Abigail @ 10 months

 

This little baby is into everything! She can go pretty much anywhere she dreams of now, and she can do it pretty quickly, too. This little chair in the kitchen is one of her favorites while I’m cooking or doing school. She loves that she can pull herself up onto her knees and see everything. For some reason, whenever someone says “hi” to her, she automatically puts her hand to her ear like this. Not sure if it hurts her or maybe her way of saying “hello”?

 

As of yesterday, August 30th, she can officially pull herself up onto her feet, as long as she has something just her height. She’ll stand up, leaning against something for the longest time. (I’m not sure she can get down, actually!) She loves this toy that’s just her height. She sits well on her own now and can go from laying down to sitting up to sitting on her knees all in one minute.

Her big brother and sister love to “take care of” her and feed her things. Including ice cream. She doesn’t mind at all. She loves to be with them. She loves climbing on Andrew when he’s laying on the floor and giggles when they play peekaboo with her. Andrew, however, hates when she gets his toys. We had to put his train set up on his bed so she wouldn’t get it, because he screams! Now she can almost still get it even when it’s there!

 

She is eating more solids and nursing less now. She nurses 4 times a day, now (meals & bedtime), and will eat almost a whole jar of baby food at each meal. She can do some finger foods now, as long as she can gum them because she still has no sign of teeth! She loves the little Gerber puffs, yogurt melts, and my homemade pancakes. Oh, and pretzel sticks and French Fries.

She loves when she thinks she’s helping me. Especially if she can make a mess doing it. She is infamous for emptying toy boxes and baskets by just throwing their contents around the room.

 

She still sleeps well through the whole night. She’s starting to be a little more resistant to naps. She’ll nap well in the morning, but not till later, like 10 and then she’ll sleep until 12 or so and not want to take an afternoon nap until about 4 (as soon as Andrew wakes up from his nap, leaving me no break-time whatsoever, of course). She may be almost ready to drop her morning nap. She’s just so social she often doesn’t want to miss anything and this is what I find when I just lay her down in her crib at nap time:

 

 

Leah @ age 5

 

I cannot believe my sweet little baby, the one that first made me a mother, is already 5 years old. She is becoming so mature and so grown up. The things she says and knows amaze me every day! She is so easy to teach and so eager to learn. She has a zest for life and is generally cheerful all the time. She rarely rests (even if she wakes up in the middle of the night she seems wide awake) and loves to play!

 

Leah is a princess all the way! She still loves all things Princess and sometimes I wonder if she even knows the difference between which are real and which are fairy tales. Her favorite thing to do is dress up in her Princess costumes and make up stories with her baby dolls or Princess dolls. TV shows are a springboard for her made-up stories and she builds on plots she sees. She also loves butterflies, ponies, rainbows, and anything pink. So much so that she doesn’t ever want to do things if they don’t involve any of those things. She loves to pretend to “read” her books (and if she’s heard them enough she’s really good at remembering them word for word!), especially to her little brother or sister. She would love to wear a dress all the time if I let her, and she goes around flipping her hair and making sure everyone knows how pretty she is.

  

Leah loves to pretend to “read” her books out loud, to anyone who will listen—and if she’s heard it enough, she’s pretty good at remembering it word for word. She is doing well with reading in school, too, and catches on so quickly to whatever she learns. She has a knack for math, even more so than reading or writing, and already knows some basic addition facts. Just recently, she has developed a love of writing and wants to write signs or cards all the time. Most of the time I help her spell things but she insists on writing them and drawing pictures on them—she especially loves to draw people.

  

I would definitely consider Leah a people-pleaser. She hates to disappoint any adult and will get very upset if she thinks she’s in trouble. She’s so sensitive and gets sad when she hears about death or dying or even anyone getting hurt. She’s very protective of her little brother and sister and hates when they get hurt or even when she thinks they might get hurt. She’s fearful of so many things—I have to be careful how I tell her about things like earthquakes or hurricanes because she’s automatically worried that will happen to us. She also fears being left alone without an adult, and if we’re playing outside, she won’t even let me run in the house for a second without her by my side.

  

Lately she’s been asking a lot of questions about God and heaven. She has told me she believes in Jesus and wants him to live in her heart. She says daily how much she loves Jesus and even prayed that he would be in her heart. It’s not something I want to take lightly, but in the same way I don’t want to make a huge deal about it. I think she’s still too young to understand sin and how we must die for our sins but Christ was our sacrifice. Still, she definitely has a child-like faith that I hope continues to grow and grow. I pray daily that I have the wisdom to answer her questions and to be a role model as she learns what it means to be a Christian.

