goodnight moon

while i was working this morning, mason came in and started 'reading' goodnight moon.  this was the first time i had ever seen him trying to 'read' a book from memory and he did surprisingly well.  i asked him to recreate it this afternoon, but it wasn't nearly as good.  i think that the pressure of madelyn drooling to 'read' it too made him a little shyer.  mostly his is saying "night", "moon" and "bears" enjoy.  love.

synonyms

mason has started saying synonyms for what i am not understanding.  when i am just not understanding him, he pauses, looks up to the right (like when thinking) and says a different word that comes close enough to the same idea to try and help me.

i have noticed it several times over the past few days, but here is an example from tonight.  we were trying to guess what he was saying during dinner and it sounded a little like "rash".  after a while he did his thoughtful pause and then said "all done" (with the sign too).  oh - "trash"! (and i should have known this because this was one of his early words - it just didn't fit the conversation we were having.) now it made sense!  he was talking about how the cracker sleeve wrapper on the table was trash.  i am so glad that he can find a way to come down to our level of reasoning...  love.

moving up

and, no, not into the house. yet. :(

maddux is moving up to sitting in a chair.  this week he has figured out how to climb up and turn around to a seated position.  he also does this to sit in my lap.  except to sit in my lap he spins around before he sits down.  love.

a glorious fall day

the forecast for this week doesn't look at that great.  when i was listening to the forecast for today this morning it said that the rain was going to stay off until overnight and i decided to spend as much time outside as possible.

we dropped madelyn off at school and the boys and i headed over to barnes and noble for some train time before story time. they pretty much had the table to themselves for an hour and mason still hadn't had enough! they were so cute.  when we move into the house and get our train table out of storage, we may never see mason again...

 after stories and a craft (making an apple tree), we headed over to a park near madelyn's school to play for about 45 minutes.  first we hit up the racquetball courts with our can of tennis balls.  mason liked throwing them up in the "sky" and bouncing them into the "wall".  then we went to spend the rest of our time on the swings.  both boys had so much fun!

since it was so beautiful out, i thought that we should eat lunch at home and then head over to the zoo. both boys fell asleep waiting for madelyn - this happens almost every day.  usually i let them sleep after we get home (until 1 or 2:30), but today i woke them up to eat.

thanks to their power naps and a good lunch, everyone was in great spirits for the zoo.  madelyn and mason even managed to take turns pushing the automatic (yes, handicap) buttons - instead of fighting and crying like normal.

 several exhibits were already closed for the season.  and this is the last month for the jellyfish exhibit (i think...).  the kids are going to be so sad when it is gone.

maddux got in on drumming the "rhythm of the jellies" for the first time

co-anchors

they even got a private session at the "touch tank" thanks to the lack of visitors today.  i couldn't believe how few people were at the zoo on such a beautiful day!

i often have mason say "bye" to animals as a way to get him to move along, but today he kept saying "hello" to each one.  it was so cute.  he would even turn to me to tell me that he said "hello".  sweet boy.

maddux was really engaged with the animals today.  he did not know what to think about me rolling him up so close to the bear pushing it's nose on the glass. i think he felt better about it when mason came over too.

i forgot how frisky the animals get when the weather cools down.  we were splashed by the penguins zipping and leaping in the water, spent a long time with the lemurs leaping in the trees and watched two bears pestering each other.  so nice.  i hope we get a few more good days like this before the winter greys settle in.  love.

anytime, anywhere

just to show that he still does it.  i was getting caught up on the blog after all of our travels (if you couldn't tell) and when i came out to make dinner, here is what i found.  mason passed out on the floor under matt's legs.  and matt had no idea he was even asleep.  he just plays until he can't play any more and sleeps right there.  i love it.  love.

the many faces of maddux

i ordered maddux' one-year picture frame like the ones i have for the other two.  but then it occurred to me that i don't know if i will have enough pictures of maddux' face to fill the spot for each month...  so here are some pictures i took as options for the "10 month" spot.

