First Flight for Kaleb!

We just got back from our vacation up on Stowe, Vermont yesterday. We had a very fun time, and it was Kaleb's first ever flight. With two kids, flying is a much more "engaged" experience than when you have two parents to only one child! But, we managed there and back without too many meltdowns on the plane - even on the way back when half of the plane was AHS colleagues of Amy's - a bit nerve-wracking but the kids did very well.

However, flight times and simply being on vacation did mean that naps were not taken at the usual times or quantity. So, there were various meltdowns throughout the week - of course most of the time in public - that did make for some "humbling" experiences that we're sure to remember. One cute moment was when we were at the AHS Service Awards Banquet and we wanted to stay until Amy's boss received his 25 year service award - right after he received it, Amy told Zachary that it was time to go to bed, to which he replied "I don't WANT to go to bed!!" - of course at that exact moment the room went silent and everyone heard and started to laugh.

Vermont is lovely - very nice weather and the landscape is a lovely green and moderate mountains. We did some sightseeing throughout the week - hitting Ben and Jerry's, the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory, eating some fabulous pizza at Pie-Caso, the "bungee trampoline," the Apple Cider Mill and the Shelburne Museum. We tried to just do quick trips after naps had occurred to keep the crabbiness to a minimum. We enjoyed the cooler weather, and spent time outside on our deck looking at the beautiful scenery or reading.

Our good friend, Randy Grove, came out to Stowe with his Dad (who is an AHS Board member), so we had a great time catching up with him.

Phrase of the Week: There were a couple of cute phrases this week relating to the vacation. The first occurred right before we left when we were trying to drum up some excitement for Zachary and telling him that we were going to Vermont - to which he replied "'Mont is scary, I don't want to go!" - Poor kid, vacationing with parents seemed like a bit of a scary change! He seemed to catch on to the whole vacationing concept, but about halfway through the week he started to tell us that "I want to go to our house" - apparently living in the Stowe Resort grew old for Zachary.

The boys enjoying some reading time. Kaleb won't sit still to listen to us read, but he does enjoy looking at the books.

The view from the top of Mt. Mansfield - kind of a hazy day, so a bit hard to see very far, but it was beautiful what we could see!

The boys' first "motorcycle" ride! and enjoying a tame carousel ride at the Shelburne Museum

Vermont Teddy Bear (aka GIANT Teddy Bears!) and Zachary on the bungee trampoline

Karis enjoying some quiet time on the balcony reading

Lovely views from our balcony at the Stowe Mountain Lodge

A beautiful rainbow behind Kaleb's smiling face

Ben & Jerry's Factory Tour & Having Fun with Uncle Randy

Randy and Karis playing the traditional game of cribbage

The outgoing airport experience - Zachary with his fabulous Thomas Rolling Backpack and Kaleb enjoying his first plane experience!

Our First Dentist Visit!

We had our first dental visit this week - and it was fabulous! We chose a Pediatric dental office, and we couldn't be more pleased. Zachary has a story about Elmo going to the dentist, so he was at least somewhat familiar with the experience. The office has as very cool saltwater fish tank in their lobby, so Zachary was enthralled while waiting.

The only "iffy" moment was when we were called back to the "discussion room" - while waiting, Zachary decided that he didn't want his shoes on, so before Amy realized it, he was barefoot. She put his shoes back on, but then the struggle began - he took them off immediately. At the same time, she saw the dentist coming to the room - and began to cringe as Zachary decided that he was really going to escalate this into a struggle so Zachary laid down flat on the floor as he knows it is harder to get him to "behave" if he is flat on the floor. Luckily, the dentist surprised him a bit when he came into the room, so he stood up! The dentist talked to Amy for a few minutes and then took Zachary back - Amy went to put his shoes on again, which was about to kick off a tantrum when the dentist saved the day and said that it was fine for him to go in barefeet (did we mention how pleased we are with this place!!!?)

Zachary did amazingly well - he wasn't scared to go back by himself (they always take the kids by themselves because they behave better when they're by themselves) and he was so proud when he came out that his teeth were "sparkly". Kaleb had his first "lap exam" in which Amy and the dentist sit knee-to-knee and lay the child down across both laps (dentist is above Kaleb's head) so that he'd have easy access to look into Kaleb's mouth.

Both boys have no cavities, which is a huge relief. As a parent while sitting there for the first time, you worry about the fact that you're sure that you have woefully inadequate brushing habits with your child!

One interesting thing that did come out of the visit was that Zachary has an extra adult tooth in the front between his two front teeth (they found it on the x-ray). Apparently this is not uncommon, so when he's about 6-7 an oral surgeon will go in and take it out in an office visit.

The dentist also told us to "brace" ourselves for braces potentially with both boys. If their teeth are right tight against each other as kids, that is a potential sign that they don't have enough space so when their adult teeth come in, they have over-crowding. Amy had the same issue, so this was not unexpected news.

We're off to Stowe on Monday, which is our first trip with both boys. Kaleb has never been in a plane before, so this is going to be interesting. We're hoping to have great fun, and will give an update on our trip probably in two weeks (unless Amy unexpectedly has time at the hotel to write).

Kaleb is really beginning to become independent - he no longer needs to be within our eyesight to be happy - and he is gaining his "land legs" - it is fun to watch him walking along furniture instead of holding our hand.

