Tav's First Teeth Cleaning (and Penn has a first too)

Today was Tavin's first official dentist appointment (you may or may not remember he went for a quick check for his front teeth after a fall this Fall).  Beforehand we took Koen and his carpool buddy to school and then ran some errands.  That's where Penn's "first" from the blog post title comes in to play.  Penn got to ride in the seat of the cart for the first time.  He was a little unsure at first...

Then, all of a sudden, it was like he realized how fabulous this was.  He was free...out of the car seat, not in the BabyBjorn and only constrained by this little strap.  What a playground!  Bars, metal spokes, the nylon strap.  What more could a 7 month old ask for?

Well, back to the big boy, i.e. Captain Underpants, you know, my Tavin Dale.  Well, while we were getting groceries I hear him say, "Mommy, I need to go to the baff-rum!"  Oh great!  So, we empty out our groceries and take the whole cart into the thankfully very spacious restroom at the front of the store.  Cue Tavin looking adorable attempting to prove his claim correct (unfortunately, we got nothing for our efforts of getting to the toilet on time, oh well).

That was fun (ugh), but I'm thankful he's not afraid of giving it a try on a big throne in a public place.  We'll keep working on it I'm sure (probably in every public place from now on). After the attempt, we got back to shopping and then headed on to our big destination for the day.  Just one more stop first.  We had to drop Penn off (the dentist had mentioned not to bring an infant due to the bacteria flying through the air in the dentist office (how gross is that??)).  Penn snuggled up for a nap at Hilary's house and I shuffled Tav out the door to his first dentist appointment.  Although it is notable to mention that he did manage to go to the bathroom at Hilary's.  Phew!  Ok, so we get to the dentist.  Tavin was quite pleased with himself on his one on one big boy date with Mommy.  He decided to get comfortable in the waiting room and tore into a Motorist magazine.  In this picture he's literally saying, "oh wow!"

His enthusiasm waned when we got into the exam room.  He obediently, but stoically climbed into the big dentist chair.  He's not exactly relaxed in this spot.

They offered him sunglasses and he willingly put them on.  They were to shield him from the bright light they shine into your mouth.  Brilliant!  Too bad they don't have adults wear these!  As you can see, it just made him feel weirder about the whole experience.  His shoulders are all that more tense.

Here's my big boy so bravely laying back doing every little thing the dentist asked him to do. I was amazed.  I was so afraid he was going to burst into tears or something, but he never did.  He just was straight-faced, all business and totally agreeable to whatever they wanted him to do.  Good job, Tav!

Out & About!

This winter Tavin, Penn and I have been quite the homebodies (and we can't complain, we kind of love it).  But today, we had to take Koen to school, so I decided that we should make a morning of it and finally get out and do something.  Not to mention, Tavin (i.e. Captain Underpants) had definitely earned his reward of picking out big boy underpants at Target, so we had to stop there.  Tavin was so thrilled with this aspect of our outing.  He spotted the Target bullseye from a 1/2 mile down Penn Avenue.  Then he said, "Li-Li unnerpan wher are ooooo?"  So cute!  Needless to say, our first stop in the store had to be the children's clothing.  Then he proudly strutted his stuff down the aisles as we gathered the rest of our items.  Look at this proud big boy with his new underpants!

Well, after that super fun errand (well, I always love Target errands, but this time Tav was also super happy about it), we headed to meet my friend, Allison, and her son, Samuel, at the  Carnegie Science Center.  Tav was mildly interested at first.  He just kept asking if we could go home to put on his new underpants, but I told him we could do that after the museum.  This kid is such a homebody and so easy to please.  Oh, how I love that about you, Tav!  He did really warm up to the Science Center idea though when we pulled into the parking lot.  After meeting up with our friends, we went straight to the trains.  (Of Course!)

Tavin and Samuel got a special chat with one of the train area employees.  They were very attentive.  But after walking around the whole display and spotting Thomas as many times as possible, we headed upstairs.  On the way, we ran into a portion of the new space exhibit.  Samuel and Tav are ready to blast off!

We finally made it up to our favorite spot, the 4th floor, where there is a special area for kids under 6 and where school groups aren't really supposed to visit (the best thing ever that a museum can do for little ones!).  Tav and Samuel played with the water stuff first.

Next they did some construction work...

Tavin eventually got into the ball area and then really applied his concentration.  He was all business!

I did grab an opportunity to take a picture with my middle man.  It felt so nice to be out giving him a good time.  So, I had to try and capture it.  Here's my favorite (I took it myself, so you know, not the best photography).

