Katharine Lange: Arwyn Week 104: Arwyn the Artist

Arwyn was a little sick and grumpy for a lot of this week, which is such a shame because she's supposed to be so easy. She took a lot of bad, short naps this week too, which was also annoying, but at least she was kind of sleeping in later in the morning, which was nice. Despite being a bit grumpy and fussy at times, Arwyn seems to have grown out of those crazy, out-of-control tantrums that she was having. You could totally tell that they were the result of incomplete brain development because she would be so crazy that she scared herself and made herself even crazier! Glad those neurons finally grew in! She continues to say some funny stuff to me. The other night I was singing her to sleep right after she chugged some milk, and she let out a little burp. She interrupted my song to tell me, "I burp, mouth." It was pretty funny. Another night she was pointing up at the kitchen counter, saying, "Ka-chit ah gon!" She was repeating it over and over, desperate for me to understand what she was saying. I was so confused, until I finally realized what she pointing at: the empty ketchup bottle...ketchup all gone! She's so smart! We went to the story reading at the library this week. The librarian was actually nice and very good with kids, but unfortunately Arwyn wasn't too interested. She was more interestied in the stuffed animals and pulling books off the shelf, which seemed a little weird because she loves reading books with us at home. Oh well. Leia wasn't so interested either; she sat in Nana's lap with her back to the books the whole time. I know both my kids are so attentive at school in these types of group situations, so it's quite frustrating that they aren't so much when family is around.

Leia seemed to be acting so much better this week after our special Mommy/Leia day, but it only lasted 5 or 6 days at the most. As I said before, it also helped that I was better with her too, and they were all my days off, so I wasn't short and stressed about being late for work. We went to a medical school graduation party for my friend Cathy, which was really fun. Miraculously both girls made friends with Cathy's little nieces, and managed to have fun and entertain themselves at the party for quite awhile. They actually let me ditch them and talk to adults for more than 5 minutes at a time, which never happens! Unfortunately, it turns out that Leia is a bit of a kleptomaniac. We went to leave the party, after both girls had been so generous and sharing with all their toys (Piper even said Leia could keep this little purple ring), and I found Leia's pockets full of treasures she had taken without asking! I made her give it all back to the girl face to face. In the end, Piper still let her keep the ring, and they let her borrow a purple pen, which she decided she was finished with anyway about 10 seconds after we got in the car. Guess we're going to have to work on curbing that bad little habit!
One thing that really made me happy this week was when we got home from playing at Nana's and Leia said she wanted to put herself down for nap, and actually did! I was of course a little skeptical about the whole idea, because she only ever wants me to leave her alone when she wants to do something she knows I won't like. I said yes and let her go anyway though, because I had to put Arwyn to bed first, and if there was any chance of me not having to go through the hassle of putting Leia down too, I was all for it! When I got out of Arwyn's room, the house was all quiet, and Leia was nowhere to be found. Her room was dark, and the door ajar, so I thought, wow, maybe she actually did it! I closed the door and walked away, but 3 minutes later she appeared out of nowhere. She told me she did go potty already, so I just walked her up, tucked her in, and left again. She didn't pee in her pants during nap, so I assume she must have been telling the truth, and the whole process was super easy, so I was pretty stoked! Leia has finally figured out how to un-pause the movies using the 'x' button on the remote control, so we are in big trouble as far as TV control goes! Fortunately she hasn't figured out how to turn the remote itself back on if it turns off, so that helps, but it won't be long before she figures that one out too!

Leia's class learned about the letter 'T' this week...tissue paper.

And the letter 'U' for underground...I like the bugs in the dirt under the grass!

Arwyn is coming home with more and more artwork these days.

I like Arwyn's use of color in her abstract art.

Beautiful tissue paper rainbow by Leia.

Beautiful views down near Bridgeport where Josh and the boys went camping for the weekend for Marco's bachelor party.

Some lukewarm hot springs.

Whisky, musics, and sunsets...all the necessary ingredients for a successful bachelor party!

John was happy to be doing some camping again!

A fun little painting session with the girls.

Being the little sister, Arwyn got stuck with the "natural tones" color pallet of paints, which Leia thought was so ugly. But I actually thought Arwyn did a really nice job of making those bland colors look great here, and after I complimented her on a job well done, Leia snatched up those browns and greys to add to her own painting!

Meanwhile, the boys were getting ready to do a little back country skiing up this good looking pitch!

Leia's little ballerina protege (note the little shoes that used to be mine)!

Another session of teacher Leia's home ballet class.

Per Leia, everyone has to hang their bags over on that cabinet before class can start.

Arwyn verifying to make sure all the bags are still hung up properly.

Ok, class is over; grab your bag and head for home.

Emmett's inaugural run in the jeep. He kept crashing off the side of the road into the bushes, and it wasn't clear if it was on accident or on purpose!

Good thing they had Poppy around to help get untangled!

Arwyn and Emmett were doing really well on the climbing wall at the park.

Arwyn's first time crossing the wiggle bar stools!

Meanwhile, back at the bachelor party, the boys were cooking up some lamb!

First time on a slack line...very good concentration and balance skills here!

Uh oh, going down!

Password = Leia

Leia's Slack Line Debut from Katharine Transue on Vimeo.

First time ever trying out a slack line, and I think Leia did pretty darn well! I like the option for a little balance help.

Intro to Fooze ball with their new friend Piper.

New mermaid tail technique...the stuffed pillowcase!

So nice to sit in the sun down by the creek.

Arwyn likes to throw rocks in the creek, so I get a lot of creek time these days!

Wahoo, good throw!

Uh oh, always forget to lock the car at least once at the beginning of summer...the bear is back! (Don't worry, no damage.)

June 11th and it's snowing again!

Leia's gymnastics exhibition at school.

Showing off her skills on the back roller!

Password = Leia

Leia's Gymnastics Back Roller from Katharine Transue on Vimeo.

Leia's School Gymnastics Class put on a little demonstration of all the exercises they've been learning all year. Here Leia shows us the back rolling push.