Foto Finish Friday: 2013 Week 21

Norah News: Spring 2013 Update

So now you know what’s going on with Roddie, you must be wondering what Norah has been up to!  3 months into “5” I can tell you that I much prefer it over “4”, at least as it relates to Norah. 

<![if !supportLists]>·       <![endif]>She is, as ever, an emotional soul, but she’s made great strides in learning to manage her emotions. Sometimes this results in her stomping off to her room too cool off (which is somewhat comical in her 5 year old body).  The one really cool thing that I have grown to appreciate recently is that her happy emotions are just as high as her not-so-happy ones.  There have been many many times recently where the look of joy and happiness on Norah’s face was almost enough to bring me to tears!  Playing with her cousins at Easter, running around the backyard with the neighbor kids, marching in the local parade… in all of these cases I swear Norah had more fun than any other kid there.

<![if !supportLists]>·       <![endif]>She has also started reading recently, and the look of pride in her face and her whole body is really quite extraordinary!  I bought her a copy of “Mr Pine’s Mixed-Up Signs” – the first book I ever remember reading, and we’re a few pages in already.  It’s slow going, but getting a little quicker each time we sit down to read a little.  Of course we both like it because it’s a little 1 on 1 quiet time and she has definitely inherited my love of books. (In fact, we often find her fast asleep in her bed at night, with her face in the middle of a book, and surrounded by several more)  I am not sure how much she’s reading the words in the books during her bedtime reading, and she doesn’t really want to talk about it, but my guess is she’ll come out one morning and read one to me.  Needless to say I am really proud of her and happy for her – if you recall, she’s been chomping at the bit to read for months, and we had to learn lower case letters first!

<![if !supportLists]>·       <![endif]>She’s been playing town soccer this spring, in the U6 group, she barely made the age cut off, so she’s one of the younger kids on the team.  The team is coached by our neighbor friend Dan and his daughter Erin is also on the team, so there is a lot of fun built in.  This is the first time she has been on a coached team, as opposed to lessons, and we had a few rounds of clingy crankiness in the beginning, but she really seems to have come into her own over the past few weeks. 

<![if !supportLists]>·       <![endif]>I am really surprised at how much more co-ordinated and strong she is physically compared to last year.  This shows up not only in soccer, but her monkey bar stunts and also in riding her bike.  On the monkey bars she is able to lift her legs up and over her head to flip! On her bike, she’s getting faster, but also getting braver about trying to balance and “not hear the wheels”  (her training wheels are set high enough that she can balance)

<![if !supportLists]>·       <![endif]>She continues to love to perform, putting on “shows” with Roddie and the neighbor kids.  Dance lessons are just about to wrap up for the year with her recital coming up in a few weeks.  She’s looking forward to adding tap to her dance repertoire come fall. 

<![if !supportLists]>·       <![endif]>Norah and Roddie get along exceedingly well, and Norah shows a surprising amount of empathy for her brother at time – as long as she’s not the perpetrator of whatever’s making him upset!  She is often able to assist him when he won’t let us, and she’s always willing to encourage him or show him how to do something.  It’s not unheard of for the two of them to be found in one bed, with Norah “reading” to Roddie.  You can see this is going to get more fun as her reading progresses!

<![if !supportLists]>·       <![endif]>I guess the biggest news for Norah is the preparation for Kindergarten.  We recently had parent orientation, and I am feeling ok about everything. Oh wait, it’s not about me!  While this is true, I think that how I react to and talk about the school year with her does make a difference in how she thinks about it.  There is a near overwhelming number of details to attend to , especially for working parents and I am eternally thankful that Erin, mentioned above, went a year earlier!  She has a thirst for knowledge and I think will really thrive as ‘real school’ begins.  Her evaluations at daycare always show her as the top of her class and ahead of her peer group,  so I am really looking forward to school for her.

 

 

 

Roddie Report: Spring 2013 Edition

I’ve been a bit remiss in updating the blog with cool things about the kids lately, and although the kids aren’t mastering new skills at the mad rate they did when they were babies, they still do a lot of cool things.  Let’s take Roddie for instance…

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>He’s a bike riding machine!  Once he figured out how to make the pedals go around, he really took off on his bike!  I had been planning to get him a balance bike this year so he could keep up with Norah, but at this point, he can ride almost as fast as she does (though he gets distracted more easily).  Suffice to say, I now wear running shoes when accompanying them on a jaunt about the neighborhood, and look forward to the day in the very near future when I’ll need to take my own bike!

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>This little man knows what he wants, and that’s that.  He’s becoming very independent, insisting on doing things on his own – everything from getting dressed in the morning to choosing his own spoon.  He literally becomes irate if you try to help him when he wants to do it himself.

