When Hunter came home with the winter book order from school it was not a shock to Deke or I that the thing he really wanted was a Snow Science Kit. It contained three different experiments and a book called Snow Science.
So off went the order and two weeks later it arrived home and he was eager to get started. The book was really great it gave a lot of neat information about the formation of snow and crystals, the water cycle and temperature. We read about snowflakes and the formation of crystals and then did the growing crystals experiment.
Hunter placed the snowflake in water and added a powdered solution. He was amazed to watch the snowflake instantly start absorbing the liquid.
The book also had logs in the back for him to make observations and record the progress of the experiment.
He loved this!! We observed and tracked the progress of the snowflake for the first 24 hours when the first crystals had formed on the snowflakes edges. I loved to watch him checking it out and then seeing what he would decided to write in his little log.
We are so excited that he loves Science. I love that when we are doing experiments he hurries to his closet to get his "lab coat" from his birthday. It is a very special lab coat. Also in the kit came an experiment to "make your own snow." As we were reading the directions Hunter was reading the package and noticed that it said the package contained diaper dust. We started discussing absorption and diapers and for a second there I forgot that I was talking to a seven year old. He is such a deep thinker and often asks me things that I don't know the answer on until I do a little research. At the end of this discussion I suggested that we run another experiment simultaneous with making the snow. We would take one of Emma's diapers and "dissect" it and pull its innards out.
We would put the packaged diaper dust from the kit in one bowl and the actual diaper filling in another add water to both and check out the similarities and differences between them. Hunter was stoked about this idea. So I went and got one of E's diapers and cut a slit along the side. Hunter pulled out a whole bunch of the stuffing and we put them each in a bowl.
He was intrigued to find that when he rubbed the stuffing for awhile little particles came off of it that looked like the diaper dust. He told me that he thought the "diaper people" probably added cotton to the diaper dust to make it hold together better.
We first added water to the packaged dust and sure enough it absorbed into a moldable substance that could be shaped into a ball or another shape. When we added water to the diaper contents it still absorbed but it wouldn't break up it stayed bonded in clumps and definitely would not form into anything.
As Hunter played and experimented with the two of them he told me he wondered if different brands of diapers would absorb in different ways. We had so much fun doing this together. He is so smart it just amazes Deke and I. There are so many times during the day where we will be having a conversation and I can't believe how bright and mature he is. He truly has a thirst for knowledge, he could be doing projects and experiments and reading all the time. He is always bringing me in a book to show me something he just learned or asking me how something works or using his toys to create something that has a function. From the time he was a baby he has been exploring his environment trying to understand how things work. Figuring out how to make an object function even quicker or more efficiently. I love his brain. I love the way his little mind works. Keep on inventing and exploring the world buddy, keep on improving it :)
I know I have said it before but with Emma I almost feel like a first time mom again. I realize that my world is and will always be different now. I am very aware of loss and how precious life is and am suddenly an overprotective person that I never remember being. I remember with Hunter not frieking out if he took a spill learning to walk or ate dirt out of the plant. 
I remember feeding him spaghetti when he had no teeth. All of a sudden I am super paranoid, worried and overly cautious. Not all the time but certainly with things that I never used to worry about. For awhile Emma had been pointing at our food when we would eat at the table or reach for it and smile. "Look Deke it is so cute she is realizing that it is food" I told him one night. 
A couple of days went by and I was telling Deke that she had been really crabby lately just really fussy. I went to church on Sunday and was in the mother's room nursing her and talking with some of my friends who have babies around her age. 
They were talking about all the knew foods their babies were eating and what they liked and didn't like. I told them that Em was still nursing every three hours and was also eating rice cereal and had tried sweet potato baby food and applesauce.
A couple of the moms were already letting their little ones have food like hot dogs and chicken cut up. I went home and started thinking about it, Emma is nine months old maybe she is needing more. Off to the grocery store I went and picked up some green and yellow squash and some different types of baby foods.
I put her in the high chair for the first time and put some of the steamed squash on the tray. She looked at it then looked at me like okay what do I do now. I put some in her mouth and let her taste it. 
She smiled at me and kicked her legs, she then opened her mouth for more. I took her hand put some squash in it and tried to get it to her mouth. She just stared at me. I went to get busy in the kitchen and every time she would cry either Hunter or Ave would run over and give her a bite. It took me at least three or four days and several conversations with the kids to get Emma to figure out that she could feed herself. It was funny it was a little bit of a princess complex. It is not her fault that she is used to everyone getting her whatever she needs as soon as she barely squawks. I love watching her chubby little cheeks and the way her fist grabs a handful of food. 
