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.