Happy New Year (3.99 years and 2.4 years)

On New Year's Eve, we took the kids to the zoo.  They have Noon Year's Eve.  They have lots of crafts.  They had an animal show.  Then before noon there is a count down just like at midnight.  It was very cold.  Most of the activities were inside though.  We had a good time.

That evening, Brian and I watched a movie.  I actually stayed awake until midnight.  I haven't done that since Austin was born.  The kids have been sleeping better at night which allows me to stay up a bit later.  Brian usually goes to bed around 1 am.  If the kids get up after that I am always up with them.  Austin likes to get up around 5 am for a diaper change.  Many nights he then come down to the couch.  However recently I've convinced him that his bed is better.  Sydney wakes up at weird times and all she wants is me to be with her and she falls back to sleep.  It's easy however it messes up my sleep cycle.  Sometimes I go right back to bed and other times I don't.

The kids have been in swim classes basically since they have been 6 months old.  Brian was always in the pool with them.  I did a few classes but it was mostly Brain.  However Sydney has graduated from the baby class.  She is now in toddler 1 class.  It usually starts at 3 but Sydney is such a good swimmer they recommended we move her up.  It was kind of sad for us but exciting to see how well she does with swimming.  Kaitlyn and Austin are in the same classes, toddler 2.  I was worried about how Sydney would do alone and she did great.  She went right to her teacher and swims great for her level.  She loves the water.  Her teacher told us she is the best in the class and also the youngest.  I'm so happy she does so well in the water.

Last year I learned about the Indianapolis Children's Museum.  It's rated number 1 in the country.  I wanted to take the kids there.  The best time is the winter since there is not as much to do.  We decided to leave on Saturday after swim class.  We drove and got a hotel.  After we checked in the hotel clerk told us about a winter storm coming.  And sure enough an ice storm was forecasted for Sunday afternoon and evening.  It was too late now.  We decided we would go enjoy the museum and hope for the best driving home.

After breakfast on Sunday, we went to the museum.  We were there from open to close.  It had five levels of activities for the kids.  It was awesome!  There was a dinosaur area.  Austin and Sydney even made us dress up.  They got to dig for some fossils.  Another area was a train station.  Austin enjoyed working the ticket counter.

There was a special area for kids under 5.  It was perfect for Austin and Sydney.  They had a art class that they took and loved.  Later in the day there was also a music class.  Austin loves music.  During music class the teacher would ask questions and Austin would answer appropriately.  It was so great for us to see.  Austin is shy and he coming out of his shell.  He participated more and doesn't need us to be right by his side all the time.

There was China exhibit.  They had fun playing with the panda bears and at the market.  There was also a plane but they were not too interested.  They have been on real planes a lot and they were not that impressed.   They got to play all day long.  It was great for them.

They watched a movie in the planetarium.  It starred Big Bird and Elmo and Elmo went to space with his friend from China.  It was a cute movie.  It was perfect since they just had their "real" space rocket for Christmas.

We all had a great day.  At the end of the day, we marched in a parade with the dinosaur.  It was another cool experience for them.  Once we got into the car to drive home, Sydney went right to sleep.  She was exhausted.  Austin stayed awake.  It was icy buy luckily the roads were well treated.  We made it home around 10 pm.  It was a long but fun day!

We have been going to the library every week for about a year now.  The kids really enjoy story time.  There was some issues this time with story time because 2 year old and 3 year old are supposed to be in a different class.  That makes things a little hard.  We tried a new story time on Mondays and the kids were terrible.  And I did not care for the teacher.  So we are back to story time on Tuesdays.  They are doing well.  The teacher would prefer them to be in different classes but it's not practical right now.

Some of their favorite books are Pete the Cat books, Dinosaur manners book, and anything with trucks.  Sydney enjoys short books.  Austin likes reading longer books.  Austin knows all of his letters.  Sydney probably knows about 25%.  I am starting to work with Austin with reading.  I have tried to get him to get beginning reading books at the library but he doesn't like them yet.  However when I do read I show him words and he "reads" them.

It's so great to have everyone potty trained.  We have very few accidents.  If we do, it usually Sydney and it's because we didn't remind her to go potty.  Sometimes Sydney doesn't want to go potty.  I play a game that I have to go and I'm going first and she doesn't like that so then she will go.  She likes everything on her terms.  Probably about 50% of nights she is dry when she wakes up.  Austin is still wet every night.  Hopefully that will come soon but this doesn't bother me from where we were a year ago!