Happy Birthday, sweet baby.

My littlest baby turned one today.  I'm sure most mothers will agree that a child's first birthday is bittersweet.  So many last-firsts were experienced in the past year and I think the clock speeds up a little more with each year that passes. 

To say that having LD in my life has been a blessing would be inadequate.  There are times I stare at his perfect little cherub face and can only silently thank his Creator for allowing me this time with him.  He has such a sweet, joyful curiosity that I adore, even when he is pulling all of the tissues out of the box or all of the toilet paper off the roll.  And he has this amazing laugh!  This laugh that pours out from his belly like he is just bursting with happiness!  You can't help but laugh with him. 

I'm thankful that tomorrow is the beginning of a new year to watch him grow and discover the world, and I'm even more thankful that I get to be the one holding his hand while he does it.

Best Friends

EM and JR were born 20 months apart, so they have been best friends for a long time.  They play together inside and outside, with toys and imaginary friends, with trains and polly pockets.  Even though EM is less than two years older than JR she is very motherly toward him.  She makes sure he understand what's going on by explaining things in simpler ways and usually lets him win when they play a game.  JR adores his big sister just as much and always needs to know where she is and what she's doing.  He will play any game she comes up with- he is just happy to imagine with his favorite playmate.

When LD was born almost a year ago, Josh and I talked about how we hoped EM and JR still enjoyed "playing" when LD was old enough to join them.  Were they too far apart in age to be friends?  Would LD be left out of their big kid games and miss out on having his siblings as his best friends?

The day we brought LD home from the hospital our worries began to fade.  EM read a sleeping newborn LD her Kindergarten reader.  JR brought his Puffle and Pirate Club Penguin (his most prized possessions) to sleep by the side of his two-day old brother.  As weeks passed they attended to his every coo and whimper.  I worried that once LD started crawling and getting into their things that this precious honeymoon phase might come to an end.

Boy, was I wrong!  Now the newly mobile LD is even more fun to this loving big brother and sister!  He is the Spy Baby to their Spy Girl and Spy Boy.  He is the Land Baby to their Lava Boy and Water Girl.  He is the baby owl in their nest, the Godzilla they build towers for just to hear his giggle when it crashes, and the third player in their video games (with an unplugged remote so he doesn't feel left out).

My worries once again are calmed by the love and friendship I see growing between my three.  I imagine the years we have ahead of us and smile.

Highlights of our First Week of School!

JR drawing shapes in shaving cream.

JR and Dad building a geoboard.

This week my main goal was to ease into our new routine.  We begin each day with breakfast and Curious George.  Hey, you can learn a lot from that little monkey!  After the usual morning stuff (getting dressed, brushing teeth, making bed, ect.) we do a few morning chores and get started with our Calender Time.  The kids have caught on quickly to this because it's similar to what they have done in school.  JR loves to use the pointer and EM really enjoys "making the date" with coins.

In Math this week JR learned about circles, rectangles, and squares.  I really wasn't if he was picking up what I was putting down, as my husband would say.  After a slightly rough day on Thursday we sat down for dinner and he held up his tortilla chip.  (Yes, he had chips for dinner -  I said it was a rough day.)  He asked me what shape it was and if we could count the sides and corners.  This homeschooling mama's heart soared!

EM quickly breezed through the first chapter of her Math book.  Thursday I chose to skip a few repetitive exercises because she seemed bored with the review.  She is SO smart!  I had an idea, but WOW!  I can't wait to see how much she learns this year going at her pace.

EM also practiced the first 26 phonograms and segmenting words in All About Spelling.  She also read a beginning reader library book several times and really got a boost of confidence as it came to her more easily the more she read it.

We had LOTS of outdoor fun this week as the weather has been soooo beautiful!  It seems all of the critters are coming out and enjoying the cooler weather too!

EM has been keeping a log of the cool things she finds in nature by sketching them in her Nature Notebook.

One morning we woke up to a praying mantis warming up on our porch light.   What a fun opportunity to learn about mantids that we would have missed completely if we were rushing to school!  Did you know after they are born they sometimes eat their siblings as a first meal?  The kiddos thought that was especially funny.

EM decided this week she was ready to ride her bike without training wheels, so she did!  This was one of those milestones that remind me how quickly she is growing up.  Every morning this week since then EM has woken me up, bright and early, fully dressed, asking if she could go outside and ride her bike.  Can we at least have coffee first, please?

LD is also working on his motor skills.  The whole family has been on "Crawl Watch" anxiously awaiting those first momentous crawls.  What will he go for?  This morning we thought maybe the cat would be his first target!

He has also been working on cutting FOUR top teeth!  Needless to say, he hasn't been at his best.  We did a little happy dance for him this evening when we saw the front two have broken through!  I sure will miss those gummy smiles though.

Josh had the day off today so we decided to head over to the Will County Fair.  We were able to get up close and personal with cows, sheep, goats, pigs, and hand sanitizer.

And of course since we were at a fair we *had* to partake in the American pastime of consuming fried goodness and treats served on a stick!

I'm looking forward to next week and beginning our Adventures!