Kindergarten Begins

I can't believe it has happened. My baby is officially grown up. Greyson has started kindergarten!

How did this happen?

Wasn't he just a teeny tiny, too early baby in my arms yesterday?!

How was he ever that small?  He's so big now, so smart, so...amazingly Greyson. 

Well, on Wednesday my baby boy began kindergarten. We both took it in stride. I wasn't really sad about it -- he's been going to preschool/daycare for years now. It isn't really too different.  Just a bus drops him off instead of me, and he'll be there 5 days instead of 3.  A small but significant change I think we were both ready for.

Greyson loves school he's been talking about going to kindergarten for months now. When the day arrived it just felt right. We were all ready. But still, I wonder where the time has gone. 5 years flew by in a blink. 

What a difference 5 years makes!

Greyson handled the first day in complete Greyson fashion.  He was so cool. So easy going about it. He was trilled about getting to ride the bus. 

I went up to the school on my own to attend a PTA meeting. I stopped by his classroom to find him sitting at his desk, looking at a book. He totally didn't care that I was there. In fact, I think he was a little embarrassed to see me there - even though the room was filled with parents giving last hugs before Kindergarten truly began. I can't believe that it is happening already. I was hoping for many more years before I became a public embarrassment to my son. Oh well. Really I'd rather have him like this than having him scared and sad on his first day of school. 

It's hard to be sad when he's so wonderful and so happy. Even if he decided to cover his sisters face!

Amelia was a little sad she didn't get to ride the bus to school too.  When I picked her up from PDO she kept looking around for her brother.  I'm so glad they are so close right now.  I love them both so dearly.

Our Little Helpers

Our kids love to "help". Unfortunately their help is not always helpful...
like, say, when you are trying to recover an earring that was accidentally dropped down the sink.


But when they bring their own tools, you have to let them try!




And then there is our little baker.


Amelia likes to help by holding the recipe and just being a source of unbelievable cuteness!


I mean really, I can't get over how cute she is!

She helped me make scones that turned out HORRIBLY! When you question a recipe that calls for 1.5 TABLESPOONS of salt, go with your gut and use teaspoons.

I love our little helpers!

four at the zoo

We went to the zoo and Saturday. It was a really lovely day. Greyson ran himself silly. We rode the train and the carousel. We saw a polar bear, snakes, monkeys, llama, birds, goats and much more. We had a really fun day as a family of four.

Greyson even rode on an elephant...

...well, an elephant statue!

Amelia missed most of the zoo...

...but the fresh air and comfy ride helped her take a wonderful nap.

Not just for babies

Apparently Moses' Baskets are not just for babies anymore!



Greyson hijacked Amelia's!

Adventures in Potty Training

We are working on potty training with Greyson. So far it is a mixed bag. We are using incentives - aka BRIBES!

Right now he will potty every time we take him to the bathroom. He's excited about it - probably because he gets a jelly bean if he gets some pee-pee out. Today he even pooped in the potty - which got him a jelly bean and a new book.

However he has yet to tell us when he needs to go, and only seldom does he tell us if he is wet. So everything has to be prompted by us. I know that if I took him to the potty every 15 min he probably would be able to stay dry, but let's be really real here, I don't have that kind of time right now. So I'm taking him to the bathroom when I remember and anytime he mentions it.

I'm not really in any hurry to get him trained, I know it will happen when he is ready and I don't want to put any pressure on him about it. But I'm pretty happy with how far he's come in just the past week. I think he may get it down by his birthday in December.

Wordless Wednesday:

blog hookie

I'm having a bit of bloggers block. I think its the tiredness. That and not having time to sit down and string thoughts together. So to make up for the week of nothing, here are a bunch of photos of the birds.

Greyson:


He has a new love OBSESSION with band-aids. The only reason he isn't covered in them all the time is that we ran out. He even figured out how to climb up to the drawer where we kept them. They have now been moved and I'm only restocking with the plain skin colored ones.



Someone (I'm looking at you, Grandpa Richard) taught Greyson how to move his little red chair over to the sink. Now it's a constant battle to keep him out of the sink, off the counter, away from the stove, etc. But, on hot days like we've been having a little play time in the sink can be fun. I just had to keep reminding myself, "It's just water, I can clean it up later" as Greyson poured cups of water on the counter and onto the floor.