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>Bed time, oh bed time!  For the sake of historical accuracy I must report Roddie is HORRIBLE at bed time.  It generally takes close to an hour before he finally settles in and falls asleep.  Norah was always very easy with the bed time routine (not so for nap time)  and we really had no idea how good we had it.  I think part of the struggle for him is that he naps during the day, as most kids his age do and he’s just not ready by 8:00.  He’s always seemed to need less sleep than Norah, who no longer naps most days.  This presents some challenges with them in the same room!  Roddie’s favorite tricks at this time include the usual milk, water, potty requests as well as a few more unique numbers like “sing my baby song” (a combinations of hymns I sang to him as a baby because that was all I could remember one day – only I can perform this number), “sing the church song” (Were You There, may only performed by Matt), “my blanket is bunch-ed”, “I want stars/animals up”

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>As a counterpoint to the bedtime blues, he’s become incredibly affectionate, and I, for one, LOVE it!  He will come over to me spontaneously, hold my cheeks in his hand, give me a kiss and say “I love you Mommy” (it comes out I Yuv you – he only does L for Lap)  He loves to snuggle and does not hesitate to give Norah a hug (especially after he spontaneously wacked her with a shoe or toy…) 

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>I’ve been working with him on pronouncing things correctly – mainly L’s and K’s.  He would tell me he wanted to sit in my yap at story time, so I started trying to get him to say Lap… L-L-L-Lap!  He’d reply with “L-L-L- Yap! Mommy I said it right!”  We eventually got there, but he won’t use the L sound any other time.  I’ve let it go for now, he’ll get there…

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>He finally grew into size 3 pants, seemingly overnight.  It seems like ages ago when his size 2 shirts started to get too short, but the pants were just fine.  The size 3’s we had in the closet were way too big around the waist in addition to being too long.  Just before the weather turned to shorts, it seemed like all of his pants were suddenly too short!  I pulled out the 3’s and sure enough, they fit.  It’s surprising how much bigger a little boy looks in bigger pants… I don’t remember this with Norah, but Roddie all of a sudden looks so much bigger/older now that he fills out those pants!

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>He transitioned into preschool earlier this month.  While this marked the end of my highest paying daycare years, I think it was probably even more significant for Rod!  A few months before the transition I was a little worried about him being ready, but by the time the big day came, I was confident he would be fine, which, of course, he was!  We have known his teacher in the toddler room for virtually the whole time we’ve been at our daycare, and we love her.  The preschool teacher started just as Norah was aging out of that room and I really didn’t know her.  Roddie didn’t immediately warm up to her, but he didn’t take long either.  Preschool means a higher kid to teacher ratio and that they are expected to do more things for themselves – a good fit for our little man!  It also means that he’s the youngest of the almost 3 to 4 year olds instead of the oldest of the 1 to almost 3 year olds.  They start working on some academic skills, and best of all he gets to share outside time with the big kids, including his big sister!  This is often makes the daily highlights when I ask him about his day J 

All in all, he’s doing great!  As much as people complain about the terrible twos, it’s my favorite age (at least of those I’ve experienced so far! )  Learning to express themselves, growing independence, and fully making the transition out of babyhood and into childhood.  I’ll miss babyhood, sometimes, but I am also really looking forward to this next stage with the two kids.

School Photos Spring 2013

Foto Finish Friday:2013 Week 20

Foto Finish Friday: 2013 Week 19

Shot glass turned vase

Did you ever wonder what I did with all those shot glasses from back in the day...?  Well no, I didn't get rid of them (though I probably should have) but they make perfect vases for the things the kids pick for me in the yard.  

Foto Finish Friday: 2013 Week 18

Roddie Report: Milestone?

It was a big day at our house this morning, as Roddie did NOT have a big diaper when I woke him up.  In fact, he had a dry diaper.  Roddie drinks a lot of  milk, water, juice… whatever he get his hands on, and has always been a heavy wetter at night.  We even used night time diapers with him as a too-wet diaper would wake him up.  This feels monumental for me, in part because Norah was 4 before we started seeing dry nights, despite being day-time dry from 2.5.  That said, she is, and always has been a very deep sleeper, unlike her brother.  I also hope that it means that he’s getting a little closer to being potty trained.

He’s been interested for well over a year and has often done the deed on command.  However, until recently he really hasn’t taken notice of the condition of his nether regions and whether the pull-up, diaper, or undies was wet.  All things in due time, I suppose and I’m told boys are usually later than girls, but I am really looking forward to the end of diapers and getting rid of that stinky diaper pail once and for all! 

I suppose that it’s a step in the right direction regardless… or maybe it was just a fluke J

Friday Night Family Fun

Over the past few years we've gotten to know a few families in our neighborhood with kids of similar age.  We get together from time to time (more often in the summer) for a little low key fun.  The fun has evolved as the kids have gotten older, and number of kids has increased over the time we've known each other, with the latest additions coming up on their first birthdays.  It's a good, easy going time and both kids and adults have a lot of fun.  It will be cool to see how this picture continues to evolve as the years go by... I'm sure the group will grow, but I wonder if there will be any more siblings, or just new friends?  My guess is only new friends, but we'll see!

 

 

Back, L-R: Genevieve (9mo, with Marsha), Courtney (9mo, with Megan) and Sarah (1y, with Lisa)

Front L-R: Allie (3.5), Leilani (almost 5), Erin (6), Roddie (2.5), Norah (5), Kayla (6), Connor (6), Lauren (3.5), Jack (5), Evie (4) and Connor (4)

Foto Finish Friday: 2013 Week 17