 

She can get completely dressed by herself (and is sure to tell us, loudly, every time she accomplishes this) and she loves to help out with cooking or setting the table or cleaning. She can almost buckle herself into her car seat and she can pretty much manage doing a lot of things on her own and even sometimes help me do things for Abigail. She is great at taking care of her baby sister and always willing to do anything for her, even give her a prized toy or entertain her when she’d rather do something else.

  

She is soo excited today about being 5. She is constantly asking me what 5-year-olds can do, and she thinks she’s automatically going to be bigger and able to do certain things the day she turns 5. She has been anxiously awaiting this day of her birthday all month and has told everyone her birthday is August 29th. She is certainly not shy and not afraid to tell how she feels!

 

Now that we’re past the terrible two’s and three’s and Leah is much less whiny and needy and I generally enjoying being with her. I am excited to see her grow into a young lady and yet I realize this means how much more she’ll be watching everything I do and say. I pray that I can show her the type of lady God wants her to be.

  

1st Day of School

 

I’ve been “unofficially” homeschooling Leah since she was 3 and now we’re at her kindergarten year. It feels so much more real now and I’m a little nervous now that it actually “counts.” Leah is a very bright little girl and very eager to learn. She loves to go to school and was so excited about the new routine chart I posted on our first day today. My goals for her this year include beginning reading, a little more advanced math (including addition, subtraction, telling time & counting money), learning to write letters uppercase & lowercase, and getting a good grasp on beginning geography (our state, country & continent).

 

Andrew, on the other hand, was devastated he could not watch TV after breakfast like he’s always done. He’s going to be a little tougher to teach but I’m excited about doing the same program with him as I did with Leah when she was 3. My goals for him include learning to recognize all the letters of the alphabet (and their sounds) as well as the numbers 1-20, along with a few other basic math skills (sorting, beginning graphing, counting, patterns & matching).

 

We are also excited to be starting a Homeschool group program this year called Classical Conversations. Monday mornings for 4 hours, we will be meeting at a local church with many other homeschool families-- there are 8 4-and 5-year-olds in Leah’s class. Each class has a “tutor,” although I’ll be able to sit in on the class so I know what she’s learning and can expand on it throughout the rest of the week. They’ll focus on memory work (memorizing one sentence each week) in several different subjects: history, geography, science, art or music, English, Latin, math & Bible. They also get to do a science experiment, a “show & tell” type presentation, and learn the tin whistle or drawing. These are things that are much easier in a group setting and doing them at CC allows me to focus on just the basics (reading, writing & math) at home. It also gives us the “socialization” aspect that many people worry about when it comes to homeschooling. We’ll have lunch there every Monday so I have a chance to talk to other moms who are experiencing similar situations. This starts September 9th and lasts 24 weeks.

 

We’re taking this homeschool journey one year at a time. I hope our excitement never wanes as we continue along this adventure of learning!

OBX Trip 2013

 

The kids and I had a great time on our annual summer trip to visit Mom & Dad at the beach. We got to spend five days this year and the kids did great! They were real fish this year in the water. We didn’t actually go to the ocean, but went to the sound 3 different times & 3 different areas. It was much calmer there, almost no waves, and the water is much more shallow. We didn’t feel as if we had to constantly watch them in the water. Leah and Andrew both had no fear—they’d get in up to their necks and splash around until we had to force them out!

 

  

 

Maybe next year this little one will enjoy the beach a little more. She wasn’t a huge fan of the sand or the water but she did like splashing her hands in a little bucket. And she loved sitting with Grandma or Grandpa.

 

Saturday night we went to a little party at the home of some friends of Mom’s & Dad’s. They live on the sound and had a great little swimming area there. Leah & I even got to take a boat ride. I didn’t get any pictures, but I think Leah really did enjoy it, even though the whole time she kept asking when we were going back!

Abigail enjoyed her very own piece of watermelon!

 

When we weren’t on the beach, we still tried to spend more time outside. We splashed in a big bucket, we drew with sidewalk chalk, and the last day we even got to take the kids to play putt putt golf! That was quite funny to watch. They both dragged the ball around with their clubs until they got it in the hole.

 

 

Check out the concentration required!

 

 

Andrew loved the dinosaurs. And the cave. Abigail enjoyed her view from the stroller.