Surprise!

Daniel came to get me just now and said he had a surprise to show me in the bathroom.

I was immediately concerned, but he assured me it was not in the toilet.

He had me close my eyes and led me to the bathroom.

"Open them!" he says. I open my eyes and see........nothing.

I say, "What's the surprise?"

He says, "It's behind here" as he opens the door a bit.

I still see nothing out of the ordinary, so I look at him, bewildered.

He says, "Well, I sure do know how to put a new roll of toilet paper on all by myself."

He was so proud! My future daughter-in-law owes me big time!

Venture Out

I guess you could say we don't get out much. We definitely avoid taking the kids to restaurants, but the other night David had a work dinner at Abuelo's, and our whole family was invited.

As we were getting ready to go, I told Katie to put on her shoes so we could go out to eat. She said, "Go mass?" I told her, "No, we're not going to mass. We're going to a restaurant to eat." She didn't understand and kept asking, "Go mass?" over and over since that's apparently the only place we ever take her.

Then when we got to the restaurant, someone said something about a menu, and Daniel asked, "What's a menu?" My kid (whose vocabulary includes words like asteroid and tsunami) had never heard the word "menu!"

We need to get out more!

Daniel the Socialite

I came home from work a few weeks ago and found Daniel planning a party. This isn't the first time he's had a party when I was at work. It's actually fairly common for me to find the "happy birthday" banner hanging up, adorned with balloons when I come home.

But this time, he had set out appetizers and everything! There were Cokes (I was told they were for the adults) lined up as well as his plastic cups filled with water (for the kids). There was a bowl of wheat thins, a bowl of Chex (chex mix perhaps?), and even triscuits topped with sliced apples and a sprinkling of cinnamon (a resemblance of a frequent party appetizer of mine).

He wouldn't let me take any of it down because he insisted the neighbors would be arriving soon. That's when I found out he had actually convinced the sitter to let him deliver homemade invitations to three of his friends' mailboxes! 

He was disappointed when nobody showed up, but I convinced him that it was probably just too short notice. I probably set myself up for early invitations next time!

The Trinity

Tonight I was clearing the table after dinner.  Catherine was finished eating and was yelling repeatedly, "Help me, Mama! Help me, Mama!" because she wanted down from her highchair.

I said, "Just a minute, Catherine. I'm only one person!"

Daniel piped in and told her, "Catherine, you should ask for God's help."

He then added, "He's three people!"

Time-Out!

The other day Daniel was throwing a fit.  He was throwing a fit because his sister wanted to play with her stuffed kangaroo, but he wanted to play with it too.  I told him that he could either choose to give her the kangaroo back or he could give her one of his stuffed animals.  Reasonable enough, right?  :) 

Apparently not for a five year old.

He was kicking, screaming and, in general, throwing a good-sized tantrum after I gave him his two choices.

That's when Katie got up, pulled out the time-out chair, started pointing at it and saying, "Mama, Mama!  This!  This!"

Even she knew it was time for a time-out.  :) 

My Little Helper

Don't get me wrong. 

I appreciate the fact that Catherine helps me unload the dishwasher.

But this is what the silverware drawer looks like when she's done:

Retro Kate

This was an outfit that I wore as a little girl.  I wish I had a side-by-side comparison, but I don't have a pic of me in the outfit!

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween!  Daniel dressed up as an astronaut, and Katie was a princess.  The kids got to wear their costumes several times.  We went to a neighborhood party on the Friday before Halloween and then trick-or-treating on Halloween night.  Both kids LOVED trick-or-treating.  I didn't know if Katie would really like it, but she figured it out pretty quickly and loved following Daniel around.  We went with a few neighbor friends, and that made it even more fun for Daniel.  Katie might have ended up with the most loot because people would see how little she was and give her two! 

My proudest moment came the next day though.  Daniel went through all his candy the next morning, and quickly separated about 1/3 of it to give to people (no prompting for me!).  He said he probably had too much candy and thought others might like to have some too.  He packaged up one bag for Abuela, Uncle Luis, Ms. Marcy, and Ms. Ashley.  Not sure how he decided on who got a bag, but you might have to put your name on the list if you want one for next year! 

