School's Out!

Today was Emily's last day of Preschool! She has gone to the same school for the last two years and next year....we're off to Kindergarten.

Below: The official "last day of school" picture.

Below: The first day of this school year.

I know I'm biased...but she's pretty cute!

And here she is after school today. I'm not sure if she could be much more of a ham.

We will miss her preschool. It was small and family-oriented and they took great care of our Emily (which wasn't always easy!). Next year, Miss Em will start Kindergarten at a local Christian school. She's excited...for now. But change is always tough for her. It's going to take some adjusting for all of us, because we all do well with a set schedule, but I'm looking forward to a nice summer.

Ethan at 10 Months

Ethan:

Today you are 10 months old! Only two months until your very first birthday. The year is going by so fast and you are growing and changing every day.

You weigh, by my best guess, about 17 lbs. 8 oz. and are roughly almost 28 inches long. You're still hanging out around the 3rd percentile for weight, but I'm beginning to think that's just the way it's going to be, at least for a while.

This month, you've been keeping us all busy. You are a mover and a shaker! You crawl all over the place...and you crawl fast. You will bop up and down to the music if we say either, "Dance, baby, dance!" or "shake it, baby, shake it!" You also learned how to shake your head when we say "no-no". I will ask you if you want something or say "no-no" and you will get a big grin on your face and start shaking your head back and forth. It's quite funny.

You love to stand up, and you're quite good at pulling yourself up on just about anything. You like to stand at the sliding doors and look out into the backyard. Just today, you've also started bouncing up and down on your tip-toes, almost like you're trying hard to jump. It's pretty entertaining, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit. You roll, crawl, pull up, cruise and climb over things. In short, you're into everything. A new baby gate for the living room is being shipped as we speak; something we never needed for your big sister!

You have your two bottom middle teeth, your two top "vampire fangs" and you're working on your top two middle teeth. Teething makes you just a wee bit cranky, but we're getting through it. You drink three bottles a day and have three meals a day, plus snacks here and there. So far, I haven't found anything you refuse to eat. You still love cheerios and crackers, but really, anything is fair game. Your only rule: don't make you wait when you're hungry.

This month, you've had a few "first" experiences. You got to take your first ride on a swing at the playground, while waiting for Emily's class to finish up their field trip. You weren't 100% convinced that it was fun, but you thought it was okay.

You also got to take your first family trip to the zoo. It was a gorgeous day and we had a picnic lunch and then toured the zoo. You also got your first little touch of sunburn on your face...oops! We tried to keep you shaded, but you've got my fair skin. Thankfully, it wasn't bad and it didn't seem to bother you at all.

You are a busy little fellow who is growing and changing so fast. I can't wait to see what this next month brings! We love you!

Happenings

Happening here lately:

Today, after Emily got home from school and we had run a few errands, I took a moment to go to the bathroom. When I came out, Emily was yelling to me something to the effect of, "Mom, hurry...you've got to see this! Come on!"

Those words could be good....or could be bad. Thankfully, it wasn't anything too bad. Emily had noticed a caterpillar on the front step and had managed to capture it in a little play tea cup. She was quite proud of herself (even though she knew she wasn't supposed to go outside without asking first!). Her preschool class has been watching caterpillars turn into cocoons and soon butterflies, so Miss Em was very excited to announce that this caterpillar would soon be a butterfly too.

I informed her that we didn't have the right kind of food to feed it, and so if we kept it in the house (ewww!) it would die. It wouldn't have a chance to be a butterfly if it lived in our house, but if we let it go back outside, it could eat and explore and eventually become a butterfly. Emily was quite sad, but she agreed that she didn't want it to die. I asked her if she wanted to go take it outside, to which she replied, "I don't want to touch it!", so I offered to take it out for her. She said a sad goodbye to the caterpillar and then I took it back outside (in the cup of course, because ewww!) and let it go in the weeds, umm, I meant, flower garden. Then I continued on to get the trash can and recycling can and wheel them back behind the house.

