Preschool

First and last day of preschool

Austin recently completed a wonderful year of preschool. From September to May he attended "Imagination Station" at Miss Shannon's home every T, W, and Th for 2 hours. A few of the things he learned this year:

• To write every letter
• Tracing shapes
• Cutting practice
• To spell and write his first name
• To spell and write his last name
• His phone number
• His address
• To count and write numbers up to 30
• Days of the week
• Months of the year
• And more

One thing I've particularly enjoyed watching him mature in is his group skills. He's always been super friendly, but as he's consistently interacted with these kids and been shaped by this teacher he's improved in his ability to share, take turns, wait or ask for help instead of hitting to get his way, and to sit still and listen. He's still probably the most wiggly kid in the group during "lecture" times, but he is also the youngest of the group - and as I've said, I'm delighted to see improvement.

Happily, he's adjusted to being out of preschool without any tears or complaints, though I know he misses Miss Shannon and his friend Sierra. He'll be turning 5 in August, but will be doing another year of preschool this coming year.

Here's a video of his last day at preschool - they start the day with "Show and Share" then the Pledge of Allegiance and then I got to watch their singing program where they had a song for each letter of the alphabet (we were in TN for the actual graduation program, but luckily I got to go watch them practice).

Photo Shoot

Do I have the cutest kids or what?

A quick funny Ruthie story:

Ruthie and I were driving somewhere when she started listing off the people in her family.

Ruthie: "Dere's Roofie and Mommy and Daddy and Tycey and Kaya-Waya and Kawyana and Debbie and Taroo and Gramma and Grampa and Header."

Me: "What about that boy that lives in our house?"

Ruthie: "Huh?"

Me: "Who's the boy in our family?"

Ruthie: "Broder."

Me: "What's his name?"

Ruthie: "Huh?"

Me: "Au..."

Ruthie: "Au... Huh?"

Me: "Brother's name is Au..."

Ruthie: "Au... AuBroder!"

Easter

This is how our Johnson Easter went down. Saturday the kids "surprised" daddy with the egg pinatas they'd made and filled with m&ms. Then daddy and mommy surprised the kids with a brand new swing set! It was fun to see how excited they were over it. They had to try everything for 2 seconds then something new, then back to the first.

Sunday we celebrated with my parents, where the Easter Bunny also left all our hidden candy. The kids had a great time hunting. Ruthie enjoyed all the chocolate, often eating one bite of a candy then opening a new one - so many (identical options) to sample! Austin, on the other hand traded his chocolates to Ruthie for her jelly beans. We were well taken care of by the Easter Bunny and by grandma with lots of fun presents.

Can You Read 4-glish?

Something I *LOVE* about my boy is his creativity. He has an imagination like you wouldn't believe. There are times when he'll have a handful of legos, a toothbrush and kleenex box and for the next 2 hours he's deep into an elaborate story of rocket ships, caves and heroes. When we put him to bed at night, he always asks for an "invisible" story... which means a story that we make up (not from a book). In the past couple of months he's started to direct these stories and tell us how the story goes.

He has also found a great game on PBS kids called "Dot's Story Factory" where he can draw pictures and then type captions about it. He loves to write his stories all by himself then have us read what he has written. I get a huge kick out of reading Austin's version of English. It actually makes sense in a way! Let's see if you can translate 4-year-old phonetics...

"Austin Johnson [age] 4. [To] Heidi."

"The monster ate Dot and Dash. Then Austin and Ruth flew in the box with wings."

"Add that recycled newspaper in to jugs."

*This one was spelled correctly!*

"They were using." [Explanation: Using a treasure map to get to the green 'X'.]

"Austin Johnson and his favorite color."

"And he has a favorite blanket."

"His favorite color is green."

More Bedtime Conversations with Austin

"Daddy will you come and lay by me for a while?"
"Sure, since you've been so cooperative for bedtime I'll lay by you for a few more minutes."
"No Daddy, not for a few minutes. I want you to lay by me for a while."
"OK."
"Daddy, do you know what a while means?"
"What does a while mean?"
"There are lots of wild animals, like polar bears and lions and aardvarks. They're wild. But that's not what a while means. Do you know what a while means?"
"What does a while mean?"
"It's something that takes time, like sometimes church takes a while, and sometimes I play in the yard for a while, and sometimes you lay by me for a while."

