Archive for September, 2011

Serenity in September

Friday, September 30th, 2011

 

 

9/1

Serenity was telling me some things about Emerson, a girl at her school.  I told her she should tell them to Emerson, because it makes people feel good to hear nice things about themselves.  Then she looked at me and said, “You’re so pretty Mama”  =)

 

Serenity has started making up some complicated stories!  She spent about fifteen minutes telling me this story, and using some foam blocks as props.  =)  I’m recording it as best as I can remember it, but it was very long!

 

I’m going to tell you a story about me and Thomas.  First we climbed a mountain, then I took the green slide, and Thomas took the red slide.  Then we landed in the grass.  Then we rolled and rolled.  Then we walked through the forest.  Then we saw a cave.  It was dark.  Sometimes caves are dark, sometimes they’re light!  And then we walked through Lollipop Woods.

 

I’m going to tell you a story about me and Thomas.  We went to a party!  And we were wearing our own clothes.  Then we went shopping for clothes and we said, ‘those clothes are funny!’  Tee hee.  Then it was a costume party.  I was wearing a cat costume, and Thomas was a dog!  Woof!!  (hee hee)  We were wearing shoes and then we went shopping and tried on shoes.  When we went to the party, we rode in our cars.  Thomas’s car is yellow.  My car is blue.

 

We went through the woods. And we ran and ran and ran (she’s started repeating words three times for emphasis a lot, so cute. =)

 

There was more!  It was such fun =)

 

We play Legos nearly every day. We even added a supermarket set (she loves the wheelbarrow/ cart) and a tubes set (which Eric and I think is awesome, and she likes it too of course =)

9/7

Driving down the road Serenity said “That cloud looks like Japan!!!”  (It did =)

 

She also saw me messing with some playdoh, just squeezing it randomly, and declared, that looks like Togo, so she ran over and took it to lay it out flat.  Then she said, “now make Malta!”
Since she is now potty trained and can wash her hands all by herself using her stool… she has figured out that she can now get water whenever she wants.  This has led to me washing quite a few loads of towels.  She had two plastic cups out and was pouring water back and forth between them, and when I found her she looked up and told me she was “selling water!”  She was very excited and did not mind a bit that the floor was sopping wet. =)  Now we limit our water selling to the bathrooms and it works just fine.

 

9/11/11

I looked over to the kitchen when Serenity said, “Hey Mama, look at me!” She had climbed in a drawer and was standing up in it.  I said, “Serenity, I am worried that you will fall out of that or break it and get hurt.”  She calmly responded, “Don’t worry Mom!”  =)  Not exactly the response I was looking for. =)

9/14

I’m always hungry for news of school and what exactly Serenity does there, so having some of her classmates over for a playdate was awesome.  And one of the other moms told me that her daughter said Serenity was “friendly.”  That was so great to hear =)  I can imagine that sometimes she is extremely friendly =)  Hopefully it’s mostly her willingness to say, “Hi, I’m Serenity!” and not her occasional tendency to give hugs that end up as tackles.  The other mom was also glad that the girls got along so well so lots of happy things to hear. =)

 

9/25/11
Serenity is telling so many stories!  She always starts them, “I’m going to tell you a story about____”  Sometimes it’s her friends from school, sometimes it’s about talking Cheerios.  It’s always fun!  She’s also narrating her own actions like she’s writing her own story.  Today we were playing on the play structure my Dad has been improving.  She was collecting treasure, and she said, “I have collected so much treasure, Serenity said.  She climbed into the pirate ship with her treasure!”  Yes, she said all that.  So cute.

 

She has really beautiful eyelashes.  She got them from her Daddy =)

 

Gymnastics has been a big hit!  She loves to practice her moves jumping on her bed.  We haven’t gotten to watch her yet, except what I can see from the party room.  She’s working on head stands, balance beams, rolls, and jumps, including a tuck jump and a “frazzle” jump.  I think frazzle is supposed to be straddle, where she jumps and shoots her legs out to each side.

 

Dad put in a big expansion to the play structure in the back yard, so now there’s a little treehouse or deck that’s big enough for us all to sit in and play.  Serenity’s calling it a pirate ship right now, and collecting treasure from all over the yard.  We’ve added wind chimes and a triangle to start a music wall, and it’s lots of fun already!

 

She actually sang us a few of her school songs!  She sang her Egyptians song, which is to the tune of Gilligan’s Island.  “The Egyptians built the pyramids they lived long long ago, Mummies, pharaohs and hieroglyphs, upon the River Nile, upon the River Nile.  Imhotep was an architect the first one of his kind, a Queen named Nefertiti, a pharaoh named King Tut, a pharaoh named King Tut.  Or something like that =)  It’s so cute.  She’s also singing a bunch of patriotic songs like “It’s a Grand Old Flag.”  They’re learning about their senses in Science class, most recently touch.  She liked taste because she got to taste something lemony.

