Christian The Penguin

This past weekend in the snow, along with the usual snow man and angel making, Christian decided he was going to be like the Penguins of Madagascar. He succeeded several times, here's one of his runs.

I think his parents need to buy him a sled!

Eerily Quiet

Christmas is nearly a week away, and the kids are amazingly quiet about it. No crossing off days on the calendar, no looking around for presents, no real requests for presents. It's very weird. Maybe next week will kick them into the spirit with the Winter Holiday class parties on Tuesday and all of the preparations. Maybe they are just trying to be good so Santa will visit.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Uncle Frank came down with his girlfriend Annie, her daughter Destiny and his son Keaton, and the fun started. The kids played well together all over the house. Very few toys or games weren’t touched, and they wore each other out. By the time night fell, they all fell asleep rather quickly, even Eli.

The five of them also ate like little pigs. I clearly should have made more cookies and snacks. Next year I will know. Their tummies fill quickly and empty fast!

Grandparents Day

Grandma Vickie woke up sick, so Aunt Annie and her friend Schlindler, or “Sara,” visited Ollie and Tori today. Sara sat with Tori for the first half and Annie with Ollie, and then they traded. Sara had a good time playing BINGO with Ollie, while Tori and Annie did other things down the hall. It sounds like the two had a good time with their “grandparents.” A big thanks to the girls!

Hot Temper

Christian has one, and it came out this morning when a classmate pushed him. Instead of telling the teacher, he punched his classmate in the nose. The two were sent to the office and are missing recess today. He's going to be in a foul mood for sure!

Brain

We went to parent-teacher conferences last night, and Christian is right on schedule. Things come easily for him as his teacher remarked. He tested high on everything and his moving right along. He also lost another tooth and cannot wait to spend some of that Tooth Fairy money this weekend. He's got his eye on a Lego Advent calendar. Go figure!

Big Changes

Big changes are in store for Christian and his brother and sister. Grandma Vickie is moving in this weekend to help us out and to be helped out. She has had COPD for some time now, and it has taken a toll on her physically and financially. The kids are looking forward to having another adult in the house to talk to, especially Christian, who has grown rather fond of his grandma. He likes to watch her play video games and tell her about all of his Legos.

Huts and I are also looking forward to having another adult in the house to help with things like opening soda cans and juice boxes and teaching Tori her letters. It’s amazing how often you could use another pair of hands when you have three kids afoot, especially a 2-year-old who refuses to wait for anything.

Anyway, this should be a very busy weekend and the start of a multigenerational family.

You Lied!

Christian takes things very literally, so this weekend when the sleepover did not happen because of illness and Grandma did not show up, he accused me of lying not once but twice. It didn't matter that the little boy was sick. it didn't matter that Grandma had things to get done. I just lied to him. This weekend we are hoping for it all to take place. Maybe that will make Christian happy and i won't be such a liar!

Sleepover First

Ollie and Tori are having a first this weekend, a sleepover with a new friend. My coworker has things to do and her 5-year-old son is coming over for the night. His name is Kyler and he came tot eh kids' birthday party and had a great time. We're going to have pizza. and maybe we'll carve some pumpkins among other things. Ollie and Tori won't know what to think with someone else their age in the house.

Toothless Jerry

The first tooth in our family has fallen out! Christian lost his first tooth this week. While it was loose he was terrified of it hurting when his tooth falling out. He was imagining an immense amount of pain, so he wasn't looking forward to it and we weren't pushing the issue. We just told him to wiggle his tooth and if it hurt to stop wiggling it. This made him a little less fearful and participate in the tooth wiggling.

On Sunday night, while watching TV, he noticed that his tooth was missing. He looked around for it, but couldn't find it. His Mom eventually found it in the carpet. He was so happy that he came running downstairs to show me. He was excited that it didn't hurt and that the tooth fairy was going to visit him. We put the tooth in a bag so he wouldn't lose it and examine it a bit more. He was a bit scared about the dried blood still inside the tooth and had to verify that he wasn't bleeding. He hates his own bleeding. Once he was assured he wasn't bleeding he was jumping around all excited about his tooth falling out. He had to call his Grandma Marie to tell her about it and to brag that she didn't get to pull it out!

Before he went to bed he made sure he had his tooth under his pillow. We asked how much he thought the tooth fairy was going to bring him. He thought 10-15...DOLLARS! We said it might be less, so don't be surprised, eventually he lowered his expectations to pennies, but the tooth fairy had a light night so he got $1.50. I'm not real sure how his reaction to that went, but overall he enjoyed his first experience with the tooth fairy.

