The Veldmans: On the mend

We are finally on the mend from all the sickness. Grant was nice enough to cough all over the rest of us for 5 days straight so we all ended up with bad colds. Ava still has a bit of a cough and a runny nose, but overall I would say that we're healthy. I'm hoping that we stay that way for quite some time. I forgot how miserable it is to be sick and take care of sick kids all at the same time.

Big news, Grant is now walking. By walking I mean make extremely deliberate moves on his feet while navigating slowly across the living room floor with no assistance. Between, Ava, Daddy, and myself he has quite the cheer squad. We were all up in Ava's bedroom last week cheering him on. I stopped for a minute and just soaked up the moment. Here was our little man excited to be trying something new, and Ava peering over her Daddy's shoulder smiling and cheering him on with the rest of us. It was just one of those moments that you stop and realize how blessed you are. We have two happy and healthy children, a roof over our heads, food on the table, good jobs, and family and friends who love and support us. I don't know how one can't feel blessed and grateful for all of that.

Now that he is on the move he's into more trouble. He and Ava are complete opposites. When I told Ava "no" at this age she stopped and listening. But no, not Grant. He smiles his little devilish smile and tries to hurry to do it before I can get to him. His two favorite things...the trash and the toilet. He got in a fight with the cabinet that holds our trash can this past weekend. Grant lost! I was upstairs and heard crying. Soon Nate brings him up and says they need a nurse. The poor little guy scraped up the right side of his face and cut open his top lip. Of course he was running his hands all over his face so was getting blood everywhere. He's fine, just looks a little beat up still.

Ava is still loving preschool. We had conferences last week with her teacher. Her teacher loves her and praised her in many ways. She is very impressed with Ava, and recommended sending her to the 5's class next year. Unfortunately she doesn't meet the birthday requirements. That class is 4 days a week, which I know Ava would love. Our other option would be early entrance to kindergarten, which I don't think we want to do. I don't feel as though Ava is being academically challenged what so ever at preschool, but she does enjoy it. They've been working on shapes and colors, which she's known since she was 2. This winter they'll work on letters, which she's also known for over a year. I'm hoping that they will work a little with her individually to teach her something new.

Last weekend we headed to Albert Lea for Nate's cousin's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding, and it was great to see family and catch up a little bit. Ava had a great time dancing, and Grant had a great time eating. They were both champs, but Grant finally gave it up and fell asleep around 8:30 on my shoulder. By that time Ava was asking to go to sleep so we headed home. Of course when we got home Grant had a lovely 1 1/2 hour nap in and didn't want to sleep anymore. Little turkey!!!

One of Ava's many pictures that she takes on my phone on a daily basis.

Two little buddies (sometimes)

Grant was finally starting to feel better.

Nate was making dinner the other night and turned his head. When he turned back around he asked "what happened to my flat bread". Ava smiled and said, "I made it into a puzzle piece". How do you not laugh at that?