Art museum

We took a family trip to the Denver Art Museum during Thanksgiving break. It was Mom's first time there with us, so we repeated some of our favorite stops.

Designing costumes.
Dad helped fasten the items on the mannequin, but it's entirely my design.

Not a very clear picture, but a fun one of Mom trying to keep John away from the art while trying to pose for the photo!

4 years, 1 month & 1 year, 10 months

Monthly picture time!

We'll have to cut John some slack in this batch of photos. He was still sleeping five minutes before these were taken. Dad woke him up, got him dressed, brushed his teeth and plopped him down in the kitchen with me and Keillor.

John still sleeping with his eyes open.

Kiss from Keillor!

Keillor rolling onto John's leg.

Keillor taking up too much space.

Furry bench.

As usual, this month was packed with excitement.

John has been pushing boundaries lately. He knows what is right and wrong, but often prefers to test out the wrong approach. For instance, Dad caught him standing on a wicker basket near the fireplace mantle yesterday morning and John quickly sat down acting like he was just relaxing and minding his own business. Then he slowly climbed off without being asked. A few minutes later, John brought a remote to Dad that was on the mantle. He was clearly proud of what he'd done, but did not realize that Dad knew the only way for a little kid to get the remote was to stand on the wicker basket again.

John's athleticism is improving. He loves to play catch and is often able to throw a ball to where he intends. We have a toy bus that he loves to ride around the house, as well. It's not intended to ride, of course, but Johnny is still small enough to sit on it. When the weather was still warm earlier in the month, Dad would always find John riding one of the tricycles on the playground at school when it was time to pick us up.

The kid still eats or tries to eat anything. Like his sister, he loves mustard. So much so, that we have to squirt a little bit on his plate and then return the bottle to the kitchen. If it's left on the table, he'll just keep asking for more.

His words are coming along, but Dad seems to be the only one that understands them. He's very good at saying no. Other favorite words (luckily) are "please" and "thank you." The speech and behavior specialist at school is a little worried about John's language, so he's actually going to go see an audiologist in December. Maybe he'll get tubes in his ears like Big Sis!

John has enjoyed watching a few movies along with the family over the past few weeks. For the first time, he's sitting relatively still on the couch or ottoman for 20 minutes at a time. His first full length movie (watched over the span of 5 or 6 nights) was Frozen. We think he was amazed to see that there was a movie to go along with the books, stuffed characters and music he's been hearing since he was born!

As for me, I've been enjoying some big kid things this past month. I don't always take afternoon naps at school any longer. My favorite teacher, Minnie, keeps me up with the two older kids and we work on handwriting or other "big kid" activities. Mom and Dad have been super impressed with the writing samples I've been bringing home. Of course when they ask me to do the same thing for them at home, I say no.

Star Wars continued to be a fascination this past month. We started to watch The Empire Strikes Back over the long weekend, but decided it was a bit too scary. We may try again next weekend.

Dad and I have been to five or six basketball games already this season! The other night at a game in Boulder, I stopped coloring, gave him my book and crayons, and said, "I think I'll just watch the game with you for a bit." Dad mumbled something about the brainwashing finally working while wiping tears from his eyes.

Monthly questions as asked by Dad:

1. Who is your best friend? Stella, Aria and Aubrey (all at school)

2. Who is John's best friend? Keillor

3. Who is Keillor's best friend? John!

4. If you and John were in a helicopter together, where would you travel to? Montana

5. If Mom or I couldn't take you to school, which Star Wars character would you like to have drop you off? Luke Skywalker - he's the best!

6. Favorite dessert this past month? The painted cookies [see yesterday's blog post]

7. John's favorite food recently? Pears

8. John's favorite word recently? No

9. What does John do most often that gets him in trouble? Climbing on the wicker basket

10. Buffs basketball, Regis basketball or Badger football? Regis basketball

Icing

Cookie decorating time!

Mom took John away from the table after he put the second spoonful of icing into his mouth. While relaxing on her lap, he decided to take a quick before-lunch snooze!

Too cheesy

Dad made lunch on Saturday and I actually told him the grilled cheese sandwiches were too cheesy. He took it as a compliment.

Confused by cheese.

New season

Basketball season is here!

Dad and I went to Boulder for the game last Monday night and I was a perfect spectator until we had to head home at halftime. I got to stay up almost an hour past regular bedtime!

Hard at work. 

I would turn around anytime the band was playing or if Dad told me Chip (the mascot) was on the court.

And then on Thursday night, it was John's turn to join us. Mom had a work event so Dad took both of us to Boulder. We both lasted until halftime just like Dad had planned.

The best of the eight pictures taken by the friends that sit in front of us.

A slight pout because this was his penalty for trying to walk down the steps to the court.

Watching the action between our friends, Larry and Leanne.

And then on Friday night we walked over to our first Regis Women's game of the season. Dad left his phone at home so we don't have pictures to share. Both John and I made it the entire game, although John was really about done after the 3rd quarter. Several of the players smiled and waved to us.

Three games in one week!

Frosty

A few more shots from last Tuesday when John was home sick with croup. What feels good on a throat that has been up all night coughing? Frosties!

Same face every time he takes a bite of something cold.

Image manipulation

Dear grandparents and others that may be concerned: Dad would never put any of us in harm's way for a photo opportunity. Here is the original picture from Tuesday's post.

More vehicles

John was home sick with croup last Tuesday. He was in a great mood, though, so he and Dad were able to go on a few errands.

View from the REI parking lot.

Palazzo Vecchio

Mom and John didn't realize it at the time, but they were reproducing some classic Italian architecture!

Gym time

Welcome to a week of John photos! I spent a fair amount of time with both John and Dad last week, but I was never around when the camera came out.

I started swimming lessons again last Tuesday. While I was in the pool, Dad and John kept busy in the rec center's gym!

Dunk!

Saturday morning walk

If there's a semi-truck within five miles, John will find it.

I-76 off in the distance.

Balance beam.

John watching for trucks. Keillor staring at the stick in John's hand.

Relaxing

The effects of the daylight savings time change were felt at our house on Sunday night. John sat still the entire time Mom was reading books and then went straight to his room when Dad announced it was time for bed. Just a tad unusual!

More gymnastics

We showed you pictures yesterday and here's a quick video clip of some of the fun we had in our tumbling classes:

This video may look a little squished when played in certain browsers. Sorry about that. We'll fix it the next time we share a video!

Gymnastics

Dad finally brought his phone to our last session of gymnastics to capture some of the fun we have. It's different each week, but here's some of the stuff we did on our last session:

Cruising

The whole family went over to Gael's house for her mom's birthday a couple weekends ago. The girls were busy running all over the place and John entertained himself on this scooter thing all evening. Well, he took a break for supper, but then went right back to it!

Snooze

John came down with a little bug while we were at church last Sunday. He actually fell asleep in the car on the way home (4-minute trip), stayed asleep when Dad lifted him up, and only woke up for a brief moment while Dad set him on Keillor's dog bed. We left him there for 10 or 15 minutes and then decided to move him to his bed before lunch.

After a four hour nap, he was back to his normal goofy self!

Pumpkins

Lego

I was able to open a few presents before all the friends came over on my birthday. One of my favorites was a big kid Lego set!

The Astronaut and Bumble Bee

Last night started off with our annual Halloween dinner of Spooky Snaky Halloweiners (hot dogs wrapped in bread snakes) and then it was off to collect some candy!

Science time with dry ice.

Little brother is pouting in this picture because he did not like the hood.

Ready to go!

It was late when we got home, but we both had to at least sample a few pieces of candy!