Big boy bed

Last night we took a leap of faith; we took one of the sides of Max's crib off and replaced it with a little rail to allow him to crawl in and out himself. This was triggered because my back is in such bad shape, sometimes picking Max up can cause me to nearly fall over these days.

Max and Ellie were both excited about the new access. Max was excited to crawl into his bed after songs. He was proud of being able to do it himself.

I explained he needed to stay in his bed until Mommy gets him up in the morning. I wondered if he would (remembering that Ellie did, but people told me kids usually don't).

I came downstairs and we listened to Max. He did his normal babbling and talking for about 30 minutes, but he fell asleep in his bed like a good boy. I don't think he ever tried to get out. When I checked on him before I went to sleep he was curled up on his pillow with his blankies in the middle of his bed just like an angle!

In the morning I let him talk for a few minutes and went in to find him. He was in his bed long enough to poop, but he didn't get out of bed. He waited for me just like I asked! I was so proud of him!

Tonight when I put Max to bed he was so excited to jump into his big boy bed! He's such a good boy. He went to sleep quickly tonight. I'm very proud!

Erika's first day of school

This morning I took the kids over to watch Erika get on the bus for her first day of kindergarten. It was a big family affair and Erika was happy to see us there .We got there just about 5 minutes before the bus. I'm so glad we were able to be there. I talked to Erika this evening and it sounds like she had a great day. She was full of energy and excitement about her day. Tomorrow they have the full class and she's excited about that too!

Once Erika's bus pulled away, I went back to talk with Granddaddy and Max. Max was looking off in the distance, in the direction of Erika's bus, and saying quizzically, "Erika?" I interpreted this to mean, "why did you all let Erika go away on that big yellow bus alone?" It was really cute. Granddaddy told him that he would get on a school bus and go to school soon. Max looked at me funny and then said, "Yeah." He was a little puzzled by it all. It was sweet though.

Ellie was also excited to see what happened. When we were in the car on the way to Ms. Sarah's, then the questions started about when she would go to school. She was excited thinking about her backpack and riding the bus with her friends in the neighborhood. All was well until I told her that she wouldn't need to pack a pullup because there are no naps in Kindergarten. This thought was too much to bare. Exasperated and nearly in tears Ellie says, "But Mommy, if I don't get a nap, then I will be cranky and tired. I will be tired  every night."

Oh my goodness, she is too cute and worries too much. I tried not to laugh and to assure her she would be fine in a year. I told her that we would practice going without naps. She asked, "Are you going to make me stop sleeping at nighttime too?" My response, "No Ellie. You will always sleep at night just like Mommy and Daddy. Sometimes you will even sleep on the weekends like Mommy too." At that, she calmed down a bit. She was still worried about it tonight some though. She was not interested in learning all day; my girl wants to know she'll always get her naps!

Drums

Max is starting to show some more interest in the drums. The other day we took turns doing 30 second shows. Max's turn; Mommy's turn!

Max has some talent for music. He can do the base and use both hands at the same time! It's fun seeing him grow on this.

A trip to Disney for the Princess

Mom and I have planned a trip to Disney with Ellie and we have managed to keep it a secret from her for many months now. Today we decided to tell her and get her ready with a countdown chain. After nap Gramma came over the house. Ellie knew something was up and it would be a good thing.

We let David be the one to tell her since he's staying back to take care of Max. He said something like, "How would you like to go on a trip in an airplane with Gramma and mommy to see the Princesses at Disney in a few weeks."

Ellie's reaction was evenly matched in tone as the proposal, "yes."

I videoed and got not much reaction. It took a while for it all to sync in. It started when we told her about the special princess breakfast and she found out she could bring a fancy dress. That made her to a few jumps and grin a lot!

Gramma helped her build a countdown chain made of princess paper. Each morning she rips one off and when there are none left, we go the next day. We hung it in her room and she's really excited to tear her first one off in the morning.

By the time Gramma left, we could tell it was syncing in. We are all very excited.

