Deuces are Wild (Formerly The Life of Cameron): November 2012

Nate

Nate is growing up quickly. It’s hard to believe he turned 2 in April (yes I realize it’s been a while since I blogged if I’m just getting to this highlight now in ~~October~~ November…). He weighs almost as much as Cameron (maybe about 29 lbs vs 31 lbs for Cameron) and is almost as tall (maybe about 35" vs 37" for Cameron). Their feet are the same size and share some clothes. In fact, I get asked almost weekly if they are twins.

He now sits at the kitchen table on a chair just like the rest of us. He also gave up naps in August (though in July he stopped napping every day) and is no longer in his crib (a sad moment for me to realize my babies are no longer babies…). Though the first time we let him sleep in a big bed, he climbed out and slept on the floor - goofball. He also slept in his tent in the playroom quite a bit before we finally put his toddler bed up on July 15. The first night he was in his toddler bed, he fell out at least two times but did not wake up either time. Then in September he started preferring the large bed in the playroom over his much smaller toddler bed. After a massive bloody nose incident in early October that required the sheets to be stripped, and therefore making the big bed unavailable, he moved back in to his toddler bed in the room he shares with Cameron and has been there since. Knock on wood, but the boys have also started going to bed great when they share a room rather than playing until they got separated.

For a while this summer, Nate would sometimes uses the toilet but that was short lived. Maybe this winter we will work on it more as I think he is physically able so it's just a matter of will. It has been interesting watching Nate develop. He has the advantage of a big brother who likes to show him how to do things, but Nate is also more impetuous and tends to just try stuff on his own terms. Therefore he likes to do things, but doesn’t take the time to learn how to do them properly. Cameron is a more deliberate and observant learner – he likes to watch and figure out how to do it before he tries it himself. So it took him longer to try a lot of the new things like potty training, but when he would finally try it, he usually was able to do it well quickly.

Another cute quirk Nate had for a while was he would insist on saying good night to everybody before going to bed or naps. It was sweet while it lasted! Then he started protesting if anyone other than daddy tried to give him a good night kiss or hug. Silly boy. He was definitely in a daddy's boy phase from around his second birthday until the end of September. Now he is a mamma's boy on many days but still a daddy's boy on others.

Because he tends to be much more driven by emotion than logic or rational thinking, Nate loves to display affection and will say "I love you" at random times which is so sweet. But his tantrums are much longer and obnoxious than his brother's because it is harder to use logic and reasoning to calm him down than it is Cameron so being so emotional has some challenges!

Hiking in the Kettle Moraine

Cameron

Cameron finished up his first year of preschool in May and it was really exciting to watch his growth, both socially and physically. One of my favorite activities of the year was an egg drop. Much like the high school exercise, the kids were asked to come up with a way to protect an egg from breaking while dropped from high up (in this case, Cameron’s 6’+ tall teacher climbed a ladder to drop the containers the kids created). The guidelines were the kids had to have the egg in a cardboard box. Cameron suggested many different ideas including ice (we used a plastic container to test that theory out and then I let it melt and we tested the water). He finally settled on using blankies since they are “soft and keep me safe”. Sure enough his blankies protected the egg enough! What a great activity to encourage creative thinking and experimentation!

Cameron and I camped out in our backyard earlier this summer and then he joined Greg and I when members of our softball team joined us for a campout at Kruepke campgrounds (Nate couldn't make up his mind whether he wanted to sleep in the tent or inside so after making several trips in and out of the house, we finally decided to leave him inside for the night and brought the monitors out by us). Cameron loved the campfire, probably because of the s’mores. And he did great sleeping in the tent his first time until about 4:45am when the sun and the birds both came out so we finished sleeping inside. Plus I was kinda cold (it was in June when the nights were still getting down into the 50s and 60s) so I welcomed crawling into a warm bed. He slept in until closer to 6am the second time around which I definitely appreciated! I am excited to take both boys camping again sometime!

Some other Cameron highlights:

He is finally wearing 3T (for tops at least; still 2T for pants). He picks out his own clothes and gets himself completely dressed and undressed each day. Sometimes this new freedom leads to interesting fashion sense – a collared light blue plaid shirt w/ red shorts. But he is usually pretty particular about matching.
One morning he made his own breakfast (took a clean bowl from the dishwasher, poured cereal, flax seed and cranberries and got out yogurt and added it to his bowl)
Started 4-year preschool at the same school (Christ the Life) and is pretty good about telling me about his day (what he ate for snack, who he played with, what books his teacher read and on Wednesdays what was discussed in church)
He started peeing standing up in July and now does it regularly and most proudly - does not make too much of a mess! He even lifts up the toilet seat before peeing.
He is taking a soccer skills class and is pretty good at dribbling (and shooting) but is still working on passing! He has played a little tennis with mom and her friends.
Cameron also is taking swim classes by himself - no more lessons w/ parent. Though he will jump in after lots of prodding, he still does not want to go underwater. Even with his cool new goggles. But he sure likes swimming around on his own with his swim belt on and had the opportunity to go swimming at his great grandma's house several times this summer with his brother and also with his friends Ben, Abby and Lorelai Burie. One afternoon we were even joined by a baby bunny who hopped in and started swimming with us.
Cameron's newest antic - mimicking Aaron Rodgers and his "Discount Double Check"/Championship Belt thing from the insurance ads. Anyone in Wisconsin knows what I'm talking about.
He was playing with a rock this summer and named it Rachel. Yet when it comes to naming stuffed animals, etc, they never get names. They are shark or monkey or puppy, etc.

