Preschool!

The day arrived. Jonathan's one day a week preschool started today. He is only there for two hours, and twenty-five minutes of that time is spent outside on the playground. However, he was very excited to go to there today. He was waiting at the door at 830 this morning with his backpack on.

When I arrived to pick him up he said, "Mommy, where did you go?" When we visited his classroom last week I stayed with him. Guess he didn't understand that this time I was saying good-bye and leaving. However, he seemed to enjoy himself and has talked non-stop about his morning.

Birthday Fun

This weekend we traveled to Kansas City to visit my sister, Nate, and Jacob for Jake's first birthday. What fun! He is such a sweet, cuddly, little boy. And, he has the BEST hair. What I wouldn't pay for that curl and color naturally! Jonathan giving the dancing Elmo some exercise
A Hawkeye cake to celebrate the birthday... good thing the Hawks won!

See what I mean? Great hair. Jacob likes phones just like all other babies.

The family

Mom playing with Caleb

"Look at me, Mom!"

The world has opened up for Caleb. He can stand to see things, and he can move to get into whatever his heart desires.

I walked into the living room last week to find Caleb standing like this. He stands whenever the opportunity presents itself. It makes for challenging supervision because some areas aren't so safe for a teetering baby.

Packing Visionary

It has been apparent from the early days of our marriage that Jamie is the organized one. The one who makes lists in his head, the one who's closet is organized by some system, the one who packs the car for trips... and the list goes on. I'm the one who jams all of my clothes for a trip into a duffle and hopes that I've remembered everything in my frantic attempt to leave.

My method is somewhat disfunctional with children. Forgetting certain items (namely a beloved blankie or the pack 'n' play) is a bit problematic. Before children I could just survive without most things that I forgot or buy new (socks... did this many times with socks) if really needed.

I turned over a new leaf this summer when I made a list for my travels to Iowa by myself. I could not rely on my dear husband for his packing since he was conspiciously absent during our departure. I really thought I had arrived with this list. I saved it on the computer and we are using an edited version of it for our little road trip this weekend.

However, I will never have truly arrived. This realization came to me tonight as Jamie and I were discussing whether or not to bring Jonathan's bike on our trip. He said, "I think it might just fit in the side between the seats." We didn't have anything in the car, yet!! How could he possibly know where something might fit without anything in the car?? Unless, the truly unfathomable occurs in his brain: does he actually invision where things will go in the car before he puts them in there?

So, I asked. He answered. It's true. Somehow his brain looks at the massive pile of stuff in the living room and organizes it into a vision for how it will all fit into the car. Then, he plans when to put things in to accomplish his vision and viola!! We are packed.

No list is going to help my brain accomplish that kind of vision. I am destined for the heave and shove method when left to my own devices. So, tonight, once again, I thank my God for my James. My James who can pack anything into that car.

9 Months and Almost 3 Years

Caleb is 9 months old... I could talk about how fast the time has gone, but I am quite grateful to be emerging from the "baby fog". The "baby fog" can be attributed to sleep deprivation, non-stop diapering, feeding and soothing. There are parts about the newborn and early infant stage that I enjoy, but largely I find my children to be increasingly more fun as they grow.

I enjoy nursing my babes, but I really like it when the frequency of that event numbers 4 instead of 8. I enjoy that Caleb now sits with us at the dinner table, eats, laughs, feeds himself quite a bit, and is generally pleasant. Though mobility has its challenges it is very amusing to see what the little man will choose to do when given the chance to decide.

We had Caleb's 9 month appointment on the first, and he is perfectly average in height and weight. Perfectly perfect for a Caleb Thomas Guild, as a matter of fact.

Jonathan had his three year check a little early so he could have his physical for his one-day-a-week preschool ditty this year. He is a bit smaller than average, but perfectly perfect for Jonathan Samuel.

Both children had to get shots. Caleb screamed and screamed and screamed. Jonathan just looked at the nurse and said, "I don't like shots," upon completion of the injections.

Jonathan had an open house for his preschool class today, and he didn't want to leave to come home. He wanted to stay and play. This is a great sign... he used to warm up so slowly to new situations. Maybe he is emerging from that and will take on this new opportunity with great gusto.

Rapid Change

We do not do things gradually around here, or calmly, or any other term that would imply that I have time to adjust to changes. Last week at this time Caleb was not moving. He would roll some, but didn't really do it with intentionality. No scooting, no army crawling.

Fast forward to today: he now crawls quite rapidly and pulls up on pieces of furniture or other less stable items. I serve in our church nursery and most of the babies in there army crawled or scooted for a few weeks before crawling. Not here. I knew the day of mobility would come for the wee one, but I thought I would get more warning. Friday he started rocking back and forth on all fours and by Saturday he was crawling and getting into lots of things. He pulls up on anything and everything and is living up to the meaning of his name: fearless.

I am happy that he is mobile although my work is now doubled. He is much happier. Last week he would sit in the living room and screech. My most educated guess is that he was ticked that Jonathan could move toys around at his leisure and that he could not. Now he just happily crawls around, grabbing everything and smiling.

Music, Music and More

Our final music class for the summer was on Friday, and Maynard and Judy were here for the weekend so they accompanied us to class. Maynard participated with us and Judy took these photos. We won't be able to take the class again for a while because we have a conflict on the class days... bummer! Both boys really enjoyed it (although expressed their enjoyment much differently).

Yesterday when Jonathan was in his room for nap time he was singing, "Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle" from one of the songs. Caleb isn't singing quite yet, but he lights up when we sing a song. Especially if the song involves actions.