I don't know what I'm going to do when Christmas is over and Alexis wants something. I've been telling her for a while now that she can't add to her Christmas list, but once Christmas is over and she wants something, she doens't have it to look forward to anymore. Oh the trials of being three! We went out for as a family this morning (I'll tell you in a minute why this was momentous) and she wanted EVERYTHING. But as my mom said, how can she not see something, think it's cool, and want it? Isn't this perfectly natural when a kid is three? All about balance, right? Anyway, we went to World Market for a while and got some Christmas goodies, and then we went to Petsmart a few doors down so that the kids could look at the animals. It's the next best thing to the zoo, seriously. They had a dog class in session, which is what I was really hoping for, and they both spent most of the time there watching a dozen dogs from behind glass walls. Micah especially thought it was hysterical, and we also looked at birds and fish and mice. Afterwards we headed over to Olive Garden, just like last year, and had the bottomless soup, salad, and breadsticks. I still love their salad, but they have a creamy soup that has sausage and kale and potaoes in it that Jason and I both love. Plus, it's niceto go out to a nicer restaurant but not have to wait twenty minutes for our food to be ready. Since our normal babysitter was sick, it was good for all of us to get out of the house.
And the reason WHY is was so good ot be out of the house is because everyone except me has been sick. Micah got a cold first, then Alex started getting sick. We're pretty sure she had the flu becauseshe was running a fever for a few days, but she's doing better now. Micah seems completel fine except for a bit of a runny nose. And Jason just got a cold we think. It wasn't exactly the way we anticipated spending our first week of vacation, but overall it's been nice. We've just all been cooped up in the house and unable to go out as a family until today.
We still have snow on the ground here from almost a week ago because it's been so cold. Alex loved playing in it last week before she got sick, and her interpretation of playing in the snow was to help me sweep the sidewalk ;) She wants to help a little too much sometimes, but that's how it goes when you're three. A neighbor of ours came over last week to get some baby clothes, and Alex wanted to help give her every single piece of clothing. Amy was really nice about it and commented on what a helper Alex was, although I expect it mostly stemmed from her desire to be in the middle of ANYTHING that is happening. Amy, who teaches kindergarten, did tell me that she thought Alexis' language skills were great and that she knew a lot more than some of her students did, which made me feel good that Alexis doing fine.
Micah continues to babble and babble babble. He's been playing with a set of flash cards a lot recently and is learning a lot of different objects that way, and he has started to get into wooden puzzles, just like she did. He still loves to be in someone's lap if he can get it, and is just as sweet and stubborn and energetic and crazy as he has been. He has recently started coloring a lot and will sit down at his table with a book and crayons and be content for five or ten minutes just doing that.
Jason and I are excited about having Christmas, too. We're starting our own traditions, which is really nice. For example, we've been putting together a gingerbread house, and Alex thinks it's tons of fun. I'll have to post a picture of it after the holidays. We're going to wake up and do presents on the morning of Christmas Eve, and then we'll leave to go see family that afternoon. I think she'll like what she got. They both ahve stockings this year, and we got her mostly things that she can make. However, we did buy her a toy shopping cars, and yesterday when I asked her what was on her Christmas list that she really wanted, she said the shopping cart, so I'm feeiling pretty good right now. Micah's main present is this train that he can sit on that has letter blocks tha that he can push in one place andhtey shoot out another. It was a great yard sale find :) I went through the process a few days ago of taking out a bunch of their toys to make room for some new ones, and I think that in a few months it will be time to start to getrid of a few older toys instead of just cycling them in and out. Otherwise, our home will just be one big toy box!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Holiday Updates
The kids are gearing up for Christmas! We put up a tree for the first time in five years, and Alexis got a huge kick out of helping decorate the tree. I got her a snowglobe ornament with her name on it, and she thought it was really cool that she got to hang the first ornament on the tree. We had to block Micah with the coffee table while we were doing it, and we have to block off the actual tree with an ottoman, but the kids still love it. We have few decorations otherwise, which is good because we don't really have a place to put stuff. However, we do have two stockings hanging from our bookshelves that we'll fill up with goodies for the kids. Our plan is to open presents with the four of us on Christmas Eve, probably in the morning.
