Sean and Aleece

Leif loves an adventure.  He rarely does anything just to do it. Even mundane things he turns into an adventure. Things like, walking down/up stairs, watching TV, going for a car ride.

Does not matter.

Going up the stairs he will jump up each step, then somewhere in the middle make a proclaimation and jump down all the staris just to run all the way up.  Watching TV he gets involved and if something happens he makes sure I understands how important it just was.  If we run errands he will sit in his car seat like it is a fighter jet cockpit, and once we reach our destination he loves to run up to the door, sometimes stopping dead in his tracks to point out a piece of paper blowing across the parking lot or some person walking near by.

If you ever have a boring task to run, take Leif with you, he will make it exciting.

I like to bring Leif with me when I go grocery shopping.  It get’s him out of the house on a little adventure and Aleece can get a little break.  Leif does a good job shopping, he sticks close, he helps bag vegies, he pushes the cart, and like to know what direction we are going (”Dat way!”).  On one of our more recent trips I had to get coffee.  I like to get the beans and grind them at the store.  Leif loves this because he can push the button on a machine that makes a lot of noise.  If you have ever gotten the bulk beans you will have noticed that there are all kind of loose beans lieing around on the shelf.  Leif decided to pick up a bean and eat it.  He popped it in his mouth and before I could tell him no I heard a big crunch and he chewed that bean up.  He then turned to me and a big smile broke out on his face and he said “Yummy!”.  He then proceeded to grab a few more loose beans.  Now when I go the the store Leif always wants to go to the coffee isle to get some more.

And here are some random pictures from this fall that I have not posted about yet.

Kalven loves petting zoos.

The kids found popcorn.

Kalven decides to strike it out on his own.

Sitting on a frog.

Sliding at the park.

Swinging

Last Thursday we brought Leif into Midwest Surgeons Center to get his ears cleaned.  No, it did not require surgery but it did require him to be put to sleep.  We have brought Leif into a Dr. office twice to have them clean his ears but Leif, being a typical 3 year old, does not like to be restrained at all.  And when that suction hose is put into his ear he will not sit still at all.  The Dr was concerned that Leif would fidget too much and the suction hose would puncture his ear drum so he recommended that Leif be put to sleep to have the rest cleaned.

So, we made an appointment.  7:00am Thursday morning Leif was going to sleep and getting his ears sucked clean.  That means that Aleece and I were up at 4:00am to get ready and drop Kalven off at a friends house so we could head up to the place and be there by 6:15am.  Yea, 45 min early to get paperwork done or something.  Really we just sat in the waiting room playing for 40 min and did paperwork and talked to the Dr for 5 min.

Anyway, Leif went into the room to get his ears cleaned and Aleece and I got to go to a consult room to wait for the Dr.  10 min later the Dr came in and said he was done.  He also said that he felt really, REALLY good about putting Leif under as there was about 4 times the amount of wax in there than he originally thought.  And while Leif was under the Dr checked to make sure that his ears looked good and there was no water behind the eardrums.  There was not.

After the consult we got to go back into the waiting room to wait for Leif to wake up.  That took about 20ish min.  When Leif was awake we got to go to the recovery room where they could tell us all of the after procedure stuff, 5 min of stuff.  After waiting around for another 10 min or so to make sure Leif would not throw up we were able to leave.  At this time it was about 8:30.

I had taken the whole day off and was not sure if I would go back to work the last half of the day or if I would just take the rest of the day and play.  Leif was just fine, but a little groggy so I decided to just take the rest of the day and play.  I wanted to make sure Aleece would not have a bad day if things went sour.  They didn’t.  We played the rest of the day, dancing to music, rolling on the floor, tickle wars, having lunch, watching movies.  Man what a great day!

So, now it’s been a few days.  What does it mean that Leif now has clean ears?  Well, way back when (like 3 months ago) we wanted to get Leif hearing checked.  Since he is too young for the “raise you hand at the beep” tests they have to check it by sticking a probe into his ear and looking at how his inner ear workings, work.  That could not happen before because his ears were too packed.  Now in 2 weeks we can bring Leif in to see if he can hear.

