Friday: Three years old

Joshua turned three years old today!

Due to VBS his party has been postponed until next week, but I did send some birthday cookies with him so he could celebrate at church.  He also kept telling people that he was three and a half until early evening, when he finally realized he was only three.

Mood: Joshua was finally in a good mood for a photo session.  Lately he's been a bit hit or miss with his mood.  Since he is slowly giving up naps, he tends to be more tired and then a bit more prone to crying.  However, if we're doing things that he at least somewhat likes then he is happy.

Play: he loves Duplos and playing with Isaac the most right now, I think.  He likes doing Legos with Ben, but that isn't happening quite as much due to a busy few weeks.  He enjoys playing in the sand.  Usually games with Isaac involve running around the couch a lot, although today Joshua was tugging Isaac by a sash.

Work: Joshua's daily job is to water the flowers, and he often takes this very seriously.  He does appreciate it when it rains and he gets to skip it though.  The last few days he's come in after watering and said something to the affect of "I did it before it rained!"  He is also starting to clean his bedroom.  If he's in a cleaning mood he does it well and if he's not it's about as you would expect for a three year old.

Toilet training: Around the beginning of the month we were having some problems as Joshua would wait too long to go to the bathroom and then would need help with his pants.  That has resolved itself.  Phew.

Bear: Bear, or Grey Bear as he is sometimes called, is still a semi-constant companion.  We hear "Bear!" shouted often as Joshua realizes that Bear was left somewhere and wants him.  (The other day Isaac hid Bear and then forgot that he had done so until the morning.  After Ben and I went on a bear hunt for 15 minutes Joshua had to use Elephant for the night.  That was ok, but Joshua wondered almost first thing in the morning if Grey Bear had been found yet.  That's when Isaac remembered.  The good thing is that I would have found Bear later in the day.)

Repetition: Joshua repeats what we say often.  Even when we're reading books, which is something that Isaac never did.  He is also very good at song lyrics and some book fragments also show up.  "What a beautiful day.  We're not scared." from We're Going on a Bear Hunt is the case in point.

School stuff: He can count somewhat up to 20, although he misses a few.  When counting actual things he can do some, although the number is under 10.  He knows the letter names, but can only put a few names with the actual letters.  I hope to work on this a bit more once September comes, but we'll see.  Maybe we'll just play instead.  Oh, colors.  He has most colors down, but mixes up orange and yellow sometimes.

Happy Birthday to a goofy and cute three year old.

Thursday: VBS day 4

Ahh, VBS.  The kids are loving it.  Joshua came home yesterday and told us about 20 times about the puppets in the rocket and they went to an asteroid and it was dark.  It was actually quite cute.

Isaac likes the crafts the best.  The photographer isn't posting as many pictures as there were for past VBS weeks, which is a bit sad.  It's hard to find yourself if there are only 20 pictures a day.  (And there are 500 students and about 150 volunteers.)  We did find one of Isaac though.  The only kid wearing sunglasses.  With the exception of the last part of the first day, he did a good job hanging on to them though.  (The first day we had to find them in the lost and found.)

I'm rather tired.  It isn't that hard being a teacher, as there is really only a half hour of leading that I really need to do.  Even that half hour is well programmed out.  It's still different and out of my comfort zone though.  After I pick up Isaac and Joshua I can tell that my temper is a bit short; I've been on my best behavior all morning and can't quite make it through to nap time. :)

Bear with bears

Tuesday: VBS day 2

VBS went a lot better today.  Maybe it was the kids, maybe the lesson was done better, or maybe everyone knew what to expect.  Whatever it was, it worked.

The boys got to go with Grandma for a sleepover.  Apparently Joshua told the nursery staff many times that he was going to Grandma's house afterwards.  Isaac wanted to sleep next to Joshua.

Ben and I went out for dinner and then came home to play video games. :)  We can't play (as many) video games with the kids since we're supposed to be responsible and make sure they don't get too much screen time.

Vacation Day 5: crazy bounce, guys' day

We took the kids to Crazy Bounce.  Isaac had been asking to go to a greenhouse with one bounce thing, so I figured he'd be very excited about this.  It was much bigger than I expected.  And we had the place to ourselves for about an hour, which was awesome.

I also got to go on them, which I didn't think was going to happen.  Well, I thought maybe once or twice, but I went on them a lot!

Katy and I also did the velcro race thingy.  I won the first time, and during the second one Katy pulled off a spectacular win, staying with the cord stretched at it almost maximum longer than I thought possible.

The tank was Joshua's favorite.  A little climbing, a little sliding.  Just right.

The tiger was not his favorite, because he got a "carpet" burn going down it.  Next to it is the polar bear, which was probably Isaac's favorite.  It was the biggest.

The castle was a hit with both boys too.  They starting playing "Royal Puppies save the queen" and the puppies came out in full force for the rest of the time there, and even the rest of the day a little bit.  Even Isaac started "woofing" a lot, and he usually doesn't do that around other people.

The guys went to Craig's Cruisers, out for lunch, and then a movie.

Meanwhile we played in the basement a bit.

And then went outside again.

The guys came home and everyone was rather tired, so they watched some video games.  Joshua fell asleep; I stuffed some fudge in his mouth to help him wake up.

It was a long day for me too.  But I at least waited until after dinner for a little nap.

Once the kids were in bed we played poker, a throwback to our days in grad school when we played it on a regular basis.  There was a lot of laughter.

We also realized that we often tell our kids to do things that we don't do.  Case in point, not trying a food because it looked yucky.

We also had a water spill, which seems to be a rather common occurrence too.

Merp.

Monday: VBS day 1 and dance

Vacation Bible School started today.  It went fine.  I have a great helper.  I don't feel like I'm the greatest leader, but I do try.

It is a space theme this year.

Joshua could barely get his face in.

This evening Joshua had his first dance class.  He was excited this morning when I told him, but he then said, "They might make me wear a dress."  I said, "They won't."  Joshua just responded with, "We'll see."  It sounded like something I would say when I was rather sure about something but didn't want to argue about it.  I think they're prancing like pigs below...I was outside when taking the picture.

The blog will be silent for a bit, as Ben and I mourn with those who mourn.