We did celebrate Christmas in Greensboro a little early this year. We drove down there the weekend before Thanksgiving and had a great trip other than Micah not wanting to sleep the entiretime we were there. However, we still had lots of fun. Dad took Alexis out just the two of them, which was really cool. She got a unicorn pillow pet that she basically adores and sleeps with every night, and Micah got this racetrack toy with cars that slide down ramps. They actually bothhave fun with it, but it's been especially cool to watch Micah learn how to truly use it. Alex also helped decorate dad's tree in Greensboro, which she loved, and we got to see the Silers, which was great.
We celebrated Thanksgiving at our house again this year, and mom and Earl came up and we had a great, relaxed time. Most of what I made was desserts: red velvet cupcakes, cream cheese truffles, and black forest brownie pecan pie. I also made sweet potatoe casserole for lunch, and mom brought home-grown vegetables. We ordered a chicken and papusas from Guapo's and had a grandThanksgiving feast without too much work! Alexis really enjoyed being a part of things this year instead of just falling asleep on the couch. She especially enjoyed helping with the desserts, as evidenced by the massive amount of sprinkles on some of the truffles! It was nice to have leftovers but not too many leftovers.
December has been pretty busy. We've been hanging out with a lot of people, which has made life a bit hectic but really nice as well.The kids have been enjoying finaly hanging out ith other people again; it took us a long time for everyone to be healthy again. Yesterday was actually the first day that all four of us were able to be at church in a long time.
Alexisis really looking forward to Christmas and learning about the birth of Christ and giving presents and all of that. She is also learning that Santa isn't real. I know - we're THOSE parents, but I don't really see a reason to tell her that Santais anything other than a nice, fun story. And she likes Santa, so that's fun. She is going through a stage of everything being amazing or the depths of despair. Wait! Did I write about that alst time? Oh yeah... this stage is called BEING THREE! She is wonderfully expressive and loves to play jokes but has a HARD time when she doesn't get her way and can cry at the drop of a hat. She is, though, learning lots of new things and has a hugeinterest in the world around her. Andshetruly is articulate and funny. Yesterday her father taught her to say "The Christmas tree is an innocuous symbol of Christmas. It's not pagan anymore." Thsi cracked meup because it was basically the first thing she said to me when I came downstairs. She hasno clue what it means, of course, but it's pretty hysterical to hear.
Micah is talking up a storm. So far, as far as words, I can recall the following that he says: mommy, daddy, eye, nose, hi, ball, sit (his favorite), dog, cat, fish, bird, pig, duck, car, ma/pa (for Guapo), cup, and some other things that I can't think of right now. It's cool to hear him say all of these things, especially when Alexis started speaking so late. Each kid is different, though, right? Micah is especially stubborn and gets frustrated fairly easily, so that's something that can be a challenge to deal with. He doesn't respond to verbal discipline the way that Alexis did, but he's learning. He also finally sat still long enough for Jason to read him an actual book the other night. While he'll usually sit in your lap for good periods of time, he only wants to grab th ebook that you're reading from. (That's another favorite word: book.) He's starting to figure out puzzles - the wooden kind where you fit an animal into a space.
And the spinning. Oh my goodness the spinning. I think the boy would do it all day long if I let him. Other than saying "sit" over and over again so that you'll pick him up and put him on the couch, spinning is his favorite activity. (However, he can get ON the couch on his own now, which presents a whole new area of challenges.) He will spin until he falls downand then get abck up and spin again. Other favorite activities: pulling the dishtowels off of the stove in a powerful, control-hungry flourish, getting naked, trying to turn on Alexis's snowglobe ornament, sitting in your lap, and disupting mealtimes. Least favorite activities: being ignored, sleeping (this has been a problem the last few weeks), mommy leaving the room, not being picked up, being ignored... did I mention this boy likes his attention? :)
We did celebrate Christmas in Greensboro a little early this year. We drove down there the weekend before Thanksgiving and had a great trip other than Micah not wanting to sleep the entiretime we were there. However, we still had lots of fun. Dad took Alexis out just the two of them, which was really cool. She got a unicorn pillow pet that she basically adores and sleeps with every night, and Micah got this racetrack toy with cars that slide down ramps. They actually bothhave fun with it, but it's been especially cool to watch Micah learn how to truly use it. Alex also helped decorate dad's tree in Greensboro, which she loved, and we got to see the Silers, which was great.
