Spring time!

Now that the weather is nice we've been enjoying spending the days outside.  That has meant a lot of baseball before school, baseball after school and baseball during the weekends.  Carlos is coaching Diego's team and can't really stand it.  I don't think coaching other kids is Carlos' thing. I made him do it because Diego is technically too young for little league, but I couldn't make him do tee-ball again so I thought this would be a nice way for him to transition to little league.  Just putting him in the uniform makes the transition worth it!

Charlie is enjoying his team, though he also just likes to play catch and ball in the park with his friends. This past weekend he must have spent 5 hours at X park playing baseball with his friend Ian. They did take a 1 hour break to have lunch and watch part of the Nats game, but then it was back outside.

The other weekend we went to stay at Cici's family's house which is a super nice vineyard setting in Virginia. Given that life is a bit more relaxing without Sofia and because she wouldn't have any one her own age to beat up we decided to leave her with Sandra for the weekend. She loved it because all of Sandra's kids fought to take care of her and play with her. But I almost decided not to leave her because as I drove up to Sandra's house I noticed Charlie had his face in his hands and tears were rolling down his arms. "I don't want to leave Sofia. Please don't leave her. I promise to take care of her the whole weekend." I was so sad watching how sad he was that I almost kept driving.  Luckily I decided against the momentary weakness as we had a great and relaxing weekend. Because the kids all entertained each other I could actually finish sentences even during daytime hours!

Easter

We headed up to Philadelphia for Easter.  It was the first time that our kids got to meet the twins and they adored them.  They wanted to constantly caress the babies. The whole weekend was so fun. We spent time at my mom's store, running around the field house at GA and dying and then hunting for a lot of Easter eggs. Like last year, Soogy and I stayed up until 2 in the morning stuffing easter eggs with treats. We were trying to avoid that part of the weekend, but it seems inevitable and would have been okay except that there was an interlude to clean up Eli who threw up all over himself while asleep.  Amazing how kids can do that! Yet even a huge bag full of eggs didn't stand a chance against against 4.5 hunting kids (not surprisingly, Sofia was a feisty finder too).  The second part of the hunt was based on clues which as super fun and the kids were amazed that the Easter Bunny knew the intricacies of grandma's house.  One of the treats in their baskets was a huge chocolate gold coin that I got from Harrods while in London.  Charlie was convinced that the facade imprinted on the coin was that of the old Brooklyn Dodgers stadium.  I went with it as the Easter Bunny got way more credit for thinking of that than Harrods.....

GA was a lot of fun too due, in large part, to the fact that there was a pitching machine available for use. I even got to take some swings and have to say that hitting a baseball is incredibly satisfying!  We were all excited about the Nats opening day. Charlie set up a lemonade stand with Cici.  We didn't get to go so let the boys watch on TV. It was disappointing just like many other Nats games this April. That doesn't seem to dampen the boys enthusiasm. Carlos took them to a game during opening week and was able to sit right behind the Nats' dug out.  I watched the game from home and saw them on TV!

London

Carlos and I took advantage of a work trip I had to enjoy a weekend away in London. It's amazing how nice a few days away from a normal routine can be.  It's also impressive how much help we were able to round up to enable us to get away.  Carlos' mom flew in, my mom and my dad came down and Sandra was on duty.  London was spectacular - we walked all over the city, ate really good (indian) food, explored museums and Harrods, enjoyed high tea and saw plays.  It is such a beautiful and crazy rich city that DC seemed so small when we got back.

Carlos enjoy tea time

Easter treats at Harrods:

While we were gone the kids had opening day for little league.  They didn't know it, but they were actually a main attraction of the day.  Capitol Hill Little League planned to have the racing President Taft at the opening ceremonies and wanted Charlie and Diego to race against him. Unfortunately it was such a cold day that the boys only stayed to take a photo with the racing president and then left before the race around the base.

I think by day three the kids were all pretty discombobulated. The boys were convinced that Monday was spring break even though it wasn't so when told they had to go to school they totally melted down.

We got home in time to celebrate April fools day and Sofia's second birthday. She is turning into such a treasure.

 

 For April fools I gave them the old oreo with toothpaste and they gave me a cheerio sandwich. yum!

Back to Biking

The weather is finally turning which means we can enjoy being outside again. Nice weather means the baseball mitts come out as well as the bikes. I took the kids to the park this past weekend and Diego just took off. In the fall he didn't really want to bike and preferred to just use his scooter.  But the scooter was no where in sight so this weekend he happily started using the bike. He isn't great at starting or stopping, but he loves it nevertheless. I feel like learning to ride a bike is a big childhood milestone, but for both Charlie and Diego it has been kindof anti-climactic.  It actually seems to be more of a milestone for my back then for them. The other afternoon we decided to ride to Yards Park to go biking and by the time we got there I was sweating, my arm muscles were shaking and my back was killing me.  Sofia desperately wanted her scoot bike, but 1/2 a block into the ride she decided she really just wanted me to carry her AND the scoot bike and I was worried about Diego with the narrow sidewalks and crossing streets so I held his handlebars half of the way, while running to keep up with Charlie.  I'm not imagining that it was a crazy scenario - a friend passed by in a car, rolled down her window and laughed in my face.  Once we got to Yards Park it was delightful and I could let them roam on their own. Here is Diego on his bike and enjoying the nice weather:

The bunk beds remain a work in progress.  And so the kids are still sleeping in our room and we've taken over the third floor.  Here is what sleeping in the same bed looks like around here:

What's even worse is that Diego grinds his teeth! So you may get a foot to the face, but at least you get to hear terrible nails-on-chalkboard teeth grinding all night!!

