The Kids Never Let the Cold Keep Them from Growing Too Fast

We did not let the single digit temperatures get us down this week. On Monday’s MLK Day holiday, Hallie took the kids to Extreme Gymnastics, where Sunny Days Preschool had scheduled a field trip activity for the students and their siblings who had the day off from school. Landon took the chance to show off his mad skills to all of his friends, and Eliza was thoroughly amazed at finally having a turn to run around the floor herself. After she had a blast for an hour, we decided to enroll her in a Parent and Kid class while Landon is at preschool.

Completing a standing overhead flip. Yikes!

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday brought three days of speech for Eliza. Tuesday we saw Miss Christina, and Eliza is continually improving. We love Kaufman and are so amazed at her improvements there. Wednesday Miss Julie from the school came to do her regular visit. After Christmas, Eliza did not get back into that routine quite as well as Kaufman, but now that it has been nearly a month it is getting back to normal. Thursday Eliza spent time with Miss Nancy, the speech therapist at the school. When Eliza turns two next month she will be going to the school for speech instead of them coming to the house. Hallie thinks it will be better for all involved once that happens. It will be interesting once we get the results back to see what Nancy has to say about Eliza’s progress.

We celebrated our 14th anniversary Wednesday with dinner at Fishbones. Thanks, Jenn, for being an awesome visiting teacher and babysitting for us! Dinner was super delicious, and Hallie for once picked what the waiter thought was the amazing dish: the Chicken Florentine (Mike always seems to pick the winners when we go out). Mike picked the gumbo and jambalaya. He preferred the gumbo, but both were yummy. It’s hard to believe that 14 years ago we were just two young(ish) kids all twitterpated over being newlyweds. Fortunately, this was in the days before digital photography was commonplace, so we won’t torture you with pics from back in the day.   

Eliza’s hair is getting long enough that we can French braid it. She is also getting independent enough that she can climb out of the crib, turn on her light, and find a book to read. She will sometimes climb back into her crib, but she didn’t on Tuesday. This is not the first time this has happened, and so a big girl bed is right around the corner. Yikes! Where has the time gone?

Hamming it up. They make each other laugh all the time! 

Good night, sleepyhead!

She also has gotten comfortable enough using the potty that she will not only remove her clothes and diaper, but when she went “Number 2,” she also (almost) succeeded at wiping. Hallie was at work, so Mike got to deal with the almost part. She still routinely has accidents when wearing underwear, so she’s not quite ready for prime time. That’s just fine; we’re not in a rush. Our little baby is becoming a little girl more and more each day.

We attended a Kindergarten information meeting at our local elementary school on Thursday evening. The two of us grown-ups responded a little differently to the idea of Landon finally going to school. Mom definitely is not ready to see Landon doing all the advanced activities the teachers described kindergarteners doing already, and Dad is excited to see him starting new adventures. For both of us, it’s bittersweet. Our little boy is becoming a big boy more and more each day. His preschool teachers say he is quite ready, but Hallie loves having her buddy at home with her during the day when they can do special things together.

On Saturday, we went to Landon’s first basketball game. The pace of the game seems better for him than soccer (less standing around). He’s getting the hang of dribbling and passing and shooting. It was fun hearing his name called at the start of the game on the loudspeaker with the spotlights as if he were playing in the NBA. He received a red star at the end of the game for defense. Love this league! Eliza did remarkably well for having to watch for an hour.

Little League sign-ups have started as well, and Landon said he wanted to do baseball again this year. We find joy watching him excel at so many sports. He’s also showing off his smarts. He came up with some inventions this week of his own using the swing in his room, and he started drawing what he calls “blueprints” in one of Mike’s composition books.

Sunday found us watching some ice skating on TV. Eliza loves to dance whenever she hears music, and when she saw the dancers on ice, she just had to join in!