OtterPops: Kid Update

Emma has definitely been acting age appropriate for a two year old. She is asserting her independence constantly by yelling "I do it!!" and won't let us touch her top buckle in the carseat "I buckle the top!" I have held my ground that far. I know it is only a matter of time before she demands to buckle all of it and we will all be waiting 20 minutes until she completes that task before driving away. She has figured out how to open the dead bolt on the front door and will even gather up her little diaper bag and head out front on her own. I have had to lock the sliding lock up high to prevent her little escapes. She loves taking care of baby dolls telling me "I'm the mommy" as she rocks her dolls. She has been talking clearer and clearer every day but still replaces her "c's and k's" with "t's" as in "otay". Which is pretty cute, all in all (or "tute") if I am being true to her speech. I think she also might be getting her molars and has been grumpy about eating (but thankfully good at sleeping).

Emma opening the front door

Taking good care of baby dolls

The later time for church has been a difficult transition (and by later I mean 11:00 which I know is not that bad, I just prefer earlier). It places church right during lunch and nap time so we are lucky if we get Emma home from church without falling apart and then she gets completely thrown off her schedule. This was her last week when we arrived home. She could not even make it up the stairs to change out of her dress.

Exhausted after late church

We have not climbed aboard the potty train quite yet with Emma, but trying to familiarize her with all the terms and steps involved. She will keep her panties (that she picked out herself) dry for over an hour sometimes and can successfully go pee on the toilet if we catch her at the right time, but has yet to be successful with poops. As per usual, I guess. She is just so small that she can't get herself on the toilet independently or pull up her pants on her own so I haven't wanted to take the plunge. Especially since she, more often than not, chooses "baby diapers" over her panties when given the option.

Emma potty training

Jonas has been very social lately between preschool and playdates. It's just an easy age to trade back and forth with friends for hours at a time to keep him occupied and keep him away from screen time that he inevitably asks for if he is at home and "bored." One of his buddies had a birthday party that was a really cute "jedi training" so he got all dressed up and had a blast at that. All of his preschool buddies were going to be in attendance and were anticipating it for weeks!

Jonas on the way home from Jedi Training

In February I taught another round of his preschool and am done for the school year now. We had a fun time decorating sugar cookies and having a valentine exchange for Valentine's Day. We also had a "teddy bear picnic" one day and worked on math stations. I do enjoy teaching and am already working with some other moms for a co-op group for Emma next fall. Still trying to figure out what to do for Jonas...Transtional kinder or a private preschool. Time (and prayer!) will have to tell, I guess.

Jonas has received a couple bags of hand-me-downs from a family at church recently who have a boy around Jocelyn's age named Ty Sandberg. Jonas has been acting like it is Christmas morning going through the toys and shirts. Well, I happened to buy myself a shirt and was wearing it last week. Jonas noticed and asked me "Nice shirt mom! Did you get that from Ty Sandberg?" as if that is the only place we get new clothing! I had a good laugh about it with Ty's mom! Jonas also benefits from a facebook "mom swap" that I am a part of in town. I sometimes purchase used kids clothing or shoes on there, and my kids have even sold some of their toys to earn money when they are growing out of something. Well, Jonas will refer to the pants he wears as I want to wear my "grant" pants today or my "robbie" pants meaning the black cords or the dark jeans we have purchased from those boys who also happen to go to church with us. Someday he will understand that hand-me-downs aren't quite as cool as they seem, but we will definitely roll with it while we can!

Jonas at preschool station rotation

Preschool Valentine's day

Decorating cookies for preschool

Teddy Bear Picnic at Preschool

Lillian has been very crafty lately. If she goes quiet or missing we can be 90% sure that she is in the office cutting and pasting and coloring and creating some project or another. In the last month or so she has made everyone a shield especially suited to them or other special events. She made everyone a set of "pan pipes" out of drinking straws with stickers and colors just to fit their personalities. She made a leprechaun trap for a school project, and continues to enjoy art class every couple weeks. She was very excited about crazy hair day at school and did a great job on her report card that came home this week.

Crazy hair day at school

Lillian with a collection of her shields

The "book nook"

The kids made a "book nook" one weekend and Lillian even made some shields for that. They took the big stack of library books from that week and made a cozy place to read all of them. The red shield says "The power of books" and the one on the right is the "Otterstrom" shield for our family. My two favorites.

Book and Otterstrom shields

Lillian with her leprechaun trap

Jocelyn has been busy with school as well. She did great on her report card and seems to have turned a new leaf in regards to homework and piano practicing. She is doing better at not throwing a fit and complaining the entire time. She planned to do a matching hairstyle with a friend for crazy hair day. She also created this shirt for 100 day. They had to make a shirt with 100 items on it and wear it on 100 day. After looking on pinterest together, she chose to make a gumball shirt that ended up being really cute. She glued each puff ball on and drew all the details herself. She only lost a couple puffballs during the course of the day at school! We also made her a poodle skirt for her upcoming 2nd grade performance that they have been practicing for. She keeps coming home singing 1950s classics and is pretty excited for it! You can't see in the picture but she chose glitter ribbon and the rhinestones she glued onto the dog collar. It turned out pretty cute even with my minimal sewing skills.