quite a bit. There they had enough room to weave a little. Johann had "Bike Day" at pre-school last Friday and so we made a big final push to get them to ride by going to parking lots. Apparently, it worked. He had a great time (I'm told). At one point he told me "I can't believe I was scared".
- Gwen still doesn't have any teeth.
mwz
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Gwen Update
Gwen is now cruising.
Also, trying to eat bits of paper that the other kids leave lying around. She's getting better at her fine motor skills, so it won't be long until she's succeeding.
nwz
Also, trying to eat bits of paper that the other kids leave lying around. She's getting better at her fine motor skills, so it won't be long until she's succeeding.
nwz
Monday, January 17, 2011
Sleep
Gwendolyn has turned me back into the "Sleepinator (hat tip to Rob Schneider). More than half of my interaction with her is putting her to sleep.
We sit in the computer chair. I hold her in one arm and play on the computer with the other. She usually cries a bit when we sit down but shortly, either through exhaustion or lack of hope, she fall a sleep.
As an aside, because one hand is being used by Gwen, the games that I can play are limited to mouse only (or otherwise one-handed) games. I'm currently playing Plants vs Zombies (which is quite good) but there are a fair number of other one-handed games.
mwz
We sit in the computer chair. I hold her in one arm and play on the computer with the other. She usually cries a bit when we sit down but shortly, either through exhaustion or lack of hope, she fall a sleep.
As an aside, because one hand is being used by Gwen, the games that I can play are limited to mouse only (or otherwise one-handed) games. I'm currently playing Plants vs Zombies (which is quite good) but there are a fair number of other one-handed games.
mwz
Tooth
Some time in early December, I was vigorously brushing Frances' teeth. She winced, put her fingers in her mouth and pulled a tooth out.
I didn't even know her tooth was that loose. Arial and I thought the whole thing was awesome but Frances just cried.
This was also the first tooth where I got to play Tooth Fairy. That was 50 cents of fun.
I didn't even know her tooth was that loose. Arial and I thought the whole thing was awesome but Frances just cried.
This was also the first tooth where I got to play Tooth Fairy. That was 50 cents of fun.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Bigger
Two days ago, we used the last newborn diaper. Gwendolyn has moved up to size 1.
There is one thing I can do that reliably entertains/stops Gwen from crying. With my right hand, I hold on to her torso and support her bottom with my left. Then I move her in a clockwise circle while singing a circus song. The effect is like a little Ferris wheel.
The Ferris wheel doesn't run as long as it used to. When I first discovered the trick, I could keep it going nearly indefinitely. Gwendolyn's weight didn't seem to add that much to my empty arms. Now, I can only keep it going comfortably for a couple minutes.
It's amazing the difference that a couple pounds makes.
mwz
There is one thing I can do that reliably entertains/stops Gwen from crying. With my right hand, I hold on to her torso and support her bottom with my left. Then I move her in a clockwise circle while singing a circus song. The effect is like a little Ferris wheel.
The Ferris wheel doesn't run as long as it used to. When I first discovered the trick, I could keep it going nearly indefinitely. Gwendolyn's weight didn't seem to add that much to my empty arms. Now, I can only keep it going comfortably for a couple minutes.
It's amazing the difference that a couple pounds makes.
mwz
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