Thursday, April 26, 2007

So It's Been Almost a Week...

...since my last post. Not a lot has changed this week. Tuesday was our last play group until fall. Today was our last story time. It's kind of sad since we have lots of fun at both of these. But we've got lots of good friends to have playdates with and park days will start in June (with the Tuesday morning crew).

The weather's been warmer so we've been taking walks around our neighborhood. It's rained in the morning but been better in the afternoon so Alison could go out to play.

We moved the baby columbine plants out of the yard so that they won't be mowed over. Alison is really excited because this winter we read all sorts of books about fairies and the columbine fairies were one of her favorites. She can't wait for them to bloom so she can see them in real life.

Ian is figuring out forward motion. He isn't crawling yet, more inchworming really. I have a blanket in the middle of the living room with his toys on for him to play with. Yesterday Alison was keeping him company while I made breakfast and he made it half way to the dining room (about 6ft). Apparently he was trying to climb on her so she kept backing up and he followed her. I was impressed. Then I latched the gate that blocks the stairway to the basement.

I really have to figure out how to add videos. Between Ian jumping like a crazy man in the exersaucer and now this forward scootching, I've got some good ones. Plus there are the Alison just being her normal theatrical self that a lot of you don't get to see. Ok, off to figure this out!

Have a good weekend everybody!

Friday, April 20, 2007

Alison and her flowers




Well, here are the pictures that I wanted to post on Monday. It was finally nice enough Thursday to take them. Alison is so proud of her flowers. She forgot that we planted some in the back yard too. She was outside playing yesterday and was surprised to find some by the bird bath and fire pit.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Quick note!

I took Ian to get weighed today. He was 19lb 1oz!! I can't believe it. We didn't go last week because it was snowing. The last week he had went from 17 lb 10oz (3 weeks ago) to 17lb 12oz. I thought maybe this crazy growth spurt was slowing down. I guess I was wrong!

Monday, April 16, 2007

Spring is Back

We are so excited! The snow is finally gone!!! This week it's supposed to be in the 50's all week. We're already planning a playdate at the playground with some friends for today or tomorrow. We can't wait to get outside and enjoy the sun.

Alison

Alison was really excited yesterday to see that the flower bulbs we planted together last fall are not only coming up, but flowering. They are called Greecian Windflowers and they are the prettiest shade of purple (which just so happens to be one of her favorite colors). We also found some tiny columbines that self-seeded in the yard. Luckily Alison got some gardening tools for Easter so I think we'll move those to the flower bed so they don't get mowed. I think we might start some seeds this week too. It's always a fun spring project.




Remember how I talked about school being a part of life? Yesterday, before 9am Alison was already up and experimenting. She was measuring everything. We talked about how inches are different than centimeters. She learned that her arm from elbow to wrist is 6 inches, mine is 9 inches and Ian's is 4 inches. We couldn't believe that our arms were so close in size.

Well, I thought we were going outside yesterday. Turns out there was a chilly wind that made it just a bit too cold to take Ian out. Alison decided to put on a play in her bedroom. She was a princess watering her flowers in her window box.


Ian

Today Ian is moving to the big kid car seat. He was really ready to move 2 weeks ago, but with all the snow, it was easier to keep him in the baby seat where he was more protected. He still has to ride backwards, but now he's got a big comfy seat to do it in. It's kind of sad that he's not my tiny baby anymore. But it's getting really hard (and heavy) to cary him in the carseat.
He was crying when I put him in for his first ride. I was worried that this was a bad sign. Turns out, he was asleep before we hit the end of the driveway! I think he likes the new perspective.



So no outdoor play pics and pics of Alison and her flowers yet. Today it's warmer but rainy. We'll get outside though. Maybe Friday, it's supposed to be the warmest day this week (at least last time I checked the weather.)

Thursday, April 12, 2007

So, what about the kids?!?!?











The kids are the main reason I wanted to start this little project. So many of you are so far away and so much happens around here that gets forgotten before we see you. I'll try to update this at least once a week because those weeks fly by. So let's get up to speed.


