Spring/Summer 2015

Once again, as usual, I have so much that I could talk about that it overwhelms me and so I keep putting it off. But as usual also, I think you're at least documenting some information rather than none is still worth it. Greta is a super Great talker, and now says up to 10 word sentences at times. She strings thoughts together like any two or three-year-old. She is very cute, and definitely has us wrapped around her finger at times, although we try not to do that. Her hair is getting Longer so it's been fun to do it differently's. We just finally had bangs cut for her for the first time a couple weeks ago. Georgie is no longer a little toddler at all, he is all boy, and a very handsome very smart boy, at that. he is definitely learning all about feelings and motivations and proper social behavior. He is very self-sustaining, which helps me out a lot. He is very good at getting dressed by himself and both kids help me around the house with chores, which is really nice. We just started to casually implement chores for him, and have trained been trying to have him make his bed in the mornings, and they both often help me set the table for breakfast. Feel like helping transfer laundry for me and putting it in the laundry basket. Georgie is way way way too into watching videos, and George and I feel guilty about it often, but sometimes we just really need him to do that so that we can get things done or sleep in a little. He still wakes up pretty early – usually anytime between 615 and 645. I've pretty much let go of the hope that I can get him to sleep later. But we've really been pretty consistent about making him stay in his bed until 7 o'clock and read books, and then he can watch videos after 7 o'clock. He still takes a nap usually, though some days he really doesn't seem that tired. There was a period of time A couple months ago where I decided to not push his nap, and give him the option of quiet time for. He fell asleep every single day for like two weeks during his quiet time! And then he basically just started saying that he would like to nap instead of quiet time. But some days he just doesn't go down that easily. It depends on our life and what's going on, And how much we are staying up later at night, which is really hard during the summer because it stays light so late. So when he gets to bed later I usually do make him do a nap, and I adjust his week time based on how long nights sleep he got. I do the same thing with Greta. She usually stays awake about 4 1/2 to 5 hours before going down for her nap. There have been a couple chunks of time where I got her to be doing a 2 to 2 1/2 hour nap, but being the summer and staying up later than I would prefer, she just frequently is overtired, and so therefore only does about an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half nap. It frustrates the heck out of me that I can't seem to ever get her caught up and haven't been able to get her to go back to her longer naps and probably like a month now. It's really hard during the summer though, and generally both can't act fine even when they are a little bit overtired, so I really really try to let it go. I'm definitely more anal about it then most of my friends, I'm finding. It's actually quite deal in my life and takes up a lot of my thoughts – their sleep! It's kind of sad I know. Right now, Greta usually goes down anytime between 630 and 730 at night – usually closer to 730. And Georgie goes down around eight or 830. I have definitely thought several times about forcing him to stay awake all day, so that he would go down easier at bedtime, because a lot of times it takes up to an hour to fall asleep. But sometimes it's just so nice to have that time alone during the day when their naps overlap, and he really does like his nap, so I haven't made him give it up yet. So that's their sleep right now. As far as eating, Greta is still pretty picky. We never cater to her though, and always offer her what we're having for dinner. Often times she'll just end up picking at it, and a large majority of her diet consists of fruit. She loves all fruit. She does like cucumbers fairly well, and carrots somewhat, that is as long as they are dipped in ranch. :) she likes cheese a lot and loves all things sweet. She is always asking about dessert and candy and cookies and cake. It's really sad :(. it's frustrating because she will eat chicken if we make her, and I find myself half having to feed her dinner to her with a spoon or fork, rather than her eating at herself, to make her eat it. She likes cereal and sort of will eat toast although she usually licks the jelly off. :) she asks to drink my coffee, and when I have given her drinks of it she really does seem to like it. And I do put cream and sugar, but not a ton of it, so it's kind of funny that she still likes it. Georgie is a really pretty good eater. He eats most things we give him, and we have found bribery to be very useful with both kids when we want them to eat something or more of something. It's kind of sad, but we will sometimes bribe them with dessert and it will help them to eat more. They were both getting in the habit of not eating very much of their meals, and then snacking too much in between meals because they would be hungry. Greta still asks for a banana first thing almost every morning, so we go through so many bananas. And I do think she really is hungry when she wakes up because she doesn't usually eat a ton of dinner. we do still try to eat generally healthy as a family though, and I buy all whole-wheat things and I try to keep lots of fruits and vegetables on hand, and we always offer those as a snack first, or string cheese, which the kids love to. We've been doing frozen bananas and frozen grapes as well, and they really like those. They also like smoothies when I think to make them. It's made me much more conscious of what I'm eating, and how much dessert I really do crave and eat. I am really trying to get a handle on it so I can be a better example for them. Georgie just memorized the Pledge of Allegiance because of a program enstroms was doing where they would get free ice cream if they recited the Pledge of Allegiance. With all the repeating we were doing, Greta actually memorized a fair chunk of it too. It's amazing! Her cute