Super Swolar Gates

Just had to record Lyssie's latest favorite shoes - her "super swolar gate" shoes... aka Roller skate shoes. The shoes don't do anything special. Perhaps it's the laces that make her feel like they are roller skates. But they are her current favorite shoes (a little annoying when you are in a hurry since she needs someone to help her get them on).

She loves to put them on and skate around the kitchen (run). I ask her not to run in the house and she says that she's not running, she's skating. So I ask her not to skate in the house and she tells me to not be silly - she's just pretending!

Lyssie's swim lesson

Kasey and I made a last minute decision to put Lyssie in swim lessons. Robbie will require private lessons - which I still have yet to figure out... but we are hopeful that Lyssie will be undaunted by her brother's resistance.

I have to admit that when we first got there and she refused to sit on the top step - I was a little concerned that we were going to have a repeat of Robbie. But the teacher was great and within 5 minutes she had her sitting along with the other girls.

It isn't until we get out and do things like these swim lessons that you realize just how small our little girl is. Notice in the picture with them sitting on the second step... the water is nearly up to her chin. They are all sitting on their bottoms with Lyssie leaning back only slightly.


And the picture of them standing. The girl on the left is about the same size as the other girl. Lyssie is standing on her tip toes in the water along with the others. A small size difference... but not a huge age difference (if any).



I noticed that the teacher escorted Lyssie to the steps every time she finished. This wasn't the case with the others. I think she was a little concerned that the water was at Lyssie's shoulders in the shallowest part of the pool (other than the steps).

But Lyssie had a great time. She kept turning around to tell me that she's trying really hard to listen to her teacher :) I'm not sure where that was coming from since I forgot to remind her to do that. It's comforting to know that I don't have to state the obvious (this time).

This pile of towel is Robbie. He is playing his DS. Apparently he was having trouble seeing the screen and had little interest in watching his sister. He was, however, a little sad that he didn't get to do the lessons. I told him that we weren't going to put him in anymore group lessons since he doesn't put his face in the water. He is showing a little more interest in trying... perhaps Lyssie swimming before him will give him a little more motivation.

I also had a problem getting Lyssie out of the pool. It was a little cool this morning and I had trouble keeping Lyssie warm. Her lips quickly went to the blue color they like to turn when she loses all her heat. It took me drying her off, getting her dressed, wrapping her in a towel and my fleece lined coat and about ten minutes to get her lips back to their normal color. I'll be planning ahead tomorrow and bringing warmer gear for her - and probably several towels. I was lucky that I chose to wear the jacket (and I only wore it to keep my skirt down because I was afraid it might be windy :)). I knew Lyssie had trouble retaining heat when she was wet - but that was crazy. They also want her to shower before going into the pool This means that I can't shower her until everyone else is getting in because I can't have her sitting outside of the pool wet.

I did notice her shivering in the pool a little (it is heated)... and wonder if I shouldn't get her a swim shirt or something. The thing is - there are only three more classes. Anyhow, it's times like these that I remember that she is still such a little thing and I need to pay more attention to those details.

Did I mention that several of her classmates are wearing 5T? (they are in the 95th percentile for their age). Lyssie just got into 2T (still wears some 18 months). We seem to be losing ground!

Spray Park

Every time I go to one of these - I wonder why these things aren't all over San Jose. I guess it's a while since I've lived there, so there could be a few... but these things are all over the place here. I can count at least 5 or 6 of these off the top of my head that are within 20 minutes of our house.

The spray parks are so much fun! Today, we visited the one over by Creation Station. Dale Way Park recently changed their spray feature. I'm not sure if I like this one (they seem to have copied so many others) or if I prefer the old one. Regardless, the kids still had a great time.

This park has lots of places for the parents to sit... and several picnic tables near, but no real shelter from the sun. There are picnic benches back in the wooded area... but you don't really have a clear view of the play areas from there. Shade would have been great today.

Notice in this picture, Lyssie's shadow is catching the bird dropping. It wasn't her doing it, after all, she reminded me that we don't touch bird poop - it's yucky!

Robbie made fast friends with several of the kids out there. It always surprises me how outgoing Robbie can be and how stand offish Lyssie is. Because when you get to know each of them, you would think it would be reverse.

Interview With Robbie (#3)

I was looking back at posts and came across my interview with Robbie ( and the first one). Since we are in the middle of preparing for Robbie's 7th birthday, I thought it would be a good time to revisit it and see what has changed.

