Friday, September 5, 2014
Geography
John wants me to record that he loves geography, which he is pronouncing GEE-oh-GRAPH-ee. He got moved to a higher reading group this week, and now they are reading the first Magic Tree House book about dinosaurs. Perfect for him, since that's his very favorite series. He is up to #39 and he has read many of them by himself. Some books he has read in less than a day!
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Summer 2014
Family
May 2014 - Andy and I took our much-anticipated tenth anniversary vacation to Kauai. We spent four nights in Poipu on the southern shore and three nights in Princeville on the north shore. We went to a luau, went on a horseback riding/ziplining adventure, and took a boat/snorkeling tour along the Na Pali coast. We had the best time and really enjoyed each other! Andy and I went to Sedona overnight to help a friend celebrate his birthday. It was so beautiful!
July 2014 - Tour of the Midwest! We visited Andy's brother's family in Milwaukee, our friends and their kids in Chicago, and made a final stop in Iowa to see a friend of Andy's before flying home.
August 2014 - I sang Mabel in Pirates of Penzance with the Prescott Pops Symphony. What a great group of musicians and singers. I had a fabulous time and the performance went really well!
John
John turned 6 and had a dinosaur-themed party at his karate studio. Kindergarten was over, and John got to do a lot of fun camps this summer, including dinosaurs, science, baseball, computer game design, junior inventor, and Summer in July at Childsplay. He also took a ton of swimming lessons, in addition to his normal karate classes.
He became very interested in the 50 states after playing an iPad trivia game called "Stack the States." This led to a love for all things American. He has an insatiable appetite for learning any trivia about the 50 states, American history (especially the Revolutionary War), geography, and any trivia about the U.S. Presidents. Dinosaurs and space definitely took a backseat to America by the end of the summer.
His reading has been fantastic. At the end of the summer we started getting Magic Tree House books from the library, and he would sometimes read one a day. He loves the library. First we stop in the juvenile fiction section and pick up the next Magic Tree House books he needs, as well as other series like "Notebook of Doom" and sometimes a "Choose Your Own Adventure". Then we hit the children's room, where he scours the non-fiction section for books about states, America, and presidents (of course), but also for anything that interests him, such as "Slugs and Snails," "Parasaurolophus" (his favorite dinosaur), "Cuba", and so many other random topics. He just loves reading and learning!
He started first grade in August and is enjoying himself so far. He gets to see his gifted teacher twice a week this year, which he loves. He says he wants to be just like Mr. D. when he grows up. He has had a little trouble settling in, behavior-wise, but seems to be doing well with his friends. One big improvement over Kindergarten - homework! He has a great attitude and is much more self-sufficient, and is really starting to take pride in his work.
June - Karate teacher: "How many steps back, John?" John: "T-W-O sir!"
June - He and last-year's-BFF aren’t friends anymore because Jacob “claims” he knows more than him. Nice word usage! :D
July - I wrote this to him on my phone since my voice was pretty rough: "I know sometimes it is no fun to have a sick mommy who is a singer and worried about her performance." John wrote back: "I don’t kare your the best mom ever." Melted my heart!
July - Keeping an eye on my reality show: “I haven’t watched this in a while. Marcus got deleted?” I think he meant eliminated...
July - (text conversation) Me: John is watching "So You Want To Be President" again. Andy: He really really wants to be President...
August - He had a great day at school one morning, but then got in trouble in the afternoon for writing down the lyrics to the Hokey Pokey with “butt” as the body part. It ended with “That’s what it’s all a-butt.” Even when his teacher came to tell me about it, he was more giggly than chastened...
Daniel
Daniel got to do a lot of fun things in the summer program at his school. They had water play day once a week, and he also got to do a lot of fun crafts and see animals from the zoo.
In July, he turned two, and had an awesome birthday party at home. The theme was Sulley from Monsters Inc. He definitely had a great time and loved the cake. He did not want to blow out the candles though!
No real sign of the terrible twos yet. If he is hungry or tired, he is more quick to have a meltdown, but that is standard for him, and has been his whole life. He has definite ideas about how he wants to do things and will let you know, especially now that his language skills are so developed! But his temperament is about the same as it was six months ago. He is a happy, smiley guy, and everyone loves him!