 

We played a lot of dress up today!  Kelly gave us some of Raegan’s things, an angel dress and a Fancy Nancy dress, and Serenity took turns playing in each of them. =)

 

Her bedtime routine has altered a little.  She doesn’t really ask for songs or counting things anymore.  We still read as many books as she can talk us into of course, but now nearly every night she reads us one or two as well.  And then when we give her hugs we tell her our favorite parts of the day.  Eric always does three things.  It’s nice!

 

My favorite paper that she brought home from school so far. She told me "This is Ecuador. It looks just like the country Ecuador!"

 

Robot graphing rocks! http://cleverfaeries.blogspot.com/2011/09/robot-graphing.html

 

 

Donovan is Three Months Old!!!

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

 

8/16/11
Donovan is so smiley and even giggles sometimes!  So I make silly faces and noises for him all the time, his reaction is so cute.  He just loves people to talk and smile with him.

His legs are really strong.  I think that’s his favorite exercise, during tummy time he’s more likely to push with his legs than lift his head!  He might be rolling before long, but it looks more like he’s trying to crawl.  I tell him he probably won’t go far just pushing with his feet without lifting his head, but he does scoot a tiny bit!  And he loves trying to stand in your lap.

 

8/30/11

Donovan has become very talkative lately!  I just love it, he coos and gurgles almost the whole time he’s awake!  It even seems like he’s telling me little jokes, because he’ll be talking, and then giggle, and then raise one eyebrow like he’s saying, “Get it Mama?”  Hilarious.  He’s still very calm and content, at least when Mama is around.  I heard from Daddy and Grandma that he cried when he was with them, but never for me.  When he does, it starts with his face first, like he really has to work up the will to make noise still.  His little face just crumples, it’s so pitiful.  But he is still so mellow and sleeps so well, that I must confess I’m surprised nearly every day that it’s still so easy.  He seems to be so close to rolling, but I think he’s so content that he’s not really feeling a need to do much of anything but talk and suck on his fists while he’s lying down.  He gets on his side which seems to be his favorite comfy spot and then he stops.  He loves sitting up in my lap the most though, and trying to stand.  Strong legs!  He’s growing sooo fast.  I bought him a six month Carter’s outfit and it’s exactly the right size.  I’m going to have to start pulling out all the six month clothes and put away the 3 to 6 already!

I love this pic because it shows his lopsided smile =) It always starts on one side =)

 

9/6

Ok, never mind about the six month clothes, Donovan is already fitting comfortably in nine month clothes!  And with the weather finally changing I sifted back through our hand me downs for another set of clothes.  I’m so grateful for all the clothes, especially since he’s gone through them so quickly!  Serenity and I did go shopping and picked out a few special things for him though… in six to twelve month sizes!  We picked this little shirt to be his outfit for his three month pictures.

 

He is incredibly still such a sweet and easy baby… at least as far as I know.  He cries for other people I’ve been told, but still not too much.  Mostly he makes his pitiful face and works for a while to get out a little bit of noise.  He’s starting to smile at his sister’s antics more, which thrills her.  Of course, then she starts getting too enthusiastic for him and we have to reel her back a bit.  For some reason she loves to lay her head on him, which can be sweet but not when she puts her whole weight on him!  Fortunately she’s starting to react to his cues if he’s getting fed up with something so I don’t have to be constantly on her case when they are playing.  And he gives her such big smiles!  He’s very giggly and smiley =)  He loves the front carriers.  Probably in another month we’ll switch him around to face front and we’ll see if he loves that as much as his sister did.  He’s too heavy to carry around in the infant car seat so it’s lucky the sling works for him.

 

He’s starting to hold toys a bit more, and reaching intentionally for the cat on his play gym.  And today he held a frog rattle for a good long while before accidentally flinging it away.  He’s at such a fun stage with all the social smiles and cooing and talking.  And he loves to sit up.  We prop him up with pillows or whatever and he holds himself up and just grins!  He sleeps most of the night on his own… yesterday until nearly 6am!  He slept another hour after that too and might have gone longer but Serenity’s internal alarm goes off between 7 and 7:30 so he gets up then too.

