Caterpillar Days

I've spent a lot of timely lately thinking about how much I dread the fall and the start of first grade.  Probably too much time!  And as a teacher, I shouldn't feel this way, but I HATE the idea that Brian will spend more time at school than with me. 

I have decided that these days...the last few days of summer, are our caterpillar days.  The lazy days of doing whatever we want...or nothing at all, before he becomes a little butterfly and he must spread his wings and fly.  Without me.

I know he NEEDS to do this.  I know I need to let him.  But it's so, so sad.  And I will miss him so much.  So will Lilah.

Sometimes I just want to fold him into my mama bear cocoon and keep him safe and protected and with me.

He learned to pump on his own the other day.  See?  Flying away...

 

Stats

Brian's 6 year stats--
Height--4'0.5' (94th percentile)
Weight--52 lbs (87 percentile)

Lilah's 3 year stats--
Height--3'2.25'' (82nd percentile)
Weight--36 lbs 8 oz (92nd percentile)

Photographs courtesy of Cynthia Shoettker Photography.

Happy Third Birthday, Baby Girl

Dear Lilah,

You would not approve of the title of this blog.  Or maybe you would.  It seems I am the only one who can get away with still calling you baby these days.  You, my dear, are a force to be reckoned with.  When I was pregnant with you and people would ask me if I wanted a boy or a girl, I would say, "I don't care, I want a CALM child."  (Your brother maaayyyyy have been a bit wild.  Or feral.  Whatever you prefer.)  Well...I didn't get that.  Ha!  But I wouldn't trade your spunky, take no prisoners, LOOK AT ME approach to life for anything.  (Most days...)

You are seriously so much fun though, my sweet girl!  You love to play babies and kitchen.  You were soooo excited to put your babies in your new baby car seat and front carrier today!  You ask me frequently if I want to play "two mommies" with you.  In fact you ask me frequently to play with you period.  You love to play pretend with anyone who will join you.  Including your brother, which is great because most of the time he's happy to play along.  It's so BEYOND cute to hear the two of you interact and play together.  I bet you don't realize it, but I often stop what I'm doing just to listen to the two of you together.  You are so blessed to have such a wonderful big brother!  I know you won't always feel that way, but I hope you do mostly.

Your newest and most common form of play is putting pretty much anything you can find (even if it's not yours...ahem...) into a bag or purse and carrying it around with you.  I have asked several girl moms if you need therapy for this habit, but apparently it's a normal girl behavior that you may never outgrow.  Awesome!

You continue to impress with both your expressive and receptive language skills.  You can write your name...mostly, that H presents a bit of trouble sometimes.  You know all of your colors, most of your shapes when it suits you and quite a few of your letters.  You are smart and you know it!

You will begin preschool officially in the fall.  For you, it won't be a huge change since you spent a great deal of your time with the preschool classes last school year, but I am excited to see how you will grow when you are officially a part of a class.  I know you will enjoy yourself and I am sure you will have no trouble making friends.  It's what you do!

You still eat like a champ, although some days you just don't eat much at all.  I know this is common at your age, so I try not to let it bother me.  Your favorites are probably scrambled eggs, nuts/peanut butter, and of course grapes.  You eat so many grapes right now it's ridiculous! 

You still love to be read to and to look at books which I love of course!  You love music and you love to sing and make up silly songs with your brother.  You love to laugh and sometimes get a little silly trying to make your brother laugh, or laughing at him.  I love that too.

You, Miss Lilah are one of our greatest blessings.  We love you so, so very much and are grateful to get to stand in the shadows of your spotlight.  We know you will continue to shine bright and for that we are so very proud of you. 

Happy THIRD Birthday, baby girl!

Love,
Mommy

Photo courtesy of Cynthia Schoettker Photography

Tiny Dancer

Okay, I'm not gonna lie.  I have been looking forward to this since the day I found out Lilah was a girl.  I always said I wouldn't push her to be girly if she wasn't BUT boy did I get more girly than I ever could have bargained for.  She's 100% girly girl.   I mean, she isn't afraid of bugs, or dirt...she likes both, but she also loves pink and purple, dresses, "lipstick" (lip gloss), babies, etc. etc. 

And?! 

She begged to take dance classes!  Which as I might have mentioned I have dreamed about since she was 20 weeks in utero!  She is still really, really young, but she's also pretty mature for her age, so I contacted my old dance studio (still the same owner!) and found out that they offer a month long summer class so you can try it out.  Last week was the first class! 

Lilah LOVED it!  First of all, we had to go buy dance shoes the week before class started.  She confidently walked into the store and announced, "I need dancing shoes!"  The excited saleswoman doted over her as we tried them on.  The day of her first class she was completely excited!  We got her dance bag ready, put on her leotard and headed to the studio.  Again, she's really, really young-the youngest in the class, and she's with a group of kiddos where all but one have taken year round dance before, but she really enjoyed herself!  I'm still not convinced we're ready for year round.  We will have to see how the next three weeks go, and then find out what the pace of  year round looks like.  I am hoping it's a bit slower!  But she did love it and she asks everyday if she can go back. 

