Five

It is hard to believe that our beautiful baby girl turned 5! For some reason five seems like such a momentous number...maybe because it signifies such big changes, with Kindergarten (yikes!) coming up this fall.

We have definitely seen such huge changes in Amanda this year. In the past twelve months, she has shot up in height (although her weight has stayed pretty much steady), and her hair had grown almost to her waist until we cut it just after her birthday. She has also become a very competent reader and is well on her way to reading short chapter books. Her vocabulary is amazing; she picks up on new words in conversations and then uses them until she's figured out the right context. She's also remarkably perceptive for her age and the conversations we have with her are definitely not what we ever expected for a 5-year-old! Her writing and drawing skills have improved immensely; when we flipped through her preschool album at the end of the year, it was neat to see the early versions of her own name compared to the later ones. She has a great imagination and loves playing complicated make-believe games...sometimes we are in trouble if we don't follow along with all the convoluted rules! We were also so proud of her at preschool this year – she was the only new child in a class of 10 kids, the rest of whom had all spent the whole year together last year. She adapted remarkably and made a lot of new friends.

One of the best things about Amanda's 5th year has been seeing her adapt to the addition of Sam to our family. It's hard to believe that a year ago she was still an only child! We have been so thrilled to see what a great big sister she is – patient (for the most part), excited to see Sam growing and changing, and always instructing him. It's so much fun to listen to her talking to him. Now that she's reading she also loves to read him stories. For his part, Sam adores his big sister and we fully expect his first word to be some version of "Amanda"!

Of course Amanda is also a typical 5 year old in a lot of other ways too; all too often we get glimpses into what our life will be like when she hits her teenage years. She is definitely capable of giving us a lot of attitude on a fairly regular basis! She also has meltdowns over seemingly small things, especially when she is tired or hungry.

We could not be more proud of our beautiful, crazy, funny, smart girl and the person she is becoming! We love you Amanda!

(Music is Evermore by Alison Krauss, which I blogged about here.)

A Little July 4th Awesomeness...

Summer - Day 4

Summer - Day 4
Originally uploaded by JenJeff

Being at home has really taught me to see the relationship between our kids in a more close manner. Usually when I get home from work they are tired and grouchy.

I can't believe the circus we had today in the Mall. A simple walk in the mall which would normally take about 5 minutes turns into a 2 hour jamboree. We stop at every little ride on toy (which we don't $$ for) and climb over them as if they are a really expensive jungle gym. I thought we were through this stage already!

Sam decided that he wanted to join his sister on this 2 person train contraption (it doesn't look like a train). It is about 2-3 feet off the ground and he decided that he would test my heart's reflexes by fake falling off the edge while laughing as if he didn't notice that his life was in my hands (how naive). Amanda then decided to proceed across the train by scaling the side like she's Marty from "Back To The Future" to join her brother. All of this mayhem and we still manage to make it out of the mall alive!

On to our next adventure!

First Day of Summer

First Day of Summer
Originally uploaded by JenJeff

Mmmm $1.00 breakfast! Well actually more like $21 after all of the upgrades. Not the healthiest breakfast but sure is convenient! Not only do we get fed but we get to spend hundreds of dollars at Ikea!

So the first "official" day of summer for us begins. This is "Dad" reporting. We have an extremely long list of things that need to get done in the house and the summer is already filled with activities (which include 1 week of school where I'm doing some administrative work... at least it will help fund the home reno projects!)

Amanda and Sam seem to be quite a handful these days. Sam's new tooth has caused him to walk around with a portable version of the Niagara falls. It just sits below his chin. I think we'll go shopping for some super absorbent clothes for him later today. Kinda like the ones that that guy in the paper towel commercial. Amanda asks about 1 million questions per minute. I think that we should have a new game show called, "Can You Survive 5 Minutes with a Curious 5 Year Old?" It will be a hit amongst parents. Or not...

Day 1 seems to be going well. Not much is getting accomplished but that is what summer is all about! Enjoy.

10 Month Sam Update

Wow, once again it's been awhile since we've posted! Here's a quick update on Sam as he has just turned 10 months old (ack...where has the time gone?!?).

We posted at 8 months that the big news was mobility...well multiply that by 10! By 9 months Sam was crawling very well and pulling himself up on almost anything (even a flat wall). Now at 10 months he seems very close to walking. He walks very well holding on to only a single finger (even if we're beside him and not behind him), and we can see that he really doesn't need it; it's just a security blanket at this point. He can stand for several seconds not holding on to anything, as long as he doesn't notice he's doing it! As soon as her realizes he's not holding on, he sits down on his bum or grabs onto whatever is in front of him. He can climb stairs - he doesn't do it at our house as the staircase is big, but he loves the small 4-step stairs at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Some more exciting news...Sam is signing! He has a definite sign for "more" (although it isn't the normal one that we taught him...he's kind of made up his own sign) and he's using it whenever he wants to tell us anything. So we're working on "milk", "diaper change", "food", and "water" (and a few others thrown in as well). Hopefully he will pick up some more signs soon so he can communicate with us even better! But we are thrilled that he's even doing any signs at this point - Amanda didn't start until after her first birthday. Hooray Sam!

Other Sam stuff:

• He loves to wave! And he knows the word, because if we ask him to wave at someone he'll do it even if we don't demonstrate!
  
• He still loves books, and is very good at turning the pages on his own.
  
• He continues to eat well, although all new foods are greeted with an extremely dubious face. But we haven't found anything he absolutely won't eat (knock on wood). He has also finally gotten the hang of finger foods...we started introducing some cheerios and small pieces of cheese, etc. just after 8 months and it's only in the past few weeks that he's really gotten the hang of it. Of course, now he wants to put everything in his mouth, including bits of yuckiness that he finds on the floor. Oh well...comes with the territory!
  
• He is a really happy baby and treats us to random laughter at regular intervals. He has a funny laugh, kind of a barking "ha, ha, ha" noise, and he loves to laugh when others are laughing. Sometimes he makes us feel extra-funny when we tell a joke and laughs at it!
  
• He definitely has a mischievous side. When we put him down he will automatically go for the one thing in the room that he's not supposed to touch. He also loves to crawl up onto the fireplace (strictly forbidden) as soon as I have my back turned, and has come dangerously close to turning off the computer a number of times by pushing that lovely power button on the front!
  
• Despite starting out a lot fairer than Amanda did, he has taken after his Dad and sister in automatically turning 50 shades darker as soon as he gets into sunshine, even with super-powered sunscreen on. Oh well, at least he will hopefully be like Amanda and not burn!

Some photos to share:

Hanging out in his booster seat at 8.5 months:


Total blackmail photo - nice outfit dude!Around 9 months:


9 month photo - 18 lbs, 4 oz and around 27":


A nice family shot on Mother's Day (9.5 months):


Playing with some friends at Babyeats, 9.5 months:


First time at the pool (9.5 months):


Sam signing! 9.5 months:


Getting into mischief, 9.5 months:


Eating cheese and demonstrating his funny laugh, also 9.5 months:


Big boy at 10 months! About 19 lbs, 6 oz and just over 27" long: