Diving Board!

Over the last two weeks Nadia has been asking me to let her go off the diving board, and Thursday I finally agreed to her request. If she was the only child I was taking to the pool I would have said yes the very first time, and I would have been waiting in the deep end for her, but that wasn't an option given I'm holding Oliver and keeping an eye on Ian at the same time. She hadn't been wearing her arm floats at the pool lately because she doesn't need them in the baby pool or two feet deep part of the pool, but I had her put them back on for the diving board. She loved it! She made many more trips off of it on Friday, and I snapped these photos then, as I didn't have my camera with me on Thursday. Sometimes it takes time for a child to have the courage to try something, and other times it takes time for a parent to have the courage to say "yes" to a child's request. Now if she could learn to swing and ride a bike without training wheels.

In preparation for her birthday I took her shopping Thursday night to buy her three birthday balloons at the Dollar Tree and select wrapping paper, princess paper plates, and such at Walmart. The balloons she picked this year were: Tinkerbell, one with a few princesses on it, and a cupcake shaped one that read "Happy Birthday." I also bought the kids some pool toys since we're spending so much time at the pool these days. At my urging yesterday Ian did share some of his toys with some other kids who were playing in the baby pool. The torpedoes were the most popular.

 

Paul didn't hear anything from Kansas, which means they picked someone else. Even though we didn't really want to move there, it's discouraging to be 0-9 thus far. At four schools he had a phone interview but didn't make it to the last stage, and at five schools he made it to the final stage (with three of those he had a phone interview first) but wasn't picked. He'll be interviewing with #10 (at the phone interview stage) on Wednesday afternoon. I've submitted 81 applications thus far.

New Librarian

I took the kids to our local library for the preschool summer reading program that started this morning. I really liked (Melissa) who was the librarian when we first started going, but I wasn't impressed with the one who had been there for about 18 months. The new one has been in the job for about two months, but this is the first time we met her. From October through March I took the kids to the preschool story time at the library near where they go for gymnastics. I was really impressed with the new librarian today. Just like Melissa she included music and other things to keep the children actively engaged. The program lasted about one hour and included a craft with paint at the end. Nadia did an excellent job of listening attentively to the stories and participating in the music, games, and craft. Ian participated and listened during portions of the time and played quietly with some toys at other times. Nadia hasn't listenened to a book on CD for about 6 weeks, but I checked out CD's of books three and four of the Chronicles of Narnia series for her.

Hopefully she'll listen to those during her "quiet time" over the next couple of weeks. We finished the second Pippi Longstocking book today so I checked out the first Boxcar Children book to read aloud to the kids. Oliver's goofed up nap schedule has greatly reduced the amount of time I read chapter books to the kids each week. I miss it. I definitely plan to take the kids to the library every Wednesday morning at 11:00am this summer, and if we don't move, I will probably continue to take them to this library in the fall because if we don't move I'm planning to take them to gymnastics in the evening rather than the mornings so that Nadia can be in a more advanced classs.

I had planned to take the kids to the playground this afternoon, but they talked me into taking them to the pool instead. When we lived in Texas my mom had a rule that it had to be at least 90 degrees for us to go swimming. She had that same rule when we moved to Maryland, but then she realized we wouldn't be going to the pool very often and changed the minimum to 80 degrees. It was less than 80 today, but we went swimming. The boys and I stayed in the baby pool, but Nadia spent some time in the big pool. We are loving this swimming pool!

3 to 3.5 years old times two

Nadia at 36 months old

1. Both children had been potty trained for quite some time by the time they turned 3 years old, but neither one was going to the bathroom completely independently when they turned three. Nadia was more independent than Ian as the only thing I had to do for her was help her pull her clothes back up at the end. At 3.5 Nadia was completely independent. Ian can pull down his pants, but he can't get up on the toilet himself unless there is a stool there, and he doesn't pull his own clothes back up yet or wipe himself after he goes #2.                                    

2. When Nadia turned 3 years old her nap was at least two hours long each day. Ian's nap has been an average of one hour long for the past six months.     

 

3. Nadia sneezed and went through far more tissues than Ian ever has.

 

Ian at 36 months old

4. Nadia learned how to put her shoes on a little before she turned 3 years old. Ian started putting on his own shoes a little before he turned 3.5 years old.

