Lost Dutchman Days 2013

Okay, I have a whole bunch o' blogging catch up to do here, but I'm just trying to keep it all in order.  

Back in late February, Apache Junction held its annual Lost Dutchman Days Festivities which includes a cute little carnival.  It's a great excuse to take the kids on a little outing, and they love every

 stinkin dusty minute of it.  

First we did the duck grab, and the kids won a lame little prize, which they cherish 

dearly for at least 30 minutes!

Then kaleb and I did the cow-racing game.  You throw a bowl up a ramp like a mini ski ball and the cow's speed changes upon where the ball falls.  We didn't do very well with that one.

However kaleb discovered that throwing a small rock up a slide at the park is pretty much the same thing.

Sasha usually sat back to watch what kaleb was doing, but the carnies took pity on her and kept giving her... 

wait for it... 

little butterflies!  

The expression on her face in the photo below reflects my feelings of "How did they know?!"

Kaleb got to ride a few rides.  On one of them he was trapped in the car with two screaming toddlers, but he seemed unphased.  He loved riding the roller coaster most of all.

And of course the classic strong man wack-a-clown carnival game.  

Sasha obviously needed some assistance. 

They got to pick their prize for that game, so of course, Kaleb picked the pink dolphin.  

Sasha at 18 months

This is the month Sasha got to start nursery... technically it wasn't officially till after she turned 18 months and this post is for the month before, but we had her go in two days before her official 18 month mark, so here it is... sigh... anyway, I did her hair all fancy for the occasion, so had to get a picture of that!!  

This is the best one I got:

 Overall, Sasha loves to be a girl, wear pretty things, have her hair done and all that, and this includes trying on shoes... that are mine

 Or her Daddy's hat

Or her brother's super hero costume.  This is one of my favorite pictures of her, it makes me laugh.  She looks like she is trying to be all the Avengers at once.  

Thankfully, we were able to find a cute little hat for her at Goodwill.  It makes her feel special to wear it, and she tries to keep it on, but let's be honest, there is too much fun to be had to worry about whether your hat stays on.  

This month saw Sasha getting her first bike ride with Daddy!  Her face is priceless!

And it was her first trip to a carnival (more on that in another post)

Sasha learned how to really play this month.  This picture shows how the pig and horse are actually interacting, and she just had a blast having them 'talk' to one another.  My favorite is the array of expressions she has while she is playing.  

She started saying a bunch of new words this month including Yes, No, Down, Out and Uh oh!  She was also able to name most major body parts like Eye, Nose, Hand, Butt... but her absolute favorite part to talk about is her Belly.  If you asked her to show you her belly, she made a funny face and then popped that little sucker out like a Thanksgiving Turkey!

Some random bad habits Sasha picked up this month included spitting water.  She would drink a bit then just let it fall out of her mouth as if she had no control.  It got pretty obnoxious!  The other bad habit was CONSTANTLY picking up rocks and putting them in her mouth.  She didn't put toys in her mouth very often, but boy rocks were like chocolate to her.  

Sasha continues to show a deep interest in being Kaleb's shadow.  She will often just follow him around and do what he does, play with toys he is trying to play with and look at books when the mood strikes. 

Sometimes this wonderful need to copy the older brother can get a bit harmful, so I keep my eye out constantly for danger.

Sasha continues to love food overall, but this month started her slight aversion toward meat in general.  We occasionally will give her ketchup or some kind of dipping sauce if she needs persuading.  The irony is that most of the time she reaches for her veggies first (unless crackers are available... she LOVES crackers)... and as this picture shows, she loves spaghetti, too!

SO STINKING CUTE!!

Kaleb at 3.75 YEARS

During this phase, Kaleb experienced Christmas, and along with that was all the enjoyment he got from his Christmas presents.  He is loving his bike!  At first, it was hard for him to figure out how to always move the pedals forward and not push back.  However, after a few more tries he got good!!  Ammon was motivated to get his bike fixed up, and they had plenty of hours riding out in our little street.  

We also got a little letter-learning type electronic book for him for Christmas, and that was a huge hit. He would spend an hour or so on it at a time.    Sometimes he will sit down with something that has words (book or cereal box or whatever) and he will pretend to read by saying a bunch of random words ("Kaleb with milk for inner peace.  sugar in high."), and then he will ask, "What does that mean?"  

Darned if I know, little boy!

Kaleb's coordination is also getting much better.  He can kick a ball better than me and really seems to enjoy it.  If I'm 'with it' this fall, I will sign him up for little league soccer.  

Kaleb also discovered that 'scary' things can be fun once you try just a little bit.  He was intimidated by this ladder apparatus at the park for years, but once I told him he could do it, he figured it out.  

OH MY GOODN ESS, this kid can be a ham and a half.  

Dancing in Daddy's Mountain Man Apparel

 "Come wit Me to de CASBAaaaa..."

(no joking, he asked me to do this to the handkerchief)

I've mentioned before that Kaleb likes to use his hands as little characters, his spiders that sometimes talk for him.  Well, in January I discovered that they have genders and names.  The one that always sticks around is Sayopotners, who is a girl (though she switches which hand she is frequently).  The other hand has changed names almost weekly, we've had Sose, Binteed and a few others I can't remember, but it is usually a boy.  I gotta give credit to this kid for his creativity for sure!!

As much as he is obviously growing up, Kaleb is still Daddy's little man and loves to just snuggle with him... just maybe not for as long as he used to.  

And on a good day, he might squeeze in a hug for me too!

The ultimate snuggling tool is Blue Bear of course.  Kaleb is absolutely convinced that Blue Bear is the answer to all pain and sadness, and it's the first thing he wants when he gets hurt.  Thankfully, he offers him to the rest of us when we get hurt too, which is a good sign.  The funny thing is, what he likes most about Blue Bear is rubbing his nose.  Apparently that's what comforts him most.  

