Nashville Glewwe Kids

Both kids started gymnastics at the Y on Saturday. I had signed Megan up for the Parent & Tot class, thinking that would be the best route for my first timer. I was wrong.
At her request, Grant escorted Megan to the gymnastics class. 10 minutes into it, he waved me into the gym, a frown on his face. He said she’s just too big for the class. 3 trips to the front desk and 1 trip to the nursery later, Michael was enrolled in the class Megan was initially signed up for, and Megan was enrolled in the later class for bigger kids.
When Michael first came into the class, he was an upset boy just barely escaping from the nursery, and we hadn’t prepared him a bit for what we were putting him into. He wasn’t a happy camper. I got him to do a few activities, and once he had some small plastic balls in his hand and a basketball goal to toss them into, he was much happier. Once Grant got Megna into the nursery, we were able to double team Michael and challenge him to try some other activities, and he had a good time in the end. He ran across an inflatable tumbling track. He climbed over some wedges. He even hung on to the little bar for a bit. I think that he’ll have fun most of the time next week.
For Megan, this gymnastics class we’ve signed her up for is going to challenge her in all sorts of ways. It’s the first time she’s really had to sit (or stand or jump, etc) as part of an organized class without us around her. She is under the authority of the teacher only, a fact which I’m sure we’ll have to remind her weekly. She is also being challenged to do more physically. This is a class for 3 to 5 year-olds, and Megan won’t turn 3 until May. I’ve always thought she was a little behind physically, too, so I think this class is just what she needs. She did some jumping and some turning and some climbing and some stretching, and I think she had a great time with it all.
We have class again next week! We’ll keep you posted as the kids learn new tricks.

Pictures (and maybe some video!) will be coming soon. We have had MANY outdoor adventures this week, and my little camera has followed us as we traveled. The camera is officially pooped and the SD card is terribly full, so I’m feeling motivated to get it all taken care of.
In the meantime, here are a few tidbits about the kids:

- Megan got a pretty decent scratch on her knee some time ago, then banged it up again on our Sunday walk at the park. It bled like a torn frenulum, only it was a banged up knee. I think it ruined her tights, too. Anyway, the kid HATES band-aids and gets VERY upset if someone tries to put one on her. This little scratch was a doozy though, and it needed coverage in a big bad ugly sort of way. We came home from the park and while I lay down with Michael to get him to sleep, Grant forced Megan into the shower to thoroughly clean debris from the injury, then forced gauze onto the knee. We took it off Tuesday. The knee looks much better, if you can ignore all the icky stuff from the tape. Well, it should come off in a year or so…

- Michael is recovering from a few sister-inflicted injuries, including a black eye and cut from a cat thrown at him. He’s fine, though. He’s discovered he can climb just about anything, and when he falls, it’s our fault. More updates with photos soon!

First You Will Need:

- a desperation to use fresh strawberries while they are still good
- a brand new recipe to try
- a desire to double said new recipe
- a bowl for hand mixing (try not to make eye contact with the KitchenAid in the corner; just do as the recipe says!)
- (a foolish) determination to bake in a different area in the kitchen than usual
- two eager-to-assist children
- measuring cups, spoons for babies to play with
- St. Jude, patron saint of lost causes, to be on call

Directions:
- Sneak into kitchen to slice strawberries and generally prep for cake making.
- Have older child catch you before the fun stuff begins. Complete prep while having her mash berries. Juggle finding ingredients and remembering to double while keeping her from getting strawberry all over the kitchen.
- Curse yourself silently once you remember you’ve not doubled most of the recipe so far. Go back to the beginning and add necessary ingredients. Hope that you’re adding the right ones.
- Have younger child discover that older child is in Learning Tower and throw a small fit before joining older child.
- Keep older child from mixing gathered ingredients while removing all breakables and sharp objects from younger child’s reach while gathering other ingredients. Place some small edibles within younger child’s reach.
- Hear things hit the floor. Be relieved they sound like plastic. Mix faster.
- Fill cake pan with doubled recipe. Allow older child lick of spoon.
- Put cake pan in oven.
- Move Learning Tower to center of kitchen and hope babies will go to other room and play while you clean a little. Thank older child profusely for her assistance.
- Clean up mess.
- Take cake to husband’s work and await verdict.

