Carpenter's Kids

The verdict is in: Elijah loves preschool! He went Monday and Wednesday of this week. The first day Travis and I took him, and Travis walked him in. He ran right into his classroom and started playing without even a glance back. When we picked him up, the teacher said he liked the sensory boxes and the building blocks. The second day we waited in the line of cars to drop him off and pick him up, and the teachers came and got him out of the car and took him to his classroom and put him back in his carseat after classtime was over. He drew three pictures that are now hanging on his art wall. He is there for 2.5 hours each day, Monday and Wednesday, and his day follows a routine. First they have circle time, where they sing songs and talk about what they are going to be learning. They go over the Bible verse of the week and the Bible story they are learning. Then they have time to go around to all the different modules that are set up in the classroom. They have the block center, the art center, the puzzle area, the book wall, the painting area, the sensory boxes, and many others. Then they have 20 minutes outside for recess and a snack. That's pretty much their whole day. They visit the library once a week and have a couple of field trips throughout the year. I can't wait until they go to the pumkpin patch this fall! They also have several parties, including a Discovery Night, a Pumpkin Festival, a Harvest Breakfast, and Christmas party and a Valentine tea. I can't wait to help Elijah make a Valentine box! I used to love that when I was little. Anyway, Carpenter's Kids is turning out to be a wonderful blessing for our family, and Elijah is loving every minute of it! Here are some pictures of his first day, before we left for school.

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Another Special Picture

This time it is of Ethan. I am going to get one of each of them to put side-by-side in our house! I especially like that you can see his new little teeth. Isn't grandma a great photographer and photo editor? She's so creative! I think it helps that she loves the boys so much. That love really comes out in her photos.

Preschool

Elijah starts preschool next week. I went to parent orientation on Monday evening and it went great. I visited his classroom and talked with his teacher. Mrs. Harrup could not have been any nicer. She came to our house for a home visit on Tuesday morning. When she rang the doorbell, Elijah went to the door to answer. She smiled and introduced herself to him. He liked her immediately! She brought him a bag of treats, including a notebook with stickers to stick inside. The stickers had school buses and pencils on them! Elijah just loved it. He also go a sucker, which he really liked. She brought two books with her and Elijah and I sat on the couch with her and listened to her read them. He sat still and listened the whole time. Mrs. Harrup told me she was impressed with his attention span. That was the first time I had ever heard that! Then she asked him where his toys were and he took her out to the playroom. He slid down his slide several times for her and did some somersaults. He colored her a picture on his easel, and said his alphabet for her. She told me he had a great head start since he knew all his letters, numbers 1-10, and colors already. He was sad to see her go when she had to leave!

Later that afternoon we went to visit his preschool classroom. He just loved it. I made a photo show about it:

Today we went shopping for several things Elijah needed for school. He picked out a Diego backpack and we got some shoes and clothes. Here are a couple of pictures of him wearing his new backpack and school shoes! He looks like such a big boy!

Like I said before, I know Elijah will love preschool and I know it will be very good for him. It is just hard on poor Mommy's heart to see her baby go to school, even if it is just for a few hours a week.

The Latest on Us

We are back in Springfield after a few days away. The four of us went to Columbia for the weekend to attend my sister-in-law's wedding. It was beautiful. We saw many of Travis's family members whom we had not seen in a great while, which was fun. Megan, the bride, looked stunning. Elijah was the ring bearer and did a fabulous job. I was so proud of him! As soon as I get some of my pictures downloaded I will post a picture of Elijah and Travis in their tuxedos. They were so handsome.

Elijah starts preschool a week from today. He is attending a very good Christian preschool that came with great recommendations. He is in the 2-year-old class and will only be there 2 days a week for 2.5 hours a day. Elijah is so smart and loves to be around other children, so I know he will just love it. However, it is killing me on the inside knowing he won't be home with me 100% of the time anymore. I know it is only 5 hours a week but still. I feel like he is getting so big and grown up already. Wasn't he just born? I will miss him so much, but I know it is going to be great for him. Plus it will give me a chance to spend some quality time with Ethan and run my errands with just one child, which will make it so much easier. I am attending parent orientation tonight so I will have a better idea about things after that. I do know that tomorrow we are going to visit Elijah's classroom, and tomorrow late morning his teacher is making a home visit to get to know him in a familiar environment. I am so glad the preschool does that. His teacher sounded so nice on the phone, and my friend Andrea already had her daughter Isabelle's home visit and she said that the teacher was really nice in person. I am going to get him a school bag and some new Nike Shox for school this week. My little boy is getting so big!

Also, Happy 25th Birthday to my little sister, Elisabeth!