Amelia:


What can I say, my little girl is becoming a spunky and chunky monkey! She has a little personality and she can be feisty. But she's also full of smiles that just melt my heart.


I also love her froggy face. She looks like this every time she is in the swing.


We took her to meet her Great-Grandma Persons last week. I know that seeing Miss A brightened Grandma's day.


I love this photo, I think she looks like a baby Greek Goddess.


This is why I haven't been writing much lately.

Between starting work again, taking care of a toddler and an infant, and this relentless heat I'm one tired momma! But I wouldn't trade it for the world. I mean look at those two - they my make my life complete and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Sibling love

After giving Amelia the cold shoulder for the first few weeks Greyson now loves his little sister. He likes to sit on my bed and look down at her in her bassinet while I change her diaper. He reaches out and touches her little hands and feet and says in a high-pitched voice "Baby Milla's tiny hands" and "Baby Milla's tiny feet". His "tiny" repertoire now includes tummy, cheeks, mouth, eyes, belly button and forehead.


I love this picture because it looks like she's telling him a secret.







I'm so happy that (for the moment) he likes her. I hope they will become good friends. Part of why I wanted our kids this close together is so that they could be friends as well as siblings. I'll keep you posted on how it works out.

More photos!!

Let's start of with some pics of Mr. G.
Today he took a bowl of mini chocolate chips outside with him while he was playing...



They melted and then he melted down. DESPAIR!!




The boys relaxing. It's exhausting being a big brother and daddy.


Now on to Miss A!



She's been working hard on holding her head up and growing some chubby cheeks...




She is succeeding on both accounts!

Kicked Out!

Yesterday Greyson was officially discharged for the Early Intervention program. He's been getting therapy from the state since he was just a few months old. We started out with Occupation Therapy for motor skills and then after he mastered sitting, crawling, climbing, standing and walking we moved on to Speech Therapy since he was such a silent little guy. Over the past year and a half Greyson went from barely making any sounds to speaking at 3+ year-old level!

When we had our big meeting in December - just 6 months ago - he was still barely talking and we were considering making the move from every-other week therapy to weekly because he was so far behind. Then just a few weeks later his speech took off and we moved down to just once a month therapy. And now were are finished! The big meeting planned for this week was going to be about getting him into special needs preschool and writing and IEP, but he doesn't need it. In fact our service coordinator said Greyson is only the SECOND child she's worked with that has graduated from EI at this point, usually if you are still getting services at 2+ then your transfer over to preschool at 3, and in December we thought that would be the case for Greyson too, but he had other plans!

Our therapist said she would love to keep Greyson in the program just so she can still come over, but as he is now talking well ABOVE his age level she just can't. I'm going to miss her! She has been a great source of information and just a lovely person to have in our lives. She's given me so much great advice and wonderful ideas over the past 18 months. Greyson loves her and she's just been such a constant in our lives that I'm really sad we won't be seeing her again.

I honestly can't say that ST was really the catalyst for the massive improvements in Greyson's speech, or if he would have come to this point on his own given the time, but whatever the case I'm just so happy that he is speaking well now.

We are officially kicked out of EI!! I really felt this was the last hold out from his "preemie experience" and now we've moved past that too! Way to go Greyson - anyone who meets you now would NEVER guess how you started out.

3 weeks

Amelia is 3 weeks old! How did that happen? Time has flown by.
This was my first week solo and it went great. Greyson was easier going than normal and seems to be settling in well to his role as big brother. He loves to look at "Baby Mill-ya" and likes to touch her little feet.


Greyson has also become a little car spoiled this week. With the new Cars 2 movie coming out this week Greyson has been getting a "new car" practically every time we go out. It's getting ridiculous, but he LOVES them.

He's also been going to bed better. Well, he's not always going to sleep right away, but he is playing quietly by himself in his room once we tuck him in for the night. I'm totally fine with this - it means that Michael or I don't have to lay down with him until he falls asleep.

Amelia on the other hand hasn't been sleeping as well. We are down to only getting 2-3 hour blocks of sleep at night. Still not bad, but I don't want the trend of more night wakings to continue.

She's a champion day-time sleeper though.

And she is just so beautiful. She's really filled out this week. She's getting chubby cheeks and her legs aren't as baggy. I'm interested in seeing how much she weighs. She just seems so much bigger now.

