Anxiety

I don't remember Jack ever really being afraid of anything as a toddler. So much so that I do remember thinking that a little bit of fear wouldn't be a bad thing, especially in the case of moving cars and other such appropriate things. Schaeffer and Logan are a completely different story. Schaeffer is beyond terrified of Monkey Joe...the mascot-like monkey that walks around to say hi to kids at Monkey Joe's. We were there a few weekends ago and he totally freaked out when he saw MJ, clung to Paul for dear life and actually trembled. Later as we were getting ready to leave Schaeffer spotted MJ a ways away and ran to a corner where he tucked himself into a ball, whimpered and shook. Other than the terrifying MJ, Schaeffer has seemed fearless, until last night. We were playing outside at my parents house. Schaeffer was climbing the rock stairs, up and down he went for quite a while. Then out of the blue he froze and freaked out. Just stood there like a statue, terrified to move and crying out for help. You could tell he was afraid, but of what I had no idea. He was standing in the landscaped are that is covered in pine needles, pine cones, leaves and whatnot. The best that we could tell he had suddenly developed a strong fear of pine cones. I picked one up and held it out to him, he jerked away. I tried to make him touch it and he refused and kept whimpering. The rest of the evening as he would walk we could see him get freaked out by pine cones he saw on the ground.

Logan, on the other hand, was covered in sap from carrying pine cones around much of the evening. So pine cones are not his kryptonite, but several other things are. Logan is currently afraid of dogs (especially barking ones), birds, leaves, and pretty much anything moving. The dogs I understand. The birds...I guess maybe. If he sees a bird anywhere, no matter how far away and no matter if it is outside and he is inside, he gets nervous. And if the bird happens to move, which most birds do, then he gets really nervous. It's the leaves that I really find odd. He's actually improved quite a bit in the last two weeks regarding leaves. At first they all terrified him, but now he only gets scared if the leaves are blowing along the ground. When I first realized what was making him so scared I picked up a leaf and made him touch it. He flinched but then he was ok and actually held it. So he knows they won't hurt him. It's just that sudden movement from the wind that makes him cling to me like a monkey. Often when we are outside if he is riding a trike I will seem him get real stiff and still and pull his feet up as high as he can and sure enough you'll be able to fine a bird or a leaf or a bug moving around somewhere in his sight path. Schaeffer of course will carry any leaf around and wave it in Logan's face.

So I've actually had several good laughs about these two and their silly fears. I know the things they are afraid of are safe (except perhaps the dogs and the occasional bird i.e. geese) so I've been trying to get them to touch things for themselves. We've also found that having them tell the scary object hi and buy has helped really calm them down. So when we are outside now you hear Schaeffer and Logan saying hi and buy a lot and waving a lot and even blowing kisses. And if you didn't know them you'd really be confused because it looks as though they are talking and waving and blowing kisses to nothing. But it's a big bad world full of leaves blowing in the wind and pine cones laying stealthily on the ground and I need to teach these two how to conquer it!

Some Randomness

My blogging frequency has really hit a decline the last 6+ months. I'd have to say I'm not happy about this but I also can't guarantee it will change. I often think about things I should blog about but then don't make the time to do it and I even start posts and then never finish them. It also seems I like to wait until the month is winding down and then get all the picture off the camera and do some cluster posting all at once. It is what it is. Sorry to bombard you. Here are some random picture that I wanted to share.

After a big haul at Walmart. I typically purchase 7 gallons of milk every week and a half. I'm so grateful we have a spare fridge in the basement to hold it all! Even with 7 gallons sometimes milk is the only reason I have to go to the store every week.

Schaeffer. What can I say about this kid. He is hilarious. And I love his expressions in these pictures. Apparently he was a western tickle monster.

And this is the view from my chair in the backyard (I prefer to camp out in the only shade we have, what a wimp I've become). We have spent ample time out there this March and as you can see our tree is in full bloom. I don't think that should have happened yet, but strange weather does strange things. We laugh at our plastic kingdom in the backyard, but it's colorful and fun and the kids love it. I think this spring I have fallen even more in love with having a fenced backyard that I was last year. All the boys enjoy being out there and I love the peace of mind that they can't get out of the yard. They spend a lot of their time behind the shed playing with dirt piles and trying to dig to China. Already the number of baths they take has seen a serious increase due to dirty toes, fingers, knees, faces and hair. But the dirt doesn't bother me, I quite love that they are getting messy and being boys.

