Camping! (Sort of...)

We went camping this weekend.  Ryan and I have noticed that as we have had more children, camping seems to take on a different definition.  Gone are the days of a tiny, two-man tent, hiking several miles to a campsite, and eating a minimalist meal.  After we had Gavie, we got a four "man" (meaning "sardine") tent, and did not hike quite as far in, as Ry would be carrying a baby on his back.  Now we have graduated to a two-room, ten man (if you're a midget) tent, and we get a site we can drive in to.  We managed to completely fill the Swagger Wagon for just one night of camping.  The kids had a great time, though the night was a little rough.  Ani woke up multiple times over the night.  I think she was cold.  Ryan ended up putting her in his sleeping bag with him, and they "slept" together the rest of the night.  Or one of them did.  But the kids enjoyed their day.  Annah kept putting on Gavin's backpack and taking off down the camp road, and insisted that no one follow her.  Cheeky little girl.  G ended up walking down the road with her and holding her hand.  It was pretty stinkin' cute. 

We enjoyed a dinner of hot dogs, bonfire roasted corn on the cob (see below), and of course s'mores for dessert.  We were planning on breakfast at a local greasy spoon, but the best laid plans...  We ended up scurrying back home because Miss Annah's toe (the one sans toenail) was very big and swollen, and she would not walk on it.  She is doing better now after 6 bathtub soaks, and multiple applications of antibiotic ointment, and we have a pending conversation with her PCP, so it's all fine.  This picture of a small child eating corn will reassure you:

Lastly, Gavin really enjoyed sitting in front of the bonfire after Annah went to bed.  I think it made him feel grown up.  And it also was a good excuse for him not to have to sit by himself in the aforementioned two-man tent he had insisted that Ry and I bring so that he could sleep all by himself.  He talked about that all week.  It lasted less than 5 min.  It's a healthy thing to learn our limits but also to have high expectations of them.  And he got some private snuggle time at the fire.

The Girl Who Scoffed at Death

We had a wonderful weekend.  It was about 80 degrees and sunny, so we went to the beach today.  The children enjoyed showing off their stark contrasts.  Gavin's preference is to wade into the water to his ankles, and if he is wearing a Coast-Guard certified life-saving water vest, he will venture to his waist and maybe hazard a doggie paddle if he is feeling very daring.  Annah on the other hand has convinced herself she has gills.  The girl has taken about 10 weeks of swimming lessons compared to her brother's 3 years of water exposure, and we were in the water not more than 15 seconds when she dived straight into the drink.  She she got the baby life vest strapped on, which was probably good, because about half an hour later she threw herself off the dock and into the water.  Her mother, who was standing right there, did not prevent the incident, but this should come as no surprise to the regular reader (see "The Gimpy Imp" entry).

In addition to being excessively "spirited", Ani has also started to communicate with her limited vocabulary in some actual conversation.  I am still deciding if this is a good thing or not, since most of what she is communicating is her unhappiness/displeasure at not completely being able to bend us to her will.  Let me illustrate with an example, as taken from a conversation between her and Ryan during her nightly bath:

Ryan: "Ani, it's time to go to bed now.  Can I have the soap?"

Ani: "No."

Ryan: "Annah, it's time.  Give me the soap."

Ani: "No."

Ryan: "Let's put the soap down now."

Ani: "No!"

Ryan: "It's bedtime, now give me that soap!"

Ani: "NO!!!"

Ryan: "Fine. I'm taking the soap."

Ani: "AaaghHHhhhhHHHH!!!!!!"

This is the stuff of memories, people.

Gavie has learned how to pedal his big boy bike this week.  He decided that his lame-o wooden balance bike with no awesome cartoon characters was no longer cutting it,  So he decided it was time to break out the Spiderman pedal bike he got from a neighbor, and figure it out.  He had it down in a day or so, and since then, he's been a pedalin' fool.  He loves to fly down the road, and I can really appreciate how great our location is for biking for a kid, at the end of a private, paved road.  It's been fun to watch.

Also this weekend was Ryan's birthday.  In true Ryan form, he spent his birthday going to the dump, mulching, and sawing a dead branch off a tree in a very perilous and precarious manner.  I decided to celebrate it by laying on the couch and eating Bon bons, but hey, we just like doing different things.  

Below are pictures of Ani enjoying some of daddy's birthday cake, daddy being super jazzed about his picture being taken, and the kids after having played in the lawn sprinkler.  You may notice one of them is somewhat clothing-adverse.  I am also including a bonus pic of Annah after she tried to dress herself.  She likes to to that all by herself now, with interesting results.....