 

 

it also occurred to me that with everything else going on, i haven't really done a post about what maddux is up to so here are some notes i made...

- his upper, right molar has been a huge swollen nightmare of discomfort.  it still hasn't come in, but the left, upper one came in on 9/13 (or that is when i noticed it) quietly.

- he is a dancing machine!  the kid hears a beat he likes and he starts bopping along.

- he is also a biter.  not while nursing (thankfully!), but any time he is hungry he will tear into you.  there are times when i am covered in bruises up and down my arms and shoulders.

- maddux puts everything in his mouth - everything.  madelyn was like this too but i forgot after mason since he didn't do this at all.  while we were at the wedding i was holding maddux' hand and letting him 'walk' in the grass.  he was bending down and picking up fistfuls of grass to put right in his mouth.

- maddux points.  he has done this for months (and i think i mentioned it in another post) but it still amazes me how he gets his little index finger out to point at what he sees.

- when maddux is done with something he throws it down.  finish getting a drink, toss the cup on the floor.  finished eating cheerios, toss them on the floor.  some kids throw things down as a game but his is more of a i-am-so-done-with-this.  there is no attitude to it, it is just his nature.

- he had the weirdest moment of separation anxiety.  i was nursing him and letting him hold my finger (as a way of keeping him from flailing about).  i needed my hand to reach for something and he went crazy like i was leaving him.  hellooo, you are nursing!  i am not leaving you.  crazy kid.

try as i might, i am not giving him the same level of documentation as madelyn...  oh well.  i love him just the same though.  love.

what is going on here?

so this is how mason greeted matt at the door when he got home from work today.  and then proceeded to show him how he can twirl.  matt said that mason is going to have to start going to work with him.

madelyn had been wearing ballet leotards and skirts all day for the purpose of "twirling".  mason had been wanting to wear her's all day and it had been a problem.  madelyn went and picked out another one for mason.  she pointed out the butterflies and skirt as selling features...

i was as surprised as matt was. i guess madelyn had helped him into it while i was making dinner! and he could not have been happier about it!  matt just didn't have a sister.  i did this kind of stuff to my brothers all of the time and they turned out just fine.  well, depending on what you call "fine"... :)

mason looking tough

and setting up for a spin to show daddy the skirt in action.

maddux takes steps!

maddux surprised me by taking his first steps today!  and even better he took the most steps in a row - three - walking to daddy when he got home from work!  i couldn't get a video myself so i had madelyn film...

this about the same time as madelyn and a little earlier than mason.  and when i went to look at when the other two took their first steps i came across madelyn saying "dog" at this age.  and i have to tell you that i been thinking that maddux has been saying "dog" when he points at maggie but thought that i am just crazy and that he is too young - nope, he is saying "dog"!  i need to pay closer attention.  love.

so happy together

the kids are over their post travel moodiness and back into the swing of things.  and that leaves mommy with happy kids! (and a happy mommy!) for most of the afternoon all three kids played together in madelyn and mason's room.  they even took a bathroom break together.  it is so nice that maddux can hang with his older siblings and that they can play so nicely together.  love.

waving hello

during dinner maddux started waving in response to us waving to him!  he would wave before but get a look at that controlled wrist action.  so sweet.  love.

train ride

madelyn and mason play very nicely together for the most part - i mean, they are siblings after all. "telling a story" or playing pretend is their favorite activity.  since our trip (and a little before) their 'stories' have focused largely on travel.  they load their backpacks with toys, put on their shoes, board the plane (or car), use the dog leash as their seatbelt and head off to visit different people.

here is some video of their 'train' ride.  i was trying to get mason to say "yellow" because it was a new word that day.  love.

