These birthday posts are hard for me. Usually I “save” them for when I have the time and energy to sum up the year and say some really profound things about the year. And then the pressure of composing such an important post weighs on me and I never do it. I enjoy blogging about every day life so much more – I think it speaks volumes compared to a summary of the year. And being a Mom my brains can only stretch about two days in any direction anyway. So I will keep this post simple.

People who know me might think that I get really into doing it up for birthdays, and actually, I don’t. I am incredible lazy when it comes to them. I like the small traditions we have at our house, but when it comes to the party part, we just have it at the park by our house with tacos, coffee and cake. The kids play at the playground and the adults chill and talk. My kind of party – I don’t have to do anything! :-p

Traditions
The night before we hang up the birthday flags, hang streamers from the dinging room light and then create a scene on the dining table with a bunch of their toys. The love to wake up and marvel at the scene. This year we incorporate Tyler’s gift from us into it. He looked very pleased.

Party
This year Tyler wanted a Saturn cake. I turned that challenge over to my very talented neighbor who does all kinds of cake creations. She did an excellent job! Especially with the awesome rings! Tyler wore his birthday crown which he was into this year! It had 5 stars on it and a moon that he wanted me to add last year. At the end of the part he was hanging with some friends showing them one of his favorite presents from Grandma Susie.

Kids with Cameras
Some days I get annoyed with the many pictures the kids have taken with my camera. Some days I take a moment to look at what they captured and have a pretty good laugh. Here I think Quinn was trying to take a close-up of one of Tyler’s new car. And we have a picture of Tyler’s new camera sitting on a doll’s high chair. I somehow wonder if his sister was trying to commandeer it..hmmmmm

I am really tired, my head hurts and it is 11:23pm. That early bedtime goal is just a pipe dream. *sigh* I think I took some pretty good pictures today that can tell the story better than I right now! There are quite a few – enjoy! And Happy Birthday to my silly, crazy, sweet boy.

Tyler made the McDonald Observatory
Notice the cars in the bag..that’s my girl
Homemade Cheese Snails – Yum!

The drawing has seemed to slow down over there – not quite sure why.  We have let Family Drawing Night slip and I need to get back on that.   But the enthusiasm Tyler showed for our big Valentine card making project has me wanting to make sure I remember to set aside some time to chill and draw.

We had to make 42 Valentine’s day cards for his school!  It was quite a project.  We made them all throughout the day when we had the urge.  Sometimes it was Tyler who wanted to get back to it.  In the afternoon, Daddy joined us and we had a little factory going.  Daddy and I would add a few things and then hand them over to Tyler to add his touch.  Tyler talked about getting one from each “factory” (one from Mama and one from Daddy).   At one point, he got up to wash the ink off his hands and then returned to the table saying, “back to work”.  He took it quite seriously!!

I also had to add a picture of the drawing below as it is one of his first form drawings.  The other day Tyler asked what he should draw and Chris told hiim to draw him.  We were quite surprised when he started drawing a human form..with a very tiny  head!    It is so neat to watch his drawing evolve!

Well, Tyler is biking with gusto and Chris and I are both pretty amazed with his endurance.  Last weekend he biked the entire Veloway, 3 miles.  He huffed up a few of those hills too.  Afterwards he wanted to go again, so we opted for a shorter version which added another mile.  You would think he would have been pooped, but later that day, he rode in front of house and all around.

Up until now, we have been pulling Quinn in the bike trailer, but could sense she wanted to be more a part of the action.  So this past weekend we got a seat that attaches to the back of my mountain bike for her.  She likes riding up in her “high seat” and closer to Mommy or Daddy.

This past weekend was incredible.  We packed up a picnic, took our bikes and parked over at Town Lake park.  I thought we would bike around the hike and bike trail and then return to the fountain area for a picnic.  Well, we ended up taking a different route and it worked out wonderfully!