0 To 60

Huts' company held a festival this weekend, and we took the kids. Christian misunderstood and was expecting a bounce house. He was ticked off when we got there and threw a little fit. That soon changed, however, when he got into things. He started with the tractors and moved on to the games while Tori got her face painted. By the time, I made my way back to him and his dad, he was one happy camper. He went to the bounce houses while Tori took a pony ride. Then they both went through the bounce house before the rain shut them down. They ate snow cones and fed the animals. Christian took a tour of an old farmhouse. The day ended with a Monster truck ride, to which he exclaimed, "was the most awesome ride ever!" Our studious child is turning into a real boy! He shocked his dad by announcing he wanted to join the Cub scouts. Tonight is the info meeting for that!

Ready To Go

Christian was ready to get to school this morning. Not really sure why. Could be he has several new friends in before and after care. mostly kindergartners and first graders, I think. They must ooh and aah over his Lego creations, which makes him feel great. Tonight is Back-To-School Night for Parents. I am going to Christian's class and Huts is going to Tori's. It should be loads of fun. I have never met Christian's teacher and look forward to hearing all about second grade.

Old Hat

Christian is an old hat at going to school by now, but he has had his usual trepidations. Any change is still stressful for him, so starting another year of school was too. He started whimpering about going to school the night before. Then he complained about his glasses not being clean after being cleaned 10 times! He whimpered a little bit while walking to line up for his first day, but after he saw some of his friends he was fine. He was happy all during school and after school, so he wasn't too traumatized. 2nd day he had no problems and was first in line and ready to go. This morning he was excited to get to before care so he could build with the Lego's. Another parent who was having a hard time getting her child to separate from her had Christian try to entice her child in to building with him, but Tresa didn't stay around to find out the result. I'm sure he'll be excited after a full day of school and before/after care. He's off to another good start this year.

Happy Campers

Two half days and finally one full day of school. Christian and Tori got up early and headed off for their first full day of school. Christian could not wait to get to before care. He didn't even tell me good-bye, just dropped his bag and headed for the Legos. Tori, meanwhile, chatted with Miss Becky about her name and what she could do. She barely even told me good-bye. These two don't need Mom or Dad now that they are in school. Another boy, however, was having a difficult time letting go of his mom and telling her good-bye. He was hanging on for dear life when I left.

Lego Mania

Christian has a rather large shelf for all of his Lego creations, which is nearly full. I dusted it the other day, and of course, several pieces came loose. Christian has a pile of Lego's to reattach and he does not seem enthused. He is happy, however, about the party he gets to attend at the bowling alley on Saturday. Tori, Eli and I are going swimming while he parties! Should be a fun day for all, even Huts who will be miles away jumping out of an airplane!

Party Pooper

Christian is turning over a new leaf and avoiding us as much as possible these days. While his sociable siblings dance around outside and go to places like Jillian's with games. Christian stays inside or at home with Mom. He loves building with Legos in front of the TV and would rather spend the weekend doing that than anything else. This weekend, he is in for a big surprise when we force him to go the park and have a little fun. He'll gripe but have fun once he gets there.

I am ready for school to start so he will have no choice but to play at recess and socialize with his friends! School should yank him out of some of his desire to be a hermit. Huts had to explain that word to him the other day. That was a fun conversation!

Lego Obsession

We all know that Christian is obsessed with Legos, and yesterday, he added to his collection with another Space Police purchase. He had that thing together in less than an hour, or so it seemed. Of course, he still has a couple of Toy Story Lego sets in pieces in the middle of his bedroom floor. Eli wrecked the train set, while the babysitting kids wrecked Buzz's ship. Who knows when he put those back together. I made him reconstruct some other stuff this weekend, and he was less than pleased. He loves Legos, but on his terms, of course.

Creaping Up The Charts

Last week Christian got his yearly physical before school. He is going to be a tall skinny kid growing up. He is about 13 inches shorter than his Mama and he is only 7! He is also 60 lbs. The boy just keeps growing, he grew 3 inches in the past year. Everything checked out fine for him, except he was hot and sweaty from running around the new doctor's office. They had a projector that cast images on the floor that the kids could interact with and Christian ran like crazy all over the floor. He was already to go and was the perfect model patient.

In other Christian news, he is still king of Lego's and regularly plays with his Lego's and requests new sets. He recently got the train from Toy Story 3 with 584 pieces and put it together by himself in about 3 hours. His Mom teased him that we were going to find a set for Christmas that would take him all day to put together. I'm sure it would be rather large. He is also figuring out things more, he can get himself on Lego.com and plays their games and navigates the sight all by himself. He's got the remote somewhat figured out, but he still doesn't quite get the concept of the telephone completely. He answers, says "Hello" while holding the phone several inches from his face and then hands it to us because he can't hear anything. He's also getting more of his snacks and food on his own. He's getting big really fast. In about 6 weeks he'll be headed to 2nd grade. I'm sure he'll learn a lot more things that we are wrong about once he starts.

Happy 4th of the July

We had a very busy weekend in the Erickson household. The weekend started on Friday with a day for Mom and Dad. We used our massage gift certificates, ate lunch and took a walk. After that it was time to pick up the kids and start the fun with them. They played in the water off and on all weekend, in the sprinkler, on the slip'n'slide, with water guns and with water balloons. They played with each other and with the neighbor kids. We also took them to the Fourth of July parade and Wildlife Prairie Park. where they had a ball on the 18-foot slide. There was no fear as the three of them took off and went down that long, long slide.

Plop!

Eli and Christian were playing with the piggybanks this morning when Christian slid off the counter and into the floor with a big thud. He yelled for about 10 minutes and then he was fine. No harm done, minus a sore foot. I think he was milking it for all he could. Tori does, Eli foes, so why not him? Why not indeed. Just because he is seven doesn't mean he doesn't deserve a little "baby" time too.

Old Hand

Christian is an old hand at camp but even he could not avoid the fatigue that comes with it. He was quite tired by the time he got home and so was his sister. All of the fun last week and a fun day yesterday caught up with the two and they lazed around until bedtime. Guess it's going to take a few days for them to get back into the groove.

Pooped

The kids had a great vacation this past week. They saw many friends and family and had many adventures: swimming three times, bounce house, carnival, party and loads of food and fun. The trip home was long, but we made it home, and they settled in for the weekend in front of the TV, with very little moving. Total couch potatoes after all of that fun. Today was the first day of summer camp, and Tori was all excited.

Summer Is Here

And Christian is loving it, hopping out of bed every morning and wearing whatever he wants. No more school uniforms, at least for the next two months. He throws on his jean shorts and shirt and goes on his merry little way! He has even ventured outside from time to time, away from the TV and Legos. Imagine that!

Great Field Trip

Christian went with his class to Wildlife Prairie Park. He told us all about it this morning, making his little sister jealous. He told us about the snakes, bison, deer and more. He also mentioned some of the lucky kids getting souvenirs because their parents were there. I hate when stuff like that happens. I didn't give Christian any extra cash because I assumed the school would prefer it that way. Next year, Huts and I are going to try to take the day off and be chaperones on the kids' field trips, just to see what happens. Minus this little incident, Christian had a fabulous time!

Dazed and Confused

At night all the doors are closed to the kids rooms so the cats don't wake them up. About 10:30 last night we heard a door close down the hall. It was Christian, he didn't respond to us when we called his name, but appeared in our door. We repeatedly asked if something was wrong to no response, asked if he was sick to no response, asked if he wanted to sleep in our bed to no response. Eventually we got a slight nod out of him that he wanted to sleep in our bed. So he crawled in and I went to sleep in his bed.

Around 3 am Eli decided to pull his nightly escape routine to our bed. He got into our bed with his Mama and his brother. This left no room for his Mama. So as soon as he went to sleep, she got into Eli's bed. About 20 minutes later he woke up and headed back to his bed where he tossed and turned until he got some cold medicine to help him breath and fell asleep.

Christian woke this morning not knowing how he ended up in our bed or why he came to our room. This is the 2nd case of sleep walking where he doesn't remember how he got somewhere. Last time he ended up sleeping in Tori's bed with her until we found him in there. We may have to attach a bell to the door to wake him up when he starts sleep walking in the future.

Living Lean

Unlike his sister, Christian gave up a lot for the yard sale, too much. He has since missed some of what he gave up and recovered it. Silly boy! I knew he wasn't ready to give up his Transformers. He loves those things. I also knew he would miss his light sabers and swords and make him keep those, which he has played with a million times since. Where is the happy medium? Eventually he will figure it out.

New Shelf

Christian got a new shelf for his Legos. He had so many we were running out of room for them. He now has a lot more more room for them and his Transformers, which he seems to be back into. Who knew? He likes the bigger ones that are easier to transform.

