Walking Poetry

Life with children is absolutely amazing. I have worked with and cared for children a lot in my life and I love teaching children and seeing the light bulbs turn on, but it is so different so see your child evolve every minute of his life. It is miraculous, it truly is!

Aedyn is doing pretty well with potty training. He has his good days and bad days; bad days come usually when out of his element. Right now we are trying the timed effort, meaning we are trying to take him to the potty before he goes in his pants, by taking him about every 3o minutes, in which he goes every time we sit him on the pot. He is still learning how to recognize the feeling before actually going, but if he does go in his pants, he says something right away and starts heading to the bathroom, so we are progessing. This is why they call it potty "training", right?

Connor is walking! Not exclusively, but he can definitely toddle his way around the house quite easily now. I still haven't caught him on camera yet, he's a little unpredictable. But we are so proud, Shane and I both got to see his first 4 steps together. You should see the look on his face when he walks, it's as if he is flying! He is so pleased with himself.

Here comes a little pat on the back for Shane and I, tonight we dicussed poetry with our children during dinner. Yep, you heard me, Poetry! Aedyn can recite several poems. And Connor follows along with certain poems and acts them out with us by making noises and movements with the words. It blew us away when I started reciting a poem and Aedyn jumped right in and finished the lines. The poems I am talking about are not your average nursery rhymes. We are so proud.

So, I will leave you with a poem the boys practice reciting that is appropriate for today's weather:

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor You.
But when the leaves hang trembling
The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither You nor I.
But when the trees bow down their heads
The wind is passing by.

by Christina Georgina Rossetti

New Happenings in Our World

Jelly Boys!

Talk to the hand!
Drinking from big boy cup
Mr. Dimples


The boys are growing up so quick, they both have hit some milestones. Let's start with Aedyn: his biggest milestone is potty training. I finally bought big boy undies for him ( Thomas the train and Mickey Mouse) and we just casually started one afternoon. I suggested he put the undies on, of course he chose Thomas, and that was it. We started giving him a pez candy for #1,but have moved onto candy corn, this seems to be the key motivation. He gets a hershey kiss for #2, we've only given 1 of these out so far. We are really proud of him, but what is better is he is really proud of himself, every time he goes potty he comes running out of the bathroom saying"Look at me, look at me"!
He is also drinking out of a regular cup. He has the most impeccable memory and is such a sponge when it comes to retaining knowledge. He's learning to count his numbers in order, and can recognize numbers 1-5. He knows all his shapes, even the hard ones; like octagon, pentagon, trapezoid. He is a really big help around the house, he loves to help with the dishwasher, give food to the dogs, vacuum, help with the laundry. For most of the time Aedyn is a joyous, happy, child, who continuously makes us laugh! He amazes us everyday!

Connor is developing very fast too. He is 33" tall, and weighs 27 lbs. He is really lanky, and although 18 months fit around his waist, all pants and sleeves on his shirts are too short. He wears mostly a size 2T. Boy he is a good eater, we call him our carnivore. He loves to eat meat, whereas Aedyn shies away and goes for the sweets and bread, and Connor doesn't really like sweet. Yesterday, I put a cookie in front of him and he didn't eat it. Just over the last few days he has learned to use his fork and spoon when eating. Before, he would just hold the spoon in his one hand and pick up his food in the other hand. Connor is really starting to talk more. He is at the mimicking stage, but has a nice long list of words that he uses at his discretion. He is so funny, he loves to make animals noises; pig, cow and elephant are his favorite. He can also use signs to communicate what he wants, like please, more and thank you.

We are convinced that Connor will be a lefty, like his Aunty Kathy. He loves to give out kisses and hugs. He is buliding his patience and attention span. He loves now to sit and actually read the books with us, not just look at the pics. Many a time I wouldn't hear him and go to find him sitting in the book corner reading books. And he actually helps build towers with blocks not just knocks them down. He is probably the world's fastest crawler, meaning he has decided not to walk yet. I mean that, he has all the muscle coordination and mental capacity, he cruises everywhere and will walk if he's holding onto us, even is it is the edge of our shirt or the very tip of our pinky finger, but when we let go he plops to the floor. He'll stand up on his own and just stand anywhere from15- 30 seconds but won't take a step. He did try to take a step yesterday though.This is our biggest frustration with him. In his own time; he was a late crawler too. My bet is when he's ready he won't walk, he'll run! Connor is a very curious child and will probably always be. He is very silly and loves to dance. Actually both boys LOVE to dance, they love music (actually recognize classical pieces of art and music, when heard and seen in random places). They love to hear Mommy and Daddy sing to them!