I love the little dimples in the skin where her knuckles are. When she was taking the first bites I didn't buckle her in in case I had to pull her out quickly and perform the infant form of the heimlich manuever. Well of course she ate the squash just fine and didn't choke or anything. What do you know she loved it and ate it like she had been starving. She kept looking up at me smiling as if to say thank you. I felt horrible. What is wrong with me? No wonder she was fussy she was hungry and when she was reaching for our food it wasn't just a gesture she was trying to get it to her mouth. I felt so ridiculous and bad that I hadn't recognized the signs earlier. Later that night I was telling Deke about it and I had gone and checked Hunter and Ave's baby books. I am not going to lie that I straight up felt embarrassed at myself when I looked at a picture of a toothless Hunter eating spaghetti and an eight month old Avery taking on a giant biter biscuit. The good part of this story is that now we are eating food full swing. Her current favorite things are yogurt melts and the puffed rice cereal, steamed squash or squash of any kind and cut up bananas. 
I love these pictures of her devouring some peach yogurt melts doesn't she look so happy. I love how they pretty much shove their whole first into their mouth when they are learning to feed themselves. 
Until she runs out of them on her tray and then this happens... 
I guess the drama truly does start early :) I guess that this is just one of those things that is reminent of what we have been through and even though I think that most of the time I do well coping there are still and will always be scars and sore sports. So Emma be patient with me if I over protect and you feel like I am to cautious with you. It is only because I love you so much and realize how fragile and precious life is and that I have you. Know it is because of a reality that I have lived and appreciate that it has given me the opportunity to love deeper than I ever could have known. Be patient with your mama :)
She gives her naps in her own baby port a crib after swaddling her up like a burrito just like we do with Emma. Then she will come out and remind us all to talk quietly because Allie is sleeping. Whenever it is time to go somewhere she loads Allie up into her little car seat and brings her in the car with her. She puts her in one of the big seats and actually buckles her in. The other day I needed to go and get some groceries from Fry's and Avery asked if Allie could come in. She was worried that she would get too cold in the car by herself. 
I said yes and in to the store we went me carrying Emma in her seat and Avery carrying Allie in her car carrier. She carried her all through the store holding up different things to show her and talking to her. "See Allie these are bananas, can you say bananas?" she asked as she held a bunch up for her to see. It was adorable. She is such a cute mommy. I crack up watching her play every day with her high heels and her purse carrying her baby and cooking in her kitchen. I love to listen to her dialogue with Allie and watch how gently she handles her or the way she kisses her before she lays her down. It melts my heart. 
Grandma Tobar gave Avery this really neat tea set for Christmas. The cups change color when you pour a cold drink into them. She had been really wanting to use it so we decided one day for lunch to have a tea party. I made little sandwiches and made a tray with apples and crackers and let the kids use Sprite for our "tea." 
Hunter and Emma joined us and we all ate and talked.
Hunter is so good about joining in on all the "girly" activities with his little sisters he is such a good big brother. 
Avery poured everyone's tea and was so careful. It cracked me up that she was even trying to hold out her pinky when she would take a drink. 
Being the attentive little mommy that she is, Allie also joined us for tea. 
I love these days, home with all three of them stopping for a little while during a busy day of errands and household duties to just play pretend with them. 
I love having all three of them home together and being able to do something together as a group. Something simple but oh so fun. 
This is Avery's friend Claire. They go to preschool together and Sunbeam's and they both love pink. Avery loves the fact that her middle name is Klaire and so she is "matching" with Claire's name. She is also loves that her and Claire both have the same pink leopard print jacket and also have a couple of other matching shirts that they have both happened to wear on the same day to preschool. We invited Claire over to play. 
On Wednesday I picked them both up from preschool and sure enough they had both worn their pink jackets so that they would be matching. It made me laugh remembering being that age and loving to match and then later in life loving to trade clothes with my friends. When we were in high school we actually each made a list of all of our clothes in each category: shirts, jeans etc. etc. and would mark off what we wanted to borrow for the week and then trade. Between the four of us doing the exchange we ended up getting to wear a lot of different things and plus it was just really fun. Ah being a girl, it is so fun. 
I brought them home and they wanted to have a "princess" tea party so we once again brought out the new tea set, the girls got dressed up and went out on the porch and ate. Emma sat in the high chair and watched them and kicked her legs excitedly at them.
They drank their juice and talked about princesses and preschool and shoes and the park. Which princess was their favorite and singing parts of the songs from the movie. 
It was really cute and they had a lot of fun. It is always fun for me when the kids have friends over to watch how they interact with other kids. These two have a lot of fun together. 