Adult Church

This morning I managed to take both kids to church and sit through it, alone. Max was a bit antsy and climbing and needy, but we made it. Ellie was good as gold really. Her love of drawing makes sitting anywhere fairly easy. She draws, sings, and just really knows how to quietly entertain herself. For Max, coloring may have given me a total of three minutes throughout the service. We decided to do this because our friends from Wiggles and Worship were being Baptized and I wanted the kids to share in this with them. Ellie appreciated it mostly for the gorgeous white dresses they wore. Max liked knowing baby Scarlet was across the way, because he got to hold her last week.

Sick Mommy

Friday morning I was feeling so horrible, I couldn't even get the kids up. David got them up and dressed and was taking them to daycare. I was sitting in the dark in the living room listening to it all. Daddy did a great job. It was cute because they were a little worried about me. When they came downstairs they both rushed to give me hugs. Then they were quickly off to daycare.

Max's two year old run

Max is so cute in so many ways. I love him to bits.

I especially love to watch Max run these days. He brings his little arms up and tucks them in to his side, clenching his fists. Then he starts to move his arms back and forth before his little legs actually begin to move.  Once he starts moving, his arms are clearly moving more distance then his legs. His smile is huge!

This evening he wanted to run the streets of Frederick as we were walking to and from the park. I was nervous about the cars, but I know we need to teach him how to walk the streets safely, so we gave it a whirl. Honestly, I think I allowed it because watching him run was just too adorable! I took a video, but it just doesn't capture the beauty of his little body learning to run.

Mommy, I can go to work with you

This morning Ellie tried to convince me that she could go to work with me. I asked her what she would do while I was in all my meetings. Her response, "Mommy, if you have the diaper bag, then I can just color."
I had to smile.

I do wish that she could come with me for a day. It would be great. But we aren't allowed to bring kids to Take Your Kids to Work Day until they are 7. Ellie really wants to come!

"Tum Up"

Tonight we went out to a family dinner. The kids got these little sippy cups with those bendable straws. Max was so excited to drink his water out of the cup. When he did it first, he said, "Tum Up. Tum Up." I smiled and said, "The water comes up the straw into your mouth." Max was so happy!

The cute thing was that he said it over and over again. We started counting and it was at least 30 different times. The novelty and excitement to him was so exciting!

It's great watching Max discover new things. It's also fun when he communicates and gets so happy when we understand him. This age is so precious.

Potty Training

I've been slowly introducing Max to the potty. He will repeatedly do a little be of pee each time put on the pot. Each day I give him at least one chance. He usually delivers and is getting more and more interested in going.

Tonight after trying to potty. He gets off and I say, "Let's rinse your hands Max."

What does Max do? He turned around and nearly stuck his hand in the toilet to rinse! I responded with a quick, "No!" (Followed by more words I'm not so proud of - "you silly little twit." ) Whoops.

Max needs to learn to appreciate Mommy's opinion of where bodily fluids belong - in the potty only.

This follows an incident at nap-time today at Ms. Sarah's (which is the second time this has happened). During nap Max pooped and then decided to play with it - spread it all over himself, blanky bear and his crib. Apparently it was a disaster. I am surely not proud of this and have told him many times that was unacceptable. I hope this doesn't happen again.

Wash our hands

After trying to use the potty I told Max, "Let's give you hands a wash." He turns and goes to stick his hands in the toilet bowl to "wash" them. What on earth? I yelled something along he lines of "No Max, not in the potty, at the sink." Max just looked at me with a bit of a bewildered look, as if he was confused why the toilet wasn't a good place to wash our hands? Has he seen anyone else do this before?

A birthday party at a nature center

Today was a great family day. The whole family was invited to Sammy's Third Birthday Party at a new Nature Center in Middletown. The kids really had a blast. The teacher, Ms. Bee, who led the kids was fantastic. She worked so greatly with the kids and they were very interested. Even Max sat still for nearly an hour looking at animals and touching them (until the snakes).

First up with the Toad. They were all brave and enamored with holding it. Max was especially excited to hold a small creature. He was as sweet and gentle as he always is with little creatures. Second was the Turtle, which they also held, like a sandwich.