He is coming up with full sentences (see below) and expressing likes and dislikes. Sometimes he uses words that we had no idea he knew! He is also repeating what we say quite a bit, and then using the sentences back later.
He still likes Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and is really into Dora the Explorer right now. Sulley fell off the list shortly after his birthday party, but Frozen is a big favorite. He is starting to get into Toy Story, and likes Buzz better than Woody at the moment.
May - email from Grammy while we were in Kauai: "Whenever Danny leaves the room, he turns to us and says 'be right back!'"
May 2014 - Andy and I took our much-anticipated tenth anniversary vacation to Kauai. We spent four nights in Poipu on the southern shore and three nights in Princeville on the north shore. We went to a luau, went on a horseback riding/ziplining adventure, and took a boat/snorkeling tour along the Na Pali coast. We had the best time and really enjoyed each other! Andy and I went to Sedona overnight to help a friend celebrate his birthday. It was so beautiful!
July 2014 - Tour of the Midwest! We visited Andy's brother's family in Milwaukee, our friends and their kids in Chicago, and made a final stop in Iowa to see a friend of Andy's before flying home.
August 2014 - I sang Mabel in Pirates of Penzance with the Prescott Pops Symphony. What a great group of musicians and singers. I had a fabulous time and the performance went really well!
John
John turned 6 and had a dinosaur-themed party at his karate studio. Kindergarten was over, and John got to do a lot of fun camps this summer, including dinosaurs, science, baseball, computer game design, junior inventor, and Summer in July at Childsplay. He also took a ton of swimming lessons, in addition to his normal karate classes.
He became very interested in the 50 states after playing an iPad trivia game called "Stack the States." This led to a love for all things American. He has an insatiable appetite for learning any trivia about the 50 states, American history (especially the Revolutionary War), geography, and any trivia about the U.S. Presidents. Dinosaurs and space definitely took a backseat to America by the end of the summer.
His reading has been fantastic. At the end of the summer we started getting Magic Tree House books from the library, and he would sometimes read one a day. He loves the library. First we stop in the juvenile fiction section and pick up the next Magic Tree House books he needs, as well as other series like "Notebook of Doom" and sometimes a "Choose Your Own Adventure". Then we hit the children's room, where he scours the non-fiction section for books about states, America, and presidents (of course), but also for anything that interests him, such as "Slugs and Snails," "Parasaurolophus" (his favorite dinosaur), "Cuba", and so many other random topics. He just loves reading and learning!
He started first grade in August and is enjoying himself so far. He gets to see his gifted teacher twice a week this year, which he loves. He says he wants to be just like Mr. D. when he grows up. He has had a little trouble settling in, behavior-wise, but seems to be doing well with his friends. One big improvement over Kindergarten - homework! He has a great attitude and is much more self-sufficient, and is really starting to take pride in his work.
June - Karate teacher: "How many steps back, John?" John: "T-W-O sir!"
June - He and last-year's-BFF aren’t friends anymore because Jacob “claims” he knows more than him. Nice word usage! :D
July - I wrote this to him on my phone since my voice was pretty rough: "I know sometimes it is no fun to have a sick mommy who is a singer and worried about her performance." John wrote back: "I don’t kare your the best mom ever." Melted my heart!
July - Keeping an eye on my reality show: “I haven’t watched this in a while. Marcus got deleted?” I think he meant eliminated...
July - (text conversation) Me: John is watching "So You Want To Be President" again. Andy: He really really wants to be President...
August - He had a great day at school one morning, but then got in trouble in the afternoon for writing down the lyrics to the Hokey Pokey with “butt” as the body part. It ended with “That’s what it’s all a-butt.” Even when his teacher came to tell me about it, he was more giggly than chastened...
Daniel
Daniel got to do a lot of fun things in the summer program at his school. They had water play day once a week, and he also got to do a lot of fun crafts and see animals from the zoo.
In July, he turned two, and had an awesome birthday party at home. The theme was Sulley from Monsters Inc. He definitely had a great time and loved the cake. He did not want to blow out the candles though!
No real sign of the terrible twos yet. If he is hungry or tired, he is more quick to have a meltdown, but that is standard for him, and has been his whole life. He has definite ideas about how he wants to do things and will let you know, especially now that his language skills are so developed! But his temperament is about the same as it was six months ago. He is a happy, smiley guy, and everyone loves him!
