Photos! Photos! Photos!

As promised....photos from late!

Trip to AZ, Dylan's 3rd birthday party & Halloween!

xoxoxo

 Apple picking...such a blast! 

Dylan's Party...

 Web slinging fun...silly string webs to shoot down the villain!!!

 "I want a spider web cake mom."

 The obstacle course for agility...to improve the spidey senses!

 Presents for Spiderman!

Dance party, birthday party after-hours!

 Halloween...Spiderman 1 and Spiderman 2 (Build A Bear Workshop, thanks to the Hodgkinson Clan).

 Papa and Grandma stopped over to handle out candy while the kids romped around the neighborhood!

 The final stop....with a full bag!

Papa and his many looks!

The Entertainer of the Year...Papa!

 Pumpkin Carving....

"It's so slimy!"

Build a Bear Workshop H I T!

This bear left in Dylan's arms with three outfits:

Raider's Football 

Scuba Diver

Spiderman

Parrot

It's a continual game of Copy Kat around here. Either Dylan or Kaitlyn gets the other started and then it's over, a freight train of banter between the two rules the house. The volume escalates and then it's over, just like that. At least for a short while until the other starts in again. I call the copier 'Parrot'. Really, my nickname just fuels the fire!

Where to begin, once again I'm sitting her pondering the joys from this past month as it's been another 30 plus days since I last wrote. So much changes in a few short weeks that the trends from today were certainly not anticipated two weeks ago!  The kids and I took Grandma to Arizona for a stint with Auntie Jessie-a glorious time to be in Arizona. Swimming, park play, walks with the dogs and hands on hanging out with desert tortoises: Godzilla (the Big Daddy); two mothers and about seven babies (each no more than three inches in length). Auntie Jessie was prepared for our visit-a stocked toy cabinet, books on DVD and fun treats. She never ceases to amaze me!

Then it was Papa's 70th birthday. This was quite an endeavor. Grandma had him in a skeleton costume, invited over a houseful of saints while the brothers et all were the servers, grill master (Steve), MC (Darin & Scott), bartender (Benet) and even the witness supporter (Denis via iPad). It was a festive evening rich with extra hands (my favorite was Kimberly, Scott's girl, who brought her own rubber gloves to assist with the dishes...now that's thoughtfulness)! As usual Heames fashion, the house was packed, the stories were great and the party was rocking! The kids and I headed back over the next day for a nice family brunch among the great Aunt's & great Uncles. Kaitlyn wore her tutu and went into a reenactment of my all too famous blue tutu wearing days of Italy! She is truly my daughter...this I know!

Last week Steve and I headed to San Fran while the kids were under the care of Nana. Lord bless her for the work she did while we were away. The children were brought to school each day, on time, and without skipping a beat, all their afternoon commitments were upheld! I'm sure they were given yummy homecooked meals, daily, as all the food I had for their lunches and general dining were still here when I returned! Go Nana....to our surprise, she took Dylan to the Barber and ordered him a darling haircut! He's like a little man now, ready for the military since the hair is really super short with curls on top. I know Steve wasn't thrilled, and for me...I just wish I was there. I can visualize Dylan at an old school Barber, feeling grown up, not moving at all, frozen in both curiosity and amusement! He just walks around the house with his hands on his head, stopping periodically to say, 'I like it, Mommy, I like my haircut'! It's really precious!

Miss Sassy Kaitlyn is growing up so quickly! She's much more receptive to instruction and lessons these days, I'm so pleased! I also find myself, especially when lying next to her scratching her back at night, so in love! I'm in awe over the fact that this little child is a part of me...she is my family. It's remarkable. Probably for the past two months I've been overcome by these feelings toward both the kids. I often heard prior to giving birth to Kaitlyn, 'Oh you'll be so in love with your children, it's such an amazing feeling.' Well, it took me a good few weeks to feel a connection with Kaitlyn-partly due to her being in the NICU and then partly due to the struggles with breastfeeding, lack of sleep and the overall shock of the physical toll childbearing has on you. Then one morning the feeling of love was different and I truly felt connected to this little innocent being. Well...what I feel lately is of greater depth. I really thought I was at the cap of my love, only needing to sustain it for forever...but recently I found out that our capacity to love can only further grow!

