Happy 5th Birthday Noah!

The Tuesday before you were born I went to the doctor. I was a bit over 38 weeks, and you were showing no signs of wanting to be born. Undeterred, my ob scheduled an induction for the next day. My last ultrasound had you measuring rather large, and they thought it was a good idea to get you out. I left with instructions to call the hospital that night to check if there was availability and try get in the next day. That would put me going into the hospital on May 30, so in that case you'd be a May baby. Your due date was June 9 (coincidentally Emma's birthday). It turns out that there were no rooms that night, so we didn't check in to the hospital until May 31 and well, I guess you were destined to be born in June.  So, finally you were born after a long and painful labor.  And, well, that was five years ago.  And, that was the day my life changed forever in the best possible way.

Happy 5^th birthday to my sweet, not so baby boy. 

What can I say about year number five?  I guess the biggest change was adding a baby to the family.  You did amazingly well, and it was as though overnight you became this big boy.  Emma transitioned pretty seamlessly into our lives, and you are so tolerable and accepting of her being around.  You are hardly ever jealous, and just yesterday during our aquarium trip, you told us that you were going to give your stuffed fish from the arcade to Emma.  I think your exact words were, “this one is for Noah, and this one (holding up the stripey fish) is for Emma.”  Melt. My. Heart.  Emma, of course, absolutely adores you, and although you don’t really say it, I think it makes you pretty proud.  Bathtime has always been a struggling point with you, but lately I have been asking if you would take a bath with Emma because she loves taking baths with you, and you seem to come readily and happily along.  You are such a good big brother, and Emma is so lucky to have you. 

You have progressed so well in school and therapy this year.  Your OT, Mer, even told me recently that she has seen very few children progress as much and as quickly as you have.  You are such a hard worker at school, and you have so much (so very much) enthusiasm for all that you do.  You excelled in academics (not a surprise), and you can write your entire alphabet and all your numbers 0-9.  You also learned to draw shapes and create a stick figure.  Writing is not always your favorite activity, but letters have always been very motivating for you, so there are times when you are really into it. 

You love books, and your room is starting to look like a mini library.  Right now, you are loving Tiki Tiki Tembo., Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.  Leonardo the Terrible Monster, and Pete the Cat.  You are starting to sound out words and can guess pretty well from memorization.  You still have a battery that never dies, but you have really improved this year on body awareness and taking responsibility for keeping your hands to yourself and having a quiet body.  It is a work in progress, but you don’t give up.  You are such a happy child and only have the occasional burst of temper.  Sticker charts are in full effect at home, with six stickers resulting in a new box of legos or a trip to the ice cream house and six frowny faces can mean no books before bed or no tv.  You are so funny with those frowny faces.  You unfortunately got one last week for something, I can’t remember, and it was frowny face number two.  You said, “You only have two frowny faces.  Not three.”  I think they might be starting to lose their effectiveness.  

You talk nonstop about whatever is going on inside your head.  I have to remind you often to have a quiet mouth and to listen and answer.  Again, it is a work in progress.  You memorize anything and everything that catches your attention.  I’m usually pretty careful about what you listen, read or watch, but for some reason you’ve recently picked up a “stupid, stupid, stupid” chant.  I’m hoping it loses your interest soon, because Momma prefers sweet words to come out of your mouth.  Recently, you have picked up some language from a Sesame Street IPhone App.  It’s basically a book that you follow along.  There is a lot of dialogue followed by “said Elmo,” or “cried Prairie Dawn.”  Just today you told me, “ ‘Sure you can have some chocolate milk,’ said Momma.”  I always comment to Daddy, oh the things that are going on inside that little brain of yours.

You are continuing to grow, and I am so relieved winter is over because you can finally wear bottoms that aren’t required to go down to your feet.  Speaking of clothes, you love getting “dressed for the day,” and you do a pretty good job of picking out your own stuff.  This summer you are preferring the longer shorts that hang past your knees, which I think is so funny!  At least it give me an excuse to buy you new duds. 

Overall, I think your year has been awesome, and you just get better and better!  Here's your photo recap.

Birthday boy - June 2011

Being a big brother - June 2011

First day of school - August 2011

Happy boy - August 2011

Christmas Eve - December 2011

Backyard fun - Janaury 2012

A walk on the beach - February 2012

Rodeo day - March 2012

Closer to FIVE - April 2012

Some Messy Fun!

This is the  motor room at Noah's school.  Last day of school, the teachers asked us to send the kids in bathing suits.  There would be shaving cream and water play.  This is the shaving cream covering a room full of balls.

Noah's class ran in ready to dive in!  I talked Noah into being the first one down the slide.  He climbed up and then had a moment of "what are you asking me to do, woman?!?"  He ended up going down with his legs hanging off the side in an attempt to avoid the shaving cream.  No such luck!

He was not super excited about it at first, but then I think he realized what a slippery mess it was becoming, and he thought, "what the hey!" 

Noah was covered in shaving cream!

He went down the slide multiple times, and it was super slippery and fast.  Ready to slide with the help of Ms. Jonni.

All the kids smelled like old men when they were done.  It was such a mess!  Fun, but a MESS!

After the shaving cream, the kids headed outside to hose off and play in the water.  Noah was so excited to get clean.

And, he loved this Pinterest inspired water mat.

What a nice place to relax!  Happy last day of school!