 

5. Both children often said "I forgive you" after saying "I'm sorry" if I didn't say "I forgive you" soon enough.

 

6. Nadia had a prized possession (the pillow Paul got her in Poland). Ian hasn't consistently latched on to any one particular item over the past six months.

 

7. They both loved chocolate cake! Her favorite hot food was spaghetti, and Ian's is definitely pizza. Her favorite sandwich was egg salad, and Ian's is "peanut butter" and jelly (really wowbutter). Both children enjoyed french toast, pancakes, and pizza.

 

8. Ian drank more water than Nadia.

 

Nadia at 3 1/2 years old

9. Her favorite Bible stories were Daniel and the lions den and Jonah. Ian's favorite Bible stories are Joshua at Jericho and David and Goliath.

 

10. Nadia used to pull the fitted sheet off her bed every time she slept in it. Ian never has done that.

 

11. Nadia's favorite color was pink. Ian doesn't have a favorite color yet.

 

12. Nadia's counting skills were more advanced at that age than Ian. He just started memorizing verses, and she had been memorizing verses since before she even turned three years old. Her attention span for playing board games was also MUCH more advanced than Ian. He's not ready to play Candyland yet, and that was her favorite game when she was his age. Their jigsaw puzzle skills were very similar as they were both doing 12-24 piece jigsaw puzzles at this age. Ian was more advanced with learning the letters of the alphabet.

 

13. They both loved wearing costumes. Nadia at this age wore a Snow White costume ALL the time. Ian constantly changes from one costume to another.



Ian at 3 1/2 years old

Weekend in Review

My mom arrived at our home around 9:30am on Friday. The kids were so excited to see her! We spent some time at the playground prior to having lunch, and my mom treated the kids and I to dinner at Perkins that evening, which was a special treat. Oliver had some of Ian's pancakes as well as some of Nadia's french fries and some of my breakfast potatoes. On Saturday morning I mowed the lawn while my mom supervised the kids as they played on the deck and in the back yard. She left at 2:30pm on Saturday, and I immediately loaded the kids in the van for our second visit at our swimming pool. The water in the baby pool was nice and warm, but even the main pool had warmed up some. Nadia was happy that I stayed in the "big pool" for awhile with her. The pool is nice for kids in that one third of it is only 2 feet deep. The middle third is 4 feet deep, and the deep end (with a diving board) is 10 feet deep. The kids can stand in the 2 feet deep section, and of course they also join Oliver and I in the baby pool as well.

After dinner on Saturday I went to CVS and the grocery store by myself. On Thursday I had gone to the grocery store in the morning, and it was the first time that I took all three kids and none of them cried. Woohoo! The last few weeks I've been putting Ian in the shopping cart and bringing a single umbrella stroller for Oliver. I push the shopping cart, and Nadia pushes the stroller. She's learning how to steer a stroller and not run into shelves or the backs of my feet. This store doesn't have any carts that accomodate more than one child, hence the need for creativity on my part since my back isn't too keen on "wearing" Oliver and Ian isn't ready to walk in the store yet. After we put the kids to bed on Saturday night we watched "Lincoln" although I was too tired to stay up for the whole movie. Oliver had gotten me up at 5:10 that morning.

Sunday morning I did a little Father's Day photo shoot at 8:15 and then we were out the door for Sunday School. After Sunday School I took the kids to the church's children's library and read books to them until 10:30. I think we'll make that a habit. Nadia opted to leave with Ian for Wee Worship at 11:00 rather than staying with me for the whole service. I told her she has that choice for two more months, and then after that she needs to stay with me. After church I fed the kids while working on making mashed potatoes and such for the Father's Day dinner. Paul's parents, brother, and sister-in-law spent the day with us. Nadia read some of her BOB books to Pop Pop. After they left I gave the kids a bath and put them to bed. I took the kids to the playground this morning, and we're going to head to the pool after the boys wake up from their naps. The committee that Paul interviewied with via Skype on Thursday afternoon said they will make their choice on Tuesday (tomorrow), and the top candidate will be notified by Friday (21st) at the latest.

Happy Father's Day!