With that...key highlights:

Dylan is now 3 years old! His big day was celebrated by the Hodgkinson's with a grand trip to Build A Bear Workshop. He took on a silver bear that roars, has ears that light up and was outfitted with three full costumes: Raiders Football Player (including a helmet), a Scuba Diver and Spiderman! Such fun-he carries this bear almost everywhere and changes it's clothes as often as Kaitlyn changes her mind! His actual party is on this Saturday...Spiderman! Should be an absolute blast!

Dylan talks like a big boy mainly due to his greatest teacher being that of Kaitlyn. We all know she talks like she's 13-a real eloquent young girl! He's no quiet one either. This deep voice of his can be heard from all rooms of the house. He has a presence and with the right direction, we really hope it can be a great benefit for any team sport!

Kaitlyn declared the other day that she will not be a football player, but rather a cheerleader.

Kaitlyn is in a dance class that happens at her school on Thursdays...this little girl is in Heaven. She has tap and ballet shoes that she'll just put on for no reason other than to pretend dancing. She goes over her dance moves repeatedly, often showcasing them to Steve or myself. It's really been fun to witness this excitement within her toward dance! Go Miss Amanda (her teacher) for having such a great influence upon her!

Kaitlyn also knows every lyric and title to each song that comes on the sirius Kids Place Live station. I listen to it as often as she and still don't know lyrics let alone song titles. Genius. Definitely Steve's daughter.

Dylan continues to be a typical boy: holding his penis all the time. Did I mention he holds his penis constantly? Really, his new thing is to walk around holding onto his penis. Heck, it's so often Auntie Jessie called him 'Tug' while we traveled. On a serious note, he's rock solid with his meat eating abilities, his independence is becoming as fierce as Kaitlyn's and he's not phased by sweets. Amazing how young children are when concrete personality traits are recognizable!

Enjoy the pics:

Changing of the season...

It's been two full months and I've not written a word, hoarding all child moments for my own memory, preventing anyone from relishing in the full joy that I've been experiencing of late. Summer has come to a close for us as now both Kaitlyn and Dylan are in their third week at school. Together they tackle four days, Tuesday thru Friday at the local Montessori Academy-a place I have yet to fully know since the last two years we were at another Montessori over 15 miles away. Now the eight minute commute is a welcomed reality, I feel like I have earned it!

Leading up to school, I had the kids full time at home from end of June, all of July and August. During this time we experienced some solid fun, solid lessons and solid love. I am proud to report that my little Kaitlyn has grown up tremendously -so much so-that Grandma mentioned her improvement during their recent overnight. Kaitlyn now preoccupies herself with activities that require deep concentration. Or, maybe more accurately, she falls into a deep concentration when engaged with various activities, most requested being any type of craft. Beyond the artsy world she possesses an obvious hunger for mastering tasks and is on a quest to further her repertoire of knowledge. She's down right curious, often asking questions that I find challenging to answer. Sometimes I fib and refer her questions to Steve knowing that my walking-encyclopedia-husband will have a quick answer appropriate for her thirsty mind! I've heard that people relearn life when they have children and now I get how this happens. My retention of just about anything is slim to none so children are challenging me with my own life pursuits, historical facts and then the basic life questions that one would assume any human would have an answer for! Well....I don't always!

Dylan is a force to be reckoned with. He's a superhero trapped in a 2 year old body. Seriously, he's in fantasty world often. He'll step into this stance, hands on his hips, stern look upon his face and then he'll say, "I'm Spiderman." It's a full character experience! My favorite is when he wears his homemade Batman face mask, constructed out of yellow and black construction paper, pseudo laminated by way of clear tape and stretch string to keep it on his face! This kid is drenched in costume, imagination and the memorable DEEP DYLAN voice. Where did the latter come from? He is a rock solid little bugger, and then he opens his mouth, talks and people stop to listen. He commands attention with this voice alone, but with is mask of the day and superhero energy, he's just a fun show!

Dylan continues to pest his sister and she, him...but the coolest experience is how they feed off one another. I suppose this has been blossoming for some time but as of late their make believe sessions revolve around playing house-surely dictated by big sister Kaitlyn. Nonetheless, Dylan plays the role of Daddy or Baby. Kaitlyn remains true to her own character, but under the pretend play of Mommy.  Yes, she's bossy-as am I.

Speaking of bossy, Kaitlyn likes to control how a situation should unfold. She will arrange the scene for you, then tell YOU what to do and say, play by play. This is not always met with a degree of welcomed involvement, and that generally leads to a minor meltdown. She is particular. This I would attribute to Steve. Children...you really can see your own self in their development.

We are back on the church track, giving our go with the local Catholic Church in a neighboring town. First week my idea to go was met with, "I don't like God." Hmm. Really? Second week was met with, "I love going to church. Just like cousin. We get to learn about God. God created everything, even me and you Mom....and Dylan and Daddy." She's hilarious. Dylan doesn't really know any better and quite frankly I can't wait until he's 3 so he can attend the child's program that is offered during mass...he's just a rambunctious boy that finds fun anywhere else but near me when forced to stay somewhat calm and contained. Lord help me! I figure the routine of it all will pay off in the long run and eventually the two of them will possess that reverence and understanding one can gain through going.

This morning Kaitlyn was putting on winter tights adorned with varying snowflake designs, her sunburst yellow skirt and topped with a long sleeve patterned green and peach springtime motif. I told her in my most affirming voice-you know she's soooo independent that of course she feels super great for dressing her own self-, "You know Kaitlyn while I love the tights and this new shirt, ...what you have on today does not match." She stood, astonished by what I said, momentarily computing her thoughts, then burst out with, "Mommy, I'm a rockstar today." Ok, I give up! Like I said, independent little one.

Before closing...do know a litany of photos will come soon. The kids enjoyed a couple of days at the beach in our relative's beach condo, a day at LegoLand, a handful of birthday parties and their first RV style camping trip. We ran around this town from park to park, attempted bike rides and train rides, ate yummy afternoon treats and cooled off multiple times in our blow up swimming pool. Summertime was embraced fully around here. Team Patterson now moves onto Autumn...what lies ahead: dance class and Spanish for Kaitlyn, soccer for Dylan, and Gymnastics for both! I'm tired just thinking about it!

Connections

Our newest friends...we met this family at swim. Naomi and Jordan are twins, both turned 3 recently. Kaitlyn was in class with Naomi and Jordan with Dylan. The color of our children united us...Shay, their mother, is black and married to a white man. I love how color can unite!

PS. Thanks Nana for the backpacks. Despite their not being in school, they do get used!

Words...

Tonight the kids and I were doing this great tie-dye t-shirt project using a rainbow of sharpie markers, rubbing alcohol and rubber bands. In all the prep I told them that these markers would not come off their clothes or anything else they wrote on. Kaitlyn then stated so confidently, 'Mommy, they are like your pregnant marker, the black one!'

Priceless.

Dylan plays in fantasy land all the time now. Generally he's neck to neck with Kaitlyn teaming up with one of her princesses as he tackles crime head on as Spider Man. Tonight he was saying he was Peter Parker and so Kaitlyn ran up to me showing me her Batman Pez dispenser saying, 'He's not Batman anymore.' She wanted his real life character name. I told her he must be Bruce Wayne and she darted off to Peter Parker with intensity. Later I observed Dylan moving his character figurines all over the family room, mumbling to himself various scenarios. Then, ever discreetly, walked over to Kaitlyn's princess basket and took out her 'glass slippers'. He put them on and returned to his superhero guys as if nothing ever happened. Oh man, he will certainly be able to hang with the girls. He could win any Princess Jeopardy today, even at his young age of 2.5 years. He knows the princesses by dress, by hair, by skin.