Perhaps you are wondering what Penn Rye was up to this whole time?  Yeah, that amazing little guy arrived pretty tired out and had only had a 7 minute or so catnap in the car, so he eventually fell asleep and stayed asleep for over an hour despite all the noise.  What a good boy!  He woke up just as we were leaving around 11:30am.  We got home before 12pm so that I could feed him before Koen got home.  I had prepared the big boys' lunches in the early AM so that we could eat fast and get outside.  I sent the boys to the sidewalk with their scooters.  They were so excited to be out.  Here's Koen gliding away.

Penn hung out on the front porch with me.  He loved taking it all in!

The little guys were very tired and had great, long afternoon naps.  I have to note here that I let Tavin sleep in his Lightning McQueen underpants (he's been in Pull Ups before this).  He did awesome and kept them dry!!  Yay, Tav!!  Doug was able to get home around 5pm and get the big boys out on another scooter ride, Penn and I got through his dinnertime and then waited on the porch for the big brothers to come home.  

We actually had our dear friends, Cookie & Corey, over for dinner, so Tavin, Penn and I stayed out on the porch to wait for them.  Did I mention it was almost 70 degrees, today?  Crazy!  And such a nice, refreshing change from the cold and the coats, etc.  All in all, a fantastic day with my boys.  Again.  =)

Sunday Night with My Boys

Sundays are always a long day.  I don't know if it's that Doug works a 12 hour+ day on Sundays and so I always think of it as longer or what.  My days are really actually always the same.  I'm "on duty" from when I get Penn up at 7:40am until I have all 3 boys laid down around 7:30pm.  Somehow though, Sundays always seem a little harder.  After my thoughtful post last night though, I felt refreshed and challenged to enter today with a positive attitude.  Hoping for the best and praying for patience to endure whatever might come my way.  Turns out today wasn't the easiest with Koen, but we made it through OK with some definite great moments (and just as many really frustrating ones).  Tonight went quite well though.  I got the boys out in the backyard around 5:15pm and they stayed there happily (and without breaking too many rules) until 6pm when dinner was ready.  Look at the little heffalumps.  I love seeing them all bundled up poking around out there.  I wish I got a picture of them making snow angels.  It was so cute.  Tavin will do anything his brother tells him to, I think he had no idea what he was doing waving his arms and legs on the snow, but brother was doing it, so...why not?  I did get a few pics of them amidst their snowball making.

Bet you are wondering what happened next...well, thankfully they missed each other.

After the boys came inside for dinner, Penn was playing in the exersaucer and he was just too cute to resist with the camera.  Tav had put his elephant, Zim, in the exersaucer, so I let Penn play with him.  It looks like he's saying, "hey, what's this?"

I think the two bottom teeth just make this face irresistible.  I'm in no rush to see this phase go.  I love this smile!

Penn eventually got a little tired of entertaining himself, so I got my hands on him.  I snapped a few pictures because he was doing his head nuzzling that is so precious and I know won't last forever even though I wish it would.  Gotta capture it while I can!

Look how he squishes his face against mine.  Oh melt me!

Someone's ready for bedtime (I'm talking about Penn).  

Picture time was over.  Time for the bedtime routine...intense hour of running up and down the stairs getting the guys all laid down, but by 7:40pm the house was quiet and I felt very satisfied with our day.  Thank you, Lord, for the strength for another Sunday!

Home Church - Putting Others First

Doug's preaching this weekend, which means he has our one car.  Usually I try to walk to the East End campus of North Way on these weekends, but it wasn't physically possible this time.  We just got snow and the sidewalks are covered with snow, slush and ice.  Not only would it be tough for me to plow through with the stroller, but it would be treacherous for Koen on his scooter.  So, I resorted to Church of the Home again.  I like making sure the kids realize that it's still important to give that time to the Lord and it definitely gives us something to do during the morning.  Thankfully, Koen did get to attend North Way Oakland as a friend (and one of our favorite babysitters) was going to the 9am service and Koen hitched a ride with her.  While he was gone we did our usual Tavin/Mommy/Penn Rye routine which is quite chill.  He's Penn sporting his adorable big boy pajamas...melt my heart!

When he got back a little before 11am, we were ready for our service.  But as you can see here, Tavin was prepared with his Bible all morning long.  

