Hunt Family Adventures : August 2016

It's not hard to entertain Allison at the library. "So much me! This is the best toy ever!"

Early in the month I spent the day rocking my little sickling. She had a fever, had no desire to eat, would only get small naps, and just wanted to cuddle all day. Once Oscar was off work he took Tyler over to Willis Tucker Night Out so I could give her all of my attention. I loved all the extra snuggles, but it was a bit uncomfortable since she was so hot. The good news is she was all better the next morning. She slept the illness off with over 14 hours of sleep that night. All traces of it seemed gone except for a rash along her torso that I had no idea was even related to it. Her well child check was two days after the fever, and as soon as the doctor saw the rash she asked if Allison had had a fever recently. Apparently it's a common condition called Roseola.

Allison didn't end up having her 9 month check up until she was a week away from turning 11 months. I wasn't in too much of a rush with it since I knew she didn't need anymore vaccines until 12 months, and the doctor's schedule kept conflicting with ours. Either they were booked or we were out of town, and when I finally did make an appointment for her as well as a 3 year check up for Tyler, they told me I'd have to reschedule Tyler's. They need a full year between well child checks once they reach 2, and since I'd had his 2 year done on July 31st 2015, I had to reschedule for August. Since I didn't want to take both kids to the doctor twice, I rescheduled them both for August.

At their appointments we learned that Allison is 10th percentile for height (27.2 inches) and 79th for weight (21 pounds), but when you factor the two together, she's 97th percentile. She's my little chunkarella! I asked if she was being compared to 9 month olds, but the doctor said the percentiles factor in her actual age. She's always been heavy for her height though. Even at a 7 pound birth she was 97th percentile because she was only 18 inches tall.

They tried to measure Tyler on the baby measurer, but he's outgrown it. He's now 39.5 inches (82nd percentile) and 37 pounds (87th percentile), but his weight for length is only 77th percentile. Tyler was even bigger than Allison at her age, so I'm sure her chunky legs will tone up too once she's crawling and walking. In early August she was bum scooting a bit and could turn herself around, but she did not want to be on her tummy.

The Mukilteo library holds their annual storytime carnival on the first Thursday of August, so after the doctor's visit we drove over there. Allison got a little nap on the way and we scored the very last parking spot in the lot. We got in line for the train, and we just missed getting on the first ride. They only allow one adult per car, so Tyler went once on his own next to another little boy, then rode with Allison and I on the front seat of the next train. I thought Allison would be completely indifferent to it (like it was no more special than a car ride), but she really enjoyed riding the train with her brother.

She's good at entertaining herself as long as you give her toys to play with, but she especially loves when Tyler joins her. He often requests to play wth baby sister these days. It's very cute!

Tyler is a big fan of themes. After we solved some new Mickey puzzles I'd picked up at the dollar store, he wanted to watch Mickey mouse clubhouse, read Mickey books, color Mickey pictures, and play with Mickey toys. This kid is going to rock preschool and Primary!

I took Tyler down to Wild Waves the second week of August and met up with Lia and Hana for a few rides. It was a cloudy day, but that meant the lines were small and I didn't have to worry about sunblock. Unfortunately their height requirements are tighter than Lagoon's. Many of the things he did there (like the Tidal Wave and the Tea Cups) require 42 inches at Wild Waves, so it really restricted the rides we could all do together. There were too many of the 42 inch rides he wanted to do but couldn't, and that just made him grumpy. At Lagoon he didn't care about the ones he couldn't do because there were so many he could.

Tyler's favorite ride hands down was the train. He got it all to himself the first time and rode in the very front. He ended up riding it three more times throughout the day, once in the middle, once in the caboose, and once in the front again.

Unfortunately Ty was really grumpy and bossy that morning and didn't seem to like riding rides as much as he had when we were at Lagoon. He'd woken up earlier than I would have liked then had a long drive but didn't sleep during it, so it was just a recipe for disaster. This trip was his reward for mastering potty training, so it was disappointing to see him so unhappy.

He had his happy moments, though. He LOVED driving the firetruck and the boats and was all smiles on the mini coaster.

And what 3 year old boy doesn't love driving his own airplane?!