What is your name? R O B B I E, Robbie
How old are you? I'm going to be turning 7
What is your favorite color? Yellow

What do you like to do when you are at home? Play

What do you like to do when we go out? Run
What is your favorite food? Macaroni and Cheese
What is your favorite restaurant? McGraths
What is your favorite toy? My dinosaur toys
What is your favorite book? Wow - I don't know, that's a really tough one. I think Magic Tree House
What is your favorite number? 0
What food do you not like to eat? Mushrooms
Who do you like to play with? Nicolas
Do you have a best friend? I think Nicolas
What is your favorite thing to do at the park? Slide
What is your favorite part of school? I'm not in school
What is your favorite snack? Crackers

What is your favorite thing to watch on tv? Hmmm... Play House Disney?
What is your favorite thing to do with daddy? Crawl all over him (he starts laughing)
What is your favorite thing to do with mommy? Do origami
What is your favorite thing to do with your sister? Play
What is your favorite treat? Cookies
What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Chocolate
What is your favorite drink? Orange juice
What thing do you most want to do? To do the Wii
What is your favorite animal? Wild Dog
What do you love most in the whole world? Dinosaurs
What do you want to be when you grow up? A Zoo Keeper and Paleontologist
What do you like most about your house? That it's big
What do you like most about your sister? Because she's my sister!
What do you like most about yourself? Me? That's a hard questions... well, I like that I'm silly.
What are you really good at? I don't know what I'm good at... I'm good at soccer
If you could change anything in the world, what would it be? I think we should go back to that.

Which is your favorite meal? Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner? Breakfast
What is your favorite cereal? Life
What is your favorite breakfast? Egg
What is your favorite lunch? Macaroni and Cheese
What is your favorite dinner? Chicken Strips
How many friends do you have? I have Thomas, Nicolas, Sarah... who else do I have?
How many pretend friends do you have? I don't have any pretend friends.
Do you have a favorite cartoon character? Oso
Do you like bugs? Ya
If you could have any animal for a pet, which one would you want? I like my pet already.
If you could fly, where would you go? I don't really want to fly
What thing would you most like to do that you haven't already done? Dig for bones

What do you think sister will be when she grows up? The things that I want to be
What is your sister's favorite color? Pink and purple
What is your daddy's favorite color? I don't know
What is your mommy's favorite color? Green and Blue
What do you think your sisters favorite thing to do is? Play with me

Lyssie the artist

I just wanted to share a few of Lyssie's drawings. This is her favorite thing to do and I end up tossing dozens of these beautiful pictures. I really need to come up with something to do with them all. These are the types of drawings she does when her brother isn't around (when he is around, she tends to mimic him). She uses both sides of the paper and sometimes I have a hard time figuring out which side is my favorite.

I like to think this one is of her and her brother... see, she started writing "brother" on it. She really just likes to practice her letters.

I love this one - maybe I'll call it "we are all connected". See how the people's arms are long and go around all the others?

These are some of my favorites - the ones with happy faces and stripes. She likes stripes. Notice, she is practicing her letters again. She likes to label her pictures because this is what Robbie always does as he continues to work on his spelling.

"stuck in a whirlpool"??? or perhaps it's a little leprechaun stuck inside a flower. Whatever it is - I think it's super cute.

This makes me happy. The use of her stripes again - the strawberry girl covered in dots... and the little fish. It's a masterpiece.

She's getting better about using more than one color in pictures now. But it depends on how in to her picture she is. Sometimes she's so focused that she can't be bothered with stopping to change pen color. I'm fairly certain she was happy this day.

Dinos! Yep, she loves them just as much as her brother. This is her drawing of dinos - notice the upside down character wearing glasses :)

I believe this was drawn after our Chicka Chicka ABC Tea Party. I love to see her interpretation of things. It's tough with her having an older sibling as I feel sometimes she just mimics Robbie's personality. I think preschool next year will be good for her. She can explore her own ideas without her dominating brother.

Lyssie's favorite things

I know I need to do a better job of updating this blog. I've been wanting to- just haven't found the extra time. This blog has been bumped in importance unfortunately.

Anyhow, I took this picture of Lyssie today as she has been attached to her "Sawme" (her teddy bear that Robbie named for her) and her little blankies (burp rags from when she was an infant). Today, she added her little train Mollie that she got yesterday. She is so excited to have her first Thomas and Friends Train. As soon as she learned that she could have a train, she knew immediately who she wanted and asked for her by name (I had no idea which one was Mollie). So cute!