Needless to say, our home is constant Superhero Princess Party talk all day, from morning to night.

Summertime...

It's hot. Summer has surely arrived. The kids are home full time and every so often I get from Kaitlyn, "I miss school. I miss my friends, can't we go tomorrow?" It's so wonderful to hear this for a number of reasons, but today, what makes my head throb is that it validates my driving 240 miles each week just for the two round trips for delivery and pick up that I do each day they attend. Yes, that's right, 240 miles X 4 weeks is 960 miles a month just for school. That amounts to approximately three tanks of gas which is close to $210 a month on this venture alone. Let's not forget I'm an active mom who enjoys visiting Nana in Long Beach, the folks in Moreno Valley and of course a couple of LA trips scattered throughout the months along with all the regular city driving and we are sinking into gallons of additional fuel. Respite. It's summer. I haven't filled my tank in over a week and I still have a quarter tank left-this makes my heart skip.

Steve is on a quest for the latest Tesla Motor's Model S all electric car and after the opportunity to test drive this baby a couple of weeks back, I salivate at the shift of coins! This car, while it's a huge up front expense, has a ridiculously minimal overhead cost that if all goes well, our solar powered units for the home (once installed) will off set that cost even more. Go Green. It's a new experience that we'll be having here at the Patterson home come March of  2013-well, Steve at least. In the meantime, I'm relishing in my low overhead, relatively speaking, as my city taxi miles is all I'm having to finance!

Two weeks ago I enrolled Kaitlyn in a Level I swim class and Dylan in a Mommy & Me class, both conducted in the same lane at the same time. This has grounded my summer days, giving us an activity that organizes our day, gets us out of the heat momentarily, and exhausts at least Dylan. When it's all said and done, the kids will have enjoyed a full month of classes as they are offered five days a week...they will be ready to 'swim' in the lake for our August camping trip but the real motivation is learning how to be safe in the water or they will not be allowed to swim in cousin Natalia's pool. This puts Kaitlyn out of any sassy spell and immediately into a mode of cooperation when getting ourselves ready for class. Kaitlyn seems to thoroughly enjoy the lessons, often reporting to me a fondness for her skills that develop each passing day. Most recently this included "holding hands with Roger (a classmate) underwater while going under water for a toy". She's such a girl....

From day one, Dylan verbally disapproved of going under the water and for whatever reason, today he wanted to do it twice and didn't cry but rather smiled heavily asking for more. The shift happened. I'm confident in his abilities, any sport with this guy and off he'll go, sailing. We walk past the football field to reach the pool and thus daily he reminds me of his future football playing adventures, saying hello to each giant jock as they strut along with all their gear. It's a college campus after all, so training is in full force and Dylan is absorbing it all!

Some incredibly delicious highlights of these two rapidly growing children:

Kaitlyn loves to count to 100! Often we swap numbers, I say 1 and she says 2, and on we go all the way up to 100. Fun mind game! She also easily absorbs herself in paper dolls-maybe I could label her as a chronic user? Seriously, this past week alone I think I've spent over four hours just cutting and gluing every 3-D Disney printable paper craft project available on-line. When she asked to help with the cutting-as everything needs cutting out-I said yes and to my surprise, this little girl wouldn't move for two hours straight, hardly talk...completely focused on her task; completely proud of herself once she had finished piles of cut outs for me to glue. Her cutting skills are exceptional I might add.

Dylan is in the throws of potty training. I give credit to Montessori for really doing the tedious work of getting him trained since now that we are home full time I see how easily it could be to just give up and slap on a diaper or pull up to reserve my energy for something else. Currently he's found a fascination with peeing outside and on two occasions, pooping. Oh boy! Not my favorite situation to walk into-but I do know it's so typical. He's fairly great with his aim at the potty, but I've observed that as he gets more swift with the routine, the sloppy side of potty training occurs. Anyone know how to get that pee smell out of bathroom grout? Moms of boys, you know what I'm talking about here!

