We had a fun time at the lake this weekend.  The weather was questionable going into the weekend, but it was beautiful on both Saturday and Sunday!   It was on the cool side, but the kids still wanted to play in the water.  John checked off all of the activities on his list: catching a fish, sailing, canoeing, swamp adventuring with Bob, and he used is Technical John skills to rig up an outdoor movie theatre – a first for Dyken Pond.

From Alyssa:
This was the first time at the lake as a toddler, and it’s a totally different experience than being a baby.  I LOVED playing outside with my cousins and brothers.   My favorite activities were throwing the beach balls around, fishing in the “aquarium” for salamanders, singing/snoozing/meowing in the hiking backpack, canoeing with Mom and Dad, and sitting in the tiny chair that is just my size!  I tried to keep up with the big kids and did NOT want to take naps.
Some of Alyssa’s latest words:
OW!
NO!
Yeah
Meow
Woof

From Luke:
I still love to climb the ladder at the lake!  It’s my favorite.  I also loved catching salamanders with Preston, and I hiked the WHOLE way on our hike to the big rocks without needing to go on shoulders at all!  I even climbed up to the top of the very big rock with help from Tia Deb.  I didn’t want to take naps, either, but I did end up napping in grandma’s bed both days we were there.   I just got so worn out from all of the activities, and from playing in the cold water.  I went canoeing AND sailing on this trip!

From Preston:
My favorite things to do at the lake were catching salamanders and keeping them in the home made aquarium.  I caught more salamanders than I could even count, but I had to keep releasing them back into the wild so that they could still live.  We all did a treasure hunt after we found the treasure map, and I paddled my kayak almost all the way to nature center.  I got a little tired so Uncle Ted tied the kayak to the canoe so I could take a rest and get towed. 

From Mommy:
Last week Mom, Luke, Alyssa, and I went to Luke’s preschool picnic at the park.  It was during school and work for Preston and John, so they couldn’t go.  We had a lot of fun playing on the playground and hanging out with some of Luke’s new friends.  At one point Alyssa climbed up on to a platform with 2 slides side-by-side, RACING slides.  She scooted up to one of the slides and was about to go down.  But then she looked over and saw the empty slide next to her!  She scooted back and yelled “aaaahabaaada!,”  calling for a brother to race her!  No brother arrived, but a minute later another little toddler arrived and raced down the slide with her. 

Two days later we all went to Luke’s end of year preschool program at the little church where his new school is.  Luke has only been going to this school for 6 weeks, but he kept up with all of the songs that the other kids had been practicing all year.  I was so proud of him!!  He loved standing up in front of everyone and had no fear or shyness.  My little guy is growing up!  He favorite songs of the night were “Up pop the flowers!” and “I’m Looking over a four leaf clover” and “Reindeer shake your fluffy tail.”  He likes to shake is fluffy tail on that last one.  After the program we went downstairs for snacks where Alyssa was everyone’s favorite little toddler to chase, and Luke loved the jello jigglers.

​The next day I went to the school district volunteer lunch, which was lovely.  It was nice to see some of the other kindergarten moms again. The program featured the Elementary District Chorus of 5th graders, and they were really good!  It made me thankful for the great district that we live in.

​It’s May, and I finally decided to make time to write again!
Preston has 23 days of Kindergarten left!  We got a note home from school with an alphabet count down and I almost cried.  Kindergarten has been an incredible year for Preston.  His teacher is so wonderful, and I want to keep her forever.  I can hardly wait until Luke goes to Kindergarten so we can have her all over again.  Preston is starting to be able to read all sorts of things and is interested in sounding things out and using clues to figure out things like cereal boxes and signs.   We love to watch him learn and grow!  He’s very excited to go on a Field Trip to a natural conservancy on Monday to explore nature and “find some creatures.”  


Last weekend Grandma and Grandpa took both boys to the lake to open things up.  It was a rainy, muddy weekend, but they didn’t even notice.  They had their new rain boots and lots of changes of socks.  Luke’s FAVORITE thing of the weekend was climbing the ladder to the loft.  Our family rule is 3 years old to be able to climb, and boy was he ready.  Grandma says he is over confident at climbing up and down.  The other rule is that, as a 3 year old, you must have a grown up with you to climb up or down the ladder.  He ever got to sleep up there with Preston and Debbie! 
Preston’s highlight of the trip was going to the nature center for a junior explorer program and finding 11 salamanders!  There was one other little boys there, and they each got a mesh screen on a  pole to skim the little pond.  All of the creatures don’t stand a chance against a mesh screen! 
Preston also loved fishing and digging for worms, and Luke got to ride down the mountain with Grandpa to run some errands and chase trains. 
We are all excited to return to the lake on Memorial Day weekend to start the season!
Luke is still working on potty training.  This is the longest most drawn out process…..  I don’t know if it was the change of scenery, or the change of grown-up, or what, but at the lake last weekend he pooped on the potty!  It was so exciting!!!!!!!   He’s been doing pretty well with it all this week.  We are just slowly moving along – there is no turning back now. 
Lukey also has some pretty cute words as a 3 year old:
Gabloon = Balloon
Gorilla = Umbrella
Gramote = Remote

