Our family signs...not whines

So Alex is 13 months and fulling walking. He loves being so big and the bigs loving playing right along side him. Just today he was catching a medium sized ball that Charlie was tossing him. And frequently I find Kate talking to him like he is one of her friends as she kindly leads him around the house to play.
He is fighting off a small cold which could be why he has been whining more lately. Adam thinks he is just getting older and more determined. I keep saying to him...Alex, what do you want...signing an over-exaggerated "want" sign....and then stating firmly, " we are a signing family not a whining family" At times I get through to him and he will sign water, or food after started to fuss and cry. He knows many signs and the next phase in signing will be to teach him how to communicate his needs and wants by using those signs.
Just today at nap time while putting him to sleep he kept looking over at me with his deep brown eyes and signing bird. over and over again. With his little lower lip sticking out to help his sound effect of a bird flying. Every time I said, oh you are thinking about birds he got a huge grin across his face as if he was saying yes you get me.
About a week or two ago I showed him the baby sign. Once or maybe twice, in passing...and sure enough when Amy stepped into our house I said, Alex look at the baby, and he did the baby sign. it was so amazing...
These are his signs: airplane, baby, bird, tree, socks, shoes, milk, water, food, more, all done, pooping, diaper change, dog, cat, boy, girl, sleepy, book, horse, thank you, i love you, bath, hot, outside, banana, again
His signs are far from perfect. Someone who doesn't spend all day with him would notice that several look nearly the same...but i know the difference.
He also says, hi, bye, pa, mama, dada, ball, and tonight when I put dinner in front of him and told him it was hot he did the hot sign and said haaaa.
Time for me to learn more signs....love it!

First Day of Summer

Alex woke up every hour or too. Kate had a low grade fever and called us into her room every 15 minutes between the hours of 1:15 and 3:45. All three kids were wide awake at 6am (after a month of them sleeping in until 7.
Happy first day of summer to me.
I hopped out of bed and Charlie asked for a granola bar. Sorry Charlie but I am reclaiming your nutritional health this summer. No more not eating to get more recess time. And we are going to take a huge stab at getting rid of sugar in our diets, even in healthier granola bars.
Charlie falls to the floor crying as if I have just told him the San Jose Earthquakes are now in second.
I then say I can make you pancakes to which he replies: "Make me pancakes."
Then Alex decides he is going to be fussy for the first time in his 12 months of life.
Thank the dirt that Kate woke up chipper and feeling good and looking cute as ever with ringlet curls blanketing her face.
Adam stumbled out of bed hardly able to open his eyes.
My pilot is out again and therefore pancakes and coffee stalled.
I am making pancakes from scratch as fast as my tired hands will let me, but not fast enough for my ever so hungry and quite hungry almost 6 year old.
I turn to Adam and whimper, "Maybe we should put him in camps all summer."
To which Adam kindly says, "Sarah you will find your groove."
After another less than ideal situation between myself and Charlie Adam looks at me and says, "Sarah, be nice to him. Model the behavior you wish to see."
How far you have come Adam...from our first date when we discussed how would discipline our future children.
So that was my first night and first morning of summer. All before 7. Now we have settled down already. Charlie helped me sweep. Kate is building with magna tiles, charlie playing ping pong against the wall, Alex eating pancakes and observing all of us...and me...I am sipping cold coffee and trying to reset myself for the rest of summer.
Happy Summer to you all!

Signing with my baby

Alex turned one May 15th and right around then he exploded with signs. I have been giving him the food, milk and more sign since we was about 7 months.  Airplane was his first sign and still his favorite,He would give me the milk and more sign here and there starting around 10-11 months.
As of now he has: milk, more, food, all done, dirty diaper, diaper change, light, airplane,  car,water, and the beginnings of I LOVE YOU. There might be more I am forgetting. Just now Kate fed him some of her sandwich and he started to sign thank you. Basically anything we show him he does.
Just yesterday while trying to put him down for a nap he signed the "I pooped" sign. I picked him up and checked him and sure enough he had a dirty diaper. As I laid him down we signed together diaper change, and then when I said all done he signed all done.
Two nights ago he woke up around 930 and just laid in our bed sleepy but awake. I laid next to him trying to get him back asleep. At some point he closed his eyes and kept signing ball. My best guess is that he was thinking about balls as he was drifting off to sleep.
What an amazing glimpse into his little world.
He has really been walking everywhere the past week or so and it is so much fun. If his head at all leans backwards the weight of it knocks him over. He hits the ground hard and laughs.

He also has some words: Bye, mama, ball, and PA...his favorite and only caregiver. He is so much fun and we all adore him

my littles...

 There are times where they annoy us, where they don't listen, or talk back. There are times where my house is messy, I have no food in my pantry, and I feel tired and not motivated for my day. But in my heart of hearts nothing is more important, special, meaningful or just play lovely than my 3 kids. And despite our harder moments, days, and phases, these three adore each other. They protect each other, play with each other, stand up for each other and love each other. And they love their world, their friends, their families, their sports and hobbies. And Adam and I love them to no end

Spring Break continued...

I loved every minute of my spring break with the kids. We woke up every morning ready to play with each other. We drew, built legos, Charlie counted his money a million different ways every morning. Then when we had enough of inside time we ventured outside to our beloved 7th street block. I don't have any pictures because I am frequently pushing Alex around in his red car, shooting hoops or playing catch with Charlie, or watching Kate race up and down driveways on her two wheeler.

 

We also managed to take a mini 2 day vacation to Santa Cruz to visit Aunt Kate and then Gilroy to see Nonnie and Papa. The kids were awesome roadtrippers....all the way to Santa Cruz they were singing, dancing and yelling ROAD TRIP out the window. They do get out and about all the time, but poor kids almost never leave our county. Love this picture.....as you can see my kids ADORE their Aunt Kate. Little Kate has the cuteness sass turned up big time!

L

 After playing in Santa Cruz for a few hours we headed up to Gilroy. We packed a lot of play into one evening and one night but everyone had fun and if I do say so myself the kids were awesome. We played out front, in the back yard, had a yummy dinner, went in the hot tub and got to read books with Nonnie. When we woke up the next morning we played, went to the park to hit tennis balls and then had a great many hours at Gilroy Gardens. I think it was special for Charlie to rally on the courts with his grandma. I think a doubles match with three generations would be fun to see. Charlie and Adam take on Mike and Pam...

I know we were a whirlwind for Pam and Mike but we had fun. We came, we made messes, we were loud and then we left...but we were happy and that is most important part!

Beach Day with David

Over spring break we spent one afternoon frolicking along the beach

We dug holes and made sand castles

Alex kept experimented with this new thing called sand

Kate did what she does best, found a warm spot, stripped down to her undies and relaxed...she does this any and everywhere...fields, beaches, parks, and we have even been known to find her in the middle of the street like this.

The whole time alex studied the sand

And finally decided he liked it.

Having so much fun with David at the beach was exhausting. David was such a good sport, he carried Kate all the way to the car like this.