"Happy Mother's Day, Mommy"

Mr. Big Four Year Old is now on a bike.  With pedals.  Granted, there are training wheels, but in the last two days he has learned to fly down the road.  This is one nice advantage to living where we do.  A lovely, paved, quiet road to bike on with little threat from cars.  More from golfers, but I care much less about making them wait to play through than I used to.  After all, it is golf.  It's not like there's any big rush.

Interestingly enough, the child who is big enough

 to ride a pedal bike also ate a stick of chapstick this week while hiding in a corner.  In his (weak) defense, it was grape flavored.  But regardless, I have a kid who eats Chapstick.  Probably two, if the other was given the chance.  And she may.  Today alone I have forgotten to strap Ani into her chair, which she then fell out of, and then I plopped her on the back of a wagon at a plant nursery, which she almost fell off the back of.  And Gav hit the back of his head when he fell on the floor as I was de-piggybacking him from my back.  I keep telling Ryan that not only am I trying to teach my children to be more self reliant, but that in this house they need to toughen up as a means of survival.  A little head injury is nothing to cry about.  I'll sing you a little Johnny Cash, but then stop whining.  Ani is starting to learn the lesson, as you can see from our early water immersion/cold tolerance classes.

Ryan has also been working on playing catch with both kids.  With Gavin, you have to very carefully aim the ball directly into his glove, because he will not move it in order to catch it.  If it bounces off the edge of his mitt, he will respond by saying "Oh, not a very good throw".  Laser precision is required for a superlative.  Ani likes throwing the ball (she has a good arm) and Gracie adds a bit of excitement with a "monkey in the middle" twist, so you never know when the ball is going to be absconded to a hole or a bush.  As you can see, Ani prefers a XXXL glove.  It doubles as a recliner when the game gets dull.

Gavin and Annah have been working hard at school all week to wish me a happy Mother's day (and happy Mother's day to all the mommies reading this). They both had cards to give me, complete with little lacrimal-stimulating poems about how they are growing up and cherish every moment.  Gavin also has informed me that I am getting some pots, and do I want to see them?  Here, they're for you for tomorrow I am told.  Last night as I was putting Gavie down to sleep, right before he closed his eyes he said "Happy Mothers Day, Mommy".  Oh my heart, my heart.

"I'm number four!"

My son is growing up.  He turned four this week.  You probably already know this, since he has told everyone one the planet, unless you reside in a cave in Kazikstan, in which case, he probably has not gotten to you yet.  On Wednesday, the Big Day, he got a birthday haircut and I made him home made cupcakes with home made buttercream frosting, which apparently has A LOT of butter.  If you take the amount you are currently imaging and double it, you will start to come close.  They both really enjoyed those.  But he reminds me of how quickly he is growing up.  He's gone from calling me "mama" to "mommy" to "mom" to the nails-on-the-chalkboard "ma." and he agonized for 30 minutes on that morning of how to wear mismatched socks that were matching enough for him, which are totally irreconcilable things.  Apparently all the kids wear mismatched socks, and this has filtered down to the preschoolers.  I am waiting for Ani to refuse to wear anything but a bare midriff starting next week, but I digress.  Gavin and mismatching don't belong in the same sentence.  I picked out several that were exactly the same, with slightly different designs, and this sent him into a hand-wringing tailspin of angst.  He finally went with matching.  

We had a joint birthday party at a gymnastics facility with another boy and some friends from his class, and it went great.  The kids bounced like monkeys all over the room on all sorts of equipment, and tonight they are both so pooped they fell asleep almost as soon as their heads hit the pillow.  Ani really loved it.  She even held herself on the rings for a few seconds on her own.  She even bounced on the trampoline with the big kids.  She was beside herself with giddiness.  I think we might look into little kid gymnastics for her.  

Gav has also been enjoying his friend Tommy at school.  They have had two water fights, both unauthorized, this week, then yesterday I got pulled aside by his teacher at pickup to be told that they went into the same bathroom stall and decided to pee all over the place.  After the shock and the obligatory "talking to", I have to admit, the image is pretty funny.  I write this here because though it is disgusting it's still a good story, and also some day when he is about to get married and I bind all these posts into a book, he can be slightly shamed and mortified at his mother, because I am apparently that kind of mom.

Annah is talking up a storm.  She even said "pizza" at the party today (that girl can put down food with the best of them), but her favorite word far and away is "no".  It sounds pretty cute, rather high pitched, and fairly girly in tone, but with plenty of self-assured conviction.  She sings all the way to school on most days.  She loves her music class which we go to on Saturdays.  She dances and sings and claps.  It's very fun to watch.  She is definitely different than her brother.

I have included some pictures from the party today at the bottom.  Enjoy!