Happy 4th Birthday Otto!

Otto, you keep getting taller (although the morning of your Birthday you did seem a little disappointed, even a bit worried, as you looked over your body, looked at me, and said "But I'm not any bigger.")  You continue to be quite lean and slim.  Your teeth are as crooked as ever, which is so great because your two front teeth are damn cute when you smile. And smirk. And roar.  And gnash. And talk. And sing.  I think of your teeth and silly faces as your trademark.  Here are my two favorite pictures that daycare captured over the past 6 months: Silly and Sweet!

Otto being silly.  I love his "growling" face, which, when Otto does it, is a great term of endearment.  Really, it's how he and his best friends affectionately greet each other - by growling and roaring at each other and then collapsing into giggling heaps.

Otto being sweet.  Then there's this picture, which happens to be the ONE photo his teachers said they caught without Otto making a silly face.  One of his teachers is a photographer and they had to work in tandem to have Otto make silly faces and then quickly capture a "serious" face in a non-silly moment.  

Otto, you have so much to say.  While your enunciation is improving vastly, many times I still need to ask you to slow down that little staccato voice of yours so I can decipher what it is you're so excited to tell me about.  Actually, your speech is in need of enough help, that this Fall you started speech class through the Minneapolis schools.  You have two of the most wonderful, caring teachers helping you learn how to pronounce your words.  And when you practice at home, I can visibly see you working so hard, exerting so much effort, to say your words correctly. I can see that you really have to think about how to say your words - where to place your lips or tongue and how to listen for the correct sounds coming out of your mouth.  Otto, I hope you know how proud I am of your hard work and how impressed I am with your bravery as you head into class alone to improve on one of your biggest weaknesses.  Your teachers say you are a model student and that your confidence is soaring.  They also say you're sweet.  

Everyone says you're sweet:)

And everyone is right.  

For me, one of the ways I describe you is that you are incredibly genuine.  When you say something or do something, you mean it.  You will notice something on the ground, and then look to me while pointing to what you see, saying "Isn't this very ("berry" - still working on your "v's") beautiful Mom? It's so pretty."

I say "I love you so much," and you say "I love you too so so so so sooooo much! I love you this much!" with your arms as wide as you can reach them.

All day long you're making silly faces.  Just because you like to make silly faces. I think it's genuinely how you feel and you're always getting a little of your sillies out.  

You have a lot of self-control. I may be way off with this one, but I kind of envision you as a surgeon some day.  You're often lost (focused) entirely in what you're doing.  You definitely like music and I envision you having a sound track to the "work" you're doing all day.  And you use precision in your writing.  On your 2nd Birthday you dotted with the marker dotters and dabbed the dots neatly in the spots where they belonged on the coloring sheet.  Now you draw pictures or "write" notes with a pen and they're in perfect rows of small squiggles and dots.  

You love to do "work" on the computer.  You've got your own Excel spreadsheet and you'll declare "I have to do my work," and pull up your spreadsheet and start typing in it.  This can keep you busy for quite a while.  The other day you asked if you could do your work, so while you worked I prepped lunches and dinners. Later that day I noticed that somehow you had sent a note of gibberish to your daycare teachers (you got our daycare Daily Notes website open and sent your teachers an email you had typed).  We all got a good laugh at this one.

Your 4th Birthday party was such a great party.  Turning four years old is the age Joe and I decided we'd begin hosting true "friends" party (where we invite your class rather than our close friends, neighbors and family) for each of you kids.  When we asked who you wanted to invite, you said "I want all'a my friends.  My whole class!"  Which leads me to this...

Otto, you and your school friends are perhaps the cutest group of 16 kids ever.  You each have such unique personalities, and each individual shines, even when you're all together.  You get along well (for the most part) and notice when someone's missing.  Three friends couldn't make it to your party and within moments of everyone arriving you asked me why the two Sofie's and Reese weren't there.  I look ahead a year and a half to kindergarden and I'm already sad because I think there's only one friend in your entire class who will be at our elementary school.  

So, your party!  You wanted it at the Nature Center, which worked out beautifully because we just needed to edit Wren's party invitation from last fall, given the woodland animals on it.  Without discussion, you told me you wanted three things on your cake, (1) a rainbow, (2) a mountain, and (3) a tree.  This was s.m.o.o.t.h.  You, knowingly or unknowingly, were playing along with the nature theme.  

