Hyatt Family Blog

Balloons

A few days ago, I went out with the kids for an after-dinner walk. I bought some pearl milk tea, and the women at the shop said something was going on a few streets over. So I went to check it out, and it appeared to be some party wrapping up. They had a band, balloons, and the whole street was blocked off. When I went over, the band was putting its instruments away, and the many people were asking for balloons. I managed to get a large bunch of balloons. I asked what was going on and was told it was a party for San Mateo's Citizen of the Year. I then asked who it was. It wasn't me.

But I went home, tied the balloons to a toy, and let the kids play with them. They had a great time. Here's a picture of Marin with the balloons, click to enlarge:

Allison Turns Two!

On September 15, 2003, Allison Leigh Chervitz turned 2 years old. Hard to believe. Instead of having a big party (which would be hard because she doesn't have a lot of friends yet!), I had a party last week at Jordan's playgroup (which has now become a big playgroup with the 3 year olds and the younger siblings), another one for the immediate family and brought cookies to her school. She seemed to have a great time and even played with the dollies and dress up clothes she got. Not bad for a tomboy! Now if she could only wrestle them away from Jordan who likes them even more than she does!

Here are the photos from her playgroup party.

And here are the ones from her family party.

First Day of School and First Day of Soccer

Well, last week was a big week for the kids. It was their first full week of school and Jordan started 6 weeks of pee-wee soccer. All went great. Here are some photos...

Potty training and a new hairdo

Since a few weeks ago, we have started potty training our kids, much to the astonishment and disbelief of any American who hears about it. Before these kids, arrived, I would not have believed it either, but evidently it is common in India, Russia, and other places, but debate rages on concerning whether this is reasonable or not. Most Americans believe it is the parents who are being trained, not the children. However, we've had a good start, and the twins actually appear to be "holding it in" (poop-wise) waiting for their turn on the potty. In the past two weeks we've only had about three accidents, and two of those occurred after a prune overdose.

The babies enjoy themselves on the potty. They look out over San Mateo and occasionally pick up a toy to play with. Here's some pictures of them:

Besides potty training, we've been trying to do more with them. We are working on standing up holding onto the couch (pictures to come soon), and experimenting with their hair. Last week Greta put bows in their hair. Here's a picture of Annelie (Marin was sleeping at the time):

Greta's mother arrived yesterday and has been helping us. She tried out a new hairdo this morning. When I saw it I was quite surprised!

Another musical day!

It seems that everytime my grandchildren are over, they spend most of their time either singing, dancing to the Wiggle's tape or the jukebox songs, or playing an instrument, usually the organ or drums.

Here are highlights of today's babysitting adventures. First, Allison danced to every song on the Wiggle's tape, while Jordan was at school.

Then Jordan came over and was very upset that his mom had forgotten to bring his RED Wiggle's shirt, which he wears everyday, except for school hours, so he had to wear my RED shirt all day instead. Here he is pulling the shirt off and on, then posing for me before "dancing" to Leroy Brown, his favorite Jukebox song. His dancing consists of running full speed around the table, usually with Allison following!

Notice Allison's natural smile...as soon as she sees the camera, she says "cheese" and thus, the scrunched up face in all the pictures!

(In case you're wondering, his head is in one of my armholes because "it's more comfortable that way.")

Now, for some organ playing for the pre-naptime show...

After their naps, Allison insisted on wearing Grandma's shirt while Jordan enjoyed his first experience having Grandpa's famous "airplane spin"!

Big Bike Ride

Sunday we decided to go to Creve Coeur Park for a bike ride. Since Jordan had expressed interest in being with us, we changed our plans to include him and Allison.

Although we had a lot of fun, it didn't quite give us the exercise we wanted. First, Art pulled Allison while Jordan tried to beat him and I trailed along on my bike going 2 miles/hour. Then, Art pulled both of them for about 5 minutes and finally, Jordan wanted to ride his own bike with Allison hanging on! I got to walk besides them reminding them to stay in the proper lane. They sang songs the entire time.

Wow, what an exhausting experience!

Another fun sleepover!

Last night Jordan and Allison slept over. Here are some pictures taken this morning before Jordan's first day of preschool. Jordan is really into ping pong and Allison tried her luck at cutting for the first time.

Jordan was very excited about going to school!

While Jordan was at school, Allison kept busy coloring and learning how to use a scissors in between multiple trips to the potty about every hour, which is her newest achievement

Once again, a fun and busy time was had by all, especially Marianne and Steve, who got the night off!