an update ~ September 2010

These three little munchkins are so much fun! Here's a quick update on each of them...

Benjamin still loves Kindergarten. It's been 3 weeks and our morning routine is pretty dependable, and I love it! Benjamin wakes up on his own, gets out of bed, gets dressed (I lay his clothes out on the ground at bedtime), makes his bed, goes to the bathroom, brushes his teeth, and says his morning prayers. All without even waking me up or having to be harped on, or having to rush out the door. It's blissful. He likes to get all ready before I see him so that he can 'surprise' me, and I think that's just great!  At some point I usually wake up (~7:15/7:30am) and go downstairs to get out his lunch from the fridge and start breakfast.  If he gets all ready for school early enough (~7:45am) then he gets to choose any breakfast he wants, such as waffles, pancakes, or crepes. Then we can enjoy our morning and breakfast before we leave to go to the bus stop at 8:10am.

(This is a picture of him showing off his nicely made bed, one of the first times he made it all by himself. 

He learned how to make his bed all alone the week before school started.)

So, that's our routine. However, he's getting more and more independent! The other morning I woke up at 7:50am (which is later than usual) and since it was quiet I thought we had both slept in. But when I checked his room, his bed was made and  his clothes were gone, so I knew he must be downstairs. I went downstairs and this is what he looked like.  He had found his lunch in the fridge and put it in his backpack, his shoes were on and tied (a little loose since he's still getting the hang of it), and his jacket was zipped up. Totally ready for school! What a good boy! 

But after this morning, I'm thinking this might be getting out of hand!  I woke up to the sound of the front door opening; I looked at the clock and it was 7:51am. I went downstairs to greet Benjamin, and he was in the front lawn (with shoes, jacket, and backpack on) peering down the street to where the bus stop is. I called to him, "Benjamin, what are you doing?"  Well, he was completely ready for school and was seeing if it was time to go to the bus stop (if anyone was waiting there yet).  Um, wait a minute. Hold up! That is one step too far!  He's such a crazy boy! haha! I said, "Have you had breakfast?"  "No", so I guess he forgot about that part. I said, "Sweetie, I like to walk you to the bus stop. I don't want you to leave without me!"  My goodness, I encouraged him to get ready on his own and now I've created a monster!  :)

As you can tell, he likes to be able to do grownup things on his own. There was once when his bus dropped the kids off a few minutes early, before any parents were at the bus stop yet. I was in the front yard getting ready to head over and I watched him cross the street with some other kids and run to our house alone, and he thought that was pretty cool. Now when I pick him up lately, he acts happy to see me but also disappointed that he couldn't walk home all by himself, and sometimes he says, "Mom, I want to walk home alone!"  But I just tell him that I like to pick him up because I'm so excited to see him and then he doesn't mind anymore.  :)   What a funny boy!

(This is a picture of us at his Kindergarten orientation on September 7.) 

 

 Eliza is such a darling! She loves princesses and makeup and baby dolls. She is a sweet girly girl!  :)
When I get up in the morning I go get her from her crib because although she never calls for me, by 7:30ish she's always awake. She just likes hanging out in her crib, sucking on her binki and sitting or laying with one of her stuffed animals and a blanky. If she's been up for awhile (in the morning or after a nap) she will start talking or singing to herself, but she almost never calls for me.
Anyway, after getting up, we go downstairs and she eats breakfast while I walk Ben to his bus stop and wait for his bus. She is such a no-rush kind of girl. She doesn't mind leisurely eating her breakfast while we're gone. (She takes every meal at a leisurely pace, slow but steady. :) ) Once I get back, our day together begins!  She is so easy. She's still at that stage where she enjoys playing with toys and busily doing her own thing while I work nearby (tidying up, doing dishes, feeding Sam, organizing closets, etc).  Yesterday after breakfast she put everything on the floor up onto the couch, calling it her 'car'.  It was so funny when I finished with the dishes and looked over at her nestled behind about 1,000 toys on the couch. There were babies, blankets, toys, diapers, a folding chair, a dish towel, a book... I have no idea how she tucked herself into that seat! I got quite the kick out of it! And I pulled out the vacuum to take advantage of that impeccably clean floor! :)

She found her popper toy, which we call her 'vacuum' and got right to work with me, vacuuming alongside of me. :)  I have to mention that she is wearing her much beloved Tinkerbell pajamas. She feels like such a princess wearing them.  :)  It's so cute. She also has a pair of Tinkerbell flip-flops, which she loves as well.

The other day, after doing some puzzles together, I asked her if she wanted to paint her nails with me. She was so excited! She said, "Sure, sure!" I told her she needed to get dressed first, so she ran to her room and said she wanted to get dressed all by herself (Ben is rubbing off on her!). I got out an outfit for her to put on and then walked to my room as she closed her door. Just then I remembered some little task I needed to do downstairs, so I went down there to do it while I waited for her to get dressed. As I was downstairs I heard her open her room and run into my bedroom and shout, "I'm all dressed!" I heard her stop as she realized I wasn't in there and then run to my bathroom to look for me. I called up to her, "Eliza, I'm downstairs!" Suddenly I heard her crying at the top of the stairs. I ran up to her and held her and said, "What's wrong?"  Through her sweet little tears I caught the words, "--going to paint our nails!--" and I realized that she thought I wasn't going to do it with her anymore. It broke my heart! She is such a sweetie!  I assured her that we were still going to paint our nails together, and we went into my bathroom to get our nail polish. She got really excited again, and had such a good time painting nails together!  It was seriously so cute. She was very proud of her pink nails all day. At dinner time she showed me how some of her nail polish was coming off and I said, "oh, yeah, it's chipped" and now when she says "my nail polish is chipped" it sounds so funny coming from a little two year old!
Here she is showing her pretty pink nails. :)

Samuel is the sweetest, best natured baby ever. Seriously, he is such a doll!  He is now 6 months old and weighed 15 lbs 12 oz at his doctor's appointment this month (which is ~25th percentile). After I get back from taking Ben to the bus stop I go get him from his bed and bring him downstairs to feed him, around 8:30am. I think he probably wakes up around 7:45am, but he just sucks his thumb and hangs out in his bed until I come get him. Which is a huge blessing since it's so much easier to get Ben out the door first and then come back and start to feed him.

He loves to roll onto his tummy, probably because he feels like he can look around better that way. :)  He is interested in any toy or box or paper that may be lying on the floor, and if it's close enough he will manage to get to it (rolling, stretching, and squirming his way over) and grab it. He's at a fun stage where he is starting to enjoy toys and be able to handle them with his little hands. It's so darling how he gets very excited about a toy!

A few weeks ago I was putting Ben and Eliza to bed while Jed worked on a presentation in his study. I asked Jed to hold Sam while I finished up with Ben and Eliza so that I could feed him and put him to bed after I was done with the older two. Jed got out the swing for him and set him next to his desk. (He has only been in the swing like once ever; he just doesn't need it - he is so content being on a blanket on the floor during the day.) Well, while I was putting them to bed, Sam fell asleep in the swing like this! Jed took his picture. What a little sweetheart! That swing put this tired little boy right to sleep!

He is such a joy in our home. He is a sweet little angel. Last night he was fussing a bit while I was cleaning up and Jed remarked, "I think that is the first time I've heard him cry in a week" and it wasn't even a real cry. It just goes to show that he is honestly the sweetest little baby in the world.
When I go to him while he is laying on the ground, he gets so happy and excited that he starts to squirm around. It's like he can't contain all that happiness!  I just love to lay by him and tickle him and play with him during the day. He is so darling!