When it came time to get paper ware for the party, I was in full clean-out-my-cupboards mode post Holidays.  I decided we'd use up a mish-mosh of paper plates, bowls, cups, napkins, etc.  Again, kind-of naturey in a reduce/reuse way.  And the kids LOVED drinking apple juice out of plastic champagne glasses.  And didn't notice the rest of the mismatched items.

At your party we started inside the Nature Center where everyone had the opportunity to hold a baby snake.  You ended up deciding not to hold it, as well as a few other friends.  But most gave it a try.

Then we went outside for a nature walk, looking for owls and other nature things.  The timing was perfect to get outside.  For the entire week leading up to your party it had been below zero temps here.  But the day of your party it was nearly 40 degrees.  It made for really happy parents and kids getting outside and enjoying the heat wave.

Holding the baby snake

Nature Walk

Max holding the snake

Otto & Max holding worms, to be fed to the turtle

On your actual Birthday it was a home day for me, you and Wren, so we headed to the Children's Museum (which remains one of your favorite places to go) to play for a couple hours while Max was at school.  

That afternoon I surprised you with the cake I made you and then that night the five of us enjoyed eating it after we sang Happy Birthday to you.

Wren had received a Barbie doll for Christmas, and Otto asked why he didn't get one because he really wanted one.  I jumped at the opportunity to surprise him with a home-made Barbie cake.  

Otto's 4 Years Old!

As usual, I write my annual post before going back and re-reading past posts.  There are definite themes that continue for Otto now, that I also wrote about in year's past...  Here are some links if you want to take a stroll down Otto's memory lane.

Otto's Name Recap

Otto's 3rd Birthday 

Otto's 2nd Birthday

Otto's Favorite Toy

#TBT

(~6 months ago, but still 100% relevant today)

----------------------------------------


As a mom you're asked what your kid likes to play with.  "What is his favorite toy?"

I've written before about Otto's love of computers.  And they don't even have to be turned on or in working condition.  He just wants to pretend to press the buttons and pretend he's doing stuff. Even better if he has a couple computers out at once, all lined up, ready for work.  Over the moon happy if he has power cords to accompany the computers.  Often times it looks like he's in the thick of coding, and other times I swear he's writing music/DJing because he's so absorbed in his work and often humming or singing.

The other morning he woke up (early as usual), crept to my side of the bed and loudly whispered "Mama, you want to play electricity with me?"

That was the best wake up I've had in a long time.  So precious and entirely Otto.  He was so excited for me to go out to the play room and "play electricity," which just means taking a half dozen computer power cords, hairdryer & flat irons and the like and tucking the cords and plugs into tiny nooks and crannies of drawers, wrapping them around furniture legs, etc.  

Seriously.  THIS is his favorite toy.  Otto and his "electricity" (aka, power cords & plugs)


------------------------------------------------

Where Nicknames Come From

Otto:  Mom, I wrote my name again!

Me:  Thinking, Otto's pretty lucky.  Any way you spell his name, it's correct.

Except when you spell it inside out.  Then it just spells "TOOT."

My little Toot.  Adore him.

Harder to see, but he also wrote his "name" (Toot) on his cup.

Ugh - I cannot get enough of Otto, I find him so flippin' cute all the time.  In sunglasses all summer long.  With an apple and a can of tennis balls for an afternoon of fun, of course.

Summer Do's

As you can probably tell, I'm not so up on blogging anymore. In fact I've been using a different writing/memory app that seems to be working better for me...though not necessarily better for anyone who's wanted to get an update on the Schuster's recently.  Maybe more to come on if/how I can share posts/pics from my new app once I have a moment to figure that out. 

Anyway, I jumped onto blogger right now to jot down a few cute things Otto said that I don't want to forget.  ...And, I came across the below post (pics, only) from 4-6 weeks ago when we gave Max and Otto their summer haircuts.

Funny thing; it's about time for both of their hair to be cut again!  Max's isn't really "buzzed" anymore - he can spike it and when he comes home from camp it's all sweaty and mussed up.  

Otto's?  I'm utterly in love w/ his little cut that I gave him.  I'm thinking of going to beauty school and starting up a new career. I think Otto's going to single handedly bring the "side rat tail" into pop culture.  Yes, I meant to go back and trim off his long 2 inch straggeling piece of hair when I noticed I'd missed a piece, but I never did and now I think it's going to be his new thing with every hair cut from here on out.  

Enjoy...summer transformations!

Max has so.much.hair.  Such.thick.hair.  It took forever to get the clippers through his hair!

