Storytelling

The past few days I have been telling stories to (or perhaps I should say with) Jospeh before bed. It started because I was busy with Tommy and couldn't lay down with Joseph to get him to relax to sleep. Joseph has a stuffed Chihuahua that he has named 'Bread,' and the first story had Bread as the main character. They are really silly stories, such as Bread walking to a park and making friends with a cat who is swinging in a swing, and then with them going to a nearby forest and singing with each other next to a stream, upon which a mockingbird hears them and copies their song. Of course to make the story longer, I sang the longest song I knew during this part. Joseph loves it when I tell these stories. As soon as I finish one he asks me for another, so luckily I have a good imagination. We already have several recurrent characters such as a Kitty (who is a stuffed animal that belongs to Tommy,) a hedgehog named Mr. Hedgehog who likes to have tea parties in his hedge kitchen, as well as family members who also appear in the stories. Last night he wanted me to tell him a story about my aunt (tante Jelly) driving a tow truck to pick up Beppe (and Bread) and her broken down Volkswagen. Of course I had to throw in that tante Jelly also brought Koeke and a thermos of Coffee.

First Book

Last night just before bed, I read Tommy his first book: Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt. He stared intently at the black letters and pictures and got very excited. After the first page or so he started to make lots of noises and waving his arms and legs when he was looking at it. I remember that I read "The Big Honey Hunt" from the Bernenstein Bears series to Joseph the first time when he was three and a half months old, and he also stared intently at the pictures. I suppose that I should have read him a much shorter and more babyish book, but that was what I had on hand. Now I have a bigger and better selection of books, and also a better understanding of what is appropriate, so Tommy will not have to suffer that.

Nice Weather

Wow is Nebraska weather crazy! Here we are last Saturday in the garden. We were outside all day (except during nap time of course.) Joseph loved being able to get out in the sandbox again, and he went crazy running around the yard looking for sticks and other things to play with. He loved pretending to ride on his tractor that he got from his Grandma and Pop. He wont push the peddle yet but he loves to move the front loader, and to fill up the loader and trailer with mud.

Preschools and Schedules

Finally both kids are sleeping, and amazingly I am alert enough to get some blogging done. Joseph is upstairs and Tommy is downstairs with me, in the bennewein (or baby carriage.) Actually I decided to not sleep today so that I could call my sister, and also call a preschool that I have been looking into for Joseph for next fall. I am waiting for a call from a preschool that is non-academic and has a nice gym for them to run around in on cold, snowy days, and next week I have an appointment at a Montessori school.

Well, things have been pretty good here. I have been trying to get a good schedule now that we have two kids. We finally have a good evening schedule, and we now are going to bed at the same time every night, though Joseph still doesn't fall asleep until an hour and half or so until after he is in bed. But I'm not complaining, because it is nice just to have a schedule at night.