October!

October! 

I will catch up on my blogs!

Early October my play group decided to go apple picking--so it was round 2 of apple picking for the Schnake's.  I think we had picked 70lbs the first time--though most of it was canned by the time our playgroup went.  So we picked a few new varieties, but thankfully I only left with about 10 lbs.  And yes we ate them all! 

One day Alaina was playing with the fridge magnets and when she was done she left a bunch on the stool.  I went to pick them up and was surprised to see that my girl had spelled out "nuts" and "corn".   A GENIUS!  That's what she is!  I keep wondering though if she meant to spell out "corn nuts".  HA HA!

Alaina had her 2 year appointment in October.  The nurse was new--and I believe she messed everything up.  She had Alaina weighing in at 35 lbs (and I know that she had weighed around 30lbs a week or two before.)  And then she had Alaina's height SMALLER than her last visit.  I wasn't concerned, but the nurse seemed very concerned.  I laughed it off with the doctor later--because according to those measurements Alaina is overweight--which she definitely is not.  She is average for a girl her age--and a little tall (already in 3T clothes!)  Oh well--I am not sure what to even put in the baby book!

October was a busy month for Ky as well.  He had soccer and swimming.  He did EXCELLENT in both.  He is my little soccer star!  The boy really enjoys running the field now and chasing the ball--so much different than his other experience!  His team was 4 & 5 year olds--and I would say Ky did AWESOME! 

As far as swimming-it took Ky a while before he would let the instructor let go of him "again."  However, by the end of the session he was swimming on his own (with a floatation device) and had no problem sticking his face in the water.  Hopefully we will be able to get him into a swim class this winter....though who knows since we are on multiple waiting lists.

We went up to Devil's Lake mid-October to enjoy the leaves changing.  I think we were one weekend too late though.  The trees were still pretty though.  We did a mountainous trail and Ky did really well.  He walked almost the whole thing himself!  I was very proud of my boy.  At the end the kids threw rocks in the water and got pretty wet.  On our way back, Alaina fell and got a nice cut on her lip.  She was fine, however the blood was pretty nasty (especially when we were a decent distance still from the car.)  She cried a lot--which always tells us when she is really hurt.  She is my tough little girl and she doesn't cry to just any fall. 

October was a big month for Alaina.  We moved her to a big girl bed (since she was crawling out of her crib.)  That went really well for a while.  We did find her on the floor a couple of times, but for the most part she stayed in.  Just recently (December) she has begun getting out of bed at night and wandering.  Of course she started all of this while daddy was away on a business trip!  BLAH!  We have now told her that we will take away her nuk and she will not have it at night if she gets out.  We only had to take it away once--and that seems to have gotten the message across.  (Part of me was hoping she would keep getting out so I could just get rid of the nuk!) 

I also potty trained Alaina in October.  She had all the signs--however she has not taken to it like Kylan.  She is too easily distracted and does not want to stop playing to go potty.  She is fully capable of going when she needs to, she just doesn't always WANT to go.  UGH!  I guess this is pretty typical of many kids--so we just have to hang in there for a few more months until she gets things better under wraps.  Otherwise, she is in underwear during the day and I take her to the potty often.  (However if I don't take her and she is too "busy" to go--she will have an accident.)  At night she is in pull-ups.  It has been nice overall to get rid of the diapers.  Two less loads of wash a week (assuming we don't have TONS of accidents.) And when I see a good disposable diaper deal I stock up for the new baby. 

One Sunday we were in church and Ky was playing with his cars.  He then came up to me in tears.  His Tow Mater had broke.  He was so sad.  It was really touching to see his fondness of that toy and how upset he was.  I talked to Rob that night and we devised a plan for Ky to earn money to get a new "Tow Mater".  I made a chart of different chores he could do.  Every time he did a chore he would get a car sticker.  When the chart was full of stickers, I would take him to buy a new Tow Mater.  I figured this list would take Ky a couple of days, but he did it all in one day!  So the next day we went to Walmart so he could pick out his new Tow Mater.  Well, we couldn't find one, so he decided he was going to pick out a different car--and you know what he picked!  Lightning McQueen!  This wouldn't be a big deal BUT--the boy already had 3 other Lightning McQueens!  And the one he wanted was an EXACT duplicate of one of the ones he had at home!  I tried to talk him out of it--but he had earned it, so if that was what he wanted, that was what he was going to get.  So I purchase Lightning McQueen the FOURTH!  And he was so proud.  He told everyone how he had worked to earn it!  It is really neat for Kylan to see what hard work can result in.

Since we have an AWESOME membership to the Rockford Children's Museum, the kids and I made a fun day trip of it mid-October.  We had a great time!  We left a little late, but the kids had four hours or so to play.  I packed a lunch and we ate there.  I love that museum.  I will probably buy another membership next April.  It has been so handy--getting us into the Milwaukee Museums for free as well as the Madison Children's Museum.  So Cool!

After the museum, I stopped at the Salvation Army in Rockford and SCORED!  All kids clothes was $0.50!  I bought several dresses for Alaina and pants and shorts for Ky.  Can't beat those prices!  I then got all of us a giant soda to share for the trip home.  They were so excited!  (We don't drink soda often.)  It was a really fun trip!  I am going to try to go once a month now--it is so totally worth it.

Whew!  Done!  Next blog--Halloween and early Nov....