Wild child

John, there's a reason the chair is pushed that close to the wall. There's stuff back there not intended for little boys!

Yelling and kicking.

John also found a new little seat recently...

Scheming about how to go higher.

Surprise

We couldn't reveal it in yesterday's blog post because it may have ruined the surprise, but Mom and John were up super early yesterday morning to head to the airport to catch their flight to New Jersey!

It was John's first airplane ride and he did a great job. Mom had snacks and toys ready to go and he ended up sleeping for the second half of the flight (along with Mom).

John²

Easter

Catching up on events from last weekend: John and I had our own Easter egg hunt when we first woke up and then the Easter bunny made another visit while Landon was over for brunch!

At least we're both looking at the camera!

John was excited to open his present!

And then he was excited to play with it, but first Mom had to open it.

Struggling with remaining patient.

Kicking it up a notch and letting Mom know that she should be moving faster!

3 years, 5 months & 1 year, 2 months

We had to cheat a bit this month. Our pictures are actually from last night because Mom and John had to leave the house before I was up this morning.

John is officially a wild man. The house is in complete lock-down and he's still able to find things to climb. And he's at the stage where Mom or Dad will ask him to stop doing some sort of dangerous behavior, he'll stare at them, and then continue!

His walking is getting much better, as well. He likes to use a piece of furniture to get up and then occasionally take 5 or 7 steps to get over to another piece of furniture. He also loves walking while pushing his official pushcart or a small chair or a box or really anything at his height that is light enough to push.

His appetite continues, too. He consistently eats more than I do and often eats more than Mom. He loves nearly everything so it's easier to list what he didn't like this month: Blackberries. He's enjoyed blackberry yogurt before, so we think it's something about the consistency of the actual berries that he doesn't enjoy. He does have one notable favorite this month: The clementines that I also love. But he doesn't have molars to actually grind the segments so he'll chew each segment then spit it out and continue with the next segment!

As for me, I'm getting a bit more active, as well. My physical therapist commented on it yesterday at our monthly appointment. I'm getting much better at climbing and descending stairs without holding onto anything. And when running, my stride is more straight-forward with my knees raising to a more natural level. My homework for this month: Continue marching around the house working on lifting high knees!

My monthly questions asked by Dad:

Favorite stuffed animal: Puppy

Favorite food: Hot dogs

John's favorite food: Pears

Favorite dessert: Fig Newtons

John's favorite dessert: Pears

Favorite thing in your Easter basket: Eggs

Keillor's best friend: Johnny

Favorite thing to do on a weekend: Eat at home

If I was taking the bus somewhere, I would head to: Home Depot and the grocery store

Favorite song to sing: ABCD

Snow days

We had two days off from school last week, but neither John or I wanted to play in the snow with Dad. That left Keillor as the only one willing to have some fun!

Basketball

After swim lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we often like to spend a few minutes in the gym shooting some hoops!

Glasses

Having fun with a party favor from a recent birthday party...

Offering to put them on Keillor or John. It didn't go over so well.

City bus

Bus trip to Home Depot on Saturday morning for a bit of adventure. It was my first time on a city bus!

Brackets

We've made a tradition of posting my NCAA bracket on the blog so we'll do it again this year. This year John joined the fun, too. We're a little late getting it posted so results from Day 1 are already reflected. Dad found us a kids' bracket that displayed each team's mascot so that explains why the Buffs and Badgers are going all the way!

We need to write these things down

Dad: "Who in the family has their birthday next?"
Tess: "Keillor!"
Dad: "Yep, it's coming up in May. He'll be five!"
Tess: "Is that when he'll get hands?"


[The following is printed with permission from Denise]

Driving to school a couple weeks ago -
Tess: "Dad, let's play a game - I'll be the brother, John will be the sister, you'll be the mom, Mom will be the dad and Keillor will be a cat."
Dad: "Cool. So should I make the coffee since that's what Mom normally does?"
Tess: "Yes!"
Dad: "And then what should Mom do?"
[silence for a moment]
Tess: "She could take care of us."

St. Patrick's Parade

The camera isn't making it out much lately, so we're sorry for the lack of blog content. 

We were able to make a family trip down to the St. Patrick's Day parade on Saturday, though! 

Camper van

The pictures aren't the best because it was dark out, but John and I got to help Grandpa Rick get his camper van ready for the trip to Spring Training in Arizona!

Testing out the bench/bed.

John and I are ready to go, Grandpa!

Sick

Sorry for the dearth of posts this week. We haven't been super busy, just sick! All of us. John with an ear infection last week, me with pneumonia over the weekend, and now Mom, Dad, Grandpa Rick and Grandma Candy with colds (compliments of us kids!). 

Dad took me to the doctor on Sunday morning and the nurse suggested a Frosty may feel good on my throat!

Rice Krispies

Zoo

Dad, John and I made a short trip over to the zoo on Saturday. The weather was beautiful. The crowds were enormous.

Waiting for the polar bear to swim by again.

Snack!

Drink!

One of us couldn't last until we got home.