That is the way to....Craigslist

Lately, Abraham has become interested (read: obsessed) with where roads lead.  When he is reading a story,  and sees a road or a track, he asks us, where it goes.  If it's a Thomas book, I usually say Misty Island or the station and if it's a regular book I say "home" or something.  If we are driving, I can usually give generic answers like "Grammy's house, Grandma's house, or Kidswork" depending on the direction. 

Well, yesterday we were going to the Hazelton mall.  Brahm asked where a road leads and Jeremy replied, "That's the way to where Daddy got your [Noah's] ark bed."  Brahm said, "That's the way to Craigslist!"

Anna keeps growing.  She still hasn't figured out crawling but always finds a way to get to the toys she wants to play with. She really likes to take apart the puzzles that Brahm puts together.  Ahh, sibling love. 

A Long Overdue Post

It has been 6 months since I last posted in this blog!  (Sorry, Heather!)  I always think I should update Abraham and Anna's fan base with exciting adventuress, but then I usually post them to Facebook instead and I don't want to double post things. 

Well, an update: Anna is now 8 months old!  She moves around the room with a combination of stretching, spinning, and rolling.  She would LOVE to learn to crawl, but she's too impatient to learn.  She ends up frustrated and just rolls to what she wants.  Jeremy is trying to teach her to walk instead.  She has started to take steps when you are holding your hands.  She stands when you place her on furniture.  She thinks about cruising, but hasn't started yet.  She doesn't pull her self up on furniture yet, but does in the bathtub since there is a handle at the perfect level.  She is eating a combination of puree and finger foods, with much preference for the finger foods.  She ate half of a hot dog roll at the camp reunion today.  She loves drinking out of an open cup and does well with a sippy cup too.  She started asking me to sleep train her a few weeks ago by waking up hourly.  She is much better at naps (much to Abraham's delight) and sleeps until about 5am at night.  It's a little early for me, but better than hourly visits.  She still has no teeth. 

She loves her Aunt Emmy, here is a picture of the two of them at the Staff Reunion today. 

 

 

Abraham is such a little boy! Since I last wrote he turned 3 and (dare I write it) seems to be potty trained!  We registered him for Preschool this fall.  He is going to Bible School at the same church this week.  I'm hoping that some of the same kids will be in his class so he can have familiar faces come fall.  We are busy with weekly activities with Brahm.  Mondays are Toddler Time at the Library, Tuesdays are Occupation Therapy at Kidswork, Wednesdays Brahm goes to a "Roll with me" gymnastics.  And throw in some double stroller and backpack rides to the park, we are a busy family!

 

Abraham's Occupation Therapy is going fantastic! Proof?

 

This picture:

 

Abraham's occupation delay is a result of ( we think) a few things: balance,  a "vestibular issue", left side weakness, and possible his vision.  We actually aren't sure. But when we started OT last October, he wasn't climbing the stairs independently, wasn't jumping, and would constantly want us to hold his hand when we were outside on uneven ground.  He hated the swing.  He wasn't secure on it and didn't want it to swing at all.  Even a few weeks ago he wanted to get off right away. But today...he wanted to go on the swing A LOT!  And he swung fairly high!  I am so proud of him!  He also climbs the ladder to his bunk beds independently and has started to try to jump.  (He can on a trampoline holding on to something, but not just on the floor or off of a ledge).  We are so proud of his improvement.

We joined a CSA this year.  We have a partial share this year, so we get 6-9 items weekly.   Last weeks was:

 











 

 

 

Do you see how almost every thing was green and leafy?  Yeah, so the bunches weren't labeled.  So I tried to google image to match the names ( Komatsuna, Tatsoi, Radishes, Napa Cabbage, Bok Choy, Chinese Cabbage) with the leaves.  It didn't work.  So I just made whatever I wanted with whatever vegetable it was.  I mean green and leafy taste basically the same when sautéed right? 

Who Nu?

Abraham has been learning signs as apart of his Occupational Therapy. He asked for a cookie so I asked him to sign "cookie, please, thank you"  He did so I gave him a homemade chocolate chip. He looks up, almost tearfully says, "wanted a who nu cookie." 

What a crazy kid!

Today

I tried to make homemade ornaments with Brahm today. Didn't work. He didn't want to help cut them out or decorate them. I have half of them left so I'll try again tomorrow. I think he might be more excited if I start hanging them on the tree.

Here are some cute conversations we had today.

A: I want to go to the basement after nap.
M: A OK
A: A OK spells nap.
M: no, NAP spells nap.

A:Tomorrow is Saturday  Brahm will take a day off on Saturday.
M and D: what are you doing on your day off?
A: play. Play some more, lunch, play a little, take a nap, play.
M: sounds like a good day off to me.

Now I'm going to rock Anna to sleep and give Abraham a big hug when I check his covers.

Spelling

While playing with his letters puzzle...

M: what word do you want to spell next?
B: mixed vegetables

An update

I guess it is well past time for me to update the header of this blog. 

Abraham and Anna have had quite the adventures in the past 8 weeks.  Abraham has been learning what it means to be a big brother.  That means sharing Mommy and Daddy sometimes.  He does pretty good but once in awhile asks me to put Anna back in the playpen if he wants 1:1 time and I am busy. 

Abraham has been receiving occupational therapy once a week through the early intervention program.  He has a balance issue which has led to a delay in his gross motor development.  Even though he only has been receiving the service for about 7 weeks, we definitely see an improvement in his confidence and abilities. It's great to see!  His OT suggested we sign him up for gymnastics, so tomorrow is his first day.  I think Jeremy will be taking him most of the time, but it will be neat to see how much fun he has learning to jump and roll. 

Anna had her two month well visit a few days early.  She is now 11lbs and 23 inches long.  She is almost exactly where Abraham was at two months.  They are following the same growth curve too:  50% in weight and head circumference and 85% in height.  She amazed me this morning and fell asleep on her own for her nap in her pack and play while Brahm and I were playing around her.  Abraham NEVER did that.  Anna's sleep last night was pretty amazing too, but I can't say too much about it, since I attribute the length to her getting her shots yesterday. 

Brahm doesn't yet have an internal filter. We were putting him to bed and he wanted to look out the window. We told him it was dark and could look in the morning. He says " I'll look out when mommy and daddy leaves"