Looking at our Week

No week is particularly "typical," but it has been so long since we've
written about the DingoDen happenings that it was time to just dive in
and write! For about a month now, we have all been completely healthy!
After such a long stretch of weird illnesses, we're very thankful for
the reprieve. Anyway, here's a glimpse at our week...

Logan has two weeks of swim school (this week and next) during the
school holidays (which here in Australia run from mid-December to the
end of January). His lessons are on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays just
after 10am. He is now quite competent swimming under the water, loves
to "dive in" (which looks a bit more like a belly flop to us!), and is
learning about some of the basic strokes (using his arms for the breast
stroke and free style, keeping his legs straight while kicking). His
teacher, Petina, is really good with the kids and Logan asks every day
if it's time for swim school yet. It's nice seeing him make that next
leap forward (in terms of confidence in the pool). On Monday, after
playing here at home for a couple of hours, we headed off for Logan's
lesson. Delenn and Mommy spent time in the medium and toddler pools
with Melissa, Seth and Connell.

The kids spend a lot of time playing together (they play especially well
in the mornings now that TV is no longer requested/shown/offered) --
building cubby houses out of the cushions, playing jets, building things
out of K'Nex or Legos, catching bugs, looking for feathers, drawing
outside with chalk, playing hide-and-seek, not to mention tea party,
dress up etc... all of which entail lots of stuff strewn here, there
and everywhere! It was long overdue, but Mom reorganized the play area
off the living room -- and the kids now have easy access to their
favorite activities (with a bin for legos, K'Nex, little plastic
animals, puzzles and so forth). Often, we play games -- animal dominos,
Hungry Hippos, and Cariboo are the current favorites. Delenn really
enjoys puzzles and because of this, Logan will often join in as well.
Logan enjoys making jets out of iron-beads, paper or most anything
else! His arts-and-crafts pretty much ALWAYS centers around jets and
star-fighters. Delenn enjoys coloring (especially on herself),
stickers, painting, play dough and so forth. Both kids like "cooking"
in the kitchen. Usually they start off with flour and then add other
ingredients such as salt, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon or whatever's
on offer (Mom usually hands each of them set quantities that they can
add as they please -- but she has learned not to offer the entire
cannister!). Logan requested that we bake and eat his creation.
Another time we (Mommy) fried it in the frying pan and yet another time,
Logan wanted to see how it would be if we put it in the freezer.

Logan is extremely curious -- and is constantly looking in the cupboards
for something fun to play with (or something good to eat). While I
suppose this (curiosity) is a good trait, it is also exasperating at
times as he helps himself to -- well, here's an example -- glue (which
to his credit he used at the craft table) in order to glue together some
"pom-poms" (cotton balls he found in another closet) and to cover them
with sand (from outside). Then he placed them in the freezer (to see
what would happen). Just the other day, he found a 3-D lizard puzzle in
one of the cabinets that a friend had passed on to us, opened the
package (without asking) and started playing a game with it and some
other plastic lizards. He has his own piggy bank and is always on the
prowl for change (even though he has been told not to take Daddy's coins
out of the drawer).

Delenn is mischievous in her own way. She taunts Logan by taking things
she knows he likes (and is playing with) and will run away with them.
This, of course, needles Logan -- and usually winds up with tears for
all. Ugh! For several nights in a row, Delenn had the same bad dream.
She'd holler out, "NO Logan! MY torpedo. Lenny's torpedo, not Logan's
torpedo." (She was referring to the torpedo swim toys for the pool.)

While they have their share of spats, bumps and bruises, the kids are
really good about saying sorry to each other. We're working hard on
making sure they stop to see what's wrong if someone is crying and/or
hurt.

On Tuesday Logan, Delenn and Mom headed into town first to do some
grocery shopping. The kids are really never a problem at the shops --
Mom brings snacks and they usually get a smiley face (bologna) from the
deli counter. Plus, they're quite good helpers picking out the best
fruit and veggies. After dumping the groceries back at home, we quickly
headed back out to the book library. We were there for close to an hour
and a half. We arrived just in time for story hour and then read about
7 books together ourselves. As always, we spent a lot of time in the
non-fiction "jet" book area -- which luckily is in the same row as the
animals, so both kids were happy browsing and choosing a great many
books. After collecting about twenty library books, it was time to go!
Mom had decided to take them to the Todd Mall for a sandwich and ice
cream. We ate together outside the cafe and the kids were a real
pleasure to be with. Finally, it was time to head home for quiet time.