We also hosted a small pumpkin carving party, and that was fun too!  The neighbor kids had fun running around. 

Pics!

Kisses

Tonight David told Catherine to give him a kiss.

She put her lips on his cheek.

He said, "Not like that. Give me a kiss!"

She again just put her lips on his cheek.

He said, "No, smack your lips. Give me a smack kiss."

Once more she put her lips on his cheek, but then she smacked him across the face with her hand.

Smack kiss!

Katie for the Win!

Today Catherine accidentally dumped a big cup of water on her head.

Daniel laughed and said, "Maybe she thinks she's a football coach who just won the game!"

Pumpkin Patch

Our annual trip to the pumpkin patch with the Calvo's:

More Talking from Catherine

Last night Daniel and David were at soccer practice while I was giving Catherine a bath. We heard the door open when they came home, and she started laughing.  She then said, "Mama home.  Me home.  Daddy home.  Brother home.  Yea!" That's got to be the longest string of words she's put together so far!

Then tonight when I was giving her a bath, she was handing me the foam letters, wanting me to name each one.  Our conversation went like this:
Me: That's an A.
Kate: A!
Me: That's an S.
Kate: S!
Me: That's a U.
Kate: Me!

Charades

We took a quick trip to Dallas this weekend, and on Saturday night we played a little charades. My son LOVED it! I guess we'd never played that with him, but he had a blast! He loved being the one to act out things, and when someone would actually guess what he was doing, he would yell, "YES!" excitedly and smile as big as if he'd just seen Santa Claus! It was fun to watch him.

David started whispering suggestions to him toward the end of the game, and at one point, David whispered something to him and Daniel promptly got up, went to the bedroom, and shut the door. Everyone was waiting for him to come out, but he didn't. David said, "Daniel, what are you doing?" He replied, "What you said!" David said, "I don't think you understood me," wondering what on earth he was doing in the bedroom. Someone asked, "Are you coming out?" And Daniel said, "No!" Finally David realized what he was doing and started cracking up. He told Daniel to come out and tell everyone what he was. Daniel said, "I'm Mommy when she's really mad!"

Well played, son. Well played.

County Fair

It was several weeks ago that we took the kids to the county fair.  We spent some time at the petting zoo, where Daniel (for the first time ever) let some of the animals eat right out of his hand.  Katie didn't like that so much, but she seemed to enjoy watching the animals.  We also spent quite a bit of time in the agriculture building, as we always do.  This year they didn't have the little toy tractors that Daniel always loves to play with, but they did have a simulated tractor ride that both kids thought was pretty cool. 

We let Daniel pick two rides to go on.  He really wanted to do the same rides he always does, but they're really aimed more for the 3-year-old crowd, so we pushed him to try something bigger.  He did the racecar one (his initial choice) which he liked and the great, big potato-sack slide (one we pushed for).  We didn't think he'd actually do the slide all by himself, but he did!  He hesitated for awhile at the top, but came down without a hitch.  He wasn't smiling throughout the ordeal, but he said it was fun when he got off. 

Catherine went on the carousel - her first time.  Before it began, I was asking her if she wanted to ride on the dog, the horse, or the rooster.  She repeatedly said dog - well, she doesn't actually say "dog," but she does pant like one.  So when it was our turn to get on, I put her on the dog.  We sat there, waiting for others to get on, and she eventually changed her mind, pointing to the horse behind us.  Assured that she wanted to switch, we made our move to the horse.  She then began crowing like a rooster, obviously wanting to switch to the rooster now.  Unfortunately, the rooster was already taken by another kid, so we had to stay aboard the horse.  After about 15 more rooster crows, I convinced her that we had to ride the horse now.  She had fun, even though it wasn't a rooster.

We ended the trip with some corn dogs.  Can you tell Katie liked hers?  :) Happy day!

Two words

Catherine can't say a ton of words yet, but she started putting two together.

During mass the other day, she said "more baby" over and over as all the babies from the cry room walked by.

