Daniel

Daniel is such a busy guy. Aren't all toddlers? He gets away with a lot more than his siblings ever did at his age, and my standards of his good days are so low in comparison. At least, I think my other kids were good at that age...but I also think I was a very good child too...maybe it's just my nostalgic impressions improving with time.


When working on something, Daniel puts 100% into it. You can see this in the way he runs too, kicking his legs around up high behind him just because he can, or waggling his legs sideways. (A picture can't capture his joy and enthusiasm, and a video wouldn't either since he'd notice and not be the same either. You'll just have to imagine it.)


Daniel is also the handsomest toddler I know. The only boy toddler I know that looks great in female jewelry!


And he still sucks him thumb. He's beginning to become more aware of it, but is not willing to give it up.

Now

he wants a digger full of candies. And he'll share some with Melanie. When they're done eating the candy he can make his own real house!

Matthew

Matthew is really into Lego these days. This is his pirate ship. It has a Jolly Roger, a cannon, treasure chest and plank! The plank is for the lubbers to walk and fall in and drown. (Land lubbers, that is)


"Daniel don't break that! Be careful!" says worried Matthew. After all, he took all nap time to make this!


"I have playdough in a container and I'm going to mix it to make something to eat."
(Yum!)


Matthew has fun making things, as always has an interesting explanation for why he has done something a certain way. And if you ever correct him on something he's said, he won't admit he's wrong, but will make his story wilder and wilder!


"I want a real digger for my birthday. You'll have to wrap it outside because it won't fit in the living room!"

"When I'm four I can be a real worker and make people's houses. Real ones."

"I want a real digger for my birthday. And candy on my cake and cupcakes and I want to put the candy on it."
(I think I can manage cake or cupcakes with candy for him to put on. I hope he's not too disappointed!)

Nathan

As usual, Nathan, when he is by himself, is working on something.

He put this together without any help of mine--though he may have asked his Dad for some help when things weren't working (I feign helplessness so that I don't have to constantly be finding mistakes and correcting them) but I think he did the correcting himself.

Nathan was so pleased with the end result...and will probably keep it in one piece forever, unless he can be convinced that there is something better he can make and keep in its place!

Nathan has a lot of patience for Daniel, and a real soft spot for Jennifer too.

He loves to spend time teaching Daniel something, or playing a game with him.

Nathan takes a great deal of bride in his work. It amazes me how much time and effort he can spend on a given project.

He is getting a bit more comfortable with using the things he makes, even at the risk of them not working well, and just accepting the inadequacies and having fun despite it.

The boats we made, though he was pre-warned, didn't float at all. He convinced himself that it was okay, and him and Matthew had fun in the bathroom tub (the ocean).
"Matthew, the tide is coming in. Uncle Stanley says that it comes in over his head, so the tide will take the sail boats away. That's deep, isn't it Matthew?"

Playtime

Melanie and Matthew are playing some sort of "house", and Daniel thought maybe they'd let him join them. No matter how complicated the plot, they only have to tell him what to do "jump now Daniel" or "say Mommy Daniel", and he fits right in!

My Mummy dresses me funny

But I still love her

Girls

Jennifer is very drooley right now! She soaks up a few bibs each day, then soaks up her clothes too!

Jennifer loves chatting and smiling to passers by, and can have very cute stories to tell!

But she can also get very angry when left all alone. Sometimes, as soon as I go around a corner she gets very uptight! But if she can still see my face, she's usually okay.

I'm sure Oma never thought her stickers would be used to make a sword for Brave Melanie the piarate-ess!

It's cute how Melanie picks the purple-est girliest stickers to decorate something so unladylike! At some point she made a smiley face on the back of it too.

And she wanted to pose in various stances too...

Art

I got this art idea from a blog momd referred me to. (Thanks!)


Feeling ambitious the other day (and regretting I'd decided to go all out) the kids got to have their first time dabbling in paint in ages! This time I put some thought into preparations, so I didn't have to worry about prep the day of, and things went very smoothly. I actually enjoyed it, which is a first for anytime we've done anything using art materials in the past! The kids enjoyed it too--who wouldn't want to paint!

They all went about their projects in such different approaches--and had little guidance from me--I only stipulated that they had to make their own colors from what was lacking, and they had to save posters for others to paint too!

Nathan was the best at holding and manipulating his brush. He had to paint stuff. None of this modern art nonsense for him!

He did end up making a "firework" painting though, since Matthew's were all called fireworks when Nathan insisted that he was painting someTHING. I guess Nathan felt Matthew had done them all wrong, and showed him how fireworks ought to be painted.

Matthew had fun mixing up pink and orange. And painting color on top of color. What fun! I had to restrain him from panting all of the posters since I thought the others might like to do more than one each!

Matthew loved trying out all the different sized brushes too, and made sure he experimented lots!

Melanie was, by contrast, the slowest painter. She spent a fair bit of time planning her works of art. And her first piece had the all important pink paint on it!

But she got tired of filling the largest size poster, and I had to encourage her to finish her project.

Daniel woke up when everyone else was finished, but I saved him one to do. He was so cute to watch, still bleary eyed, crouching and painting, and trying every color twice!

He needed help to wash his brush between colors, and to wipe himself clean on the designated cloth, and not on his clothes!! But he really enjoyed it, and his picture turned out to be my favorite since it's the most cheerful looking! (I didn't tell the other kids that of course!)

And here they all are, brightening up the playroom downstairs.

The rows in order from the top down, left to right;
Matthew's fireworks
Nathan's fireworks
Matthew's fireworks

Melanie's red van (just like ours Mommy!)
Melanie's person outside
Matthew's dark fireworks (imitating Nathan's imitation of his fireworks)

Daddy's train, by Nathan
More fireworks, by Matthew
Dog and doghouse, by Nathan

Daniel's picture
Nathan's coal train and tender
Matthew's mess
Melanie's dirt and grass (she was having a hard time mixing a nice brown)

Daddy's train, by Matthew
Elephant and zebra, by Nathan