Lila Turned One!

Yes, it was awhile ago, but here are some photos from her first birthday. It was a casual day with just family and Kim. I made cupcakes more for Aaron and Audrey who wanted to celebrate than I did for Lila. But she took to it right away!

No hands necessary

Helpful big brother

She wants to feed him

He recoiled from her chocolate mess!

Getting help opening her first gift

Who cares about presents when you have a left over plastic Easter egg half?

Getting "help" opening her first gift

Some outfits the kids picked out

Opening gift from Kim (who reused our gift bag)

She liked her brother and sister's babies so much, Kim got one for her

She loves her baby!

Happy girl

August Beach Day

Audrey buried up to her knees

A girl and her shovels

 

We recently visited the beach (the kids and I and a friend). Audrey love playing in the water. Aaron stood back and watched, keeping out of the water as much as he could. Audrey played in the waves until she was shivering cold. It was a warm day, but the water here is still freezing cold.

 

I sat with Lila on our blanket. She wanted to use EVERY SINGLE shovel we had. I was trying to dig a hole for Audrey who had mentioned she wanted a hold to stand in. Lila kept grunting for my shovel. I'd give it to her to play with and grab another one to keep digging until she requested that one, too. She really enjoyed playing in the sand. It was probably a good 20 minute stretch before she finally shoveled some sand into her mouth and I had to end our sand play.

 

Despite having help, I think I will be taking all three kids to the beach for awhile. It would have been easier leaving Lila at home, but Thom was busy cleaning out the garage, so I couldn't argue with that. Plus Lila had a great time. I just wish I could have gotten more pictures of the kids in the water.



School

Aaron is loving school. Recess is still his favorite, especially the tricycles and the play structure.  He told me he has never played in the sand, which is surprising because they have a huge sand box and I've seen kids in it every time I've been there at recess.

Aaron's teacher has been back from maternity leave for a month or so and he seems to like her just as well as the sub.  I like her, too. 

Aaron started off the year eager to do his homework and finishing the entire week's worth on Monday afternoon.  But slowly he's been less eager and going slower with it.  One day, while doing a color by number, he told me he likes challenging stuff.  I asked him if what he was doing was challenging and he said no. But he said he likes challenging stuff.  Because it is fun. 

However, some pages, usually the ones involving drawing a picture and writing some sentences about it, quickly become frustrating for him.  There is a fine line between work that is too easy and work that is, in his mind, way to hard.  But he is improving on that.

I met with his teacher yesterday to discuss keeping him challenged and she was very understanding.  She is going to try to switch out the math homework, which has been well below his ability, but mentioned we might want to practice folding and cutting at home.  They do a lot in class and I think he is a little slow and maybe gets frustrated with it.  He is not big into craft projects at home and I haven't pushed it, but she made me realize these fine motor skills are also important.  I think I will try to find some folding and cutting exercises that are math oriented since he likes anything to do with math.

Penmanship is another area we need to work on, although he has improved since the beginning of the year.

The books she sends home at night to read seem too easy for him, but when I asked about it, she pointed out that he needs to not only be able to read the words, but to remember and comprehend the story.  So now, instead of just having him read the story, afterwards, he tells us the setting, the characters, and what happened at the beginning, middle and end of the story.

He also does a website called raz-kids.com.  He logs on from school sometimes, but he can also do it from home.  They have books he can read and/or have read to him, and then there is a 5 question quick on each book.  He is on Level D, about half-way to Level E.  It is nice because there is a reward system of stars to encourage him to read and he can progress at his own pace.  All of the kids in his class do raz-kids, but most are on lower levels.

We are also planning to sign him up for the Accelerated Reading (AR) program. It is for kids in grades 1-5, but Kindergartners can also participate at the teacher's discretion.  He can't do it at home like raz-kids, but he can read books and then take quizzes on the school library's computers.  Each school library book has an AR reading level assigned and number of points he can earn.  There are some incentives like being entered into a drawing for a book and recognition in front of the school when you reach certain level of points.

Outside of school I am planning to try doing a math co-op with some other kids who have a high interest in math.  I really want to keep up his interest level, keep him challenged, and have him be around other kids who are as interested in math as he is.

Audrey Update

Audrey turned 3 last month.  We had a birthday party for her in the backyard.  We invited a local singer/songwriter who plays children's music.  He plays around town regularly and she is a big fan.  It was a surprise to her and Aaron and when he showed up and she literally could not speak.  She just spoke jibberish, she was so excited.  It was a lot of fun.

Her hair has gotten so long.  I gave up on trying to trim her bangs straight, so we've been growing them out.  Most days they are in ponytails, but not when we harvested our pumpkins yesterday (when we took these pictures).

Audrey has a style all her own.  It mostly involves wearing stripey pants, or polka-dots.  And pink.  And an owlie hat a lot of times.  Despite the pink, she's not very girly.  She is just as happy to wear a hand-me down shirt or jammies from Aaron as she is to wear the more girly hand-me-downs we've been fortunate to get from friends and family.

Shortly after Aaron started Kindergarten, I signed Audrey up for a preschool class that meets once a week and requires a parent (or nanny in our case) to stay.  They have circle time at the beginning and end, but the rest of the time is self-directed.  There is always a craft or two for the kids to work on and outside time to play.  Kim has been taking Audrey for the last two months.  She is really blossoming there.  Audrey is a very shy girl, but at the preschool, she interactes with the teacher quite a bit and does tasks independently of Kim (who is also watching Lila).  The class is offered in 3 week sessions and at first I only signed her up for 1, but I've been signing her up for subsequent sessions because she enjoys it so much.