I have tried each year to make Father's Day a special day for Paul, although I couldn't do much last year while on bed rest. A few days ago I made a batch one of his most favorite cookies (white chocolate butterscotch). Yesterday I helped the kids make 5 cards. Ian and Nadia each made two cards (one for Pop Pop and one for Daddy) on which we placed a handprint. On Ian's cards I wrote "5 reasons I love Daddy/ Pop Pop" followed by the 5 reasons he dictated to me. On Nadia's cards she wrote the words "I love Daddy/ Pop Pop" and also signed her name, and I wrote the 5 reasons that she dictated to me. I thought it would be fun to start doing this every year and see over the years how it changes what they identify as the reasons they love their Dad. On the fifth card I had one handprint from each child (including Oliver). At the top it said #1 and then in each of the three handprints I had written one letter to spell out DAD. I bought Paul and his Dad each a personalized t-shirt with a photo of the three kids on it. I invited Paul's family up to celebrate, and Paul picked the menu - steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, garlic bread, and corn on the cob. Millie brought cheesecake for dessert. Two days ago I restarted our DVD subscription with Netflix that we had gone without for several months so that Paul could watch the movie "Lincoln" this weekend and enjoy a few others dvds over the next few weeks.

The first time I gave Paul a Father's Day card was in 2005 during my first (ectopic) pregnancy. I long for the day I get to meet that child in Heaven. Our child would be seven years old. I remember how thrilled we were to find out that we were finally going to become parents as we had started trying in 2002. When I think of the past eleven years, it strikes me that there has been at least one really difficult, painful aspect related to each child. With Nadia it was the many tears that were shed over the 5.5 years we spent trying to conceive her. Although ivf still involved a lot of physical discomfort, shots, and money with Ian and Oliver, those efforts in comparison seemed to be a cinch since in both cases it happened on the first try in contrast to trying for more than five years for Nadia. The most challenging aspects regarding Ian (thus far) have been his difficulties with sleeping (until he was about 2 1/2) and eating (eosinophilic esophagitis, food allergies, and surgeries). The hardest part of parenting Oliver (thus far) was last summer - the ten weeks of bedrest, many weeks in the hospital, fetal transfusions, his four weeks in the NICU, and the additional ten weeks he was on oxygen. 

 

During Nadia's birth and stay in the NICU, I almost always had someone in the hospital with me (either Paul or my mom). In contrast, when I gave birth to Oliver no family was there (although Paul and my mom came right away). I had him on a Tuesday and that Wednesday through Friday were three of the hardest days of my life because I was all alone, recovering from a c-section, pumping every two hours, and hearing doctors and nurses tell me things that scared me to pieces about Oliver's heart, lungs, etc. Thankfully those challenges are now behind us! I realize that 11 years from now there will be different difficulties that will come to mind as I reflect upon each of our children, but as I think about the past 11 years this is what comes to mind. The blessings and joys have FAR outweighed the heartaches and frustrations. The best parts of our lives the past almost five years have definitely been our three children - their smiles, hugs, kisses, laughter, and making so many precious memories doing many different things together. I am in awe. Sometimes I feel like I need to ask someone to pinch me because I might be dreaming. Parenthood seemed out of our reach for many years, and now we have not just one but three beautiful children. Thank you, Lord!!!

Paul has been an amazing father these past five years. I will never forget how he longed to sit in the rocking chair in the NICU and hold her. The look on his face as he held Nadia in his arms has been etched in my memory. Priceless. The kids get SO excited when he comes home. Playing "whale" (a rough house game they invented) with Daddy is one of Ian and Nadia's most favorite things to do (it made it onto both of their lists). I will be forever grateful that he kept pushing to try ivf for the first time and also that he then agreed with my request to do ivf a second and a third time. I always dreamed of having 3-4 kids, and that's exactly what I have at the moment if you count the frozen blastocyst waiting for us at the hospital. Considering how long the road was to having Nadia, I truly thought she might end up being our only child. I am so thankful that the Lord gave her two brothers, and maybe the Lord will answer her request for a sister. Time will tell. I am very thankful for the pictures I got today of Paul and our kiddos. Now next year hopefully we can get ones like this with me in them for Mother's Day. I shouldn't wait a year to try to get one of me with all three kids. I can't believe it took me almost five years to figure out that our front porch is a nice place for taking photos (when it's not freezing cold outside anyhow). Better late than never, ha ha!