This portion of Kaleb's life started his arguing phase.  He was convinced that Mommy and Daddy knew little to nothing and he would tell us that.  NO MATTER WHAT IT WAS!  We could be driving somewhere, and he would tell me to take certain routes.  Or if I told him what time it was he would say, "No, it's (insert different time)."  

It got old REAL QUICK!!

Kaleb is really having issues with crying over every little disappointment, and lately I've noticed that sending him to his room to "chill out" helps.  He really does well when he knows what's going on and has time to accept it.  This more and more just proves he is mini-me who likes to be uber-prepared.  

 Always ready to show his brotherly affection, Kaleb loves to do things for Sasha... constantly!  I will try to get her to help clean up the toys, but as soon as I point them out, he grabs them.  Or if I ask her what a picture is, he answers for her.  It would be pointless to argue that I never did that to my little sister, cuz I know I was a bossy know-it-all, but that doesn't make it right ;)

Kaleb is very helpful, especially in keeping Sasha out of harm since I have a hard time catching her when she doesn't wanna be caught.  

If Kaleb were a dog he would be a retriever.  

 So I'm pretty sure Kaleb's favorite color is pink.  He LOVES to grab pink things.  It started with a pin-wheel last year, and now he will grab pink suckers, pink hats and even pink jewelry.  He loved showing off this pink bracelet (dog collar).  At this point I expect it's mostly cuz he has a little sister who he loves that is always covered in pink... I hope.  HAHA

Speaking of a pink dog collar, we got a new (female) dog from the pound a few months ago, and Kaleb made an interesting discovery.  "Mommy, where are her privates?"  He also made this observation when I was changing Sasha's diapers "Mommy, Sasha has no privates!"  So of course, we had to have the girls-and-boys-are-different-because-they-have-different-privates discussion.  It was a funny way to open up the subject, for sure.  

 Here we are doing a family home evening lesson.  Kaleb loves to learn about people in the church, and he became a sunbeam during this time in his life.  He seems to really like singing time the best, as long as he doesn't have to do the prayers.  

RANDOM DIALOGUE WITH KALEB:

Kaleb:  "The blue bear is gonna melt!!"

Me: "Why is he gonna melt?"

Kaleb:  "Because of the crocodile on the spaceship"

Well, who can argue with that logic?!

 Oh MY STINK!  He is HANDSOME!!

Sasha at 17 Months

Sasha became 17 Months mid-February so here's the update.  

During this month, Sasha's vocabulary expanded, including saying "Ow and owie" when she gets or sees something painful (a MRSA infection on my neck brought that on).  She also says "Stinky" when she has a poopy diaper and "Thank you" when she is given something (only when prompted of course).  The picture below is of her saying the "U" part of Thank you.

Sasha also learned to say her name, though it sounds like "Dosh" or "Dosha" so it was hard to pick up on at first.  She also has officially named her Butterfly "Bubby" which sounds a lot like how she says Belly, Baby, Puppy and Bear... plus she calls all pillows Bubby.  She also uses "Mommy" and "Doggy" and "Bath" at the appropriate times.  One of my favorite new things is that she says I love you "Lah Loo" and Ammon and I milk that for ALL IT's WORTH!!

You'll also notice Sasha's little reindeer slippers.  She became obsessed with them this month.  

Sasha just really loves to mimic us, so we have little "Sasha, can you say... ? " sessions.  Even Kaleb gets into it, and he just loves to get her to copy what he says.  Most of the time if it is too long she just nods her head as if to say, "Yes I can say it but I refuse to at this time."  Sometimes she will also kiss at me when I kiss at her as well.  

This is the month I got to borrow my sister's AWESOME camera and got a few better shots than I normally would.  I love this closeup of her cute pouty lip!!

With the help of a new app, I was able to make one of the shots look just AMAZING!!  Of course, it helps to have a photogenic little girl!

 The only problem with getting a little photo crazy is that Sasha became a ham!!  All we have to do is say "Sasha, look over here!" and we get this cheesey little grin.  She also got obsessed with watching the screen when the camera was on, so it really is a miracle I got any decent shots at all.

My little girl is just a bottle of personality!!  She thinks everything is just meant to be fun or funny and just loves to laugh and be silly (she gets that from her Daddy)!

 Sasha picked up this handkerchief, put it in front of her face and started walking around.  She kept bumping into stuff and giggling like crazy.  Finally I just tied it around her head.  Kaleb thought it looked like so much fun he wanted to join in.  A few good thumps into the wall quickly changed his mind though.

 Kinda as a metaphor for Sasha's personality, this month she decided to push things around: laundry baskets, coffee table, chairs, you name it.

I'm proud to announce that Sasha went binky-free this month.  I was super nervous for fear of her becoming an even less predictable sleeper than she already was, but after only one nap she seemed ok.  This is probably also partially to do with Bubby's nose being available for chewing.  

 This month we started to use Timeout more often.  As much as she obviously didn't like it, she learned pretty quickly.  I now can threaten "You wanna go in time out?" and that often motivates her.

Sometimes it frustrates and frightens me how independent Sasha can be.  She has absolutely no qualms about wandering away, thinking she will be perfectly safe.  And though I don't want to hinder her sense of adventure, I also just can't quite let her go too far just yet.  

It seems apparent to me that Sasha has a lot of potential to be a mover, someone who gets things done and motivates others to glean from her confidence.  I see Kaleb blossoming a lot under her fearlessness lately, mostly for the better.  Maybe that's a little too deep for an 18 month old, but hey,

 it never hurts to see a kid's potential, right?