Oh where does the time go?

The past two weeks? Busy as usual. We hit up the circus last weekend, it was a present from kyans birthday from Mom and Dad. Pie did exceptionally well and the look on Kyan's face when the elephants and zebras entered the ring was priceless! I am going to have to look into some more inside entertainment as the temperature in good ol M-I begins to fall below freezing. BBBRRR Our outside playing is slowly coming to an end, well at least with me. Mick has this affair every year with the snow, he enjoys shoveling (yeah and i married him???) So at least the boys can get in some quality play time outdoors over the winter. You can look for me by the fire place!

Kyan continues to be SICK. He has been coughing now since Sept 17th. The pediatrician gave him a 14 day rx of abx with no improvement and then after a 4 year well child check and a failed hearing test she left us hanging about what do do with his cold/cough but referred us to an ENT for possible tube placement. I hope something is done so he can hear us. I feel so bad for him and at the same time he's driving me crazy that I have to repeat everything I say 3 or 4 times. Some times he doesn't hear at all and other times he hears different words such as "outside" instead of "how high" and so on. I tried buying him a warm mist humidifier for his room but no luck, he's still hacking all night long :( I thought it was getting better but that lasted about 2 days. Now, he's starting to get stuffed up again. So Mick brought up a good point. Can you get stuffy and have a persistent cough from retaining fluid in your ears? This fluid does eventually drain to your throat right? Hmmm I'm gonna have to look into this. We have been trying for a year to prevent a cold to prevent the secondary ear infection. Maybe we need to prevent the fluid in the ear to prevent the secondary upper respiratory infection. Or maybe this is all completely off. I don't care what it is or what needs to be done. I want my little guy to be able to hear! We will have more on what will be done after his visit to the ENT on Dec. 9th

Mr. G. Kyu is in the house.....Our house!

My friend Melissa hit the road to have some girl time in NYC. Because of the great friend I am (she gets my back too!) I took Gavin, her 18mnth old for a couple days so she could get away. It hasn't been too bad with the exception of Mick leaving this morning with the van and leaving me with a car that can barley fit 2 car seats and well needing to transport 3 kids! Some times (99% of the time) I wonder "what was he thinking!" Anyway, after driving down the expressway with the trunk bungied shut on the double jogging stroller (knew I bought that thing for a reason!) I met up with mick, did a little car seat shuffleroo and we were back on track, we did lunch and checked out some Hockey (remember Tuesdays are officially hockey days now until spring) After Hockey all three kids took a nap at the same time. Gavin cuddled with me and napped on my lap while I got my Oprah fix! Gavin is a very calm natured boy, I hope we don't corrupt him during his short stay. I think I have another name to add to Nolan's nickname list, we can call him Gangsta Pie or better yet, Master P! This kid is not messing around when other blood enters his domain! He now says "mine" to just about anything in existence. I won't dare leave him alone with Gavin, I turned my head for a second and he had G by his shirt over a hotwheel! Don't worry Melissa, what doesn't kill him will only make him stronger!!!! In all, its actually really cute (in a motherly way) that he is protecting his stuff, and of course his mommy. Its hard for him to see me caring for another little one. Maybe another kid isn't such a great idea after all Honey??..... Really though, we are having so much fun with Gavin visiting. So much fun that it has made Nolan sick to his stomach over this :( Yeah an hour ago, he woke up and puked all over. I rocked him for about 30 min until he wanted his crib. I hope this is quick, its so hard to see your baby puke. He did it 3 times. He looked at me like "what the heck was that and who just pooped in my mouth?!" My poor little guy is sick, I hope this is gone in the morn and I hope we don't get Gavin sick.

The Newest Member of the 4 Year Old Club!

