Let the Madness Begin!

Ryan stayed up late Selection Sunday to fill out his nifty excel sheet to send out for his family tournament. Then for FHE we had the kids do their picks. It's always a hard thing to figure out how exactly kids this young can do their own picks. So here's how it went:

Kevin:
Balls, then blocks, then back to balls. Balls: 2 balls, yellow as high, green was low. Each time his grabbed or released it counted as a high or low. Then with the blocks, number blocks was low and alphabet blocks were high same grab/release. Kevin ran out of steam towards the end (hence the switch back to balls). But all in all he was pretty fast. He has Florida picked to win.

Kherington:
Say their name then say the jersey color. We found that when Ryan just told her two names, she always choose whatever team he said last. When we switched to colors (Ryan would say the team's jersey color) she mixed it up more. She was a big fan of Orange. Her chosen champion is Lehigh.

Erin:
I did my picks by choosing the team with the better record, unless it was close and I
(a) owned or thought I owned some type of clothing from a team,
(b) had heard Ryan talk about the team a lot, or
(c) remembered the team's name from previous years and thought they were good back then

The exception to this was BYU. Since they've choked almost every year, I figured why even give them one game. Yeah, I know, I am soooo strategic. Truth be told I know the least about college basketball this year in comparison to any other year (since meeting Ryan). I did initially have Syracuse picked to win, but was told a star player wouldn't be playing so instead I have North Carolina winning it all.

Ryan:
As usual his picks had more thought put in. What teams are doing well? How many upsets are normal for each ranking level? What is the fan base like? He knows way more about college basketball than anyone should (yet somehow always manages to lose the family bracket). This year he has Michigan State as his champion.

Kiddos

We'll start of with a story...I took the kids to the doctor for check-ups by myself. Last time I took them together they both did awesome so I wasn't worried about it at all. They had a late appointment (5pm), so they were already getting toward the cranky side, plus Kherington poked herself in the eye on the very short ride over (that's in addition to having pink eye). They did fine playing in the waiting area. Kevin went first and did great aside from the normal kid squirming. Then it was Kherington. She screamed...like top of her lungs scream...wouldn't stop clinging to me and burrowing her head into my neck. She stood the scale for like a nano second, but long enough to get her weight. She kept swatting at the doctor (who she liked last time) when he tried to measure her head. Checking out the rest of her was NOT going to happen. Well, this all took at least 10 minutes and during this time with both the doctor and me focused on Kherington, Kevin managed to empty one of the doctors desk drawers and unplug his computer. The doctor every so kindly told me that if both kids are having check-ups it is much better to have two people in addition to the doctor (yep..figured that one out). Ugh. I hoping that was the WORST doctors visit we ever have.

On the very bleak bright side, we now know that Kherington weighs a whooping 12.8 kilos (about 28 pounds).

Now for the updates:

Kherington:
1. I wrote about her learning to clean the toilet at school. Well, the other day she came home with an art project. They turned the rag glove they used on the toilet into a cow. Kinda fun...you'll notice the eyes are funky...i'm guess she did that part on her own :).
2. One of Kherington's favorite snacks is 'sticks' (pretzels) with peanut butter. She usually does fine with it. The rule is she has to stay out of reach of her brother. Well, I guess she follow that as she used the peanut butter and sticks to draw on the couch. This is why leather couches are a must with kids...I can't image trying to clean this off a fabric couch.
3. The weather has been SUNNY and mid 50's which is AWESOME. For lunch we've been doing picnic's. On our walk home from school Kherington let's me know what she wants for lunch and lately it's been 'a big carrot and a sandwich'. Pretty easy girl to please :). Oh and it is must that she eats with her laptop (hopefully that's her using her imagination, not her seeing mommy do that).

4. A little while back I hosted an Art Group. Kherington saw the squeeze bottles of our glue/paint squeezes and requested that we do some art. She had so much fun!

5. I think we're officially done with afternoon naps for Kherington. I went to every other day napping, but on the days she naps she stays awake until at least 10pm which is too late for a little girl. Days that she doesn't nap, she crashes during dinner which I've started doing around 5:30. What to do, what to do...

Siblings:
1. Kevin emptied out the plastic plates/bowls cupboard and climbed in (just like Kherington did at his age). Well, when Kherington saw what he was doing, she wanted to do it too (fond memories?). She go very upset when I told her she was too big now.
2. I've been going on lots of walk with Kevin in the mornings and if Kherington's game in the afternoon too. I LOVE the phil & teds stroller for this!
*I would say that for jogging the BOB is better, but to have them both in the stroller without double long or double wide is awesome!

2. I LOVE nice weather. It makes such a huge difference to be able to open the doors and have the kids run wild, but still be home so I can get a some normal daily 'mom' tasks done. On nice days, having a yard doubles the size of the house. I would say that sometimes I do wonder what the neighbors think of my constant 'Kherington be nice to your brother' and 'Kevin that's gross, stop eating _____'.

Kevin, oh Kevin.
1. He is a little dare devil. He likes to run (fast walk) and keel over into pillows when they're on the floor. Anything that is a higher than the floor he tries (and often succeeds) climbing. He is always so proud of himself when he gets to the top. The slide is one of his favorite things to climb. He goes up the back, stands on top and starts clapping his hands. He also has yet to have a bad fall (knock on wood).

2. He workout with me in the mornings with the half kilo purple weights. If I only get my weights our he is not a happy camper.

3. With the nice weather, he loves to wander around outside with some little plastic raquets and hit balls (like croquet). He also like to be doing whatever his sister is doing (computer - check, sippy cup - check).

4. Stats update - he now weighs in a 19 pounds (so just 9 pounds lighter than Kherington) and is 71cm (28in) tall. What a growing boy! He sleeps horribly at night and fights his naps (especially the afternoon nap when Kherington is home and awake).