On the mend

Joel's ankle is getting better. These pictures were from yesterday. Kari did a puppet show for Joel, which he (and I) enjoyed very much.

It's been funny to see him crawling. He never did crawl before he walked, but he's crawling now.

Yesterday he started putting some weight on his leg and standing, and today he walked a little bit. We're hoping for lots of walking by tomorrow because we're leaving for the weekend to go on our all-church retreat, and it sure would be nice if he could do some walking on his own. He's a big boy to carry around everywhere.

Had to get some photos of lovely Miss Kari, too. She's been feeling left out, I think, with all the attention on gimpy Joel. She's been very sweet to her brother, willing to help him and bring things to him.

Memorial Day at the ER

We were at a park with some friends who have kids the same ages as ours. Kari, Kenneth, and Aidan were all running around having fun. I (Andrea) decided to take Joel down the spiral slide, but Joel's leg got twisted somehow as we were going down, and then once we were at the bottom, he didn't stop crying for the next half hour. He finally calmed down, but when he tried to walk, he couldn't put any weight on his leg and started crying again. So we spent the afternoon at the emergency room. No broken bones--a very relieved Mommy (and Daddy, too, but Mommy was the one who took him down the slide and feels guilty).

They put a splint on his leg to stabilize the foot and leg for whatever injury there is. It's so hard to tell what hurts! Our best guess is his ankle, but we don't really know.

We kept him entertained with food, bubbles, and balls. It's rough not being able to walk, especially when you just learned how two months ago. At the end of the evening, he started trying to stand and was semi-successful. We'll see how he is tomorrow. Kids are resilient, aren't they?

Kari spent the afternoon having fun with Uncle Brian and Aunt Emily (thanks, guys!), and then met up with us at G&G's for the planned BBQ.

The men relaxing inside, and Greg taking a power nap. We ate too much good food.

This is Kari's new game--"shoot" (with a play gun, no ammunition of any kind) and chase Tostie. The tip of the dog's tail is at the bottom of the photo. They were zipping around so fast, I never did get a good shot. Both Kari and Tostie were exhausted by the time we had to go home. I think this is the first time Kari truly had fun with her "friend" Tostie.

First Bike Wipe-Out

I was using the video feature on our digital camera (hence the low resolution) to get some footage of Kari zooming along on her bike and managed to capture this memorable moment--Kari's first crash on her big girl bike. I must tell you that it's really not as bad as it sounds (only required one band-aid on her elbow). We actually can't help but laugh when we watch it. The echo is amazing. We need to get this girl some elbow and knee pads.

Joel comforting Kari.

He "loves" by putting his head on your head.

Playground family fun

After dinner we went over to the neighborhood school so the kids could play on the playground and ride their bikes. Fun times.

Friday Night Wait

Photos from Friday evening, waiting for Daddy to get home from his extra long work day. Kari's doing her latest camera face/pose.



My garden may not do very well this year. This kid likes to play in the dirt and isn't giving my lettuce a chance to grow.

Yeah! Daddy's home!

Kari sharing the TicTac's (surprise from Daddy) with Joel. Both kids love TicTacs and think it's quite a treat when they get one of those tiny little mints.

Is that lotion on your shirt?

I was cleaning up the kitchen after making "smoothie pops" (strawberry popsicles) with the kids, and I realized the house had gotten very quiet--never a good sign when you have two small children. I left the kitchen to investigate and met Joel in the hallway. He was grinning. His shirt and shorts were all wet, and he had what looked like lotion all over his shirt. [This is the point at which some of you may wish to stop reading. It's kinda gross.]

Upon closer examination I discovered it was not lotion on his shirt but pieces of wet toilet paper--dirty toilet paper. I ran to the bathroom and screamed. Kari had gone #2 earlier and had forgotten to flush, and Joel had been playing in the UNFLUSHED toilet! There was toilet paper, nasty water, and poop all over the toilet and bathroom floor. What amazed me, though, was the fact that Kari was on her stool at the sink with the faucet running, playing with a cup of (clean) water. She was right there while he was making his huge mess and didn't say anything! Joel had his pacifier in his mouth when I found him, so I'm hoping it was there the entire time.

I grabbed some paper towel and cleaned up the mess in front of the tub, grabbed yucky Joel-boy and plopped him in. I washed him up, and then proceeded to clean up the bathroom while he played in the tub. Greg came home from work just after I finished. Great timing.

(And no, I did not take any pictures. It was just too gross, and time was of the essence.)

Look at them pearly whites!

Kari went to the dentist today and had her teeth cleaned for the first time. We had a deal that if she did everything they asked her to do that we'd get to go to McDonalds for lunch. She did pretty well. She hopped right up in the chair, opened her mouth wide, let Melissa polish her teeth, and let Dr. Monnes look at her teeth. However, she did not want to have her teeth x-rayed. Tears, more tears, and total refusal--no deal. Melissa said overall, she did very well for a 3-year-old, that some won't even sit in the chair. Kari got to pick a prize (yo-yo ball thing in her hand), which she was very excited about. She came away with quite a goodie bag that helped get her over her disappointment. On the way home she said, "Maybe next time we can go to McDonalds." At least she's planning to go to the dentist again.

Thank you, Zookeeper

Yes, today was another zoo day, and this time the giraffes were out. Kari told me this morning she hoped the zookeeper would get some giraffes since last time there weren't any.

Joel just couldn't get close enough to the animals. He was trying his best to reach from his stroller. He did finally make contact. (I suppose I should have let him out. It was the petting zoo. Maybe next time we'll have better timing and won't have a hungry 3 year old itching to move along. Kari doesn't understand why anyone would want to touch the animals.)

Photo by Kari

This is what the zoo did to us today. Even those of us who do not usually nap, took naps this afternoon.

Evening with GG&G Moffat

Great Grandpa and Grandma Moffat came over for dinner tonight, and we had a very nice evening together. The weather was great (warmest day of the year so far).

Kari decided she wanted to be in the baby swing, so Grandpa obliged. The photo is a little blurry, but you can see she was enjoying herself.

Joel kept busy walking all over the deck, playing with balls, and jabbering.

Sandals and footie pajamas--it works.

Photo courtesy of Kari Lynn. She told G&G she wanted to take a picture of them by their car. Not bad, eh?

Lounging

Joel is really into sitting in chairs and on the couch these days. I think it makes him feel like a big kid. He sat in that chair for a solid 15 minutes while he watched Sesame Street.

"You're bothering us, Mom."

Sam and Maggie came to play this morning. I tried to take pictures of the kids when they were all dancing together to Bob and Larry tunes, but none of them turned out very well. At one point, everyone wanted to be up on the couch, so I got my photo then. Joel doesn't know how to get up or down yet, but he's quite pleased with himself when he's up there.

*I thought I'd add that while Joel appears to be doing a lot of sitting, he actually is doing a lot more walking. He walks all over the house all day long. Gone are the days of the scoot. Pretty soon he'll be running with Kari.