School Pictures

These were taken on Hannah's 6th birthday. Wow, doesn't she look stunning!?


back row: Ms. Beth, Brody, Anika, Darby, Michelle, Madeleine, Seamus, Weston, Ms. Christa
middle row: Ryan, Zach, Connor, Jesse, Carac, Jack, Colton, Braxton, Walker
front row: Hannah, Cooper, Sloane, Daniela, Deki, Lane, Izaak


This picture captures Elijah perfectly (when he's in a good mood, of course!)


back row: Ms. Kris, Madelyn , Eva, Connor, Jenna, Naomi, Calvin, Max, Ms. Sarah
3rd row: Laith, Neha, Joey, Angela, Huda, J'masin, Ella, Gabe
2nd row: Evan, Ashton, Kesang, Elyse, Alex, Katie, Tyler
front row: Cicily, Elijah, Landon, Petra

Leah's Eating Habits

Here's what Leah "ate" for lunch today: about 10 Cheerios, she chewed and spit out one bite of ground beef, she played with a spoonful of sweet potatoes (not sure if any were consumed), and she fingerpainted with a teaspoon of chocolate pudding. She eats a lot more if she's mooching from someone else, i.e. Hannah fed her several bites of bagel this morning. She DOES still nurse 20 times (or more) in a 24 hour period. The other two didn't get interested in really eating until they were 18 months, so I figure it will be another two months for Leah...

Hannah's story

Translation:

Daniela and Hannah and Walker
went to the school today is someone
one birthday the teacher said it is Hannah
birthday and Daniela and Walker

Dog and girls go to the park
and play fetch dogs friends

Even More Allergy Testing

Because of Hannah's lip swelling incident, we scheduled an appointment with the allergist to test for an allergy to bee stings, or as he called it a venom test. When I explained the situation to him, he thought it was more likely that Hannah was allergic to the pollen in the beeswax. That seemed like a reasonable suggestion, so he Hannah for five different venoms and about 24 pollens. It was fairly traumatic for her, but we did get to watch a REALLY cool salt water aquarium with coral and anemones while we waited for the results. Everything came back negative, so it seems pretty likely that her lips were swelling because of the impetiego that hadn't quite surfaced at that point. I'm thinking I spent that $145 dollars on an Epi-pen that we didn't really need. Oh well, better safe than sorry, and it doesn't expire until February 2010... I don't think I'll be sending it to school with her next year.

Pie Night!!!

I read about the wonderful idea of Pie Night last week, and I decided to try to figure out a way to incorporate it into our lives. We already had a game night planned, so I informed our guests that it was now game night/PIE NIGHT. Everyone was just as excited as I was!! I wish I'd thought to take pictures of all the pies and guests, but we were just having too much fun :)

I got a call a mere three hours before pie night from Vanessa telling me "something horrible" had happened. She'd made a quiche for a new mom, and her one and only pie pan had not been returned yet. How could she make a pie without a pie pan? I had already filled my two pie pans, or I would have shared! Thankfully, Vanessa's mom is a GENIUS and suggested that she make a tart on a flat crust. It was AMAZING!!! Apples with plum sauce on the yummiest crust ever was a nice surprise.

Jean wanted to make a banana cream pie, but her husband vetoed that because he prefers chocolate. I believe she said it's the only flavor in his mind [sounds a lot like Pete's opinion about chocolate chip cookies... Any other cookie COULD have been a chocolate chip cookie.] She brought a scrumptious and very rich chocolate pie. It was very yummy!

I made my staple, a pumpkin pie, but I wanted to make a second pie as well (and even a third, but I only have two pie pans!). I decided that I would make the banana cream pie (pictured above sans cream). I let Pete choose between coconut cream and banana cream and he chose the later. After reading a few recipes, I concocted my own and it turned out quite nicely.

I know that I sampled all of the pies, and found them all to be quite delectable. I proclaim Pie Night was a success! The games were fun too. We played Apples to Apples which I'd never played before, and Taboo. The guys weren't so great at Taboo, so it wasn't nearly as fun as the first game. The seven kids ran around like hooligans and appeared to have a grand time as well.
***
On another note, I realized tonight that my kids really like country music... I've never really cared for that genre, but growing up in Oklahoma and going to college at O-State I've heard my fair share. So, I was letting the kids listen to YouTube videos and here are the songs they really liked: Dolly Parton - Wherever Forever of Love (not a song I was familiar with but it was linked to Hannah's favorite Put a Little Love in Your Heart), Lee Greenwood -I'm Proud to be an American, Tim McGraw - Live Like You Were Dying, and Joe Diffie - John Deere Green. I must be getting old because all these songs made me a little teary eyed... another reason not to listen to country music, it just takes too much out of me emotionally, lol.
***
Hannah's lips are now 100% better!! She will be getting an allergy test for bee stings on Monday, so that ought to be fun.