Lyssie's 3 Year

On Monday we took Lyssie to the doctor for her three year check up. I was very impressed with her - she listened and responded when the doctor talked... and she held still! The nurse asked her to "stand tall" to get her height and so Lyssie, stood up really tall on her tippy toes. So cute!

She is still on the charts! Okay, we are falling slightly - but she is a whopping 26.2 pounds and 34.5 inches tall! Some many not be impressed by such little numbers... but Kasey and I were thrilled. The doctor also mentioned potty training - I explained Lyssie and her behavior toward it and she agreed that pushing it at this point probably would only be a losing battle that I'm not willing to fight.

She's on the upswing from her cold that Robbie so generously shared. And because we are such a giving family - Kasey and I now have too.

Happy Birthday Lyssie

Today is Lyssie's third birthday! While we are celebrating her first three years... I believe that it's only right that Kasey and I also celebrate surviving those first three years.

I haven't done an update in a long time on what she's up to... so here it goes;

• She is practicing her letters. She's getting better on naming them correctly as well. Robbie spends lots of time with her on this. She also writes her name which usually consists of a combination of i's, p's and q's... so something like "ipiiiqqp" - that's her name!

• loves to sing, dance and interact with the tv. Robbie was raised with very little tv in his early years... Lyssie, was not. I'm not exactly happy about this - but I have to remain sane and sometimes, it's the only way I can get a break. But what Lyssie does do that Robbie never did is she'll do what they want her to do... so when they say to sing along, she does; when they ask a question, she answers; and when they want her to dance along, she always obliges.


• Undresses herself. We are still working on the dressing. She can put her own socks and shoes on... and if we left it up to her, she would leave the house with just those on. I frequently find her throughout the day down to her diaper. She loves to shed clothes.


• She's not interested in potty training. Which is fine with me for now. But she does like to tell me when she's pooping - and she'll come get me when she's done. I suggest that she do it in the toilet like everyone else... but she says "no thank you".
• She's pretty good with a glue stick and she's working on mastering the scissors (when I arm her with them - this requires clearing all things cuttable within a 5 yard radius).

• Puzzles. Lyssie loves to do puzzles. She's not obsessive about them like Robbie was - but she can hold her own when putting together a puzzle. She is currently doing puzzles with 64 pieces or less. She doesn't have the attention span to do anything more than that.


• Running, jumping, climbing... you name it, she does it. She's one physical little girl. Again, complete opposite of her brother - she's love to get outside and run off steam. If she had her way, she'd spend all day outdoors (which is why we really need to fence the backyard).


• Unbelievable vocabulary and detailed thoughts. I think this is what blows me away the most. She has the most complex thoughts and she expresses them very well (when you can understand what she's saying). I don't remember Robbie being able to express himself as well as she does.


• And finally - we are finally moving into 24 month clothes! Yippee! Okay, they are a bit long and they do tend to fall if she takes too many steps without her tummy pushed out. But whatever, she can wear them. Yes, yes, yes... 18 month clothes still fit better. I've given up on weighing the tiny thing. I mean, what does it really matter? I'm sure they'll tell us at her annual check up in a few weeks.

I love to see Robbie beaming with pride

And this weekend we were lucky enough to see him beaming with pride and confidence. After my craft show on Saturday, we went to the mall to find Lyssie a birthday dress. While walking around, Robbie saw a climbing wall. Immediately, he decided he wanted to do it. Really, this was out of character for Robbie. Anything that has some type of risk he steers clear. Perhaps he saw that you are attached to a cable - maybe it is his growing confidence as he gets older - maybe he just wanted to do something he had never done before. Whatever the reason, he was fired up to do it. He buttered up his dad and talked him into letting him give it a try.

I was extremely impressed with Robbie. He scaled that wall - no problem. And he even felt comfortable enough to allow the cable to lower him back down to the ground. My husband, on the other hand, did not have the same confidence and climbed down the first time... and the second time, he climbed down half way before he let the cable do the rest. Not his most macho moment - but I think it made me love him even more. Besides, I think it gave Robbie's confidence even another boost that he did it and his daddy didn't :)

Sorry about the pictures... apparently had it on the wrong setting. I forget that I usually have the camera set to take pictures of stationary objects.

Proof

This is my proof that Lyssie can be gentle and nurturing. I have it documented. I'm going to leave it at that rather than tell you what she did after these photos were taken.