Sometimes it's the little things that make you realize your children are getting older.

Quinn had his five-year doctors visit yesterday and had to get several shots. This in and of itself is not what made him seem old to me. What made him seem old was the following statement, which was in response to my claim that he had to get the shots to go to Kindergarten.

"Well, I really don't want to get my shots but I want to go to Kindergarten more so I guess it's worth it"

What a big kid to think about it that way!

Other big kid statements lately from Quinn:

(to Moin) "When you go to work, are you the only person there all day?"
(to me) "Mom, you're the only person at this WHOLE FAIR who doesn't love corn dogs"
(to me) "When I'm 20, Zahra and Penelope will be 17 and we'll all still live in this house" (ha!)

The girls have been seeming old in all kinds of ways recently.

But it was the purchase of blankets of pillows for their cribs that made them seem even bigger to me.

The girls (especially Zahra) have enjoyed sleeping with blankets and pillows lately so I finally dragged all the kids to Ikea to buy official blanket/pillow sets for the girls. As soon as we got home I set up the cribs for them. Look at Zahra - so happy!

She even set up a whole reading station in her crib after I put the new gear in and did not want to get out for anything!

Penelope was less excited. She wanted to be certain that she was getting out of that crib at some point.

Something about them sleeping with these blankets and pillows make them seem like such big girls!

It's been a busy week around these parts!

First, Moin and I had a great 4-day trip to Chicago.

As this is a blog about the Syed CHILDREN, I won't post much about our solo trip here. But we ate and relaxed well, and the kids had a fantastic time with my parents for four whole days. And my parents survived watching three kids age five and under in one piece!

As soon as we returned, we immediately turned around and took Quinn to the true big event of any Minnesota summer - the state fair!

Quinn ate a lot of super yummy food, as is customary at the fair. He started out the day with Tiny Tim donuts.

I got my sweet corn ice cream, which I've been wanting to try since last year.

All in all, here is what Quinn consumed during our four hours there.
Tiny Tim donuts
Fried fruit on a stick
Deep fried reeses peanut butter cup
Apple cider
Corn Dog
Fries
Lemonade
Waffle on a stick dipped in fudge and covered in sprinkles

To be honest, just looking at that list kind of makes me want to throw up, but Quinn really enjoyed everything!
As did Moin :)

Quinn really impressed us, and went on some big kid rides this year, including this cool bridge/slide combo!

He even went on a "super-fast" one with me, which was tons of fun.

The Haunted House was NOT a hit, however. No pictures were taken, but just imagine a big 5-year-old clinging to me like a spider monkey while screaming at the top of his lungs, and you'll get the picture. Quinn has informed me that he will never ever go in that haunted house ever again. Fine by me.


Haunted house aside, we had a great time as always at the fair.

We were reminiscing about how this year is Quinn's fourth at the fair. His first visit, when he was just a toddler, involved him refusing to try the donuts (!) and of course the rides were a no-go. Looking back on past visits made us realize how big he's getting!

Maybe we really are becoming Minnesotans if we're measuring our child's development in terms of what he does on fair visits!

Next year the girls will get to come, too. What kind of madness will that bring?

Pictures from the week.

Do all kids carry TWO babies around?

Quinn had "sports" camp this week. They practiced soccer, basketball, t-ball, and football. Quinn wouldn't let me take any photos of him, but I sneaked in a few. He's in the bottom left here.

And in the right, here. He loved this camp!

Zahra at my computer :)

This one is a couple weeks old. Moin took Quinn out to breakfast for his birthday, and the restaurant presented him with this cookie! This is how Q chose to pose.

Quinn's happy birthday picture for Pa.

Snacktime at the park. The Syed children all decided to wear pink together.

Watermelon at the Greek festival

Penelope called Moin over the other day to show him something. He texted me this picture. Now, let me give you some context. Our bathtub has a "spout protector" that keeps the kids from hitting their heads on the water spout. It's in the shape of a duck. So what Penelope did here was recreate the bathtub. Can you see - the duck on the left and the baby in the tub on the right.

