Block Bonding

Since he can't move yet, Eli is a lot of fun to play "with" right now. He just sits there and will handle whatever you give him. Myka has even got into the action and they have enjoyed many moments on either side of the block wagon, each doing their own thing but playing together more or less.
And I know this will all change very soon. I am enjoying it while I can!

You take the good, you take the bad

It seems I am always hearing about how the second kid is never anything like the first. And I can agree, to a point, but it seems beyond the spitting image Eli is to Myka at the same age, our children have a lot in common. I won't go into all that I have noticed, but two things have jumped out at me this week that I feel are worth mentioning.
We have two screamers. Myka was shrieking at a very early age, not in protest or sadness, but in the sheer joy of hearing herself do it. It was cute at first, and I won't say we encouraged it. too much. but she was a baby and she wasn't crying so we didn't mind. And so we are STILL correcting this behavior today, at age three and a half. Again, it is usually out of excitement, but now that she is older (and knows that it bothers us) it can be used out of frustration or anger or tiredness or boredom or just because it's a Tuesday. I thought we might avoid it with Eli, until this week. Now he screams too. Although he is using it a little more out of frustration, he still just tries it out once in awhile to see if he can still do it. And he can. And then Myka answers his call with her best glass shattering cry. And then I go outside and stick my head in the 6 foot snowdrift by the driveway.
BUT, we also have two dancers. And this one Eli is working on ahead of when Myka displayed it for us. For the last few days while we all play in the living room, we take a toy that plays music and get it going while Eli is sitting up. To certain up-beat tunes, he will sit with a small object in his hand and just wiggle the rest of his body. I have tried to record it several times, but the camera always distracts him, and then there is that girl that keeps jumping in front of him to get a picture of herself, or her hand, or the balloon she is holding. So I shut off the camera, and she shrieks, and he shrieks, and I realize my kids really aren't so different from one another.

A little game we like to call...

"Find the Drool"
You may have to click on a picture to make it bigger...(Then again, you may not).

I'm a big boy now!

Someone is pretty proud of himself...

On this day, he fell over about 5 seconds later. But he is already a pro at sitting up now. I actually just baby proofed the living room yesterday because it is only a matter of time...

Sticker Stories

We had a wonderful Christmas! It started the weekend before and carried through the weekend after with family visits and cookies and presents and candy canes and stockings and church and, oh yes, stickers.

Did you know that Santa visits pastor's kids a day early? We didn't either, but apparently it has something to do with the fact that the pastor is so busy Christmas eve and morning that Santa figures there is more time to enjoy the family before the rush. Another one of those perks of being a PK. (Or maybe, the perk?) Anyway, Santa arrived at our house sometime in the wee hours of the 24th, so we celebrated that morning as a family in our living room and had a wonderful time. Santa knowingly added a small but mighty sticker book to Myka's stocking, and it was one of the first things she opened. This was a very good thing. In fact, had there not been a sticker book that morning, the rest of Christmas may have been very interesting. Even though she has about 300 sticker books, and even though I knew of at least 2 she would be getting and 5 more she had already gotten that week, this morning just felt crucial. So needless to say, she was very excited. And EVERY present she opened after that, and on Christmas morning, and in the days to follow when we celebrated with other families, before she opened she would say, "maybe it's stickers!" And it didn't matter if it was the size of a postage stamp or a bicycle, she still guessed stickers every time.

On the Tuesday following Christmas, Myka started asking when we would be going to Church again. I would answer and that would be fine and then she would ask a couple of hours later and we would go through the whole thing again. I was a little confused but excited the little PK was so excited about church. Then about 2 days later it dawned on me why she was asking when instead of asking when we would go to church, she asked, "if we go to church can I do my little sticker book?" It turns out the little book made it's way to the diaper bag on Christmas Eve and got us through a long Church service, and was used again the Sunday after. When she asked to do the book after that, I said we needed to leave it in the diaper bag since it was small and she could do one of the other 12 books she got for Christmas. Turns out she really liked that little book and just can't wait to get back to church to do some more! Well, whatever gets you there, I guess!

It seems in all the excitement I did not snap as many pictures as I had hoped, but here are a few for your enjoyment...

Making cookies with Grandma and Grandpa Beads. I'm not sure if she was eating the dough, wiping her face with messy hands, or sticking her head in the flour...

But judging from this picture I think Grandpa may have had something to do with it...

Here is Eli with one of his favorite presents. Move over sock monkey!

Hanging out by the tree. I'm still trying to figure out all of the effects on my camera I've had for 2 years...

Myka and Eli with cousin Grace on Christmas morning. We opened presents with my family at my brother's house in Marion. Sock puppy is still close by.

Meanwhile...

Sorry there haven't been any updates lately. Here is a rundown of the activity in the Hoover house...
Eli is almost sitting up on his own. He is also a drool factory. Not the occasional "shiny chin" look, but rather the "I didn't quite turn the faucet handle all the way off in the bathroom and although you can't hear it there is a steady stream of water running into the sink" look. I actually had to change his pajamas today because his feet were soaking wet. I realized then where the drool had been pooling while we were practicing sitting up.
As of two hours ago Myka has some sort of flu. We now know how she acts shortly before she throws up. We also know how Kurt acts when he changes sheets with throw up on them.
I am either nesting or spring cleaning, both of which are about 6 months off timewise, but TOTALLY necessary. Somehow I have a new found energy and have been throwing it into sorting and being more organized again. Some of this is prompted by the fact that Eli will be moving soon and there are about 756 beads scattered in tiny corners and cracks of my floor, and the rest is prompted by the fact that I couldn't get to my dryer in the laundry room any more.
Kurt is on a well-deserved break from work after a wonderful Christmas season. I have let him sleep in the last two mornings in hopes of negotiating a deal for him to get up with Eli tomorrow so I can sleep in one day this year. We struck a deal and in less than an hour Myka was sick. I don't think any of us will be sleeping a whole lot tonight.

We hope you are all well. There will be Christmas pictures and stories posted soon!