Summer Fun

It's been a fun summer and we're not ready for it to be over. We still can't believe that Claire is already in preschool but we're very proud that she's having so much fun with her class. It's only a few hours on two days of the week, so there are plenty of opportunities to have fun at home.

Amanda created a game based on a pinterest photo that involves sorting buttons of various colors. Claire picked up on the concept very quickly and plays with it for a decent period of time.

The button game is also a good opportunity to practice counting skills and hopefully a little bit of math.

Amanda also created a rice box with a little bit of macaroni and dried beans mixed in for variety. Claire and James both love playing in it (James is starting to play and does less eating of the rice now) as they like to search for buried treasures and mix it into measuring cups.

There's also a blue sheet underneath to help clean up spills from the box. This blue sheet has been a fun toy by itself. It has been pretend water to swim in, a parachute that mommy waves as they jump on, or a cave that they hide in. Turns out that a sheet can be many many fun things.

Claire also gets to play with the ricebox outside sometimes on the deck.

When James gets excited, he waves his outstretched hands wildly up and down. We can't wave our hands as fast or as hard as he can but he sees us try and shows us how to do it right.

Applying sunscreen and bugspray in the park isn't so much of a chore. Claire usually stays pretty still through the whole process.

Claire had her her try on the monkey bars and held herself up. She has a pretty strong grip! Unfortunately, she didn't like hanging out too long and was afraid to let go so this didn't end well. She did eventually let go and landed on her feet after a 2 inch drop.

James has a pretty strong grip too! We obviously didn't let go to see if he could hold himself up, but I'm pretty sure he would've done it.

When James is in a good mood, he gives some of the happiest faces I've ever seen a baby make.

Claire likes to play with the pipe cleaners. Brooks likes to play with them too, so she lost a few when the cat snuck up and stole them.

Matt made some "silly glasses," a halo, a trumpet, and a harp out of pipe cleaners. Claire wears them proudly.

Claire did not want to get out of her bed one Saturday morning. James was brought in to greet her and she invited him to join her rather than get out to play with him. James would've cried in his own bed, but the two of them ran around and giggled for a good 10 minutes.

This is our third straight year at the Roswell Ice Cream festival and the first year that Claire has gotten her own bowl. We opted to leave one of us with her in the grassy area at the gazebo rather than try to wheel her through the dense crowd to grab samples. She didn't mind staying put since there were so many wonderful treats to consume.

Claire loves ice cream as much as we do. It's safe to say that we will have to return next year. There was an ice cream eating contest for kids. I think the youngest age group was 5. I'm pretty sure that we could enter her in the teenager category and she'd be able to place in the top 3.

James actually had fun at the ice cream festival too. He sampled strawberry, lemon, and raspberry flavors. As much trouble as we have getting him to eat at the kitchen table, eating ice cream in a park is a treat for multiple reasons. 

(This is a pretty adorable photo of James in his baby backpack and would be better if not for the derriere in the background)

See mommy! James can be happy at home too.

10 minutes after this photo was taken, there were bits of food on his hair, in his ears, and up his nose. 

Cute kid.

First Day of Preschool

Today was Claire's first day of preschool.  We have been trying to prepare her for a few weeks now.  We checked out several books from the library and have been talking to her about what she will do and who her teachers are.  Last week, she and I had the opportunity to visit her classroom and meet her teachers--Ms. Nancy and Ms. DeLee.  Claire was hesitant when we visited and wanted to be held for awhile but then was fine to play with the toys.  Her class has seven girls and three boys.  The room is set up with different play/center areas including a playhouse, kitchen, reading area, table for snack time, and area for cars and trucks.

Claire seemed pretty excited about going to preschool.  Last night, she talked and sang to herself for an hour and a half before falling asleep.  This morning, she was also extra excited.  While I was fixing breakfast, she was singing "Oh How I Love Preschool...Because it's the first day" to the tune of "Oh How I Love Jesus."  We took a few pictures on the front steps before heading to her school.  It's about a 7 minute drive and starts at 9:30.

She was excited and happily walked from the car to her classroom and then got a little frightened at the door.  Ms. DeLee quickly offered some comforting words (not sure if they were for me or for Claire...), picked Claire up and disappeared into the classroom.  I waited with James for a few minutes and she had calmed down right away.  Preschool was only two hours today but will normally be three.  When I went to pick her up, she and several children were reading books with Ms. DeLee.  Claire ran my way saying "MMMMMOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMYYYYY!"  She got a little tote bag that she will take each day (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and a t-shirt.

Since we've been home, I've been asking all kinds of questions.  I'm just dying to know every little detail, but that's hard to get from a two-year old!  Here's what I've learned so far:

• She got to go to the indoor playground today.  They hold onto a rope with a ring for each child when they walk outside of her room.  Claire held onto a red ring today.  She rode on a merry-go-round in the playroom area.
• They sat at a table and had apples and cheerios with water for her snack.
• They had a circle time.  Ms. Nancy read "Brown Bear Brown Bear" and a story about a crocodile. 
• Claire played with trucks and blocks.

It seems like it was a good day!  She said yes when I asked if she wants to go back again.

