Clever Comments

Tyler is sly.  He makes the funniest clever comments.  When I was driving the family around in the van the other day, my iPhone was streaming classical music from Pandora.  Then Tyler said, "Dad, this music makes me feel good.  Let's listen to this music on Sundays because it makes us feel good...and we can listen to something else right now."

He also said something to that effect about the TV the other day.  "Wow, these Olympics are so cool.  We watched a lot.  Now let's play Zelda."

Nyle the Smiling Menace

Nyle is the cutest baby.  We can't get over it.  The kids now say that all the time too---"isn't Nyle the cutest baby?"

He likes to smile big at me and then bit my nose or press his forehead against mine.  Something very playful.  He also loves to chase and climb all over Tyler.

Nyle has been learning to say so many words lately.  The other day I was carrying him around and he got excited about the family picture on the wall.  So I walked up to it and he pointed---"Tyer" (Tyler)---"IIya" (Lydia)---"Daddy"---"Baby" (himself).  When he talks, he does those long sentences of non-sense as he's making wild facial expressions.  Sometimes he'll end them with an actual word.  (I remember when Lydia did that).  He's gotten very good at calling for Mommy.  And when he says "not" he means "want."  I always think he's forbidding me from eating things when he points at me and says "not yogurt" or whatever else I'm eating.

Nyle is very good at following protocols.  He usually gets himself into the carseat when he knows we're about to leave.  He puts garbage in the garbage can.  He gets in the bike trailer when it's time.  And he even lays down in bed when he knows its inevitable (after a short struggle while we're carrying him there up the stairs).  Oh, and I almost forgot the funnest part.  Nyle sucks on his tongue to fall asleep.  He's been doing that for a long time, never really needing a pacifier.  He looks so cute, as if he's doing a monkey interpretation, but usually with the tongue off to one side.  That's when I know he's forfeited and willing to sleep.

I've noticed a severe stubborn streak in Nyle the last few days, but both times he needed sleep.  We've known he can be stubborn, but he threw some serious tantrums and wouldn't stop contorting his body and screaming at me for five minutes of so---as if he can win that game against me.  He's sometimes even look me in the eyes as he's screaming and trying to beat me.  Today it happened when I took him out of the bath when he wasn't done playing.

Tyler the 5-year-old Gamer

We celebrated Tyler's fifth birthday last week.  He is a five-year-old with a one-tracked mind.  Sometime he'll be sitting on the couch with his feet over his head for a while, and then he'll sit up and say, "But guess what, in Starcraft you have to..."

Lately we've been playing Zelda - Ocarina of Time (the N64 game).  They really like it.  Lydia and Tyler will sit and try to work through the game together, often with a little of my help.  Tyler has become much better at the game.  He is less cautious.  She will sometimes sit there wondering what to do or too afraid to fight a bad-guy.  He just tries things.  He surprises me with what he figures out.  Lydia is great at figuring the difficult puzzles out too.  She definitely put's more thought and cleverness into it, but Tyler sometimes has the ideas flowing faster.

Tyler got a kite for his birthday and a rocket.  We have yet to use either of them.  Maybe next week.  He also got a Mario shirt from us which he's been wearing a lot.

In Boston, Tyler tries swimming without floaties.  I actually asked him if he wanted to try, and he said 'no.'  Then mid-way through our swim I notice that he wasn't wearing them anymore.  That's one of the problems of a kid who throws caution to the wind.  Today he climbed a tree in front of the church, as he always does, but this time he was way up high.  I told him that we need him to be safe and he said, "but I can't slip and fall."  He also doesn't always wait for us to cross the street on his bike.  These events are always followed by a scolding and discussion.  I think he's learning a little at a time.

So about the swimming, he now brags that he can swim without his floaties.  In reality, he can only paddle himself up for about one breath before going under.

He has the funniest way of saying subtle things in a matter of fact way when he's trying to convince us of things.  For example, he'll say something like, "It's too bad, it looks kind of rainy.  We should not go out and get ourselves wet.  We need to stay here," when he knows we have some plan for the day that will take him away from what he wants to do.  I made that one up, but his are much more clever.

Lydia has Grown

Less than two months ago I bought Lydia a used bike that was a little too big for her.  I had to put the seat all the way down and handlebars forward.  She barely fit and was able to ride it around.  Then last week I noticed that she grew into it.  I had to put the seat up for her, quite a bit too.  Unbelievable!

Lydia also became a very good reader this last year.  She can pick up and read anything now, including the scriptures.  When Mom wasn't around to read "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" to her the other day, she just read by herself.  She's also getting pretty good at reading piano music now.  I'm giving her lessons.

Her memory has always astounded me.  She doesn't forget anything it seems.

