Almost Walking

Mia is really so close to walking. With Tyler it all happened so suddenly. He took one step in the morning and by the afternoon, he was walking. Mia tends to do things her own way and will take a couple of steps and then nothing for the rest of the day. I am not pushing because I know this will make my life a little more complicated (ok, a LOT more complicated but I am not going to dwell on that). Tyler is just so excited with the new possibilities this opens up and is constantly trying to help her walk. It is very cute. It is so interesting to me to watch their interactions. One second Tyler will be hugging her and kissing her and then the next second pushing her to the ground because she took one his toys. Mia is starting to get a little frustrated with those chain of events and will bite Tyler but without teeth it is of no consequence but his time is coming.

We almost had our second ER visit this weekend. Tyler was running in the yard in his bare feet and stepped on a rusty nail that went deep into his foot - probably about an inch or more. It was bent and actually went up into the insole of his foot. Thank the Lord, Mike was home this time and he very quickly pulled it out which could have been a bad thing if the nail was imbedded in something important but by God's blessing alone it wasn't and pulling it out quickly saved a lot of trauma. I just can't even imagine if we had to take him to the ER with it still in his foot. After a phone call to the ER, they told us what to watch for over the next 24 hours and I think we are in the clear. When Tyler woke up from his afternoon nap and I asked him how he was he said, "I am ok but I think i would feel better if I had ice cream."

Here is a picture of the nail.

P.S. Can you tell the kids have my skin tone?! We wear SPF 45 and still they are little brown bears.

Swim Lessons

Tyler is in swim lessons every Satuday morning and today Mia and I went to watch. He is doing pretty good now that he is using ear plugs. Ever since he got ear tubes about 18 months ago, he has had anxiety about getting water in his ears. Up until that point, he had no fear of water but since then he has not wanted to go under water or even get water near his ears in the bathtub. We are hoping now that he is consistently in lessons, he will overcome this fear and get used to the feeling of water in his ears again. There are about 20-25 kids in Tyler's class so to say it is chaotic is a little of an understatement but he is having fun and getting to spend some quality time with Daddy. Class doesn't start until 9:10 but by 7am he is in swimsuit ready to go.

Butterflies!

Our butterflies hatched (not sure if that is the correct term) much to the excitement of Tyler - and the cats! I didn't know how crazy this would make the cats so we could only keep the butterflies for 2 days before we had to set them free or I think they would have perished from fear. If you have a three-year old, I highly recommend this project. We are getting more caterpillars in a few days to do it all again. Tyler has been so interested in watching and taking care of the caterpillars and butterflies. Every morning, he would run downstairs to see how they were faring and what they were doing. Very fun and low-maintenance pets.

June 22

The slide is up on Tyler's playset which is big milestone and I think Tyler actually realizes this is going to be a playset. I don't think until now, he knew it was going to be the same playset our neighbors have. We also stole the idea of the "water slide" from our neighbor's. Don't you wish we had something like this growing up?! And then, Tyler has the gall to complain, "Mommy, this water is not warm enough, I like hot water." We have hot water outside so I fill it up with water that is like bathtub water but Tyler would prefer water temperature of a hot tub.

June 21

Mia and Tyler love playing together right now. Mostly, Tyler is a busybody and he needs to know where Mia is and what she is doing at every moment so he won't let her out of his sight. I think he is always concerned that she might be doing something fun or getting something that he is not. Mia is now very fond of giving kisses - the open-mouth kind as all babies do. She also started wanting to feed herself today. She is very good and will patiently wait for me to put the food on her spoon and then she gets a big smile on her face and puts it in her mouth. She is suprisingly accurate and because she is my more patient, laid-back child, she calmly hands it back to me and waits for the next bite. She will sit in her highchair for an hour no problem. Her and I are battling colds which is why she looks so funny in this picture.

June 19

We are really trying to work with Tyler on sharing, taking turns, using manners and just speaking and acting in a kind manner so I made this very rudimentary chart. Every time we catch Tyler doing something kind, we call it out and he gets to put a Barney sticker on the chart. When he collects 5 Barney stickers, he gets to choose something from the kindness bag of goodies (which is basically treats and small toys). At first, he didn't understand the concept at all and thought he would be getting to pick a treat right away but I think he is starting to understand. Although when Mike got home from golfing on Saturday and I told him Tyler got to pick his first treat for brushing the cat (albeit with the grill brush but the effort was there) Mike made a big fuss and asked him what he did to deserve a treat and Tyler said, "Pushing Mia down and taking her toy." I was a little stunned but I don't think he was paying attention to what Mike asked him or at least that is what I keep trying to tell myself.

