Beach Day

A little bit ago, some friends of ours had a party at the beach. It was Brian's first time there. 

He was rocking his sunglasses and hat. For the most part, he likes them both and doesn't mind wearing either of them. The only time he had a problem was when the strap from the hat started making his sunglasses go wonky.

  

We tried out the sand in the safety of a beach umbrella. While he didn't seem to hate the sand (there was no crying) he wasn't thrilled about it either. I think he was disgruntled that it got on his binkie. 

Naturally Anna had a blast. I rarely saw her the whole time and it was hard to pin her down to eat. 

Anna is the one on the far left.

It was a beautiful day and while I didn't go in the water (my pregnant self totally stretched out my swimsuit and I haven't had a chance to replace it yet) Anna was able to have fun with her friends both in and out of the water.

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Around lunch time, Brian fell asleep and managed to sleep for a few hours, made all the more impressive by the fact that he was only sleeping for an hour at a time at home. I think we need to get him a wave machine. 

The Body

We had a lot of fun at the Body exhibit at the Bishop Museum. There was a set up of the street and you could push different buttons and different characters would talk to you. 

There were several places with little interactive screens teaching about things like washing hands, brushing teeth or hair and healthy food choices. We have talked a lot since then about "sometimes foods" like cookies and candy. Anna was entranced.

 Here is the aforementioned digestion portion. I thought it was clever but Anna wasn't a fan.

Brian was just taking the whole thing in. He wasn't sure what he thought about the whole thing.

She spent the most time at a little store section with lots of fruits and vegetables and little shopping baskets. She filled each of the baskets with all of the food. That was how we met the man who works there. He helped her clean it all up and she insisted they play together from then on. Even when we went back, she sought him out. 

When we were done, we went to another part of the museum. They have a black light tunnel that Anna loves to go down. We always like to see how our outfits work in the black light. That day, Brian won the best black light outfit

Skinny little legs

Although Brian has filled out a a bit, he still has skinny little legs. I like to call them his saggy baggy elephant legs.

Funny Anna

Dude, this is my 400th post!

You can never have too many accessories

Anna has always been funny. Now it's really funny to see how her mind works as she makes connections and asks questions. Here are some of my favorite most recent comments from her.

We went to visit some friends who just had a baby. Anna explored their apartment and saw a diaper bouquet that someone made for them. She said, "You put your diapers there? My mom puts them in the trash." The best was that she said it completely without judging. As if this was just another acceptable option. So there TIME magazine.

I was singing "Summertime" to Brian. (Back story: My mom sang it to us as a lullaby and I love it, it just makes me feel safe and like all is right with the world. We haven't been singing it to our kids until I realized they don't love it like I do. Now I'm incorporating it into our nighttime singing so they have that.) Anna asked me to sing the "spread your wings part" so I sang from there to the end. When I was done she asked me if that song was real. "Will I really turn into a bird someday?" I had to tell her no, it was just figurative.

The Bishop Museum has a traveling exhibit on the body done by Sesame Street (more on that later). They have a section about digestion complete with a lever that makes a fart sound and you see fake poop passing through (I told Brian he would probably love that in a few years). As we were leaving, Anna told me she didn't like that part because it was disgusting. When we picked Jason up from work, she told him, "One part was disgusting but I could handle it."

Binkie Fun

I'm a big binkie fan. To go with that is the binkie tether. I believe you can't have one without the other. One day when I was buckling Brian into his car seat I needed to get his binkie out of the way of the straps. This was my solution:

Taken in March - about 6 weeks old

 Once I did it I realized how funny it looked. At other times the ribbon can kind of get in the way.

While I'm making dinner (at least he can still see).

And during nap time (maybe he was using it as a sleeping mask?). 

Happy Birthday Anna!

Waiting  for cake - I love that face.

 Five days after Brian was born, Anna turned 4. We had a little family party with her that night then had a friend party over a week later.

Anna very happy to get her Rapunzel doll

Anna's friends at her party. I heard somewhere that you should invite the number of kids as age they are turning. 

For her friend party we were going to have a party at the beach again this year (side note, I once told her that other kids whose birthday is in February don't get to have their parties at the beach and she said they should just come here) but we never got things together for that so we just had it at home. She wanted to invite two families who have two kids each and knew just what games she wanted to play.

Popping balloons

A balloon popping game where there are prizes and candy in the balloons. We used shishkabob skewers for the popping and that seemed to work pretty well. Sadly, the loud noise scared several of the kids and Anna took several of their turns. Oh well, she enjoyed it.

She also wanted a pinata. Everyone had a turn hitting it before we realized that if we waited for their strength to break it, we would be there all day. So I helped increase everyone's oomph. It went much faster that way.

Blowing out her candles

We also had cake. I discovered the warm weather makes it really tricky to get the icing stiff enough to decorate with. Notice how the border is slipping down the edge. It wasn't pretty but it was pink and yummy so she liked it.

I think having her birthday then helped her adjust to Brian's arrival and all the presents he was getting. Several of our friends and family included a little something for her too and that helped (she also commandeered several of his presents if they were toys that he was too young for yet).

On Parenting

I have a confession to make, I am judgmental. I look at things people are doing, or read about advice and think, that is wrong. Fortunately, I generally keep my opinions to myself and Jason (who generally agrees with me) but I still feel bad that I think this way. And while I don't necessarily think less of them as people, I do think they are making their lives harder than they need to and I should let them know so they can have a better life doing things "my" way. As you can see, this is no way to think and feel. So I am working on being more accepting of how other people choose to live their lives and raise their children (why is it this always seems to deal with how people raise their children?).

So here are some things that I tell myself to help me remember to be nicer and more accepting:

- Well, if that works for you...: I firmly believe that the children we are sent are the best people for us and us for them. Our ideas and beliefs fit the children we are given. Plus, as their parents, we know our kids better than anyone else. We know what works and what doesn't. Frankly, I'm not in their house and I don't know their kids. It seems like all parents try almost everything they can until they find something that works. I need to respect what they have found through the process of trial and error that is parenting.

- That's not my style: When I was living with my sister, if there was food that her boys didn't like they would say, "that's not my favorite". I have thought about that and it helps me remember that we all have different tastes and just because it's not my favorite doesn't mean it's no one's favorite. The same thing fits with our lives. We all have different styles of parenting and just because it's not my choice, or style, doesn't me it's no one's style.

- I guess there's nothing wrong with that: This one kind of goes with the previous two. Basically, I have to remind myself that barring abuse and neglect, there are very few absolutes with raising children. While things may be more effective or less effective, they are not right and wrong.

- If that doesn't bother you...: I watch some things that parents do and think how much it would drive me crazy. But it's not happening to me and if it doesn't drive them crazy then it's ok.

Several of these things all kind of go together. By reminding myself of these key phrases, I am working on backing off and letting people parent how they want to. I'm not quite where I want to be yet but I'm working on it and like to think I'm getting better.