Lydia loves attention.  When we have visitors, she will try to show them everything she can do.  She wants Mom and me to watch the funny parts of her favorite shows, like My Little Pony, with her (which pretty much means the whole show).  I'd like to help her be comfortable without having attention all the time, but I don't know exactly what to do.

I noticed Lydia gets very panicky at times.  I guess that just means she's cautious.  But the funny times are when she panics over a game, like Zelda.  The kids have been playing the N64 Zelda game (Ocarina of Time).  It's a little too hard for them, but together they make it through the game little by little, and they love it.  However, Lydia would usually prefer Tyler to play the hard parts.  Sometimes I make her do the hard things, just so she knows she can.  But when the music indicates that a bad-guy is around, or when she sees something scary, she goes into a complete state of panic and hysteria.  It's not at all  rational.  For example, she might know that she has enough power left to be hit 20 times by the enemy before dying, and even if she did die it would not set her back much.  I remind her of all of this and tell her to turn around and face the enemy.  But she is in utter panic and can't bring herself to do it.  Sometimes her panic is obviously hurting her in the game because she can't see which way the enemy is attacking from, but she still won't calm down.  There was a particular dinosaur looking creature that breathes fire.  She ran around a loop away from this guy for about five minutes.  I kept trying to convince her that she outran him and needs to turn around and see where he is (it turns out that when you get too far ahead he rolls in a ball and tries to keep up, so running more doesn't help).

Boston trip

At the beginning of July, we packed up our car and went to Boston. Paul had a conference there, so kids and I decided to tag along and see Boston in summertime. We had great plans of visiting a lot of kid friendly attractions and pop in on the social even at the conference. The week was a blast.

Our hotel was downtown Boston, within walking distance to Boston Commons where kids spent one afternoon slashing in the frog pond. When we went to Boston Commons I expected to find a fountain for the kids to splash in. Instead, we found a gigantic pond-size ankle deep splashing pool. Kids played until I had to drag them away. Nyle thought it was a bathtub.

We found so many other fun things in Boston. Just walking around downtown was an adventure. Nyle loved our little outings to find breakfast. He sat in the stroller and took in the surroundings. Other kids were usually asleep when we would go to find breakfast. Nyle developed a whole routine that was pretty hilarious. After we would leave our room, he helped push or ride the stroller, but when elevators came into view, he would run over to them, point and yell "but'n". He became our designated evaluator button pusher, thought Lydia and Tyler liked to have a turn at it, also.  The first time, we rode the elevator, Nyle did not like the funny feeling of elevator tug, so he would not get into the elevator unless he sat in his stroller or someone was holding him. We had to ride two elevators to get outside. Let's just say this provided for endless source of entertainment for all the kids.

I have to establish now, that for Tyler, the best part of the trip was the hotel pool. We went to see so many fun things in Boston such as Science Museum, London Aquarium, Harvard museum of Natural History, Observatory and The Children's Museum. Tyler would always remind us that we had to get back to the hotel to use the pool. We went almost every day. The boys would turn blue in the face before they would agree on getting out. Lydia was like a fish. She got so good at swimming that she could swim the length of the pool the first time in. Tyler wore floaties for the first few days and was teaching himself how to swim underwater. He finally mastered it the last day there, after he took off the floaties. He also loved doing dive bombs. That maneuver was did not go unnoticed by the younger generation. Nyle spent first 30 minutes in the pool, jumping off the side, getting out again and doing it all over. He got so into it that he would jump in even if I looked away for a second and one time he landed right on top of me.  Needless to say, mommy was exhausted.

Another highlight of the trip happened when Paul got done with his conference and we decided to do something together. We took a duck tour. The kids did not realize that the buss will turn into a boat and go in the water. Tyelr was sitting right next to me, behind the driver. When we got to the middle of the Charles river, the driver asked Tyler "Hey, kid, you want to drive?" He sat Tyler in the driver's seat and helped him steer. It was so exciting to watch. Driver let Lydia "steer" next and then the rest of the kids on the buss followed. They all, loved it, of course.

There were so many exciting things on this trip. Paul and the kids went to see 4th of July Fireworks near the river while Nyle and I rested. They had a great time and got drenched in the process.

Kids climbed 3 story tall netted climbing structure in the Children's Museum, Nyle included. Tyler and Lydia did about 3 trip to the top and back, then we had to send Lydia all the way up again to convince Nyle to come down. He was not scared at all, he just did not want to leave.

On the way home, we stopped by a Russian store, so I could stock up on the goods. I ate it all for breakfast, lunch and dinner unit it was gone. Paul helped. Kids turned their noses at the food, Nyle was the only one who tried a few bites. The only things they cared about was the candy I bought, which I have to admit were delicious.

Overall, trip to Boston was a fun outing, though I have to say that I was ready for a vacation from our vacation when we got home.