Sofia really likes animals! She is so into dogs and cats.  Here she is tormenting her friend's cat:

On Saturday we went to Cici's weekend house and the kids played outside all day...including to enjoy their very messy ice cream

 On Sunday Sofia enjoyed a ladies lunch with baby Rose.  Rose is younger enough that Sofia acts very maternal and is super sweet and helpful - unlike most times when she beats the other kids up:)

Skiing...finally!

Last weekend we went for our first and last ski trip of the year.  Despite a lot snow and cold this winter we didn't get motivated to ski - in part because my knee is still rehabing and Carlos thinks he broke his toe or tendon or...something.  And also we are still a couple of years away from being able to go as a family which puts a damper on ski plans.  But now I'm sad we didn't go more especially after seeing how much fun the kids had when we met the cousins in the Poconos last weekend.  In the 5 minutes before passing out on the car ride home Charlie pleaded that he wanted to come back to Blue Mountain every year. I'm guessing it was the fun of being with cousins and a house with an air hockey table rather than the radical vertical drop and pristine powder of the Poconos. The adults all vowed to go some place nice next year, or at least tolerable.

The kids did well by the end and Diego went from adamantly refusing to go skiing to skiing (somewhat) on his own. I was really proud of both of them.  It was a rocky start though. Carlos took both of them up a green run on Friday evening when we first arrived. Bad decision. Charlie hadn't skied in a year and Diego has always hated skiing.  Once off the chairlift Charlie decided he had forgotten how to ski and wanted Carlos to hold his hand while Diego skied in between Carlos' legs. The top of the green run turned out to be steep so everyone was miserable. All three were tethered together and, inevitably, all three fell down on top of each other. Charlie and Diego yelled at Carlos that this was all his fault.  I kindof agree. Who goes to the top of the mountain (even if it is in the Poconos) with two novice skiers and only 1 adult?! Nevertheless by the end of the weekend, neither Charlie nor Diego wanted to leave. Sofia and I shuffled people and things back and forth and watched everyone from a distance....Needless to say I'm looking forward to a healthy knee and when we can all go down the mountain together.

Here is Diego skiing towards the end of the weekend: 

I'm finally facing the weaning issue with Sofia....then again I'm also kindof backing down from my hard stop this month. Sofia turns two in April and I have a work trip coming up in a couple of weeks so it seemed like a good time to force the issue. Of course, I've only just now started to actually do anything to facilitate weaning...and it is not going well.  All the blogs tell me that I should be doing this over a matter of months and that a hard stop from a work trip is traumatic and mean to my child. I feel guilty and Sofia is miserable with out getting "mama."  Not a winning combination. As of now we are down to three times a day, but  weekends are especially hard because I'm around her all day so naturally she wants to nurse more. At one point she definitely tried to manipulate me with hugs and kisses before she dove for my chest requesting to nurse.  We'll see what happens after my trip!

Sofia has a favorite tune that gets altered slightly, but not by much. It goes like this:

Engineering Day

I find that the kids behavioral orbits seem to balance each other out - when one is trending in a frustrating way, the other makes up for it by being sweet. Charlie has been more defiant recently.  I think he is testing his independence and how much he actually needs to heed my directions. He seems to be that way mainly with family because his teacher says he is exceedingly well-behaved and helpful in class. Of course it is probably all relative given the behavior of some of the others in the class. The school recently decided to hire a behavioral tech.  It may not be 100% attributable to his class, but I think they may be forcing the issue!  It is strange how certain grades click to do well or terrible all together. Whereas Diego's grade is full of mellow characters, the 1st grade class has proven to be the toughest grade in site! Nevertheless, one nice thing is that Charlie has two very good friends at school - Tate and Ian.  They call themselves the triplets and love spending time together:

Charlie and Tate bowling on a snowy day

Ian, Tate and Charlie on a recent field trip

Diego, on the other hand, has been so sweet. He is very tender, wanting to cuddle up and dole out hugs.  He is also happy to entertain himself independently for hours with legos and action figures. Almost every week we have his friend Noah come over for a playdate - they run upstairs to play a combination of magna-tiles and legos and we don't hear from them for 2 hours.  They never fight, never yell, never hurt each other - just cooperative imaginative play.  Diego has really been into the loft bed project - he "helped" my mom and Carlos work all day last week.

Diego loves his share day - which is when he gets to talk about a toy/object - last week he brought in a favorite truck for his share day : http://youtu.be/Ic3HdfRY05o

Sofia is...well Sofia...tough as nails but sparkling with personality.  She is talking more and finally says "yesssss," but mostly she puts sentences into a single word.  "Iwannagotoo" - it took me awhile to understand that it was actually a sentence.  There are a few words I don't understand, but she generally gets her point across pretty well or just resorts to screaming if you don't obey her. She still refuses to put her hair up so she usually saunters around with a wild mane. It is all part of the persona.

This weekend I took the kids to engineering day at the building museum which was so awesome.  There were probably 50 stations with interactive displays.  Charlie and I thought the catapult one was the most fun, but Diego liked the "dissect a device" the best.  The device was a VHS tape and both Charlie and Diego were bewildered by the bizarre idea that movies played on VHS and not just on netflix.  For the catapult we were given a spool, two paint mixing sticks, a dixie cup, a ping-pong ball and some duct tape.  Why didn't I think of this?! We formed it into a catapult and then tried to shoot the ball into a castle.