It's About Time

I wish you could see Jack's shirt better and read the words under the dog. But black text on a dark blue shirt doesn't photograph exceptionally well. I just had to document this moment though. Back when Jack was 3 or 4 months old, Paul and I took a vacation to Scotland (in conjunction with a work trip) and left Jack in the capable hands of his grandparents. Jack was, in our minds, a very difficult baby and by then I was in desperate need of a break both mentally and physically. I know most people couldn't leave their tiny (and I mean tiny) little baby for a week but I really had no second thoughts about it and no regrets. Jack survived, our parents survived and I was refreshed. While we were there I we came across this shirt and bought it in the smallest size available. The shirt has a picture of a Scottish Terrier on it and underneath it says "I'm a wee terrier". So here is the test for you, how well do you know Jack's name? Cause for better or worse we chose to name Jack after a dog...his name is Jackson Russell Friend. The main reason he ended up being Jackson instead of Jack was to not be named after a dog. We got made fun of but whatever, Russell is an important name to us so we were ok with it. But still this shirt is funny, especially because Jack is also quite "wee". So here we are three and a half years later and he's finally getting to wear his funny Scotland shirt.

Rock Climbers

With this beautiful weather we have been spending oodles of time outside. But spending oodles of time doing the same thing, even if it's outside in glorious weather, gets boring. So yesterday I made a last minute decision to walk to the nearby park...which we've never done before. Jack rode his "motorcycle" aka balance bike and I pulled Schaeffer and Logan in the wagon. The wagon just so happens to be the toy of the moment these days. We had so much fun and this particular playground didn't make me feel quite so nervous with the little ones. I even sat down and watched for a while instead of guarding the gaping holes that plague all playground equipment. They did a lot of rock climbing and running through fields of tall grass. We will definitely be making this trek again. 

I WILL Ride This Tractor!

He's determined. He's tried this before and been somewhat successful. So funny.

That's my Schaeffer.

Miss Mari's Birthday

Last Saturday, despite the germ world making it's best attempt to spoil things, we got together with family to celebrate my niece Mariana's very 1st birthday. In the two days before the party 4 of the 9 children getting together made trips to the doctor and ended up on prescriptions. 2 strep throats, 2 ear infections. But we did't let the germs have their way and we ended up having what I thought was a fabulous afternoon. The weather was beautiful...don't get used to that Mari...March birthdays are unpredictable. The kids all played so well. The cake was adorable. And the birthday girl was all dolled up in her super cute birthday tutu. After lots of playing, lunch, presents, cake and ice cream we topped the afternoon off with a trip to the park that is right next door to my sister's house. All the kids (minus the sleepy birthday girl) had a blast playing and running wild. Aunt Megan made a fabulous dinosaur (or dragon) and a loud game of roaring and chase took place, the kids LOVED it. I LOVED it because I was just sitting on a park bench enjoying the beautiful day, the company and happy kids. With all the partying and playing we didn't head home until 4 o'clock. I assumed Schaeffer and Logan would crash as soon as the van started moving. I was wrong. Logan did nod off about 30 minutes into the drive. Jack and Schaeffer however were too wound up and played and laughed and DID NOT SLEEP at all. Eventually the craziness got to Jack and he threw a major fit which woke Logan up after only sleeping around 30 minutes. The rest of the drive home was not delightful, nor was most of the evening. We ended up putting the twins to be at 6:30 and Jack followed shortly after. Despite the cranky kids, the day really was wonderful and that pretty much made up for the crankiness in my mind.

Schaeffer climbed himself up into that chair and played a little air hockey with Dad.

She wasn't really into smiling.

This is Lily. Lily loved hugging Mari.

Here are the babies of the family. Schaeffer, Mari, George and Logan.

Logan looking dapper in his St. Patrick's Day shirt.