When she's erasing the pictures on her little drawing board (which she's currently obsessed with), she says "byebye meow" or "byebye mama" or "byebye whatever other thing she's requested I draw."

My favorite two-word combination is "no nut," which she says when I call her nutty.

Daniel's 5th Birthday

Daniel is five!

He had a party here at the house with some of his friends.  He requested an "orange" party and a digger cake.  We happily obliged with orange balloons, plates, etc. and the best digger cake we could make.  :)  There was a big group of kids - new neighbors (Garrison and Tessa), old neighbors (Noah, Christian, and Wyatt), soccer friends (Jonah & Lexi), and old friends (Riley, Aubrey, Lily, and Maddie).  Abuelo and Abuela were also here.  They played in the sandbox, painted, played with cars, threw water balloons, played tag, and ran in the sprinkler.  Every kid went home ridiculously dirty. The kids had fun - the parents maybe weren't as excited since most of them had to strip their kids down to their underwear before they left! 

Daniel got a ton of presents:

• sandbox - Daddy & Mommy (Daddy was the only one thanked because Daniel "realized that Mommy did not help make the sandbox.")
• motor grader - Abuelo & Abuela
• haul truck - Uncle Luis
• bug kit - Uncle Brian & Aunt Cristi
• clothes - Grandpa & Grandma
• Operation, crayons, & markers - Aunt Pam & Uncle Josh
• Cars activity book and digger matching game - Aunt Heather & Uncle Brian
• money - Grandma Fox
• Guess Who and a Sunday School song CD - Calvo family
• cars - Holmes family
• paint your own soccer ball kit and cars - Ellis family
• tool kit - Jones family
• John Deere grain cart - Black family

Daniel went in for his five year check-up this week.  He weighs 38.8 pounds and measures 43.5 inches.  He is an amazing kid and we love him like crazy!

on his actual birthday, eating pancakes for breakfast

 



 

headed out with the bug kit aunt cristi got him

the digger cake

 



 

blowing out five candles!

Daniel's Swimming Lessons

Daniel completed swimming lessons a few weeks ago.  Most of you know that Daniel has never really been one to like the water, so we did what any good parent would do and bribed him.  We told him that if he did well at every single swimming lesson (there were 8) by always trying what the teacher asked him to do and never crying, he could go to Nikki's Frozen Yogurt.  It worked like a charm!  Every time his teacher, Ms. Brooke, asked him to do something, he said he was ready!  He learned to float on his back (sort of) and go backward and forward using a kickboard.  He can't swim yet, but he made huge gains! Every time he would come out of the pool, he would say, "Mommy, can you please give me my towel so I can wipe my face?"  He still doesn't like water in his face, but he became more tolerant.  He even went off the diving board on the last day of class.  I'm going to try to attach the video of that, but I need David's help with it.  It's about a four minute clip - the anticipation is agonizing!

Hairdresser Needed

Daniel did Catherine's hair the other day.  He told me this was the best he could do with it.

Catherine's 18(ish) month update

I'm a little (or a lot) late with Catherine's 18 month update. She's actually 19 months now and getting darn close to 20, but that's as close as I could do it! She weighed in at 21 lb., 8 oz., which is the 11th percentile. She measured 32", which is the 58th percentile. Growing tall!

She is very active. She can run pretty fast, and can climb anything. She recently started climbing her changing table - not fun. She's desperately trying to be independent and frequently yells, "No!" when I'm trying to do anything for her. She likes to buckle her seat belt in the car, but she takes an eternity to do it. She tries to dress herself, but she's not very good at it yet. She likes to feed herself her oatmeal, but chooses to do it without a spoon.  That one makes for a fun clean-up!

She has really good comprehension skills and can follow a lot of directions. Her speech is still lagging, but she's adding new words here and there, including bubble, bow, and poop.

She's kind of a sneaky little thing and likes to raid through our things when we're not looking. She especially likes the spice cabinet. She likes playing with Daniel, but they definitely fight more than they used to. She likes to knock down whatever he's building and wreak havoc on his world in general.

She likes to eat. Right now her favorite foods are eggs, oatmeal, bananas, watermelon, broccoli, Asian food, peaches, avocados, and sandwiches. She is still a pickier eater compared to Daniel, but a lot better than most kids her age.