We celebrated Thanksgiving at our house again this year, and mom and Earl came up and we had a great, relaxed time. Most of what I made was desserts: red velvet cupcakes, cream cheese truffles, and black forest brownie pecan pie. I also made sweet potatoe casserole for lunch, and mom brought home-grown vegetables. We ordered a chicken and papusas from Guapo's and had a grandThanksgiving feast without too much work! Alexis really enjoyed being a part of things this year instead of just falling asleep on the couch. She especially enjoyed helping with the desserts, as evidenced by the massive amount of sprinkles on some of the truffles! It was nice to have leftovers but not too many leftovers.
December has been pretty busy. We've been hanging out with a lot of people, which has made life a bit hectic but really nice as well.The kids have been enjoying finaly hanging out ith other people again; it took us a long time for everyone to be healthy again. Yesterday was actually the first day that all four of us were able to be at church in a long time.
Alexisis really looking forward to Christmas and learning about the birth of Christ and giving presents and all of that. She is also learning that Santa isn't real. I know - we're THOSE parents, but I don't really see a reason to tell her that Santais anything other than a nice, fun story. And she likes Santa, so that's fun. She is going through a stage of everything being amazing or the depths of despair. Wait! Did I write about that alst time? Oh yeah... this stage is called BEING THREE! She is wonderfully expressive and loves to play jokes but has a HARD time when she doesn't get her way and can cry at the drop of a hat. She is, though, learning lots of new things and has a hugeinterest in the world around her. Andshetruly is articulate and funny. Yesterday her father taught her to say "The Christmas tree is an innocuous symbol of Christmas. It's not pagan anymore." Thsi cracked meup because it was basically the first thing she said to me when I came downstairs. She hasno clue what it means, of course, but it's pretty hysterical to hear.
Micah is talking up a storm. So far, as far as words, I can recall the following that he says: mommy, daddy, eye, nose, hi, ball, sit (his favorite), dog, cat, fish, bird, pig, duck, car, ma/pa (for Guapo), cup, and some other things that I can't think of right now. It's cool to hear him say all of these things, especially when Alexis started speaking so late. Each kid is different, though, right? Micah is especially stubborn and gets frustrated fairly easily, so that's something that can be a challenge to deal with. He doesn't respond to verbal discipline the way that Alexis did, but he's learning. He also finally sat still long enough for Jason to read him an actual book the other night. While he'll usually sit in your lap for good periods of time, he only wants to grab th ebook that you're reading from. (That's another favorite word: book.) He's starting to figure out puzzles - the wooden kind where you fit an animal into a space.
And the spinning. Oh my goodness the spinning. I think the boy would do it all day long if I let him. Other than saying "sit" over and over again so that you'll pick him up and put him on the couch, spinning is his favorite activity. (However, he can get ON the couch on his own now, which presents a whole new area of challenges.) He will spin until he falls downand then get abck up and spin again. Other favorite activities: pulling the dishtowels off of the stove in a powerful, control-hungry flourish, getting naked, trying to turn on Alexis's snowglobe ornament, sitting in your lap, and disupting mealtimes. Least favorite activities: being ignored, sleeping (this has been a problem the last few weeks), mommy leaving the room, not being picked up, being ignored... did I mention this boy likes his attention? :)
Monday, October 18, 2010
Micah
At 15 months he is 22 pounds and 2 ounces. He is also 30 and 1/4 inches long. He's doing fine. He has a bit of an infection that we just thought was allergies the past few days, but he's on some medicine to help knock it out before it becomes anything bigger. He also has a hemorrhoid; I didn't even know kids could get those, but I'm glad I asked about it. It could very well go away on it's own, or we may have to get it removed at some point, but it doesn't seem to be bothering him too much. Overall, though, he's doing just fine.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Homecoming
Jason was in Peru and Ecuador for the past week and a half. Alexis wasn't very happy about this and was missing him a lot during this trip, understandably so. She was a little mad at him I think because she (pretty adamantly) refused to talk to him on the phone. When we got home from picking him up, Jason put her to bed and she rolled ovver like she would go instantly to sleep. However, she then popped up quickly and said "Now, don't go to work EVER AGAIN." And rolled back over to go to sleep. I think Jason's heart melted right then. Cutest thing ever.