I am pretty sure he can.  Since we have had the procedure it seems that Leif can talk a little better, he seems like he can repeat words better, and he seems to be stringing more words together at a time.  He is still behind and needs school and/or therapy to get caught up but it seems like this ear thing has given him a big jump.

Kalven has figured out step stools.  He understand that when you stand on one you can reach stuff that was out of reach before.  And boy does he like to try that out.

We have a couple of stepping stools around the house, most we got so Leif could wash his hands.  Once Kalven found out what he could do he now see’s them all over the place.  Kalven likes to step up and just slap the counter tops to show he can reach up there.  Kalven even understands that if you are doing something and he can not see he can PICK UP the stool and bring it over to you.  The only downside to that is Kalven usually places the stool upside down and does not know how to turn it over.  Or I think he just does not try and starts crying because he knows we will turn it over for him.

Kalven also likes to get up on chairs and sit.

These do not have anything to do with step stools or chairs, but it is funny.
This is the face that Kalven makes when he poops. Every time he poops.

And now he is done.

Halloween has come and gone, and it was a fun one.  Leif really understood all the fun of dressing up and going to strangers houses for candy.  I think the best way to tell the story of Halloween this year is to tell it with pictures.

We start out the day by carving our pumpkin.

The boys like to help.  First thing we have to do is get this top off so we can clean out the inside.

Everyone helps clean out the inside.

Now that it is all cleaned out we draw out what we want to carve.  Leif has his own carving tool (yep it’s kid safe!) and we get to work.

It’s a happy pumpkin!

Kalven was getting bored so he went to go play with the car.

Here is the apprentice carver and his final product.  What a cheerful looking guy!  Leif looks pretty happy too.

We heard some crying from the garage, looks like Kalven is still learning how to exit the car.

All is better, Kalven poses next to the happy pumpkin.

Aleece and I dresses up as Roman Citizens.  Yep, we were dressed up all night long.  It was fun!

Leif went as Diego, his favorite TV show character.

Kalven went as baby Jaguar, another character from the favorite TV show. (I know, it’s more lion looking…you have to use you imagination a little.  That’s what this night is all about anyway!)

Kalven did not really like the paws mittens and got upset.

Here we go, first house is Grandma and Grandpas!

Kalven feels better about the paws mittens now that he can wander around outside.

Here is Leif waiting patiently at our second house of the night.

They do not get may Trick-or-Treaters in this neighborhood and the people are all happy to see someone.  The kept giving us candy!  Leifs hands were full so here they are trying to give some to Aleece as she is snapping pictures.

Leif is getting this whole door to door thing, it’s fun!

Aleece took a quick picture, I was not quite ready but Kalven thought he was supposed to kiss me.  What a nice surprise!

AAAahhhhhh.  Look at that bag, it’s bursting!  What a fun and profitable night.

Kalven in his Halloween PJ’s

Summer and Jaxson stopped by to Trick-or-Treat.

It was a fun night.  Aleece and I even got to have some fun.  The boys stayed at Grandma and Grandpas house and we got to go out in costume.  I think this is the start of a really good tradition.

Kalven has this toy, it’s a penguin.  It is almost as tall as Kalven and is basically an infliatable baloon with rattle balls inside and a heavy base.  Remember the weebalos?  Like a big one of those.  It will wobble and wobble but never fall down.  Oh, and this penguin will play a little music if you hit it.  It’s cute.

Kalven loves this thing.  He will go over to it and push it to make music, then he will laugh and laugh.  Kalven also loves to take that thing and carry it around.  It’s really funny because Kalven is only able to lift it about 2 inches off the ground.  But he will carry his penguin around making it play music and laugh.

Man kids are funny.

Ok, and now for some more pictures.

These are Kalvens 1 year pictures

Here are the kids in Halloween costumes.

Some fall pictures.

Stay tuned for more stories and pictures!