wedding day

we got up and headed to ikea - of course we made time for ikea!  we were there long enough to eat breakfast and lunch there.  during lunch the lady next to me said that we were brave to bring the kids and that her daughter won't even bring her kids.  we don't even think anything of it.  the kids were good for the most part.  mason had a few 'i'm not moving' moments but nothing too serious.

the most difficult part of going to ikea is that we had to get ready for the wedding in the car.  matt and i changed in the ikea parking lot - well, inside the van.  we let the kids wait until we got there since it was still a little over an hour to the wedding site.

the wedding was at this old farm house.  we had to walk down a long gravel drive and the wedding was on the front lawn.

we were surprised to see around 10 guys (maybe a few more) from matt's baseball team were there (the groom was also on the team).  it was so much fun to see everyone again and hear what they have been up to for the past 10 years.

the wedding was so beautiful and personal. looking at the sky pulling up we were afraid that there would be rain but it stayed away.  not only for the ceremony, but the reception.  and the reception was great!  besides the conversation and southern/barbecue buffet (much to matt's delight), there were a lot of yard games out for guests to play - and they did too.

maddux took right to crawling on the grass - way quicker than the other two

matt and madelyn playing frisbee. the frisbee lit up so once it got dark some of the older kids (and grown-ups) kept playing.

maddux was just grinning and clapping his hands.

madelyn had a lot of trouble running in her tights - they kept falling down. i think everyone saw her underwear during the several times she tried to pull them back up before i just took them off.

look at that stance!

she actually hit the ball too and i caught the moment of her first hit!

mason wasn't able to make contact, but he sure looked cute trying.

our kids definitely made an impression on the wedding.  madelyn was so excited for cake and dancing.  she was obsessed with the bride who she saw as a real life princess and kept standing a little too close.  thankfully the flower girl was right around madelyn's age so she had someone to distract her.  especially since we had never met the bride before!

mason spent a lot of time with two people - michael and sammy.  michael (aka "micky" or "little joey") is full of energy - just like he was in college - and has two boys of his own at home.  he ran all over and wrestled with mason.  and mason loved it!  and then mason became best friends with sammy.  sammy is the girlfriend of one of our college baseball friends - tim. she danced with mason, colored with mason, fed him cake and ice cream, looked at the neighboring horses, etc.  tim told us that she liked that mason expressed himself mainly without words.

sammy dancing with mason

tim and sammy with mason (mason was falling seconds before i took the picture and tim caught him).

and matt got a dance with madelyn (she was pretty busy on the dance floor).

i was there too, but we never got a picture with me in it.  oh well.  i am so glad that we were able to make the trip.  and after all of our recent driving to florida, it really wasn't all that bad.  we have visited 11 states in the past 14 days.  we thought about driving over to delaware just to make it 12 since we were early to the wedding and the kids were asleep but didn't. while driving back to the wedding we passed a real tow truck painted out like matter - it even had eye decals on the windshield.  i wish we had stopped for a picture! (we were going to stop after the wedding but forgot until we were well past it.) at least the kids saw it too.  and get this, the bride's family is from akron!  she said that they might be our way some time to visit remaining family some time.  we are pleased to hear that we might get to see this great couple again.  love.

back on the road

because we hadn't spent enough time in the car, today we made the drive over to washington d.c.  we were going to a wedding in maryland (chestertown) but the hotel for the wedding was full so we decided to stay two-hours away in d.c.  i had never been before so i was pretty excited about it.  i wasn't sure how the kids would do, but it was great!  they had the best time.  we got there around 3pm and just walked around until dark. 

the kids had a great time running along the paths and seeing the large monuments.  it was a pretty nice day to be out too.  and it wasn't as crowded as i was anticipating. the new mlk jr. monument was pretty crowded (and it was amazing - i even got choked up answering madelyn's questions about who he was and what he did).

here are some pictures from our sight-seeing walk:

a late dinner near our hotel and off to bed.  matt and mason in one, madelyn and i in the other (maddux was in the pack-n-play).  we all slept well too.  love.