ALISON

Alison is now 5 1/2 as she tells everyone. We are doing kindergarten this year. We technically don't have to do it until next year when she's 6. So I thought this would be our year to experiment with school. I wasn't sure how much school we would do with Ian around. I was right, if you look for school, you won't see it. We don't do very much sit down and learn this today so you can learn something else tomorrow kind of stuff. But the main thing we've learned this year is that learning doesn't have to be sitting down with a textbook to be effective. You can learn a lot from just living life.


Case in point, Alison is teaching herself to read. She doesn't like it when I try to "teach" her with all the things I learned in college. She's always been independent and had her own ideas and learning is no different. She says "I'm only just learning to read." But in reality, if you catch her with her guard down she reads quite well. She's such a perfectionist that she doesn't want anybody to know she can until she's sure she can without messing up.

She loves to "experimize", to pose a question and find an answer. She loves all things girly. She loves to sing and dance. She has an odd obsession with New York and the Statue of Liberty (thanks to Cash Cab). She tells me what she wants to learn about and I order every book I can through inter-library loan and we read them all. It's funny that I can barely remember my soc. sec. # but have my library card memorized.


For fun I looked up the curriculum standards for kdg in MI. She knows almost everything. Amazing. The things she doesn't, is only because I hadn't thought to talk to her about them (like spheres, cones, cubes, etc). By the end of the summer she'll be ready to be a 1st grader.

We found out that our local art museum is free every Thursday and has family days and homeschool days. It's one of our new fav hang outs.




Ian

Most of you know that Ian had a hard time gaining weight as a newborn. Well, our tiny little guy finally figured out how to grow! Last week he was 8 months old and 17lbs 12oz considering that on Nov 8th he was 3 mo old and 8lb 11oz, he's had one huge growth spurt. He doesn't have a neck at the moment either. He's got dimples on his knees and elbows, it's too cute.


About a month ago he started sitting up on his own without randomly toppling over. He likes to sit on the floor and play with his toys and books. When he gets bored he leans over and flips onto his back or tummy to play. He isn't crawling yet, but I'm in no hurry. I kind of like him staying within 10 feet of where I leave him. He is figuring out how to reach out and grab something and pull himself forward. He may end up doing an army crawl pretty soon. He loves to jump. I put him in his exersaucer at least once a day so he can jump. He lifts both feet off the ground and jumps up, the whole thing rocks and shakes. He loves it.

He's also getting into feeding himself. He loves anything that he can pick up and eat himself. He will let me feed him some applesauce but then he wants food he can "chew" I get bonus points if he gets to pick it up himself too. He doesn't have any teeth yet. It's fun to watch him gum everything.





So that's where we are starting off. If I can figure out how to add videos I'll share some of those. We've got some really good ones I know you'll like to see.


Here are a few last pics. From Easter at mom and dad's house. Alison didn't get an Easter basket. She got a hot pink Barbie tote with wheels to organizer all her Barbie dolls and accessories. She's in love...



















Ian had so much fun attacking his basket. There were so many exciting things to play with. His fav was the chewy Peep squeaky toy, followed closely by the tractor (by his foot).

What's Going On???



So my first post in a blog about my kids is about the weather. Leave it to me to get off track already. This picture on the left was our deck on Monday.

Just 2 weeks ago we had my friend over and her two boys (almost 4 years old and 6 months). It was such a wonderful day that we all were outside the whole time. Alison and Isaiah ran around the backyard exploring, playing in the water in the bird bath, being kids. We even brought out the pack-n-play for the babies to play in. They loved being outside. It was a beautiful, warm, spring day.

Now we have snow. Off and on for the last two weeks. It is crazy. Alison was begging to go to the playground, the zoo, to take walks and ride her bike...she woke up to snow last week and said "Well, I guess we aren't going to the zoo today." That's right sweetie the zoo will have to wait. "When will summer get here?" I don't know honey, but momma doesn't want any more snow either...