Thankful Thursday

1. Our trip to Sesame Place was fabulous despite the freezing water!

2. My dad left MD on Monday to fly to be with my brother in Brazil. He arrived there safely on Tuesday, and he didn't have any problem going through customs with all the science equipment (microscope, telescopes, binoculars, etc.) for Maurice.

3. My brother had a wonderful first year teaching at Amazon Valley Academy. The seniors surprised him by dedicating the yearbook to him. The dedication was really touching.

4. I've been able to submit a few more applications for Paul this past week. We're up to 79 now. Many months ago my mom said we might have to submit 100 applications. To be honest, I didn't think that was a plausible scenario, but it turns out she was right. The last six applications went to schools in Georgia, Arizona, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.

5. Paul has an interview this afternoon via Skype, and he has a phone interview scheduled during the last week of June with the school where I taught the past 9 years. Maybe that's why no one has asked to see our house? Maybe we're not moving? I was going to do some more packing tomorrow. Hmmm

6. Our grocery store had some amazing specials for three days starting last Thursday. For example, they had boxes of Post cereal (Raisin Bran, Honeycombs, etc.) on sale for 99 cents each without a coupon. Wow!

7. On Monday morning I let Oliver cry from 4:30-5:15am, and he then slept until 7:05am. On Tuesday he woke up at 5:15am, and I let him cry but he never fell back asleep. When he woke up at 5:30am yesterday he hadn't even slept 9 hours so I decided to let him cry even though it hadn't worked on Tuesday. It proved to be the right decision because after crying for about 45 minutes he slept until 7:35, which meant he slept a total of 10.25 hours. Since his naps (put together) rarely exceed 90 minutes total, he really needs to sleep at least 10 hours at night.

There hasn't been any improvement with his naps. Yesterday his morning nap was 20 minutes and his afternoon was 40 minutes long. Sob. This morning he slept until 6:05, which meant he slept a little over 10 hours without any crying involved.

8. Ian and Nadia have had such a great time at VBS! The slip and slide was a blast last night (as seen in the photos here).

9. We visited the pool we joined for the summer for the first time yesterday afternoon! The water in the kiddie pool was nice so Oliver and I stayed in there. Nadia and Ian spent some time in the big pool, but most of the time they also stayed in the warmer water. We should have a lot of fun there this summer!

3.5 Years Old!

Ian's half-birthday is today! He's grown SO much over the past year.

1. At 2.5 years old he was drinking Elecare out of a small plastic shot glass. Now he drinks water, apple juice, or Elecare from any type of glass (with or without a straw).

2. At this time last year we were avoiding milk, soy, peanuts, eggs, cinnamon, and oats. We haven't given him milk to drink yet, but other than that he has a normal diet!

3. He's gotten much braver on playground equipment although he's still nowhere near as brave as most kids his age are.

4. He needs work on remembering to say '"please," but he usually remembers to say "thank you" and "you're welcome." Many times throughout the day he says really sweet things such as "Nadia, you're the best" or "Mommy that's such a pretty shirt." He melts my heart!

5. He can do small jigsaw puzzles all by himself (ex. 24 pieces), and he helps us when we work on 150 or 300 piece puzzles with Nadia.

6. He loves to play hide and seek. He hasn't learned to be quiet when he's hiding so he's easy to find!

7. He's starting to show signs of readiness to learn to dress himself. He puts on his own shoes and sometimes he pulls his underwear and shorts up after he goes to the bathroom.

8. He's very conscious of the temperature of his food and drinks. He won't eat ice cream because it's too cold. He likes his Elecare warm - not hot and not cold.

9. Almost every morning he has a bagel for breakfast. Sometimes he has cold cereal. He almost always has a wowbutter and jelly sandwich on toast for lunch. His most favorite foods for dinner are pancakes or pizza. He throws up at dinner about twice a week on average usually because he tries to swallow something without chewing it enough. It's such a relief that there are a few foods he can now feed himself!

