Bradley Gets Glasses, Eleanor Loves Dresses, & Patrick Gets Whatever He Wants

It seems that winter is essentially over which is sooooo amazing for my outdoor loving crew. We went from this:

To this!

 

Eleanor isn't so sure about the balance bike, she ended up just carrying it around for a while because riding it was too tough. We might prefer training wheels.

Picnic lunches have become a standard request and it's a lot of fun except Patrick trying to steal Bradley and Eleanor's food at every opportunity.

Picnic with a daddy back rest. Doesn't get much better than this.

They love each other so much.

This face!

We even ate outside on the deck the other night!

We still haven't sleep trained Patrick yet which is kind of killer. We're waiting on his second front tooth to come through and it looks like it's almost there, which is very good news. However, there is a fringe benefit for me because Nathan will take the early morning shift with Patrick and the older two will come and find me when they wake up and cuddle by me in bed. It is bliss.

This picture is actually from my death sickness cold on Valentine's Day. Bradley was worried about me and insisted on some good cuddles.

Even with teething, Patrick is not our neediest child. That award is a firm victory for Eleanor. She wants to be held constantly and often I carry her up the stairs while Patrick crawls up beside us. Ridiculous. She has figured out that she can get away with her often desperate pleas to be held when she says "I just love you so much" on repeat. Well no, now I can't put you down. Well done, two year old. I carry her all the time in and out of Bradley's school which is ridiculous because I also have to carry Patrick. If anyone wants to arm wrestle me I'm pretty sure I can take you.

Fun story: I took Eleanor and Patrick grocery shopping one day while Bradley was at school and got a doughnut for me and Eleanor to share. I didn't get a single bite of that thing.

Patrick is eleven months old and shows zero interest in walking which is so weird for me because that's all the other two were doing by now. He's also much better at crawling than they ever were and I sometimes have to break into a run to chase him down. He's wearing holes in the knees of his pants. He has discovered how much fun play equipment is and eagerly crawls up any baby friendly stairs and then tries to throw himself down slides. Sigh. I guess I wouldn't know what to do with a cautious child.

 Action shot of older two trying to defend a tower against baby intent on destruction.

Grandma Colleen and Kerry came and we all had a pretty great time playing outside a bunch. Bradley and Eleanor have been talking about flowers and I told them that they could ask Grandma Colleen for some help planting some. Eleanor wants pink or purple flowers. Bradley wants blue flowers ... that grow hot dogs. No idea where he came up with this. He has mentioned the hot dog flowers every time I've said anything about planting flowers so Grandma Colleen may need to back up her master gardening credentials by making the magic happen for her sweet grandson.

Craft time!

The kids also got to fly kites for the first time with Colleen and Kerry which was a blast! Everyone loved it, such a good time.

Bradley is ridiculously sweet these days.

He's hilarious to tell stories to. The other day he had me tell him Little Red Riding Hood and we substituted a white tiger for the big bad wolf. And then he made up a song about it.

And a few days after that he decided to jump his scooter off the front step of our house. I called out "Do you think that's a good idea?" and apparently he did, because he went for it. One scraped and bandaged knee later we discussed what had occurred.

And Eleanor is either perfection or melting down, there doesn't seem to be much in between. When she's good she's very very good and when she's bad she's horrid. (That's a Longfellow reference for you).

The other day I carried her back from the park while pulling Patrick in the wagon and every attempt to place her on the ground or in the wagon was met with hysterics. So I nicely told her that I hoped she had a daughter just like her someday. She cried a lot after being told this.

Usually we like the wagon

And FYI, if you get a bit chilly and you happen to be wearing a dress, this is the most logical way to get warm.

She really is pretty wonderful though, exactly what I hoped for in a daughter. When we have her pray before naps or bedtime she thanks Jesus for getting to play princesses with me. And when I take her picture she cocks her head to the side and says "cheeeeeese!" (I did not teach her to do either of those things).

Classic Eleanor picture pose

Come on boys, pictures are happening

 This is how you pose when Grandma sends you a new dress:

And the next day when a box from Target came Eleanor noticed it and said "Is that a dress for me??" Yes it was. She might be getting just a little bit spoiled when it comes to new clothes.