Both Aedyn and Connor surprise us everyday with their intelligence, sense of humor, and talents. We are so blessed! We are IN LOVE with our children. Life is beautiful!

Hocus Pocus - Aedyn trying a bit of Magic

Aedyn was trying out some magic, he seemed a bit frustrated that it wasn't working.

The elephant herd

February 2010 - Trip to Disney with Nina and Brian

Aedyn calls this ride the Hungry Caterpillar, after the book
Looks like Connor was having fun

Boys hoping the balloon ride will open again
waiting for brother to finish riding the bumper bugs

Aedyn riding the bumper bugs with Brian
Horsies!

This picture was taken on the Pinnochio ride, after it broke down. We still don't know whether or not it stopped because we all tried to cram into one buggy, or something else happened. IT was extremely funny. We laughed so hard, so we had to capture the moment.
I know this is blurry but fun, Aedyn riding on the teacups with Nina. Shane and Brian were in another teacup spinning out of control, it almost made me dizzy.

Shane's new tattoo

So, also in January Shane received his bachelor's degree. In order to celebrate he decided to get the tattoo he has been wanting for about 10 years now. It is located on his left shoulder. The man is a palladin, a medieval knight, the surrounding knotted tree represents his strength and rooted character. the wolf represents his lifelong companion, ME, and the shield has part of the Moore family crest(dancing Lion), and also both Boys' names. there is also a "D" on the cross part of the sword. And the celtic knot on the knight's soldier is the Father's Celtic knot representing Shane. He had to have it done in 2 sessions, the first 2 pics are the result of his first session, and the 2nd 2 pics show the finished product with the shading and detail. I think it turned out great!

Aedyn + Connor = BROTHERS!

Connor gives out kisses like their candy


Caught him intensely watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
A

January 2010

So January was a busy month too. We decided to go to D-land on New Year’s day, and it wasn’t very crowded, good for us. I caught a gorgeous sunset on my I-phone on the way there. We have a least 3 family birthdays in January so first we celebrated our niece, Angela’s birthday at Shakey’s in Redlands. Short and fun. Aedyn kind of went crazy in the arcade area, he kept trying to take away everyones balls who was playing skeeball. Then, we celebrated my Mom’s 60th birthday. It was a really fun day and night, thanks to Heather (sis-sis-in-law-ish, LOL)watching the kiddos we got to spend time, just adults, at the Melting Pot, YUMMMMMY! Then, the next weekend we celebrated Kaitlyn’s 16th birthday with a family gathering. Looks like we took another trip to Disney with Kat, Jon, and Mom, helping them check rides and attractions off their Great Ride-Off list. We had a nice visit with Dad and Helen too before Dad had his knee surgery, the only pooper was we discovered that the really yummy Chinese restaurant up here ( 1 out of 4 restaurants) closed down. Wait - yet another trip to the Land, this time we got to say hey to Pluto.


Boys singing in the car on the way to D-land

Waiting for the train, and snow on Main street
Cousins! :)
The birthday Girl, a TEENAGER! OMG!

Connor chillin' with Uncle Sean (little blury, sorry)
Soone with a fabulous hat
Ballons for the birthday girl!
The dessert course at Melting Pot
STEAMY! YUM!

Bump Away Uncle Jon
We love to watch the flag ceremony honoring the military.
Connor is either pooping or he's a little nervous!

Ride-a-thon

Ready, set, trains gone!

Playtime with Grandpa and Grandma
Meeting Pluto, he was a little cautious
Kisses for Grammy
First ride on the Teacups, he had a blast, so did Aedyn!( Believe it or not, I took this picture while they were moving and somehow it came out)

Aedyn with Pluto