10. He's absolutely loving participating in VBS and the musical at the Alliance church.

11. He takes one nap a day that is on average one hour long. he falls asleep very quickly at night (unlike his sister), but he usually wakes up before her. Thankfully he's been waking up around 7am more often lately. For awhile there he was up by 6:15 every morning. There are still times when he is prone to burst into tears after he wakes up from his nap, but it's becoming more and more infrequent. YAY!

12. He likes to pull his shorts down so that the waistband is well below his belly button. The problem is that then his "crack" shows. I have to remind him to pull up his pants 50 million times a day so that his bottom isn't showing. Oi vey.

She's reading!

As a mom I've discovered it can be hard to identify precisely when a milestone has been achieved. Do you say your child has her "first tooth" when a portion of that tooth has broken through the gum or do you wait until the entire tooth has emerged? We haven't experienced losing a tooth yet (although my nephew Adam lost his first tooth within the past week), but that one is clearly much simpler to pinpoint. I have considered my child to have their first tooth as soon as any part of that tooth could be seen and touched, but with walking I didn't consider either of them to be walking until they were talking quite a few steps at one time. A few months ago I started to work with Nadia on reading, and she did sound some words out, but most of the time it seemed she was trying to either memorize the words or guess by looking at the accompanying illustration. I decided to take a break and try again in the future.

Last week was the first time we got out the BOB books since the break, and I was amazed because the very first time we got them out she read all 12 BOB books with little help even though she had never seen half of them before. It was at that point (last week) that I said to myself - she's reading!!! I am trying to work on her confidence and patience more than anything. She gets frustrated and gives up too quickly. To celebrate her accomplishment, I gave her the Annie CD that I had originally planned to be one of her birthday gifts later this month.  Some other skills she has mastered in the past month include counting by tens to one hundred, being able to accurately identify her right versus left hand and foot, identifying some three dimensional shapes (cone, cube, sphere, and cylinder), and writing her numbers. We only have 6 pages left in the almost 100 page Kindergarten handwriting book. The numbers that are the hardest for her to write are 2, 3, and 5. She has learned how to write all her lowercase letters, but aside from the letter "i" she prefers to write in uppercase all the time.

 

Ian's first VBS

Nadia went to VBS for the first time in June 2011. She turned 3 years old that week. That summer she went to three weeks of VBS. The first was at the church where she goes to AWANA, and that church uses Group's, which seems to be the most popular curriculum. Her second VBS was at a church right next to the first one, and they use Go Fish's VBS curriculum. Our church has used a varity of VBS curricula the past few years, including one from Answers in Genesis. I helped as a teacher in 2011. I had volunteered to help last year, but I couldn't due to the hospitalizations. Nadia only went to one VBS last year. Last night Nadia and Ian went to the VBS where she goes to AWANA. It was Ian's first time at VBS (not counting when he was in the nursery at our church's VBS in 2011). He loved it! They have three preschool classes, and Nadia and Ian were in different classes. Ian was in the same class as Cooper (one of our neighbors). The kids are very excited about going back tonight. 

 

Group's theme this year is "Kingdom Rock," and they had the sanctuary decked out like a castle. Ian especially liked the knights. This VBS lasts from 6:00-8:30pm so the kids will be going to bed an hour later than usual this week. The church that uses the Go Fish curriculm is having their VBS the same week as our church so they'll just be doing two weeks of VBS this summer. For the first time since we've been going to this church, they're also using Group's curriculum. I'm sure it won't hurt the kids to do the Kingdom Rock curriculum twice this summer. I'll be teaching at our VBS next month. I signed them up for this VBS before I knew our church was also doing Kingdom Rock. Nadia is looking forward to doing the slip and slide on Wednesday night.

Yesterday morning was the first Sunday that our church implemented a change regarding Wee Worship. Sunday School goes from 9:00-10:00. In the past the kids (ages 2-5) would go straight to Wee Worship at 10:00 and stay there until the morning worship service was over (usually around 12:00). Lately I had been picking Nadia up from Wee Worship at 10:30 to take her to the worship service. I didn't pick her up at 10:00 because the choir rehearses at that time.

The new system is that the kids (ages 2 and up) are to be picked up from Sunday School at 10:00 and stay with their parents until the offering is taken. I would estimate this would usually end up being sometime between 11:00-11:15. Yesterday they honored those graduating from high school or college prior to the offering. I hadn't planned to start bringing Ian with me until Nadia had fully learned to behave properly in the worship service, which hadn't happened yet.

