Second week of November

These cuties were holding hands in my bed this morning. (Max covered his face because the flash was too bright)

I went in to check on Emmalyn when she was supposed to be sleeping.  Instead I found that she had pulled out a bunch of clothes from her hampers and was having fun.  Naughty!

Video - Emmalyn loves to sing

Working on legos together

Dad took Max on a daddy/son date to the movies.  They saw the Peanuts movie and had a great time. (Although Max was quick to point out that they didn't always talk nicely to each other which is usually our gauge for whether a show is appropriate for him to watch or not.)

Notice her hand tucked in her PJs?  It's like she needs to be touching her skin to be comforted.  (She tucks her hand into my shirt when she's cuddling with me or tired.) It's similar to what Maxwell did when he would self sooth by touching his nipples but she's just got her hand tucked into her shirt.

Video - daddy continues to get the best giggles

We had a fun birthday party for one of Max's classmates at a local place called Play Street Museum.  Both kids had a lot of fun pretending (usually Max isn't that into it but he had a lot of fun).

Driving the bus

I guess her bed wasn't comfy enough tonight?

She's been sleeping on top of her pillow sometimes!

I had Maxwell's fall parent/teacher conference.  Ms. Cynthia loves him, you can tell.  She said that he is a happy boy but that he can get upset/emotional if something goes wrong.  For example, he was working on some math and the tools spilled all over and he started tearing up rather than just cleaning up the mess.  He also gets emotional when he doesn't know the answer.  He sometimes doesn't pay attention when he walks.  He doesn't like coloring.  

In Math, he is moving from doing math problems horizontally to doing them vertically.  He has gained a lot of confidence on math and is going to start working on subtraction.  

He pairs well with others but is afraid to be the big leader of a group and looks for reassurance.  His teacher is going to have him start reading to the class to help with that confidence.  She also suggested that I set up some playdates with the more bold-leader boys in the class.  

We talked about having him become a "non-napper" before he is 4 1/2 because he's not sleeping any more during naps.

His teacher's notes "Max is a happy boy.  He is working on his counting ability from 1-100 and counting by tens.  In language we are working on blends and compound words.  He enjoys reading books.  We enjoy having him."

As part of the conference, there is a full assessment on many areas.  (The whole thing is 7 pages long!)  Highlights:  He needs development in hopping on one foot but is age appropriate for all other physical development assessments.  His oral language skills are all age appropriate.  As far as his personal development, he needs development in applying a variety of strategies to solve problems and tying/lacing shoes.  He has improved in handling transition well and resolving conflict appropriately.  He has mastered his sizes, colors, sounds, weight differentiation, some of his 2 dimensional shapes/polygons, etc, and most of his 3 dimensional shapes.  He has mastered all but one of his skills in word building and has steady progressing in reading.

Our pantry door is starting to fill up with Max's notes/drawings that he wants put up.

He drew a map from "master" to "africa"  (where did he get that from?)

A note to dad showing how he can count by 10's

Maxwell had his first soccer skills class.  We decided to not play on a team right now but instead to try this soccer skills class and see if that helps him improve.

We didn't know it but showed up one week early...  they still let Maxwell play and the coach kindly gave him a medal like the other kids who were finishing up that class.

both kids had fun playing in the play place at chik-fil-a

Emmalyn makes animal noises for duck, cat, dog, bear, cow, monkey, and frog.

She was so into Kindermusik this past week.  She sang every song and did the actions.  

Walks on her tippy toes sometimes

I've heard her call her daddy "peter" a few times but nothing like what Maxwell used to do.

She asks for pizza nearly every night and Maxwell's nightly request is Mac-n-cheese.

Max is really into counting to 100 by 10's and he showed me that now he's learned to count to 100 by 5's.  (He says Hayden taught him!)

He cleaned up his room by himself when I sent him to put on his PJs and I didn't have to ask him.  I was so impressed and proud!

It's May! (Mom's favorite month)

May is a great month.  Spring is in full swing.  The weather turns solidly into swimming weather.  I get to celebrate my anniversary with Peter, my birthday, and mother's day.  It's a great month!

My little ray of sunshine

I had a diet coke with lemon at work - in honor of my mom (it was her soda of choice)

Uh oh.  It's amazing how quickly this can happen.

Video - Her cute "bye" along with the perfect wave

Lucky Maxwell got the rare treat of some Cheetos's.  Look at those messy fingers.

We were invited to Avery (Maxwell's friend in the neighborhood)'s birthday party.  It was a gymnastics party.  Maxwell was too timid to do anything.  His little sister on the other hand, she found something pretty quickly that she loved to do.