After lots of animals, riddles, jumping, parachutes and fun, they brought out the snakes! Needless to say, I wasn't happy at all. Max was also smart, he came back with us and was NOT at all interested in touching any of the snakes. Ellie, on the other hand, was titled something like, "Look at this little nature girl" by Ms. Bee. Seriously, I know it could be worse (With my logical mind) but my emotional mind was not really having this. At some point, I was near the snake (too near for me really) because I wanted to get a picture of Ellie holding it. I noticed I was on the head side of this 4.5 foot long rat snake. I tried to take faith that the women knew how to handle it, after all, I was letting Ellie touch it. As I checked where the thing was in between photos, I noticed it's mouth wide open and tongue coming out. I decided I was too close for comfort and walked away. A few minutes later Ms. Bee made some comment such as, this snake is a good snake and he doesn't open his mouth while we hold him. LOL I said. I just saw him with his mouth wide open!

Anyway, little nature girl was a bit to close for comfort to this thing. She was admiring it, and probably would've sat there for a while with it. Yuck! Some say I should be proud; I can only say I'm proud of her bravery and hopeful she is logical about her interactions with them as she grows. All I could think about was, who let this girl where a tank top dress!?!?

The lunch was perfect, the cake delicious, the kids had a fantastic day! And I bathed them as soon as we got home (from head to toe) before I let them go to sleep!

Ellie Meets Colby

Tonight we were able to meet up with Jerred and Vicki in Frederick at a restaraunt so Ellie could meet Colby. Although it wasn't exactly the greatest place for a 4 year old who wants to hold her new little cousin, she did give him smiles and kisses, and was able to hold him for a few seconds.

We had been together for over an hour. I had told Ellie we needed to find a seat so she could hold him. We went for ice cream and they were running about outside. After her ice cream was gone, she sits on the picnic bench and says, look mommy, i found a seat. I didn't even realize what she was asking. Then it dawned on me, she was telling me she had waited long enough and was ready to hold colby. She was sweet and happy to have him on her lap, even with me helping.

I know she's looking forward to a time where they can really snuggle up.

 

Ellie's questions

Ellie asks a lot of questions. She puts things together in her head and follows up with more questions.

Tonight, while having dinner with Aunt Katie, Erika and Amy, she asks, "If Granddaddy is your Daddy and Gramma is your Mommy, then why aren't they married?"

I was standing at the kitchen sink so I was silent for a minute. Katie responded quite matter of fact, "They were married once." That seemed to be enough for the time being, but I know there is more coming.

ABC's

Tonight after putting Max to bed, just before I walked out, Max says, "Mommy ABC's." I respond, "Max, do you want to sing me the ABCs." I'm somewhat joking because he's never done this before.

Max's response, "Yes. ABCDEFG....." He sang the whole thing, quite fast and matter of fact. And, if he missed a letter I'm not sure which one. I was so impressed!

I went over and smiled and told him how great a job he did and how proud I was. I asked him to sing them again, and his response, "No."

Silly little boy. He has been listening. Maybe soon he'll actually realize I'm not trying to poison him when I offer him the food David and I eat at dinner each night.

My little Man's counting

A couple days ago Max knocked a bunch of things down off the fridge. I asked him to pick them up. As he started picking them up I said, "One. Two." Max picked right up, "Three. Four. Five." and then real fast came, "Six Seven Eight Nine."

I was shocked. Suddenly something he's heard maybe a million times just came running out of his mouth. He can count. Or at least repeat the numbers in order. He counts to 9 because that's the number of diggers in his favorite book we've read a million times over the past year.

Time flies!

Max meets his little cousin Colby

Max is extremely gentle with little animals and babies. It is actually quite surprising to see a little boy so taken by babies. Max loves baby Benjamin at daycare. Ben is nearly 8 months old and when he joined daycare, I learned just how gentle Max's little sole is.