Audrey will turn 5 just nine days after the cutoff for Kindergarten in 2014.  The state of California is moving the cutoff date up one month each year until 2014.  This year the cutoff was November 1.  Audrey already knows her alphabet and about half of the letter sounds.  She can almost count to twenty without making a mistake.  And she now recognizes the word 'the' which is how Aaron started learning to read.  Since they are teaching the letter sounds to the kids in Aaron's class and many of them do not know them, I'm pretty sure Audrey will be ready for Kindergarten in 2 years.  I can't imagine making her start when she is almost 6.  Since Aaron already knows what he needs to know by the end of Kindergarten, I am hoping the school will let us enroll Audrey for the 2014-2015 school year. 

After Aaron started school, Audrey went through an adjustment phase.  She did great while he was in school, and even up through nap time.  But in the afternoons, she wasn't listening to me, melting down and ending up in time-out every day.  After awhile, maybe after she started her preschool class, she settled down a bit.  But she is still high drama when she doesn't get what she wants.

Audrey is such a sweet girl.  And so verbal.  She often talks about how much she loves her family, and lists off all the people in her family. Yesterday, she told Thom "I love you, Papa." And he replied "I love you too, Audrey."  And then she announced "We love each other!". 

I love her use of language and how much she seems to understand.  This morning, I was still in bed when she got up.  Whenever I'm in bed, she is impatient for me to get up and go potty with her and make her breakfast (I think before Papa does it instead, because she wants me to do these things for her.)  So this morning, she was telling me to get up and that I could go potty after she went potty and then I could get her the special cereal that she has been waiting until Sunday to have.  I said she was awfully bossy this morning.  So she immediately said in her sweetest voice, "Mama, will you please get up and help me go potty?"  Because she understands what bossy means and knows how to use her manners when she remembers.

A couple of weeks ago, I had given Aaron a heart shaped cookie after lunch.  Audrey wanted one when her lunch was done.  There was only one left in the bag.  When I pulled it out, part of the top of the heart was broken off.  She looked at it and said "That's not a heart."  I told her it was broken and braced myself for a melt-down.  She just looked at it, said "Thanks you, Mama" and ate it.  She often says thank you to me without prompting for getting her meals or milk or water, all of the things I expect my kids to take for granted.

She still naps every day for about 2 hours.  There was a time when it was a bit of a struggle at nap time with crying and lots of declarations of "But I'm not tired!"  But we seem to have gotten past that.

Her favorite food of all time is quesadilla.  She could eat it every day for lunch and dinner.  With raisins.  I try to broader what she will eat, but I have to say quesadillas are darn simple to make.  And since Thom doesn't get home until close to 7pm, I always make the kids' dinner separately from ours because they need to eat closer to 5pm to get to bed on time.  It is tough enough planning our dinner every night, so I rarely plan their dinner more than 5 minutes in advance.  Plus I try to make something quick and simple for the kids' dinner since it is Lila's fussiest time of day.  Then Thom and I make dinner after all 3 are in bed which is much easier.

Aaron Update

Aaron has been in school for 2 months now.  He knows all 117 Kindergarten sight words that he is supposed to know by the end of the year.  He knows all his letters and sounds and his number 0-30.  They tested him on these things.  He knew the numbers and sounds before Kindergarten and recognized all but a few of the sight words which he learned in the last few weeks.

He was finally assessed for his reading level and his teacher is now sending books home more at his level.  He's been able to read since just before turning 3, but he prefers us to read to him.  If I ask him to read a book, he might read it, but more likely he will say he wants me to read it.  Or if he chooses a book to read out loud, it is well below his reading level.  But he is a rule follower.  He knows he is supposed to read his homework books 3 times so he will read them without complaint.  And I think he is gaining confidence in reading already.  Based on his reading level we were told and looking online, I think he is reading at about a 2nd grade level. 

Since the math they do at school is not challenging him, I am looking into starting a co-op math class with some other families I know who have mathematically talented children like Aaron.  For example, I want to explore things like different number systems since Aaron and the other kids I know have shown an interest in learning to write numbers in different ways.  And I just want Aaron to be around other kids who love numbers and math as much as he does.

Lila Update

Lila turned 5 months old this month.  For awhile, she had been only waking me up once per night and I was getting plenty of rest.  But about a month ago, she started to wake up at least twice and the first time was often within 2 hours of when I went to bed.  Sometimes she wakes up just as I am falling sleep which is the worst.  I'm pretty sure it is because she is teething.  Then she went from taking a morning nap and a long afternoon nap to taking 3 naps because she'd wake up too early from her afternoon nap to make it to bedtime.  It's a little frustrating, but Tylenol seemed to help 2 nights ago and last night she did better, waking up once before Thom went to bed so he got her back to sleep while I slept and she only woke me once and even slept in a little this morning.  Hopefully the teething calms down and she returns to being the champion sleeper she was.

She has also started rolling over with ease.  When she goes on her mat on the floor, she flips over a lot and looks like she wants to crawl.  I had to lower her crib mattress and I considered switching her from a swaddle to a sleep sack, but that did not go well.  She wouldn't stay asleep.  Plus, I found her after nap one day swaddled but on her stomach and she didn't seem in any distress or in danger of suffocating, so we'll keep swaddling for now. 

Lila is still generally a happy baby.  She fusses when she is tired, but even then, if you hold her or take her outside, she'll quiet down.  She loves her brother and sister and they love her.  Aaron loves to make her laugh.  Audrey wants to touch her and kiss her all the time.  Too much, actually.

Below is a video from about 3 weeks ago of Aaron stacking blocks and calling them baskets.  Lila was cracking up.

Owl on the Roof

Thom noticed this owl sleeping our our roof one morning recently when he got the paper.  I had no idea owls would sleep out in the open like that.