He is coming up with full sentences (see below) and expressing likes and dislikes. Sometimes he uses words that we had no idea he knew! He is also repeating what we say quite a bit, and then using the sentences back later.
He still likes Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and is really into Dora the Explorer right now. Sulley fell off the list shortly after his birthday party, but Frozen is a big favorite. He is starting to get into Toy Story, and likes Buzz better than Woody at the moment.
May - email from Grammy while we were in Kauai: "Whenever Danny leaves the room, he turns to us and says 'be right back!'"
July - At his two-year-old checkup, walked happily down the hall and waved "hi" to the doctor when he passed by, like the friendly kid he is. The normally-stoic doctor couldn't help but smile.
July - At our friends' house, he really enjoyed playing with the toy broom and saying “clean!” I told him we were going to the petting zoo
and he said “First clean!” Then I asked
him if he was ready for lunch and he said “Not yet!”
July - Danny was watching Daniel Tiger and Miss Elaina was
being too loud. He looked over and said “She
too loud! Too much noise!” a few times until he was understood.
Then he said “Help me eat it” and put Andy's hand on his pizza so he could
feed him.
August - One night at dinner, he spit food out on purpose and said “I frew up!” We have no idea where he learned that because as far as we know, no one has ever thrown up in front of him. Also, that's not throwing up. :)
August - Reciting along with Dora - You hear dat? Sipah
fox! ("Do you hear that? That's Swiper the Fox!"
August - "I like this song.
More music, I like this song. Roar!"
August - "I pay pee-oh. Mommy's pee-oh." ("I play piano. Mommy's piano.")
August/September school newsletter: "Daniel is so active and full of energy. He loves running around outside! He also likes to play with the puzzles and read books with all of his friends. Such a sweetheart!" I will vouch for that! At home, he LOVES to take the puzzles off the shelf and dump the pieces on the ground, leaving them for Mommy to pick up later. That's how he "does" puzzles. And sometimes we go looking for him, just to find him looking at books in his room. He loves to be read to!
Family update - 2013-14 school year
We had a great year as a family, with lots of milestones and trips!
May 2013 - I graduated from ASU with my doctorate in voice performance. I got to sing the National Anthem and the alma mater at the graduate commencement for the entire university! John turned 5 and graduated from Pre-K.
June 2013 - A trip to Rocky Point and other summer fun!
July 2013 - I did a gig with two other singers as an Andrews Sisters trio, singing for a 4th of July event at the Phoenician. I received my printed and bound dissertation in the mail. Daniel turned one! We replaced the tile floors throughout the house and redid the guest bathroom.
August 2013 - John started Kindergarten and Daniel moved to the toddler room at daycare. Andy and I traveled to Minneapolis for the wedding of two friends.
September 2013 - I did a lunchtime recital at Arizona Opera's new facility downtown. I gave a lecture recital on Elizabeth "Baby Doe" Tabor and sang all four arias from "The Ballad of Baby Doe."
October 2013 - A trip to Rocky Point. John came to an ASU game. For Halloween, John was a ninja and Daniel was a puppy.
December 2013 - This was a very busy month for me, singing-wise. I sang in "Sounds of Christmas" again this year, sang the soprano solos in "Messiah" with the Phoenix Symphony at Grand Canyon arena, and sang "popera" quartets with three other ladies as the group "La Diva" in a benefit concert. I was rehearsing Adele in Die Fledermaus, but that got cancelled at the last minute when the funding fell through. After Christmas, the whole family took a trip to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl. Mom and Dad, Robyn and Keahi, and our four all went to see the Sun Devils take on Texas Tech. We even brought along a babysitter to watch the boys in the hotel room while we went to the game. Sadly, the game was terrible.
February 2014 - Andy had to go to Seattle for work, so the boys and I joined him there. We had a great time at the Seattle Aquarium, Pacific Science Center, Seattle Children's Museum, and John got to build his very first snowman right underneath the Space Needle! Later that month, we went to Disneyland with Grandma and Grandpa.
March 2014 - A trip to Rocky Point and the Renaissance Faire. John earned his white-yellow belt in karate
May 2013 - I graduated from ASU with my doctorate in voice performance. I got to sing the National Anthem and the alma mater at the graduate commencement for the entire university! John turned 5 and graduated from Pre-K.