The kids love going to their friend Eli's house. Great things to balance on.

And sand! Patrick yelled at me until I put him down in the sand and promptly yelled at the big boys until he got the tools he wished to play with. Third child has realized one must express one's needs and wants emphatically if you are gonna get by in this harsh world.

And Bradley and Eleanor are equally on top of making their way through this cold, hard world. Bradley turned to look at me during a show last week and caught me eating a Cadbury egg with my coffee. It turns out that there is one thing that outranks tv in this house and it's chocolate. Bradley and Eleanor came running over and I about lost a finger when I tried to give Bradley a small bite at the end so I would have some left for me. The children watch me like hawks when I have my morning coffee now. So much for trying to sneak some sweets.

Do you see the cute nightgown that Eleanor is wearing in the above picture? It is the only thing that matters in this world and she begs hard for the chance to wear it all day.

Full disclosure: I have a weakness for my children doing adorably naughty things. Like Patrick gunning it for the dishwasher whenever I open it even though it means I have to rewash quite a few items.

However, I do draw the line at climbing on the dishwasher. Patrick is too big to get away with this.

Recently I might have been letting the kids jump in Patrick's crib. Nathan is sure they're going to break it but I told them to bounce gently so surely we'll be fine!

Other updates: Bradley is getting glasses. We don't know how long he's going to have to wear them but hopefully they help his eyes grow out of the issues they're having now with straining too hard when they're trying to focus. Luckily he looks really cute in his new glasses he picked out. His one criteria was that he wanted blue ones (shocker).

And Nathan and I went on a date recently and successfully left all three kids with one very sweet babysitter. Everyone survived and Nathan and I had a pretty delightful time.

And it's been mostly happiness and sunshine lately but a couple of days ago we had a very unusual day full of Washington style drizzle and the Pacific Northwesterner in me wouldn't let a little rain keep us down. Kids were game.

Ohhhhh puddles. There's nothing quite like a baby crawling through a puddle.

We've been on a bit of an ice cream cone kick lately

And Hungry Hungry Hippos

But far and away the best thing about these kids is the way they love each other. I hope this never goes away.

They begged to sit by each other at the table the morning after they got to do so when we had friends over.

There's a reason I don't let them sit so close that often.

Bradley insisted on posing by Eleanor when I was taking pictures of yet another new dress sent by my mom (I wasn't kidding. So many dresses for this girl).

 And when we dance in the kitchen everyone wants to be involved, even the baby.

We go out places and they mostly just follow each other around, except when Patrick finds an amazing machine with flashing lights and makes it his mission to crawl across the dirtiest area of the bouncy house place repeatedly in order to get to said machine. 

 You can guess what's under the blanket. So much delight whenever Bradley popped out.

And everything is better with your best buddy. 

Here Eleanor was begging for Cheerios from Patrick and he was happy to play "feed the sister" with her. 

Bradley and Eleanor love taking turns bouncing Patrick on the shakey bridge at the park. He loves it so much. He's such a maniac. 

Continuing to care for the baby

Cuddles!!

We've been getting some kitty loves lately too. Layla is ridiculously nice and desperate for cuddles.

This we call "kitty fishing".

Nathan is firmly on top of his cuddling duties these days

All the duties, really. Everyone wants a piggy back ride with fun Daddy!

He had to go on a work trip a little while back and the kids requested that I ship them to Canada so they could be with their Daddy.

And sweet Patrick boy remains ridiculously adorable, incredibly naughty, and I can't believe he's going to be one in just a month!

And it seems I have been remiss in some of my mommy duties because I just introduced him to play doh for the first time this past week. His facial expressions at the beginning were rather priceless. 

But he soon came around to the fun of it all and unlike baby Eleanor didn't make it his quest to sneak bites of it whenever I wasn't keeping a sharp lookout. 

 He just does all the other naughty things instead. Here he is turning on our tub water repeatedly.

And he had to yell at Bradley and try to climb all over him until the shovel became his when they found some cool dirt to play in at a friend's house.  

Typical morning in the Scott house. Send reinforcements and more princesses for Eleanor, we're having too much fun.