Jason is home, and we had a nice day with the kids yesterday since he was off. We were going to go to a festival, but it decided to rain all day and we stayed home. On Saturday (if our car is fixed... again...) we're going to go out and celebrate our anniverary. Seven years. Hooray!
Micah has a 15 month appointment on Monday, and I imagine his doctor will tell him he is completely fine. He still never walks anywhere, only runs. My favorite is when he gets some speed up and is jogging along making little grunting happy noises and his fat cheeks start bouncing up and down. All he wants all of the time right now is to be up on a couch or a chair. Literally. He's trying to climb into my lap right now as I type. The problem is that he hasn't yet figured out how to get up on his own. Hopefully that's coming soon, but I'm glad it didn't come earlier like it did with Alexis. I think if he tumbles off a couch it's not really going to hurt him at all right now, which is what I always worried about with her. He'll sit on the couch, though, and if you have a few picture books, he'll usually be content for a LONG time just pointing out pictures and having you say the name of the picture and then trying to repeat it. You can really see his vocabulary beginning to take off and he readily knows words like milk and banana and will point or go to where they are when he wants them. He's also starting to point out some pictures like clock and pig, which is very cool to see. And, of course, He adores his Guapo, which is his best friend elephant. He also enjoys playing chase with his sister. It was amazing the other day to hear them upstairs, playing in their rooms, and laughing for over five minutes straight while they were doing this.
Alexis is turning into a super cleaner upper in the evening. She has the responsibility of cleaning up the basement and her room, and (most of the time now) she does a really good job. She gets incredibly excited about us seeing what a good job she does and thrusts her head into the bed or sofa until we come and see her handiwork. Her favorite thing right now is making crafts, and our dining room table is usually littered with scraps of paper and crayons and stickers and glue and foam and yard for her to create something special. (She has also started saying, around 7:30 at night when we go to bed), that she REALLY wants to do something SPECIAL tonight. It's pretty funny. She is developing a good vocabulary and busted out with the word purchase a few days ago at the store, and a woman overheard her and laughed because she thought it was very impressive to hear that from a kid her age. That made me feel good. A few months ago I got the most recent Ramona Quimby book at a used bookstore, and she saw it in her closet and claimed it as her favorite book. We've actually been reading it at night, and she will begin chapter 3 tonight. We'll see how long this lasts, but it's pretty cool that she's listening. I sometimes have to convince herto listen a bit, but she always enjoys it, especially when she can delay bedtime! The one thing I'm really trying to work on with her is consequences. She has a hard time focusing on things, so I'm trying to learn to appropriately enforce her decisions. For example, if she says she wants to go outside and play sidewalk chalk and then she plays for about twenty seconds and then stops, we'll go inside. Last night when I told her she could have a cookie after she did a good job of cleaning up and she didn't do a good job, she didn't get a cookie. Hopefully she's learning from these things.
Overall, the kids are doing really well. Alexis prays for her new cousin, Elizabeth, every night, along with her parents. Elizabeth was born at 27 weeks and just over two pounds and is quite a feisty one I've heard. She had surgery to correct some birth defects earlier in the week, and she'll have to have more done at 3-6 months. It looks like she'll be in the hospital for 6-9 months at this point, which is incredibly difficult. We pray for them. We also pray for Earl every night, and mom, as he goes through shemo treatments. Jason has today off, too, so we have a long, four-day weekend to enjoy together since he was gone. Hooray for family time and relaxing!
Jason is home, and we had a nice day with the kids yesterday since he was off. We were going to go to a festival, but it decided to rain all day and we stayed home. On Saturday (if our car is fixed... again...) we're going to go out and celebrate our anniverary. Seven years. Hooray!
