Body Work

We're working on the Mother Goose Time's "My Amazing Body" this month. I have two weeks of curriculum left still because of all the sickness and nice weather. :) Either they're feeling bad, or it's too nice to stay in. But on days that we've been doing our MGT box, they're having a really good time. Tarzan is especially excited about it. He comes in every morning and asks me, "we do body work today? do circle time?"

The last few days have been about the senses. Yesterday we did smell, and we talked a lot about skunks. I really enjoyed the discussion. It's fun for me to try to explain things in a way that they really get. They wanted to know WHY the skunk smells so bad. And yeah, I could have used the phrase "defense mechanism" and left it at that. But I talk a lot. We looked at a photograph of a skunk and I asked them if he looked nice. "Yes! Like a kitty cat!" Tarzan tells me.

Okay, I say. So does he have sharp teeth? NO! Does he have sharp claws? NO! Does he have long legs for running fast? NO! So... what happens when another animal wants to fight him?

...crickets chirp while they ponder... and then O'Malley yells, "OH! He will get REALLY hurt!! And maybe DIE!!"

um, yes. Leave it to a four year old boy to make it about the murder death kill. So, I ask, "Do you think any fierce animals will want to come close to him if he smells REALLY bad?"

They were totally delighted. It made me laugh. OH! He can protect himself because he is so stinky! And he doesn't have to fight and die!

We're also working on the word "texture" this week, and talking about how different textures feel. Bumpy, sticky, stuff like that. Easy and fun to reinforce at home if you're so inclined. :)

Alice!

Okay, so I haven't done a Friday focus in about three weeks. And I even told Alice's mom that it was her turn next.. two weeks ago. So sorry, Alice and family! :) I have fallen down on the job.

She doesn't look like she's interested in forgiving me, huh? I'm pretty sure there are some rude words in that thought process. :) Either that or the breakfast is super bad.

My kids were patting and poking and calling her name and making her laugh hysterically. Of course as soon as I tried to take video she stopped laughing. Oh well.

She is on the MOVE now, all of a sudden. Just a couple weeks ago she didn't even want to sit up by herself, and now she's full-on crawling and all over the place. She also has some serious jumping skills. I like watching her in the jumperoo because she stiffens out and still gets a lot of air. Looks like Riverdance. Very proper dancing.

We haven't seen her pull up on anything here yet- no big deal because she's not even seven months old yet for goodness sakes. :) I wasn't expecting that at all, but her mom sent a picture of her pulling up at home! Baby days fly by really fast in general, but even more so when your baby goes from 0-100 in less than a month.

Such a big girl. Pushing buttons and learning how to rule the world already.

Gems of Wisdom

"Aren't I sweet? I am sweet to everybody! Except people at the store, because they are just annoying."

"My mommy and my daddy are BEST friends!!" (made me all warm and fuzzy. so cute!)

"No, you can't hold my baby. She doesn't like monsters!"

I need a tape recorder to just carry around all day. Some of the really good ones have left my brain. Right now they're currently obsessed with "Baby Stephanie", who is a large rock living in my backyard. They're very gentle with her- rock and hold her and kiss her. It's one of the strangest games I've seen in awhile, but they all love it. They fight over who is going to hold her and whose turn it is to wheel her around in the carriage.

And I have to put this picture up even though it has nothing to do with anything- it brightens my day. Hercules for some reason woke up extra sweaty the other day and all I did was smooth his hair up instead of down. Definitely did not expect it to stay like that on its own. :) He's a good sport!

Friday Focus: Twins!

Okay, most times they will get their own posts. I usually hate when two separate things (or in this case people) get combined. Your birthday is in late December? One present when everybody else gets two! Got twins? Only half the airspace because you gotta share with your brother. He's practically the same as you right? Yeah, no. I really hate that. But for introduction purposes and all that, and because I haven't settled on disney names for them, today they gotta share.

Seriously, how cute are they? And the novelty of having twins here has been really fun. Everybody fawns over them and they lap it up. I'm looking forward to the cooler weather so I can show them off in the stroller. Right now it's been still too hot to take them out.

I don't actually remember which one of them is the oldest. I guess I've got a 50% chance of being right if I say it's him, right? Anyway, at first he was the more serious one, although he's quick to laugh if he likes you. He's just a bit more suspicious right up front. His giggle is awesome though. He hands it out regularly now that he knows us.

And here is his brother. He gets so excited. Smily all the time. And I absolutely love his laugh- it's really low for a baby. he heh hehe.

I've been kicking around a couple of options for their blog names. I like Gus and Jaq, the little mice from Cinderella, because of the way they laugh. That's a bit obscure though, and sometimes it gets complicated using names that sound like they could be real. We've had several real- life Jacks in the past few years. But it's a possibility. The other names I like are Tod and Copper from the Fox and the Hound. I think I'm leaning toward those, but really I could go with either one. Thoughts? There's a poll on the sidebar. Please vote!!

Summer Lovin'...

I carried a watermelon last night. It was heavy and as I was staggering up my walk to the front door I actually said out loud to myself that I was carrying a watermelon. Too bad I can't dance like Jennifer Grey. But yeah, I found a huge one that could accommodate our newest baby girl and so I snagged it. My husband still shakes his head and says I'm stealing their dignity and what do their mothers think?!?! They pretty much all laugh and say they can't wait to see the pictures. :)

Here's history on me and the watermelons. And the pumpkins. It makes me so very happy. I'm not quite sure why.

So. Here is my new itty bitty. Is she not fabulous?

Duchess and O'Malley are smitten with her. They keep trying to talk me into having another baby, and then I think they realize they like this one enough to just keep. So then it's "Mama? I weewee (really) want to be a big brudder. Why does her mommy have to come get her?"

Honorary big brother here. Available for permanent status whenever her current family is done with her.

For the blog I'm going to call her Perdita, the cute momma dog from 101 Dalmatians.

I put the watermelon outside in the yard for a few minutes with suran wrap around it to warm it up. A friend suggested it last night and I don't know why I haven't thought of that before. Warm and slimy is preferable to cold and slimy, yes? :) Then we set to work.

Ready to go outside. I have crazy eyes here because the shot before this one had closed eyes and I was trying to open wide this time. It's not really maniacal glee like you might think by looking. Perdita is happy in her towel, blissfully unaware of what's about to transpire.

Hmm... what have you people done to me? I am unsure about this...

I usually don't get full shots since modesty on the internet is an issue, but she behaved herself in such a ladylike way here that I get to show off her legs too. :)

She really did pretty well- most of the pictures are a variation of this. She's not exactly excited about it, but she's not screaming either.

My sister came over with her even smaller baby girl to use the other half of the watermelon. She was not so calm and serene about the experience. In fact she thought it was pretty terrible.


So she sat on her mama's lap for a minute and sucked her binky to feel better. And then she peed in the watermelon.

After that she felt better and was willing to let us take some more pictures where she wasn't crying.


I think it wasn't until we were back inside and ready for a nap that the enormity of the morning caught up to Perdita. She looks rather shocked, don't you think?