As our days unfold, the sibling rivalry remains high, the bedtime routines are lengthy, imaginations are wild and Super Heros with Princesses are top notch topics. I'm finding myself laughing more with these two, lavishly loving on them, hugging and praising each throughout the day and especially when I tuck  them into bed. This has become my favorite part of the day-I lean onto each one separately asking them what they are thankful for. The first few times Dylan would shrug his shoulders and smile. I'd begin my list of specific encounters of our day that made me proud or made me appreciate his style and then he'd bust out with an appreciation. It's incredible what little minds can conjure up! Kaitlyn's thank you's are always conducted while scratching her back-it's her thing. She inherited this from Steve...the itch factor. She loves a good hard scratch, dictating which part of her back to scratch next. It's hilarious really. By the time we are finished with our thank you's, Dear Loving and Gracious God prayers and scratches, she is off to slumber and I'm often off to slumber alongside her. I'm exhausted. Pooped out. It's summer. after all!

Communication by my 4 year old...

Tonight was going to be adventurous, thus I made it very clear what the children and I were set out to accomplish. Both Dylan and Kaitlyn knew they would be in the double stroller once we arrived in Old Town Pasadena and that Mommy had to pick up some paper from a paper shop. They would not be getting out of the stroller, and if they both cooperated while I got my goods, we would go for ice cream. Exceptional. Truly, both of these little ones were so outstanding. Overjoyed I found myself stopping time to express to them specifically how much I appreciated their cooperation at the store, itemizing out what they did: they were patient, quiet and very courteous.

Well, upon arriving at home I had high hopes both would be passed out from the travel time, however I was unfortunately left with two overly tired but awake children. Dylan couldn't get himself to focus on sleep while his sister was attempting every tactic in the book to delay her restful sleep (jumping on bed, asking for other sleeping arrangements, repetitively saying certain words, stalling with getting dressed, etc...you get the picture). Eventually I grew to a snappy verbal tone and as militant as I could be, I attempted laying down the law. My four year old, again, overly tired, began her rant. This is the second one this week and I must say they are comical now that I know how to handle them! She followed me downstairs to let Cosimo outside and wouldn't follow me back upstairs for a number of reasons she blurted out. I left her there on the last step and walked upstairs to get Dylan back into his bed (probably for the 4th time due to all his sister's disruptions)! She ranted for another ten minutes yelling, with confidence, such statements like:

I don't like this house anymore.
I don't like my Mommy, she's being a bully.
You can have all my Princess dolls and throw them into the trash.
I don't like Princesses anymore.
I don't like my books, I don't like my shoes.
I don't want to sleep. Mommy is mean.
I want to play. I'm not tired.
I don't like my curly hair, I want my hair to be straight.
...
...
I don't like my Mommy....

Mind you, she is hollering these statements out so loud it's hard to not want to stop them. But, silence is golden as she eventually stopped. I went up to her thanked her for quieting down and asked her if she was done with all that she wanted to say. She agreed she was finished but then launched into this finger listing (literally holding up her fingers one at a time) for why she was frustrated and had hurt feelings:

Mommy was Rude. Selfish. Yelling. Mommy was a bully. Didn't get the right bed for me. Mommy was going to leave me alone. Mommy was laughing when it wasn't funny.

She had nine fingers up by the time she finished all her thoughts. I swept her up and placed her back into her bed. Then proceeded to tell her that it was time to apologize-she very cooperatively apologized, as did I (secretly chuckling at the dynamic communication style of this little one) and we ended our night together with a loving embrace.


These shots below are from earlier today-they really capture her personality. Love her outfit? Yes, she picked it out herself and said, 'they match, the dots (on the shirt) are the same color as my pants'. She does this all the time, patterns could be horrifically colliding but she'll have at least one color in her shirt compliment or be the same color as one found on her pants. You can't change her mind on it, either. Once she sorts out her choice, that's it.

She's exhaustingly brilliant.