Swim by if you dare

Ever since the girls' parties last fall, Trent has been planning his own party "with friends and presents". About once or twice a week he changed the theme, ranging from Legos to Star Wars to Star Wars Legos to Angry Birds to Star Wars Angry Birds to lions and, finally, settling on sharks.

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the actual party, because Josh took Evie to the ER right before the party. I feel like all moms must have at least one "I threw a kid party by myself because life got crazy" story. Our story involves a potential appendicitis (she turned out to have something less serious going on). Luckily, I wasn't totally by myself thanks to two good friends who offered to stay and help me handle 12 two- to four-year olds. 

Before Evie's intense stomach pain started, I managed to get a little photo shoot in with the Birthday Boy. He knew a photo shoot was coming, so all week I kept catching him practice his smile. I'm telling you, Teddy-boy's excitement over turning four and having a party was almost unmatched. He talked of nothing else and kept me constantly updated on the exact amount of "sleep nights" until the festivities.

 

We played "feed the fish to the shark" (our version of pin the tail on the donkey) with a very realistic drawing Josh made (and is still hanging on the wall, over a month later, because Trent can't bear to take it down), opened presents, ate cupcakes, fished for treat bags, and had a water balloon fight. He declared the party to be "perfect and awesome".

It sure was fun to spoil our sweet-and-sour, snuggle buddy, tickle monster, Legos loving, goofy, freckled boy. Happy birthday!

Three

My baby turned three in July. And I suppose I should stop calling him "the baby", but I just can't seem to do it.

He is super opinionated, a wonderful and frustrating quality. I was able to convince him to take birthday pictures on the front porch, but only after I agreed to take one of him on the road carpet, surrounded by all his trains and cars.

He loves his trains and cars like they are people. He almost always has one clutched in his fist and more shoved into whatever pockets are available. Another compromise to taking birthday pictures was letting him pick a train or two to bring along.

He calls Evie and Charlotte "my girls". As in-- "Where are my girls? Upstairs?" "Hi! My name is Trent and these are my girls!" "My girls won't let me play, go talk a them!" It is a beautiful relationship.

Teddy-boy is truly our joy. I am so grateful for this funny, sweet, sour, reserved, brave, opinionated child of mine. Happy third birthday!!

Faces

"Take my picture, I'll smile so everyone can see my missing tooth" face.

"Watch me curtsy" face.

"Take my picture, I'm a gonna be scared" face.

"Can you tell I just ate an orange popscicle" face.

"Take my picture, I want everyone to see my new bangs" face.

"I'm making a kissy face but, for the record, kisses are gross" face.

"My turn! My turn! Cheese!" face. (Added bonus: cracker crumb beard.)

Just the three of us

With Evie in school and Josh in school and working, it is just Lottie, Trent and me around the house during the day.

Trent has joined the rest of us bibliophiles, asking to be read to every ten minutes or so. Some current favorites are A Mother for Choco, anything Sandra Boynton, and the classic Brown Bear, Brown Bear.

We play Tickle Monster quite frequently.

Our play always includes a lot of trains and cars.

And there is a lot of singing from Lottie (per usual).

The two of them do butt heads, but they are both snugly, lovey kids so they make up quickly.

We don't go outside a lot, due to the intense heat that hasn't lifted yet. Soon it will be sunny, but not so much that we melt outside, and then we can have some more fun exploring the city.

We did go to the zoo one cloudy morning, which was kind of a big mistake because the humidity was ridiculous. I had Trent on my back in the Ergo and we were pretty gross after just an hour.

I am really glad these two have another year together before Lottie starts school. I just love hearing Lottie and Trent have conversations of their own in the background.

The Boy, lately

Oh, the things I could write about The Boy.

Three weeks ago, Trent had another set of ear tubes put in as well as his adenoids removed. Aside from the constant ear and adenoid infections, his verbal skills, or lack thereof, were causing a lot of concern. He babbled every now and then, but at 18-months we couldn't really think of a single word he said consistently. Since the surgery, his babbling has increased, we've identified over twenty words in his vocabulary, and his overall demeanor is happier. I am grateful that he is no longer in constant discomfort or having hearing trouble.

Trent is certainly coming into his own as of late. And his developing personality is bringing back memories of the girls at this age. Three memories in particular stand out to me.

1. He has learned the art of throwing a tantrum, from the quick-paced foot stomp to the tearless wailing. It completely reminds me of Evie's legendary tantrums. That girl would remain inconsolable for twenty minutes and then turn it off like a switch.

2. He still wakes in the middle of the night and most of the time he just wants me to snuggle with him. At this age, Lottie insisted I sing her to sleep. She would hold my hand the whole time and move her face so close to mine our noses would touch. The youngest lambkins are big snuggle-bugs.

3. Trent recently went through a phase where he let spit run down his chin if he didn't get his way. He quickly learned we didn't like it, so that just increased the episodes. Well, thanks to a similar experience with Evie, I knew we just needed to stop reacting to the behavior and it would stop. When Evie was young and angry, she used to lick the object nearest to her. I remember a particularly spectacular episode when she was told not to pick flowers from a garden, so she screamed and started licking every leaf and flower around her.

In general, Trent will do, wear, or eat anything if he thinks the girls are watching. They act as his personal fan club and I think we must be raising the most confident child in the world with all the cheering and high-fiving going on around here. Although lately he has started to terrorize them (mostly hair-pulling and sitting on their faces when they are lounging on the couch), so the adoration might drop a few levels if he doesn't stop. 

Regardless of the naughty behavior discussed in this post, Teddy-boy is precious to us all. How we love that little brother.

Mystery

Can someone tell me the color of Trent's eyes? I want them to be green, but I am not sure they have fully transitioned from blue. My hopes are high in a silly way because that would make two features of mine that I can see in my otherwise cloned-from-daddy-and-PopPop baby (he also has my cleft chin).

This one clearly has baby blues. She also has a bruise on her forehead from running into the counter and strawberry jam on her face from lunch.

Also present are large helpings of sass and spice. Just how I like her.

But what about Teddy? Green? Blue? Grey? Something else altogether?

Duplos distractions

With Evie and Josh in school, it is just me and the two snuggle-bugs. Lottie and Trent are two peas, super social and neither one wanting to be left alone. In the absence of their fearless leader, my lambkins have found a quiet companionship that suits everyone just fine, thank you. I always thought of Evie as my quiet one, but I am noticing a distinct void of chatter. We miss her jokes and rule enforcing and crazy laughter. Luckily, school ends early and we still have several hours in the day to play together with Evie. Until that time, however, we distract ourselves in any way we can. Today it was the Duplos' turn.

Somehow...

A year flew by and my little thunder turned one.

He took five steps the week prior to turning one, but no further action has been taken to become upwardly mobile. He commands attention everywhere we go thanks to his social personality and high-pitched shriek (how else is he to be heard over those noisy sisters?). His snuggles melt my heart and overall I just can't get enough of those cheeks and chubby feet.

I die a little inside each time one of them ages another year, but I am also so very excited for this next year. He is going to grow and change so much and I can't wait to discover more about my sweet baby.

We celebrated the occasion by having a small party in the backyard, complete with chocolate chip cupcakes.