She's a sweet girl!

White Mail

We're helping out some friends this week by taking care of their pets, garden, etc. 

The other day we stopped at their mail box to bring in their mail. 

Daniel looked at it and said, "Is that white mail?"

 Most of the envelopes were white, so I said, "Yep, it looks like white mail." 

He paused a moment and said, "So what is blackmail?" 

Kids' Photos

In case you missed it, here's the link to the preview of the professional photos I had done of the kids.

http://edavisphotography.squarespace.com/blog/

Love how they came out!

Majalca

We traveled to Majalca, Mexico from June 29 through July 4.  This was the first trip that Catherine's taken to Mexico.  (It was Daniel's fourth time.)  The trip there wasn't bad at all.  It took us about 10 hours.  We had Aunt Cristi and Uncle Brian with us, and they helped out a lot.  Aunt Cristi made some fun games to play in the car with Daniel.

The kids had a blast! David's aunts, uncles, and cousins took such good care of us.  The kids loved playing in the sandbox, jumping on the trampoline, riding the ATVs, and playing on the playset.  The highlight of the trip for Daniel was probably climbing the mountain - three times!  The first time he went with one of David's cousins, Javier.  I thought they probably wouldn't make it very far before Daniel would get tired or need to turn around, but soon I could see them way at the top of the peak!  He was a really tough climber, even using his hands to crawl up some tough rocks.  He went again with David and one of David's uncles, Adolfo and then a third time with David and me.  Daniel also did a really good job trying to improve his Spanish, and he played a lot with his second cousin, Roberto.  I'm not sure how they communicated, but they both seemed to talk a lot to one another. 

Catherine (being the daredevil that she is) loved the ATVs.  She rode in one of the covered ones with David andme, and she would put her hands on the little half-windshield and yell wildly as we went fast. She didn't even seem to mind when it was spitting rain in her face!  She also loved the slide at the house and did it over and over and over.

 

We were glad to get home, though it was a long trip back.  It took us about 12 hours to get back.  Abuelo and Abuela rode with us on the way home, and they definitely made the trip a little easier.  Despite being in the car forever, when we pulled on to our road, Daniel said, "Well, that was a short trip!"   

Balloon Ride

Daniel and Catherine went to Chuck E. Cheese for a birthday party.  They brought home two helium balloons.  Daniel had the brilliant idea to send Catherine away in a "hot air balloon."  He tied the balloons onto the box, and I think he really thought it would float away.  :(  When it didn't work, he was not deterred and began lifting the box in the air so that she could still fly!  She bailed out about halfway through the ride.

Dalhart

I know, I know - for the three people that follow this blog - I'm way, way, way behind.  I don't even really have a great excuse, so I'll just try to catch up as best I can.  :)

We took a trip at the end of May/beginning of June to Dalhart. Here are pic highlights from our trip!   I have some pretty cute nephews and kiddos!

We had a "girls' weekend" in Dalhart, where my sister-in-law lives now.  All the Zens cousins were there, and the kids had a lot of fun.  Daniel was, literally, ready to move to Dalhart.  They had a gorgeous park within walking distance from their house and they had another really neat park that we went to one day.  We enjoyed a lot of time in Henry's sandbox too.  I'm not sure that Daniel really left that box for most of that weekend.  Good thing my sister-in-law had a really nice shaded backyard!  There was also a doll stroller for Katie to push Robin (her doll) around in.  She loved that.  She also really loved the slide at the playground and would go down and then immediately do the sign for "again."  Daniel and Bryson got along well most of the time.  Catherine and Henry didn't pay much attention to anyone.  :)  

The trip definitely had a few bumps in it with Catherine waking up a lot at night (and then, in turn, waking up everyone else sleeping in the room) and the long, long, long road from Abilene to Dalhart.  I think it took us about 5.75 hours.  There was one point that I thought I should just pull over and re-settle our family in Plainview, TX.

Trash Man

I guess I've never posted anything about Daniel's obsession with picking up trash.  If you've seen him within the last six months, you already know this, but if not, you should know that his obsession is so strong that my brother nicknamed him Eco Dan.

