Emily the Musician

Other people may have the dancing babies like you see on Youtube and the like, but we have the musical baby!

Emily in the Drawers

Emily has taken right over as you can see. She doesn't just play in the drawers, or even just sit in them...she gets fully in them and starts throwing everything out. She is doing more cruising when standing. She is making more sounds and says Ma or Mama for mom and Uh for up.

Little Monkey

Emily is a bit of a little monkey as she has started climbing things and this is where I found her today. Evidently the highchair is for babies and she is choosing her own seat now! On other notes Bruce said she got up to stand doing a deep knee bend from the middle of the room not holding onto anything. When standing if she is playing with a toy she can forget to hold on and stand on her own for about five seconds. Her favorite new game is rolling a ball back and forth with someone.

Here is Matthew with one of his latest creations. I thought I had better get a photo of someone other than Emily! School is going well. He is working on new reading words. He finished a sticker chart for good classroom behavior yesterday and was able to pick a prize. He was delighted with his glow in the dark lizard, and is anxious to start his new chart so he is closer to getting his next prize.

Here is C-Bear on his last morning with us eating his breakfast. Matthew kindly ate the portion that C-Bear left behind. I do not have any photos of Andrew, but he is doing very well at preschool. He loves the activites and snack time. He is crazy about his trike and is out riding several times daily. He can ride to and from our little community playground. He was even out riding in the snow today. Yes you read that correctly we did have snow this early in September. Thankfully it was just a bit and melted as it hit the ground!

Emily's Cruising

Emily is officially a "cruiser". She can take a few steps around furniture and venture from one piece of furniture to another. Here she is enjoying a friend's bowling and swimming birthday. She monitored the ball return while the older children enjoyed turns bowling.

Here is Emily apres swimming in the locker room. She loved cuddling up in her super cozy robe

You never know quite where you will find Emily now. This time she got herself right into a drawer and was ripping out all the papers!

Matthew's classroom has a teddy bear who reminds me a bit of Paddington, though "C-Bear" does not originate from Deepest Darkest Peru. The children take turns bringing C-Bear complete with his backpack filled with a toothbrush, hairbrush, journal and bedtime stories, home on weekends. Matthew had the first turn to bring him home this past weekend. He and Andrew took very good care of him around here, and they fixed up my old doll crib for him to sleep in at night. We took C-Bear on a bike ride around the Reservoir, on the Ferris Wheel at Heritage Park and to the birthday party. Then this evening Matthew drew a picture for his journal and wrote a short composition about their adventures to share with the class. It will be fun to get him back for Matthew's next turn later in the year and see all the other things C-Bear has been up to!

Emily's Latest Photos

Here are some of Emily's latest photos. She spends a lot of time up and down from standing, and she stands with less support.

Emily looks very sweet here at our house, but you should have seen her at her little music class today. She is used to being around the guys and hasn't spent a lot of time with peers. We are finding out she is quite outgoing in a group and a bit of a bully with kids her own age. She was right at home in the music class and was taking shakers, puppets, drums, xylophones and scarves away from the other children! She could dish it out, but couldn't take it very well, as she would let everyone know, in no uncertain terms, if someone had taken something away from her.

Emily can often be found in our "tupperware" drawer. The containers make great drums, and even better hats.

I just called this one Hurricane Emily as she had taken out all the plastics and wraps making quite the mess. She actually puts some things away, but not enough to compensate for how much she'd taken out this time.

On other notes, Matthew is enjoying school though there is a lot to take in with the change to Grade school. I can't believe how many new things he has learned in his first week. Andrew and Emily started daycare one day a week, and both seemed to do well there. I am back at work one day a week which gives me a nice balance. Bruce has been keeping busy with work and jobs around here, but he may get away to the mountains for one day this weekend.

Back To School

Here is Matthew on his first day of Grade One, before he went to school today. We have had to practise putting on button up shirts, belts and ties this last while. He said he had a really fun first day and is looking forward to the year ahead. As soon as he got home he was jumping onto his bike in his shirt and tie reminding us that indeed he is still a six year old boy despite the fancy clothes. We quickly had him change and he was zipping around on bikes with Andrew and playing driveway hockey until dinner time.