Look Mom, No Training Wheels! Part II

Two years ago, Jack surprised us by just up and riding his bike with out training wheels. He was still four and we were a bit shocked that he didn't need us to acquire this skill.

Fast forward to this year and Isaac has mastered his Strider Balance Bike and was even able to handle riding it over the hills and bumps at the Pump Track recently. At that time he kept telling us that he wanted pedals on his bike.

We waited a few weeks and he kept asking about pedals and no training wheels. So we finally went to our neighborhood park and let him give it a try.

The result was that a few weeks before his third birthday he was able to ride without training wheels! Now, he is by no means proficient at it, but he was able to do it. Pedal, pedal, pedal, Isaac!

A few days later he asked to put the training wheels back on and we acquiesced. But I'm sure he will be riding on his own soon enough! We are incredibly proud of him for wanting to try and actually doing it.

And honestly, we aren't surprised that he was ready to try. Two years ago he was chomping at the bit to be on Jack's bike! Image above taken summer of 2016!

Baby Hulk │Isaac's 2nd Birthday Party

Stomping in puddles: how this guy is celebrating his second birthday. Temp link to Birthday blog post in profile. #isaacistwo #simplelife #kidsandpuddles #optoutside #lifewithatoddler #isaacalexander #mohaus2017

A post shared by Cheree Moore (@mo_haus) on Apr 18, 2017 at 10:12am PDT

On Isaac's actual birthday, he was happy to stomp in puddles and we decided to take him to our favorite local Mexican place, El Metate, for dinner. Isaac LOVES salsa.

At age two we thought he might still be a little young to be sung to at the restaurant, so we skipped the official birthday festivities there (they smash whip cream into your face). We still enjoyed our meal (and I didn't have to cook). Plus, salsa!

Celebrating Isaac's 2nd Birthday with our small group. #lifewithatoddler #isaacistwo #isaacalexander #smallgroup #mohaus2017

A post shared by Cheree Moore (@mo_haus) on Apr 22, 2017 at 1:56pm PDT

It was probably a good thing we skipped the singing, because on Saturday we celebrated his birthday with our small group. This meant singing to him and enjoying cake with friends. He was incredibly bashful for the singing part (see above video).

We must be settling comfortably into parenting two children if Isaac's official birthday party is any indication. While we love him dearly, due to this busy season of life, there was very little planning for this party.

Instead of an invitation, there was a last minute email sent to family 10 days beforehand.

Instead of Pinterest worthy-(ish) decorations, there were window stickers from the Target $1 bins.

We continued with my family's traditional Pistachio cake, to make the party sort-of themed, I stuck Jack's Hulk figurine in the middle of the cake and added pulverized Oreos and Reese's to make it look like Hulk was smashing his way out of the cake.

Our family brought Isaac some delightful gifts – everything was a hit, especially the costumes! Isaac and Jack have been playing with all of the goodies non-stop since everyone left.

For lunch I made grilled chicken and pulled pork carnitas. My philosophy is: you can't go wrong with Tex-Mex. And it's fairly easy to pull together for a crowd.

Isaac was still a bit bashful for round two of the Happy Birthday song with family...

We are grateful for everyone that was able to make the drive (in torrential rain no less) to celebrate our youngest boy.

A look back at Jack's 2nd Birthday Party

Thursday Things

1) I have much to share, but not all today... In the last 7 days we visited a replica of the Nina and Pinta, celebrated Jack's 5th Birthday, experienced ongoing wildfires in our area with excessive smoke and poor air quality (going on 12 days now), and also had a national election that ended up being a bit shocking.

 

2) And did I mention both Daniel and I got sick. Simultaneously? What are you to do when the parents just want/need to lay in bed? Wash your hands a lot and pray the kids don't get sick.

3) We are also praying for rain. Daily. It doesn't look good.

4) Speaking of praying. We are continue to pray daily for our country. Power will change hands at the beginning of the coming year, and a lot of people are upset. I don't know what the future holds, but I am thankful to live in a place where the transition of power is a peaceful one (even if there is a lot of grumbling and complaining about it).

5) In our house we have a newly-turned 5-year-old and a toddler. This means that I deal with tantrums on a daily. Such is the plight of parenting young children. Jack often cries crocodile tears and tells me that "He is so sad" whenever I dole out a consequence. We talk a lot about how it is ok to be sad, but that it is not ok to behave in a manner that is disruptive to others. We also discuss being kind to everyone and treating each other with respect. This election year, in particular, feels like there are those who might have missed out on this type of lesson...

5) Not to change the subject, but have you seen the BidenObama Instagram account and memes? It gives me a good chuckle on a daily basis. I don't care who you are, or what your political leanings are, these memes are hilarious.

Peace out, I will be sharing more about Jack's birthday in the coming days.

The Compassion Experience

I believe I was a teenager when I was first introduced to Compassion International – my church youth group sponsored three children over the course of several years.

Compassion is a Christian organization that brings together children in the poorest countries with sponsors from around the world who are willing to help through financial assistance. The sponsors and children are also able to communicate via letters and some even eventually meet.

The program has had success in getting these children a secondary education, with a path for college and a future employment. The sponsorship also provides for medical care and other needs.

Over the weekend, a local church hosted a Compassion Experience. This event allowed us to have a glimpse into the lives of three children (now grown) who had benefited from the Compassion program. They each had very different lives, but all were touched by poverty.

Daniel and I regularly talk about how we can teach our kids the importance of compassion and empathy for people who have different life experiences from us, and we felt like the Compassion Experience would be a good opportunity to plant that seed.

With young children, this experience wasn't a perfect fit, but Jack did choose to walk through all three stories.

We all listened to the story of Carlos in Guatemala together, then Isaac decided that he was finished so we decided that one of us should just let him play outside.

Jack and I listened to the story of Kiwi in the Philippines and then we traded and Daniel went with Jack to hear a story about a child growing up in Uganda.

Each story led us through a series of rooms. As we listened to each child's hardship, we had the opportunity to see how they lived, what they ate, and how they were expected to contribute to their family.

Jack is almost five and some parts of these (true) stories were pretty intense – for the Philippines story they had him listen to a kid friendly version.

When we finished, we asked him what he thought. He said he was sad that the mom of the child in Uganda had died. So even though he was young, he still connected with the story.

Mostly he enjoyed playing with the food in each country, and I have to confess that I am pretty sure the headphones were probably his favorite part.

I think that two years from now he would have a better understanding of what the stories were about and why we were there.

Still, it was a good experience and if you have a chance to attend one of these free events, I would definitely recommend it.

There are so many children in our world who need help, and if nothing else, it is a good reminder of how much we have to be thankful for, every day.