Blue Mountain Retreat and Halloween

All the 4 year olds - Rhys, Henry, Theo, Oliver, Nico, Lilian, and Otis

Blue Mountain Retreat Weekend
Theo and his not-so-little buddies from his P.E.P.S. (Program for Early Parenting Support) group have all turned 4 and they had a great time at the Blue Mountain Retreat on the Olympic Peninsula. We went there nearly 1 year ago with Marit's P.E.P.S. group and it was wonderful because the kids entertain themselves and the adults can relax. There was a Lego room, block room, 3 car garage filled with bikes and scooters and balls, a Foosball table, a hot tub, and multiple secret passageways for kids to climb through and slide down to get from one room to another. It was a great weekend and we were fortunate that the terrible storm of a century stayed along the coast and so we didn't lose power until Sunday afternoon when we are headed home, nor did we have to drive around the Sound because of the Hood Canal bridge being closed.

"Who's ready to run into the blocks?" (Left-to-right: Oliver, Theo, Nico, Rhys, Otis, Lilian and Henry - all 4 years old and within 6 weeks of each other)

After kids run into block wall in the block room

Nico in the secret passageway with a slide

For Halloween weekend, I had a day off so I took the kids to the Woodland Park Zoo and Theo's PEPS group got together and all the kids and siblings dressed up. Theo was a Luchador (a Mexican wrestler, like in the movie "Nacho Libre") and Marit was a pumpkin and Elmo. Theo's mask scared one of the younger kids. I can't imagine why!?

The luchador

On Halloween, Theo and Marit went trick or treating with their buddies, Grayson and Lincoln, for a total of three city blocks and had to stop because they had filled their Halloween buckets to the brim! Marit kept up in her little Elmo outfit running after Theo and Grayson and would ask, "Treat?" (rather than "Trick or treat?") and "Take you" for "Thank you" at each door. Theo even asked Seth to carry his bucket by the end because "it was too heavy!" We have enough candy to last to Easter (if Seth doesn't keep taking all of Marit's candy when she's sleeping).

Halloween - Luchador and pumpkin

PEPS kiddos at the Halloween party

Marit Development - 22 months
Marit is talking up a storm! She continues to amaze us with her vocabulary and comprehension. She understands 2 and 3 step commands. Theo was hardly talking at age 2! She's also discovered the dreaded two-letter word, "No" and repeats it over and over when she doesn't want to do something. She is very assertive and discovering her independence. Her best friend is Lincoln at Miss Janet's day care. They are 3 weeks apart and have been in daycare for the past year. They are very affectionate and are often seen given each other hugs and kisses (it's pretty adorable).
She's very tall like her brother and has figured out how to open all our doors, climb up and down Theo's lofted bed, climb on and off the changing table, jump in and out of the bath tub, walk up and down the stairs alone, jump off the side of the couch, sit on the froggy potty (but hasn't actually used it), get out her own silverware and dishes from the kid's drawer, use said silverware and dishes better than her brother, wash her hands after dinner (and then runs back to show us that they are clean so she can go play), suck the water off her toothbrush (but hasn't quite figured out how to brush her teeth), put on her rain boots on by herself, pick out her dress and jacket in the morning, wear Theo's PJs to bed, and give the best hugs and kisses when I leave for work in the morning. She loves "choo-choos" like her brother and is always trying to play with his toys. She is learning how to share but mostly Theo just takes his things from her and she cries for about 8 seconds before finding another one of his toys to play with. She goes to parent-tot swim class every Saturday and is learning to kick and blow bubbles but mostly prefers the hot tub as the end of class. She is overdue for her first hair cut but she has beautiful long blond hair and hates it when I try to put it up in pigtails yelling "Ouchie, ouchie" the whole time.
She turns 2 on December 12th and we can't wait to have cousin Evelyn come visit for the party!

Theo Development - 4.3 years
Theo continues to grow and is officially out of "toddler" clothing (no longer a 5T)! He enjoys spending time with his best buddy, Elliot, everyday at Miss Janet's daycare, as well as on the weekends (as if 40 hours a week isn't enough time together). We had his speech evaluated by the Seattle schools since he was a little hard to understand and I'm happy to say I think his speech is much clearer now but he still has age-appropriate difficulty with the "ll, sh, ch, tch, r and s" sounds and given his large vocabulary and complex sentence structure, he can still be difficult to understand sometimes. The speech therapist told me that he doesn't need any help but that we should model good speech and talk to him slowly and in simple sentences and clearly articulate each word ("Yeah right!" At least now I know what he talks that way). He loves watching the cartoon show, "Stinky and Dirty" on Amazon Prime and is great motivation to get him up in the morning while Seth is still getting ready for work. He also likes to play Endless reader or Endless alphabet or sorting games on the iPad.
Seth and Theo wrestle every night and Theo continues to discover new moves (running and flying off the couch and karate jump-kick Seth in the back - worked pretty well).
He frequently breaks out in song to either the Beatles's "Yellow submarine" or "Hey Jude," where he waves his hands back and forth and sings, "Nah-nah, nah-nah-nah-na-na, hey Jude!"or the silly song "Apples and bananas" ("I want to eat, eat, eat, ee-pples and ba-nee-nees".) Theo continues to excel in swim class and is in the advanced 4 and 5 years olds. He can finally touch in the shallow end and enjoys doing cannon balls off the side and back floats.