We started our church time in the living room with me explaining our theme of "Putting Others First."  I found another "Paws & Tales" video actually entitled, "Putting Others First" so that was our storytime.  Here are the boys taking it in.  Koen is hilarious with TV...that kid hones in.  Tav, on the other hand...it was totally over his head.

After the video, we chatted about putting other first, above ourselves.  Tav was so excited about his Bible that I had to make a story out of that edition work in with our theme, so we read about the Good Samaritan for his sake and I tied it in for Koen (obviously it does tie in, but I was trying to keep all the terminology similar and Tav's Bible didn't exactly have this story laid out perfectly for "putting others first").  Tav was happy we used his Bible.  It is so precious the way he loves it so much.  We read it before nap every day and before bed.  It warms my heart and I've just been praying that this is just the beginning of him yearning for God's Word all his life.  Anyways, next I taught the boys a song I had learned in school as a child.  You'll see a video of it later, but it totally led up to our craft time which we headed to next.  Here are the supplies for our J-O-Y craft.

So, the song goes...J-O-Y, J-O-Y, tell you what it means...Jesus first, yourself last and others in between.  I had Koen cut out all the letters and then I had prepared construction paper cards with 1, 2 and 3 written on them.  Koen (and Tav with help) had to put the appropriate letter in the right numerical place.  J, for Jesus goes first, O, for Others, comes second and then Y for You, always comes last in third.  We made about 20 of these cards and the repetition of J-O-Y on 1-2-3 actually really seemed to get the point home that we serve God first, then others, then ourselves.  Here's Koen cutting out the letters and then gluing them on.

Here's Tav attempting to cut them out and then doing a great job gluing them on in the right places.  He really got it with the J to 1, O to 2 and Y to 3.  I was impressed!

Here are the boys (well, me leading Koen and Tav mumbling along) singing our song of the day.

As you saw in the supplies picture, I also had typed up some verses that talk about this principle of putting others first.  We cut those out too and each J-O-Y card has a verse that the boys glued on the back.  Now we are going to use these cards each day to keep this principle top of mind (I obviously picked this topic on purpose because it's something that these brothers struggle with as so many siblings do (well, let's give them some credit, all humans do)).  When we see one of the boys putting others before themselves, we will put a J-O-Y card into the daily envelope.  At the end of each day, at dinner, we will count up our J-O-Y card and see how we did, then we will start again the next day.  

The boys love these things where they get cards, tickets (or snowmen as we did in December), so hopefully this will help them keep what they learned today top of mind.  And then I also hope that the Scriptures on the back will keep us reciting these living words and memorizing them in our hearts.  Good job, boys.  Hopefully we will all live this out in the days to come!!!

Update 1...2...3...

1. KOEN
So, lately, my Koen has been a tough cookie.  He's loud, he's boisterous and he has a lot of energy.  Perhaps the winter is getting to this 5 year old?  ughhh...  But then there's this sweet, sweet side that shows itself every few hours.  A glimpse, a glimmer of the real spirit that is within this all boy kid.  I love my Koen.  He's a special guy.  He's so thoughtful, sensitive and purely sweet, but he's also loud, intense and strong-willed.  We have our tough moments, but we have just as many tender moments.  This morning we had a special moment when he was enjoying a quick storytime with Doug and his brothers.  

I won't go into detail, but this sensitive, thoughtful boy was holding back tears at the smallest thing.  It was eye opening to me that my dear (not so easy at times) Koen probably has a lot of other things his body, mind and spirit are working through than I can even tell.  I so often just think he's being the selfish human we all can be, but I do think there's more than just the raw human nature causing some of his tough behavior these days.  Perhaps he struggles with sharing attention with 2 brothers?  Perhaps he does just need to be outside more and winter is getting to him?  Perhaps something confusing is happening at school?  I was thankful for that raw/vulnerable moment this morning where I felt like through those tear-glazed eyes I saw a bit of Koen's soul bearing its truthful self.  A little boy, figuring out the world, sometimes trying his best to be whatever it is he's supposed to be.  Oh, Koen, I love you.  May God bless you with strength, courage and direction so that you might follow the amazing path He has for you.  

