Gymnastics

Three and a half is such a fun age, isn't it? (Come on, don't you remember?) With Adam in school all day, we thought it was time to give him an extra curricular activity, something he can do to expend some after-school energy, learn new skills, and be social with new friends.

We ruled out toddler soccer. We thought he'd gain more from gynmastics.

The local gyms by us offer 1 free trial class before enrolling your child, so we tried out 2 separate gyms in our area.

The first gym lacked in aesthetics and spectator-ability, but I really appreciated his coach there and the skills they introduced him to. Here's his very first gymnastics class and the skill "stations" he conquered.

This class was at 6:30pm class which was a little later than we wanted. We ended up enrolling him in a different gym at 5:30pm with better facilities and more parental access, and while we preferred the first coach, he is still learning simple skills that will benefit his body-space awareness, balance and coordination. Plus, in his new class he's only 1 of 2 students so far, so he definitely gets individual attention.

His favorite part of class is getting to jump in the foam block pit and bouncing on the trampoline.

He also loves getting his stamps at the end of class, but only after holding his "Spiderman" stance while singing his ABC's. (I practiced with him at home -- I need to be doing these every day! Surprisingly difficult!)

He is definitely high-energy after his school day, so this is perfect for him to run and bounce and tumble away some pent-up energy. He is sometimes too interested in playing with the other equipment but I have to remind myself that he's three. At least he loves to go and as long as he is loving it, we are loving it. And maybe one of these sessions I'll stop taking pictures and video. For now, I am that Mom.

Boys! Boys! Boys!

Last weekend Adam's godparents came east from Illinois for a weekend of doing nothing. Nothing on the agenda but good friends, good food and lots of cuddling, snuggling, and playing.

We couldn't have picked two more perfect people to be in Adam's life (and ours, too!).

Adam adores his Uncle Bud and Miss Abby. (Not sure why the discrepancy in titles!) Truly, Adam would do anything Bud asked of him!

They met Sam for the first time, too.

I think they have made Sam an honorary godson.

And Adam had a blast with their 3 boys.

These two told Adam about all the toys at their house that he can play with when he visits.

Next summer we may send Adam to Summer Camp at their lake house in Illinois. He'd fit right in!

I love that a friendship formed in South Florida is still alive and thriving now that both families have moved to the midwest. Thanks for coming... can't wait to do it again!

Kings Island

I love amusement parks! I love roller coasters! So why, oh why did it take me 11 years to finally visit Kings Island?!

What I love about amusement parks, among many other things (thrills! coasters! food!) is that they are often family outings. We grew up going to Cedar Point many summers in my childhood and it was always with my parents, sisters, aunt and uncle, cousins and even my grandmother. It meant a full day of family fun, breaking off in smaller groups to ride certain rides, but always meeting back up to be together throughout the day. Cedar Point will always be my favorite, for both its nostalgia and thrills, and since Kings Island is owned by the same parent company I was happy to finally check out this sister park.

Unfortunately Michael had a prior commitment for much of the day, so it worked out that he took Sam with him for some Gramma time while Adam and I joined Angie and family at the park. Family time! We arrived just as the park was opening, and would you believe we stayed til midnight? Would you believe Adam lasted til midnight (and beyond)?!

Granted, before lunch he did look like this.

Super sleepy, and too small to ride the bumper cars. :(

But after a little food in his system (and a 2+ hour nap in the stroller), he was ready to go again! 

Michael and Sam showed up around 5, and we all got our second wind. Even Sam rode the mini trains! Adam loved the small car ride, the helicopter ride, and the big train. He tackled his first real {mini} roller coaster and even rode big-kid rides (scrambler-type ride and the log flume). He was a champ! And for much of the day he was Uncle Josh's buddy. Since Josh doesn't care for roller coasters he volunteered to spend the morning with Adam at Snoopyland while the rest of us knocked out the big coasters first. It was a win-win!

Click to view larger

Adam's only disappointment was that he was too little to ride the big kid bumper cars with Uncle Josh and his cousins. It was a great, long day and we hope to make this an annual family trip. Kings Island recently announced its next big coaster opening next spring. Yes, we will be back next year to try this one!

Baby Lila and Summer Fun

A few weeks ago we made a quick weekend trip up north of the state to meet the newest member of our family, sweet Baby Lila, born to my cousin Hillary and her husband. I believe that makes her a 2nd cousin to Adam and Sam, and my first cousin once-removed. (I had to look it up.)

Miss Lila was born in May and is six months younger than our Sam.

Take a picture! This is what I look like with a Girl!

She is already bathed in pink and ruffles... I love it. It's too, too much and oh so cute. How do you mommas with baby girls not buy every sweet outfit you see?!

Adam, Sam, meet your cousin Lila.

My cousin was made to be a momma, and I'm so thrilled for her and Brian. 

Aunt Erin is going to be one cool aunt, too.

 

Summertime is my favorite time to visit here, and I have so many memories of lightening bugs, sprinklers, corn on the cob, tree climbing and swimming. It feels rather like going home, and I hope my kiddos always feel that way, too.

Just as I did after Adam was born, I took the opportunity to introduce Sam to a very special and remarkable lady, my Aunt Geraldine. She is the matriarch of our family now and you have a hard time convincing me she's 93 (almost 94!) years old. I sure hope I am this spry, active and healthy at her age 60!

With my Great Aunt and the boys' Great-Great Aunt Gerry.

And, likewise, Sam spent some time with his great Aunt Karen, too.