June 2013 - A trip to Rocky Point and other summer fun!
July 2013 - I did a gig with two other singers as an Andrews Sisters trio, singing for a 4th of July event at the Phoenician. I received my printed and bound dissertation in the mail. Daniel turned one! We replaced the tile floors throughout the house and redid the guest bathroom.
August 2013 - John started Kindergarten and Daniel moved to the toddler room at daycare. Andy and I traveled to Minneapolis for the wedding of two friends.
September 2013 - I did a lunchtime recital at Arizona Opera's new facility downtown. I gave a lecture recital on Elizabeth "Baby Doe" Tabor and sang all four arias from "The Ballad of Baby Doe."
October 2013 - A trip to Rocky Point. John came to an ASU game. For Halloween, John was a ninja and Daniel was a puppy.
December 2013 - This was a very busy month for me, singing-wise. I sang in "Sounds of Christmas" again this year, sang the soprano solos in "Messiah" with the Phoenix Symphony at Grand Canyon arena, and sang "popera" quartets with three other ladies as the group "La Diva" in a benefit concert. I was rehearsing Adele in Die Fledermaus, but that got cancelled at the last minute when the funding fell through. After Christmas, the whole family took a trip to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl. Mom and Dad, Robyn and Keahi, and our four all went to see the Sun Devils take on Texas Tech. We even brought along a babysitter to watch the boys in the hotel room while we went to the game. Sadly, the game was terrible.
February 2014 - Andy had to go to Seattle for work, so the boys and I joined him there. We had a great time at the Seattle Aquarium, Pacific Science Center, Seattle Children's Museum, and John got to build his very first snowman right underneath the Space Needle! Later that month, we went to Disneyland with Grandma and Grandpa.
March 2014 - A trip to Rocky Point and the Renaissance Faire. John earned his white-yellow belt in karate
Daniel update - 2013-14 school year
Our sweet Daniel had a great year! He had a wonderful time in his daycare class and grew tremendously over the year!
Spring/Summer 2013
April/May 2013 school newsletter - "Daniel has accomplished so much this past month. He rolls over, sits up, holds his own bottle, and has two teeth! He will shine in Nursery 2...Daniel is another one coming over from Nursery 1. Miss Bre took care of his older brother almost 4 years ago. We can't wait to see what surprises he has for us as he grows."
July/August 2013 school newsletter - "Daniel is crawling, so watch out! He loves to move all over the place. He is also attempting to stand up while playing in the pit. It won't be much longer now!"
Daniel turned one and had a party at home for family. The theme was "Little Dino". He was definitely a little cranky at the party but a good time was had by all. He still wasn't walking by his first birthday but John was a little late too, so we knew he would be walking shortly!
During this summer, we found out that Daniel has a Hypothalamic Hamartoma, a benign congenital brain tumor. It was found during an MRI as we tried to track down the cause of the eyelid flutter he had since birth. We spent one very scary night in Phoenix Children's Hospital until we got the news the next morning that the tumor was non-cancerous, probably non-growing, and nothing needed to be done at that time. The initial diagnosis was actually just a brain hamartoma with no specification as to the location. We would find out more as the year went on...
Fall 2013
Daniel had a repeat MRI in September that showed no growth of the tumor. Later that same day, he took his first steps and said his first word! We joked that he came out of general anesthesia and decided "Hey, life's too short, I'd better get a move on!" He was 14 months old! He moved up to the toddler room from the baby room on the same day that his big brother started Kindergarten.
September/October 2013 school newsletter - "Daniel has moved out of Nursery 2 and into our toddler room and we are excited to have him with us. He is making friends fast and he loves his one-on-one time."
November/December 2013 school newsletter - Daniel is such a cutie! He has a smile that just melts your heart. He enjoys doing art and he really loves playing on the rocking horses!
By the end of the year, he was almost running and was saying over 20 words, and really receptive to our language usage. He understood everything we said!! He got a reputation for being the most smiley, happy kid around! :)
Early 2014
In December, his case was transferred to the HH team at Phoenix Children's Hospital. Throughout this semester, we had countless appointments with neurosurgery (repeat MRI - no change), neurology (no change), neuropsychology (developmental assessment - normal) and endocrinology (most hormone levels were normal, but cortisol levels were cause for concern, which led to a months-long false alarm about adrenal insufficiency. In May, a retest showed his cortisol levels were fine, which was a huge relief). At the end of the semester, we were released by almost every specialist to yearly or semi-annual appointments.
