Some Preschool Projects

Here are a few of the projects S has done in preschool. For jungle week she colored a monkey and hid him in the grass (he was playing hide-n-seek with lion, which is not really a jungle animal and I don't understand why African savannah animals are always in jungle picture books). For kitten week she colored a kitten, and then while Mommy was showering she got up onto the counter, into the cupboard, and covered her kitten in stickers. Incidentally, she also covered Daddy's D&C section 93 in stickers and broke a light bulb. Fortunately there was no lasting damage and S did not get hurt. Oh, and back to the jungle books that incorrectly portray which animals actually live in the jungle, Eric Carle's Slowly, Slowly, Slowly said the Sloth is the best jungle picture book out there. It is full of real jungle animals like caimans, tapirs, and anacondas. Not a lion or a giraffe in the bunch!

Our Happy Baby is Back!

A few weeks ago at M's two month check-up, his pediatrician gave us a list of new things to do to stop M's spitting up. We previously took him in and saw another doctor who said there was nothing we could do for him since he wasn't losing weight. Well, his real pediatrician took a different view. He said he could still have reflux and be gaining weight and that throwing up all the time wasn't good for him (although he was very happy and it didn't seem to bother him). So we stopped bottles, had him sitting up all of the time, and took dairy products out of my diet. Well, he stopped spitting up but he also stopped being happy and sleeping like my angel baby did. Well, through trial and error we think we have figured out that it is milk that upsets him and since he is now allowed to have all the soy formula bottles his little tummy could desire, he is back to being happy and sleeping well again. Everyone just breathed a sigh of relief.

M, right after finishing his breakfast

S the Chef

S loves to help cook. She is constantly trying to push kitchen chairs across the room so that she can get in on the action. Certain jobs are reserved just for her. These include dumping from measuring equipment, pouring rice, and stirring batter. She'll even help hold the hand mixer. If you chance to accomplish these tasks without her assistance, you will be severely remonstrated. Here are a few pictures of the great S cook at work.

Here S attempts to open the relish jar that Mama couldn't open (Daddy finally did, but he had to get a rubber band). We discovered that S is quite the fan of chicken salad sandwiches.

S helped make the best roast in the world. She helped whisk the gravy and pour it over the roast. Unfortunately, she refused to eat her own creation. To bed without supper that night!

Preschool Update

I have been surprised at how many people think S's preschool is so great. It's not hard and it gives us something to do. S loves it. She's always wanting to go have preschool. Her greatest feat so far has been writing the letter A. The only problem is she usually does it upside down. She says "Up, down, line in the middle" while drawing in the opposite direction. It's pretty cute. And N has just informed me that she recognized the numerals 1 and 2 in M's counting book. Counting is her forte. If it's less than five she's fabulous, and she can do up to ten as long as she's not in too much of a hurry. Her favorite activity during preschool is counting food. I think that's because she gets to eat it after she's counted it. And her favorite food to count is chocolate chips.

Our Clock has arrived!

While Trey was here visiting, he brought out our Grandfather clock from my mother's house. It was our wedding present from my parents and was made by my great-grandfather. Because we have been lowly college students living in little apartments, we have been storing it at my parents' home. We were very excited to finally have it, and it's the only really nice piece of furniture we have. Unfortunately it doesn't work, so we have to find someone who can repair it. Well, some have requested to see it so here it is!

Mommy and S's Big Adventure

It's official. Starting Monday morning S begins preschool with Mommy. It is just a little something to give us something constructive to do. S will probably enjoy it, especially the crafts, but I'm the one who really stands to benefit. It is giving me something to think about besides the fact that my house needs a lot of work and I don't have the money to do it. I spend countless hours feeding, bathing, napping, and playing with kids in which my mind is free to wander and I have relished the fact that I have lessons to plan. I have grand plans for arts and crafts, letter and number recognitions, songs, stories, classical music, sign language... We'll see how long it lasts. I often have great ambitions that I fail to see through to the end. But since this is for S, I might actually keep it up, especially if I see her thriving, which I have no doubt that she will. She did inherit her father's intelligence afterall. We'll just have to see if that same father can stand the constant "A says ahhh" and "Old MacDonald had a cow" next week (the first week's theme is cows! moo!). I'm excited though. And I'm hoping it will help me to learn new things too. For instance, I have reserved several books on Mozart and classical music to read since I am playing Mozart for the kids next week. I have to keep learning, or soon my kids will be smarter than me!

S is displaying her doggy puppet that she made with Daddy and Mommy last week. We're going to make a cow puppet in preschool this week. S loves to glue, color, and decorate pictures with stickers.

Bye Bye Uncle Trey (and Abby too!)

S and M had extra attention this past week as Aunt Abby and Uncle Trey came to visit. Abby just moved home from a neighboring city so she came and stayed a whole week with us. S loved it, except when Abby insisted she get back in bed at naptime. Then Trey came to help move her and we got to visit with him for a day. It was very special as this is the last time we will see him before he goes into the MTC in two weeks. He'll be in Kobe, Japan. When we asked S where Trey was going to be a missionary, her response was, "In a meeting!" She already knows the way of the true Latter-day Saint and our love of fruitless meetings, such as the ward mission correlation meeting that N attends every Sunday and which postpones our departure by half an hour.