Lenninger Family Blog: Kiddo Update

Maybe I can squeeze in a quick post about the big kids and what they are up to lately...

Kate: She is nearing the end of school! She is not happy to be done but excited for Kindergarten. She just took her first field trip of the whole year! A dairy farm nearby where her friend and classmate Caleb lives. She now thinks that all the milk we buy in local stores came from Caleb's cows and that chocolate milk comes from the "tan" cows, and white milk from the black and white Holsteins:)

With her friends, Gracie, Caleb & Bella (?) at Caleb's dairy farm

They are good friends, she even said he was her boyfriend a month or two ago! But she doesn't want to talk about it anymore:) When I asked why Caleb was her boyfriend, she said because he is proper. Hey - I'll take that! She also said Blayne wants her to be his girlfriend. But that Blayne wants to make an army of girlfriends and they get to have bow and arrows. Kate seemed like she kind of wanted a bow and arrow but that she didn't know about being part of the girlfriend army:) We've had discussions about when she can date and she says she doesn't want to until she is 19. Done.

At the final "Family Fun Day" for her 4K class
I overheard her say, "Hey guys, let's work as a team!"

She can ride her bike without training wheels! It is amazing and took virtually no instruction from us. Easy peasy. She loves it and will ride her bike during our walks which is better for everyone and it is a much quieter ride - training wheels were loud! She has been asking to get out on the boat quite a bit. We finally have our lift in and need to wash the boat one more time, I guess, and then will put it on the lift. Hopefully it will work to be home, no other commitments and have nice weather soon!

On our nightly walk around the neighborhood

When Ayden is fussy, she sings Feed the Birds from Mary Poppins. Yup. She likes all the songs and sings them from time to time, but this is her first choice when he is crying. So, yes. In the car, if Ayden is crying, we also have Kate singing, "Tuppins, tuppins, tuppins a bag" in the highest voice possible. Bring your Tylenol people.

She is doing awesome at school. Can write and do many lower case letters. She is adding and subtracting more and more. She has also started sounding out words and can "read" a few books. It is pretty amazing and I know a lot of it was probably memorization, but the first time she was sounding out words and reading me a book, I swear I was tearing up. Such a cool moment. And in that vein, she LOVES Dr. Seuss. She always gets his books from the library and picks them out to read first. Pretty fun!

The crew in the morning
They both still want to hold Ayden quite a bit

She can crack an egg. I know other moms let their kiddos do this much, much sooner. But I resisted until now. She can do it. But the first one did accidentally get cracked open on her/the stool and got everywhere. She is pretty proud of this new skill. She also has peeled carrots and potatoes for me and liked doing that. She does like to bake and cook with me. I wish our kitchen had more space around the gas stove, I don't let her over there too much. She loves to help when I use the mixer (was her Great-Grandma Hazel's!) but if Daddy/Collin/Ayden are doing something fun, she usually abandons me to join them.

She is done with soccer this year! I've had this post in draft form for a couple weeks, I had to keep changing this paragraph:) Last night was her last game. It was 80 degrees and sunny. And she killed it! The last two games were all of a sudden different for her. She started really going after the ball and being more aggressive. Dave and I would talk to her about it each week but something clicked recently. She dribbled and scored a goal last week. But this week - she was the only girl on the field- we played a pretty aggressive team. In fact, the other team was reprimanded for sportsmanship during the game! Anyway, Kate was all. over. the field. She was going for the ball, dribbling up the sideline. She was playing defense! She stole the ball! I can't remember if she scored, she still tries to set up her shot and by the time she stops the ball in front of the goal someone will get there and block/steal it. Dave and I were cheering the whole time. Collin was relaxing and had some chips while sitting in the stroller. I took Ayden back to the car to nurse and then left a little early for spin class, but Dave said her coach came over and asked if we had been doing a lot of practicing with her and kept complimenting her:) Wow, that was a great way to end the soccer season! Next week they have a picnic that we were planning on skipping, but they are giving out those medals everyone gets these days. So we'll see.

Kate taking on the orange team

She was way more aggressive!