We biked east to the Congress bridge and crossed to the north shore.  We continued east on the trail under I-35.  Chris kept saying the trail would open up and boy was he right!  Wow!  This is now my favorite part of the hike and bike trail.  There aren’t as many people and the trail is wide open.  It runs right next to the lake, there are few buildings, few obstructions, lots of grassy areas, wide-open sky. This is where we will be come Spring – a hike, lots of running around and frisbee…and then throw out the picnic blanket, some books and snacks and just lay around and be in that warm sun!
This day, the lake was blue and shimmering from the suns rays, the light shone through the green foliage that was low and next to the water, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  All this beauty and I had left my camera in the car.  As disappointed as that was, I had to let it go and enjoy the moment.

We picked a grassy spot right next to the lake and enjoyed our picnic.  Tyler had requested  tea from Whole Foods for our weekend fun, so along with our sandwiches, chips and apples, we each enjoyed our Sweet Leaf Tea!  Yum!

After our picnic, we biked back to Town Lake park.  Tyler was getting tired towards the end, but he made it.  We played at the park, biked around a bit more and headed home.   We estimated it was another 4 mile trip.

Chris and I are so thrilled that he is enjoying biking so much.  It is so exciting to see our son sharing one of our passions.   I was telling Chris that even though there are days we wish our kids were more mellow, it is that crazy energy that gives him the endurance to handle a 4 mile bike ride at 4 years of age.   That gives him the determination to run one mile and then to walk the remaining 4 miles of the Turkey Trot.  That gives him the fuel to hike 3 miles.   It is neat to have all these ways to help him channel that energy.   He certainly came to the right parents for that! 

I am posting Chris’ post below…..

We have a future athlete in our family. The Holiday weekend started with Tyler running the first full mile (and then some) of the Turkey Trot with me (and then walking the remaining four miles as well). On Sunday afternoon, just one day after we put the pedals on his big-boy bike, Tyler is now riding a bicycle all by himself.

This is amazing to us – Tyler is four years and three weeks old. He received his Trek Float as an early birthday present on November 9th. He has been out learning his balance (the Float allows the pedals and crank arms to be easily removed – the point is that kids learn to ride faster by focusing on balance first without learning to depend on training wheels) for the last three weeks, probably no more than 3-4 times a week. This weekend, he asked to try his pedals, so we put them on and took him out Friday. He and I spent about 10 minutes tops. He did OK – going almost an entire house-length at one point – but was very unsteady and didn’t seem terribly into it. On Sunday, he wanted to try again. This time, within about another 10 minutes of practice, he was consistently going 3-4 house-lengths each time before needing to put his feet down.

Amazing – with basically 20 minutes practice with the pedals, he finished the day zipping up and down the street and around our block. He even learned how to use the end of driveways to give him enough momentum to get his feet on his pedals and moving. Now we just have to figure out how to keep him on the sidewalks and near the house

Here’s the proof: (click the image, may take a while to download):

This gift has been a year in the making.  Last year when Tyler turned two, we took him to get this bike, but he wasn’t tall enough yet.  We waited 6 months and figured surely after the crazy growth spurt he went through (2 inches in two months and then some), he was ready.  Nope – still needed a few more inches.  So we took him the Sunday after we returned from Arkansas and hurray!  he was tall enough.

We are very excited about this bike.  It is called a Trek Float.  When you first given the bike to the child you remove the pedals and crank from the bike.  So it is essentially a push bike.   This forces him to perfect his balance on the bike first and then once he is very comfortable, you put the pedals on and off they go.  You know when the child is ready when they are propelling themselves forward and then picking there feet up for extended periods of time.  So they aren’t really needing their feet for balance.

I love this whole idea because we will never have to deal with training wheels and it doesn’t require Chris and I at all.  I feel like we completely botched potty learning.  To be honest, Chris and I are not patient people and have high, sometimes unrealistic expectations.  So something like this that does not require our intervention and allows him more independence because he doesn’t need a parent to help him to ride, is perfect for our family.