The upside is that Ian will start to learn how to behave in a worship service earlier than I planned. Because Nadia came into the worship service earlier than she had been lately, she opted not to stay for the whole service, which disappointed me. Starting in September I'm not going to give her a choice. Once our kids are old enough to be in Kindergarten I think they're old enough to stay through the entire service each week. I'm going to find some other room in the church to stay with Nadia and Ian until 10:30 (maybe the room where I'm teaching the 3rd-5th grade Sunday School class) andwait until right before the church service starts to enter the sanctuary. I'm hoping this might help Nadia choose to stay for the whole service as she had been the last couple of months. I'm not sure what I'll do if we are still going to this church in September because the choir is supposed to rehearse starting at 10:00. I have been okay with leaving Nadia by herself in the pew while I go up to the choir loft to sing, but there's no way I'd leave Ian and Nadia by themselves in the pew.

Teaching the kids how to behave in a worship service is really important. The last couple of months I've discovered though that the downside of that is the service isn't nearly as worshipful for me as I'm so focused on her (or their) behavior. I admit that over the past almost 5 years I've really appreciated the chance to be still in church, and that isn't likely to be true in a worship service again until all the kids are much older. Being a parent really changes every aspect of your life! I'm very glad that I started putting Oliver in the nursery a few months ago. I need to teach Ian how to whisper. He really wanted to know if those graduates were going to open their presents, lol. Last Sunday the kids looked so cute in Sunday School because Sarah (their wonderful teacher) made them "coats of many colors" out of paper grocery bags for their lesson on Joseph. Nadia asked me recently when they were going to her house again (probably never now that I am a stay-at-home mom). They love Sarah very much!

This morning Oliver woke up at 4:30am, and I implemented the rule that he has to sleep a minimum of 10 hours. He cried for 45 minutes and then slept almost 2 more hours. It was heavenly to get up at 7:00 as I've been getting up by 5:30 at the latest every day for weeks. This meant he got a total of 10.5 hours of sleep last night. I was grateful that CIO actually resulted in more sleep for him this morning. A few days ago I let him cry for one hour after a 15 minute nap in the hopes he'd fall back asleep, but it didn't work. I had decided not to let him CIO with naps any more, but I will use it at night if it helps him sleep almost two more hours. At the moment his pattern (for naps) seems to be that his morning nap is 15-30 minutes long and his afternoon nap is 1-2 hours long. I need to adjust our schedule accordingly. I used to do schoolwork with Nadia during his morning nap, but that was when his morning nap was at least 90 minutes long. One must roll with the punches! I'm very grateful that his afternoon nap is starting to lengthen. It used to be three hours long, but two hours is much better than 15-30 minutes!

The swimming pool we joined this summer opened on Saturday. It was warm enough yesterday (low 80's and sunny) to go swimming, but after our experience at Sesame Place I was reminded that one has to take into account the water temperature, not just the air temperature. I am guessing the pool water is frigid so we stayed home although I would have enjoyed a dip in the pool after mowing the lawn yesterday afternoon. It's raining today, but hopefully sometime in the not so distant future we'll be able to go swimming at our pool for the first time. We joined this pool last summer, but they graciously gave us our money back since we couldn't make use of it. I have been trying so hard to be patient with being "up in the air" regarding where we'll be living in August, but I admit it's starting to drive me crazy because I feel like I can't make any plans (and I'm the type of person who usually plans way in advance). I haven't signed the kids up for soccer or gymanstics, and I have started to see advertisements for theatre productions that I'd take the kids to if I knew we were staying in the area. I must repeat to myself that God is in control, and we'll just have to wait and see. Paul has been working on his teaching demonstration for his interview on Thursday. I never in a million years dreamed we might move to Kansas, but that may be what the Lord has in store for us!

 

 

Sesame Place!

Yesterday was a very special and exhausting day. Oliver decided to start the day at 4:50am. I was not thrilled. I've decided nine hours is not enough sleep for him, particularly since his naps are drastically shorter these days. He's getting about 11 hours of total sleep a day, and I know infants are supposed to get about that much just at night (not including naps). Starting tomorrow, he is going to have to sleep at the minimum 10 hours at night, and I plan to gradually increase that to 11 hours.

