Sean Sooy, Soccer Star!

Another soccer season is over and Sean's team, the Orange Ninjas, ended up undefeated! (Nevermind that we don't keep score.)  Sean had a pretty good base of soccer skills from Little Kicks and Kitty Kiddie Soccer, so he was ready for something a little more organized so we signed him up to play soccer in a town league or "town soccer" as Sean calls it.

Town soccer required that Sean wears shinguards and cleats.  He even got a uniform with his name and number - #2 - on the back!

Clare was happy to cheer her brother on at each game - we kept her busy with snacks, books, coloring, dollies, and dress-up:

  

 

Every game was about 2 hours long.  The first 45 minutes were spent doing drills and playing skill games with the team.  Then there was a short break and then the team would be split up so the boys could play against another team.  The games were about 40  minutes - four 10-minute quarters with a halftime.  Each game always ended with a high-five line:

At every halftime, there were orange slices for the team...

...and usually for the siblings, too :-)

At the end of Sean's last game, the parents were invited onto the field to play against the kids - the kids won!  And after that game, the team had their snacks and the coaches held a little award ceremony.

Sean was thrilled with his soft pretzel and his trophy!

Sean will be taking a break from soccer for awhile but Clare is joining an indoor soccer league in January!

Thanksgivukkah Brunch

The kids' daycare held a celebratory brunch this morning for this year's rare occurrence of Thanksgiving taking place on the first full day of Hanukkah - Thanksgivukkah! Mommy ate with Clare's class first at 11:30 - Challah bread French toast, potato latkes, turkey and veggie frittata, and cranberry apple sauce!  Clare was so excited to wear her festive hat and to "help" me try all the food.

When she was done eating, she read me a book about shapes:

At about 12, Clare and I went over to Sean's class to have lunch with him.  Sean's turkey hat:

Before we ate, Sean's class sang a little Thanksgiving song for us:

After the song, we dug into (more) Thanksgivukkah goodies and after lunch, I took the Sooy Kids home to get ready for Clare's 2.5 year well visit - and flu shots (yikes!)

Here's a snippet of the song (and yes, I LOVED that song!):

Last week

We had an unusual week last week - the kids stayed with Grummy and Pop Pop over Veteran's Day weekend so Mommy and Daddy could go to a wedding in Virginia.  When we picked the kids up, we noticed Clare had a sniffly nose and sure enough, on Tuesday afternoon we got the call from daycare that Clare had a fever and needed to be sent home.  The pediatrician said that Clare just had a bad cold, but we kept her home anyway on Wednesday since she was obviously miserable.  Luckily Mommy could work from home thanks to Clare's Grandma and Papa coming over to keep her company while Mommy worked.

Munching toast and watching Mickey Mouse:

Clare went back to school on Thursday and Sean's class got to have a pajama party on Friday - they wore their pajamas to school and gathered together on their mats and blankets to watch a movie - Turbo!  Sean was very excited and it was a great motivator for the Pre-K kids to be on their best behavior this week.

On Saturday, we went to Sean's last soccer game of the season - here's a team photo with all the boys and their trophys (and soft pretzels):

On Saturday night, we watched "Star Wars" which Sean really liked, although he had a lot of questions. But he told me he liked all the characters - especially Dark Vader. We all went to bed shortly after the movie so we could be up early on Sunday morning - Mommy ran a half marathon!  Family photo after the race:

After the race, we ate some post-race snacks, had lunch at one of our favorite spots - Fado - and then went back home on the train. Clare fell asleep on the way home and seemed like she wanted to keep napping, so Daddy and Clare stayed home while Sean and Mommy went to a local farm to go to a pie-tasting party!  All proceeds benefited a local food bank, so we happily paid our entrance fee and went about tasting pies!  We were quickly distracted by Santa!  Sean got to sit with Santa and tell him what he'd like for Christmas - a Batman house with Robin, too - and Magneto so Batman can fight him.  Santa thought that was a good idea and gave Sean a candy cane, leaving Mommy to taste pies on her own :-)

After the farm, we went over to our town's playground - Sean took me on several treasure hunts that involved climbing up, over, and into all the playground equipment...

After the playground, Mommy was pretty bushed - and Sean, too since he hadn't napped all day - so we went home to see what Clare and Daddy were doing.  We ended up watching "Finding Nemo" in an effort to rest up for the Monday!

Four and a Half

Since we celebrated Clare's half birthday in the last post, it's only fair to give Seanybear his moment with Pooh Bear:

Sean doesn't have to go for a well visit at four-and-a-half, but he will go with us to Clare's well visit to get a flu shot! How much I am looking forward to that doctors' visit during which both kids will get shots? Maybe a trip for ice cream will be in order - just the cone for Sean, though - ice cream is "too cold" for him.

At 4.5 years old:
-Sean knows all his letters and numbers. He has already learned a whole bunch of "sight" words such as "we", "you", and "the".  He gets very excited when he can point these words out at booktime before bed.
-Sean absolutely loves to do puzzles, work in workbooks for handwriting and simple math, and doing dot-to-dots!
-He loves to sing songs and make up his own silly lyrics to songs we already know.
-He puts a lot of pressure on himself to be the fastest runner, highest jumper, and best listener.  He gets very disappointed in himself when he's not first or "the winner."  We chalk it up to being Four and having the world be very black and white.  We're trying to help him find the gray areas.
-Sean's involvement in soccer has taught him a lot about organized sports - good listening, playing well with others, and trying hard.  He's taken a lot of interest lately in paying attention to professional games on TV, much to the delight of Thom John. :-)
-His new phrase when I ask him to do something is, "Alright."  Which is such a change from his standard toddler-era responses of "no!" and "why?"  Don't get me wrong, he still asks "why?" quite often, but usually when it's appropriate since he's so curious!
-Sean randomly calls us "Mom" and "Dad" instead of "Mommy" and "Daddy" and it kind of freaks me out.
-Oh my goodness, Sean is a great talker.  He can tell the wildest stories and thinks of the best names for his stuffed animals.  Sean's Pre-K teacher told me she loves to hear him talk and wants to take him out to lunch one day just so she can have a long, uninterrupted conversation with him and hear all the things he has to say :-)
-Sean doesn't go to the doctor for a well visit for this "half birthday" but we measured him on our height chart at about 3ft 7in.

Two and a Half

The kids' pediatrician now requires a check-up at the two-and-a-half-year mark. Our appointment isn't for another week but Clare's half birthday was yesterday! And while hearing her measurements and knowing how much she weighs is a helpful gauge of her growth, the best indicator of the Sooy Kids' growth is a photo with Pooh Bear!

And Seanybear stepped in for a snap:

So what's Clare up to at 30 months? Well, every day - no every minute - with Clare is so much more interesting thanks to her "sweet and salty" temperment.  One minute she's hugging and kissing you and the next minute, she's hollering at you to "Stop lookin' at me! No talkin' to me!"

-Clare loves to sing, dance, jump, play, get carried ("picky up!"), hug, and give sloppy kisses.

-She loves all things "girly" AND "boyish" - party shoes, jewelry, princesses, and sparkles are awesome and she also likes to play with trucks and roughhouse.

-Clare likes to be outside - going to the playground, riding her bike, drawing with sidewalk chalk, and walking around the woods in our backyard are some of her favorite weekend activities.

-She likes pretty much all food but her favorite foods are PB&J, peaches, cheese sticks, spaghetti, cereal bars, and blueberry pancakes! I think the only foods she'll turn down outright are onions and pears.

-Clare gets so enthusiastic about crafts - she loves to color, paint, and sticker, as well as cut and paste.

-She loves to read books - her favorites right now are Curious George and Pinkalicious books. She can sit and leaf through books by herself for very long stretches of time.

-Clare still uses her gacki for sleeping, but can usually get along without it during the day.  When she does get her gacki, she treats it like a long-lost friend.

-Clare knows what she wants and how she wants things done. And she has very creative ways of expressing herself.  For example:
     -When I ask her to do a task that she doesn't want to do, she instantly pretends to be asleep - and makes snoring noises!
     -When I ask Clare to carry something, like take her sippy cup to the kitchen, she'll grab her shirt in one hand and something else - anything else - in another hand and say "I can't, my hands are full, Mommy!"
     -While getting ready for bed the other night, Clare wanted Mommy to get her undressed - not Daddy!  However, Mommy was busy getting Sean ready so Daddy went ahead and got Clare ready for bath, leaving Clare dramatically crying in a heap on the floor in just her Pull-Ups.  After about 5 seconds, she calmed down and walked away.  The next thing I knew, Clare was at my side - fully dressed again!!! - and asking me to help her get undressed for bath.

So, Happy Half-Birthday to our girl - our silly, sweet, lovely little girl! :-)

Weekend

Some highlights from this weekend, starting with our wild Friday night, ending up with multiple tattoos for each Sooy Kid:

Saturday morning the kids requested blueberry pancakes - I thought it would be fun to mix it up and little, so I made an S-shaped pancake for Sean, who loved it:

And a C-shaped pancake for Clare...

...who did not like it - at all!

She wanted "regular circle pancakes" which I made in the next batch and she was a very happy girl again:

We cheered on Seany at his next-to-last soccer game of the season:

Mmmm....orange slices!

We played many games of chutes & ladders:

We raked leaves on Sunday.  Preschoolers are such great helpers!

And they jumped in the leaves, of course!

We played hide-and-seek at the playground - there are limited options for hiding places at the playground :-)

We ran errands after nap time on Sunday and ended up at Barnes & Noble - the kids put on a puppet show with two dragons, the Poky Little Puppy, Pinkalicious, Clifford, Pat the Bunny, and Pete the Cat, among other characters.

And here's a snippet of the show (I kept "shush-ing" so the kids would remember to use their "inside voices")