While I'm on the subject of books I just thought I'd add a couple
things. We have a "book nook" in the living room (see the picture
posted below; Delenn was there while I was typing this) where there are
several shelves of kids' books, a display shelf and some big cushions to
sit on. Mom (or Dad) change the books quite often (daily if possible
sometimes twice a day). Pretty much any time the books have been
changed, Delenn finds her way over there and starts looking through the
books. Both kids love to be read to. We often read a book or two at one
of the meals (breakfast, snacks, lunch-time). And at the beginning of
quiet time every day we have "book time." Generally we spend about
forty-five minutes reading together in bed (with Logan on one side of
Mom (or Dad) and Delenn on the other!). At night time, we also read
lots of books (about a half-hour), but most nights Mom reads to one and
Dad to the other (partly so Logan can listen to the longer chapter books
such as The Magic Tree House books, Tashi, etc.) If we hesitate while
reading for even an instant, Delenn says "READ, READ, READ!" Every
night, Daddy tells "Logan and Delenn adventure stories" -- stories he
makes up about the kids. Again, if he hesitates while telling the
story, Delenn says "read, read!" Usually Daddy includes Dora the
Explorer, Boots, and Diego if he tells a story to Delenn.

On Wednesday, we again played at home for the first few hours before
heading off for Logan's swim lessons. Mom was up from 3-5am (thanks to
the hormones and baby!) and was very tired most of the day. Delenn fell
asleep in the car and slept for almost two hours. Unfortunately, Mom
spent this time trying to clean up, fold laundry and never actually got
to lay down and sleep herself. During quiet time, Logan decided to make
an aircraft carrier out of empty plastic tubs and lids. He taped them
all down to a huge piece of poster board. Then he spent the rest of
quiet time landing his jets on the various parts of his aircraft
carrier. After quiet time, we built things out of connecting blocks
before jumping into the pool for an hour or so. As with most afternoons,
the kids watched a "movie" around 3pm or so (Delenn loves "Dora,"
"Diego" and "My Little Pony" while Logan likes longer Disney-type
movies... well that and just about anything--Batman, Justice League,
scholastic stories or whatever.)

Today, we were at home until about 11am. Again, it's hard to pin-point
exactly what we all did. Logan spent a long time playing spider man
with his car/helicopter... Delenn did a smattering of many of the things
I talked about above. You can often hear Logan saying "Come on Lenny,
let's..." (play tickle monster, play jets, play dress up, find bugs, see
if there's mail, and on and on!). We played computer games for over an
hour (Delenn likes a Dora game that Logan can do with her and then we
played "Math Missions" but Logan need a bit of guidance with that so all
three of us sat together while sorted, counted and completed his math
mission). Mom made her own mess in the kitchen (pumpkin muffins) and
hallway (hanging a few more family photos). Then once the house was
messy in pretty much every room, we all hopped in the car, did a couple
errands, and stopped by the "science museum" (the cultural precinct at
Araluen Arts Centre) where we visited the airplane hanger and the
Strehlow Research Centre where they have a display of animals/skeletons
and meteorites from the region. Delenn obviously enjoyed it because
there were copious tears and pleas for "more animals" as we walked back
to the car.

We still do preschool activities with Logan -- those vary from
day-to-day. He's getting pretty confident with short three-letter words
(he likes a Diego phonics series that has a few words highlighted in
bold). Mom or Dad will read the story, pausing for him to add his
word. Logan is starting to understand how to use the abacus in the
higher digits (35, 68, etc.). He also enjoys playing with money -- he
plays "store" with Delenn (having her get something to buy and paying
for it) and he'll also count out money on the abacus (5cents+5+2+1 --
and then he can tell how much there was by looking at the beads). He
enjoys mazes and dot-to-dots. Delenn insists on doing her own book as
well (a coloring/activity book). We still do some of the "mailbox"
activities (like sorting through pictures and finding the words that
begin with "S" or whatever. Delenn loves playing with those pictures
too -- and enjoys being in the thick of things too! Logan enjoys card
games like "Uno" and "Blink." He's very good about helping Delenn to
play too. Since Mommy plays the piano while the kids are around several
times a week, the kids come running to "play the piano" as well. Logan
is learning to poke out "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (and sings it ALL the
time!) and Delenn is very loud/insistent -- "MOMMY MOVE!" so that she
gets her own time at the piano. She even gets her own book and says, or
rather, hollers "LENNY PLAY THIS!" -- as she gets herself situated to play.

In just a few short weeks, the third DingoPup will arrive. Mom's
feeling big, but generally pretty good. We're all trying to make the
most of this time -- finishing up projects, readying the baby stuff and
spending good quality time with the kids. Logan and Delenn are excited
about the baby. Many times through the day, Logan will come running
over and give Mom's belly a giant kiss. Delenn is right behind with
kisses of her own! Cute!