Leah's 15 month stats

So, forget the fact that she'll be 16 months in less than a week... Leah had her well baby check up today. She's 19 lbs 12 oz (still hasn't hit the magic 20 lbs!) and she's 30 inches long. She's in about the 5th %tile for weight and 50th for height. The nurse and doctor both asked how she was doing with solid food, and I laughed. I told them that she's really good at throwing it on the floor, chewing it up and spitting it out, and she is fantastic at eating whatever she finds on the ground!

Leah is really walking these days. She can toddle around the house quite well now, but crawling is still so much faster that she uses that mode of transportation a lot too. She recently learned how to crawl down the stairs, and she does that fairly safely.

An Irrational Fear of Tigger

Elijah is terrified of Tigger these days. It's weird and almost comical at the same time. It all started when he freaked out over a Tigger like this a few years back. He was about Leah's age at the time. We also had a Tigger like this, that didn't elicit quite the same amount of fear in the beginning. Hokey Pokey Elmo didn't elicit warm fuzzy feelings from Elijah either. So, when I was pregnant with Leah, I packed up a bunch of stuffed animals into storage containers and put them in the closet. The offending singing, dancing, mechanical cartoon characters were among those in storage. Then one day a few months ago, we were watching home movies of Hannah dancing with Hokey Pokey Elmo. Elijah thought they were funny, so I unpacked him and the Tiggers. Around Halloween Elijah started having nightmares about Tigger... So, last week I gave away all the offending Tiggers and Elmo. However, I kept one large stuffed Tigger that I got in high school, but I tucked it away on a high closet shelf. Tonight, Elijah spied that Tigger and totally freaked out! He may never forgive me for not getting rid of ALL the Tiggers.

As the Lips Heal

This horrifying picture is from this morning, and as terrible as her lips look this is a VAST improvement! If you have children who insist on licking their lips until they are chapped, please show them this picture so they can see just what might happen. BLAH!!!

I kept Hannah home again today, and it has been SO wonderful!! I just love having her home with me :) Today we did some school work so she wouldn't get bored, and we had a grand ol' time! I'm hopeful that by Monday her lips will be healed enough that she can go to school. I'll just stop in when I pick up Elijah at half-day and put on her antibiotic ointment.

Elijah-isms

My favorite current Elijah-ism is "non't". As in "I non't want to do that!!" [it rhymes with don't]

For Sonic (yk, America's Favorite Drive-in) he says "sonyit"

This morning, he came to tell me it was time to get out of bed. Leah had a really rough night, so I told him to be quiet and not wake her. In fact I threatened him if he did. As I was putting in my contacts, he came into the bathroom and said, "I'm nervous. I'm nervous because Leah is still sleeping." I told him that I didn't think he quite understood the meaning of the word nervous.

Elijah's Progress Report - Fall 2008

Self-direction - Elijah loves to work. He is drawn to works that end with a product [something to bring home] and he improves his process with each repetition.

Organizational skills - Elijah is careful to follow the lesson; getting things right is very important to him. If he is given a correction, he will consciously remind himself of it the next time he chooses that activity.

Concentration - Elijah is able to concentrate on his work for long periods of time. If he is interrupted, he easily picks up where he left off.

Self-esteem - Elijah is prone to "melting down" quickly to a disappointment; he is recovering much quicker now. Overall he is cheerful, friendly, and outgoing.

Self-control - Elijah struggles at times to control his impulse to speak out at circle time and can become impatient waiting for a turn at a favorite or new work.

Social skills- Elijah gets along well with all the children, particularly within his peer group. He can bring out the best in the other 3 year olds.

Motor skills - Elijah enjoys a challenge when it comes to fine motor activities. His determination to do things independently helps him to overcome initial difficulties with an activity.

Creative Expression - Art activities are intensely interesting and satisfying for Elijah!

Science/Geography - Elijah in interested in the geography activities and consistently identifies several continents. He is an active participant in our group discussions at circle time.

Sensorial mathematics - Elijah can count quantities to numerals fairly accurately, with errors occurring after 6 if at all, i.e. he may count 8 spindles into the 7 compartment. As his interest increases in this area, he will begin counting larger quantities and refining his ability to count and read teens and tens.

Language literacy - Elijah consistently recognizes [the letter sounds] a, m, s, t, b, r, f, & p and can identify them at the beginning of spoken words. His skill is well above average, and I expect his interest to wax and wane, which is age appropriate.

Summary - Elijah's enthusiasm is contagious. He has nearly mastered the classroom ground rules and enjoys full freedom within the boundaries of acceptable behavior. His mornings are well-rounded with a variety of works.