Our blossoming Picasso

Ian's class is studying colors, shapes, veggies and turtles this week. Yesterday they covered veggies and this is his beautiful coloring of Cookie Monster eating a salad. It's difficult to see, but he even colored the salad with a green crayon. Looks like he also tried coloring Cookie Monster with blue crayon but missed the mark just a wee bit. Way to go little guy!

Isn't it beautiful?

Saturday was beautiful for the park

There's nothing quite like our fall weather here in Colorado. It's just right. Not too hot, not too cold. We took advantage of the beautiful weather on Saturday and loaded the kids up in their wagon for playtime at the park. We do this about every other night, weather permitting. The kids love the wagon because they can see each other and I think they just like the movement. They can't touch so Ian's not pulling out Charlotte's pacifier and Charlotte's not pinching Ian. You get the picture.

Here are more pictures from one of our many visits to the park. We think this next one is telling of days to come. Ian figured out that he could pull his sister around in the wagon. He was thrilled. She was wondering what in the heck was going on with the four-wheeling wagon!

Miss Charlotte just loves to swing.

Ian wanted up on everything. Daddy was more than obliging. And here's one to just wrap up our weekend. This is not an uncommon view at our house. The person who said that children should not watch TV doesn't have two under two to wrangle while getting dinner cooked and diapers changed with bedtime fast approaching. Thank heaven's for PBS Sprout!

Little Soccer Dude

I finally got a picture of Ian in his soccer uniform. Ian's best time of day is right after sleep so mornings are usually filled with activity at our house. Here's our little imp trying to to escape out the front door and reach the phone.

It's a wonder I was able to get in front of him long enough to snap a photo at all!


This week, Ian and Robert went alone to soccer because having me and Charlotte there is simply too distracting. One of these weeks I'll see if Nana can come over so I can sneak in and get in action pictures for you. Really, it's hysterical to see these 18-24 month olds trying to do anything organized. I think Robert got more excercise than Ian did!

Houston, we have a tooth

Miss Charlotte, or "Cissy" as Ian calls her, has just sprouted her first tooth! We discovered the new arrival on Saturday during our daily tooth check. She was a little cranky and kept waking up a few nights last week and we thought she had my cold. Turns out the little stinker was just cutting teeth. She's much more agreeable than Ian is while teething. She's got a good dose of baby tylenol on board and good to go!

The difference between "cheese" and "please"

There is a difference between asking for cheese and saying please. Unfortunately both of these words sound the same when they come from Ian's mouth. Luckily he's learned how to sign those two words and our little squishy-faced boy doesn't have to pitch a fit when he's asking for his cheese anymore.

Oh, and Charlotte is picking up on "more" which makes getting her banana melt-away's delivered quickly much more convenient. :)

Just keeping the tears to a minimum because soon Charlotte will also be a toddler and let me tell you...having two toddlers will more than likely test every shred of patience we have. It's a good thing they're cute.

Ponder this...

As someone pointed out today, Jesus was just a community organizer, and Pontius Pilate was a governor with "responsibilities." Have faith. It's downright Christian.

Source: http://community.adn.com/adn/node/130537#comment-377963

Promotion

People on the move
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 09/03/2008 11:32:39 PM MDT

RSM McGLADREY INC.: Announced the promotion in the Denver area of Brian French from manager to director of IT consulting; Josh Kettle from manager to director of risk- management consulting; Chris Kutt from supervisor to manager of sales; Robert Edwards from associate to senior associate of the internal client server; Matt Bailey from supervisor to manager of IT consulting; Joel Yager from associate to senior associate of IT consulting; Laurie Maciag from manager to director of tax; and Kristin Burg from supervisor to manager of tax.

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_10374426

Signing 4 Baby

In working with Ian's speech delays we are learning sign language to help him communicate. It's working great! Not only can he tell us that he wants more food, but he's learning very useful signs like "hot", "more", "cheese", "want", "fruit", "sister", "milk", "cookie", "juice", "water", "bath", "mad", "shhhh" (everyone knows that one), "car", "keys", and "shoes". He's learning them nearly as fast as we are! About the time he learns the sign he also begins to verbalize the word and it helps him make that connection.

A few of you have recently asked me about what we used to learn sign language. I purchased a DVD set from Signing 4 Baby and it has been great! We can put the DVD's in and learn while while Ian is also learning. Charlotte is getting it too and is picking up the sign for "more." You can learn more by going to www.signing4baby.com. Even Ian's speech therapist likes what she sees and is happy to see that there are tools like this that are affordable and easy to use. If you're looking for a sign language resource for your little neanderthal I liked this one.

Shameless plug over & out!

Our Blossoming Girl

Charlotte is blossoming! Our once quiet & mellow baby has turned into a talkative, constantly moving, gets into everything little menace. She loves to yell, screech, and is saying "dada", "baba", "hi" and has recently started waving.



She's suddenly chalk full of personality and spunk. She's very much into eating paper, pulling hair, and chewing the side rails of her crib. Lately she's learned that she can get some movement by throwing herself back in her high chair. Her brother finds this terribly amusing also. She's also finding great joy in standing up at the leather ottoman in the family room and gumming that while making sounds. Any more she wants nothing to do with her Jumperoo because she'd much rather be climbing up on something and working on getting up the stairs.




She's started on some table foods. If it's something that's not spicy and can be chopped up to oblivion she's eating it. She's into the fruit melt-aways at the moment. Her pincer grasp is developing so she's getting much better at getting those into her mouth on her own. Rice crackers are a favorite because she can hold those in her mouth on her own. She's also taking a sippy cup with her formula or water in it. She might not put up much of a fight getting her off the bottle. The pacifier will be another story.


Charlotte is getting very social. She sticks her arm straight out and waves her hand at people. Ian is also very social and the two of them are a crack up at the grocery store. Her 9 month well-baby visit is this next Friday and I'll be able to post her stats then. She's still fitting into a lot of her 6 month clothes and is mostly wearing 6-9 months. She's about average statistically for size which gives me great hope that she'll be able to buy pants off the rack when she's an adult. I can tell you what a pain it is to find slacks that are long enough or a prom date that's taller than you. Hopefully, issues she won't have to worry with. For now I'm hopeful that her very long fingers have a musical future. ;)


Will post again after her appointment on Friday. Have a good week.

Ian's Soccer Schedule

For any one who is interested, here's Ian's soccer schedule. Of course we'll post pictures since Charlotte and I will be attending as cheerleaders. (I have experience, you know! LOL.) Maybe we'll meet some more kids the same age as Ian outside of daycare for weekend play dates. Unfortunately soccer is scheduled at the same time as the art & music classes I was hoping to take him to, but those can wait until after soccer is done. Nothing wrong with a well-rounded activity schedule.

Ian is on the "Bunny" team which starts at 9:00 AM. Guess good old daddy will have to get his hiney end out of bed for once. He'll find absolutely no sympathy from me.

1. - 9/6/2008 - Sat

2. - 9/13/2008 - Sat

3. - 9/20/2008 - Sat

4. - 9/27/2008 - Sat

5. - 10/4/2008 - Sat

6. - 10/11/2008 - Sat

7. - 10/18/2008 - Sat

8. - 10/25/2008 - Sat

9. - 11/1/2008 - Sat

10. - 11/8/2008 - Sat

11. - 11/15/2008 - Sat

12. - 11/22/2008 - Sat

We're hoping that our friends sign up their little guy for the same time so we can go across the street to Perk & Play for some coffee & a crepe afterwards while the boys play with the trains. Hint, hint if you're reading this Scott & Jen!