Raise your hand

Lately Nadia and Ian keep asking for a show of hands regarding a wide variety of topics. For example, at lunch today when I asked them what kind of yogurt they each wanted, I heard them saying things like "raise your hand if you want cherry yogurt." Cracks me up! Another obsession lately has been playing the ABC game while driving. I now have memorized where the signs are located that contain each letter of the alphabet as we travel to and from the swimming pool. Yesterday we stayed home in the morning and then left for Knoebels around 2pm. We met my friend, Cheri, there and the five of us spent about 3 hours together before Paul arrived at 6pm on his way home from work and took the kids home. Since we didn't get hand stamps like we did on Monday, the kids only rode three rides. They spent about 45 minutes playing in a playground there (free), about 30 minutes eating dinner, and about 45 minutes wearing costumes and acting out a story. Nadia was a princess, and Ian was an animal. They loved it! They wanted to do it on Monday, but we didn't want them to do free things since we bought them hand stamps that day. After Paul and the kids left, Cheri and I enjoyed listening to the concerts that were arranged by the local Christian radio station.

Paul spent some time working with Nadia and Ian on their t-ball skills today. They had a blast! The thing that excited Nadia the most today was the realization that she can now keep herself swinging without assistance. YAY! She also has learned to blow her nose. If I remember to remind her to blow her nose every few minutes in the morning, then we can usually avoid what has for years been a daily event of large strings of mucus landing on her face, clothing, the floor, etc. Oh I will be so thrilled when she finally masters that skill. She's much closer now than she was a couple of months ago. Oliver is making progress with his sleeping skills. The room darkening shade is helping him sleep a little longer in the morning (thanks, Jo!), and he now cries for less than one minute at night when we put him in his crib awake. We're still working on his naps, but we are finally making some progress. At his afternoon nap today he slept 20 minutes, cried for 10 minutes, and then slept another 40 minutes. Nadia is also making progress with eating vegetables. She LOVES corn on the cob, and at Oliver's birthday party she ate green beans without any difficulty (and without adding any raisins). Yay for progress!