At first he was wanting the pedals, but very quickly was satisfied with the challenge of just propelling himself forward.  The bike is pretty heavy, so he had to get used to the weight.  He fell a lot at first – thank goodness for our sidewalks with grass on both sides.   But now, he has this scissor kick rhthym he gets into and off he goes.  He will ride down to the school and back now.  We figure maybe a month of two and then he will be ready for pedals. This bike also has a lot of “grow with you” features, so Tyler should have it for a while. And right about when he is done, we assume Quinn will be ready to take her spin on the Float!

Quinn now has Tyler’s tricycle and is quite happy with it.  Chris adjusted it for her height, but she isn’t pedaling just yet.  In fact, she prefers to take fire truck (he favorite push toy on which she uses to hurl herself down the sidewalk) out with Tyler as she can totally keep up with him on fire truck.  In fact, she likes to bump the back of his bike tire when he is being pokey….he doesn’t much like that!  :-p

It is very exciting to see them reaching these big milestones and also scary.  I told Chris that once he masters that bike – he will be off and biking every chance he gets.  The  challenge is how to give Quinn the opportunity to do her riding and walk around the neighborhood and keep up with Tyler who will no doubt be speeding around the neighborhood??   I haven’t figured that one out just yet….there will have to be some compromise there.  Maybe a morning walk for Quinn (no bikes on this one) and an evening ride for Tyler where I jog with Quinn in the stroller?  I have a few months to figure it out…hopefully.

Getting the helmet on	Final adjustments
Getting ready….	Some help from Dad steadying
Getting Quinn’s tricycle adjusted for her	..and off they go.

This week three big milestones took place…..

1.  Quinn is nightweaned!

It happened earlier and quicker than I thought it would.   I actually started the last night of our vacation in Arkansas.  I thought I might try given a trip I will be taking soon.  So the last night of our trip I began telling her that the milk needed rest and she could nurse when the sun was up.   That night I was able to snuggle her back to sleep without much protest until 4am, so I just went with it.  It took her an hour that first night, although it wasn’t all upset – more restlessness and just trying to settle.   And about five days later, so far so good.  I am not sure if it is her temperment or just timing.  And given the next milestone – it may just be timing.

2.  Chris put Quinn to bed..and she was fine with it!

A time or two before this has happened – but it was usually a case where she fell asleep in the car and he transferred her or she wanted me and was protesting, but I wasn’t there and she had no choice him.   This evening I kind of half-jokingly told her that Daddy was putting her to bed since Tyler was wanting me to snuggle him.  She said she wanted me, but eventually we talked her into letting Daddy read her some books.   This part is pretty common – she likes Daddy reading to her.  But what usually happens is that once it is time for lights out – she wants me and is very emphatic about it.

So as I was laying in the dark next to Tyler, I kept waiting…and waiting…and waiting to hear her get upset.  And she didn’t.   I came out of Tyler’s room and the lights were off in hers.   And about 5 minutes later, Chris came out.  He said she was a little restless at first, but eventually snuggled next to him and went to sleep.  And never once did she ask for me!

Daddy was quite pleased.   I think we are going to try a pattern of me putting her two sleep for two nights and then Daddy doing one and then me again.  It would be nice to get her used to Daddy.   I also enjoy the change to snuggle Tyler as it happens to rarely.   Tyler is so active and chatty and is practically in motion all day long, so at night I love the peaceful connection of just laying next to him.

3.  Tyler and Quinn had their first sibling smack-down!

This was the first slapfest and I think Quinn started it.  They have had these run-ins before, but this is the first one where it seemed to go back and forth as opposed to one turn each, tears and get Mom.  They were just trading blows this time.   I thought to myself, “whoa – so here we are”.   I so need to dig out Siblings Without Rivalry and start prepping my reactions.   Ah, siblings.    There are the smack downs and then there is Arkansas where every morning was a sibling lovefest complete with the big daily morning bear hug…