Since Vicki's third trimester I've been trying to explain to Max he had a little boy cousin coming. Colby was born a week ago and I was really anxious for Max to meet him. When Max first saw pictures of him last week he responded in a sweet little voice, "awe, tcute." I just knew he's be sweet.

Today was the opportunity to meet. Aunt Vicki sat Colby on Max while Max was lying in his stroller waking up. Max was so taken by him and so gentle. They just laid there snuggling. Max rubbed cheeks with Colby and just loved holding him. The smile below says it all.

Throughout the visit Max kept returning to Colby to give him a gentle rub on kiss. When he got to hold him for about five minutes at one point, Max just couldn't stop rubbing Colby's little fingers and arms all over him - his cheeks, his fingers. It was cute. It was nearly like watching a loving grandmother explore her newborn Grandchild. (Personally, I think Vonita gave her love of babies to Max during their special conversations 2 years ago.)

I'm so glad my little boy is so gentle. Colby and Max are going to have fun together throughout the years!

Visit with friends

6 hours later, arrived at Govar household

Lovely dinner on the deck

kids play so well together

ended up spending the night

Last 24 hours at the beach

Waking up from nap
dinner in bed

pool

beach

sury

ice cream

connie, jayne and kylie

Morning beach and pool time

long trip home

A day at the water park

I love going to Ocean Breeze water park. I think of it as the best water park ever. Much of this is of course due to the fact it is the first one I went to as a child and I have returned often. We were all excited about water park day. We were looking forward to the fun and the time with Jayne and Kylie who were able to join us. They are so good with the kids and Ellie really loved having them around. She would have liked for them to spend the whole week with us. When we weren't together Ellie was constantly asking where they were. Earlier in the week, she even asked if they were down on the beach just waiting for us :-)

We arrived early and the place was packed. It was a rush to get chairs and then begin the wait in the lines. The kids were really excited when they saw the big slides. Max kept repeating slide over and over again. The line for the first one took quite a while, and when they came down, they were both so excited! They definitely wanted more.

After their first slides, we weren't sure what big stuff they'd be able to do, so we headed to kiddie cove to explore. That place was a madhouse. Ellie was very good watching out for her little brother. I loved the way she tried to look after him and get him up to the pirates ship.

 The kiddie slides were good fun, but a bit lower key then either would have preferred. Eventually Daddy took Ellie on several of the big slides while Mommy and Max took a turn in the lazy river. Ellie absolutely loved the big kid slides. Max and Mommy had a very relaxing time in the lazy river. We went around 3 times before finally getting out. Max just laid on top of me and nearly fell asleep. I even sang his songs to him as we went round and round. Sometimes he sat up to splash a bit, but then settled back in for a snuggle. I think this was the most relaxing 30 minutes of my vacation. My kids are growing up so fast and this quiet and fun stuff just seems to come in such small doses. Thanks for the relaxing time Maximilian!

I love this photo from below. I asked them to stand in front of the dolphin for a photo. Ellie has really started this thing where she likes to strike a pose. Max took note of this posing and after staring at what Ellie was doing for about a minute, he decided to strike his own pose! Love it!

Big kid rides

Lazy River for Max and Mommy

Ellie's beach rituals

Ellie is now old enough to have memories from going to the beach in the past. So far, we have managed to make those good memories. I think her favorite memory is of building sand castles with Daddy and then knocking them over. David also has to bury her in the sand each day.

As soon as we arrived on the beach Tuesday afternoon, these rituals were in full effect. It's cute to watch Ellie recreate things she remembers. Ellie was more animated this year, which also eggs David on a bit. This year, Max even tried to get in on it.

David tried taking Ellie into the ocean a bit, and she was okay about it, but they didn't stay out long. Later in the week her and I spent some time jumping small waves near the edge of the water. For some reason she wasn't that interested in going out too far and I didn't really push it. Splashing about on the edge was fun enough, even when the dolphins were swimming 50 yards off shore.

Max loves the Pool and digging

The first morning waking up in the hotel was really exciting to the kids. Max walked around with his new big shoveling constantly shooting Dig Dig!

