Thursday, April 16, 2015

It's been awhile

Blogging. Once upon a time, I LOVED blogging. It was everything. I looked forward to writing out about our entire lives!!

Then... life really happened. I mean, it REALLY happened. The kids took over. Work became something that took any "free time" I had. Now.... blogging is over.

And it's sad. I mean, I can look back at previous posts about Aryn and really remember things that happened! When Lucas was a baby, and I wanted to know what kind of baby Aryn was, I just went to a post when she was that age. And I'm sad that I'll never be able to do that with Lucas. I can't look back at previous posts about his life... because I didn't write anything down. I also forget to videotape. And take photos. And write things down.

He's 2 in almost a month. 2!!!! He's the most amazing little boy, who drives me CRAZY. He loves his mama, he will do everything and anything his sister does, he is trying SO HARD to talk. He's in a big boy bed (for the last 2 weeks!). He didn't even fight it or have any kind of transition period - he just took to it. And loved it. And sleeps better than he ever has before. He talks. He says "Uh huhhhhh" like it's the saddest thing in the world. He says "Nooooo" like I just asked him if he wanted me to kill a puppy. He screams. He yells. He roars. He loves being a puppy (complete with licking you). He loves being a dinosaur. His roars are loud and they pierce your ears. He screams at the top of his lungs ALL.EFFING.DAY. He and Aryn fight like cats and dogs - they fight over everything. And it ends up with Lucas screaming, and Aryn getting in trouble. And we all know she's not even doing something so awful to need that god-awful scream, but she still gets in trouble because NO ONE can stand that scream.

Lucas loves his Yampa ("Pa"). I mean, loves his Yampa. Lucas is obsessed with Bauer. He has to wipe Bauer's feet every time he comes in the house, even if they're not dirty (he brings me the towel and I have to give Lucas each one of Bauer's feet). Bauer hates Lucas. But Bauer seems to really like Aryn lately!

Lucas hates dogs. He's terrified of them. Bauer was attacked by 2 big dogs last week and ever since ANY kind of dog comes around him and he freaks out. It's sad, and it hurts my heart.

Lucas loves throwing things and hitting people. He is no longer allowed to have a hockey stick or any kind of long device, as he uses it as an attacking tool.

Lucas loves books. He will sit there and read books all the time. When he wakes up in the morning, he gets up, grabs a book, and lays down reading it. When it's bedtime, if he's not too tired yet, he grabs a book, lays down, and reads it. We find him everywhere in the house, sitting there, on his own, reading.

He also loves counting. He finds 2 of everything, then squeals with delight, "TWO!!!!" Two sippy cups. Two spoons (at EVERY meal). Two crackers. Two everything. My almost-2-year-old can count.

He wants to poop and pee on the potty. But sometimes he goes in his diaper, and he hates it. He also loves washing his hands after any kind of bathroom break. LOVES washing his tiny little hands.

He loves stickers.

He loves tractors and trucks. And dinosaurs. And birds. And animals at the zoo.

He loves watching movies in the car.

He loves Henry Hugglemonster... for about 7 minutes (as opposed to the 2 minutes we get with other shows!).

He loooooves hot dogs. I'm embarrassed to admit to how often I take advantage of that.

He runs around in circles, a little ball of energy.

He loves his mama. He gives me hugs and kisses all day. Mind you, many of those hugs and kisses are met with a big smack in the head but - I'll take the love. But at night... he will take my face with his hands, kiss my one cheek, then my other, then my forehead, then give me a big hug, turn over and go to sleep. Be still my heart.

At almost 2, he's in size 2T clothes, and many are too big for him. He's a scrawny, skinny little thing with an outty belly button and long torso. He loves wearing baseball hats and rubber boots and making sure he wears the perfect shoes. He picks out his clothes, and gets REALLY mad at me when I put him in something he doesn't approve of. He loves running around naked and dancing up a storm. He's a hilarious dancer. He loves twirling the hair on the back of his neck when he's tired and falling asleep. He is my snuggle bug, my spider destroyer, my little flirt.

4 has been a tough year for Aryn. She seems to have a lot of emotions and doesn't know how to express them. To be honest, I'm nervous about teenagehood. She is shy, but a mean shy. It's almost as if she doesn't want to be shy, so she lashes out at those who make her shy - and that's grandparents, us, friends, visitors, everyone. And she never.stops.talking. Ever. From the second she wakes up (at 6-ish) to the moment she goes to bed (7ish) she talks.

For the last 2 nights, she's woken up in the middle of the night complaining about something or other. This morning her scrape from 2 weeks earlier hurt.

She is the funniest kid I've ever met. The things she says throws us for such a surprised loop that all you can do is burst out laughing. From "Let's get this show on the road!" to "Are you freaking kidding me?!" to even "Lucas, be quiet. Can't you see I'm on the phone with Cinderella?"

We don't know what she's "into"... she likes Barbies, but doesn't play with them. She likes specific tv shows, but doesn't sit down to watch them. She doesn't seem to be really overly interested in anything other than playing with friends. She has a best friend, Dani, and if the two of them could be together 24/7, they'd both be happy. We have stopped buying the kids toys for holidays because, quite frankly, neither of them play with toys. In fact, I intend to have a garage sale in the next few weeks to get rid of all of our toys!

Aryn is a very sensitive little girl, whose whole existence will crumble if she's in trouble or if she gets told to do something she doesn't want to do. But she flourishes when you compliment her or rave about how smart she is or how good she is at doing something.

She LOVES gymnastics and does so well! I take Lucas at the same time as her so I'm normally more focussed on keeping him away from all the babies (he looooooves babies) and in line with everyone that I can't really watch everything she does in gymnastics but she's loving it and I'll keep sending her as long as she wants.

She is very black and white with Lucas... she protects him and hugs him and loves him so much and on the other side, she will whack him for no apparent reason. The two of them fight all the time! Then when I have to step in and get mad at one of them (often Lucas), Aryn is there to tell me how mean I am and how much she loves her little brother. I don't think I could win that argument if I tried.

She is very set on the puppies and babies she has in her bed (3 puppies, a lion, a cat, a tiny tiger... I'm sure I'm forgetting someone). They all have very specific names, and they need to be under her blanket so they don't get cold at night.

I have to go in and see her every single night.

Ryan is currently reading her "Charlotte's Web" - her first book with no photos, and they're almost done and she's loving it! As a surprise, we just bought her the movie to watch once she's done the book.

She's registered for Kindergarten. We're doing part-time.

She loves learning. She loves trying to spell her name and gets very frustrated when she messes up.

In some ways, she closes off when she doesn't perfect something right off the bat. In other ways, she continues practising until she gets it perfect.

Her hair. It's so beautiful and completely crazy. It's a fight to brush it so it ends up staying a mess. But my goodness, it's so beautiful. And SO thick!

She loves dancing at night. Oh my.... to videotape it would be difficult but something I'd love to remember forever.

All in all, we're loving these two kids and amazed at how much they make our lives so complete. From the running hugs at the door (even if I'm gone for 5 minutes!) to the nighttime snuggles and hugs.... Ryan and I are pretty lucky to have these two monsters.