Happy Third Birthday, Otto

Oh, Otto.  He's 3 years old now!  And he continues to be our silly sweetheart.

After I had many of my memories from this year captured, I took a stroll down memory lane by re-reading my post from Otto's 2nd Birthday. Many of the observations I made last year rose to the top again this year, and his voice and singing were a couple of them. 

Over the past year Otto has grown so incredibly much.  A year ago he was still learning words and short phrases.  Now he talks a lot.  A year ago I referred to Otto's voice as "bubbly."  More recently I've been describing it as "staccato."  Very brief and abrupt between words and thoughts.  For awhile now, when Otto talks, "staccato signals of constant information" (from Paul Simon's Graceland) has started playing in my head.  I think the song makes reference to military intel via SOS signals, and I actually feel like I'm listening to SOS (and sometimes trying to decipher it) when Otto talks his voice is so staccato.  

But mostly Otto sings.  

For the past couple months Otto has been creating little music studios throughout our house.  He'll set up shop - which includes the Ukelele and all of my curling irons and flat irons (which, of course, are his microphones).  But for this birthday, Auntie Jamie got him a real guitar. And now he is playing his guitar all day long.  Literally.  When I was home with him and Wren last week he sang all day and "tuned" his guitar and plugged in cords for all his microphones.  He shut himself in the bathroom and every time I'd check on him he was busy singing and practicing his music, five curling iron microphones lined up, planning his next jam session.  

  

Otto with his new guitar from Auntie Jamie

Getting ready to sing

Playing a song (microphone not too far away, ready for when he needs it)

And here's a little of his singing.  While he was in the bathroom I just had to capture a soundbite from outside the closed door.  I have no idea what he's singing...possibly made up, possibly Hebrew.

Perhaps fitting with his singer/musician kick, he also loves his long hair.  Particularly his ponies (& piggies sometimes).  He insists he doesn't want his hair cut.  He wants his pony tail.  Sometimes I put them in his hair, but usually his teacher Amy at school does his hair for him (as well as the rest of the kids in his class:).  

Speaking of school, his teachers adore him. And we adore them. They are three of the best teachers we've had for the kids.  Incredibly observant and always sharing detailed stories about Otto.  Awhile ago, shortly after Otto started in their classroom and without knowledge of how Joe and I describe Otto's personality and strengths, they began observing similar things as us. 

Most frequently are their stories of how innovative Otto is. That he mixes and matches toys, using them for things they are not intended.  He'll create amazing things and then lead (through example rather than verbally persuading) most of his class to this new use of the toys that he's dreamt up and implemented.   

Over the past year Otto has physically grown a ton, too.  I cannot wait for his three year check-up next week.  He seems so tall and has feet the size of skis - I'm curious if he's off the charts or if it just feels like it!  He's totally leaned out, too.  A year ago he had a bit of meat on his bones, but he's pretty much skin, bones and muscle these days.  In fact, when I switched Wren from formula to whole milk, I decided to switch Otto from skim to whole (or at least 1% or 2%) because he was too frequently waking up at 5am saying he was hungry.  He doesn't drink any more milk than he did before, but I swear he's less hungry (and hangry) now that he's getting a little more fat in his diet.  

And as much as I say he's so tall, when I hold him he seems so tiny because his body structure is so different than Max's was/is. Just the other day for his nap Otto insisted on sleeping inside his pillow case instead of using his blankets.  He was like a tiny little mouse curled up in a matchbox.  

For Otto's Birthday celebration last week I hung balloons in a couple of the doorways by our kitchen.  Otto is so kind-hearted.  When he woke up and saw the balloons, right away he said "Oh look!  A little one for Wren (it had deflated a bit and was tiny)."  Then he counted each of the balloons... 1 - 2 - 3 - 4...!  WOW! They're a LOT of balloons.  I'll take one to Wren and Max (who were still in bed sleeping so I begged Otto not to go running into their rooms with balloons!)

After he saw the first set of balloons hanging in one doorway, he went to another archway and saw "MORE" (which still sounds like "moy" when he says it because Otto's "R's" are pronounced like "oy") hanging!!! 

Next week I will celebrate belated with his class by reading some of his favorite books and sharing a bit about his baby memory quilt with his school friends.  


Oohhh, I love our Otto.  He is so kind and sweet and silly.  I love his sincerity when he says "Thank You" or "I love you too so much" or asks Max "I have a turn when you're done?" or he tells Auntie Jamie "Thank you for celebrating my Birthday."

