Milestone: Multi-word Phrases

In the last couple of weeks Benjamin has started expanding his chatter to use two and three word phrases. The most common?

• No _________ - no apple, no milk, no blanket,  - whatever he doesn't want at the moment)
• "Show me" - we often ask Benj to show us what he wants or what he is talking about if we're having a tough time deciphering it, so he has taken to saying "show me" along with pulling on our hands when he wants to show us something)
• "Right back" - this is often preceded by "bye, bye" and then he takes off... usually without the intention of coming right back! and if you try to follow him he turns around, waves his had in the air at you, and says "no, right back" again and again. He's on a mission to be on his own!
• "Up please"- yes, he has finally consented and started saying "up" and now he can't stop!
• "Bye ________" - he says "bye" to anything and everything when we leave anywhere. A few examples: "bye trees" and "bye stars" from our Waterfire outing, "bye apples" from our apple picking, and "bye books" from the library. He also says it enthusiastically to anyone we meet on the street or in the store - he's winning hearts everywhere!

Waterfire 2013

Last weekend we finally made it to Waterfire for the first time this year. Julia loves to go (that may or may not have something to do with popcorn) and so do Andrew and I but during the summer the fires are lit so late that it just doesn't work for us. Last week though, the fires were lit around 6:45 - perfect for us. It's quite a theatrical event, both the fires on the water and other surrounding activities. 

There are always actors dressed up as gargoyles, oracles, and fairies. It's always amazing as they are so in character. This time there were also people dressed up as birch trees. Both our kids were entranced. Julia and her cousin Alex went up to the oracles and Julia just stared in amazement at the women. They usually do not interact too much but they could tell how amazed J was and they actually touched her face and even blew her a kiss.

There were also people dressed up as very realistic birch trees with changing fall leaves. I thought these  folks were amazing and so did Benjamin. He could not take his eyes off of them.

Again, they are always completely in character and do not break the act but when Benj was waving and shouting "BYE TREES!!, BYE TREES!!" as we were leaving them I was pretty sure I saw a couple of them trying hard not to smile!

Two Wheel Success

Julia has always been drawn to anything with wheels.  Two years ago we stopped on a whim at an REI and bought her a balance bike.  She took to it right away and was soon whizzing around.  At the start of this summer we decided that Julia was ready for a two wheel bike and bought her a great one with training wheels.  She was soon zooming around on that as well. 

Two weeks ago I watched her ride down the driveway and balance perfectly with neither training wheel touching the ground.  I asked her if she felt ready to take them off.  She yelled “yes”, so I grabbed my wrenches and off they came.

We spent about 30 minutes practicing with me holding on to the back of her seat.  She was a little unsteady, she would stop for a while kneel next to her bike and say to herself “I just need to focus”.  Finally she stopped ran into the garage, I figured she was too frustrated to keep trying.  But when I asked her what she was doing she said, “I am going get my balance bike to remember how to balance”.

I then needed to run after Benjamin and when I turned around and saw this.

Swimming Progress

Julia had so much fun swimming this summer that she decided that for the fall she wanted to continue taking swim lessons instead of going back to ballet. So we started a few weeks ago and I have to say that I think it was an excellent choice. She's so excited to go every week and the whole time we're there she has a huge smile on her face! I love watching her and I love that she has found something that gives her so much joy to do!

Here's a quick video of one of her first lessons. It'll be fun to see how much she learns over the next few months!

Fall Fun

A glimpse into a few of our recent activities

apple picking

talk like a pirate day 

(Julia adopted the name Picklejuice the Pirate!)

swinging at the farmer's market

Puddle Jumping

 A glimpse into Julia and Benjamin's idea of heaven!

Puddles on the beach

and puddles the size of a swimming pool at the park!

Swim Like a Fish

One of Benjamin's favorite shows is The Wiggles. It's just a show with a lot of songs and dancing and it's great for helping our kids get out their own wiggles at the end of day or if we've been stuck inside. Both kids like one particular episode with a song called "Swim Like a Fish." And I finally managed to catch Julia on video dancing away! You may need to turn the volume up to hear the song as it was on the tv in the background. Also I apologize for the shaky camera but Benj was helping me film!

First Day of School - Pre-K

Julia had her first day of her last year of preschool last Tuesday. She is going three days a week this year and is in Mrs. Simoneau and Ms. Goodman's class in the front room at Little Red Hen. She was very excited to get started and even more excited when we showed up and the sensory play bin was filled with pom-poms!!

Make Way for Ducklings!

Make Way for Duckings by Robert McCloskey is one of our favorite books and last weekend we decided to have a duck day and take a trip to Boston to ride the swan boats, visit the ducks, and see the ducklings statue. It turned out to be a fantastic day!

First, we went to the duck pond to go for a ride on the swan boats. We had to wait a few minutes but nobody minded because it was a beautiful day and there were plenty of ducks to watch.

On the boat, the kids loved watching all the ducks, checking out where they lived, and pretending to be ducks themselves.

This was a picture of a duck we startled! The boat went very close to the shore of the island in the pond (which is the rocks you can see at the top of picture) and there was a duck between the boat and island! He wasn't too happy!

After the boat ride we wandered around the park a bit and Julia tried climbing this redwood tree.

And of course, we found the Mrs. Mallard and ducklings statue!

Our final stop was lunch at Cheers where appropriately, we "cheers"-ed!

Benj the Builder

Benjamin has been getting into the building of the clubhouse! So far carrying around big pieces of wood and pretending to drill with his play tools are his favorite parts!

Heard in Our Car

We were driving home from a playdate the other day and this happened:

Me: Benjamin, when we get home it's going to be naptime.

Benjamin: Oh Phooey!

Jump!!

Every time we go to the zoo Julia makes sure we stop at one particular spot - the jumping spot. It's a place set up to measure how far you can jump in comparison to different animals. Julia is currently about equal to a spider, much to her chagrin, and I think Benjamin is trying to chase cheetahs!