What’s Been Going On

Things around here have been sort of crazy lately; I have notes for about 10 or 15 different posts that I have wanted to write over the past couple of weeks but obviously that never happened.  So here is the condensed version…

Over the past few weeks, maybe since school started, Julia seems to have made another big leap in her mental (and also physical) growth.  There are just little things that I have been noticing that have struck me and left me thinking, “wow, since when can she do that?!?”  Things like…

 coloring inside the lines

correcting my reading at when I’m putting her to bed at night

remembering what day it is when she wakes up and knowing what activities we’re going to be doing that day

helping her brother

understanding the rules of Candy Land and following them

eating a whole sandwich rather than pulling it apart and fussing with it

 

Benjamin has also had some major leaps in the last few weeks:

playing peekaboo with a blanket – holding it over his face and then pulling it off when I said “where’s Benjamin?” (the first time he did this was when he was supposed to be going down for a nap – good thing he’s cute!)

walking holding onto furniture or our hand

getting 5 teeth!!

climbing the stairs

drinking from a straw but really he prefers just using it to blow bubbles

swinging at the playground

and, of course, outgrowing all the pants that I bought him 2 weeks ago!    

Julia-isms

A few amusing phrases we’ve heard recently…

* Yesterday afternoon I walked the kids to the library and then to the farmers market where we met Andrew for dinner.  At the farmer’s market Julia and I picked out a few gourds to use to decorate the house.  She’s been excited about this for weeks and each time we’ve planned on going pumpkin picking it has rained.  So this was a compromise but she was excited to finally have some kind of pumpkin.  When we got home I handed the brown paper bag of five gourds to carry in the house.  She hefted it up, walked towards the house, muttering to herself about how heavy the bag was but when she went through the door Andrew and I clearly heard her say “these gourds are freaking me out!”

* At school on Tuesdays Julia learns sign language.  For the past few weeks they have been learning signs for colors.  So on the ride home today I was asking her about the signs she learned; she showed me orange and black and told me that they didn’t learn green or blue, then I asked if they had learned purple and her response was “I have to think about that Mom, ok?”

* Continuing with the sign language conversation at lunch I asked Julia if she knew the sign for red.  This was the rest of the conversation:

J: I’m not sure, do you know it?

Me: No

J: Why not?

Me: I’m not in your class, so I didn’t learn it

J: You need to find an adult school, Mom

8 Months

A little over a week ago was Benjamin’s 8 month birthday!  He has been a very busy boy lately.   He is almost always on the go and trying hard to master whatever milestone he is working on.  A few weeks ago that was getting to sitting from crawling then the day after he got that he moved on to pulling up on furniture!  He now has that down pat and is working on cruising along the furniture.  In his downtime, he has learned how to wave bye-bye, clap his hands, and crawl with his stomach off the floor (although he often resorts back to the army crawl when he’s in a hurry).  We have started going to a music class on Thursday mornings.  It’s called Rock-a-Baby and is actually as much fun for me as it is for him!

Physically, he weighs about 17lbs now and has two teeth with three more (we think) about to break through.  He had his first bad cold last week and was not at all pleased with that experience!  But he’s better now and once the teeth make their appearance we’re hoping to return to happier times.  He is still a very happy baby with a quick smile even when he’s uncomfortable and as I expected it’s hard to say no to him when he starts grinning!  He continues to be a great eater and is now mostly on solid food, rather than baby purees.  His favorites these days are pasta, meatballs, pears, bananas, cheerios, french fries, and ice cream!

Julia’s Gallery – Sun #1

Materials: Chalk on pavement

Comments: Lately I’ve been amazed at how much more often Julia’s drawings and creations are purposeful creations.  It’s becoming less likely for her to just draw a few lines or squiggles and call it something.  She usually announces what she wants to draw and then tries to create whatever it is. She was outside the other day, drawing with chalk, when she created this sun (her first I believe).  She started off drawing lemons (for some reason she’s drawn a lot of those lately) and then after she drew one she began adding lines to the outside and said to me “I’m drawing a sun… it has rays.”  Yes, it sure does!

Routines

Fall is here and with it comes new routines and schedules.  This year Julia is attending preschool 3 mornings a week and has a dance class one other morning. She is also transitioning to no naptime which tough from 4-6:30pm but great when both kids are asleep by 6:45!  I’ve started attending a Rock-a-Baby class with Benjamin on Thursday mornings and that has been a lot of fun for both of us.  He is very alert and observant but loves to get in on all the action as well!  Both kids do better with schedules of some sort although Benjamin is definitely more flexible than his sister – more out of necessity I think since he is often just along for the ride.  So we are working on figuring out how our days flow and what works best right now for everyone.  But here is a glimpse into what we’re up to:

Julia practicing on the balance beam at dance class

Benj listening intently at music class

and creating his own tunes at home!

Enjoying the playground near our house for a couple more weeks before the big move!

Savoring the last of the summer peaches

Starting another year of preschool at the Little Red Hen!

Day Out with Thomas

Last Saturday we spent the morning in Newport meeting Thomas the Tank Engine!  It was a very exciting morning for Julia.  She loved seeing Thomas in person and enjoyed the train ride even though it was a little slow (she’s more used to Metro rides in DC)! 

The 7th Month Stretch!

and a couple extra because he’s just too cute!