little squeaky crackly whiny voice, which is just her normal voice and really cute and hilarious, saying the Pledge of Allegiance. I've been trying to get it on video but it's really hard to pin her down and say all of it. Especially for the camera :-) Georgie is definitely starting to show more of an interest in reading, and he's been asking how to spell words and sometimes he'll write letters and then ask me what that word is. If it's a word that is phonetic and follows the general rules, I will have him sounded out and we will spell it together. I am slightly wondering if he might have dyslexia slightly, because George did, and sometimes Georgie will put letters that are supposed to be at beginning at the end of words – only a couple times, and it seems like there was something else he did that made me suspicious. So it's definitely on my radar, but I'm not worried about it because it's very treatable and will get through it if he does have it. But I think you definitely will start reading and writing words in this next year. I think that he is very socially smart. Sometimes I see other kids around his age that are kind of unaware of their social situation, and Georgie is always very aware. He's sensitive to peoples thoughts and feelings, and it is just really fun and exciting to see him learning about the world in this way. I love him so much! I just don't want him to grow anymore, because he is my sweet handsome smart dashing funny little boy. he is learning about the fruits of the spirit, and is definitely more aware about sharing and taking turns, which leads me to my next absolute joy – Georgie and Greta have been playing together! just in the last couple months, now that Greta is talking well, and understands everything we say, and is very mobile and runs around just like Georgie, they have realized that they can play with one another, and it is so so so adorable! I'll just start playing tag or hide and seek together, and I think Greta is just getting much more fun for Georgie, because she's more on his level now. they'll write on their hot wheels car together, and Georgie will push her down the roller coaster in the backyard. And they'll play drive-through in their little play car in the backyard. And the other morning when Greta came into the family room where Georgy was watching videos she said "I love you georgie" and he said (slightly annoyed, but atleast he still said it!) "I love you too Gretta"! I died! I melted! We really try to instill in them a love for one another, and how they need to protect each other and watch over each other and love each other. I so hope that this will continue throughout their life. I definitely think that Georgie will be a very protective loving big brother. The other day George and I were talking about something in the front seat, and sometimes Gretta will just say "what you talking bout?" And the other day when I walked in the backyard at my moms house, I heard her get up at her little kiddie table and shout to the other three kids in the sandbox "hey evybody - look at me!" So cute! Teeth. Greta has been getting quite a few more, and now has at least three of her incisors. She might even have her fourth one coming through now. You kind of just stopped keeping track at some point. I can definitely still tell when she's teething, and her insides hurt or rough, just like they were for Georgie. But she actually has a pretty full mouth of teeth now, and I think all that she will need after that is her molars. I am so so so glad to be finished with the worst of the teething. Greta definitely can get really angry and threw temper tantrum sometimes. It seems like she doesn't maybe more little more than Georgie dad. She's just kind of a drama queen sometimes, and definitely likes being the center of attention sometimes. She also is a physical touch girl, and really likes to be held by mommy a lot. So I really try to give in and hold her a fair bit because I think it's one of her love languages. she is pretty independent, and definitely likes to do everything that big brother likes to do. She always wants to sit in his car seat, and buy our own car seat, and lots of things like that, that George he never asked to do – but probably because he didn't have a bigger sibling that he was watching do it. So it's definitely a second child thing. They been going back-and-forth about doing preschool for Georgie next year, but it's hard for me to justify it when I just really don't think he needs it. He is very on track, if not advanced, and I do preschool like activities with him at home. And he is very socialized between church and mopped and play dates and small group. I'm thinking we may just do some preschool with him one semester before heel start school, so next spring of 2016. We're starting to think about schooling too. We were kind of wanting to do the dual immersion academy, but now that we're moving, scenic elementary is in our neighborhood and would be his school, and it has a very good reputation for being One of the best public schools in town. So we really need to start putting a lot of thought into that and researching some of the schools. Georgie is still in gymnastics and loves it. He has also been taking a sports class this summer through parks and rack, where he learns a few different sports. In June he learned about baseball soccer kickball and football. And in July it's all open soccer. It's been fun to for him to learn about sports. he seems to be a decent soccer player. We also did a little cooking class that was a one time thing, and we made some little snacks and that was fun for him. He does still like to help me cook and bake, when I'll let him :-) Since credit will be too soon, I'd like to get her involved in a dance class, and probably will do that this fall. She enjoys watching George he do his sports and gymnastics though. :-) I'm really excited that the kids are going to get to see their house being built. I think I will be really fun and learning experience for them, especially Georgie. I'm sure there is so much that I am forgetting, but I will try to be better about doing shorter blog posts when I have thoughts. Hopefully this is a good account though of our lives for the last few months. :-) - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone Tara Gatseos