By 7:00am all five of us were in the van and headed to Sesame Place, which is a little less than 3 hours away from us (very close to Philadelphia). It was a cloudy day, but aside from a little sprinkling once, it wasn't a rainy day. The recorded high was 77 degrees, which would have been perfect for a dry amusement park, but was a bit cooler than desired for one that has a lot of wet rides. Also, since it is early in the season the water temperature was downright frigid. If Paul and I had been at Dorney Park yesterday, we would have only ridden the dry rides, but because we love our children very much, we went on the water slides with them at Sesame Place yesterday.

We walked through the gates 15 minutes after the park opened, and we left 5 minutes before the park closed at 8pm. We did quite a bit during the 10 hours we spent at the park. Nadia started and ended the day with the roller coaster. Ian opted not to ride it in the morning. He chose to get his picture taken with Murray instead. However the roller coaster was the last ride he rode on our way out of the park. Because both children needed to ride with an adult, and one of us needed to stay behind with Oliver, Paul had to take each child separately. At the Magic Kingdom handheld infants can ride most of the rides, and at Knoebels there are many rides Nadia and Ian can ride without an adult. It definitely would have been better if Oliver hadn't come along or if we had a third adult with us. He was a trouper though! He spent an awful lot of time in the stroller, and he was very good. He enjoyed the parades and shows. He fussed and cried during portions of the drive to Sesame Place, but he slept almost the whole way home. Unlike our awful experience driving home from the airport a few weeks ago, all three were asleep for the last 90 minutes of our trip home yesterday.

We started the day with dry rides and then after watching a show featuring Angelina Ballerina at 12:45, we headed to the water rides. After the 3pm parade, we had an early dinner. I had packed some snacks, which had served as our light lunch. Ian was literally falling asleep sitting at the table eating his pizza. I had to keep waking him up. Others around us were amused at the sight. I thought he might take a nap after that, but he didn't have a nap yesterday, which is almost unheard of for Ian. After our meal I went on some water rides with the kids, and then thankfully Paul took over and did the rest of the water rides with them. There were four different shows playing at various times throughout the day. We went to two of them. The second show we attended was at 6pm, and it featured Abby Cadabby, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert, Ernie, etc. We watched the second half of the 7pm parade as well.The parades weren't as professional as Disney's, but the kids were just as enthralled. The lines weren't too long. Sometimes the wait was 5 minutes or less, but the longest wait we experienced was about 20 minutes. Unlike Disney, it is very easy to get lots of pictures with the characters. We waited at the most 5 minutes for each photo opportunity. The only ones we didn't get that the kids were hoping for was Cookie Monster (Ian) and Zoe (Nadia), but they did get their pictures taken with Bert, Ernie, Elmo, Big Bird, Abby Cadabby, Oscar the Grouch, Super Grover, and Murray.

All in all we had a fabulous day. The cold water didn't faze the kids. They kept asking to go again, and again, and again down the water slides. They adored the wave pool (water depth of one foot). None of us had been there before, but if we don't move too far away, I expect we'll be coming back again in the future. It's a great park for kids ages 2-7. They have just about everything you could think of - water slides, dry rides, playground equipment, sand areas, shows, swimming pool, splash pads, parades, Sesame Street characters, etc. The park has a lot of things in it, but it's MUCH smaller than Magic Kingdom, which makes for less walking (Yay!). Including our tickets, food, and parking we spent a little less than $150. The Magic Kingdom cost three times as much, and we did an awful lot more at Sesame Place in one day than we did at the Magic Kingdom. I would have to say though that Knoebels is probably still our favorite (at least that is the opinion of Paul and I). Part of the reason we like it so much is because it's much closer (less than an hour away) and also because it's soooo much cheaper (we've never even spent $50 as the parking is free and we only buy handstamps for Nadia and Ian). Because it's closer and much cheaper, we don't feel the need to stay there ALL day, which is easier on Mommy and Daddy. Hopefully we'll head back to Sesame Place when Oliver is older so that he can enjoy the park as much as Nadia and Ian did yesterday. I took over 100 pictures yesterday. I'm just including a few in this post. I'll share more later this week!