But really, he was absolutely doing great! He was showing no signs of any issues relating to his tumor and was just a normal one-year-old kiddo.
His language development continued to amaze us. Daniel's quotes are just words, but we like to transcribe them because they look so cute written down:
-In early January, he figured out how to ask for more juice, in three different ways to make sure we got it: "Juice? Mo juice? Juice all gone?"
-February - Pee-po = paper
-March - Mo tee-ta = more tortilla
-April - Uh wuh nee-nuh! = I want dinner!
He really started to get into characters and TV this semester. Early favorites included Mickey Mouse (who he called Nee-Nee), Daniel Tiger, and Sulley from Monsters Inc!
Spring/Summer 2013
April/May 2013 school newsletter - "Daniel has accomplished so much this past month. He rolls over, sits up, holds his own bottle, and has two teeth! He will shine in Nursery 2...Daniel is another one coming over from Nursery 1. Miss Bre took care of his older brother almost 4 years ago. We can't wait to see what surprises he has for us as he grows."
July/August 2013 school newsletter - "Daniel is crawling, so watch out! He loves to move all over the place. He is also attempting to stand up while playing in the pit. It won't be much longer now!"
Daniel turned one and had a party at home for family. The theme was "Little Dino". He was definitely a little cranky at the party but a good time was had by all. He still wasn't walking by his first birthday but John was a little late too, so we knew he would be walking shortly!
During this summer, we found out that Daniel has a Hypothalamic Hamartoma, a benign congenital brain tumor. It was found during an MRI as we tried to track down the cause of the eyelid flutter he had since birth. We spent one very scary night in Phoenix Children's Hospital until we got the news the next morning that the tumor was non-cancerous, probably non-growing, and nothing needed to be done at that time. The initial diagnosis was actually just a brain hamartoma with no specification as to the location. We would find out more as the year went on...
Fall 2013
Daniel had a repeat MRI in September that showed no growth of the tumor. Later that same day, he took his first steps and said his first word! We joked that he came out of general anesthesia and decided "Hey, life's too short, I'd better get a move on!" He was 14 months old! He moved up to the toddler room from the baby room on the same day that his big brother started Kindergarten.
September/October 2013 school newsletter - "Daniel has moved out of Nursery 2 and into our toddler room and we are excited to have him with us. He is making friends fast and he loves his one-on-one time."
November/December 2013 school newsletter - Daniel is such a cutie! He has a smile that just melts your heart. He enjoys doing art and he really loves playing on the rocking horses!
By the end of the year, he was almost running and was saying over 20 words, and really receptive to our language usage. He understood everything we said!! He got a reputation for being the most smiley, happy kid around! :)
Early 2014
In December, his case was transferred to the HH team at Phoenix Children's Hospital. Throughout this semester, we had countless appointments with neurosurgery (repeat MRI - no change), neurology (no change), neuropsychology (developmental assessment - normal) and endocrinology (most hormone levels were normal, but cortisol levels were cause for concern, which led to a months-long false alarm about adrenal insufficiency. In May, a retest showed his cortisol levels were fine, which was a huge relief). At the end of the semester, we were released by almost every specialist to yearly or semi-annual appointments.
But really, he was absolutely doing great! He was showing no signs of any issues relating to his tumor and was just a normal one-year-old kiddo.
His language development continued to amaze us. Daniel's quotes are just words, but we like to transcribe them because they look so cute written down:
-In early January, he figured out how to ask for more juice, in three different ways to make sure we got it: "Juice? Mo juice? Juice all gone?"
-February - Pee-po = paper
-March - Mo tee-ta = more tortilla
-April - Uh wuh nee-nuh! = I want dinner!
He really started to get into characters and TV this semester. Early favorites included Mickey Mouse (who he called Nee-Nee), Daniel Tiger, and Sulley from Monsters Inc!
John update - 2013-14 school year
It has been about a year and a half since I last updated the blog. I always intend to keep track of the fun things the boys say and do, then I tell myself, "Well, I text Mom and Andy with the funny things. One day I will go back and read through them all and then I will put them on the blog." Unsurprisingly, things didn't work out that way. I was able to find a few things, so here is an update on John!