Otto and his frozen "dirt" cake

Licking candles

Licking fingers

A perfect capture of Otto!  

I'm pretty sure he was singing while "running silly" (what I call it when he runs while wiggling his arms and legs and head)

What's In A Name: Otto Edwin

Otto Edwin Schuster

Years ago, even before we became parents, Joe and I joked how we liked "dogs names for boys, and boys names for girls." As we created lists of potential baby names this trend seemed ever present. Did you know Max is the #1 dog name (& cat name!) in the US. Otto? I had only heard of Otto as a dog's name in some children's books we have. And Wren? Often called a boy when people hear her name. There you have it. Our boys with dog's names, and girl with a boy's name. And what great names we think they are!

Otto Edwin, we love your name. Here's a bit more about what it makes me think of when I think of your name...

Otto.

As we were tossing around possible names for Otto before he was born, Joe began sharing more traditionally German names, given his ancestry. When he mentioned Otto as a name, I remember liking the sound of it, but had to ask if he was serious or not. He said he thought he was serious. It's a name he'd heard of before. I hadn't. Other than in two different children's book series that I've read. And in both of those books it's a dog that is named Otto as the main character. Hmm...

Well, after a couple days Otto had totally grown on me. I loved how simple of a name it is. I like how short it is. I like the sound of "Max & Otto" together. I liked that I hadn't heard it (although now I've heard it a couple times for younger kids instead of just older men). Joe wasn't entirely sold on it quite yet, but I told him I'd need his help thinking of some different names that were just as great as Otto. And quickly, because the Otto train had left the station. In the matter of a few days I had started getting a lot of "signs" that our baby was definitely an Otto.

I shared the name Otto with just a handful of people before Otto was born. Two of my friends that I mentioned the name to let me know that they both knew of Otto's. Both of "their" Otto's were much older gentlemen and both friends stated how they have only fond memories of him. Another friend I mentioned Otto to said he knew only one Otto and that he liked him too...his Otto was the Syracuse Orange Men. I guess the mascot's name is Otto. Who knew? Certainly not this midwestern girl.

And the name Otto was pretty much solidified for me when I had the most random sign of all. I was sitting in a creative/advertising presentation at work when a slide in the presentation showed a family's refrigerator with kid art on it. The name (or at least the letters) "otto" was on one of the pieces of paper that was displayed on the fridge with a magnet. When this slide was projected on the screen, suddenly Otto started kicking - really kicking - inside my belly. And I started smiling - really smiling. Somehow he knew that I was thinking of him at that moment and he was pretty much telling me that he was going to be our Otto.

Edwin.

Clearly I like short(er) names. Max, Otto, Wren. I like Ed. I like Edwin a lot. I love Otto Edwin together. Edwin is my Mom's Dad's name; my Grandpa Smith. I hear only good things about him. How he was so kind, loving, fun.

I wish I could say I had more vivid memories of him, but mostly what I remember are stories that I kind of make up by piecing together photographs of me, my sisters and my cousins with him when we were young. From those pictures I can tell that he loved us grand kids, and he sure did have fun. He'd drive us around in a little trailer behind his riding lawn mower. He'd push us on the big swing out back. He'd encourage us to climb the crab apple tree in their front lawn. Halloween trick-or-treating happened at their house. Jelly beans were hidden all over their house at Easter. Christmas we'd perform our own Nativity story using bath towels as our veils and shawls.

Grandpa (Edwin) Smith smoked cigarettes and wore trucker hats. He was a gentle soul and loved life. My mom once said that Joe reminds her of Grandpa Smith (I'm guessing his personality and not the cigarettes or hats). And since Otto reminds me of Joe, maybe some day Otto will also remind my Mom of Grandpa Smith. I kind of extrapolated that one out a few generations, but I can hope...

Oh, Otto. You march to the beat of a different drummer, or you make the beat of your own march, or whatever that saying is. And I mean this literally. At the age of two you really do march or dance or wiggle when you walk. You will often swing your arms and legs, swoop your torso low and do a little shimmy as you walk. I may not be able to describe exactly why the name Otto suits you, but it does. You are so Otto. Our Otto.

Brothers.

Someone got a haircut!

For the first time, the boy's hair is shorter than the girl's hair in our house. We got Otto's hair cut yesterday, so now he and Max both have hair shorter than Wren's!

