First Day of School

A few weeks ago I took Joseph to our first day of a Mommy and Me class at the Nature center. Joseph really loved it. The first day was about worms, and when we were there the kids were supposed to pretend they were worms. During the story that was about worms there was a spider character , and being rather impressed with the teachers impression of a spider Joseph decided he would rather be a spider than a worm. All week long he did talk about worms and pretended to be one too.
This last week was about birds. The kids got to look at birds nests and eggs, and we took a walk to look at some bird houses out side around the nature center. During the story the teacher showed the kids pictures of birds, and Joseph knew some of them (the Cardinal and American Robin) that we have in our yard. This week Joseph pretended to be a bird when eating his spaghetti noodles. : )

Here is a picture of when I was trying to leave the nature center. The first day it took us an hour to leave! Between Joseph and the baby it is hard to get moving.

They grow up so fast!

Today we went for a walk, and Jim carried Joseph in the Ergo. His pants were way to short when he was riding in it, so we decided it was time to change his clothes to the next size. Joseph was very excited to get a closet full of new clothes. I thought he might get upset about packing away some of his favorite clothes, but he was so excited about some of the car and truck prints on things that it really wasn't too difficult. I also have to change Tommy's clothes to the 3-6 month size, and I will be doing that tomorrow. Luckily I got everything sorted in different boxes by size, so switching is relatively easy. It is amazing how things change when they get older though. This time Joseph was helping me to hang his new clothes on hangers, and he did a really good job!

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.

Moby Wrap

Ahh, finally a moment to blog, which at the moment is due to this great thing called a Moby Wrap. Tommy has been crying quite a bit the past few evenings, but I didn't try the Moby Wrap much because I couldn't quite figure out how to get it to fit him comfortably. Today he started to get fussy around 4 pm, and this evening we finally figured out how the wrap is supposed to be for the baby to be comfortable. He was in it for three hours, and it really seemed to help with his fussiness; actually he slept the whole time that he was in it. He was usually fussy the past few days from around 7 until 11 pm, but this evening, not a peep! My Mom even tried it on later in the evening. The photo of me and Joseph is actually from the first time I wore the Moby Wrap, so it is not exactly how it is supposed to be. Joseph also wanted a Moby Wrap for his baby, so I used one of my scarves for him.