He stills cheers loudly, but was pretty excited to have Doritos

Ayden happily watched and spit up on Daddy

So far, we are not signed up for any activities for the summer. I guess she could do t-ball, but we'll probably wait a year at least, even though that is one of my favorite sports! I did brave the registration process (if you can call it that) to get Kate and Collin signed up for swimming lessons at the Mauston pool (inside the middle school) for the month of June. It was very hectic and confusing, I had all three kids with me but I successfully got them into some classes! I don't know if we will really be able to have Collin do it, it is a Parent/Child class and I don't yet have anyone lined up to watch Ayden. So we'll see.

Collin: So. many. words. He is quite loud and very verbal. I am pleasantly surprised at how well he speaks. I was worried that being a boy, it would be much different than what we experienced with Kate, but alas - he is the product of Dave and Erin - no break from talking there! He does lisp and trip up on more letters than Kate did. I think he is easy to understand, but I have the whole "mom" thing going for me:) And it is pretty cute, in all honesty:) Example: he says "lellow" instead of "yellow." Recently, Kate was talking to me about school and Blayne and said, "I mean, he can't even say yellow. He says lellow, Mom." Apparently, this girl has some high standards at 5! I'm sure she'll help Collin get it right:)

He just had an ear infection :( We knew he wasn't feeling well, ran a low-grade fever for a few days. We knew I was taking Ayden in so didn't schedule a separate appointment. Sure enough, ear infection. His only other ear infection was found at one of Kate's appointments. In between, I have taken him in a lot and of course, nothing! He was so cute at the appointment and charmed nurse Laurie and Dr. Ryan. He loves getting checked out and weighed, etc. Which of course makes the appointment so much easier. On amoxicillin right now, was much better as soon as we started the meds.

Flying some airplanes

He loves puzzles

He can ride his Toot Scoot balance bike and loves it. So do we. This is the best, he can go around and "bike" just like his big sister, but is learning at the same time. He can go fast and he can go far. He almost went around the whole circle loop one evening! They have both biked over to our neighbors house which was a crazy moment for me. Watching my kids bike to the neighbors. Very freeing and proud. And a fleeting moment of fear. What a blessing this neighborhood is for me - practically no traffic and nice paved, flat roads:) (and awesome neighbors!)

Collin is about 27 pounds and getting more bruises every day. I imagine this will be a summer of boo-boos and band aids. He still loves trains, but if we are in town and we hear an actual train, he gets clingy and wants you to hold him. They are loud and big and fast! My plan to go see/ride one may be a little premature if he still has this much fear. We'll see.

He still loves wearing sunglasses & hats - yay!

He loves driving anything. He has gone with Daddy to take trash to the dumpster and sat on Dave's lap. Pure joy on his face. He loves spotting barns and tractors when we drive. He knows quite a few colors and shapes - this has surprised me. Honestly, it must come from Kate and Dora or something. I mean, I talk about them when we see them, but I am not sitting down to teach him, per say. Pretty smart fellow, so far.

We washed all the car seats - he always loves when we do this.

"A - pies!" "Hap-py Day!" (Surprise, happy birthday!) - A new phrase he will break out frequently. He just learned The Itsy Bitsy Spider and likes that. He does not like real spiders ("Pie-ders!") He saw an earthworm after a rain and went running over to it and then back to Dave and I said, "'Nake! 'Nake!" He acted scared and then ran back over and stepped on it. And then ran away again. Dave and I couldn't stop laughing:)

If he is doing something he knows he shouldn't and I come over to him, I get a super sweet, "Hi, Mom! Hi!" Smiles and waves..."Hi, Mom!" He is pretty sure he can charm his way out of anything. Dave keeps saying this is his favorite stage. I think 2 can be quite hard, but since Collin communicates so well, we don't have many of the frustrations of not knowing what he wants, etc. And since he is such a clown, we are laughing a lot:) When you start to hear their little voice and thoughts...that is a pretty special time.

Silly man!

We had a Luther onesie that I knew wouldn't fit Ayden long (I think all three kids have worn it!). For months, I was trying to get a picture of all the kids in Luther gear and it wasn't happening. Last week, I saw the onesie and knew I wouldn't get it on him another time, so I made the kids get in their blue and sit down so I could attempt to get a picture. They did pretty good!