I think I should start keeping a tally on how many people ask me if these two are twins. Tommy is almost the same size as Elsy, especially when they are sitting next to each other.
Logan is the new Executive Secretary in our ward, which makes for lonely Sundays without him. Tuesday nights are also busy because he needs to be in the church building while the bishop does interviews. He has been working hard and learning a lot from out great bishop, Bishop Spataro.
I have been trying to find ways to not get frustrated with the kids, especially when trying to get out the door. I have discovered that if I get the kids ready before I get myself ready life is so much better and less chaotic. My theory is I can hurry myself way easier than hurrying the kiddos. I get them changed, teeth brushed, and hair done before I start myself. I have even gone as far on a few occasions to get their shoes on, all while I am still in my pj's and un-showered. It really has made all the difference for me though. I am 100% less cranky when it comes to getting out the door now days, and it has helped a lot with Sunday mornings in keeping the peace.
I think I am just going to be one of those moms that is bummed when school starts. I just want my kids around all the time and I miss them when they are gone. I started getting sad about it and just wanted to spend every second with Elsy before she started preschool last week. She, of course, was beyond excited for preschool to start and has loved every moment of playing with her friends, doing crafts, and learning. Although it took her all of two days there to get sick.
This year we are doing a cohort again with some ladies in our ward and stake. We bought a curriculum called Mother Goose Time that sends you all the supplies and lesson plans. It is less than $100 per kid for the whole school year and we just rotate houses every week, two days a week for three hours.
The epic Squid Kid pose.
Elsy has way way a lot and much energy all the time. She go go goes until she hits her pillow at night and is out like a light. Her body, mind, and mouth are constantly moving. On the car ride home from the grocery store she just went on and on.... "Oh I got the silliest idea! What if a string got married to a light?!" and then she would laugh and laugh. "Oh I got the funniest idea, what if a tree got married to a mask?" (more laughter) "What if a CD got married to a hat? What if a SLUG got married to a hat!?"
And then today on the ride home from play group she would say, "Wanna hear number one?" And continue to sing a "Wigga wagga woooga wigggy" type song. Then she would say "Wanna hear number two?" and then sing another variation of obnoxious gibberish. At number nine she was out of ideas and I said, "How about number nine is..." and I turned to show tight lips and a straight face with no sound at all. I thought that was pretty funny and I started to laugh, only for her to say, "No."
These two little buddies. It just broke my heart when Tommy wanted to go with Elsy to school. He and I are going to be buddies again this year.
Elsy has school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Thursdays we go to a Book of Mormon class (moms take turns watching the kids in the nursery) and on Tuesdays we have physical therapy for Tommy's arm now.
It has been close to three months since Tommy got his cast off. He can fully straighten his arm but he still can not bend it completely. He struggles to touch his ear and can't touch his shoulder at all. X-rays at the time of the cast removal showed a bit of bone that had slipped from the pins, possibly from when he had fallen off the bed right after breaking his arm. She was worried it may be knocking the other bone and be preventing it from bending fully. She said only time would tell and that the bone that was sticking out should naturally wear away over time.
I had been working with him a bit at home, but the doc said we probably didn't need to do much, just natural use should do the trick. But after so long with no improvement at all we started doing physical therapy. After three weeks of PT the physical therapist said nothing was improving and to go back to the doctor for new X-rays. We got the X-rays this week and the visual results were good - that the bone is wearing away really nicely and shouldn't be causing a problem with the bending of his arm. The doctor said to just keep working with him and in a year if he is still having problems then they will possibly do a surgery where they go in and cut the bone, re-position it, pin it in place, and put him in a cast for 4-6 weeks again... so basically back to square one - minus the traumatic fall and ambulance ride. That was sad news, but we have a several more months to keep working with him. The doc said if there is no improvement, that would mean that the bone healed with a slight curve at the end, which would cause him to be able to over-extend his arm when it is straight and then not be able to bend it all the way. So we will have to be patient as we see how things pan out.
Tommy works so hard at PT and he is a pretty good sport about the stretches, massages, and exercises we are supposed to be doing at home. I love his look of determination and his little grunts of exertion. He has been a trooper through this whole process.
We have had several people tell us that Logan looks like Tanner Mangum, the BYU football quarterback. After my mom sent us this photo Logan tried to take a look alike... Haha! We had a good laugh. Even as I was writting on this blog Tommy saw these pictures and said, "Theres Daddy, theres another Daddy!" Haha, to funny.
The other day Elsy asked, "Mommy can we go to Old McDonald?" so sweetly I couldn't turn her down. We spent an afternoon at McDonalds and the kids played on the indoor playground for forever!
These two look calm in this photo, but they have become quite the rambunctious and hyper duo. They are constantly shouting, screaming, giggling, fighting, rescuing, jibber-jabbering, and spazing out. I am so glad they are such good friends but it is getting to be a little nutso. They will just stand in front of the mirror and wiggle, whack, and squak at their reflections. Their favorite thing is to bring in their "motorcycles" (Tommy's balance bike and Elsy's Micro scooter) and race across the longest part of our apartment. They are Heat Wave and Chase, the Rescue Bots and they want to let everyone know about it.
Logan and I got to go on a date on Friday. We ordered some Pad Thai take-out and drove up into the mountains for a little canoeing adventure together. Although Logan asked the lady that gave us the food if she gave us forks and she assured us she did, we ended up in the mountains with no forks and a bunch of delicious noodles. Luckily, Logan had his 72 hour kit in his car and that had a camping fork/spoon that I used and he made himself some chopsticks from some twigs with the knife from the backpack. Then we pumped up our canoe and went all over Rattlesnake Lake together. It was a gorgeous evening, the summer has ended and the beautiful autumn air was just perfect.
It was so nice to talk with each other about some things we have been stressed about without getting interrupted by our kiddos. I think we need more dates like that. Typically we just go out to dinner but it was fun to do something new.
Logan brought his camera to take pictures of the peak. I hadn't seen this pose in a long time so I had to snap a quick shot. Photography and film used to be Logan's hobby, but these days he does so much of it for work he doesn't do much of it at home. So that was fun to see.
Ever since we took away this guys pacifier I just can't get enough of his cute, puckered lips he has when he sleeps! I am realizing Tommy is the same age as Elsy was when we first moved here! Wow! I often forget how old he his because he is my 'baby' and I am starting to realize he needs to be treated older than that. He has such a crazy personality and loves to talk about robots, cars, and of course, bad guys. Bad guys are everywhere to him and he always must fight them.
He also says some pretty funny things. One of my favorite words he says is ginormous. The other day I spent some time making homemade meatballs for dinner. Tommy did not want to try his. He finally said, "I'n going pretend dat's a ginormous poop." Oh brother.
Elsy has had a little problem of 'holding it' a little too long until she has a little accident. She just wants to play! They are not big, just a little mark of pee in her panties before she runs to the potty. Often times she wouldn't tell me about it, which I thought was really gross. So we started a sticker chart. For every time she went to the potty without me telling her to she would get a sticker. She decided her reward was to go on a date with Daddy. She worked really hard and earned her date! She was so excited and he took her to Ben and Jerry's for some ice cream.
And of course, Tommy and I didn't want to stay home so we just went on our own date... to Cold Stone so we wouldn't become date crashers. :)
I just loved this picture of Tommy in his rain boots and shorts... he stole my milkshake and didn't want his blue ice cream that he had wanted so badly. Next time we are totally just going to share.
We had preschool at our house this week! So much fun!
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