She recreated herself in the tub!

As some of you know, part of my dissertation involved examining children's ability to map from an object to a representation of that object. Much of this research is based off of Judy DeLoache's model room studies, in which she examines how children map from a life-sized room to a "scale model" of that room.

So I was so excited that Penelope made her own scale model! Excitement comes easily around here...

Zahra and Penelope spend all their time together. And most of the time, they really seem to enjoy one another's company.

Moin and I have discussed from time to time that we need to separate them more. When they start school we want to be sure that they'll be in different classrooms and preschool is only one year away (yikes!) so we should probably put more effort in to taking them separate places.

It's hard though, because the girls are either being watched by one person (and therefore have to be together) OR if both Moin and I are both home and able to separate kids it most often makes sense to separate Quinn from his sisters (ahem).

Anyway, today when Moin got home from work I attempted to take Zahra get my iced tea refill (yes) from Dunn brothers. Mind you this is a 10-minute trip TOPS and I thought Zahra would be excited to spend alone time with mom.

This was her reaction.

She cried and cried, and just pointed to the other carseat yelling "Pee-pee, PEE-PEE!!!!" (current version of Penelope)
She was NOT happy without her sister.

And really, who can blame her? Aside from the three weeks separated in the NICU these girls have always been together. And even there they managed to sneak in some time :)

They've always slept in the same room, and even in the same crib for a while.

So yes, we'll have to keep working on this whole separation thing. Luckily they've still got that year until preschool!

The Syed Children are lucky to have lots of great "aunts" and "uncles". Those words are in quotations because these people aren't technically related to the Syed kids, but I guarantee you they love them with all their hearts. And the kids feel the same!

I was reminded of this the other day when Quinn received a birthday gift from Aunt Amy and Uncle Alexander.

They know that Quinn loves cookbooks, so Amy found her favorite childhood cookbook on ebay and had it sent to Quinn. It has kid-friendly recipes from all over the world, including the Soviet Union! :)

So far we've made rice pudding (sweeden) and stuffed pita pockets (Lebanon). Moin also made a variation of potato latkes. Quinn also reads the book throughout the day and loves it. Up next are honey baked donuts from Turkey!

Aunt Amy and Uncle Alexander actually have a good track record in terms of gifts. Who can forget the matching outfits from Hawaii?

Or Alexander's handmade flame outfit for baby Quinn, which got lots of oohs, ahhs, and hollers on the streets of Santa Cruz.

We received another great gift from a "relative" recently. A box of items from Uncle Boyd.

What is a box of items, you ask? Well it's hard to define, but Boyd likes to send collections of goods that might appeal to all members of the Herold/Syed family.

I received a doorbell, and moin received a stapler.

Quinn received a stuffed animal, and the girls got baseball cards!

Here are some other Aunt/Uncle gift highlights over the years, although I'm sure I'm leaving some out.

Quinn's trip to Izzy's with Auntie Polly. he still talks about it!

The easy bake oven Quinn received from Auntie Crystal for MY (ahem) birthday

The "Q" painting received from Auntie Belle after Quinn's birth. Hey Belle - we're still waiting for P and Z! (Kidding)

Not to get too cheesy, but the best gift of all is our children having all these wonderful people in their lives. So many awesome role models to choose from!

Photos from the week!

 Dollhouse all set up. The girls' love for this item has not diminished at all. In fact, quite the opposite.

 Twin Cooperation! P pushes the water fountain while Z takes a drink.

 Z and Q postin up in the toystore.

 Big girl Zahra!

 Croissants at Bread and Chocolate

 Q and our new lawn sign 

 Just some of the goods Quinn made in his "Grossology" camp this past week. Note the throw-up in the front. Over the week he also made boogers, snot, and "ouchies." He loved this camp so much that he even cried a bit at the end. Nothing like some gross stuff to tear at a little kid's heart-strings!

 Seeking out shade at Teddy Bear Park

 P and Q :)

Fun times in the Duffy's backyard tent