Micah has a 15 month appointment on Monday, and I imagine his doctor will tell him he is completely fine. He still never walks anywhere, only runs. My favorite is when he gets some speed up and is jogging along making little grunting happy noises and his fat cheeks start bouncing up and down. All he wants all of the time right now is to be up on a couch or a chair. Literally. He's trying to climb into my lap right now as I type. The problem is that he hasn't yet figured out how to get up on his own. Hopefully that's coming soon, but I'm glad it didn't come earlier like it did with Alexis. I think if he tumbles off a couch it's not really going to hurt him at all right now, which is what I always worried about with her. He'll sit on the couch, though, and if you have a few picture books, he'll usually be content for a LONG time just pointing out pictures and having you say the name of the picture and then trying to repeat it. You can really see his vocabulary beginning to take off and he readily knows words like milk and banana and will point or go to where they are when he wants them. He's also starting to point out some pictures like clock and pig, which is very cool to see. And, of course, He adores his Guapo, which is his best friend elephant. He also enjoys playing chase with his sister. It was amazing the other day to hear them upstairs, playing in their rooms, and laughing for over five minutes straight while they were doing this.
Alexis is turning into a super cleaner upper in the evening. She has the responsibility of cleaning up the basement and her room, and (most of the time now) she does a really good job. She gets incredibly excited about us seeing what a good job she does and thrusts her head into the bed or sofa until we come and see her handiwork. Her favorite thing right now is making crafts, and our dining room table is usually littered with scraps of paper and crayons and stickers and glue and foam and yard for her to create something special. (She has also started saying, around 7:30 at night when we go to bed), that she REALLY wants to do something SPECIAL tonight. It's pretty funny. She is developing a good vocabulary and busted out with the word purchase a few days ago at the store, and a woman overheard her and laughed because she thought it was very impressive to hear that from a kid her age. That made me feel good. A few months ago I got the most recent Ramona Quimby book at a used bookstore, and she saw it in her closet and claimed it as her favorite book. We've actually been reading it at night, and she will begin chapter 3 tonight. We'll see how long this lasts, but it's pretty cool that she's listening. I sometimes have to convince herto listen a bit, but she always enjoys it, especially when she can delay bedtime! The one thing I'm really trying to work on with her is consequences. She has a hard time focusing on things, so I'm trying to learn to appropriately enforce her decisions. For example, if she says she wants to go outside and play sidewalk chalk and then she plays for about twenty seconds and then stops, we'll go inside. Last night when I told her she could have a cookie after she did a good job of cleaning up and she didn't do a good job, she didn't get a cookie. Hopefully she's learning from these things.
Overall, the kids are doing really well. Alexis prays for her new cousin, Elizabeth, every night, along with her parents. Elizabeth was born at 27 weeks and just over two pounds and is quite a feisty one I've heard. She had surgery to correct some birth defects earlier in the week, and she'll have to have more done at 3-6 months. It looks like she'll be in the hospital for 6-9 months at this point, which is incredibly difficult. We pray for them. We also pray for Earl every night, and mom, as he goes through shemo treatments. Jason has today off, too, so we have a long, four-day weekend to enjoy together since he was gone. Hooray for family time and relaxing!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Alexis
Micah started saying Alex's name yesterday afternoon. It sounds like a two-syllable "ice" amnd is really adorable because he was doing it over and over and over again. She was the first person in his room this morning, and I heard him say her name when she walked in. It's pretty stinkin' cute.
His favorite thing right now is to run to someone, turn around, and sit in an available lap. I don't know what it is about this that he likes, but it's one of his favorite games. And I'm definitely not complaining that he wants to be close! I'll take all the cuddles I can get since he's always so on the go!
His favorite thing right now is to run to someone, turn around, and sit in an available lap. I don't know what it is about this that he likes, but it's one of his favorite games. And I'm definitely not complaining that he wants to be close! I'll take all the cuddles I can get since he's always so on the go!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Language Explosion
Micah is experiencing a language explosion! He is finally starting to identify objects more readily. He'll go get his ball, a book, his Guapo (elephant), Maardvark, and even his cup sometimes. He'll also say "ba" for ball, and we were just reading a book that had a picture of a car on it and he looked at it and said "ca" without any prompting. It was so cool! He's going to talk more quickly than Alex did, which will be a little weird for me simply because I'm not used to that. Let the fun begin!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
A Disgrace
I haven't updated since Micah's birthday. SHAME ON ME!