 

Baby Doll

Seeing Emma play with baby dolls is just about the sweetest thing I've ever seen. How does she know to love baby dolls?  I'll hand it to her, and she gets the sweetest smile on her face.

And, then she'll give her baby huge kisses.

And then, she'll just carry it around with her tucked under her arm.

Oh the sweetness!

Five Things Friday 05.25.12 - Smarts, Speech, and Slides

1. We were playing Dr. Seuss' Stretchy Alphabet. I warned Noah before we started... "Noah, I think we are missing the letter J. Are we going to get mad?" His reply, "No. (pause) We need to find something to pretend to be the letter J."

2. Noah and I were laying in bed. He pulls his, "I'm hungry." Knowing that he in fact had not eaten much for both lunch and dinner, I asked, "Would you like a peanut butter and jelly?" "Yes," he replied. I made him sit at the table with a quiet body to eat his sandwich. As he took his last bite he said, "Now it's time for sleep." And, he went to his room, we brushed teeth, and he went to sleep all by himself. What a big boy!

3. We pull up to carpool this morning and Noah's music teacher, Mr. Trey is trimming tree branches on the playground. Noah says, "Mr. Trey's chopping truffula trees. We're gonna see the Lorax! I can't wait!"

4. Emma puts everything in her mouth, and for some inexplicable reason Noah's crocs are hard to resist. I'm always telling, "Don't eat brother's crocs." Tonight she came down the hall carrying Noah's shoe saying, "Croc. Croc." it didn't actually sound like "croc," but I'm pretty sure she wasn't saying the word it sounded like.

5. We finally got a new play structure. It is huge and fun, and in mid-May it's already too brutally hot to enjoy. I'll be piecing together pictures from our multiple super quick backyard playtime soon. Minutes after the construction crew finished assembly, I took the kids outside to try it out. I ran back in the house to grab my camera and when I got back out two seconds later, Emma had climbed halfway up the slide. Sigh.

Last Day of Gymnastics

During the first week of school, a paper was sent home from school detailing a few of the after school activities.  One of those listed was gymnastics.  The scheduled time was on Thursdays at 11:30 AM.  I had reservations about it.  Noah only goes to school from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM, so Thursdays would be cut short by 30 minutes.  I eventually decided to give it a try, and can I just say... Best. Decision. Ever.  Noah loved gymnastics, and he has even started private lessons with Coach B on the weekends. 

Today was the final class of the school year.  Noah has come so far in gymnastics.  Coach B was directing him to put his feet closer together and higher.  He completely followed directions. 

At home, Noah will go through the entire gymnastics warm-up all the while mimicking exactly Coach B's voice.  It is precious.   

Is there anything better than seeing complete joy from your child?  This was Noah's face when his name was called to receive his medal.

He was so proud to of his medal.  He kept saying, "Congratulations Noah. You get a congratulations star."

Thanks Coach B and Mrs. Coach B.

Emma - Eleven Months

If there ever was a baby girl ready to hit the age of one, it would be my sweet Emma.  She is walking.  She is talking.  She is eating everything in sight.  She goes to bed all by her big girl self.  She holds her own bottle and is so ready to enjoy cups with straws just like her big brother.  I think I was well into my 20s before I exhibited as much independence as this little one.  There is not a shy bone in her body.  If someone doesn't look at her to make eye contact, she will STARE THEM DOWN until they do.  And, when she finally gets their attention, she will smile and wave both her hands up and down.  It's like a double "hi." 

 

 

She is starting to say a few words and repeat a lot of sounds. She can say ba-ba (bottle), ny-ny (night), up, all done (which she will also sign).  She responds receptively to hands up, give a kiss, wave bye and clap your hands.  She loves baby dolls and gives them big open mouthed kisses.  She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, which is incredibly frustrating. She'll pick up anything off the floor and when she sees me coming hurry up and shove it in her mouth and take off running in the opposite direction.  I have to carefully sweep things out of her mouth multiple times a day.  She's like a little squirrel (a al Uncle D) pocketing bits of food, grass, leaves inside her checks.  She is not allergic to peanuts since just this week not only did she stash a peanut off the floor inside her mouth, but she also ate two squares of brother's pb&j when I turned my back for a second.  She loves to eat and wants a bite of whatever anyone is eating.  She has yet to turn down anything except bananas.  Go figure.  The other day, Dean was eating olives and she crawled right up to him.  He put one on a fork and put in her mouth for a taste.  Well, she sucked that green olive right off the fork.  Luckily, she is getting a few teeth (finally), so I can expand her table food choices. 

 

 

She remains such a sweet baby and is hardly ever cross.  She goes to bed super early... between 6-6:30 PM and sleeps all night.  Yay!  I've started leaving her at home a couple days a week with a sitter.  She actually gets to enjoy a full morning nap at home for a change.  She loves her big brother and still wants to be wherever he is.  He has never really  minded having her around, but he has been interacting with her a lot more.  I can't wait to see how there relationship develops over the next year.  It's the finally countdown... in just a few weeks I'll have a one-year old and a five-year old.  Yay!

These piggies are precious

What a happy girl!

Breakfast out with Momma.

She loves her bath time!

Backyard fun with brother.

Aaahh... Feed me!

Lego Maniac

Noah's social skills' teacher forwarded me these pictures of my sweet boy hard at work at school. She said Noah was so into the Lego play. He copied Mrs. A's robot exactly! Way to go Noah!