09.09.10

Lauren is in mobility mode now. She does her version of the Army-man-crawl using her right big toe as her pusher. It doesn't take her long to go from one room to the next, so we're on full look-out mode again. She gets herself into a sitting position by herself now, but every once in a while she still topples over. I just brought out the Jumperoo (free-standing springy jumping thing) and she's loving it! She's still a very happy baby and easy to please when she's not. She only cries when she hungry or tired or when one of "the bigs" steps on her fingers or something. The vast majority of the time she goes down easy for her two naps and wakes up happy. She's a good eater and has only turned down a few things (baby food meat - I wouldn't eat it either). Although it was really funny to watch her gag and make funny faces when I'd give her a spoonful.



Dylan just started preschool. She goes two mornings each week. Every week they bring in 3 Show & Tell items starting with a letter in the alphabet. She stands in front of the class and gives clues about her items and gets the class to guess what she brought. For A's she brought a fake Ant ("they live in a colony and bite my brother on the bum", an Arm (Mr. Potato Head's), and an Army Man. I was surprised to hear that the kids couldn't guess the Army Man until Dylan said it was in the Toy Story Movie. The teacher thought maybe kids don't play with them anymore. For B's Dylan showed a picture of her brother ("he's a boy and he lives with us") and brought in a very well preserved dead butterfly we found in the yard ("it flutters around and likes to drink the water from our pool and they're very fancy"). She also told her classmates about "something that flies in the air and comes out at night and eats mosquitoes and lives under the bridge and find bugs with echolocation," all of this accompanied by lots of hand gestures and funny faces. And she could tell you what echolocation is too. I'm so proud. Oh - and in her butterfly clues she told them that they taste pollen with their feet. Again, so proud. She really loves to pick out her own clothes and tends NOT to choose what I would have. She's got her own sense of style - with a lot more flair than mine!



Peyton is such a different little boy during the time that Dylan is at preschool. He is very calm and doesn't fight me on everything I ask him to do. Lauren naps then, so he gets one-on-one time for the very first time in his life. Sometimes we go to the park to play and sometimes we just stay home. Today he wanted to make cupcakes for Dylan's birthday (her birthday isn't for a few months still), so we did. He's really excited about the prospect of going to school. I let him play on the playground while I'm getting Dylan. I tell him that if he's a good listener (very hard these days) and leaves when I say it is time, that he can play again next time. And if he's really good about listening and following directions, he can go to school next year. I joined a mom's group (so suburban housewife of me) where the kids go into their own classrooms and Peyton thinks that's pretty cool. When we're out in public he tends to keep his pants on (aside from that one time at the McDonald's playground), but the moment we get home, his pants are off. I wonder when he'll outgrow this habit. Unfortunately the mosquitoes have all-day-all-you-can-eat-buffet on his legs and bum. I try to put pants on him when we're going to be outside because he's just so juicy to them. Aside from pants, we're still trying out different things to protect him. I know from experience, this will be a lifelong battle for him.