Three Little Beetles: Hello February (or goodbye January)

January has come and gone. We had a busy end to the month with Ben's fifth birthday party, lots of school tours (can you believe Ben will start kindergarten in the fall? I can't!), doctor appointments and scurrying about in frigid temps!

We've toured three elementary schools so far. Elementary school enrollment is different in St. Paul compared to what Chris and I remember as children. We basically had two options, your public neighborhood school or the local private school. We are blessed to have many wonderful options in St. Paul. At the tender age of five, Ben could begin a foreign language in a Mandarin, French or Spanish immersion school, start studying "aerospace," global studies or begin a classical education. We have been impressed by all of the schools we've toured so far. We have a couple more to go, but are confident our oldest Beetle will thrive wherever he ends up. It helps that at this age kids are like sponges and our little sponge has been busy soaking up whatever he can in preschool. In fact this week he was telling us all about "Adusa" (Medusa, as in the Greek mythological monster with snakes for hair). I kid you not this child had the whole story down. Right down to the ahem, severed head and turning the king into stone by her gaze. It was pretty hilarious to hear his rendition!

Speaking of schools, apparently college has been a topic for the preschoolers this week. On Fridays his teachers send home a note, recapping the week. Today his teacher wrote that one of Ben's classmates told him he would have to live at the college, he apparently doesn't like that idea too much and said "I am definitely living at home!" I tried to explain that mom and dad met some of their best friends at college and that we lived with them in the dorms, he didn't understand and kept insisting that Chris always lived with Grampie J and Grammie C and I always lived with Grammie and Papa K.

Ben had his five year old well child check and kindergarten appointment this week as well. He was quite shy at the appointment. His pediatrician was trying to ask him what his favorite foods were, to which he responded with a shrug and glance my way. She then tried a different approach and asked him "what would you say if your mom told you that you could have anything you want to eat?" My sweet boy responded with a simple "Please." I don't think that is what she was looking for, but it was pretty adorable. Our big guy weighed in at 39 pounds and was 41 inches tall. He pretty much seems like a giant, given I can look at him and still see him as a newborn. He is healthy as a horse and has come a long way since all of his ear, sinus and allergy troubles.

Last weekend we had quite the adventure with a celebration of Ben's fifth birthday. A number of his classmates and neighbor friends joined in for some jumping at a local indoor bouncy house park. The kids had a blast. It was so fun to see them all interact together, there is just something about kids talking to each other that shows off their little personalities.

Our littlest beetles are changing by the day. They seem to be getting bigger by the minute. Harper is up to 12 lbs 13 ounces. Her weight gain has always been a little bit slower than Sam's, so I asked to have her weighed while we were at the clinic for Ben's appointment. We didn't weight the Sam-Cake because there is NO WORRY at all about him packing on the pounds ;)

The babies are five months old now and speaking of personalities we are really seeing them develop more and more. Harper is such a happy little thing. We can look at her from across the room and that is enough to elicit a little giggle. She is also QUITE the little talker. When she gets going, watch out! I have started to see the babies interact with each other a little more as well. For the most part they have just sort of co-existed next to each other but never really paid much attention to the other little being who always happened to be at their side. But just the other day, Harper started on one of her squawking streaks while laying next to Sam. It was almost as though she was trying to tell him something SO important, she just kept carrying on and on and in typical Sam fashion he just stared at her with a furrowed brow as though he was thinking "wow, really?" (or on the other hand, maybe he was thinking "am I going to have to put up with this for the rest of my life?") I have started to get the hang of tandem nursing (sort of) and it is pretty sweet to look down and see them holding hands while they eat! They also hold onto whatever is available to them while getting ready for bath. Tonight Sam had Harper's knee in his little hand and he wasn't letting go for anything! Sam is still the serious of the two, he prefers to sit back and take things in. I joke that Harper does enough talking for the two of them. His babbles are low and quiet where Harper's are high pitched and loud. His laughter is that of an old man chuckle.

Sam is adjusting to life in his helmet. The first few days were a little rough going, but he now tolerates it pretty well. We had our first follow-up appointment and they adjusted it a bit so it doesn't fall down his forehead as much which helps. It has gotten so I am more used to seeing him with the helmet on, so that when it is off something seems to be amiss. We're still hoping this will be a short lived time for our little guy.

And last but not least, it is very cold here in MN. I don't really have much else to say about that except I am {very} ready for warmer temps to find us again.