Phrase of the week: "'Mommy, your Cheerios are sad. Why Zachary? Because they don't want to be eaten!" We have no idea where he came up with that, but I do imagine that's how the Cheerios would feel if they had thoughts!

The very cool fish tank in the waiting room

Zachary and Dr. Bishop

Zachary getting his x-rays

Zachary and Kaleb taking a ride together

Practicing walking

Snapshot of One and Three Years Old

There wasn't a whole lot of excitement this week, so we thought that it might be nice just to have a general snapshot of what the boys are like at this age.

Kaleb at One:
Kaleb is still taking two naps a day and sleeping through the night from about 7:30P to 6:30A. He is a very good eater (like Zachary) and will eat spinach, kale, acorn and butter squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli, asparagus and so forth. The only thing that he doesn't seem to really love so much is brussel sprouts, but we'll see as time passes. He seems to be favoring his left hand, so we'll see if we've ended up with a left handed child in our family! He adores his big brother, except for when Zachary gets a little too vigorous with him, after which Kaleb has already discovered that if he starts to cry Mommy or Daddy come running to save him, so we'll need to watch that carefully! :) He is still crawling in his own unique way with the one leg straight out to the side, and has been standing to walk along furniture etc. He is doing well so far in swimming lessons, but doesn't seem to be figuring out how to turn all of the way over to float (kind of important! :)) Kaleb remains such a great spirit with this wonderful, infectious laugh that you can hear throughout the house.

Zachary at Three:Zachary is still our little reader - he does so love his books. At three, it seems that we've now graduated from our love of Elmo to the love of Thomas the Tankerit (don't ask us where "Tankerit" came from, but he refuses to just say Thomas the Tank Engine!). He loves to "drive" the van and can play in there for hours. He also loves his "music" as we're driving in the car. Zachary's life is one of many "loves" as he always has a love affair going on with ants currently, and with helping Daddy cook. Not to be forgotten is the passion for tractors - whenever we see construction vehicles he just goes crazy yelling and gasping "There's a digger, there a HUGE tractor, there's a crane!!!!" He is fiercely independent right now, and wants to do everything himself. He is still napping once in the afternoon, and sleeps from about 8:15'ish to 6:00A although we're still working on the "morning begins at 6:30" routine to keep him in bed for just a little longer! Zachary is a very good eater as well, and we're currently trying to work on table manners - all the way from talking with a normal voice instead of a shout, to eating with our utensils. He has learned how to say "May I be excused, please" so nicely at the table and he insists on saying the blessing on the food, regardless of whether we're at home or at someone else's house. We're still experiencing lots of mischief in this little boy, and he has his moments of temper tantrums, but he is just so precious that you just can't remain frustrated for too long!

Other than our little snapshot in time (we know the time will pass too quickly and that memories will fade, so hopefully this will help us remember our two little munchkins at this age!), life has been blessedly quiet for the last week. We're looking forward to going to Stowe, Vermont in just over a week, so we'll be packing and getting ready for that.

Phrase of the week: "No, I like my lotta, lotta hair!" Blake and Zachary often get so dirty playing in the mornings that Jennifer has to give them both a bath in order to uncover them again. Bruce (Jennifer's husband) is a teacher, so he's now on summer vacation and he got the joys of bathing the boys this week - after which he came out and said to Jennifer "Have you ever washed Zachary's hair??? There is so much of it that it is hard to get all of the sand out!" Jennifer started to laugh and said to Zachary "Yes, you have lots of hair - maybe you could share some with Mr. Bruce" (who is like Karis in the hair department)....to which Zachary responded with the phrase above - sorry Bruce! :)

Fantastic bubble blower thanks to Jeff & Niesha kept the boys enthralled!

The t-shirt says: "50% American, 50% Canadian & 100% Me!"

Enjoying some parallel swinging fun!

Ah, a fleeting moment of harmonious living!

The joys of reading while taking a moment

Mrs Limp-A-Lot

The weekend started off with a "smash" when Amy decided that it would be "fun" to kick the end of our bed trying to take one Mr. Zachary back to his room after the 5A wakeup call for some unknown ailment. We're still not sure if she broke her little toe or just sprained it, but she has been definitely hobbling around all week. She even had to resort to wearing really unattractive flat shoes all week even when she was wearing skirts - but, comfort needed to win out over vanity!

Kaleb is finally deciding to get some more teeth - it appears that two more top teeth are coming in at the same time, so he's been a little "off" this week - nose running off and on, very sleepy, and in general a little crabbier than normal.

Zachary has mastered counting to 10 - he's been off and on doing his numbers, but there were times that he'd revert back to skipping a number, or numbers! But all of a sudden this week he can rattle off his numbers up to 10 without any hesitation - very cool!

Karis has started his new school term as the lab assistant, and is enjoying it again.

For their birthdays, we had Tim Putt take professional pictures of them - they turned out really great - we've included a few below.

Phrase of the week: "Little mine" - this is code for "This Little Light of Mine" - Zachary's favorite nighttime song for us to sing. Kaleb's seems to be the good old standby - "When You're Happy and You Know It" - the clapping holds special appeal with this song! Zachary is awfully cute holding up his little finger singing the song, and pretending to "blow" it out!

Kaleb was crabby, so Amy was playing with him, trying to get his mood to improve, and Tim caught this cute picture

Zachary looks like he just loves his little brother in this picture (which he does most of the time!)

More brotherly love! At least they seem to entertain each other well!