The kid picks up trash almost everyday. He has (literally) picked up at least 6 huge trash bags full from around our neighborhood.  A neighbor paid him a dollar the other day for his good work.  He picks up trash when we go to the park.  He picks up trash with the babysitter.  He picks up trash when he goes on bike rides.

He wants to be a "city pick up trasher" when he grows up.  When we're driving, his most frequent question is, "Why do so many people litter?"  He has grand visions of creating a flyer soon to hand out to all the neighbors telling them not to litter.

The funny thing is that if you ask him, he'll tell you that he doesn't actually enjoy picking up trash, but that it's his job.

Growing Tall by Eating Veggies

At dinner tonight:
Daniel: Mommy, how old are you?
Me: 31.
Daniel: How old is Grandma Fox?
Me: 94.
Daniel: Whoa! How tall is she?
(He still thinks age and height are equated.)
Me: Not very tall.
Daniel: She must not like broccoli!

Soccer Champ

Daniel finished his last game of soccer this Saturday.  He played really well and made so much progress this year!  When we started out, he was pretty terrible - almost embarrassingly bad.  The ball would land right in front of his feet, and he wouldn't do anything!  It's not that he was so terrible in terms of athletics, but he just didn't focus on the game at all.  He was busy trying to socialize or pick up trash on the field.   Over the course of the season though, he's really gotten pretty good!  He wasn't afraid to get in there and steal the ball from the other team, and he didn't cry when he got knocked down several times.  He even scored 5 goals for the season and his team went 8-0.  He really enjoyed playing and I think he'll want to do it again next season. I loved seeing him do something new and watching him progress over the season.

Future Comedian

Not long ago David taught Daniel a joke:
Why can't you hear a pterodactyl pee?
Because the "p" is silent!

Daniel has a new take on it:
Why can't you hear play doh pee?
Because the "h" is silent!

Catherine's 15 Month Update

Catherine turned 15 months old on April 9th.  She had a check-up last week and weighed in at 19 lbs., 13 oz. (8.69%ile) and measured 30.5" in length (52.36%ile).  She's grown a lot!  She's a sweet girl that likes to be silly.  She does goofy things like picking up things (blocks, clothes, etc.) with her mouth and bringing them to people.  She loves to be tickled and enjoys any physical kind of play.  She likes books now, but she's particular about which ones she'll read.  She still won't sit still for very long periods of time and is typically running around the house, creating one mess after another.  She loves to be outside and could spend quite a bit of time picking up the pebbles in front of our house and loading them into almost anything.  She wants to do everything that Daniel does and throws fits when she can't do things like ride his bike.  She's a little fussy with her eating, but she definitely enjoys eating and can put some food away!  Her favorite foods are bananas, cuties, peanut butter, oatmeal, green beans (with butter), broccoli (with cheese), carrots, and Asian food.  She really dislikes beans (of all kinds) and many other random veggies I try to get her to eat.  She doesn't say too many words yet, but she communicates fairly well with grunts, screams, gestures, and pointing.  She understands a lot of words and will follow directions fairly well.  She can also make quite a few animal sounds.  Her most recent additions are squirrel and snake.  :)  She's a tough girl and seems to always have some sort of bruise or cut on her face because she takes quite a few tumbles in her many adventures. 

A cardiology update: She saw her cardiologist on March 21st.  They did another echocardiogram and her VSD has not closed.  The doctor said that it's "close to moderate" in size and he doesn't see it trending toward closing.  He predicts that it won't close on its own and that we'll have to do some sort of surgery to close it.  Like my pediatrician reminded me though, "he's not God."  So....we'll see....for right now, we're just waiting.  She won't go back to the cardiologist until next March. 