He’s still in a phase where he has to do everything himself, and he changes his mind almost constantly.  Breakfast goes something like this:
Preston: I want an English Muffin with Apricot Jelly and Grape Jelly
Me: Ok!  Luke, what do you want on your English Muffin
Luke:  UMMMMM…. Peanut Butter and Jelly
Me: What kind of jelly, apricot or grape
Luke: Apricot
Me:  Ok!  (John makes English muffins and slathers them with requested spreads and as he finishes putting peanut butter on one muffin Luke begins to shriek and cry)
Me:  LUKE!! What’s the problem
Luke: (Sobbing and almost unintelligible)  I waaanntnned  elllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Me: We gave you jelly!  Apricot Jelly!  Can you use your words?
Luke:  I wanted GRAPE JELLY!  DATS PEANUT BUTTER
Me: (Referring to conversation above)  Pretty sure you requested Peanut butter and jelly.
And then I got to eat the peanut butter half of the English muffin while we toasted another one to solve this problem that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.  And the thing is, I could have predicted this happening.  He always wants exactly what Preston wants in the end.  But we literally cannot skip to the end, because then he would manage to have a double tantrum: first about us giving him grape jelly instead of peanut butter like he requested, and second because he actually really wants grape jelly.  It’s exhausting.  But the good news, so far, is that these particular meltdowns tend to not happen while Preston is in school.  But Preston is done in 23 school days!
Luke is very cute, though.  He loves pretending to write his name, and he can recognize his written name, which I think is pretty cool!   When Preston does homework he has to be doing “homework,” too.  He LOVES Daniel Tiger, and I find myself singing Daniel Tiger jingles to him all day long: Stop!  And listen to stay safe.  – If you have to go potty, stop and go right away – There’s so much to explore when your outside.  There are many!  
Alyssa is naughty…. But SOOOOOOO cute!   She has taken off with her walking, and she is everywhere all at once.  I remember this with the boys, but she just seems so much naughtier than them.  She knows exactly what she is not allowed to do:

• Take the fancy dishes out of the china closet
• Take all of the chemicals out from under the sink
• Climb the stairs
• Take all of the qtips out of the box
• Take all of the clean clothes out of her dresser and throw them in the hamper
• Throw away the remote/toys/plates/cups/spoons/anything on the floor that isn’t particularly interesting
• Throw items listed above down the stairs
• Stand up in the bathtub
• While outside march straight down the driveway and into the street because it’s super fun to make Mom run to the rescue and then get scolded… but still do it again 4 seconds later
• Throw all of her food on the floor
• Dump her plate and throw all the food on the floor
• Bothering Luke while he plays nicely
• Taking toys away from Luke
• Climbing into Mommy’s lap if Luke is already in it

This list could go on for miles.  She was such an easy baby, I think she is making up for it in her toddler hood.  She has many redeeming qualities, though.  She is an amazing sleeper for one, and she’s generally pretty even tempered.  If she ever get fussy I just put her down for a nap.
On Thursday night I had to take all 3 kids to a Germany meeting because John had a work dinner.  Thankfully they were well behaved for most of the meeting.  The boys did some projects out in the hall while Grandpa played defense, and Alyssa was in and out of my lap 42 times, but quietly so that was as much as I could ask for.  Eventually she grew tired of using me as her jungle gym, so she toddled off down the hallway with Grandpa in tow.  15 minutes later as we were nearing the end of our agenda, she toddled back into the room, climbed into my lap, snuggled down into my arms, looked right at me and said loudly “NA NA.”  Yes, Alyssa, it was time for night night!  She certainly makes herself known!
We went to the pediatrician on Wednesday for her 15 month checkup.  She is 22lbs, 30 inches, and 50-60% for both.  She even stood on the scale to get weighted.  15 months is a major record for that for my kids.  Preston wouldn’t stand on the scale until he was 4!!  She also got 2 shots, which she took like a champ.  I think she was more mad about them than hurt. 
She is already showing her independence.  She doesn’t want anyone to feed her or hold her hand, and she will wander off in whatever way pleases her without a care.
She has a few words and silly sounds:
Kitties say “HHHHHRRRRRRKKKKKK”  (Like a cat hissing)
Lemurs (her current favorite animal) howl – OOOOOO
Birdies say “Ee ee”

Na na – Night night or banana
Ba ba – Bottle or blueberries
MommEE – Mommy
Hi
Bye
A La la  - I think this is a version of “I love you” but realize that’s probably wishful thinking

She also loves to give kisses and gets super jealous when Daddy gives Mommy kisses.  She doesn’t like when Daddy touches Mommy’s nose either.