"Daddy, what were you like when you were little, like when you were one years old?"
"Well, when I was little I was a lot like you."
"Really? Did you have yellow hair like me?"
"Yep, just like you."
"Did you have yellow skin like me?"
"Yep."
"Did you have Mickey Mouse socks like me?"
"You know, I don't remember if I had Mickey Mouse socks."
(Austin tapping Daddy on the head) "Remember brain, remember brain, remember brain..."
"Actually, I think I do remember, and I don't think I had any Mickey Mouse socks like you when I was little."
"Well, I guess you weren't that much like me after all."

Ruthie's Secret Night Life

I could also title this post "The Best Present Ever." A little over a month ago, Anthony bought me the best pregnancy-survival gift... Star Trek! He bought the complete set of Voyager and we have both been enjoying it tons (we already own and have watched Next Generation). We've settled in to a nice little night-time routine of putting the kids to bed, cleaning up for 45 minutes or so, watching an episode of Voyager and then going to bed nice and early at 10pm. It's been great for my pregnancy because 1) it gives me something to look forward to at the end of every day and 2) it gives me a great wind-down routine and early bedtime that both help me stay ahead of the sleep game. We've got about 140 episodes left and 135 days of pregnancy to go. It looks likely that this will be the routine for next 5 months.

As for Ruthie's part in all this... As mentioned in a previous post, she still takes a good afternoon nap most days, but is then up until 10pm. About a week in to our new routine she wandered downstairs all quiet and shy, crawled in to Anthony's lap and watched a Voyager episode with us, then happily went right to bed afterwards. She was so darn cute. And what Trekkie parent can resist sharing Star Trek with their kid? Ruthie's bedtime routine is now as follows. She gets ready for bed at 7:30 with Austin, then is required to stay quietly in her room for an hour, then we go get her so she can watch Voyager with us. It's a crack up to walk in to her room and have her jump off her bed asking, "IS IT TIME FOR VOYAGER?" We do have to be selective about which episodes she watches - most episodes are really just standing around talking, but some are scary, intense or show gross looking aliens. We have to read ahead to know which episodes to save for the nights when she falls asleep early (or violates the "stay in your room till we come get you" rule).

Austin doesn't know about Ruthie's nightly privileges and I've contemplated feeling guilty about it, but then I realized that, being the oldest, he's had lots of special Mom & Dad time when Ruthie wasn't here or was still a baby. Plus he's completely zonked out by 9pm every night. Someday, though, I intend to get Austin hooked in to the Star Trek world too.

Boy or Girl?

Austin has been pulling for a boy since the day we announced the pregnancy. (That's him and me and Baby Buzz in the picture). Ruthie has been waffling back and forth, but mostly requesting a girl.

Yesterday we went as a family to see the big ultrasound. The baby had it's legs crossed at first, so we had to wait while the nurse checked on the baby's heart and head and stomach and bones. I am pleased to announce that we have one healthy little baby growing here! Then finally we found out...

It's a GIRL!!!

I am thrilled! I was hoping for a girl, though I'd gotten so used to calling it a boy that I still caught myself saying "he" yesterday and having to correct it. I'm excited that I'll have two daughters to play with and that my girls will have sisters. Austin's reaction to the news was a disappointed, "Oh, I was wrong." After saying that about 3 times, he was over it and announced, "I thought the pattern was boy, girl, boy, girl. Now I know it's boy, girl, girl, boy!" Now we just have to convince Austin to call the baby "Baby Sister" instead of "Baby Buzz". That may take some doing.

This is Austin's picture of me pushing the baby in a stroller. I love that the baby is so real to him that she's making it into his art! The kids ask me several times a week when the baby is going to "hatch" out of my tummy. It seems like a long way to go still, but 12 weeks ago I thought 20 weeks was an eternity away. Just 20 more to go.