Tyler was getting hungry and was overall still very grumpy, so we left the park intending to be all done for the day. We got lunch at Olive Garden since Tyler had requested pasta. He'd had no interest in doing the waterpark during the morning, but after lunch he said he wanted to go back for it. Luckily it had warmed up considerably while we were eating, so back we went.

The water was nice and warm with the exception of the children's play area. For some reason that is always freezing year after year. He didn't care for it too much since there was too much splashing water and water falling on his head or hitting him in the face. He liked holding my hand while standing in the shallow end of the wave pool and getting hit in the chest with the waves until a big one got him in the face. He wasn't interested in the slides and mostly just wanted to sit in the hot tub. This was all during his usual naptime, so he was pretty zoned out.

After Ty was done with water he wanted more rides, and we got to do the ferris wheel and repeat several of the ones he'd liked most. Now that he was overstimulated and missing his nap, he wasn't cranky anymore. My crazy child...

We left around 4pm when Tyler was so tired he wasn't having fun anymore (though of course he didn't want to leave and cried all the way out). I buckled him in then sat down and checked my phone notifications for a bit. I looked behind and took this picture of him before I'd even turned on the car. That boy was tired! He slept the long drive up then woke up at the gym. I was meeting up for a reunion at Claim Jumper in Lynnwood with the dancing ladies from our stake play that evening, and since Oscar wanted to go to the gym I told him to meet us at the Lynnwood gym so I could go straight to the restaurant from there. Poor Tyler was super clingy and did not want to let us go. Sweet tired guy! I stayed in the kids' area for a good 25 minutes just trying to keep him happy, and he did get used to it eventually.

While I was at the restaurant having a fabulous girls' night out, Oscar got the kids to bed and I peeked on Tyler's crib camera. You can see in the picture that he was thoroughly exhausted.

The next day we celebrated Liz's birthday with cake at our house before going out to Black Angus. Tyler helped Liz blow out the candles before we cut it up and let the kids dig in. Allison made a nice mess and would happily eat the cake from my fingers but had no interest in feeding herself.

11 months and still busy being cute!

The kids' naps often conflict with things I have planned, but how can I wake up this cuteness!

August was hot and sunny so Allison needed to start wearing a hat when I'd take the kids out in the stroller. The difficulty was stopping Tyler from yanking it off.

Tyler enjoyed drilling with daddy!

This girl's smiles are just irresistible!

Allison played with baby Ruby in church that day, which was super cute. They kept squealing at each other, clearly carrying on some secret conversation. At one point Allison even grabbed Ruby's hands and tried to make her clap.

She's just such a sweet, happy little baby!

Nibbler enjoys making it difficult for me to put my towels away

On August 14th Allison finally found the perfect motivation to crawl - herself! Her first little forward scoot was towards the mirror in our bedroom. Later that day she chased Tyler's old crawling turtle. I think it was due to a combination of having something slow enough to chase, not wearing pants and thus having more traction in her legs, and inspiration from watching baby Ruby crawling around in Relief Society.

First time moving horizontally across the floor!

Sweet moment during Family Home Evening the next day. We showed Tyler pictures of Jesus and John the Baptist and taught him the primary song "Baptism." When we finished he said "I want more Jesus singing!"

Tyler loves playing with his Lego Duplos first thing in the morning. Nothing else entertains him so well and so long.

He also enjoys being in the stroller with sister, but getting him to stop bugging her is always a challenge.

Sweet in pink

There's quite the story behind this picture. I decided to take the kids to Jetty Island that day, which turned into a terrifying morning sinking in the sand while holding Allison in the baby carrier. The tide was extremely low, but I wanted to take the kids out to the water, and I had no idea the sand got so sinky out there. We went further than we ever should have thanks to my own stubborn determination to get to the water. Allison was absolutely miserable. She enjoyed splashing at first, but the water was very murky and I think she tasted some of the sand in it when she would splash. She was awful the rest of the morning and nothing I did would calm her.