And just for fun, here’s a side by side of Serenity at 3 months and Donovan at 3 months =)

That pillow is the same... very different cameras and lighting =)

 

 

Serenity in August =)

Thursday, September 1st, 2011

August was a big big month for us!  She started preschool, gymnastics, and we may have found a Sunday School!  She absolutely loves all of those things, which is so nice =)  She comes home full of happy stories, although it takes me a while to get them all out of her.  I can still hear her talking through the monitor about school today, and singing random bits of song like Twinkle Twinkle/ the ABC song, or it’s a Grand Old Flag.  (Her music teacher pointed out that Twinkle and ABC are the same tune, and they made up their own lyrics to that tune too.)  She also keeps calling out for her new friends like they can hear her and will come and play =)  Here is an excerpt from her journal and some pictures =)

 

8/17

Serenity was playing with her microphone today, and said, “I love you so much Mama, so I’m going to come over there so you can snuggle and kiss and hug me.”

 

She finds Donovan’s spit up hilarious, and as such has learned to spit herself.  Her Daddy decreed that she could only spit in the sink.

 

She is mostly potty trained now.  She usually goes in the potty on her own, and at least half the time without reminders.  However, we still have several accidents a week when she gets too involved in her activities and doesn’t pay attention.  Usually though she only gets her panties a little wet, and holds it to get the rest in the potty, so no puddles!!!  And I haven’t had to clean poopy panties in two weeks, which is the best!  She gets a skittle if she pees in the toilet and keeps her panties dry, and a starburst for poop in the potty.  Now that it’s nearly over, I can say potty training, while no fun at all, was not quite as awful as I feared =)  It was nice to get to work on it while Henry was here too, I think it helped a lot as Serenity became a competitive pee-er.  If it was time for Henry to try on the potty she’d run in and try to claim the potty first.  And it was nice to be able to discuss it with Jack and Patricia to try and figure out ways to make it work!  She had sticker charts for the first few weeks, and I think they definitely helped with the initial motivation.  And then she got rewarded with ice cream dates the first two times she FINALLY pooped in the potty.  I was starting to get worried about that as she seemed to be either just going in her panties or saving it for bedtime when she had a diaper on.  But it all worked out =)  Now I think she’s trying to spread the poop out so she can get several starbursts in one day.  Sneaky. =)

 

Some more quotes from school:

I love Lauren and Lauren loves me.  She had a butterfly shirt and it made me really really silly!

Mama: Did you have library today?

S:Yes.

Mama:What did you read?

S: I like books!

Mama: I’m glad you like books, but what did the librarian read?

S:I Like Books!

Repeat for a few times until she finally says: “We read “I Like Books!”  And “Books Books Books!”

 

Learned Hola and Me Llamo Serenity.

 

Learned about legs in science…  Parts of the Body.

 

I’m a little sad.  (why baby?)  Because I left my school.

 

8/30/11

Serenity has turned us all into countries and states =)  We used to pretend to be Backyardigans, now Mama is Venezuela, she is Peru, and Donovan is Ecuador.  And then yesterday she was back into Stack the States, so she said, “Mama you’re Texas!”  So I said, “Texas is a good state for Mama cause I’m big.”  Then she said, “I’M big!  I’m Alaska!!!”  (Donovan is little so she decided he was Rhode Island.  And Daddy is California.  For many reasons. =)  We also pretended to be a Jaguar family yesterday.  She was baby Jaguar and Big Sister Jaguar when Donovan got up and became Baby Jaguar.

Tonight, instead of just calling for Mama or Daddy through the monitor at bedtime, we hear Serenity say “Steelllllaaa!  Ayyyaaaan!  Ishan! Lauuuuren!”  She was calling all her friends from school to come to her house =)  Hopefully it works =)

 

She loves to snuggle Donovan, and has started trying to play Peek-a-boo with him, which I think they both love. She really does not like him to take naps though.  I explain that tiny babies need a lot of sleep, but she really wants him to play with her all day.  She just does not understand actually wanting to sleep, probably because she never did =)

 

The first day with my new camera... feet on the lens =) Well, the filter actually that G recommended I get =)

I've been sewing tons of felt food for Serenity. Here she is feeding her Strawberry Shortcake dolls the appropriate desserts for each =)

 

Love my new camera! I get to start learning to use it properly next week! Thanks again Mama! =)

 

Her room usually looks like this... we only put away bedtime books about once a week after they've all been read again.

Thanks Grandma! We love Mrs. Pota-Doh head. =) We have played with this a LOT!

One day, I went to brush my teeth and the toothbrush tasted like soap. Here's the culprit.

Happy Face =)

Serious Face

Surprised Face (we did a little photoshoot today and I realized I can take a LOT of pictures with my new camera =)