In August we went on a wonderful first family vacation. We were lent the use of a house in Wintergreen, and it was amazing! It was this huge house that slept fourteen people (easily), so we closed off the basement and used the top two floors. There was a huge, open kitchen/dining/living area, and there was even a little playroom for the kids to use! Jason and I slept in a loft bedroom, and Alexis slept in a room that had a forest mural painted all over the walls. She loved it and slept in a regular bed for the first time. She did fall out on night, but she was fine the other nights. While we were there we took the kids to the pool, to the lake (they played in the sand and had lots of fun digging), to a small museum where Alexis got to "dig" for fossils, went hiking, watched movies and tv, and generally just had a very relaxing time together, which was the whole point. Alexis keeps talking about going on vacation, so I think it was an exciting time for her. I thikn of all things she was most excited about her bug net! She caught a number of cool bugs in it.
We've been spending quite a bit of time lately fixing some things around the house. We still have a number of things to do outside that aren't completed yet, but Alexis is very willing to "help" with anything and everything! It's hard to believe how big she is getting. We've been going over letters in a workbook that she has, so she's starting to pick up a little bit on what sounds make what noises and what words start with what letters. We've only done a handful, but I think she's doing a reasonable job of learning. She has also recently gotten really good at coloring. It was like something clicked inside of her, and now she can color in the lines and WANTS to color in the lines. She is still taking a nap in the afternoons, but we'll see how much longer that lasts. She also went to camp in the mornings for two weeks this summer, and she LOVED it! The second week was at the park, and they have a water playground there, so she went swimming every day. The first day she came out saying "I went down the slide all by myself and didn't swallow any water!" She is also picking out her own clothes most days and is really helpful when we go out; she is very cooperative, rarely cranky, and can get in and out of the car by herself, which is really nice. She does go back and forth with pouting or being really upset when she doesn't get her way, but we're working on that. She has actually really responded to time outs. She doesn't like to go and udnerstands why she is there, and I think it has clicked with her as a form of discipline.
Micah isn't a baby anymore. He is definitely a toddler, or whatever you call the next stage. He never crawls anywhere and rarely walks; he just wants to run. He has started to play jokes on people, like taking a toy and pretending to give it to me but then snatching it away. That's one of his favorites. He also will sometimes play peek-a-boo and put his hands over his eyes and gets very excited when he takes them off. AND he'll hide under tables and act like he told a really funny joke. It's your basic non-baby adorableness. He is really expressive, just like Alexis was, but whereas by this time Alexis was starting to identify some objects, he has no interest in that. However, he'll repeat a lot of sounds randomly, so it sounds like he's trying to say things like "ice" and "bread" and other things. He really only says mommy, though, even though he is incredibly vocal, much more than she was. I guess that's prone to happen when you have a big sister jabbering at you all day. He is also incredibly attached to his best friend, his elephant who is now named Guapo. He adores this thing. He especially likes to plunge his face into it. However, he likes to plunge his face into everything and will run to you with an open mouth and plant his face into your chest or face or neck with a big hug. My favorote is when he does this to Alexis and he gets her right in the stomach! She thinks it's really funny. I think that Micah has given up his morning nap, which makes me sad, but that's what kids do, right? He still sleeps really well at night; I don't think I've had to get up in the middle of the night for weeks. (The bigger problem with that was with Alexis for a while. First it was spiders, and then it was whales. She has worked through it mostly, and tells us that when she has a bad dream she prays to God to keep her safe and then goes back to sleep. Oh, and she has also started making up these crazy elaborate, incomprehensible stories that she tells us at night. It's only been a few so far, but I imagine more are coming.) Micah has finally gotten off the bottle totally and now only used sippy cups. It was a process, but he's all good now. He also has started to color a little bit, and by this I mean he'll pick up a crayon and eat some and then color a little on the paper, and then try desperately to color on the floor, and then eat some more crayon. (By eat I mean try to eat... lol)
Overall they are both doing great. I'm trying to integrate their learning together a lot by identifying objects for Micah and then asking Alexis what letter the word starts with. Has anyone else ever noticed that a lot of kid words start with the letter B? Alex is really good with that letter.