The journey to Otto's new hair style began last weekend when I took an attempt at cutting it. Here's the before from last weekend:

I took off most of the bottom hair, what few curls Otto had. And then I was at a loss. His hair is so straight and fine. I was used to trimming Max's thick and curly hair which is much more forgiving when I just want to take off some length, thin it out and not have to be concerned about an actual style or an "uneven" cut.

So for half of this week I pondered what to do with his hair. Some days I thought it looked OK the way it was, but mostly I knew it needed a true cut. The thing is I've only taken Max to my hairdresser, and she's on vacation until after Easter. I wanted Otto's hair cut before then. And just the thought of searching out and going to a random kid's hair place would send me into a bit of a tailspin. So on Tuesday I called my salon and asked if a couple of the other hair dressers that I knew could (1) cut little boy's hair and (2) squeeze Otto in before Easter...preferably on Thursday outside of napping hours:)

Thursday, one hour after Otto's nap, we headed to the salon.

I had no idea how this was going to go over (Otto freaked out when I attempted to trim his hair), but I was armed with a variety of treats, animal apps and the understanding that we might be leaving with an "unfinished" hair cut.

The only photo I got from the salon was the one above. Since I held Otto on my lap, and was furiously scrolling through kid friendly apps, I couldn't take any photos. I wasn't about to ask the hair dresser to slow down to take a picture (so unlike me, i know!).

With minimal tears - and it was funny because Otto would seem like he was crying or was about to, and then he'd giggle about all the "dirty" hair that was floating around and sticking to his chocolately fingers and cape - we got his hair cut!

Brothers. Maybe even twin brothers. But no longer twin sisters.*

* Yes, I have been asked, more than once, if they were twin sisters. Hopefully those days are over. Except it's only been a couple week's since Max's hair cut and WOW do short hair cuts grow quickly. I'm not sure how I'm going to keep up with hair cuts for two boys because I usually get my hair cut quarterly.

Cute Things They Say: Kiss, Kiss

The other morning Joe was leaving with Max & Otto to bring them to school. Joe was holding Otto and I went to give them both a kiss good-bye.

After giving Otto a kiss on his cheek and saying "Have a good day," I turned to say bye to Max. But Otto was getting upset and kept reaching for me. I went back to him and Joe to figure out what was the matter.

Otto reaches out and holds my face with both of his hands. He quite deliberately took my face and turned one cheek towards him and kissed it. Then, without letting go of my face, he turned my face and kissed the other cheek. Smiled at me and said "Buh-bye."

Charmer. When he wants to be.

Cute Things They Say: Avocado

While we're on the topic of fun times with Otto, I had a "cute things they say" moment with him yesterday.

Otto was eating his lunch and I was cutting an avocado for mine. As we're talking and eating he probably pointed at my avocado and called it an apple or something (many fruits are apples to him and most animals say "moo"...poor 2nd child. We're working on this.).

Of course I did what everyone does when a kid says the wrong word or botches the pronunciation - I super enunciated "Ahh-vo-cah-do" for him.

To that he shouted "Ahh-vo-OTTO!!!"

My #2, Take Two

Since the 1st of the year I have one day a week when it's just Otto and Wren home with me. It's such fun to experience Otto as the only big brother on these days. It takes me back to what it was like when Max became a big brother to Otto.

On these special days Otto gets the chance to be Wren's hero without also having to navigate being a little brother at the same time. And Otto's taken to his role of big brother quite nicely. He loves tickling Wren's toes, doing tummy time with her and reading with us. The things Max loved to do with Otto when he was a baby and the things that are just more chaotic when all three kids are home. For me it's a little stroll down memory lane to be reminded of what it was like when there were only two, and have a "second take" with my #2.

I hear Otto a lot more when it's just the two kids. He talks more than I thought he did. When he was a baby I noticed how adorable his soft, lyrical and bubbly voice was. It's still there! His speech and words are so CUTE. Very different from Max, where I understood everything he said as though I were talking with another adult. I have to work harder to decipher Otto's words, but once I understand them Otto and I look at each other, like "Duh?!" Some of my favorite jumbly words of his right now are: doily, umbrella, spatula, strawberry and blueberry.

My friend Marie pointed out to me that when it's "just" Otto at home, I don't have to "age up" or "age down" when we're playing. What a difference this makes. Otto can pick what he wants to do and I can PLAY with him instead of getting pulled into a non-stop conversation with Max about what we're playing.

And this makes us both very happy. Look at this big brother's smiles...