End of Pre-K:
John turned 5 and had an Avengers-themed birthday party at Makutu's Island with 9 friends from school and his two cousins.
He made friends in his class, and I was able to volunteer in his class several times, and chaperone the field trip to the zoo. He really liked his school and all his classes and teachers. Fun activities included: Fall Festival, singing with his class in the Variety Show, grandparents' day in his class, and of course, a party to celebrate finishing Kindergarten.
End of Pre-K:
John turned 5 and had an Avengers-themed birthday party at Makutu's Island with 9 friends from school and his two cousins.
He finished up Pre-K at the end of May 2013 and participated in the graduation. They gave us a DVD with interviews they did with the kids. John said his favorite part of Pre-K was art and holiday parties, and he was most looking forward to homework in Kindergarten!
6/13 - I wrote to my mom: "Wasn't it nice that John was so concerned about your house getting
'robbered your money'? He also told me
when I asked what his teacher's name was "Neil. I think Grandma thinks it
is Nail, but it is Neil."'
Summer 2013:
John went to several summer camps including Math/Science camp, Vacation Bible School at Grammy and Pa's church, and three weeks of sports camp, in which he got to do all the team sports, plus archery and daily swimming lessons. He was really nervous about swimming - the first week, he didn't even get into the water. By the end of the summer he was paddling around on his own! He also went to a week of Kindergarten Prep at his new school. He went in the mornings, wore his uniform, and had a lot of fun figuring out what school would be like.
2013-2014 school year
Kindergarten was a great year for John. He learned to read very early on in the year, and absolutely took off. Reading and writing became his favorite things to do. The other big news academically was that he scored a 99% in math on the district gifted test. This enabled him to be identified as gifted at his school and they were able to begin providing services for him. In addition to being given (marginally) more difficult work, he attended a math class with his gifted teacher once a week, and bonded with the teacher instantly. Outside of that, he didn't progress too much in math in Kindergarten. I was not a big fan of his teacher in general, because I felt she didn't work well with him in either academics or behavior. As a parent, I felt there were some ups and downs in Kindergarten, but as a student I don't think John perceived it that way, so that's great!
He made friends in his class, and I was able to volunteer in his class several times, and chaperone the field trip to the zoo. He really liked his school and all his classes and teachers. Fun activities included: Fall Festival, singing with his class in the Variety Show, grandparents' day in his class, and of course, a party to celebrate finishing Kindergarten.
Outside of school, we went to Rocky Point several times, and he and I had a few dates to see Lion King and Disney Classics at the Symphony. He started taking karate in December and continued to go twice a week for the rest of the school year. He started speech therapy twice a week in May 2013 and was released almost exactly a year later in May 2014.
His interests for the year were dinosaurs, space, and Magic Tree House books!
-He had a best friend for most of the year and was such a tender-hearted kid about him. Apparently this child really admired John's twistable crayons, so for weeks, John told me he needed to buy him Twistables. When I finally told him that his friend's crayons were fine, he pleaded, "Please, mommy, I PROMISED him!" Sweetheart.
-In November, he had a worksheet about hand washing, and he wrote in "Happy Thanksgiving" on the picture of the towel, because that's what we had on our hand towels at the time. He also captioned the picture, "Gurms make me sick!"
-Is
there anything sweeter than your son giving you a ring he picked out at
the elementary school's Christmas boutique? "I will wrap up your other
present, Mommy, but I just couldn't wait until Christmas to give this to
you!"
-On Christmas Eve, he left out a bowl of water for Roodough. He spent a lot of time learning phonogram sounds in school, and -ough does say "off" as one of its sounds. So, John sounded out Rudolph and that's what he came up with.
-March 2014 - "Will the dinosaurs be with us in heaven?"
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Catching up
We have had a whirlwind winter!
December - Daniel did his DOC band (helmet treatment) and finished right before Valentine's Day. His head looks really good and shows a huge improvement. He had a great first Christmas and started eating baby food. He also started daycare on December 26th. John had a wonderful Christmas. Santa brought him a "superhero playset" in the form of a BatCave, and a CuddleUppet (blanket and a puppet). He had a great time in the Christmas show at his preschool and in the Christmas pageant at church. His best quote from this month was "If you ever go to the North Pole, be sure to find Santa and tell him thank you for the CuddleUppet!!!!!!!"