2. TAVIN
Well, a few things for Tavin are going as of late.  Number 1: This kid is quite the Captain Underpants!  Toilet training continues to go so well.  I'm just constantly so thankful and proud of him.  He wears underpants and clothes all day.  Rarely has an accident.  We even go out and he stays dry, waiting until we get home where he's comfortable to go to the bathroom.  He's already staying dry at naptimes.  I believe bedtime will still take a few more weeks or months, but I'm just so thrilled with the quick and steady progress.  Tav, you blow me away!  Number 2: In the last few months, I've been much more aware of Tavin's speech. Comparing it to other kids his age and younger, chatting with friends and family about his progress, etc.  We decided to have him evaluated in case the professionals thought he might need a little therapy.  Our biggest motivation was that Tav has started to get very frustrated and throw mini fits when he is misunderstood (even though he speaks a very special dialect of English for the most part).  We hope to send him to preschool in the Fall and we felt like it was necessary to see if we could help him work on his language skills before that time when it could be really frustrating to him if teachers and peers couldn't understand him.  So, on Friday, I took him to the speech experts at Children's.  He was awesome in the evaluation.  The therapist was so sweet and kind to him and made both Tavin and I feel comfortable.  He eventually came out of his shell and she was able to make a good evaluation of our sweet Tav.  Well, it turns out that yes, Tav does need a little help to get over a few rough patterns in his speech.  They have recommended speech therapy twice a week.  It will probably take a month before we start going to these sessions due to the process at Children's, etc., but we will be pursuing this recommendation.  I'm excited for Tavin because I think he will think it is fun, it'll be great special attention for this unassuming middle child and best of all, he will more quickly learn how to verbalize his feelings and needs.  But I'm also overwhelmed as two sessions a week is quite a commitment as a mom of 3 and trying to fit that all in seems daunting, but things always seem to work out, so I'm trusting it will turn out fine.  Here's Tav enjoying a Pooh train toy he and the therapist built together while conversing on Friday.  Tav loved it!

And here's my big boy just loving his snacky lunch Daddy had waiting for him after we got home (yeah, drove through the snowstorm for an hour and 15 minutes to get back from the appointment in the South Hills...yikes!  But hey, Tav stayed dry in underpants for 3 and 1/2 hours....amazing!).

To be honest, I'm gonna be a little sad to see the Tavin language go, but I'm excited for what lies ahead for this amazing little guy.  "Ta-ta," I love you.  I pray that you are always aware that God created you for a special purpose and that even though you are the younger brother, you can be a strong, confident leader.  May God bless this next adventure of learning, buddy.

3. PENN
Penn is doing quite well despite this annoying cold.  He's messy/congested, but acting a lot like himself again.  He's got a grungy cough, but it doesn't seem to bother him much and doesn't even interrupt his sleep (although it does interrupt mine!).  Yesterday when I had Tavin at the speech therapist evaluation, Doug spent a little time with Penn before his nap.  In classic Daddy-style, Doug had a blast with his cute son and kept me updated via text pictures.  They were playing "famous person" and Penn was pretending he didn't want his picture taken.

Oh, my Penn!  I love you too.  Seriously, my heart is busting with love for these boys.  Penn Rye, I pray you will continue to develop, grow and flourish in this home amidst the decibel level, chaos and intensity that is our life right now.  May God cover your ears when things are too loud, may he extend my energy level so that I have special time with you on top of all that your older brothers require.  I cherish my dozens of snuggles that you give me each day.  I'm so thankful for your sweet loves.

So, that's my 3 boys at a glance right now.  The highs and the lows.  The notable notes from my mind to yours.  Keep us in your prayers.  This mom thing is no easy task and I just long to do a good job raising these boys, praying they know the Savior, serve Him and make a difference for the Kingdom.  That's all that really matters.  Hopefully I'll keep that in mind in all these little things.  Here's to tomorrow!

Just a Few Pics...Play Doh Tav & Poor Sick Penn

I couldn't come up with a better post title.   Low on creative juices or just no real theme here.  Anyways, with this cold weather we've been staying home, home, home (I love it!).  Tav is a homebody and never complains and Penn is thankful to get his good naps and stay warm.  One of Tavin's favorite activities during this bitter cold days where we just stay put has been Play Doh.  Here's my concentrating dough worker...

Penn has somehow come down with a cold.  I sort of have a little one and I guess he must have got it from me, but it has shown itself in a much stronger form in his little body.  I feel like it usually happens opposite to that, but this time the little man has gotten quite sick with this virus.  Here he is all snuggly and with weepy eyes yesterday...

And then here he is all feverish and sad this morning.  He kept his thumb in his mouth most of the morning.

Thankfully Penn perked up with some Tylenol and a great morning nap.  He's had a good, long afternoon nap too, so I'm hoping he'll be on the mend and looking more like his happy self tomorrow.  Until then...