One More Before the Trip

Before I begin the long recap of our trip, I decided to give Mae's update so it doesn't get lost.  Miss Mae is now 4!  What a difference a year makes.  The speech therapy has made a huge difference over this past year.  We can understand Mae and she is now just working on some pronunciation problems.  Mae started preschool this year once a week and loves going, it helps that her two best friends also attend.  She gets two days a week of therapy so we are pretty busy during the week.  I have signed her up for a pre-tumbling class at the fitness center that starts next week.  I want to have her in dance classes of some sort, but between the money and scheduling nothing seems to work right now.  She would look so cute in a leotard.  She is a nasty picky eater and lives on a diet of go-gurts, eggo waffles, and peanut butter sandwiches.  Mae loves to draw which I'm thrilled about.  Kids art is my favorite so I encourage her stick people in all mediums as much as possible.  As an American girl she loves the Disney Princesses.  Rapunzel and Tiana are usually her favorites.  I really don't have a problem with this princess obsession.  The only thing that bothers me is when clothes or shows refer to girls as princesses as a sassy personality.  I say she can pretend to be a specific princess just not act like a spoiled princess herself.  (A slight aside- I have recently acquired a big dislike of Belle.  Have you listened to the opening lyrics of that movie?  Little town full of little people.  Man what a condescending cow!) Anyway, Mae is such a loving girl.  Hugs and kisses for everyone.  (except Spike.)  She also knows how to work a situation to her advantage by turning up the charm.  Her pretty please is just ridiculously adorable and hard to resist.  Messier then Max, and less obedient, I am a bit worried about how to keep her from becoming a slob.  We have a new job chart that has worked wonders for the last two days, but I worry it won't last long.  I am so glad I have this adorable cutie-pie bubbles.

The Other Entry

 

In August Max turned seven.  I almost can't wrap my head around this.  Last year was all about getting used to him being in school and this year I am in awe that is no longer a little kid.  I think part of the reason this is so odd to me is because he is still such a good kid.  Max is sweet, kind, and super well behaved.  He cleans his room, does his chores, and helps out with this siblings all with minimal asking.  About a month before we went to Disneyworld Max decided he was into Pirates.  I was thrilled by this turn of events.  Score, they just happen to have pirates at Disneyworld!  This made the trip, (post coming soon,)  all the more enjoyable.  A few days ago Jeff pointed out how everyone likes Max, but that Max isn't the kind of kid to have super best friends.  Max will play well with anyone and is pretty easy going about his company.  I quickly pointed out to Jeff how while that was true, it basically described himself.  I'm not sure if that is a learned behavior or genetics.  I love that Max can read.  Its so much fun to have a reader.  He still plays a lot of video games, but he still bounces in place while playing them.  Yesterday afternoon I had to stop him because he was sweating heavily and out of breath.  Max is such and amazing kid that we are lucky to have in our family.

Two for Tuesday

And for a two year old.  Spikey turned two at the end of June.  We took the kids to a large water park in Branson for the big day.  We're not sure if it was the two hour drive, the heat, or the chaos of the park, but Spikey was done after twenty minuets and threw a nice big two year old tantrum.  Jeff was lovely enough to take him and wait in the car for another hour so I could take the other two kids to the wave pool and on a big family slide.  We had just driven two hours and the other kids didn't want to go home.
   For a few months I was a bit worried that he would have the same speech problems as Mae, but I can say now that isn't the case.  He has a much larger vocabulary then Mae had at his age.  He has this funny way of talking where he physically spits out his words like he's almost choking on them.  It makes everything he says sound urgent and aggressive. He has a scary addiction to Diet Coke and is always bogarting my drinks.  We had to move his car seat to the back of the van because when he would see us reaching for our drinks he would whine and fuss til he got some.  He also likes salad which is really weird for a toddler.  He is the spitting image of my dad, which is odd since I never thought I looked much like him myself.  Spike loves all things buses.  He loves watching Max get on the school bus every morning and waves adorably to the bus driver.  He gets excited when he sees different busses around town.  Spike has a dog from build a bear that is his soul mate.  He loves that dog and rubs the tail between two fingers to calm himself.  It is a cute nervous tick.  Sadly his favorite show is the insufferable Super Why!  I hate that show.  Spike has begun to potty train himself.  I really need to bare down and get this thing done, cause he keeps taking off his diaper.  I hope that it will go faster then it did with Max.   He loves Max and they are adorable when they play together.  There isn't much affection between Spike and Mae, but he is always there to get her a bunny when she is in need.  I love my squishy Spike.