Ellie wanted out in the pool and Ocean with vigor!

We eventually made it to the Ocean after naps on Day 2. Max wasn't so thrilled with the Ocean, but he spent nearly an hour walking around with that new big shovel, picking up sand and dumping it. It was cute to watch. He was determined to master it like he'd seen Daddy around the house.

Max's favorite spot ended up being the pool. Over the week we watched him become braver and braver with jumping and even attempting a little swimming. He always asked to leave the beach and head to the pool. On each trip we spent a few minutes there, but we really didn't hang out in the pool for too long at any given time.

Max's favorite day at the pool was when after swimming, he got to sit on a chair and devour Mommy's chips that came with her dinner!

Summer Vacation - Va Beach - off to a bad start

We were planning to leave for the beach on Sunday morning, but that was postponed until Monday afternoon. We headed out to the beach after the funeral service and luncheon. Everyone was excited and we were looking forward to putting our feet in the ocean.

I can't say the evening turned out like we planned, but we made it down the beach by around 8pm. We were on the ocean front and even got a little swimming in that night.

I have to admit I don't think I taught the kids very good things that night. I had a run around with the hotel about our room and I just wasn't able to get over it. At one point Ellie said to me, "Mommy, this is a good room. I like this room." I had reserved a suite so that we could put the kids to bed. We also wanted a balcony. Instead we were i a 1 room normal room by the pool and couldn't see the ocean. David and I were both angry about it. Poor kids. We did finally get it sorted the following day, but the first day of vacation was lost to this issue. Luckily, the other 3 were very nice, even though short.

It was cute seeing them share a bed this first night. Ellie even wanted to snuggle Max!

The viewing and funeral

I took Ellie with me to the viewing on Saturday afternoon. She skipped nap to go with me. She was such great company and so amazingly well behaved. She did go up and see Great Grandma many times. She even pulled her cousins up with her to touch her hands and admire her. So many people showed up to see Grandma and Grandpa. It was really nice. She had lots of flowers and a lovely video made by Brant. Ellie was so good. She was so tired when we drove home; she had a nap in the car.

Monday was the funeral and the whole family went. The service was really great and it was pretty long. The church was really packed. I didn't bring any entertainment for the kids. They just sat with us and tried to listen. Max was fascinated with the Bibles and started remembering songs from Wiggles. It was cute. Ellie did a lot of drawing and writing. There were several compliments afterwards around how well behaved they all were. I was very proud.

Saying good bye to Great Grandma

At dinner last week I told Ellie that Great Grandma was probably going to Heaven soon. At first she was really worried. She wanted to know why. I explained that she had been sick for really long time and her body was giving up. I then told her she'd be going to Heaven to be with all her family members that went before her, like her brothers Jessie and Ronald. Then Ellie said with excitement, "And Mary." After I acknowledged the she got really excited and said, "And best of all Vonita!" We all smiled and with that, Ellie was relieved enough to go back to eating her dinner.

The next morning I told Ellie that I say Great Grandma and she hadn't gone to Heaven quite yet. Ellie pronounced she wanted to see her very much. I explained it wasn't a good idea because Great Grandma couldn't open her eyes anymore, she couldn't sit up and couldn't smile at her anymore. I told her that I wanted her to remember Great Grandma when she saw her last sitting up. In the morning, she seemed to accept this, but in the evening she became more assertive about needing to see her.

I finally decided late that night that I needed to take her to see her. This came to me after doing some reading on the hospice site and Ellie asking again to see her.

So, we went down to Fairhaven quite late. We arrived at Great Grandma's room around 9pm, only Gramma was there. I had explained to Ellie what she would see. She gave Gramma hugs and sort of looked at Great Grandma. She wasn't interested in hugging her. She did touch her hand. Gramma showed her that she was still warm. We talked to Great Grandma a little bit. Ellie then proceeded to collect several of her necklaces. She gave Gramma some hugs. I told Grandma she was the best Grandma ever and I loved her. I gave her a kiss and said goodbye. I am really glad we say Grandma that night. She didn't make it through the night.