Serves: to test your patience.

Megan was awake well before I was this morning, but Michael chose to wake when only Megan could get to him immediately. She came and told me she could hear him, then she went to greet him. I found the kids in Michael’s room. Megan had turned the light on and the kids were cuddling and giggling in his toddler bed. It was a delight to see; the truly enjoy each other!
I found it easier to wrestle Michael out of his pajamas and diaper than Megan, and I set to my task. While he struggled, stripped him down, cleaned him up, flipped him over a few times, slung his legs into the air and got him diapered. I began the struggle with Megan and let Michael, wearing only his diaper, run loose.
Michael is always moving. He fidgets, adjusts, tests, manipulates, and often destroys with those little hands. It’s all in the name of being a wee one, the way I see it. Well, while I was fighting to get Megan out of her diaper (ugh, don’t even ask!), he was fidgeting with his diaper, almost absentmindedly, as he tried to decide where to go next. Then his little hand undid the velcro on the left side of the diaper, and that side went wide open. Before I knew it, an “Uh-oh” and a giggle had escaped me. He echoed those sentiments, and started dancing, enjoying the new movement of the diaper. I was working a little faster to get Megan’s diaper off at this point. The next thing I know, he’s wiggled enough that the diaper is around his ankles. I get up in time to see him sit down, remove the diaper, and run. I grabbed the diaper and nabbed him as he was climbing onto my bed (!) and began to re-diaper him. At this point, he actually told me “no” several times and tried to prevent the diaper from being put on. It turns out that running naked is a lot of fun, I guess. Well, I had a rough time of it, but I did get him diapered. I immediately put clothes on Naked Boy, too. Little stinker.

If you haven’t heard me say it, you haven’t been listening. Or you haven’t been around. Regardless, know this: Megan dresses herself. Most days, she picks what she will wear and she puts it on. I will even go so far as to lay out a couple outfits. This often backfires on me, as she’ll put her favorite parts of each outfit on, and she comes out looking like a perky, precious, colorblind poor girl.
As we traverse through spring and head for summer, I’ve been pulling true “winter” clothes out, putting spring/ layerable clothes on the bottom rod of her closet, the true summer clothes on the top rod of her closet. This, I figured, would help encourage her to make the right choices. Too bad Grant isn’t on my side on this whole matter. This morning, Megan came in and told us that she wanted to wear a dress today and needed help getting the chosen dress down. Grant went in to help her, and she came back wearing a lovely little sleeveless, thin cotton dress with beautiful spring flowers on it. Too bad the weather today was rainy, high of maybe 70. Too bad Grant didn’t think about that when he helped her, rather than encourage her to choose a more appropriate dress. I tried a save, recommending tights and a light sweater. She came back with floral print ankle socks (the flowers were blue and purple, BTW) and her favorite pink fleece pullover. Yep, she had a penguin with a snow cap and ice skates on her top, spring flowers on the bottom. Luckily, she got a Cheerio stuck to the socks and put on tights after all. As for the rest, well, she pulls it off.

Oh, if only my camera were a little quicker. Or maybe it’s a user issue. Regardless, I’m sad I can’t show you Michael’s latest moves.
Michael is a normal kid. That means that when I tell him not to do something, he does it a little faster. My favorite is when he’s going somewhere he’s not supposed to be going. Once Michael has decided to ignore us (me?), he first lowers his ear to his shoulder in an “I don’t hear you pose,” then brings his arms straight back behind him, palms of hands facing each other, as if in flight. My theory is that he’s trying to be more aerodynamic for his getaway. Regardless, it is hilarious to see! Other instances of denial around the house will involve the ear to the shoulder and possibly an arm covering his face. He will even shake his head “no” at us; in the end, the boy is quite effective at displaying refusal to obey. I just have to quit laughing at him when he does!

