Vacuuming

So, I remember vacumming was one of Josh's favorite activities when he was Emily's age. Of course, he still really enjoys it. But so does Emily, now. Hopefully this will keep up through the teenage years. ;)


Emily at 16 months having a blast with the chores.

Josh at 22 months, insisting that he can do it all by himself.

I have such good and sweet helpers!

20 Week Belly

It's a...

Thumb sucker! Sorry to tease you there. But we decided that since we have a boy and a girl already, we'd try out the surprise method. The baby is healthy, has all its parts. And loves to suck its thumb. And wow! Look at that bicep! :)

I am actually really thankful we went in hoping to not find out because the baby was breech, and the ultrasound technician said that's the hardest position to see. So, even the technician never saw whether we were having a girl or a boy. I would have been sorely disappointed if I'd wanted to know. But I guess this baby was just listening to its mommy's wishes.


We'll know more come the end of October. :)

Rockets

When Peter and Josh went to the fathers/sons campout a couple months ago, someone brought a rocket launcher. Everyone got to make rockets and launch them. Apparently, it was a ton of fun. So much so, that Peter decided to make one of his own. His excuse was to make it for a Young Men's activity, but when the bishop told him he could submit the receipt and the ward could keep it, Peter said no. He was planning to keep it for himself. :) I think he'll be making one for the ward sometime too, so it's all good.

Anyhow, a little while after he made it, we took it out to the park and launched some rockets of our own. It WAS a ton of fun. All it is is some pipe, a valve, and an air pump. You pump it up to the pressure you want, then turn the valve. It's shocking how high these little paper rockets can get.


Peter with his creation, getting ready to send that rocket flying.

Josh loved helping with pumping up the air.

Emily enjoyed launching the rockets.

Josh was so good at running to get the rockets. I think if I'd been chasing them, we may not have stayed nearly so long. :)

Baby Chain

The other day, Josh woke up and went to the front room looking for something. When he came back, he was a bit upset and asked where the babies were. (He always speaks of the baby in plural because he doesn't want to have to share "his" baby with Emily.) I told him they were in the toy box, thinking he was talking about the dolls. When he came back, he was still upset and let me know he was looking for the "real" baby. At which point, I had to inform him that the baby was still in my belly. His response?

"Why did you put the babies back?"

It took a while (several days) for him to understand that the baby had never come out and that it will be awhile before it does.


I came up with a solution. I thought maybe something visual might help him understand how very long it will be until the baby is supposed to "come out." So we made a paper chain with dates and a count down written on them so we'd be able to see how long of a wait we had. Kind of depressing when I look at it... it's sooooo long! :)

The day we made it and put it up, we still had 172 days to go. Wow, that was a lot of links to make. But it was definitely worth it. Josh and Emily both love to have their turn to tear a link off the chain at the end of the day. Now when Josh asks about the "babies" I can remind him of this chain and he realizes it will be some time.

Thanks

Lately, Josh hasn't been taking naps as much. Today, he just happened to. But I woke him up early so he'll go to bed at a decent time, plus he really wanted to help with some cleaning. How sweet of him!

At one point, we cleaned off a dresser in my room. On top, there was a piece of fabric I bought for him a couple years ago. My intention had been to sew up the edges and make a square for him to become attached to. It never happened, but today, Josh saw it and wanted to make something with it. So I pulled out the sewing machine and matched up the edges and started sewing. Halfway through, I realized it would be a nice bag, instead of just a square, and asked if that's what he wanted. He did. So, I made a bag.

Here is the bag we made.

The purpose of this story? After I handed it to him, he looked at me and said, "That was really nice of you to make this for me."

That blew me away. He's so good at saying "Thanks" but this was really thought out and sincere. I'm so proud of him.

Clubhouse

A while back, Peter got a huge piece of equipment at work. It came in this enormous box. It was actually taller, but we cut it down so it would let more light in, and take up less wall space. Anyhow, this is one sturdy box. It has 3 layers of cardboard, so it's strong enough for the kids to play on. Peter brought it home, and made this. It has been a hit ever since.


There is a tunnel sticking out the side behind that black thing. Peter also built a great platform so the kids can use the slide. We had to reinforce the top with some wood so it wouldn't fall apart when the kids grabbed it to go down the slide. After we added all the wood, we realized that this will be somewhat of a permanent fixture in our home now. The kids will get plenty of fun using this over the next year or so.