January - Kate, Steve, and their three kids came to visit. Daniel stayed with Grandma and Grandpa, and John and Andy and I went to Disneyland with the Noons! We had a fantastic time, followed by a fun time in Phoenix with them, especially at Rawhide. Daniel started sitting up on his own at 6.5 months.
February - All of us were sick. Daniel had RSV, John had pinkeye, Andy had strep, and I had allergies that turned into a sinus infection. I finished my dissertation and turned it into my committee on March 1st, and also rehearsed and started performing in Die Fledermaus. Daniel got his first tooth at 7.5 months, and is now working on his second tooth at almost 8 months. This has made him a little cranky but he is still pretty happy in general. He is now eating sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, peas, green beans, apples and pears in addition to rice cereal. John has had a bit of a rough time at school with his behavior, but he is working hard at listening and minding. He is very sweet at home and so gentle with his baby brother. He is so excited for kindergarten in the fall. He is doing special math worksheets above and beyond the rest of the class so we are very proud of him!
Daycare newsletter for February-March. (This is our first newsletter with both boys in it!) "Daniel has adjusted nicely to the nursery. He is always such a happy baby and he loves to roll around discovering all kinds of cool toys. He enjoys interacting with his friends and jumping in the jumpy. We are happy to have him with us! . . . John is very smart and is always very eager to learn. He enjoys playing with all his friends and he has a lot of energy!"
March is going to be a great month. Andy and I celebrate our 9 year anniversary, I am receiving my doctorate after my defense on March 22, and we are having the Borkowitzes to visit. We will also have a great Easter!
December - Daniel did his DOC band (helmet treatment) and finished right before Valentine's Day. His head looks really good and shows a huge improvement. He had a great first Christmas and started eating baby food. He also started daycare on December 26th. John had a wonderful Christmas. Santa brought him a "superhero playset" in the form of a BatCave, and a CuddleUppet (blanket and a puppet). He had a great time in the Christmas show at his preschool and in the Christmas pageant at church. His best quote from this month was "If you ever go to the North Pole, be sure to find Santa and tell him thank you for the CuddleUppet!!!!!!!"
January - Kate, Steve, and their three kids came to visit. Daniel stayed with Grandma and Grandpa, and John and Andy and I went to Disneyland with the Noons! We had a fantastic time, followed by a fun time in Phoenix with them, especially at Rawhide. Daniel started sitting up on his own at 6.5 months.
February - All of us were sick. Daniel had RSV, John had pinkeye, Andy had strep, and I had allergies that turned into a sinus infection. I finished my dissertation and turned it into my committee on March 1st, and also rehearsed and started performing in Die Fledermaus. Daniel got his first tooth at 7.5 months, and is now working on his second tooth at almost 8 months. This has made him a little cranky but he is still pretty happy in general. He is now eating sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, peas, green beans, apples and pears in addition to rice cereal. John has had a bit of a rough time at school with his behavior, but he is working hard at listening and minding. He is very sweet at home and so gentle with his baby brother. He is so excited for kindergarten in the fall. He is doing special math worksheets above and beyond the rest of the class so we are very proud of him!
Daycare newsletter for February-March. (This is our first newsletter with both boys in it!) "Daniel has adjusted nicely to the nursery. He is always such a happy baby and he loves to roll around discovering all kinds of cool toys. He enjoys interacting with his friends and jumping in the jumpy. We are happy to have him with us! . . . John is very smart and is always very eager to learn. He enjoys playing with all his friends and he has a lot of energy!"
March is going to be a great month. Andy and I celebrate our 9 year anniversary, I am receiving my doctorate after my defense on March 22, and we are having the Borkowitzes to visit. We will also have a great Easter!
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
So much going on this December!
Daniel is 5 months old, and was baptized on December 2nd. Paul, Tracy, and Leah traveled to Arizona to be his godparents. We are so happy they were able to come!
I was in "Sounds of Christmas", and Andy and John came to see it. After the show, John was pretty excited about the new joke he learned "Knock knock, who's there, Mary, Mary who, Mary Christmas!" He also got another joke wrong but it turned out pretty funny: "What happened when Rudolph ate all the Christmas decorations? He got a sore throat!" (actual punchline: He got tinsel-itis). We also went to see A Christmas Carol together and had a great time.
