January Cabin Fever

In the spirit of my continuing attempt to catch up on the last few months of life in the Neibaur household,  I am now moving on to the beginning of 2012. The big event for the boys was starting skating lessons. Dashell is not convinced yet that skating is for him, but Stratton loves it. It was quite a shock to have him be so excited about it and really take off with it after last year's weeping and wailing over skating.

Stratton has even decided he would like to try out hockey in the fall. He loves to go fast and has been really enjoying having skating twice a week for the last few months. Dashell didn't make it quite as long with the lessons, but I think that if leaving them for a year and then coming back to it can make such a dramatic difference for Stratton, it may just work for Dash too. And he did just barely turn 3. Hardly his last chance at it. 

We also had an excessively cold month in January. We only had all three hours of church maybe 2 times because the other weeks it was below -40. It -40 to -50 for what seemed like forever. And even with the boys getting tougher and having lots going on, it still leads to some pretty serious cabin fever for everyone involved. Needless to say, the boys started counting down to Hawaii pretty early on, including trying out flippers and practicing snorkeling in the tub. We were all going stir crazy by the end of the month.

Since Dashell is now 3, he started a gymnastics class flying solo from Mom. The first few weeks were rough, but his listening and direction taking has been improving each week. Thank goodness! Anything to practice following directions for that child. He was born with a very strong will and a definite mind of his own. It is fun to watch him do something that is just his and be so excited to have an activity he doesn't share with either brother. 

Cabin fever for Pilot expressed itself in some seriously intense jumping. He could really pound the floor when he got going and it was non-stop jumping for good chunks of time. Anything to get moving! 

I learned that getting all three boys in a good mood at the same time is virtually impossible, as is taking a good picture of all three of them at once. 

It was a long, cold month, but we survived! We just hope it doesn't stay cold for quite as long a stretch next winter. -20 is one thing, but -40 can get downright discouraging!

End of the Year Pilot

We can't leave out Smallest of All in our year end wrap up! Pilot is growing like a weed and has already changed night and day since this New Year's Eve photo. He loves to be the center of attention and show off his dimple. He laughs at his brothers all the time, is super ticklish and can't stand to be left out of anything. A surefire way to set him screaming is to put him down in a room by himself and walk out. He must have got used to loud noise levels in utero, because he is very uncomfortable with silence! He likes to be in the middle of all the chaos of his brothers and is just dying to get in there with him. He already contributes as much as he can to the noise level. He loved Christmas and all the wrapping paper and family and people to hold him. Just like his brothers, he seems to think that there should always be a party going on. His hair seems to be losing a bit of the curl it had a few months ago, and he looks more and more like Stratton to me, but he still very much his own little man and another Neibaur Cabbage Patch baby. We are glad to have our smallest boy to round out our 3 Billy Goats Gruff.

Stratton's Year End Highlight Reel

Now on to Stratton's highlights for the end of 2011. It is hard for me to leave out what has already been the highlights of 2012, but one step at a time in this catching up process! Stratton is growing up in front of us- literally. His pants that are too long for him one day are too short within 10 days. He continues to be our small responsible boy constantly trying to get his mom to be less laid back about things...he worries and plans more than any 5 year old should. One morning he was asking me a question after question about something and I finally told him not to worry about it, that a grown up would take care of it and he sighed and shook his head and said, "Sometime I feel like a grown up already." That poor kid will probably have my retirement home lined up for me before he gets to high school. After all, he clearly feels like somebody needs to be planning these things. He is a clever and unusually self aware boy who continues to surprise us with his memory and ability to learn massive amounts of information about things that he is interested in, mostly science. Just ask him about earthquakes, volcanoes, owls, animal camoflage, or any of a number of other things, mostly science and nature related. He is always thorough and meticulous to the point of driving me crazy and loves "projects" of any variety. As long as you call helping with the dishes a project, he's in. Mostly he prefers art projects, but anything will work.  He plans ahead to an amazing degree. One day when we were driving between my parents old home and their new home he was describing in intricate detail what his house would be like, how many rooms, what would be in each room, where he would build it (next door to us, incidentally). When I asked him if he would live there alone, he said no. So I asked who he would live with and he said "I don't know." Everything else had been so detailed that I asked him, "You don't know who you'll live with, just that you won't live alone?" And he said, " Well Mom, I don't know who I'll be married to!" That's my oldest, already planning his wedding, just needs to fill in the bride apparently! Good things he's got 20 years or so. At Christmas when we went to see Santa, he refused to ask for anything because he needed to mail a list that could include everything. He didn't think it would be fair to just tell him one or two things and leave his requests incomplete. He is a very helpful oldest brother and his personality lends itself well to helping out with Pilot on occasion. One day I left him with Pilot for a minute while I ran to get the phone and a few minutes later I heard him yelling, "Help! Help!" I came running back upstairs to hear him saying, "Help! I'm watching Pilot and I need to go downstairs." I guess I should be grateful that at least he stays with him until help arrives! When we were in California at Thanksgiving, we went to Legoland with the boys. By about 2:30 in the afternoon, Brigg and I were getting tired, so we asked the boys if they were ready to call it a day. Stratton said in all seriousness, " Yes, I think we've had enough excitement for one day." Even after we came home, I asked him if he had remembered something for preschool and he told me, " I must have forgotten because of all the excitement!" Lucky for us, he still has a silly streak a mile wide and is not all business all the time. If you are ever lucky enough to see his dance moves, you will know what I mean. For all his hurry to grow up, he still can be super silly and very much a 5 year old. Thank goodness! I'm not ready for him to be any bigger just yet.