Big Bad Fall

Christian and I were taking a walk around the block when he got tired. I offered him a piggyback ride, but with new tennis shoes, it did not go well. We made it half a block when my ankle rolled and down we went. I managed to swing over to the grass, but I fell on top of Christian and he scraped his elbow. He was mad at me! He was also worried about his elbow until he realized it was hardly scratched. We limped home and he was fine within an hour. I lost the top of my knee and have a bump on my hand, but oh well. Guess I shouldn't be carrying a 50 pounder around with new shoes on!

Easter Tantrums

Easter was jam-packed with activity, resulting in…you guessed it, crabby kids. Christian threw a fit about tie-dying eggs. He didn't like getting paint on his fingers. Tori took over, while Christian stomped upstairs. Tori threw her own fits throughout the weekend, mostly because she was so tired. Eli also has his share of fits, mostly about things he can't have!

It was a good weekend in spite of all of the meltdowns. The kids loved playing outside and couldn't believe the Easter bunny brought them everything they wanted!

Sleep Walker

On his way to put Eli into bed, Huts noticed Christian's door ajar. He assumed a cat had gotten into it and shut it. After putting Eli to bed, he went into Tori's room to turn off her nightlight and there was Christian sprawled out on her bed. Christian was out of it, so Huts heaved him up and threw him into his own bed. This morning, Christian told us we were lying when we mentioned where Huts had found him last night. He had no idea what he had done. He has done this before, just not gone into Tori's room. I told Huts if he keeps this up, we'll have to put a bell on his bedroom door so we know when he is getting up and walking around in his sleep!

To The Letter

Today was picture day at school, and Christian could wear whatever he wanted. Guess what! He wore his school uniform. That's right. He refused to break out of the mode and wear something different. He woke up crabby and complaining he didn't know what to wear. Then he ran howling into our closet. After much discussion and debate. he left with a white shirt and khaki pants. His teacher said he is the rule follower.

All Grown Up

That's how I would describe Christian as of late. He latches on quickly to things. No more watching The Haunted when he is in the room. He watched the episode, spellbound, giving me details of the mist and the writing on the wall. He had all kinds of theories as to whether there was a ghost and what they could do to get rid of it. I didn't want him to get the impression that we had a ghost, or that any other house he visits has one, so I don't told him it was all on TV (not exactly a lie).

Be wary of having conversations with Christian. He remembers everything and he wants to know all.

No... Eli!

This is what we hear from Christian's mouth 20 times every night. While the kids are watching TV, Eli goes up to watch with them. He likes buttons, so he tries to push the buttons on the TV and when he does, we get to hear Christian yell at him. He then tries to keep Eli's hands off the TV. This results in Eli crying or Christian yelling at us that Eli is changing the channel. I am trying to teach Christian how to work the TV so he can change it back. He gets some of it, but like the telephone (where he puts it 3 inches from his ear, says hello and hands it off), he doesn't get the full picture. He tries to change the channel when a show is on he doesn't like, but only knows how to go up with the remote, then its the parents to the rescue. At least he's trying. He can operate the DVD player pretty well. He can get it started, but isn't sure what to do when a movie ends or how to restart it. He'll get there eventually. It won't be long and he'll be the go to kid for the younger two when it comes to changing the TV.

Reading Right Along

Christian has become quite the reader. At least his ability to read is quite prolific for a first grader. He is already in the Advanced Reading group in school. He gets extra books from the library to read at home, but he doesn't seem too interested in reading books as a whole. Once he gets better he might be more interested in books like his Mama was growing up. He does well on his spelling tests and generally gets 100 or more including his two bonus words. He still gets some of his letters and numbers backwards on occasion, but that seems to be improving. He has quite a lot of homework for 1st grade. He usually has 1 homework page, spelling homework and reading decodable books. Depending on his mood he gets most of it done in an hour while we are making dinner. Hopefully this habit sticks with him and he doesn't procrastinate like his father did growing up.

No After Care

Peoria was one of the few schools to stay open on this snowy day. Off Christian went, the first one at before care. There is no after care, so Huts is leaving work early and picking up Christian at 3:30 He will be so happy to see his dad. On another note, Christian is in the advanced reading group and brought home his first book to read. We read it twice, and he did well. He still seemed nervous this morning about reading it. Hopefully, he will remember the story of henry and his dog, Mudge.

Christmas Craze

The holiday season was full of the unexpected. The kids and their mom all got sick at various points. A leak spring and we had to call in the plumber. The tire went flat on the car and we had to get a new one. In between all of this was loads of present opening. Ollie got a ton of Legos, Transformers and Bakugans. He also got some marble machines and other stuff. The only thing he didn't get is some Lego set that the Easter bunny must now find.