After like an hour, we finally got Maxwell to do something.  He refused earlier, even with Peter and I offering to help him do stuff.  So eventually we got him to talk to one of the "coaches" and she was really good at engaging him while the rest of the kids were enjoying some food.  That warmed him up a little and he at least sort of participated after that.  Peter thinks he just needed to feel comfortable with the adults/coaches and also didn't want to be embarrassed because it was stuff he's never done before and didn't feel confident he could do it.  

I wish I knew exactly what his barriers were because it's so hard as a parent to see things that you know your child would enjoy and yet they won't even try them.  Maxwell is such a great kid and there are some really outstanding things about him.  I know my parenting can make an imprint on who he ends up being as an adult and I don't want him to jump into anything but I also don't want him to be scared of trying new things or be scared of failing.  I really hope I can help him learn to overcome this.

Getting ready for the "snowball" fight (Maxwell is sort of with the group)

Look - he's doing it!

He was good to go with the parachute, but he'd played with a parachute before at Kindermusik

Birthday girl and Maxwell

This is his "cheese" face

We wrapped up the day with a swim in the hot tub at Mary Ann's.  Maxwell was excited to swim and I also let him wear a pair of flippers we'd been given.  He had fun!

Want to try it out, Emmalyn?

Noooooooooo!

She loves playing with this playset

Peter made Maxwell a "car" he could drive.  He had a lot of fun playing with it.

Our regular Sunday trip to Costco.  

Hi momma!

Sometimes I have to pinch myself because it seems so crazy that these two cute kids are mine ...I'm someone's mom!

Emmalyn got to take her first big girl bath!  She loved splashing but kept trying to stand up which just stresses me out.

Maxwell was chosen as the star student for his class so that meant he had to bring a poster with pictures of himself.  I had seen other posters outside the classrooms at the school.  There were some where the child clearly didn't do anything to put it together and then there were those that didn't look a perfect but you could tell the child had a hand in creating it.  My thought process is, who is this poster really for?  THE KIDS.  So who cares if it's perfect.  I wanted Maxwell to create the poster and then have pride in what he did.  

He did a great job of putting stickers on it, glitter glue, letters, and choosing where to put each picture.

Glitter glue hand print

It worked!

He did a great job on his poster

(not sure where his other shoe is)

He was so proud - way to go buddy!   (Next time I need to start working on the poster much earlier than the day before it's due.  Sheesh - - it's like I was in school all over again.  I clearly didn't learn my lesson about procrastinating.)

Maxwell's sleep routine now has to include socks.  He doesn't like to sleep without socks on.  He gets ready with his 3 P's - Potty, Pull-up, and Pajamas.  Then we brush his teeth.  He gets to play the iPad for a few minutes and then we read some books followed by cuddling and singing songs and turning on the sound machine.  When I turnout the light and go to leave, he says, "Good night, don't let the bed bugs bite, I'll see you in the morning light, don't let the super heroes get you."  

Maxwell definitely wants a partner lately.  He wants someone to shower with him, play with him,  and he wants to help me.  He loves to brush his teeth.  

The other day he asked to workout with Brittany because he "needed exercise".

At swimming lessons, he has a great backstroke with good arms. His front stroke is improving but there's still lots of room to grow.  It used to be that when he was doing his front stroke he would roll onto his back when he needed a breath and now lifts his head back so far ends up going vertical and losing all momentum. 

Maxwell, like everyone, has some bad habits.  His bad habits are saying "oh my gosh" a lot, wiping his hands on his shirt, picking his nose in bed, and playing with himself when he's pooping.  Hopefully he will grow out of these bad habits.

Emmalyn sorta says the following words - more, diaper, Leah, banana, yea, yes, max, dad.  She says "Momma" a lot - to get my attention and to communicate.  She sweetly gives me kisses a lot, loves Brittany and Joe.  If I had her to someone else, she will scream so hard she will start to shake.  She's a little drama Momma.  She's learned her first body part - her belly! (She sometimes will get "hair and "toes" but not all the time.)

Emmalyn is very chatty and talkative especially in the car lately. If someone is in the shower she will stay outside the shower, begging to join.  Diaper changes are tough right now due to so much squirming and fighting.  She also fights taking her vitamins.

Emmalyn has not been wanting to nurse for very long lately.  I don't know if that's because she quickly is able to get the little amount that's there or if it it because she's not interested in nursing anymore.  It more seems like the second option unless she's using me as a binky to go to sleep,, which she has been doing in the morning once I bring her into our bed.  She doesn't always want her 4 oz bottle of breast milk anymore but loves drinking water out of a sippy cup. I gave her some cow's milk this week and she tried it but didn't like it.

Both kids like asparagus which I think is pretty awesome!