When I got back inside, I heard sobbing coming from the bathroom. When Emily came out, she was crying and saying, "I just miss the caterpillar so much. I loved him! I named him Buggy Bug. I LOVED Buggy Bug. I'm so sad. I will miss him so much. I prayed that God will keep Buggy Bug safe." etc.....

There's a lot of drama in our house. Heaven help us when this kid is a teenager. I request your prayers now. We're going to need them.

And, because it relates to the caterpillar story, another Emily story:

A few weeks ago, Emily saw a commercial on the Disney channel for a kit that you can buy to grow your own butterflies. You get a butterfly house, 5 butterfly larvae (ewww!) and food. And, as is common with all info-mercials, if you bought right then, you could double your order and get 5 more for FREE! Free I tell you! This got Emily very excited...until she heard that you had to be 18 or older (to order). All she heard was the "18 or older" part. She thought she couldn't use the kit.

Fast forward a week or so, and guess what appears in her preschool classroom? Yep, the butterfly house and growing kit. And guess what Miss Emily, in all her 5.5 year old wisdom told the teacher? Oh yes, she informed her that you had to be 18 or older to do this and that she could have had 5 more butterflies for free....FREE!

Oh sweet Emily!

And then there's this little boy. We're lovingly referring to him as "Our Little Vampire" these days, because in addition to his two middle bottom teeth, he now has the two upper "fangs", but no upper middle teeth yet (though they're on the way in too.) Those little fangs have caused much weeping and gnashing of teeth, but they're finally in!

In other Ethan news, the kid has finally hit 17 lbs. He's had a few trips to the doctor recently because I was sure he had an ear infection (all the signs), but each time, it was just teething discomfort. The good part of the appointments, other than not needing any medication, was finding out how he is growing. The answer...still slowly. As of last week, he was 17 lbs. and 4 oz., but man...is he ever into absolutely EVERYTHING. He crawls fast. He babbles much. He stands all the time. He cruises. He dances. He laughs. He screams. He is one very, VERY busy little guy.

Life is good.

The Zoo

Last Friday, Andrew took the day off from work and the whole family headed out of town for a day trip to the zoo. It was an unbelieveably gorgeous and warm day (we should have worn shorts!) and so we packed a picnic lunch, loaded up the van and headed off.

As soon as lunch was eaten, we got our tickets and walked into to the zoo, where we immediately stopped off at that most exotic of locales (to young children, anyway)...the restrooms.

While waiting outside of the restrooms, Emily played (and posed) at the water fountain.

I took a lot of pictures that day, but I won't bore you with a ton of the animals. I did like my picture of the lion, though.



Emily, in front of the lion cage.

Emily had the opportunity (for a small fee, of course!) to feed the giraffes. It happened very quickly and I didn't get a picture of the actual feeding, but here she is next to the giraffe that she fed.

More posing!

Ethan rode along quite happily in his stroller. It was warm. Quite warm...and the poor kid was likely overdressed.

Oh well...he was a happy camper, with the wind foofing his hair.

Although the picture is a bit blurry, this was the organgatan at the zoo. He was way up in the tree.

Emily, posing yet again, in the "rain forest".

The zoo had a few rides. Emily LOVES the "horsey merry-go-round". She also got to ride the train, a boat ride and a sky ride (think ski-lift).

Ethan was fascinated with touching this tree. He probably would have gnawed on it if we let him.

We arrived at the sea lion exhibit just in time for their 3:00 feeding. This also coincided with Ethan's 3:00 feeding! The sea lions did all sorts of tricks, but I was far enough away with the stroller, that I didn't really get any great pictures. This was the best one of the bunch.

Emily, pretending to be a "joey".

At the end of the day, we went through the farm area that housed a petting zoo.

I think it's funny that the goat and Emily have the same expression in this picture.

Emily, petting the donkey.

We were treated to a bit of a show by Mr. Peacock.

While Ethan and I waited for Emily and Daddy to get off the train ride, we watched Mr. Peacock strut his stuff for a potential suitor.

Our own little Mr. Peacock...doing a bit of posing of his own. Sooooo Big!

It was a wonderful day for the whole family.