Another naptime victory has occurred. I read stories, stopped Michael from pulling down everything from Megan’s wall, wrestled him into some socks, and put him down on the twin mattress beside me. I grabbed the book I’ve been reading while getting him to go to sleep (I basically put my arm over him until he is out). He threw my arm off, said something ugly in baby language, and crawled into his toddler bed. So far, this is all normal. BUT. Then he turned on his Lullaby Birds Soother, put his head on his pillow ON HIS TODDLER BED, and went to sleep. Rock on! Go Birds!
I hear Megan in the hall. Off to get her into her room so I can have some time!

Wednesday night was Megan’s first night in her big girl bed. Yesterday, we had Spring Fever, our annual potluck “make a dish you have never made before” party. We had lots of people, and it was a great success because of the adventurous cooks we have for friends. Lots of those friends also made the party a success by pitching in to clean and prepare. After the party, some of our friends hung out, and the last of them stayed the night. Megan had her first sleepover. Her friend Savannah spent the night in the trundle bed, and her parents slept in our murphy bed downstairs. The night was pretty good.

Michael graduated last night!

We’ve moved him from crib to toddler bed. No more sleep sacks for that little boy. I heard him playing this morning, but he was off camera. I went to check on him. He was over by his books again. He did roll off the bed once last night, but I was just getting to bed about 1am, so I dodged in, cuddled him, put him back in bed, and laid down next to him. We have a twin matteress purchased yesterday down on the floor next to the toddler bed, so rolling out of the toddler bed means going across a soft pillow and onto the twin. The next step down is a little bigger and harder, so it will tend to wake him

 Meanwhile, Megan’s new bed arrived today. We ordered a trundle bed from Costco for her. It is the Amanda Sleigh Bed in white with a trundle underneath for sleepovers (especially nap sleepovers). I drove home to accept it from the delivery guy this morning. Megan is bursting with excitement. She wants it opened and assembled. Well, I know what I am doing tonight…

Hey Dad, got any plans for Wednesday evening?

Megan has been helping me bake for quite some time now. She has earned different tasks and responsibilities over time, and she gets a little better about listening each time we bake. This afternoon, she decided that we needed to make cookies “to share with our guests.” In short, Megan found some “Hello Kitty” sandwich bags and felt the need to fill them for various people (she has a list, I assure you).
When it came time to bake, I put Megan in her learning tower. Michael immediately made it clear that he wanted in the tower, too. I helped Megan don her apron, then retrieved one out of the linen closet for myself. Michael babbled and pointed and raised his little voice until I found an apron for him, too. With clean hands and eager babies, I set about making chocolate chip cookies. I let the kids each have some clean measuring cups and spoons, then used a few to add ingredients, allowing the children to assist me. Megan’s pretty patient about my hand-over-hand methods, but now insists on adding the vanilla all by herself! Michael didn’t seem to care much about helping add stuff; I think he just wanted to be near the action.
I came to the last (and best) ingredient, the chocolate chips. I went to the pantry to retrieve them and went to hand one to each child. When I got Michael’s attention, though, he had a (now dirty) measuring spoon in his hand and a mouth so full of cookie dough he could barely chew. I couldn’t help but giggle; Megan did the same thing at that age. I’ve gotten very good at simply handing them new measuring devices each time. I hate encouraging the tasting, but it’s better than allowing double dipping! Each child got a few chocolate chips, then I put the dough into the fridge as fast as I could so that we could get to the business of eating dinner. While I found appropriate storage for the dough, I left the kids over by the baking center, several feet away from the mixing bowl. There were no complaints: Michael licked the measuring spoons clean and Megan did the same for the “child cheater.” The happy babies were soon provided dinner and my little apprentices were even given a small cookie after pajamas were donned for the evening. All is well in chocolate chip world!