Saturday was Train Day

Last Saturday, I took Davis out for some special Daddy-Davis time and to go see some trains!.  First, we started at the Wabash, Frisco and Pacific Railroad, a scale-model railroad that you can ride on.  They have a variety of engines, mostly steam powered that pull passenger cars on a two-mile round trip journey.  We got there early and were on the first train.  I was hoping for more to see of the hand-built engines, but they were very busy and useful engines, so we didn't get to see too much beyond the ride itself.  Afterwards, we went to Red Robin, one of Davis' favorite places to eat and then the Transportation Museum where we road the tram, the train and the trolly and saw lots of big engines and rolling stock.  We had a lot of fun and saw a lot of trains.

Davis takes a nap!

Davis is currently taking his first nap at home in a very long time.  I captured the moment for posterity.

Random Kid Updates

Here are some random updates on the kids.  I'm sure I'm missing many interesting updates and notes, but this is what is coming to mind tonight.

Davis

Davis loves preschool.  Almost every morning he asks me if today is a pre-school day.  I'm not sure how it started, but when we are going to preschool in our van, he thinks we are in a gray firetruck and I almost always have a siren coming from the back seat.  He seems to be making a lot of friends there and enjoys staying late every other week or so to have lunch.   Last week, they took a trip to the train station.

Some of Davis' favorite books right now are a series from Tedd Arnold that are out of print that I've been getting used from Amazon.  He (and I) are really enjoying his Monster Under the Bed series.

Davis' hair has started to turn darker.  He is no longer super blond, only mostly blond.

He has been on a real kick to try new food lately.  One night, after dinner, I gave him some candy for trying a new food.  He hasn't got candy since then, but he has been trying lots of different things.  Tonight, he had carrots and said he liked them.  This is big for us.

Davis loves Cookie.  He has a great time playing with her (usually with one of her cardboard on a wire toys by running through the house) and petting her.  He is remarkably gentle with her (for a 3 year old) and she is very tolerable of being picked up, poked, prodded and loved like only a 3 year old can.  Earlier today Davis was carrying her through the kitchen (we don't know why) and dropper her on her head, she just sat down at his feet.

We've been playing hockey again now that its not incredibly hot outside.  Davis is getting really good at hitting the ball and has started to pass a little bit.  Its usually not okay for me to hit his ball, but I've ticked him into playing pass by hitting my ball to the same place his ball goes, then asking him to hit mine back to me.

Alex

Alex has super blond hair.  Blonder than Davis ever was.  It still mostly sticks up and is really cute.

Alex will put anything in his mouth and try to eat it (Evan doesn't seem to have this instinct for anything other than toys).  His favorite thing to sample is paper.  We've had to get paper out of his mouth (because he was gagging) at least 3 or 4 times (this doesn't count the number of times I've heard Lynn get something out).  Fortunately, he seems to have a good gag reflex.  Unfortunately, he doens't seem to be learning.  Tonight, I had to interrupt making dinner to confine the babies to their saucers while I vacuumed the living and dining rooms as fast as I could to find the Kleenex he was taking samples from (it was under a chair leg).

Alex is really close to taking his first step.  He is really cruising well - even with a glove in his mouth - and has been pushing the cart back and forth across the room (when he can get it from Davis and Evan).  He is also letting go and standing pretty regularly.

He has started to wave.  It is amazingly cute.  He'll wave if waved to first, but has also done it unprompted to me a few times.   He seems to have waving a little confused with the sign for more, so there is quite a bit of waving at dinner time.

Besides waving, Alex is pointing.  When you point back at him, he gets very excited and starts laughing.  Very frequently, he will then want to eat your finger.

Alex and Evan both love rice puffs (a finger food).  If we have them on the table, they won't eat anything else.  Alex shakes his head back and forth and refuses to open his moth for anything else until he gets the puffs.

Evan

Evan's hair has started to come in.  He still doesn't have much, but I've noticed it a few times.  His hair is much darker than Alex and is long enough to lay down a little.

Evan is probably a little bit behind Alex in progress towards walking, but he is pushing the cart and has stood up a few times.  It often seems that Alex is trying to push the cart and Evan is trying to crawl into it.

When Evan has a toy that he doesn't want anybody else to get, he will spin around in place while sitting and try to put his body between Alex and the toy.   Sometimes it works, sometimes he spins to far and goes all the way around.  Its very fun to watch.

Evan loves music.  A little bit of music is almost always guaranteed to get Evan bouncing and moving.  We love putting on music in the evening and seeing him move as the songs change.  Alex and Davis also like music, but Evan loves it.


Evan loves to pull grass and pick up leaves.  They don't generally go into his mouth, but every time we put him on a blanket, he trucks off to the edge to pull up the grass.

Evan loves to be held.  When he was smaller, he would fling himself about sometimes when we held him, but he hasn't done that for a long time.  Now, he just just so happy to be picked up and held or cuddled with (as long as he is in the right mood, he will wiggle a lot if he is not).

Evan is able to comfort himself really well.  Whenever he gets really upset or tired, he sticks the pinky and ring finger of his left hand in his mouth (palm to face) and sucks.  Its very cute, but sometimes at the dinner table, we have to take his fingers out of his mouth to try and feed him (usually a sign that he is done).

It helpful that Evan has a good way to comfort himself, because he is very opinionated and will let you know.   He seems to have three gears for this: (1) I'm happy (2) I'm a little upset or tired (3) the world is ending.  When he went to level three the other day, Alex and Davis both tried to comfort him (Alex patted his head and Davis gave him a hug).  He went from level one while being held to level three (I was trying to put him in an saucer) to level one (I'm in a saucer) in just a few moments.

New Videos

I managed to get way behind in uploading videos.  This weekend I caught up and I uploaded around 30 new videos of the kids.  Here are a few, there are many more on my YouTube channel.

Alex and Evan love Cookie

We are amazed at what our new cat, cookie, will put up with from Alex, Evan and Davis.  Ear pulling? Check.  Tail pulling? Check.  Chewing on the tail? Check.  Rolled up in a blanket? Check.  Picked up by Davis? Check.  Used as a pillow? Check.  You get the idea.  She is a special cat and I captures a "bonding moment" with Alex and Evan this weekend:

Puddle Stomping with Davis

One day last week, I took a little time off of work to take Davis outside to stomp in puddles.  It had rained and wasn't too cold (it wasn't very warm either).  Davis had a blast stomping in puddles, running through puddles and generally doing a very good job of being 3 and reminding me of how much fun there is to have in life.

The Awesomeness of Being 3 - in 9 pictures