When we turned around I immediately sank to my hip on the first step. Tyler wasn't sinking as much since he didn't have as much weight as me, but he was moving sideways instead of straight back and I couldn't possibly chase after him. I just had to keep directing him to go back towards the people (no one else was dumb enough to come as far as as we had). Allison was weighing me down and screaming, Tyler was out of my control, and I was halfway sunk in the sand. I'd never felt so helpless. I felt like I'd led my children into a dangerous situation and the sand wouldn't let me get them out of it. I prayed for help and it came immediately though my next step was even worse than the one before it had been. I had to throw the bag of sand toys before I could move myself up out of the sand, but each step after that was slightly easier than the one before it until we were no longer sinking. I cried on that grueling walk back all while desperately directing a fussy screaming Tyler and trying to comfort a fussy screaming Allison, but it was a good lesson for me. When Tyler threw a tantrum, I just loved him and held him and told him how happy I was that he was safe in my arms. We all had to have baths when we got back, and Allison finally got to enjoy her splashing.

Now for some more pleasant memories of Tyler playing on the teeter totter with the Hansen boys at Willis Tucker Park while Allison enjoyed swinging.

Disposable cups are the best toys to take to a splash park. I bring a bunch so Tyler can share them, and I don't have to worry about losing them since they're cheap. Kids love being able to collect the water and pour it out where they want to. Allison hasn't quite figured that part out yet. She just plays with it.

Allison is such an easy going baby. She's generally happy where ever you put her down. I put her in the sand and she just played there with some sticks.

A 2 year old intentionally kicked a bunch of sand into Tyler's eyes that day. His mom stopped him and made sure Tyler was okay, so I sat back and watched to see how he would respond. I was super proud of him! He rubbed his eye and had to take a minute to get himself reoriented, but he did not make any move towards the two year old or even appear upset at him in any way. He went back to playing once he felt okay again. Tyler can certainly be too rough with other kids, which is something we work on daily, but I'm convinced it's because he doesn't know his own strength, doesn't comprehend the consequences of his actions, or is trying to provoke an amusing reaction, not because he's intentionally trying to cause harm or retaliate.

Tyler builds some interesting stuff when daddy plays with him. One evening they made a parrot temple and a people temple.

One night Tyler noticed it was dark outside and said "the sun is taking a nap." We responded by singing "the sun has gone to bed and so must Ty" along with the rest of the song "so long, farewell" from Sound of Music.

A practical use for junk mail!

When we had the sister missionaries over, Oscar bought A&W, Mug, and Barq's root beer and let them try samples of all three root beer floats in these cheap shot glasses. The one of the left is a huge fan of root beer floats, which we didn't know beforehand, so she was absolutely delighted.

That evening Tyler took a bath and played with shaving cream Oscar made into the shape of Sideshow Bob.

Someone enjoyed her dinner! Allison is finally letting me feed her puffs and other food that's not pureed on a spoon. She's still not self feeding, but it's some good progress.

Tyler watching the garbage trucks!

Allison playing with daddy's face in the kitty hole

This girl is all about toys that make noise.

She's sitting up on her own now. She's been able to sit unassisted for over 4 months, but she always had to be put in a sitting position. Now she can get herself up, even in the slippery bathtub.

Muggleborn but still magical!

Oscar had to take a business trip last week, so we took the kids down early to let them watch the airplanes taking off. We knew Tyler would enjoy it, but Allison ended up loving it too. Tyler wanted to have Allison on his shoulders after watching daddy do it, so we let him try it (with extra help of course).

Allie missed her daddy cuddles, so she took comfort on Nibbler instead.

Oh the sweet smiles on my girl!

She was sure happy when daddy got home. She saw him putting his luggage in the car and shot him a beaming smile.

We took the kids to the park the next day, and she was just smiling and doing her great little cackle laugh while daddy pushed her on the swing and made silly faces at her.

It's much harder to keep an eye on Allison in church now that she's on the move.

Allison wore the red dress to church this past Sunday but then spat up on it so much that it started to smell. Fortunately I'd brought this spare green dress to church to give away to a friend with a baby a few months younger than Allison, but it still fits her, so I changed her into it. Later I noticed three other babies in the room were also wearing the same shade of green. Allison must have gotten the memo and decided to spit up on the red dress intentionally so she could fit in with the rest of the babies. ;)

She'll stick toys in her mouth, but not food. Silly girl!

In late August it suddenly turned into fall after a week of high 80's temperatures. For the last day predicted to be in the high 70's, we all went to the splash pad at Forest Park for our Family Home Evening activity. The temperature was low 70's, but there was a chill wind, so Allison didn't last long, but she thoroughly enjoyed the water before she started turning purple with cold.