We spent an evening at my dad's cousin's house for some swimming and family time. (He would be my first cousin, once removed. Are you following all these first, seconds, greats and removed-s? As you can tell, family is very important to us!)

At first, Adam was not at all interested in swimming. I finally convinced him to put on swim trunks because "he might get splashed." And then I dunked his feet in "just to test the water temperature." A few minutes later cousin Erin had him sitting on the steps, and by the end of the evening he was slipping down the slide!

By the end of the night I couldn't get him out of the pool!

We're hoping to get back up here in the next couple of months. I can only imagine how much change we'll see in Lila by then!

Three and a Half

And now for an update on our first born. It's ridiculous how much I love this kid.

Health.

We took him to his first dentist appointment. Pediatric experts say to start dental visits at 1 year old. One. That seemed a little difficult to imagine. At 3 1/2 years, I thought only just now would be the first possible age that he could sit still in a chair. Well, mostly sit still. He did pretty well for his first visit. We took him to a pediatric dentist office attached to his pediatrician's office -- toys in the waiting room, colorful murals on all the walls, and one large shared space with about six dental stations/chairs. (No individual offices.) During the wait between the tech and the dentist he was invited to get out of his chair and play on the various games mounted to the walls around the room (including iPads!) and after his visit chose a prize from a treasure chest.

School.

We had a parent-teacher conference at school and were told that he is cognitively advanced for his age. He has moved up to the 3 1/2 yr room early. Every day when I pick him up he asks, "Where are we going to?" He never seems satisfied with "home".

At school he learned about fire safety and what to do in an emergency. (For a boy who has always loved firetrucks, this is right up his alley.) Every day he points out the smoke detector to us, tells us if we're ever on fire we are to stop-drop-and-roll (and sometimes demonstrates), tells us to crawl if we see smoke, and in the event of a fire we go outside and stand by the fence. (We've amended this and he now tells us we go next door to Mr. John's (neighbor) house. We call 9-1-1 and tell the fireman to come. {Of course, with modern cell phones, I don't think he would know how to pick up the phone and dial!} We're prepared in the event of tornados, too -- at school he goes to the bathroom, at home to the basement. It's great to prepare him but it does throw me a little when he, out of the blue, will say, "I'm glad there's no smoke in our house, Mommy." That makes two of us, bud!

Numbers/Words.
Have I already mentioned his fascination with countdown clocks? He notices the time-remaining clock on basketball games and loves the microwave for that reason. He wants to push the numbers himself (we like to do everything "all by myself") and has been known to run from the other room when he hears the microwave just to watch the numbers count down to 0. He'll stand there until it does.

He still reads signs as we drive. I had to laugh the other day when he saw a "No Outlet" sign and then asked me where the "Yes Outlet" sign was.

Songs.

He doesn't sing quite as often as he used to but still will throw out a line or two, especially from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. Have you ever heard of it? For those of us that grew up with Mr. Roger, this PBS cartoon takes place in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, with Daniel the tiger, Prince Tuesday, Lady Elaine, and the irritating cat who says meow, meow all the time. I enjoy this show more than any other kids programming. Each episode has a lesson, usually accompanied by a song. He'll start singing a verse when he encounters a similar situation, such as:

• When you have to go potty, stop and go right away.
• When you wait, you can play, sing or imagine anything.
• Making something is one way to say 'I love you'
• You can take a turn, and then I'll get it back
• Everyone is big enough to do something
• Stop, think and choose
• If you can't do it alone, work together!
• Clothes on, eat breakfast, brush teeth, put on shoes and off to school!
• Bath time, pjs, brush teeth, story and song and off to bed!

He sometimes uses that last one as a stall tactic at bedtime -- make sure we have all the bases covered!

Baseball
Speaking of bases, we've been to a few baseball games, both major league and minor league. He really enjoys the peanuts and popcorn and all the crowd participation cheers. His favorite part is the 7th inning stretch.

And if you want his piano version...

He loves to help me with "sprinkles and showers" (a line from his Brothers Forever book meaning watering the garden), though we've had to give some instruction on how and when to pick vegetables.

We've been working a lot on sight words and can now read his Sight Words books all by himself. (Did I mention he likes to do things all by himself now???)

He still loves his cars and he instead of lining them up in a "train", he now makes "traffic."

He is sweet with Sam, often giving him a toy or saying, "It's ok, Sam" when Sam fusses.

And as evidence of how proud of a mama I am, I even take pictures of his doodles.

We have a Crawler!

The big news around our house the last few weeks is that Sam is crawling! He is pulling himself up on everything and loving to stand wherever he can. The last day of vacation he really considered forward motion (notice the leg-up technique), and the night we came home I was shocked to find him standing up so proudly in his crib.

Since then he's been on the move! He pulls himself up, walks along furniture, pops up and down so quickly and now stands with one hand.

He has managed a couple of stairs on his own, too, but fortunately doesn't bolt for them at every opportunity. We have baby gates in place, and for the most part, Adam can open and close them on his own.

Other advances:
- We had to adjust the carseat strap to the last, topmost position
- Holds his own bottle
- Loves laughter
- Fascinated by his shadow
- Sits up solidly
- Loves bath time and especially enjoys repeatedly standing and sitting, standing and sitting, standing and sitting...

And his favorite sounds these days is "Da Da Da Da Da" usually spoken with a big gummy smile.

We have his 9 month checkup this month. I have no idea where the last 9 months went, but we are love-love-loving Sam at this age. We're looking forward to introducing him to some new family and friends in the coming weeks.