Our Halloween adventures continued on Monday when the kids came to my office to trick or treat. 75 kids parading around our office in costumes! It was so much better than last year. SSA were more comfortable and it’s just a better age for this type of event. They all loved showing off their costumes.

We don’t celebrate Halloween at the JCC Child Development Center so Tuesday, at school, was your typical day. I was able to sneak some photos of the kids in the drop-off room before Sammy spied me and came running for more hugs.

Steven is in the back in the blue shirt, deep in conversation.

I took a few pictures of the classroom displays while I was signing-in in the kids classroom. (I asked Amaya who she likes best in her class and she said, “The Noras”. I guess, like The Brothers, she she’s a fan of people who come in pairs. 😉 )

Tuesday night it was finally time for real door-to-door trick-or-treating. Steven, Sammy and Amaya all did great. They loved ringing the bell and always remembered to say “Trick or Treat”. After a few houses I carried Sammy’s costume until we got to each door. It turns out I didn’t make it easy for him to bend his knees. He was totally unphased, though.

 

Wednesday morning, Amaya woke up calling for Sammy. Sammy held her hand for a while until she wanted to get out of bed to give him a hug. She’s really been on a Sammy kick, lately! It’s very cute until it includes excluding Steven from the mix. Jason and I are totally aligned on the expectation that the kids don’t leave each other out. Three can be a tough number but we need to be clear that they can’t exclude one another.

Amaya didn’t quite want to hold Steven’s hand but agreed that he could hold her arm. (To be fair, there have been times when it’s Steven she specifically wanted. Interestingly, though, she seems to be the link. The boys will play together but it’s Amaya who’s tends to be the anchor of affection.)

Amaya! Don’t put your finger in your nose!

As soon as I said that, Sammy needed to put his finger in his nose, too.

Amaya and Sammy wanted to hold hands walking downstairs for breakfast. Steven wanted to join in but there wasn’t enough space for everyone to walk down together and Amaya was being difficult about walking with Steven, anyway. When they got downstairs, I asked Amaya to come back up and walk with Steven. I even offered to carry her up. Maybe I’d have let it go but she’d been excluding him all morning and I didn’t want it to continue. She was resisting and walked away. Steven looked at me and said, “I don’t think she’s coming back up.” Now I’m all for teaching the kids to manage through disappointment but not at the hands of one of their siblings being unnecessarily unkind. I went downstairs and explained to Amaya that Steven was sad because he was left out and I really needed her to be a great sister and walk down with him.

Here they are hand in hand. Good work, Amaya!

Here are a few photos from dance class on Wednesday. 🙂

Steven and a new friend.

Sammy and Amaya.

Thursday was a professional development day for the teachers at the JCC so there was no school. It had been a busy, busy week so we planned a lazy day at home. Megan kept everyone in jammies, built a fort and introduced the kids to Moana.

The highlight of the day was this guy decided to try to use the potty!! Everyone was SO proud of Steven!! He was really proud of himself, too.

He tried four times throughout the day. No successes but it’s a start! He was waiting on the potty when I got home from work so he could surprise me. Steven told me, “Amaya and Sammy are proud of me, too.” And, “I think Daddy will be really proud of me.”

Here he is surprising Daddy after work. This little proud face!!

Amaya asked me to send the photo above to her friend Hadley, which I did. I’m sharing this screenshot because it’s also Amaya’s very first text. 🙂 She spelled her name on the keyboard all by herself!

Friday morning started with more cuddles…

And ended with a visit from Papa and Uncle Austin! YAY!!!

We started off Saturday with some lazy time at home.

While Daddy was busy filling up a dumpster, the rest of us headed to Jungle Java.

Places like this really highlight some of the differences between the kids. Amaya is, by far, the most adventurous when it comes to gross motor activities. She was nervous at first but, pretty quickly, she ended up running all around the structure on her own (or with Mommy or Uncle Austin in tow). She’s still not a fan of the big slides but the phrase I heard most often during our visit was “I can do it by myself.” Way to go, little mama!!

Sammy really, really wanted to go in the tree house but was very nervous. Finally, he did it!!! Go Bubba!! He was so proud.

Lunch time!

An applesauce sandwich.

Brave Papa taking two boys to the bathroom.

Don’t worry about all of my stories about Amaya and Sammy. Steven’s not really left out. Here you can see just how close Amaya and Steven are, too, while we all cuddled during TV time. <3

We rounded out the day with an early dinner out at Garage.

Why take off your coat and hat inside, right? (Amaya and Sammy both really liked calimari. Steven didn’t want to try it.)

I helped with the Y, but Amaya wrote her name! She actually got the letters in order but started on the right side of the page instead of the left. I suppose it helps that she only has to learn 3 letters but I’m still impressed.

While we waited for food, Uncle Austin explained the gas and air pumps.

Interlude because I love this: Nana took Chase and Charlie out for dinner and they insisted on sending me this picture of their cups because they could see the statues’ butt cheeks. I don’t care what anyone else thinks – I absolutely LOVE that they see butt cheeks on their cups and think of Aunt Jo.

After dinner it was a last tv show and then bed. Which I share only because of these two photos.

Normal cuddles.

Mommy cuddles.

This morning was a lot slower. Everyone got new “stamps” and we did arts and crafts for at least 2 hours.

Amaya’s pizza.

Steven’s pumpkin. (Help with the cutting, obviously.) He really wanted to add that candle. 🙂

While Daddy went grocery shopping, the rest of us went out for brunch.

Papa and Uncle Austin had great cuddle time after naps.

We wrapped up the day with a trip to Bounce It Up. I’d never been but Rosie took the kids while I was in Denver in September.

Before we left, Steven told me he was going to get Daddy hot dogs at the bounce house place. Now I understand why. “That’ll be $5 for a hot dog,” he told me.

I really thought we were going to end up spending the entire time in this little corner. No one was interested in the bounce houses!

Finally I got Amaya out of her corner and she started exploring. At first she needed the section to be totally empty (tough on a rainy Sunday afternoon) but, before long, she had enough confidence to run and play even with a ton of other kids around.

Once Sammy saw Amaya in action he was game, too!

They had a blast. Next time we’ll try to go on a quiet weekday, if possible, so Steven can explore a little more comfortably, too. But he did love his time selling hot dogs.

And that’s it for our week! It was so, so great to have Uncle Austin and Papa visit The Land of Cheltenham for the weekend.

Have a great week!