Today marks four years of parenthood for Mick and I! I think we have done one hell of a job. Kyan is one of the most well adjusted, brightest, mature young boys around. He is in his second year of preschool but talks better than most 1st graders. His vocabulary is more like a 2nd grader or even third grader. I love it when he experiments and attempts to learn new words. For instance the other night prior to dinner he says "mmm mom this is a great advertisement" while snacking on some salsa. What he meant was "appetizer." These things make me glow as I see him challenging himself to use a more advance language. I came out of a store the other day and he asked me if I had gotten him something to drink (or something of that nature) When I replied "no" or "I forgot", he mumbled under his breath, "Geeze Mama, your really slacking lately." Mick and I silently looked at each other and grinned ear to ear. He always get complemented on his manners but mostly for using the "excuse me" in public. Most wait staff is amazed by this and then blown away when the 3 (now 4 of course) year old orders "ice water with lemon please" He will be honest with any adult as most children are. He refuses to disobey (for now anyway) his parents when we are not around. He once told a friend of the family he was not allowed to drink soda. (He's still a virgin from soda after 4 years for what we know) He loves Pepper, too much most of the time but knows he's not allowed to use salt. Kyan does not watch TV and doesn't care, our boy would much rather play with his mom, dad and baby brother. He loves being outside "lawning the grass" is one of his favorite past times. He is sometimes afraid of the "stinger man" but bee's usually don't bother him too much. He loves the moon and has one in his room, he's sleeping in his new tent under his pseudo sky tonight. He wakes up early but still requires a 2-3 hour nap daily and retiring for the night abound 8. He has been attempting to "stay dry" at night for quite sometime now, but never gets frustrated because he has our support. Kyan always washes his hands after the bathroom and is also awesome at remembering to brush his teeth both morning and night. He helps out at home by feeding both the cat and the dog and now he will be feeding his new fish! His favorite bridge is the Mackinac and knows you take I 75 to the UP. He knows his address and how to spell his first and last name, we are working writing them. He can count unassisted to at least 20 but can make it way higher if directed. He has almost also mastered recognizing those numbers too. He was the first to learn (with in a week) all the kids names in his class last year and knows them all this year too. He still likes it when mom and dad pick out his clothes but prefers to do it himself sometimes too. He usually gets the right foot in the right shoe but still needs assisting if they need to be tied. He loves to rake leaves. He is VERY inquisitive and asks "why" about everything, we make sure we give him and answer to it all, truthful but simple. He wants a baby sister really bad (really! I don't feed this to him, but mick wont believe that) He loves his baby brother and is very patient because his brother is not. His favorite toy is probably still his four wheeler but doesn't use it as much anymore. He would rather sleep naked. We tell him he can if he continues to "make it dry". He cant stand to sleep with socks on. He always reminds me to put on my seat belt. He's always trying to carry the cat around the house (our cat is rather large) He cant ever get enough of his CD's. If he could, he would vote for Barack Obama (he hears his name on NPR all the time in the car, this does not mean we are voting Obama) He has a fetish with having his finger and toe nails clipped, he wishes this could happen daily. Hang nails freak him out! He snores. His favorite teacher is Kate. He enjoys a good Beep when you pull out of the driveway. He can almost strap himself into his car seat. Tire swings make him sick. He has mastered jumping across the room on one foot. He loves cutting paper and saving all the clippings. He's awesome at hockey, season 2 starts tomorrow! He wont eat anything green. He eats oatmeal every morning but would rather have a smoothie. He likes it when we sleep in his room every now and then. He never misses a fountain while driving in the car. He loves crossing railroad tracks and can see one a mile ahead. When he finds a toad or other wild life he understands you can only play with it for so long, he will let it go and have it go find its mother. He has started to ask questions about being "dead". Vacuums are still really cool to him. He uses training wheels. He loves school. He loves being around people all the time. He is the greatest little 4 year old ever!

Designed by Kyan. Rememeber his last years choice? http://jenandmick.blogspot.com/2007/11/i-know-this-is-dated-material-but-i.html

The Newest member of the Larson family, "Fish Forever"

Happy Halloween 2008

Not at great pic of me but at least Mick looks finer than ever! I enjoyed asking him for his purse all night long!
Mr. Turtle Head! Visiting Kyans Preschool

Kyan wearing Grandma's Halloween Costum!

Us Outside U of M after the pumpkin carving contest. Please note....the Tortise and the Hare!

Perfect size pumpkin for the pie!!!

Halloween recap............

We have had a busy weekend with Halloween, Kyans 4th birthday party and our visit from the Grandma's. Halloween was a success, both kids had a blast. They were dressed as The Tortoise (Nolan) and The Hare (Kyan). Nolan was amazed at all the spooky Halloween decorations both before the big day and while trick or treating. Inside the spirit store (big Halloween store) he would walk up to "scary guys" (kyans names for zombies, ghosts, witches etc) touch them, scream, jump back and laugh. It was all so priceless and at the same time funny how much he wants to do EVERYthing big bro. does! While out gathering candy Kyan was able to experience his first haunted house (our neighbor creates his own annually. He did great only yelling at one "scary guy" and saying "get away from me!" You may think we are nuts exposing our 4 year old to this but ....Our theory in Parenting: If you always tell the truth your child, your child will always trust you! We reassured him they were just people in masks just like him. Example number 2 supporting our Theory, 2 year Imms, we were honest and told him they would hurt, but only for a few seconds, the kid didn't even cry! How many kids don't cry when the get a few shots at 2 years old? I'm telling you, it works but I think he's so laid back because we have been doing this from day one, that's why little "white lies" drive us insane!!! Anyways back to Halloween. Mick and I got to go out together!!!! Both our Mom's came down so we could go to the Law School Halloween Bash. We had a lot of fun dressing up but were disappointed that we lost the costume contest to Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin. I do however think that it had to do with our karaoke performance to guns and roses "Sweet Child of Mine" just prior to the contest! Oh well maybe next year!