It has also been so neat seeing Cameron's creativity blossom. He loves coming up with new games to play. For example in August, he was playing with 5 small wooden frogs from a fishing game he got at Greg's company picnic. He lined 4 of them up facing a 5th frog that he called the teacher. Then he started playing "preschool" with them. I think he was anxious to start school again! I think he is a bit like his mom - a huge fan of school!

He also came up with his version of "Angry Birds" that he calls "Mad Birds". He stacks up empty egg cartons and then throws balls at them to knock them down.

And finally, from my perspective, the accomplishment I am most proud of is Cameron read his first word! While Cameron and I were taking a virtual tour of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History (http://www.mnh.si.edu), we went from the Butterfly Garden to the Insect Zoo. When I went to click on the arrow to go to the zoo, the words "Insect Zoo" came up and Cameron said "We're going to the zoo". I asked him how he knew the next room was a zoo, he said "Because it said zoo by the clicker" (the arrow I clicked to go to the next room). This is the first time I knew for sure he was reading a word rather than just dictating it from memory like he does with lots of his books. In fact, when I went to email our family about Cameron’s achievement, he kept asking me why I was writing the word zoo. There is something magical about watching a child learn to read!

Other Kruepke Family News

The boys welcomed their newest cousin, Harper Marie Andrus, on September 28th. They have seen Harper a few times via Skype and will get to meet her this December. They also enjoy playing with their other two cousins, Caroline and Natalie, especially when we go to the Madison Farmer's Market and meet them there or when they come visit us and we go to the train restaurant.

Kale from our garden

We also had a garden this summer. Our kale went gang busters in the crazy dry, warm summer we had. We also grew strawberries, asparagus (only in its 2nd year so won't be able to harvest until next year), carrots, beans (complete failure - think the animals dug them up before they sprouted), peppers, broccoli (destroyed by Japanese beetles along with our basil) and leeks. The boys have become more adventurous with their vegetable consumption and I think it is because they grew their own and we also are part of a CSA and Cameron especially will try almost anything from "Farmer Tim". In fact, one of Cameron's current favorites is brussel sprouts - he loves peeling the outer leaves off after I cut them off the stalks. We've made them several times (crusted with cheese and bread crumbs; with maple syrup sauce; sauteed with bacon) and he ate them each time even declaring "I love them so, so much". Nate will plow through mixed vegetables like they are candy. Both recently tried grilled asparagus and ate several stalks of it. And the boys will eat just about any root veggie (radish, turnip, beets, sweet potatoes, etc) if we thinly slice them and bake them with olive oil and a little seasoning. We were at a preschool potluck dinner last week and the family at the table with us commented on how well both boys ate vegetables and were willing to try many different things. That was a compliment I felt really proud of as it is important to me that they learn good eating habits and embrace a variety of foods.

Sunrise from our yard

Greg and I continue to play summer softball and also played fall softball again this season. Our summer team was almost as successful as last summer (we lost once in the regular season and in the championship game to the same team so only 2 losses in the last 2 seasons). We play fall ball in a different league and though we weren't quite as successful (4-4), but at least we were still playing ball this week unlike the Yankees!

I spent part of the summer recovering from a nasty calf strain that landed me on crutches for several days. I initially injured it playing tennis, though managed to finish the match. Then after taking it easy for 10 days, I thought it was healed and was running from 3rd to home in a kickball game when it felt like a snap in the back of my leg and I hit the ground. I had to be carried to my car by a teammate and couldn't bear weight on it for about 4 days and had to stay off of it for a few weeks. No fun, but at least it seems healed now (knock on wood).

Both boys also thoroughly enjoy going to "Nards" (Menards) with Daddy and get excited on Thursdays when we go to pick up our CSA vegetables at Good Harvest. They also are still best buds and it's so fun watching them play together (though they have their share of spats - usually fighting over who gets to play with a particular toy). One afternoon before they gave up their naps, they were supposed to be napping, but all I heard through the monitor was Spanish music (they had changed the radio station to the Spanish music station) and lots of laughing. If they are not busy doing goofy things like that, they are usually playing hot wheel cars (or hot tire cars as they call them) smash-em-up or racing trucks so it is rare that our house is quiet. And if it is, that means they are usually up to no good!

A few other family highlights:

A trips to State Fair with our friends the Diels, the Maritime Museum in Manitowoc and Bay Beach Amusement Park where we met up with the Burie family - all in the same busy weekend! I highly recommend Bay Beach for families with young kids as it is affordable and the rides are age-appropriate. Plus for the older kids and adults, there is the Zippin Pippin roller coaster. I was very fortunate that Ben Burie let me take him on it so I could experience it. A fun roller coaster!
I (Kristi) got to go home several times, including twice by myself (my grandma's birthday and to meet Harper) and once with the boys. The boys did fantastic considering we drove almost 6 hours between my grandma's house and my grandparent's house one day. We visited many parks while we there, went up to Snolquamie Falls, visited Lake Washington and saw family and friends. If I get to it, I may add a separate entry with pictures later this month.
Lots of hiking - mostly at Retzer Nature Center (the boys love the bridges) but also in the Kettle Moraine.
Greg will be graduating in December with his Master's in Mechanical Engineering so he is working on his last class right now!!

Finally, here are some more pictures from our summer fun: