Maple Syrup Festival

There is a small maple syrup festival held every year about an hour away on the site of a maple syrup farm. Bohdin was excited to see how maple syrup is made. I couldn't talk him out of it despite temperatures in the upper 30s. We bundled up and drove out there. We have had a lot of rain recently so it was also quite muddy. The staff promised to push anybody out who became stuck. There was a tractor pulling a trailer with hale bales from the parking field which we had to wait for. It was worth the short wait because Bohdin loved it. The first thing we did was catch the tour. Bohdin liked it but Nyla was impatient to get some of the popcorn so many people were carrying. We spent several hours and the kids really liked it. They are already asking when we can go again. This morning I asked Bohdin and Nyla what the liked.

Bohdin:
Doing the scavenger hunt (After completing the scavener hunt they were given small bags of maple cotton candy. Bohdin said it tasted much better than regular cotten candy.)
Watching water being evaporated from the sap
Playing with M- (We ran into some friends there near the end)
Eating maple syrup (It was fantastic maple syrup. Definitely the best I've had. We brought some home.)

Nyla:
The tree house. .... All the people scared me. I didn't want to be scared. When there are not so much people in the tree house I will go there.
Making a candle (Each of the kids made a hand dipped candle. Bohdin was able to do his by himself. I helped Nyla because her hand would get tired after dipping a few times.)

I was hoping to get more out of them but they ran away to go play. Nyla yelled out "Time to play! No time to stop! Play! Play! Play!".




I was dipping Nyla's candle a few last times when the lady running the area noticed Cora's eyes watching my every dip. She thought Cora looked cute and wanted to take a picture. Cora stayed awake almost the entire time we were there. She refused to eat despite many attempts on my part. She fell asleep as we were walking to the car over five hours since her last nap and meal. I was able to get her to eat while she slept. She remained asleep as I buckled her up but was awake when I started the car most likely because Nyla couldn't resist holding her hand and shaking it. Despite the lack of sleep she didn't cry at all on the way there or back. I expect her to sleep a lot today.



We're allowing Bohdin to trade in his unused tv time for money. He told me this morning he is saving for the Playmobil train which has been on his wishlist for years. That train is no longer available anywhere in the United States and they just stopped manufacturing it. I'm sure there are still many to be had in Europe but they are in Europe. In addition the engine which is the part he wants is ridiculously expensive. It's been on his want list for a long time and will remain there. I couldn't bear to tell him this morning that even if he tries hard they may all be gone by the time he gets enough money. Who knos what will happen. Maybe the Euro will crash and he can get a good exchange rate.

Desperate

Cora desperately wants to stand. She tries really really hard to do it by pulling up on anything she can find although the most convenient thing is me. When she finally stands she is so unsteady she seems to be dancing. Her hips shake around as she tries so hard to stand still. With all the practice she's had over the last few days she does seem to be getting better. She also really wants to be able to crawl on all fours. Several times per day she'll get on all fours from a sitting position and rock forward a bit. In the end she just goes back to sitting. Someday very soon she'll be crawling fast. I'm still trying to keep up with her crawling slow. I'm pretty sure she ate a piece of styrofoam yesterday. On Thursday she ate some of Nyla's dark chocolate peanut butter sandwich. It's the first food she has eaten that she actually likes. Of course it's also a food she is not supposed to be eating yet. When the kids were painting yesterday I had to work hard to keep her away. I was cleaning brushes and glanced over to see Cora looking out the window. It looked like a great shot so I grabbed the camera as fast as I could. Just before I took the picture Nyla went over. Cora turned around and I tried to take a picture fast. As I was taking the picture I noticed Cora was not just happily looking out the window but rather eating art.

The kids were doing silly poses as I was taking pictures. Nyla said she looked like a hot dog in her yoga pose below.

Pictures

I know the pictures didn't post earlier.  Cora had just woken up and we had 19 minutes before story time began.  The kids weren't dressed and I wasn't sure if Bohdin had eaten breakfast yet.  The books weren't packed either so there just wasn't any time.  We arrived at story time about 10 minutes late.  Bohdin normally goes in before me since it takes so much time to unbuckle the girls, get Cora strapped on, and grab the heavy library bags.  Nyla almost always waits with me.  I don't trust her to cross the street so unless I get a close parking spot she has to stay with me.  I forgot that they were videotaping this story time for local tv.  There were a ton of kids there many of whom I've never seen before.  I wouldn't say it was a usual story time.  It was actually more boring than usual. It didn't help that it was the boring librarian that did story time today. 

Friends

Cora had a bite of pear this weekend and thought it was the worst tasting thing ever. I didn't come back in time to capture the funny face she made when tasting it. By the time I came back she was tired and not in the mood to try that yucky thing again. She's going to be a late eater. I gave her a pea last week and probably through coincidence she threw it right back up. She was throwing up a lot last week because of all the mucus which is why it could have been coincidence. It looks like she'll be sticking to chewing on shoes for a while instead of food.

Bohdin and Nyla have been playing better than ever this week. I don't know the reason for the change. They are playing Playmobil together which is something they weren't able to do well in the past. On Monday morning I went down and the mailman was delivering 20 invitations to the Playmobil kids for a party later that day. Somewhere along the line the story involved two firetrucks, cargo, treasure stealing, a boat full of food, and who knows what else. In fact they were so busy I don't think the party even happened that day. Bohdin has been looking for somebody to play Playmobil with him for a long time and I'm glad he finally found someone. I hope it lasts.

Nyla woke up early yesterday so everybody woke up early. I thought it might be a good day to go to Ikea since the kids could sleep in the car. We needed some of the base cabinets so Buddy could get the framing finalized and bring the plumbers back. Buddy was concerned about the kids driving so much in one day. It was a valid concern for Cora. I was concerned though about Buddy going on the weekend when they are crazy busy. Cora did have some rough moments on the drive both there and back. She really prefers to sleep and eat at home. Even if she is in the carrier at a store now she'll complain. The only exception may be if we are outside. Bohdin had to sing to her for a really long time. Bohdin's voice is the only one that will calm her down so the responsibility fell to him. I was really grateful and proud that he would do it for so long without complaint. On the ride back it was about 20 minutes before she fell asleep. Cora has a really high pitched squeal when she is unhappy but thankfully she didn't use it in the car.

Ikea was not busy at all yesterday. I dropped off Bohdin and Nyla in the kid area for the first time. In the one hour I had before needing to pick them up I was able to buy what I needed and load up the car. The kids loved the play area. The lady told me that they both did great. Nyla started crying on the way out and the lady swore that she had been fine up to that point. I believe her. Nyla just seemed mad that she couldn't figure out the childproof door to get out. They want to come back to Ikea again to play there.

The sun was out yesterday and the girls across the street were playing outside. They play outside nearly every day that the weather is decent. I told Bohdin he could go over. Nyla, Cora, and I went as well. Bohdin brought the soccer ball over and some bubbles. We weren't there too long because Buddy came home and the girls had to leave for gymnastics. I think we'll see a lot more of them in the coming months. When we crossed the street to our house Nyla was sad and wished she had some cousins like Bohdin. Nyla really wants some playmates. She loved playing with the girl at soccer practice but we're not going to see her again. They're not signing up for this next session. Maybe there will be another girl this week. Hopefully I can find some friends for Nyla soon. Somebody who wants to pretend to be a ballerina princess with her and do silly girl stuff.

Bohdin has been doing art lessons. Well only two so far. I keep meaning to do another one but he's always too busy playing. We have hardly done any schoolwork recently either. A few weeks ago Bohdin and Nyla watched the lesson on mixing colors together. Bohdin did the art work the way he was shown but Nyla decided to do her own thing. She must have learned something because when she was painting the other day she was mixing colors to make new ones. She has several shades of blue there on the paper and declared her new favorite color to be blue. It didn't last long because her favorite color is once again pink.



Sometimes Nyla complains in the morning that she can't get up, her legs don't work, there is a pink bunny in her room, she can't walk, it's too cold, etc and I need to pick out her clothes. I tell her I will do it but I will choose something other than pink. She generally yells no and zips by me to go pick out a pink outfit.

Nyla has always been a bandaid fan. When I buy them at the store I think of them as stickers. She is wearing three bandaids on her fingers in the picture below. There is nothing wrong with her fingers at least not visibly. She just likes to wear bandaids sometimes. She can go through several in one day because she'll take it off and need another five minutes later.
 

Another day another illness

We were supposed to meet somebody at the zoo on Friday but they canceled due to illness.  We ended up going anyway despite the somewhat chilly temperatures.  Since it was a little cold and it was a weekday the zoo was almost deserted.  When we first walked into the building with the fish and reptiles it was all ours.  Eventually a few other families came in.  It was nice to have as much time as wanted at each exhibit.  Once we finished with that building we were all hot.  Nyla wanted to see the elephants but changed her mind right before we arrived.  We continued on anyway and saw the elephants.  The giraffes were feeding indoors but Nyla didn't like the smell.  She said they needed to take a bath.  My guess is she will never be a rancher. 