My SIX Year Old

Dear Brian,

You are SIX!  What an exciting age!  You are READING and loosing teeth!  You are sooooo into Legos and art and it's so much fun to see what you create.  You talk...a lot.  We have worked hard on that, so I try to be thankful.  You ask a million questions all day long.  You want to learn EVERYTHING there is to learn.

This year you have chosen to have a Toy Story birthday party and you are so excited!  You made sure Lauren knew that your cake should NOT touch your sister's cake like in past years.  You had a great time picking out party supplies the other day!  Daddy tells you all the time that you are management material :)

This morning when you found your birthday decorations, you were so excited!  You haven't stopped checking your new Lego watch all day...trying to figure it out.  I love it!

You have had a big year.  You finished Kindergarten (and did a wonderful job by the way)!  Next year you'll be back at Ryland with your preschool teacher in 1st grade!  Time flies at lightning speed that's for sure.

You have been released by the developmental pediatrician!  She just shook her said and grinned when she saw you and heard about all of your progress.  YOU are already a success story at the age of SIX.  That's something to be super proud of!

This next year I wish many things for you.  I hope that you continue to make new friends and develop the great relationships you already have with your buddies.  I hope that you will continue to improve in speech.  You work so hard and have made great progress!  I hope you will continue to love school and learning and reading.  It's awesome how much pride you take in this area!  I hope you will continue to be proud of who you are because you are just amazing!  Finally, I hope you will continue to be THE BEST big brother there could ever be.  Your sister can be such a little snot sometimes and you just love, love, love her.   

When you were a baby and were first diagnosed with hearing loss, I always said I wished I had a crystal ball that would show me the future and would show me you'd be okay.  I still wish that I had, but I'm not sure that a crystal ball would have even done you justice.  You have exceeded expectations, broken through barriers and overcome.  We are so, so proud of you and we love you so, so much!

Happy 6th Birthday, Brian!
Love, Mommy

Photo courtesy of Cynthia Shoettker Photography :)

The Rest of Our Beach Week

Wednesday after the beach, we decided to take the Mobile Bay Ferry across the gulf and back.  We were hoping to see dolphins and we thought the kids would enjoy the ride.  The kids were a little too worn out to really enjoy it, but Shawn and I did see some dolphins in the distance.  Brian may have seen them, but I am pretty sure Lilah did not. 

Yesterday we got a beach day with Whitney!  The kids were so excited!  Me too! 

Today was our last day at the beach.  It was also 1000% the best beach day ever!  Shortly after we arrived Lilah and I caught a glimpse of a baby stingray near the shoreline!  We got Shawn and Brian's attention and we all followed it down the shore for about 10 minutes.  So cool!

Then not 10 minutes later a group of teenagers started screaming like crazy people about 100 feet from where we were swimming.  They had spotted dolphins!  There were 3-5 of them chasing fish about 100 feet from us!  We watched them for a good 10 minutes.  It was sooooo cool!

We were all sad to say goodbye to the beach for another year, but we're also pretty worn out!  We'll be heading north tomorrow.  We'll miss the ocean and the YUMMY seafood and of course, Whitney! 

She's smizing :)

This boy will be SIX on Tuesday!

I was getting worried about her scalp burning and she agreed to wear a hat, but ONLY if it came from Whitney's work.  They didn't have any, but we found one elsewhere and Whitney convinced her she found it at her work.  Whew!

Sandy butt!

He's peeing in the ocean.  He didn't quite understand that he didn't need to show everyone the goods!

More Beach Time and Visiting Whitney's Work!

We had more fun at the beach the last two days.  The kids are not afraid of the water and Brian ventures further and further out each day.  Often we have to call him back in because he's TOO far out!  Lilah wants to hold my hand most of the time in the water, but she's also ventured out pretty far in her Daddy's arms.

We also go to visit the Dauphin Island Estuarim which was totally awesome!  Since Whitney works at the Sea Lab she gave us the personal tour!  We even got to see the plaques her friends here purchased in memory of Opa and Donna and a sea turtle nest!  The kids had a blast seeing and touching all the marine life and Whitney was totally in her element!!  It was fun to watch the three of them together.  Whitney isn't that much younger than me, but I did watch her grow up and in a way, she's still little to me...not sure she realizes that.

First, beach pics from yesterday!

I'm the king of the world!

Not sure what the angry face is about. 

This kid cannot get enough of the waves!

 

And the Estuarium...

Lilah kept kissing the fish tank!

Brian is apparently a parseltongue.

Checking out the bottom of a horseshoe crab!

Today before we hit the beach!