8/13/10 - Looking Ahead

It’s hard to believe that autumn is just around the corner.  We’ve barely had two weeks worth of really summer weather all season, but the calendar keeps turning.   I’ve been putting together our fall schedule, and it’s jam packed!   I will be starting Eva on My Father’s World Kindergarten curriculum.  She already knows her letter sounds and can write upper and lower case letters, so much of the first part will be a review for her.  On Mondays we’ll be going to the local home school co-op, called “Monday School”.   I’ll be teaching Journalism 101 for high school while Eva goes to Kindergarten, Amanda goes to preschool, and Bethany goes in the nursery. 

 

On Wednesday evenings we’ll probably be enrolling Eva and Amanda in AWANA, a Christian scouting club.  That will give Dave and I a bit of a free “date night” (with baby in tow) for an hour or two.   On Thursdays Eva will be taking a beginner’s ballet class.  She already has her required pink leotard and skirt, and is excitedly telling everyone she meets that she’s going to take “dance class and wear a princess dress”.   On Saturdays the library has a free activity program for beginning readers, so we’ll be taking Eva to that as well.  Sundays we meet with our “Little Church” small group, and that starts another week.  Somewhere in the middle of all this, I’m volunteering with Americans For Prosperity and the Oregon Tea Party, and trying to keep current on my political blog.  Somehow I get the feeling the last item is the one that will take the biggest hit.  It's going to be a busy, busy, year!

 

Little Imitator

Dave and I celebrated our 9^th anniversary this week, dropping the kids off with our friends Kammy and Jeremiah so we could go out to dinner.  It’s the first time I’ve left Bethany with someone other than Dave or my parents (and she won’t take a bottle) so I was a little nervous.  But she had a great time playing with her sisters and Hailey and Zoe, and did really well. 

 

Bethany is a content, social little one who likes to try and imitate activities we do with her.  Sometimes when she talks I’ll pat my hand on her mouth so she makes a “bwa-bwa-bwa” sound.  She enjoys it so much that she tries to do it herself, patting her mouth with the back of her hand to try and imitate the sound.   She also likes to swing her head back and forth in imitation of how I make her dance the “twist” – putting my hands around her middle and gently turning her waist back and forth.   It makes her laugh every time. 

 

She’s started pulling herself up to a stand, and can even standing by herself for a few seconds without holding on to anything.   It won’t be long before she starts taking steps!  I’ve been bewildered by the fact that at 10 months old, she still only has two tiny teeth in her front lower jaw.  But she’s been so fussy this week that I finally checked further back, and sure enough, she has two lower molars breaking through!   Poor kid!  I’d never heard of molars coming through before the other teeth, but it seems my girls like to keep things interesting. 

 

My Big 3-Year-Old

Amanda celebrated her third birthday with a circus-themed party out in our backyard.   Uncle Tim and cousins Asaph and Jirah were here to visit, so we invited all our friends for a BBQ and set up the sprinklers and slip-n-slide.  The biggest hit was a Snow White dress from Aunt Laura, which Amanda now wants to wear non-stop.   Amanda has also taken to going through Eva’s drawers and trying on her clothes.  (Does the sisterly clothes-sharing habit really begin this early?)

 

She’s been doing very well with potty training since we set up the training toilet in the bathroom.  Sometimes she’ll go all by herself without even telling me, which shows she’s taking initiative.  I can leave her in underwear now all day, except at night or when she wants to go #2.  She’s still too afraid to try that on the potty, yet. 

 

Growing Up

Eva is so proud of her latest accomplishments.   She can now get on the swing, pump her legs to build momentum, and swing high without any pushing her.   She practiced and practiced until she taught herself how to snap her fingers.  She’s no longer afraid to put her face or ears under water (thank you, swim class)!   And she’s learning to ride her bike with training wheels. 

 

Uncle Tim had his two oldest children for the summer, so the girls spent lots of time playing with their cousins, 9-year-old Asaph and 7-year-old Jirah.   Together we went to the zoo, the children’s museum, the Bonneville Dam and fish hatchery, the playground and the mall. 

 

The two younger cousins, 5-year-old Haddie and 2-year-old Boaz, got to spend two weeks with their dad in August, so we drove down to Grants Pass to see them.  Grandma threw a group birthday party for all of the grandkids, and the kids had a blast playing with foam stickers, sidewalk chalk, moon sand, and their new stuffed animals.   Eva and Amanda each got a puppy that looks exactly like Grandma’s dog, Mocha.  The big attraction for Amanda is the chickens, of course, and a morning would never go by when she wouldn’t ask “can I go get eggs with Grandpa?”   As we drove away, Amanda waved her little hand and called out, “Thank you, chickens, for giving us eggs!”

The Short End of the Stick

When Eva was born, I always swore that I would make sure any subsequent children got the same amount of care and attention as she did.  I would make sure to take just as many pictures, make just as big of a deal out of their first birthday and other milestones, and be just as diligent to record their development in the family blog.   Alas, I find myself falling into the same pattern as other well-meaning parents who have blazed the trail ahead of me – good intentions, but not enough hours in the day. 

 

With Eva, I bought a fancy baby book but recorded most of her development in the “digital baby book” (a.k.a. Mommy Blog).   With Amanda, I bought the book (trying to be equal) but never wrote in it.  With Bethany, I didn’t even bother to buy it.    When Eva was born, I diligently took pictures of every milestone, like her first bath in the “big tub”.  With Amanda, I managed to put off graduating her to the big tub until Dave was around to snap the photo.   With Bethany, her first bath in a big tub was a matter of necessity (I couldn’t haul the baby tub to my parent’s house), I was in a hurry, and everyone was so busy I forgot to take the picture. 

 

Now it appears the family blog is suffering the same fate.  I used to write in it every week (sometimes twice), but now I’m lucky if I remember to update it one a month.  Over time, the entries have become cliff notes of “so-and-so did such-and-such last week”, though I always fully intend to fill in the gaps at some point when I have more time (and even less recollection of the details).   So this is my apology to Amanda and Bethany in advance.   Sorry, girls, but it appears that raising you eats up a large part of the time I’d planned to spend writing about you.  J