Nine Month Checkup and Videos

At his checkup today, James weighed 20 pounds, 10 ounces and measured 28 1/2 inches long.  Both are 50th percentile.  Claire was bigger at this age--21 pounds 5 ounces and 29 inches long, 95th percentile on both.  James' hair is lighter than Claire's and his eyes are bluer.  He doesn't have as many fat rolls as she did.  He also seems more active and more social, laughing and smiling a lot.  Funny to see how different they are already.  We've had some fun times lately where Claire decides to crawl around with James.  She yells "We're crawling together!" and he just giggles and laughs with excitement.

Unfortunately the lighting is bad in this first video.  James loves the monkey in the box and knows when it's about to pop up and squints his eyes in anticipation.



Here is Claire learning how to pedal on her tricycle.  Not sure how much she's doing on her own here, but my favorite part is when she says "I'm so close!"



James gets the funniest look on his face when something is on his head.

Summer Pictures

Here are a few miscellaneous pictures from this summer.

Claire decided she wanted to wear all of her hair bows at the same time

Our cherry tomato plant

She loves to help water, pick, and eat the tomatoes 

Visiting with Mammaw and Pappaw

James and MM

 

Visiting with Great Grandma

 

Tossing leaves into the stream on our nature walk

The stray kitten that followed/led us

 

Playing with the kitchen like such a big boy.  Claire likes to laugh and say "James is doing dishes!"

Watching the civil-war style band (complete with 150 year old instruments) at the Battle of Atlanta anniversary 

Wee!  Fun ride with Daddy

Pops and James

Giving Great Grandma a hug

James 9 Months, Claire 28 Months

At nine months, James is crawling all over the place and getting into everything!  He loves to hold and explore new objects, turning them over and over and chewing on them.  He has one tooth--bottom right--that came in around July 11.  He doesn't suck his thumb anymore, which is a complete change from a month ago.  He stopped around the time the tooth came in, so we're not sure if it started to hurt his thumb or if he was only doing it to soothe while the tooth was coming in, but either way he kicked the habit pretty quickly.

James is very clingy--especially with me.  If I walk out of the room, he will go into a full-out wail.  It's even worse if I walk into the room and don't immediately pick him up.  He will play very happily by himself at times, as long as I'm sitting on the floor with him.  He has a great smile and giggle; he also continues to be very ticklish.  He loves any toys that he can dig through and chew on--especially the tub of blocks and the tub of play dishes.  He loves being around Claire and is interested in anything she is playing with.  Often James will find a little toy and crawl all over with it.  This was particularly funny when he had a toy knife in one hand and a toy fork in the other and was chasing Brooks across the living room.  James has learned his first "trick" this week and will raise his hands up for "How big is James?"  He knows he's doing something special and will grin and raise his hands multiple times after we've asked him to perform just once. 

Nighttime is still unpredictable with James.  About half the time, he makes it until 5:00 and then I'll nurse him and he'll sleep another hour and a half or two.  The other half of the time, he still wakes up crying for long periods of time during the night.  Naps are also inconsistent, but a normal day would include three 45-minute naps.  It's rare that they last much longer than that.

Added to James' food list this month were green beans, cantaloupe, blueberry, corn, yellow squash, broccoli, mango, baby "Mum Mum" crackers, cottage cheese, and cheddar cheese.  He really doesn't like peach or mango and almost seems offended when we try to feed him those.  He loves the baby crackers and sometimes they are the only thing that will calm him down when he's really upset.  We've been working on getting him to eat more finger foods and have tired banana and watermelon pieces and cheese shreds, but the crackers and puffs are by far his favorite.

To say that James loves bath time would be a big understatement.  We put away the baby bathing chair and have given him free range of the tub now--and he is all over it!  He crawls and splashes and laughs and is difficult to bathe because he just won't sit still!  Claire on the other hand, stays in her little corner and plays with a rubber duck (taking it to the "museum" or "park" for example, which are designated spots on the edge of the tub) or some of the little people that have become tub toys.  She seems a little shocked by James' enthusiasm in the bath tub.

It's hard to believe Claire will start preschool in a few short weeks.  She seems to still be so little, yet other days she seems grown up.  Her imagination and pretend play are so fun to watch.  She takes care of her babies and is very sweet with them, especially as she feeds them.  She has a new doctor's kit and likes to see if everyone is "hel-fee" by using the "stethescote" and checking their ears and looking in their mouth and seeing if they have a "beaver" with the "momiter".  She also often removes splinters from hands with the tweezers and gives everyone medicine.  Claire also plays for long stretches with her dollhouse.  Playing alone in her room while I'm downstairs with James is a new and special privilege, and I can hear all her talking and playing over the baby monitor.

We've been doing a little potty training, but nothing intense.  Efforts were pointless for a long time, but for the last several days, she's asked to go before naptime and bedtime and has been successful.  After each success, we let her watch a little kiddie music video on a DVD we got free from Pull-Ups.  It has songs like "The Potty Dance" that she just loves.  They are only a minute or two long and seem to really please her.

Claire has become quite the little backseat driver.  After several days of her saying "I want to go!  I want to go!  I want to go!" every time the car stopped, I have started explaining traffic lights, stop signs, waiting our turn, etc.  Now, every time the car stops, she wants to know if the light is red, which light is red, why other cars are going, which light is green, whose turn it is, if the light will turn green, if they will all turn green, or why there is a red/green arrow.  By the time I finish explaining the situation best I can, we are in another scenario that she begins to question.

James is in size three diapers and twelve month clothing. He will go in for his checkup and immunizations next week.  Claire is in size 2T clothing and size 5 diapers.