Go Cyclones

We went to Ames for an ISU football game this past weekend (ISU is where I attended undergraduate school).  We had a great time tailgating (for 5 hours), seeing friends and family.  Chase and Owen had a lot of fun exploring with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson.  They watched the band, high-fived the players and coach, got little footballs and saw Cy (the mascot).  We went into the new alumni building and Chase and Owen loved climbing the stairs and exploring the building.  Grandma caught Owen as he was beginning to pull the fire alarm.  Wouldn't that have been great?  I went back to the alumni building with Owen and he kept flapping his arms.  I couldn't figure out what he was doing until I saw Cy go by (who is a big bird).  He wanted to see Cy!  I picked him up, Cy came by and Owen gave him a big high five and Cy rubbed his head.  Owen had the most priceless expression on his face, it was a mix of excitement, pride, happiness and embarrassment.  Maybe a better word would be awe.  He smiled and smiled.  We spent the night with my best friend, Lindzy, and her family.  They moved back from VA to the Des Moines area.  It was great to catch up with her.

Sunday we were on central campus looking at the beautiful trees, the campanile, and buildings.  We climbed the steps of Beardshear, which is a big building.  As we were climbing Owen looked at me and flapped his arms again.  He was remembering that yesterday when we climbed the stairs he saw Cy.  So cute.    We then went to brunch with my parents and the boys hunted for pumpkins with Grandma.  It was a fun trip.

                                              Jeff and Chase

 

Grandpa and Chase.  Yes, my dad is wearing a chicken hat-actually it's Cy.

 

Owen sits all by himself.

 

Chase is interested in the beer cans-oh no!

 

Grandpa takes Owen to meet his friends.

 

Owen did pretty good at the tailgate, he only had 1 melt down.

 

Chase sat right down and ate some lunch in his cute ISU football outfit.

 

Owen eats some food, too, but mostly just ate the frosting off the cake.

 

Before I knew it Owen was sitting in a laundry basket under the table, Chase joined soon and Ela crawled under to talk to the boys.

                              Mommy with an uncooperative Owen

 

Grandma and Chase

 

Owen decided to dump a bunch of Cheetos on the ground. He then proceded to eat them off the ground with Kate, my friend Raneen's daughter.  Ahhh, what to do?

 

Yum yum, eat up Owen!

Words

Chase and Owen have been picking up more and more words lately-especially Chase.  It's been fun to hear given the fact their language skills are a bit behind. 

Wednesday morning I asked Chase to give Owen a pair of socks.  As he ran over to Owen with the socks in outstretched hand I heard him yelling, "Owie, Owie, Owie".  I stopped in my tracks and just smiled and listened. That was the first time he had called him by his name.  At daycare they call Owen, "Owie O, O".  I call him Owie sometimes at home.

Owen calls Chase "Da" or "Da Da" so we know who he is talking about when he says that.

They've also picked up on Nana and Papapa.  Nana is Grandma Sandy and Papapa is Grandpa Jim.  And it's not just Papa, it's Papapa.  Yesterday I told the boys Nana was coming over and they looked at me, gave me the questioning arm motion and said, "Papapa?"  It was so cute.

For me, a speech-language pathologist, this part of development is really exciting and important. I've been waiting for words and communication and to finally hear them using words is thrilling.  I thank God each night for the new words.

We've been dealing with a lot of frustration and tantrums lately and I think a lot of it is frustration with their lack of communication skills.  I hope with the development of language some of this will decrease.  We'll see.

All spring and summer Chase was the "difficult" child of the two.  He had to be held all the time or whined right by my side.  Now the rolls have switched, as they seem to do about every 6 months.  Chase is easy going and Owen is the "difficult" one.  He throws tantrum after tantrum after tantrum.  It's been quite wearing on us, and him, for that matter.  We are loving him through the struggles and are trying to ease his frustration with not getting his way, but it's really hard.

A Year Makes a Difference

We took our annual trip to the Deerdorf Orchard on September 26th.  It was a beautiful day, of course, and I was so happy to be there.  I love this family tradition.  What a difference a year makes in their skills at the orchard! 

This year the boys stood on the fence with the big kids and looked at the llama.

This is the picture of them at the fence last year!  How hairless and chubby!  Owen is smiling.

                                          Chasey looks up at Daddy after seeing the goats.

Chase pets the goat, which he loved.

This is Chase last year at the Orchard!  So cute!

Owen peeks around Chase to see what the llama is doing.

Chase smiles big for his picture with the pumpkin.

Owen is ready to hop over the pumpkin

This is last years picture in the wagon.  Only Owen was walking at that point.  My what a difference a year makes!

So big!  2009 with the pumpkins.  Look at those chubby arms!

Chase takes a big bite of his apple last year.

Another 2009 picture of the little tots.

More to come.  . . .

A Birthday Party

We headed over to Pat and Lindsay's for a very important birthday event.  Our little nephew, Gavin, turned 1! 

 

On the way there Owen fell asleep with his blankey in his mouth.

Chase enjoyed a little melt down on the floor. 

         And they wore their super cute suits.  Owen played with the balloon.

And we took some family pictures, in which no children smiled, not even mine!

                    Chase and Owen had their first bite of taffy and loved it!

And they sat at the big kids table and ate lunch with Sophie.  It was a fun day!

We've Done It!

It's been three weeks since my first post on potty training and after this period of time I am comfortable saying CHASE AND OWEN ARE POTTY TRAINED!  They are no longer wearing diapers at nap (actually haven't been the whole time) and are doing all their jobs in the toilet.  It's very nice to have no foul smelling diapers around and to see cute little underwear bottoms running around the house.  I'm so proud of my boys and their dedication to going potty in the toilet.  Cheers!

 

We got into the winter hats and mittens.  Don't they look cute with just undies and soks?

 

Chase is clapping he is so happy to wear winter gear.

  

Chasey

 

The boys got some new underwear.  Cows and guitars are cool.

 

Owen's guitar undies

                                          Looking at our undies

Have you noticed a trend in our pictures?  Owen has to have only underwear on, maybe socks too.  He will throw a fit if he has to wear clothes. Chase is always cold so he will tolerate a shirt.

Feeding the Fish

At the park the other day (the one with the goats and geese) we also got to look at the pond and feed fish.  It was lots of fun.  The boys loved to see the geese, goats and fish.  They were so good and never left our side-except to run in the grass.  I was worried they would wander into the water because they've done that before.  It's not the kind of place you want your kids wading into. 

It was just a beautiful day.  Fall is great, isn't it?  You can be outside in the warmth without sweating! 

Chase enjoyed looking at the geese swim and dive in the water.

I love it when kids sit like this, especially my own.
Owen feeds the fish and Chase and Mommy look on.

I brought some ends of the bread loaf that no one eats.  However, Owen must have been hungry because he ate the entire piece of bread.  :)

The fish were so pretty to watch.  They gobbled up our bread.

Daddy watches with the boys too.