Maya in the studio @ school

This is a little movie with Maya exploring water at school.  Let's see if this works...

Cardboard Box...and more of you know what!

Okay, so first things first.  I was horribly mistaken when I last wrote that we were recovering. We were far from recovering!  Maya had another bout Saturday afternoon and Owen did last night.  Ugh!!  So, I took them to the doctor today.  They're fine.  Owen lost almost two pounds and is a tad dehydrated but other than that he's fine.  

Phew.  

I felt awful yesterday (and stayed in bed all day even tho it was glorious outside) but now I feel fantastic.  (Woody thinks you should never submit to illness but I guess I'm a wuss:) And it's in the 70's today so I get another shot at the sunshine.  Yahoo.

Oh, and OM have the best memory.  While we were waiting for Dr. Snyder, Maya was looking around and told me she needed a diaper change.  And then she said Mickey. And she said it a couple of times and I was trying to connect diaper change with watching Mickey Mouse club. Luckily Owen was there and he said, oh, baby sis wants a mickey diaper.  And then I remembered, the last time we were there I ran out of diapers and borrowed one that had mickey and minnie mouse on it.  Totally amazing!  

Now about that cardboard box!  Saturday evening I went to a lecture about Reggio Emilia (the approach to educating children that I'm digging) and included in the packet of materials was a cool brochure about the universal childhood appeal of cardboard boxes.  Ginger had a cardboard box set up for OM while in Willits that they LOVED and if I was good at articulating why (they loved it) I would have written the following (from the brochure):

"A large enough box can be a whole world of the child's scale and the child's making.  The child is Queen of this small kingdom of imagination.  Climbing in and climbing out, the child can experience the power of the body and the control inherent in her self-determination.

The cardboard box is seen as both a metaphor for and an opportunity to engage in the important work and fundamental play of childhood; realizing and cultivating one's potential to imagine and to transform, to be and to do, to be with and to be apart from, to possess and to share, to discover and to be discovered.

The box is an archetypal symbol of our intentions and values; to see the extraordinary in the ordinary, beauty in banality and to place imagination, creativity, and joy at the heart of any learning process.  It affords us the opportunity to revel in the complexity of the simplest materials, offering the children new experiences and possibilities for the interests they have shared with us."

Ginger had said she wanted to get a whole bunch of boxes so they'd have their own town but thought that might be over-doing it:)  The one box was perfect.

Recovery

We are recovering today.  Maya has been napping on and off all morning and Owen is lounging watching Backyardigans.  He had one last final expulsion last night around 9 p.m. and then slept with us afterwards.  Around 4 a.m. he said, 'mommy, I love you soooo much' and then, 'hey mom, I'm feeling a lot better now'.  He finally fell back asleep @ 5 a.m. but then baby sis woke up so we've had a long morning.  They haven't eaten much.  Two tiny bites of oatmeal each.  But, at least they're not puking anymore!

So, this week we have been organizing Maya's baby clothes to give to Elee this weekend since baby Brook is coming next month!  We are all very excited.  It's been fun remembering when Owen and Maya were newborns and how special that time is.  I haven't taken any new pictures but the photos posted are from the first week in April in 2007 and 2008.  

These are from 2008, April 1 and April 5.

It's interesting to see the flowers.  This year none of my tulips are even close to blooming in the backyard and I have three daffodils blooming in the front yard.

This is from 2007, at the Oregon zoo.  Maya is in my belly:)

Is there a doctor in the house?

Just mere hours after the first two photos were taken last night, Maya was hit with a nasty bug that kept her vomiting for hours:(  She finished things up around 1:30 a.m. and, while awful, she somehow managed to keep her sweet disposition.  She would smile and say "hi" in between episodes.

The last photo was taken this morning about 30 minutes before the bug made it's way into Owen's gut and he too started vomiting.  Today is their school day and I found out that vomiting is going around Maya's room so maybe she got it Tuesday?  

Maya feels fine now.  She's sleeping since she missed so much last night.  Owen got sick again as I was starting this post (he had been asleep) but I think it may be all out of him as well.  

Poor babies.  

Bet you didn't think you'd be reading a blog about vomiting:)  

I'm off to change the laundry and check on my babes...

Ba Ba Black Sheep

Monday morning after we returned home from running errands I was highly entertained by the following scene between Owen & Maya (which I will do my best to recreate):

Owen sat on the steps leading up to the house, held out his arms wide, and told Maya she couldn't pass until she sang the ABC song.

Maya stood there looking at him, paused, and then started singing, 

"ba ba ba ba back she"

then Owen said, "no baby sis, not ba ba black sheep, the ABC song"

so Maya said, "oh" paused again looking very pensive, and sang, 

"ba ba ba ba back she"

to which Owen calmly scolded her again for singing the wrong song.

At that point I intervened to praise baby sis for her awesome singing and let Owen know that even tho it was the wrong song at least she was singing a song.  I'm not sure if this conveys how incredibly sweet the whole encounter was.  It was heart-achingly precious to their mom:)

Below are photos from today.  I bought some overpriced organic strawberries that were not very delicious so we decided to make strawberry, orange muffins.  They enjoy baking and take turns adding and stirring ingredients.  Owen decided we should make mini muffins instead of regular size.  They ate the mandarin oranges after I peeled the rind.  Healthy snack all around because I use whole wheat flour in everything now; no more all purpose, overly processed flour.

Family Week

Owen's friends and teachers learned more about Owen during his family week (March 16-20).  I went in on Tuesday and we shared some of Owen's favorite toys and since it was St. Patrick's Day we decorated shamrock's and I brought in a shamrock plant for them to see and touch.  I also brought seeds and soil and planters and we planted seeds (a huge hit!)

Owen's class is really interested in space and rockets and planets so you can see some of that too.

Owen and friends Charlotte, Anna (who reminds Woody and I so much of cousin Faith:) and Lily decorating shamrocks.

Owen's teacher Cassandra and his cubby-mate Joseph.

Woody went in on Thursday and made smoothies (another favorite activity of Owen's) and that was also a huge hit, tho Woody was too involved to take photos:)

The last photo is of Owen and Maya playing upstairs in the kindergarten wing.

Documentation

Here we go again?

This was our dinner last night.  Even Mr. Picky couldn't turn down purple potatoes.

Maya building towers and knocking them down.

AJ and Owen @ the zoo:)