The Things We Do When Dad Is Away...

Dress up like one and two headed ghosts after reading a new favorite Tommie dePaolo book (ghosts with no eyes mind you, because we only have one white sheet...imagine me yelling, "Hold out your arms and look down on the ground so you can see!").  We dress up like "Mary" and put daddy's boots on, make lots of things with our new pattern blocks and learn how to deal with Bastian attempting to destroy our creations after about 30 seconds.  Luthien, the yellow hexagons are people, and the long blue line is a giant mouth of teeth.  Your drawings and other formations of people at this point are just eyes, noses, mouths, and legs.

Here is what we don't do: turn on the t.v.!  Isn't it glorious?  I recently made the decision that we would not turn on the t.v. to watch shows/movies anymore except for a once a week movie night as a family.  We didn't watch a lot before, just 1 half hour show each day usually, but it is still a huge deal.  It has been a difficult transition for Dad, but has really become a non-issue for us.  You both used to ask me if you could watch a show at some point or multiple times during the day, but now you NEVER ask.  And when we all snuggle on the couch on a Friday night together to watch something, let me tell you, those times are really special.

I am learning and growing and love every minute of it.  Yes, today was a good day and there most definitely are bad, but I am continually working on finding joy throughout all of it.

Love,
Mama

It snowed, and the birthday

Dear Luthien,

You are such a reader these days; we average about 2 hours of reading a day.  Current favorites are anything Poppleton, Mr. Putter and Tabby, Billy and Blaze, and Little Bear (all are series and you love chapter books now). Also anything by Jan Brett (Fritz and the Beautiful Horses is our new favorite).  We still discuss phonemic awareness related skills but this is not the center of our "homeschooling" days, we just talk as we read.  Yesterday you asked me what quotations were, and I loved that it was a natural conversation initiated by you, not me.  Multiple times per day I catch you amidst a pile of books reading aloud to yourself or Bastian.  You LOVE to pretend to be anything but Luthien, so all day long I refer to you as various people or animals- currently you are enjoying being Max the dog, Simba/Nala/Mufasa, or mom to your babies (you love babies and dolls now).  You still love to sing, and you make up words to familiar tunes- a few days ago you were doing this and became really frustrated and finally said, "Uhhhh, I'm having such a tough time with this song today Daaad."  

Bastian,

I have told you for awhile (around 18 months) that you have been speaking in sentences, and I promise I am not exaggerating.  Your intelligibility used to not be great, but now that has improved a lot, and when you combine that with your expanding vocabulary I am constantly amazed at what you are able to communicate to us (actually it takes friends and family pointing it out since you are our second child and your skills often get overlooked, sorry)!  Just as an example a friend pointed out the other day that you said, "Mommy, I want to go outside and play on the slide."  There might have even been a "please" on there, I'm not sure though.  And Kim, our friend understood every word I believe (correct me if I am wrong and/or if I have his utterance wrong Kim!).  You are a sweet, polite boy, always saying please and "thank you mommy."  

Also, last week you started saying prayers!  Before dinner when we announced it was time for the blessing, you said "I want to say it, I want to say it!"  You then proceeded to say the following:

Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.  Thank you for my food.  Thank you for my bowl.  Thank you for my snowman.  Please bless it.  Name of Jesus Christ Amen.

So there you have it, your first prayer, initiated by you at 22 months.  This has been especially good for Luthien, who has never been interested in the concept of gratitude :)  But now there is a fight over who says the prayer, which is certainly refreshing.

And lastly, Bastian your passion for balls, especially basketball and football gets more and more intense.  After getting used to playing ball with your cousins, uncles and grandparents in AZ it was pretty heartbreaking to come home and have you ask me all day if we can play ball with them.  Then it switched to, "Mommy, I wanna play ball with the big boys" multiple times a day.  So we started taking you to the YMCA to play ball with Dad on Saturdays...we will see how that goes, but at least I can tell you whenever you ask me that we will go that day.  You truly have good form with your basketball shot which has surprised me since it was good before we even started working on it!  I am sure this comes from Dad's side of the family.

Dad had a long day at school on the day of his birthday, but we celebrated with a yummy dinner, chocolate cake (a first for both of you), and a movie.  The next day was even better; we went to Providence, ate a delicious lunch, and went to the absolute best children's museum for young children I have ever been to.  Fabulous day and the weather has been very mild so we played outside while there as well.  

First and only snow, Dad took you out which you can tell by the absence of mittens

Thanks Uncle Beau/Aunt Maria for our puzzle!  Luhien loves them.

"A walk through time" exhibits at the museum.  What I loved about this museum is the amount of dress up clothes they had for every activity!

Bastian the beaver

Mom as a turtle on hands and knees with the kids=head-butt to the mouth

Outdoor area of the museum was complete with dress-up too!  Bastian the salamander exiting the tunnel via the less "scary" route.  Luthien you did brave the actual animal tunnels but cried in the middle.  The most amazing set-up for an animal feast using all natural/raw materials is in this area as well.  Needless to say you both cried when we left that day.

Love,

Mama