May update

May was a pretty exciting month for us--especially Nora. She has become quite the big girl! She is now officially potty trained and it only took about a week, and quite a bit of bribery. We still have a few accidents, but she is very proud of herself. She is even sleeping through the night and waking up dry. She can also buckle her car seat by herself (if I'm willing to wait about 10 minutes) and usually insists on it. One evening as I was putting her down to bed I couldn't find her blankie--the blankie that she has slept with EVERY SINGLE NIGHT for the last two-and-a-half years! She confidently declared "I don't need it," and went to sleep just fine without it. She didn't even seem to miss it. A couple of weeks went by and this mommy was a little sad about it. First of all, how can she just be so grown-up so fast, and secondly, if she doesn't need it, I do! I would like to put it in my cedar chest. After almost two weeks I decided to move some things to vacuum and I found her blankie behind the kids toy kitchen. Zane suddenly remembered that he hid it there and Nora suddenly decided she did need it after all!

Anna has become quite the little jokester. She is always trying to make people laugh and to get a reaction out of people. She is not yet talking, but she seems to really be taking in the world and understanding how things work.

The most memorable thing we did in May was to go to "Dozer Day" at the quarry in Vancouver. It is a huge event with dozens of big machines that the kids can help drive, plenty of food vendors, free "hard hats", lots of dirt, and you get to ride in the back of an articulated dump truck. As Zane would say, it's a "huge, huge, huge, huge dump truck." Nora didn't think the ride was so great, but Zane thought it was awesome. They didn't want a turn to drive any of the machines, but they sure enjoyed watching. Grandpa Pickup joined us for the day, which made Mom really happy. As we were leaving Zane said "What a great day! I like it when Grandpa can play with us." I'm sure it helps that Grandpa buys pizza, pop, and popcorn, but I think they really enjoy being with him.

We had a string of nice days and we took advantage of every one of them, spending hours at the park, playing and eating lunch. Anna has gotten too brave for my liking, she climbs as high as she can and isn't afraid to do whatever Zane and Nora.
We enjoyed having the Peacock's in town for few days for Collette's wedding. Zane thought it was pretty fun to go to "Joey's party" and they enjoyed blowing bubbles they got there.
Zane was most excited to take swim lessons again. He was much more confident this time and sometimes I had to fight the pool-side urge to tell him to settle down. His teacher seemed to like him though and I think he made the class a lot of fun. He liked to come home and practice his skills in the tub. He passed the first level, "Goldfish" and is now on to "Penguin." However, he informed me he does not want to be a penguin he wants to be a goldfish, so I guess when I register him for his next session we'll just have to wait a few classes to tell him he's a penguin.

Now we're just anticipating a fun trip in July to see family and then the arrival of this baby! We're down to just a couple of months. We still haven't picked a name and we're really limiting ourselves. Kevin insists that it has to be four letters and Zane says she has to have an 'a' and an 'n' because all the other kids do. I am totally open to suggestions!