Ruthie is 2...ish!

I have terribly neglected this post! Ruthie is almost 2 1/2 and I haven't yet written about her 2-year-old antics. This little gal is so full of personality there's almost too much to say. Maybe that's why I haven't tried to write it all down yet!

So Ruthie turned 2 when we were at Disneyland. The big milestone of her birthday was graduating to a big girl bed. This actually happened at Disneyland thanks to grandma. Ruthie and her were sharing a room and Ruthie was supposed to be in her pack-n-play. But grandma couldn't handle the cries, so Ruthie slept in bed with her all week. Ruthie did so well with it that when we got home we converted her crib into a bed. She does a pretty decent job of staying in her room, but with her new freedom to move she will often stay up late (10pm) "reading" books to herself. And she insists of falling asleep with the lights on.

Here are a couple of cute movie clips from the big birthday day.

As for her little personality.... here goes:

• She's a great talker. She is so good at communicating what she wants, how she feels, etc. She's also a skilled little parrot, which gives the illusion that she understands a lot, when in reality she's just repeating things. Being 2 she also comes up with a lot of humorous insights on the world that continuously entertain us.
• She asks for naps. You heard me right. She knows when nap time is (after lunch) and has often sleepily said, "Can I take a nap now?" Now that she's actually approaching 2 1/2 she rarely asks for naps anymore and we are occasionally foregoing naps these days. She'll still takes them if I put her down, but then she's usually up until 10pm on those days. Oh well - what's a tired pregnant mommy to do? She usually gets a nap.
• Now that she's in a big girl bed, for nap time and bed time she insists on having daddy or (more often) mommy lay down by her. Since she completely resisted cuddles for the first 2 years of her life I am only all too happy to indulge her now!
• She wakes up happy in the morning and greets us with big hugs. On mornings when Anthony gets her she sometimes shrieks "Daddy! You're home!"
• She's good at singing songs. I found it funny when I read an article that said by age 2 many kids can say 2 to 3 word sentences. And little Ruthie had the words to "I am a Child of God" completely memorized! Her repertoire continues to expand. Current song favorites are - "I Will" (aka "The Mommy and Daddy Song"), "ABC's", "Twinkle Twinkle", "Happy Monkey Song", and others.
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• She mostly calls Austin "broder" and despite the daily sibling fights, they are definitely best friends. Their standard morning game is "doggie and owner" wherein doggie Austin wakes up owner Ruthie and then they play in her room till mom or dad wake up. She also gets into his role playing games with him. She plays Martin to Austin's Chris Kratt, she plays Robin to Austin's Batman, she plays Gnocchi to Austin's Curious George. With all that practice, she's pretty socially advanced and actually plays better with Austin's 4-year-old girl peers than she does with her 2-year-old peers.
• About a month ago Ruthie learned how to use a computer mouse and can now play PBS Kids games independently. These days it is common to see Austin playing "Wild Kratts" on his computer while Ruthie plays "Curious George" on my computer while I'm making dinner.
• She doesn't like diaper changes and often cries or kicks trying to get out of them (grrr).
• She had a bald spot on the top of her head for the past 6 months. We think it was probably caused by Austin pulling her hair out. About a month ago it finally grew in!
• She adores her Opa even though she's only seen him 3 times.
• Her favorite color is usually purple (though she still gets her colors mixed up).
• She loves going to nursery and is very cooperative when we tell her it's time for church.
• She eats all day. Every 30 minutes or so she raids the pantry for a "nack" - nutrigrain bars, crackers, protein bars, apples, fruit snacks.
• She makes the funniest faces which elicit many cries of "you're so cute!" from her parents.
• She's so polite. She's quick to offer words like, "Thank you for my cereal", or "I sorry I screamed", or if you compliment her clothes she'll say, "You're Welcome."
• When she's hurt or upset her comfort is to hold her blanket, suck her thumb and watch TV.

This girl is soooo adorable. If I could clone her I'm sure I could make millions selling copies of my cute little girl. I love my Ruthie.

Up His Nose

It happened today. That day that every parent dreads. The day their child sticks a small round object up his nose. Austin was munching on a bag of popcorn when Austin's nose and a popcorn kernel met up this afternoon. I investigated after hearing whimpering from the couch. It wasn't hurting him, but he remembered the warning I'd given him a year earlier that if he ever put anything up his nose he'd have to go to the doctors to get it out and it would hurt really bad. I couldn't get it out myself and so I took him in.

He handled it well until the scooper tool actually went in to his nose. Then he freaked out. It took 3 nurses and myself to hold him down while the doctor extracted it. Meanwhile Austin was screaming, "Stop! Don't do this to me! Why are you doing this to me?!" I was so relieved when it was done I nearly cried. Austin was equally relieved and almost giddy when it was finally over and the doctor didn't have to cut open his nose as he'd feared. Austin reported that he had learned his lesson and would "never never never do that again." After the trauma we out for french fries and ice cream to make Austin feel better - or maybe to make me feel better.

When I asked Austin why he'd put the kernel up his nose in the first place (he obviously knew it was a bad idea), he reported that he liked the taste of boogers so he put the kernel in his nose to make it booger flavored. Oh boy!

Best By 8-30-11

This is the "big" gift I gave my parents and sisters for Christmas. That's right! I'm busy cooking baby #3, due Aug 30th. At this point I'm 13 weeks along (though I swear I look 20). I had my first doctor visit last week and heard the heartbeat so I now feel safe in blogging to the world. Sadly, I'm still feeling like garbage everyday. But I'm lucky to have 2 astoundingly adorable children to remind me everyday that the agony is completely worth it.

Austin is so cute about this baby. He loves to pat my tummy or kiss it or sing or talk to the baby. He has already named our baby too - "Buzz Lightyear James Johnson." So even though we don't know the gender, our baby is referred to as "Baby Buzz" and called a "he." I think Austin does realize though that this baby might be a girl, he's just placing his bet. If it does turn out to be a boy I have a feeling the nickname will stick, even though he will definitely be getting a different name. Every Monday when I "advance" to a new week (yes, I am counting down every single day right now), Austin and I sit at my computer and spend almost and hour looking at pictures of "our baby" on babycenter.com to see what he looks like now and all the weeks to come.

Ruthie, on the other hand, is having baby sympathy pains. Well... she's picked up on my global excuse to lay around and whine all day. If she wants her blanket and I tell her to go get it her response is, "You go get it. The baby in my tummy hurts me." If she's hungry and I'm too lazy to feed her she'll tell me, "The baby in my tummy is making me sick." She also knows that Daddy and Austin do not get to use this excuse because "only Mommies and Ruthies can have babies in their tummies."

I am so thrilled that this little one is on it's way. We've planned on a third for a while and so for several months before getting pregnant, when we'd be out on fun family outings, I'd think, "Our next child is missing out on all this fun!" Well no more! Welcome to the fam baby Buzz.

August Doings

A few quick pictures from the month of August....

We had lots of visitors! Opa came out from TN and the Molloys came up from AZ. The grandkids loved playing with their Opa. Especially Ruthie. She was quite enthralled with him - it was adorable. Amber, Mike and Henry stayed at our house. We always have a blast hanging out with them. It was so fun to see little Henry getting to be so big! We also had a visit from Jeremy and his boys Colton and Miles. The boys quickly enticed Austin up in to the tree with them. It was a lot of fun to spend quality time with the fam.

Opa and Oma gave Austin a t-ball set for his birthday. Here he is playing a modified game with daddy of "hit the ball, run to the fence, get the ball, throw it at daddy."

Austin is 4!

For Mr. Boy's 4th birthday, way back on August 1st, we had a Dinosaur Train party. I enjoy throwing themed parties. I recently discovered how simple it is to make my own iron-on t-shirts, so instead of goodie bags, I sent all the kids home with Dinosaur Train shirts ($3 from Walmart). We played all sorts of themed games - including bug collectors, pin the tail on Buddy, present "fishing" and of course riding the Dinosaur Train! We borrowed my mom's bouncy house for some added fun.

Austin requested "the same cake Buddy got on his birthday." Being a terrible and impatient cake decorator, I printed a picture of the cake and just put it on top of the one I made! Thankfully Austin was satisfied.

Party guests: Audrey, Ruthie, Ethan, Taylor, Joseph, Austin, Malachi, Inza, David and Nathan (not pictured).

If anyone out there has an opinion - what do you think of throwing parties for your kids every year? I honestly don't mind the work (right now) and I like the celebration, but I worry that other parents might feel burdened by buying my kid gifts year after year. Plus most people around me seem to be in favor of the "party every other year" plan. What do you think?

Now for some "being 4" highlights:

• Soon after turning 4 Austin started writing letters on his own. One day, out of the blue, he just started writing. Moments like that amaze me. What kids can pick up on their own. Since his birthday, his writing has been reinforced by preschool and he's getting pretty good. He still sometimes balks against holding his pen the correct way, but he'll do it if I remind him to "do it the way Miss Shannon tells you." Sometimes he'll ask me how to spell things and write them out. A few weeks ago he surprised me by writing AUSTIN, RUTH and HIDE (my name) all by himself (and he asked for help to write ANTHONY).
• As mentioned, Austin started preschool in August. His teacher praises him often for his smarts. He quickly picks up on new things and is great at counting and memorizing. Did I mention the day he recited the Pledge of Allegiance? I had no idea he was working on it until the whole thing popped out of his mouth one day!
• Austin loves to build. Train tracks, Legos, Playdo, marble run, his airport station - if it can be built he'll be enthralled. Then he'll spend an hour playing a make believe story around his creation. These are good care-free moments for mommy!
• Austin and Ruthie are becoming better and better friends. I'm definitely breaking up squabbles multiple times a day, but they also have moments where they play so well together it delights me. Like tonight, they played "doggie chase" around the couch for 15 minutes before bed and laughed and giggled their heads off.
• Austin also has unpleasant 4-year-old moments. Right after his birthday we started working really hard on "being nice". It seemed like he was physically attacking me or Ruthie 10 to 15 times a day. It was beyond aggravating. So we took a "Power of Positive Parenting" approach - which included a lot of praising for correct behaviors. There are days when I swear the system has worked miracles, and days when I think we're almost back to ground zero. Sigh. I keep hearing "He'll mellow out at 5." Here's hoping.
• Austin's other unpleasant behavior is his screaming. When he's frustrated, he will scream at the TOP of his lungs. Ruthie has started mimicking this behavior lately too (grrr). In fact, one time, he got frustrated with a toy and let out one of his blood curdling screams in the middle of the sacrament at church! Anthony took him out at lightning speed. At other times I tend to let it go since a) I prefer screaming to hitting and b) I hope that ignoring it might eventually kill it. We'll see.
• I was delighted that at Austin's 4-year check up he measured in at 40.25 inches. He hit the magic "big kid" mark just in time for our big family trip to Disneyland!
• Favorites (some old some new): green, raisin bran, The Cat in the Hat tv show, Buzz Lightyear, his Batman playset, playing "chase" around the couch, fruit roll ups, hot chocolate, his cousins.

Lullabies

Those of you who have seen our wedding video know that "our song" is I Will by the Beatles. We've made sure to familiarize our children on this song, so it's a regular in our bedtime lullabies playlist, and a favorite for them. Both Austin and Ruthie know it by heart. OK, Austin knows it by heart, and Ruthie is catching onto the syllable sequence (you never know if she gets the words or just plays them back as she hears them). Case in point, this is from a conversation that Austin had with Heidi a while back:

But mommy, I was so lonely in time out

Then let's make it faster

But mommy, I love you. Do you love me too?

I always, always love you.

Do you love me when we're apart?

That's when I love you the most because I miss you.

And when we're together my song will fill the air. And I need to sing it loud so you can hear me. Like this, "I'm a T-Rex. I'm a tyranosaurus. I'm the biggest carnivore in the cretascious forest." That's my song.

And, finally, a capture of Ruthie singing along with me.