Trust me, we haven't forgotten about the boy :)

Rest assured Greyson is not taking a backseat to his little sister. He makes sure if that!

He's been busy playing with cars


and MORE new cars


and his new Swing Set!


He's been having a great time!

Week One

This past week has been wonderful. Michael was home to manage Greyson and allow me time to heal and to get the hang of nursing Amelia. I really thought that nursing her would be easy, after-all she's a healthy full-term baby and I was still nursing Greyson just 7 months ago. But I was wrong. It was hard and painful, but after a week we seem to have gotten the hang of it. I'm so happy to be able to breastfeed my children, but this week has really reminded me that while it is "natural" it doesn't comes "naturally". There is a learning curve - for mom and baby.


Amelia and I have spent a lot of time snuggled in bed together and it's been wonderful. She is so sweet and so beautiful. I can't get over it, I fall more in love with her every day. So far she's a really calm baby too. She cries, but never for long and we can almost always figure out why she is crying and solve the problem. And she sleeps... a lot. I'm blown away by how much she sleeps. At night we are getting 2, 4 hour stretches from her. I think Greyson was a year old before he slept that well!


The only down-side to this week has been my vertigo. At first we thought it was due to fluid loss or anemia, but now I'm pretty sure I have an inner ear infection. All I know is that is feels like I'm on a boat. Constant rocking. I've had this happen before and can handle it pretty well, but it another reason I'm so glad I could lay-low this week. It's hard to manage much when your equilibrium is all messed up.

Our first week as a family of four has been a nice one. Greyson is warming up to Ameila. Today he even wanted to hold her. It was a sweet moment. I think he's realizing that she is here for good and that he better get used to her.

Tidbit: Cake

We went to church today, something we don't do regualary, but would like to. Anyway they were celebrating graduations and serving cake after the service. I grabbed a piece and we all headed out to the sandbox so Greyson could play for a bit. After the cake was gone I headed back up to the church to return the fork. I was about half-way there when Greyson started following. Michael asked where he was going and Greyson, the child who 6 months ago didn't talk at all, looked at Michael and clearly said "I'm going to get some cake."

Well, we gave him cake!

I'm amazed every day with how much he talks now. How he clear it is and how complex his sentences are. Totally worth the extra cake!

Photos of the head injury

Wow, when this kid doesn't want you to get a picture of something he is serious about it! These two blurry pictures are the best I've been able to get.




Close up of the purple glue holding his head together.

Allergies

My kid has them.
Did he even stand a chance to avoid them?
Nope.
Coming from Michael and me he was bound to be allergic to something (if not EVERYTHING)!

This Spring has been rough on our little guy. He has a constant runny nose and spends much of the day and night coughing up phlegm. YUM. We are going through tissue like it's going out of style. But we just started him on a combo of Zyrtec and Elderberry Juice and he's getting a little better. I think I'll be on the look out for local honey at the Farmer's Market this week too. What ever we can do so he doesn't have to spend his childhood coughing and sneezing all day.


(Clearly we are still without a baby. Less than a week before her due date and MayBaby/Little Bird #2 is happy where she is.)

Oh, Cheese and Crackers!

So the other day in the car Michael and I were talking about how we need new curse words because Greyson repeats EVERYTHING we say these days. We started saying "Oh, Cheese and Crackers" and "Oh, Barnacles" - just testing things out. Then from the back seat we hear a giggle and a "Oh, Cheese and Crackers". Greyson then went on to say "Oh, Fruit Snacks", "Oh, Graham Cracker", and "Oh" just about everything he loves in life all while laughing.

He continued to do this at Grandma and Grandpa's house, cracking us all up in the process. He's even started banging his little hand on the table when he says it. "Oh, Barnacles" makes him laugh every time!

Today he was sitting in the living room playing with cars as I made dinner and I hear him start giggling, followed by "Oh, Fruit Snacks".

We may have created a monster, but a cute and funny one!

A few new photos of Greyson

Here a bunch of photos, while he's still the only star in our sky.


He was playing with the red car on my bed and then literally "fell" asleep.






"hmm....how can I escape with this ball?"


"Yum! Blue Corn Chips!"


And this is what our living room looks like just about everyday at 4:00pm. Full on disaster.