In August we went on a wonderful first family vacation. We were lent the use of a house in Wintergreen, and it was amazing! It was this huge house that slept fourteen people (easily), so we closed off the basement and used the top two floors. There was a huge, open kitchen/dining/living area, and there was even a little playroom for the kids to use! Jason and I slept in a loft bedroom, and Alexis slept in a room that had a forest mural painted all over the walls. She loved it and slept in a regular bed for the first time. She did fall out on night, but she was fine the other nights. While we were there we took the kids to the pool, to the lake (they played in the sand and had lots of fun digging), to a small museum where Alexis got to "dig" for fossils, went hiking, watched movies and tv, and generally just had a very relaxing time together, which was the whole point. Alexis keeps talking about going on vacation, so I think it was an exciting time for her. I thikn of all things she was most excited about her bug net! She caught a number of cool bugs in it.
We've been spending quite a bit of time lately fixing some things around the house. We still have a number of things to do outside that aren't completed yet, but Alexis is very willing to "help" with anything and everything! It's hard to believe how big she is getting. We've been going over letters in a workbook that she has, so she's starting to pick up a little bit on what sounds make what noises and what words start with what letters. We've only done a handful, but I think she's doing a reasonable job of learning. She has also recently gotten really good at coloring. It was like something clicked inside of her, and now she can color in the lines and WANTS to color in the lines. She is still taking a nap in the afternoons, but we'll see how much longer that lasts. She also went to camp in the mornings for two weeks this summer, and she LOVED it! The second week was at the park, and they have a water playground there, so she went swimming every day. The first day she came out saying "I went down the slide all by myself and didn't swallow any water!" She is also picking out her own clothes most days and is really helpful when we go out; she is very cooperative, rarely cranky, and can get in and out of the car by herself, which is really nice. She does go back and forth with pouting or being really upset when she doesn't get her way, but we're working on that. She has actually really responded to time outs. She doesn't like to go and udnerstands why she is there, and I think it has clicked with her as a form of discipline.
Micah isn't a baby anymore. He is definitely a toddler, or whatever you call the next stage. He never crawls anywhere and rarely walks; he just wants to run. He has started to play jokes on people, like taking a toy and pretending to give it to me but then snatching it away. That's one of his favorites. He also will sometimes play peek-a-boo and put his hands over his eyes and gets very excited when he takes them off. AND he'll hide under tables and act like he told a really funny joke. It's your basic non-baby adorableness. He is really expressive, just like Alexis was, but whereas by this time Alexis was starting to identify some objects, he has no interest in that. However, he'll repeat a lot of sounds randomly, so it sounds like he's trying to say things like "ice" and "bread" and other things. He really only says mommy, though, even though he is incredibly vocal, much more than she was. I guess that's prone to happen when you have a big sister jabbering at you all day. He is also incredibly attached to his best friend, his elephant who is now named Guapo. He adores this thing. He especially likes to plunge his face into it. However, he likes to plunge his face into everything and will run to you with an open mouth and plant his face into your chest or face or neck with a big hug. My favorote is when he does this to Alexis and he gets her right in the stomach! She thinks it's really funny. I think that Micah has given up his morning nap, which makes me sad, but that's what kids do, right? He still sleeps really well at night; I don't think I've had to get up in the middle of the night for weeks. (The bigger problem with that was with Alexis for a while. First it was spiders, and then it was whales. She has worked through it mostly, and tells us that when she has a bad dream she prays to God to keep her safe and then goes back to sleep. Oh, and she has also started making up these crazy elaborate, incomprehensible stories that she tells us at night. It's only been a few so far, but I imagine more are coming.) Micah has finally gotten off the bottle totally and now only used sippy cups. It was a process, but he's all good now. He also has started to color a little bit, and by this I mean he'll pick up a crayon and eat some and then color a little on the paper, and then try desperately to color on the floor, and then eat some more crayon. (By eat I mean try to eat... lol)
Overall they are both doing great. I'm trying to integrate their learning together a lot by identifying objects for Micah and then asking Alexis what letter the word starts with. Has anyone else ever noticed that a lot of kid words start with the letter B? Alex is really good with that letter.
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