First of all, Summer is 5 months old! She is smiling, laughing, and for about the last 2 months she has been ALMOST rolling over. I can remember how CJ would almost hit a milestone for what seemed like forever, especially with walking by himself. Remember how he walked on his knees? Seems like just yesterday. I am not one that misses the newborn/infant days, but I will miss Summer's baby rolls when those thin out. CJ was long and lean, but we call Summer our little "Pork Chop." She has cheeks that you just want to squeeze- especially when she is giving you a big gummy grin which is pretty much all of time. She is such a happy baby so we feel pretty lucky. However, poor thing has been battling a cold for more than a month now. I don't think CJ had his first cold until he was one, but OLDER SIBLING IN PRESCHOOL. Who also puts his hands in his mouth all.the.time. Oh, and likes to "pet" his younger sister. I remember everyone told me that I would be sick 24/7 my first year of teaching, but I was fairly healthy that year so I was hoping the CJ would also have the immune system of my 23-year-old self and escape the fall colds in these first few months of preschool- not so much. CJ, and I have long been back to health, but we're still running the humidifier and cleaning out the nose for the baby. It just makes me want to hibernate in the house and keep CJ down in the basement when the baby's awake (not a bad idea? hehe). I guess she'll build up her immunity early...
So speaking of preschool, it has for the most part been going well for CJ. Aside from a day or two, he is really happy there, and has some very caring teachers. I think his anxious side (thanks to his mom and dad!) is showing up in new ways at school so we have been learning ways to help him through certain situations. Aside from a few weekends away, getting a babysitter here and there, and dropping him off at the gym childcare for an hour at a time, CJ is with me all of time so it's weird to not know or be in control of every little thing he is doing for 9 hours a week. It's also different being on the parent side of the parent-teacher relationship. We all are adjusting, though. Instead of now not telling me anything about the school day, he now tells me EVERY day that he paints his Percy train. Progress. AND, he can sort of say the Pledge of Allegiance. AND, he randomly started stating what he was thankful for the other night. I think, though, as we continue through the school journey, and if history repeats itself we may have our work cut out for us as parents as we learn to support our anxious little boy. Kevin had a hard time adjusting to school, and I was just stressed about getting good grades so we'll have all of the bases covered! Summer will be our laid-back kid and we'll have no idea what to do! :)
CJ is not napping anymore (not by choice, I keep him awake otherwise he will not go to bed until 11:00!) so even though I have a baby that naps all afternoon, I have a 3 year old who needs to learn to entertain himself for a little. However, I can only "work" in the office for so long until he starts bothering me to come into the family room. Or it just becomes super quiet which either means there is crayon on a window or he is passed out on the family room floor and it takes 30 minutes for me to wake him out of that nap-groggy-crankiness. So, I must end here- but I leave with some pictures from the past couple of months!
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| Obligatory Kid Fall Picture in Leaves #1 |
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| Obligatory Kid Fall Picture in Leaves #2 |
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| Halloween- CJ was the Very Hungry Caterpillar and Summer was the (Not-so) Grouchy Ladybug. Kevin's pumpkin carving talents were apparent yet again in the coordinating pumpkins! |