Daniel is learning lots of new things. He is still rolling a lot, though he is much better at back to front than front to back. We often have to go to him and roll him over when he gets stuck on his tummy. He is learning to use his hands, and is reaching out to touch our faces and clothes, and is playing with toys and rattles. He got his first food last week, rice cereal, and he loves it. We tried sweet potatoes on Monday and his tummy didn't seem to like them so we'll hold off on those for a bit. He is also starting to babble, with sounds like "yeah", "nyah" and "na" (all short a vowels).
John is chatting up a storm and is very friendly with everyone. He loves talking and answering questions and making up stories. He is writing some words (John Will, Mom, Dad, Zoo) without asking how to spell them, reading some words (exit, open) on his own, and is always wanting to make lists and write things down, asking us things like "How do you spell "Who is coming to the Christmas party?" He loves playing pretend too, and always enjoys sitting down and doing worksheet-type activities, though he still needs to run and play most of the time.
John and Daniel are getting along great. Daniel loves to see John and smiles at him all the time. Watching Daniel watch John tell a story is just the greatest thing, as they are both so animated. John also told us the other day "It's true! Danny IS going to like all the things I like, because I like looking out the window while we're driving, and Danny likes looking out the window while we're driving right now!!!" Danny will usually calm down if John sings to him. It's adorable.
We're getting ready for Christmas and having a great time. John loves singing Christmas songs, and he knows all the words to several songs (Rudolph, Silent Night) and some words of other songs ("Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, kiss her once a year!" and "Snowing Christmas songs and cookies, fa la la la...") He was so excited to decorate the tree and wanted to sing Christmas songs while we did it.
Danny has had his helmet for about 2 weeks and we are already noticing a difference! He has a bunch of straight light blonde hair growing in, and it's really cute. He's just such a happy baby who smiles at everyone and everything, and we're just so blessed with our two precious boys.
I was in "Sounds of Christmas", and Andy and John came to see it. After the show, John was pretty excited about the new joke he learned "Knock knock, who's there, Mary, Mary who, Mary Christmas!" He also got another joke wrong but it turned out pretty funny: "What happened when Rudolph ate all the Christmas decorations? He got a sore throat!" (actual punchline: He got tinsel-itis). We also went to see A Christmas Carol together and had a great time.
Daniel is learning lots of new things. He is still rolling a lot, though he is much better at back to front than front to back. We often have to go to him and roll him over when he gets stuck on his tummy. He is learning to use his hands, and is reaching out to touch our faces and clothes, and is playing with toys and rattles. He got his first food last week, rice cereal, and he loves it. We tried sweet potatoes on Monday and his tummy didn't seem to like them so we'll hold off on those for a bit. He is also starting to babble, with sounds like "yeah", "nyah" and "na" (all short a vowels).
John is chatting up a storm and is very friendly with everyone. He loves talking and answering questions and making up stories. He is writing some words (John Will, Mom, Dad, Zoo) without asking how to spell them, reading some words (exit, open) on his own, and is always wanting to make lists and write things down, asking us things like "How do you spell "Who is coming to the Christmas party?" He loves playing pretend too, and always enjoys sitting down and doing worksheet-type activities, though he still needs to run and play most of the time.
John and Daniel are getting along great. Daniel loves to see John and smiles at him all the time. Watching Daniel watch John tell a story is just the greatest thing, as they are both so animated. John also told us the other day "It's true! Danny IS going to like all the things I like, because I like looking out the window while we're driving, and Danny likes looking out the window while we're driving right now!!!" Danny will usually calm down if John sings to him. It's adorable.
We're getting ready for Christmas and having a great time. John loves singing Christmas songs, and he knows all the words to several songs (Rudolph, Silent Night) and some words of other songs ("Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, kiss her once a year!" and "Snowing Christmas songs and cookies, fa la la la...") He was so excited to decorate the tree and wanted to sing Christmas songs while we did it.
Danny has had his helmet for about 2 weeks and we are already noticing a difference! He has a bunch of straight light blonde hair growing in, and it's really cute. He's just such a happy baby who smiles at everyone and everything, and we're just so blessed with our two precious boys.
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