I Smell Lies and Candy

So the Tuesday following Easter, Daniel was in his room doing his chores (making his bed, folding his pjs, etc.). He was in there quite awhile, but I'm busy, and I didn't make much of it..... He came out awhile later and was acting a little strange, just giggling and goofy. He got close to me, and I realized that he smelled like peanut butter. Our conversation went like this: Me: Why do you smell like peanut butter? Daniel: I don't know! Me: What did you eat with peanut butter? Daniel (with a sad look on his face): Candy. Me: One of the Reese's candies? Daniel: Yes. Me: That whole big Reese's egg in the yellow wrapper or a little tiny one? Daniel: The whole big egg. Me: Is that all you ate? Daniel: Yes. Me: Are you sure? Daniel: Yes. Me (sighing): OK, Daniel. You're not going to get any more sweets today because you've already eaten one. You know you're supposed to ask before you have sweets. Daniel: OK. Not five minutes later, we're in his room doing something, and I see, sticking out from under his bed, candy wrappers. Lots of candy wrappers. As in 8 candy wrappers. That child ate 3 Snickers, 4 Reese's peanut butter cups, 1 Reese's peanut butter egg, and a marshmallow bunny. When questioned, he promised that that was the whole stash. Then I proceeded to look on the other side of the bed, and I found two more Reese's peanut butter cup wrappers. That brings the grand total to ten pieces of candy in one day, as well as two big fat lies.

S-E-X

We were having dinner the other night, and David was talking about a story in the news and spelled out "S-E-X."  Daniel quickly jumped in and said, "Oh, I know what that means!  FedEx!"

Nature Observer

Today we were outside when Catherine spotted a tiny beetle walking around on the driveway.  She squatted down and watched it walk all over, smiling and laughing to see it wiggle around.  It was neat to see her so happy over something so small.  It was like you could see her learning about the world right there in front of you.

And then she squished the bug, picked it up, popped it in her mouth, and swallowed faster than I could even think.

Funeral Traffic

Conversation in the car:

Daniel: Why are we going so slow?
Me: Because there are a lot of people right here.
Daniel: Why?
Me: It looks like there was some kind of service at that church, and now people are getting out.
Daniel: What's a service?
Me: It's some kind of meeting or ceremony at the church.
Daniel: What kind of meeting was it?
Me: Well, it looks like it was a funeral.
Daniel: What's a funeral?
Me: It's a ceremony they have when somebody dies to honor them.
Daniel: Somebody died?!?
Me: Yeah, I think so.
Daniel: Who was it?!?
Me: I don't know.
Daniel: When did they die?
Me: I don't know.
Daniel: Just now??
Me: No, probably a few days ago.
Daniel: When?  Yesterday??
Me: No, it was probably two or three days ago.
Daniel: In Abilene someone died?
Me: That's what it looks like.
Daniel: Why didn't we go to the funeral?
Me: Because we didn't know the person.
Daniel: Why not?!?
Me: We just don't know everybody in this world.
Daniel: Huh.

It's exhausting being this kid's mother.

New Pope

Daniel's take on the new pope:

"Pope Francis is way easier to say than Pope Benedict."

Daniel the Builder

Daniel's been building a house for Catherine ever since we moved here.  There were leftover building materials around the yard, and they're currently building another house next door, so there are always scrap building supplies around.  Daniel hauls everything he can find over to an area where he's building a house for his sister.  He's been working on floor boards, stone, brick, wiring, etc.  He'll come inside periodically and ask Catherine things like, "Do you want wood floors in your house?"  She'll make some sort of response, and he's off to work on the house some more.  Recently, he and Ms. Marcy painted some of the bricks.  Nice touch, I think! 

Mama's Shoes

Catherine's been trying on my shoes now.  She likes to clomp around in the kitchen.

 And another pic just because she's cute.

Opossum Joke

If you've interacted with my son within the last several months, you'll know that he frequently (as in - oh my gosh, are we still doing this???) pretends he's an opossum.  I'm not sure how his fascination with this animal came about, but he walks around on all fours, makes funny squeaking sounds, digs through trash (we literally found him inside the garbage can one day), etc. 

Tonight he was squeaking like an opossum at dinner.  David said, "You sure are squeaky tonight."  Daniel quickly replied with, "Yeah, but I'm allergic to WD-40." 

Took me a minute, but that's funny!

Growing Girl

Look who's old enough to wear a ponytail.  Is she not huge all of a sudden???