Daddy's Shoes

New Skills

As I had mentioned in a previous post, one thing Tyler was most excited about doing at preschool was "cutting". This is a pretty new skill for him so we've been working on it a lot at home over the past few days. We checked out an activity kit at school that had cutting and hole punching exercises to try at home. While the scissors have been a success the hole punch has not. He needs to use two hands to actually punch the hole but then the paper slides out of the hole punch. After a frustration filled session (complete with tears and screams) I suggested that we retire the hole punch for a while and concentrate on scissors. Thankfully, Tyler agreed. :)

Whew!

Tyler got his first official day of preschool under his belt and all went well. When we got to the school he rushed in without any sign of fear or hesitation. He walked right in the classroom and located his name tag then, after a quick goodbye, went to join the other kids on the rug with nary a glance back. What a big boy!
After a leisurely trip to Target Calvin and I headed back to school to pick Tyler up. When he saw me he jumped in my arms and gave me a big hug. I told him how much I missed him and he asked, "did you cry?" I answered No (although I felt like it a few times) and he replied, "me neither!" He spent the whole ride home telling me all the fun things he did at school. I'm so proud of my grown up little boy!!

Speed Racer

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

4 Boys!!

Last week I watched Sammy and William while Meg and Joe ran errands with Vincent. Surprisingly, being in charge of four boys wasn't as hard as it sounds. William and Tyler play so good together and Sammy and Cal are starting to tolerate each other. We played outside and took a long walk/bike ride in the morning. After lunch the babies went to bed and the big boys colored, played in the sand box, enjoyed a treat and watched a movie. It was such a fun day for everyone!
William and Ty are already wrestling with each other at the tender age of 3! They knocked each other to the ground then laughed so hard. Boys will be boys...

First Day!!

This morning Tyler woke us up at 6:30 so excited for his first day of preschool! Nana and Papa were able to come over and watch Calvin while Jim and I took Tyler to a special breakfast then accompanied him to Preschool. We met his teachers, explored his room and watched Tyler play with William and his other classmates. He was very excited about his room, especially finding the hook with his name on it for his backpack and coat. He spent most of the time today in the play kitchen and playing with playdo. Today was an informal open house for the parents and the real school day will start on Thursday. He was so excited today so we have high hopes for Thursday when we'll separate for the two hour duration of class. We are so proud of you Tyler!!

Imagination

As I had said in my previous post, Tyler is engaging in more imaginative play these days. With the start of school approaching he has taken to playing with his schoolhouse and school bus more and more. Today I was cleaning up after lunch and I heard him making up dialogue between two of the school children.
"Is it time to go to school yet?"
"Not yet, it's not open until tomorrow. See? The door is still closed"
"Where's your backpack?"
"Oh, I don't have one. I can't go to school today"

Then he brought out the teacher.
"I'm your teacher Miss Lisa and I am nice. I am very very nice"

It's so sweet to see him acting out what's occupying his thoughts. His first day is tomorrow and we are all excited! Wish him luck!!

Get Comfy...

It's going to be a long read!!

We've been having a wonderful summer and now that September is here and fall weather is upon us it's getting hard to say goodbye. Summer brought us fun visitors, trips to the beach and pool, trips to the cabin, lots of outside fun with friends and many many changes for my two little guys.

Tyler has had such a great summer and has been preparing for his next challenge: preschool. He's going on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am-11am. It's not a long time but will be hard for both of us as this will be the first time he's away from me on such a regular basis. If you ask him he will tell you he's most excited about "cutting" (using scissors and paper). He picked out his own backpack and when it came in the mail he wanted to wear it non stop!
This summer he's shown more of an interest in arts and crafts as well as writing his numbers and letters. During the afternoons when he's not napping he comes downstairs and asks to color, write his letters or paint and use scissors. He's created quite a few masterpieces and it keeps him busy for quite some time. He's really gotten independent this summer as well. Everyday he insists on dressing and undressing, brushing his teeth, buckling his seat belt and doing many other things "all by myself!" He can also go potty now without any assistance, although he often still asks for help but just wants one of us to provide moral support from the doorway. We are still battling the #2 issue but have made some positive steps in the last week so I'm confident he will cross this hurdle soon.
Along with his newfound independence is a new desire to play by himself. His imagination has kicked into high gear and he can now be seen off in other rooms acting out situations with trucks and Little People. Just this week he's started wanting to play by himself in his room with toys. There are days when I just cannot believe how fast he's grown up!

Calvin has also changed a lot since the beginning of the summer. Yesterday he had his 15 month check up and all was well. Here are his stats:

height: 2 feet 6.5 inches--29th percentile
weight: 26 lbs 6 oz--76th percentile

I asked why his percentile dropped so drastically in height and she assured me that since this was the first time he was measured standing up (and squirming) his percentile was bound to drop. He checked out great for vocab as he's saying more and more words everyday. Here are some of his favorites:

All done mama
get down mama
uh oh...get go (spaghetti-o)
thank you
down (used for up or down)
Geee!! (cheers)
ball
doggy
kitty
mama, dada, bubba

His doctor was also impressed with his motor skills. He has started to run all over the place, can climb almost anything and maneuvers our wiggle racer scooter everywhere outside. He can feed himself now with a spoon and fork, although this is still quite a messy endeavor.

Towards the end of August Calvin had to have the tubes in his ears taken out and a new set put in. When he got sick back in May his ears filled with fluid and blocked his tubes. We tried drops for almost two months to clear them out which almost always work but didn't with Calvin. Our doctor said this happens in about 2 out of every 250 cases and the drops clear it up 4 out of 5 times so Calvin is definitely in the minority. He recovered from this surgery with ease and so far everything looks good! As our ENT doctor said before the surgery "second times a charm!"

All in all both boys adore each other's company. It's so fun to watch the silly games they make up and the ways they get the other to laugh. Their favorite spot to play is on the couch much to my dismay. They also love playing with their Pillow Pets that my mom sent them a while back. They run with them in their arms then fall down on them as hard as they can!

A few weekends ago Jim and I got to steal away for a weekend without the children. Meg and Joe invited us as well as two other couples up to the cabin for a weekend of fun in the sun. The weather was perfect, sunny and mid 80s, which can be pretty rare that late in August. We had a blast in the water, on the boat, eating, drinking, sleeping, game playing and relaxing in general.

Choo Choo!

I know it's been forever since I posted and I owe a big 'ol update but I thought I'd wait and post that next week after Cal's 15 month doctor appointment. So, in the meantime, here are some pictures of the train museum we went to yesterday with Christa, Anna and Emmett. We weren't really sure what to expect so we were pleasantly surprised when the kids had a blast! It was housed in this huge warehouse with lots of room for energetic kids to run around. There were about 5 or 6 old engines, cabooses and different sized passanger cars that you could explore plus an area set up with several train tables. Periodically, trains would rumble past outside and all the kids would head to the nearest window to watch it go. I had a hard time keeping my eye on both boys as they wanted to simultaneously bolt in opposite directions. What a workout!