Saturday, Nyla developed a fever around noon. I suppose that helps explain some of her atrocious behavior from the day before.  She didn't have anything besides a fever and felt better by Sunday.  Nobody else has it yet.  Cora is still dealing with the congestion from her previous sickness but it's much improved.

Cora likes to lay on my belly to sleep and at times I let her.  It's not my favorite position.  Friday morning she was sleeping on my belly.  It was about 90 minutes before I expected her to get up.  All of a sudden she poops.  She wakes up during a diaper change so I thought I would just let her sleep. As I was thinking about this I felt something warm on me.  I reached down and there was poop on me.  I picked Cora up immediately and took her to the floor to change her.  All of the poop that escaped her diaper was on me so the bed was spared.  Unfortunately Cora was now wide awake and we couldn't go back to bed. We took a bath.   If it had just happened once it would have just been a somewhat funny story but she pooped again the next night.  This time the bed was not spared.  She didn't get me at the time but when I picked her up I somehow smeared poop all over myself.    This time it was 2am.  Buddy put her back to sleep once we were cleaned up.  Fortunately no poop last night. 

The last time I posted I said Cora was not even close to getting into a sitting position by herself.  I went to the bathroom on Friday and laid her on the ground.  When I came back she was sitting.  I figured I was just confused about what position I left her in.  Yesterday when I was cleaning the basement I saw her sit up by herself. 

Sitting

Cora is sitting significantly better than a few weeks ago. She is no longer in danger of faceplanting within the first few seconds. She isn't even close to getting herself into a sitting position by herself. She's enjoying the new position and now does not like the exersaucer nearly so much. I'll be putting it away soon.




In the past Bohdin and I agreed that he has four shows that he can watch. That didn't work out as well as it should have which is why the cable connection has been on and off in the basement for the last several weeks. Tuesday we sat down together and came up with a new agreement. We both signed a contract outlining what is expected and the punishment for not abiding by the rules. So far it has been pretty good. Yesterday he watched a show he wasn't supposed to thereby breaking the rules. He knew his punishment and cried about 15 minutes. He was not able to watch the show he really wanted to watch. Overall it is going really well though. In the morning he decides which shows he will watch that day. He knows what time they will come on and I try to remind him. The nice part is that he knows he will be able to watch tv and when which frees up the rest of the day for playing. Already this morning he and Nyla have played Playmobil. He helped Nyla get a raincoat on so she could go outside and find the seed collection from yesterday and now they are looking at books together.

Nyla is hungry first thing in the morning but Bohdin is not. Often he goes to the basement to play as soon as he is up. Nyla will have something to eat and then join him. I eat after Nyla but before Bohdin. Yesterday I was eating breakfast while Bohdin and Nyla were playing in the basement. Nyla came up crying because she was hurting. She told me that she had hit Bohdin. Bohdin then pretend scratched Nyla. Nyla needed comforting from the pain of the pretend scratch.

Nyla wanted me to come with her to the bathroom yesterday for company. She told me that she does not have a penis and instead pees from her butt. She went on to say that she wishes she had a penis and asked "When will I have a penis?".

The stove and refrigerator were delivered yesterday. The stove looks a little lonely right now but progress is being made. The stove will be surrounded by cabinets in several weeks.

Visit

Buddy's parents had planned to come up to help lay tile in the new kitchen but that is a long way from happening. Instead we received help for various projects including the duct work for the vent hood. The HVAC guys gave us an estimate of $1500 for that work along with a few other things. Nyla and Cora were falling asleep as Nana and Papa pulled up Thursday night. Friday morning Bohdin and Nyla sat outside the bathroom waiting for Papa to come out. They were quite excited to see them. Bohdin was sad to see them leave yesterday but said that now he would be able to play with his toys again. It was nice to have a quieter house again last night. The kids behave differently when we have company. They tend to fight more and play with each other less when other people are here.






Cora has had a rough winter of sickness. This weekend she got sick again. There was so much mucus she was throwing it up. She is feeling better this morning. Bohdin has a top tooth growing in. His bottom teeth are coming in really slowly. They are still not all the way up yet. Cora on the other hand has her bottom teeth fully out. They are sharp little suckers that match her sharp fingernails.