October 2017, huh? It’s been a while.
I’m not even going to try to catch up on all that’s happened. It’s at least 12 posts worth of juicy Ruprecht updates. Stay tuned for those?
In the meantime, please know that Ada’s favorite thing to do right now is (fairly) gently poke her brother and exclaim, “Intending no harm!” Because if you don’t intend harm, that makes it fine? We’re still working on clarifying that harm can be done whether or not you intend it.
Kids.
Miss you all, virtually.
Ada “loooooves” pumpkins and Ada “loooooves” robots so we decided to combine the two in our latest project.
The first line of business was having Ada draw a face on her pumpkin. There was no help from me on this one aside from handing her a sharpie.
The next step was carving out the eyes and mouth for the lights. No worries, dad did that.
Ada is so proud of her pumpkin!
The messy part was over so we moved on to what Ada calls “Testing” or “Making robots”. Why does she call it testing? Well, I have an old multimeter that she uses to probe old motors and electronic components while I work on electronics projects in the kitchen. Testing went well on this particular night as we ended up with a blinking LED circuit that will end up being the robot part of the pumpkin.
Ada was so focused during this part of the project that this was all the smile she could muster.
Oh, yeah. What kind of a robot pumpkin would this be without an on/off switch.
The old guts went out and the new electronic guts went in.
To center the LED pupils in the eyes of the pumpkin we used old paperclips.
Annnnnd… There. All done.
Now let’s turn it on.
It’s impossible to believe that Felix has been a part of our family for a full six months now. (I missed posting on the official anniversary, but I’m still within the week. Good going, Jackie!) He is an absolute joy and I can’t imagine a better little person to round out the Ruprecht fam.
99% of this little guy’s waking hours are spent smiling. The crabby 1% is a result of hunger, wet/dirty diaper or frustration that he is still unable to sit up by himself (which he is SO CLOSE to nailing!)
Sometimes Felix tries to play with his big sister. Sometimes Ada is a good sport about it.
His current favorite things include:
Want to see our little Laugh Man in action? Click HERE.
I’m looking forward to the next six months and the next six months after that. We’ve got a wonderful little family and this fella is a big part of its glory!
This post was supposed to be dedicated to Felix. It’s not.
A week or two ago, Ada was driving around with Bapa and spotted the mall. She proceeded to ask if they could go there to play because she loves the indoor play area at Southdale. Bapa explained that the mall is for days when the weather is bad and we can’t play outside. Ada paused, looked at the sky and said, “It’s rainy, Bapa.” (It was definitely not rainy.)
Fast forward to this morning. Ada and Bapa were getting ready to go for their walk, but looked outside only to find a cold, rainy day. Bapa told Ada they wouldn’t be able to go on their walk because of the weather. Instead of being upset that the plan had been ruined, Ada enthusiastically hollered, “I can play at the mall!”
She never forgets. Anything. Ever.
Ada does a lot of “shopping” lately. What this means is she fills a bag up with blocks and toys from the living room, carries it somewhere else, and then removes the items one by one while telling us what it is that she “bought.”
Last night before bed she emptied a grocery bag full of bananas (some 2×4 blocks connected with nuts and bolts), blueberries (a cloth baby book) and peaches (soft splash balls.)
This morning right before we left for work I heard, “Mommy, go shopping for the beer you like.” After filling a bag up with various wooden blocks and bringing it over to me, she pulled the blocks out one by one and told me what each one was. Here are the winners:
I feel like Felix gets slighted on this blog because he’s not really old enough to do things yet. Well, aside from drool and laugh and reach for toys but then accidentally grab his toes and find himself frustrated and unable to let go. The next post will be dedicated to him! You have my word.
We did it. On Labor Day we woke up early, got the kids ready, and headed to the Great Minnesota Get-Together! I, for one, really like the fair. At least I like it really early in the morning or late at night or when it’s raining and there are only 5,000 people present rather than 25,000.
Perhaps the biggest associated hit was riding on a giant coach bus from our park and ride to the fair grounds. Ada, in particular, loves buses so to get to ride on the biggest one she’s ever seen was notable. She even got her own seat for a little while until we had to compress to allow more riders.
We arrived unscathed and Steve stealthily bought tickets online while we walked, allowing us to avoid the already significant lines at the ticket booth.
Upon our arrival (at shortly after 8am), the population was still manageable and we made a beeline for the barns so we could visit the animals. Ada was very wary of the larger horses and cows, but totally got into the pigs and, especially, the rabbits. Here’s how happy she was about the rabbits.
Felix was not excited about anything, nor was he unexcited. He didn’t make a peep during the entire experience and his face remained like this nearly the entire time.
After about 2.5 hours of wandering and eating, we’d clearly reached our max capacity with two little ones. Felix was ready to be out of the stroller and Ada was no longer walking in a straight line or speaking English*.
We called it quits and headed for the safety of home, making it just in time for a bit of healthy food and a nap. This event is going on our annual activities list, though. It was an overall success!
*Sometimes I like to play a game called “Drunk or Tired Two-Year-Old.” The similarities are surprising.
Last night Ada was sitting on the toilet and kept lowering herself closer and closer to the water. I warned her that she should sit up or she’d fall in! She smiled at me hugely and responded:
“Flush you (read: me) down. Get a new Ada!”
We ask Ada to “help” a lot around the house. She loves having chores and, frankly, they often keep her from getting into too much mischief.
Here is a sample of Ada’s daily chores list:
Yesterday after she tired of playing in the sandbox, I asked her if she wanted to use some soapy water to clean off her climber. Her answer was an enthusiastic yes. Although I’m sure that more of the water ended up on her than the slide, she had a grand time cleaning.
After the chore was finished, she insisted that I take a photo of her sticking out her tongue. Then I just kept hearing, “Ada see it!” I think she was pleased with the final photo.
I hope she continues to love doing her chores well into the future. My only goal is to keep them as fun as possible so she won’t reject my requests.
It happened for the first time just last week. To be honest, I’m not even sure what I did to deserve such a phrase. Likely it was something extraordinarily offensive such as mentioning the need for a diaper change.
“I HATE Mommy!”
Nothing stings quite like that, huh?
The good news is that is was only a matter of time before I was back in her good graces again, reading library books on the couch.
Hello there! It’s been a while.
In case you hadn’t heard, we added another member to our little family: Felix Darwin Ruprecht.
He (plus his insane two-year-old sister) is keeping us mighty busy which helps explain our blog absence. My hope is to resurrect this thing so you can keep tabs on all of us again!
I have nothing in particular to report at this time, so please enjoy some photos and videos which might help fill in the blanks over the past few months.
1. Meet Felix. He’s pretty great.
2. We spent the weekend at a “fancy hotel” in Alexandria while visiting Uncle Michael. Ada really liked dancing to the music on the clock radio. And swimming as is apparent by her choice of attire.
3. The kids are really good at smiling for the camera, just like Mom and Dad.
4. Ada is up to her usual shenanigans.
5. Bapa really loves time with his grandkids.
6. Steve and Felix both love naps.
I hope there is much more to come soon! If not, you know what’s keeping us busy and away from the computer.
Ruprecht Family Matters 