Tulips & Family

Stephanie, Melissa (Jairo's sisters), Joshua (nephew), Jairo, Ava, Ethan.

At the start of May Jairo’s sister Melissa decided to come visit from Utah with her son Joshua. Ethan was in heaven to have a buddy to play with!  The visit was a short one but we did take an afternoon to try and catch the tulips in bloom. This year they bloomed early so most of the fields had already been cleared but we did catch a few tulips. The kids just had fun running around on a sunny afternoon.

Ethan obliged us with one picture. He's now deciding that pictures are not a cool thing. It take some coaxing. 

Ava had fun just running around the gardens. Couldn't get her to stand still for a pic.  

Just a cool tree. Don't know what kind. 

Melissa & Stephanie with beautiful smiles!

We even had a visit with a few fluffy alpacas. 

Another Binky Farewell

This year our Cinco de Mayo was a celebration of no more binky for Ava! She actually made the decision herself the day before while I was getting ready to put her down for her nap. I gave her the binky at which point she showed me that she had bit all around the nipple and the tip was just hanging by a small piece. This is the second binky that has ended in this fate. I thought for a brief moment that I would just throw that one out and head down stairs to get our last binky. But, it happened to be trash day the next morning so we had just taken all of our trash out so I thought maybe we should just go cold turkey on the binky. Cause let’s be honest … the binky is just as much for the parents survival as it is for the kids comfort!?!? So I told Ava the binky was broken and that it had to be thrown away and then we would have no more binkies. She looked at me for a moment, grabbed the mangled binky, jumped off my lap and headed down stairs to the front door. I took her out to the trash and opened the lid and said that we had to say goodbye to the binky. She then pulled her binky into her chest and I thought for a moment that we were in for a battle. Then, she just threw her binky in the trash and waved to it.  She really hasn’t looked back since - a much easier transition than our weeklong crying fests with Ethan. Then again, we let him keep his binky until he was 2 ½. J

Late Christmas

I know we’re nearing summer, but I’m taking a look back at Christmas. Probably because I’ve been lazing around with a heinous cold - which should not be allowed when the weather is warm and sunny … especially when those days are so few and far between here in the PNW! And since I don’t have the physical energy to get out and do yard work, my itch to get something accomplished has brought me to my blog backlog!

I’ve realized I rarely get much posted around Christmas time because it is such a hectic time to begin with that there is no time to sit and record the events. So … here we are at Ethan’s preschool Christmas program. 

While the kids all looked so cute in their oversized Santa and elf costumes, it did take some coercing on my part to get Ethan to put his on for the event. The first showing of the program was in the evening and everyone (except us) brought the whole family … grandmas, grandpas, aunts, cousins, you name it. The room was so packed with people standing in the back, along the sidewalls and at the doorways. I’m sure we were breaking fire code. I know the presence of so many intimidated Ethan and he did little more than just stand up there with the group. On the whole I think most of the kids were ‘done’ on this Friday evening so there were lots of skipped parts, a few criers, a few yellers, and many just standing by.

An encore of the program was scheduled since some of the kids’ parts were missed. This one was during regular preschool hours with a much smaller audience. I have to say the kids responded much better! For the most part they all sang along, did their parts and seemed to enjoy themselves. Of course there were still many comical moments, but what preschool program doesn’t have a few funny moments?

Sneaky Kids

I’d like to say that I have control over my kids and I know their every move, but alas this is not true. What is true about my kids is that they like to push their limits, they’re great at finding my hiding places for candy stashes, and they just like to be a little sneaky.

While the counter tops are not in Ava’s field of vision she is smart enough to track where we tend to stow the sweet stuff. Here she made her way to the top of the counter and found Ethan’s lollipop that he had saved from the morning. Ethan tends to savor his treats a few bites and licks at a time. Ava on the other hand is the deal closer; she seeks out his left over treats and polishes them off if we don’t beat her to them.

Here I found Ethan on the couch with the distinct sounds of gaming tunes coming from underneath his blanket. He had already been told that his Leapster time had met it’s limit but he told me he was going to take some “quiet time” on the couch underneath his blanket. Hmmm, I wonder what he’s doing under there?

Growing Kids

Just a quick update on the kids …

Ava is growing slowly but changing immensely. She is now 18 months old and continues to get into and climb everything. She is not one for words (she has only about 5 – and that might be an exaggeration) but she is able to make her needs and desires known. My cousin recently said that having her around is like a little Curious George. She gets into everything and points and makes little monkey sounds when she wants something. While she doesn’t use words, her little sounds let you know if you’re hot or cold in meeting her needs.

Her doctor’s check-up revealed that she’s still quite petite with the exception of her head. She’s in the 5^th percentile for weight, 15^th percentile for height and the 94^th percentile for head circumference. Love the Rubalcava cabeza!

Ava loves to get dressed up but has an interesting sense of style. One of her favorite things is to get into Ethan’s underwear drawer and put on his underwear. Here she is in 4 pairs of Ethan’s underwear (which are on backwards) that have been pulled over her pj’s (which are scrunched underneath). Then she went and put on her hoodie and found me to help her zip it up at which point she wanted her shoes and was ready to go. What style girl!

Ethan finally had his first full dental appointment with a complete cleaning and x-rays and he did great! Not only did he have no cavities, but also he went right and did the whole appointment like he was Mr. Independent and knew just what to do. I wish I could say the same for his blood draw that we had to do afterwards. After I told him of our next stop he cried all the way there, screamed when they called his name to go back to the lab, and whimpered for about an hour afterwards. It was a “Serenity Now!” morning after the dentist.