June 17

I made a promise to myself that at least once a week this summer, I would do something different with the kids - go to a different place, hang with some different people - basically change up our routine and just enjoy the summer. We have been having major drywall work done at our house and just finished cleaning up the mother of all messes. We literally had drywall dust from one end of the house to the other. So today, we put aside all nagging errands and commitments and went to a local petting zoo/park.

Tyler had so much fun feeding all the animals. He loved the goats and the huge cows. There were some very cute piglets as well. I bought Tyler a couple of bags of food and posted by all the animals are these signs that read, "Hold onto bags, animals will try to grab them." I kept reminding Tyler but a very boisterous goat made a grab for his bag. However, that goat picked the wrong three-year old to mess with. There was no way any little goat was going to pry that precious bag of goat food out of Tyler's little hand. Tyler held onto that bag so tight that when the goat pulled it through the feeding opening, Tyler hit his head on the fence as he followed after it, but still he held on. I thought he might actually be pulled through until the goat, surprised by Tyler's tenacity, dropped the bag and moved on to an easier target.

After we got our fill of petting, feeding and hand disinfecting, we had a little picnic under these huge oak trees. Oh, I miss big trees so much!! It was such a lovely day. I kept thinking to myself, "Why don't we do this every day!?"

June 15

Happy Father's Day Mike!

This is what the sky looked like when we woke up this morning. This is about as close as we have gotten to a tornado. And, I was seriously considering taking the kids down to the basement right after I sprinted down the driveway to retrieve the Sunday newspaper before it got wet. The winds were so strong that it took Tyler's playhouse and blew it across the lot next to us breaking it into pieces along the way. But it was all over by 8 am and we took Mike out for breakfast before we sent him off for a few hours to himself and a massage. Just a word about Mia's eating habits. With Tyler ,I was very conscientious about reading all the "what to feed your baby" materials. I made him special "baby" meals and introduced one food at a time. I read all the expert advice that said, if they don't like it, keep feeding it to them, they will eventually eat it. Well here we are 3 years later and he eats okay but Mike and I eat everything and really expect the kids to as well. I can't make multiple meals because I can barely find the time to get one on the table. The new rule in the Posch house is that you have to take one bite of everything or you can't play outside after dinner. So with Mia, I am trying a very different approach. She eats everything I eat. I do eat pretty healthy, especially because I am still breastfeeding but for example she eats organic spinach tofu pockets, hummus on crackers, fish, steak, brie, pesto pasta, asparagus, cauliflower, zucchini, broccoli. She eats it all. When we were at breakfast she had orange zest french toast with anglais creme sauce and crabcakes eggs benedict. I am hoping that if I just feed her whatever we eat instead of making her "baby/toddler" food she will never develop these pesky eating quirks that Tyler has. We'll see. Maybe this can be my ubiquitous book idea.

In the afternoon, we got the kids' pools out and there they sat and played for almost 2 hours while Mike continued to work on the play set.

June 15

June 14

Thank you Uncle Matt and Lisa for the Thomas the Train set!!

Since he just celebrated his big third birthday, I thought I would spend a moment listing Tyler in a nutshell.

Favorite Food: Hot dogs (UGH!)

Favorite Toy: Puzzles

Favorite Book: Anything Dora or Diego

Favorite Thing to Do: see animals or be in the water

Favorite Person: DADDY

Favorite TV Show: Max and Ruby




Still sucks his thumb when he is tired or watching tv

Talks non-stop

Wakes up very early - like 5:30 - 6:30 a.m. (the only reason is to see Daddy before he leaves for work)

Still goes to bed at 7:00 p.m.

Naps about 2 hours a day

Still loves his crib and shows no inclination of moving to his big boy bed

Hates getting water in his ears

Loves to play on the computer and talk on the phone

Loves animals, wants a dog desperately

Favorite weekend activity is to hang with out with Daddy and do whatever.



Can sing Old MacDonald Had a Farm, Row Row Your Boat, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider and Shake Your Booty

Know his ABCs, how to spell his name (TY - we gave him an easy one) and can count to 10 in English and Spanish

June 11

The Official Birthday

Today was Tyler's official 3rd birthday. Since the big hoopla was on Saturday, we just had a low-key day. We went swimming, had pizza for dinner (which was Tyler's favorite food until he has recently begun protesting even the smallest strand of cheese contaminating his piece) and then opened a couple of gifts. At the last moment, Mike decided that a playground wasn't enough and made an emergency trip to Dick's at lunchtime. (I just have to interject - for when Tyler is reading this years from now - that Mike had just lectured me on not spoiling Tyler with too many gifts)

Tyler is now the proud owner of authentic golf clubs sized for a three year old. Tyler has found his dad's weak spot - anything that has to do with sports. We won't tell Mike that I caught Tyler whacking the golf clubs off the cement later in the week or that I am afraid he is going to wield them as weapons or accidentally whack Mia in the head with a club or ball. I'll be supportive and foster Tyler's athletic abilities.

Happy Father's Day

Things I Have Learned From My Dad

Don't sweat the small stuff.

Relationships are always more important than things.

How to change a tire. (In fact, I think he has probably shown me about 5 times and I still could not change a tire for a million bucks.)

Homemade and handmade are always better than Made in China.

If you get a traffic ticket, get in a car accident or have someone passed out in your garage, it is always best to tell Dad and let him tell Mom.

You can never tell your kids you love them too many times

Don't ever put liquid dish soap in your SCUBA mask, although it does make for spectacular special effects.

When you get lost in Pittsburgh, call Tom Collins. He can identify any place in the city just by the tree on the corner of the street or the names of dumpy store with bars on the windows or any other minute detail you may have.

Family vacations create memories that will last a lifetime.

Expect each of your kids to move at least ten times in sub-zero temperatures or blazing heat, expect to help.

Weekends are family time.

Every child needs a dog. Every child does not need a bird, hermit crab, etc but if you child's fish gets sick, do the right thing and drive the fish to pet store at 8pm for diagnostics.

One of the sweetest pleasures in life is walking on the beach, and then laying at the pool with a cold drink in one hand and a book in the other.

When you can't figure out something works in your house or why something is leaking or making a weird noise, call Dad. More than likely he will know.

Be nice to you kids' friends and significant others even if you don't really like them. Chances are they will discover their flaws in their own time.

There will be things in your life you don't enjoy. Do those things first so you have more time for the things you do enjoy. (This also pertains to eating. If you don't like carrots and milk, eat and drink them first to get it out of the way.)

Never take for granted a sunny day. There are not enough of them.

Smooshed hamburger buns make the best grilled cheese.

There is nothing better than a chocolate glazed doughnut on a Saturday morning.

Real men aren't afraid to put pigtails in their daughter's hair.

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

All my love,

Keli

June 10

Random Happenings at the Posch House
"Do you see the sneaky look on my face? That's because I snagged my brother's chocolate milk..My absolute favorite beverage (that Mommy doesn't really want me to have)."



Tyler is all-boy. Here he is giving a toad he found a ride in his jeep. The poor toad keeps getting dropped on his head.



Just the start of a nail on Tyler's injured thumb. I finally snipped the stitch myself because it was not dissolving.
We got our caterpillars in the mail and are waiting for them to form into chrysalises so we can transfer them to the Butterfly Treehouse.

June 9

STEP 1

June 8

Our Sunday night ritual is to eat an early dinner and then relax together as a family before everyone goes to bed but most importantly, it's fingernail and toenail cutting time starring Daddy!

A Couple More Party Pictures

June 7 - Party Time!

We had a great party. Iffy weather but the rain held off long enough for the kids to do the treasure hunt and play in the pool. Tyler literally jumped in the pool about 7 times with his clothes on. At some point we ran out of clothes and just gave up. He was running around in his wet underwear riding his new Jeep Wrangler in the fields. Our friends were joking how much we have changed since we moved to the "country." Tyler probably drank about 6 juice boxes (a major treat in our house) and ate enough candy to rot every one of his twenty teeth. The kids really had fun with the squirt guns. Jen and I decided that there is probably nothing sweeter in life than watching three year olds chasing each other around and giggling with pure joy. Mia's the last little one so everyone passed her back and forth and got their "baby-fix". My mom bought Mia this darling dress in January and this was our first opportunity to wear it.