Only Good News

My grandpa is slowly but surely getting better. He had a small setback today, as one of his legs is terribly swollen and sore from something-or-other that ran up to his heart (I'm no doctor, if you can't tell from my lack of medical knowledge!). However, the pacemaker seems to be doing the trick. PRAISE GOD!

Ethan is getting two more teeth! He is getting the other little one on the bottom in the front, and one of the big front top teeth. He is really grumpy and fussy about it. I guess I spoke too soon about him handling teething without incident, although I should have known it would get worse. His gums look so swollen and painful! Poor baby. He is also crawling all over the place. He can go from room to room, crawling, getting whatever he wants, and pulling up. He pulled up on the ottoman in the living room today and ate a bunch of cheerios while standing!

Elijah has so many words now. Today he said "moon" for the first time. He also has learned all his lowercase letters. We have been working with flashcards during mealtimes this week, and he now knows the entire uppercase and lowercase alphabet. He can say all 26 letters now, too. He pointed at my pants today and said "P-I-N-K" (they have the word PINK on them - thanks Victoria's Secret!). He is getting so smart and learning so much! I can't believe how far ahead he is for his age. This week I also taught him the answer to the question, "Who is in your family?" He says, "Mama, Dada, baby, Li-Jah". So cute!

I am pretty excited tonight because the St. Louis Cardinals are gaining a lot of ground in the NL central. They will be 3.5 games out of first after tonight (they're wining vs. Milwaukee 8-2 in the top of the 8th). GO REDBIRDS!!!

Which do you want first?

The good news: Ethan is crawling and pulling up! He started this past weekend and he is already an expert. He is only 7 months old, so I am surprised that he started so soon! Elijah didn't crawl or pull up until he was 9 months, so I thought I had a little while longer. Boy, was I wrong! It is really funny because Ethan can now crawl to get whatever toy he wants, which is usually the one Elijah has. Elijah gets mad, of course, and Ethan thinks it is hilarious, but it nice that they will be able to have more interaction now. Right now Ethan has crawled over to where Elijah was playing with the stack of clean diapers, and now Elijah is putting the cloth prefolds on Ethan's head! Ethan is giggling like crazy! It is so funny.

The bad news: My grandpa is really sick. His heart has stopped beating several times in the past 3 days, and they had to put in a pacemaker. I am praying that the pacemaker works and that he can get back to his normal life. He has been in the ICU at St. John's since the ambulance brought him there on Saturday afternoon. Apparently he was just sitting in his chair, watching the Cardinals game, when he passed out because his heart stopped. How scary this must have been for my grandma, who had to call 911 and watch the EMTs shock his heart back to beating. I will update you all on his status over the next few days, but please be praying for my PaPa!

It's so Hot...Milk was a Bad Choice

The high temperature today is 98, and it is only going up from here. Tuesday the high temperature is forecasted to be 102. It is too hot to play outside and too hot to go anywhere because the car gets terribly hot while we are inside. It is HOT. Ethan decided to do the only acceptable thing given the circumstances:

Milestones

There have been a lot of developmental milestones reached around here lately. Today Ethan got his first tooth! The little tooth in the front on the bottom left is just peeking through and I can feel it! He really hasn't been too fussy about it. He is such a brave boy. Ethan is also sitting from crawling position. He is still army crawling, but now he can sit up and get back down to crawl. When he woke up from his nap yesterday I went into his room to get him and he was sitting up in his crib! I guess it is time to move the crib mattress down. Today Ethan also started clapping. It is so cute! When he does something he is proud of, like getting the kitty, he claps for himself! He has been doing great with babyfood and has started to eat a few Cheerios. He says they are GOOD.

Elijah has been talking up a storm. He can say all 26 letters in order, and can count 1-2-3. He has so many new words everyday that I can't even write them all down. His latest new words are "hello", "fish", and "quack quack". He wants to talk on the phone all the time now. When Daddy calls from work, Elijah will talk and talk to him. He also likes to talk to Grandpa and Grandma on the phone. He has started to interact more when people ask him questions. He can tell people what his name is, how old he is, what color things are, and many other things. He even answers when Moose A. Moose asks questions on TV! He is just so smart, and I am so proud of him. My boys are beautiful, amazing children!

Special

Look what my mom made!
Click on the picture to see the full-size version.

More from last night

Here are a few more pictures of bedtime from last night. Elijah and Ethan love each other!



Just precious. I would like to close with a great quote my mom found.

"There was never a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him to sleep." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Bedtime

Just a quick blog before bed. Here are my boys tonight, freshly bathed and wearing their Diego PJ's. This was taken as they watched Elmo for the last time before bed, right before they had their milk and said night-night. My babies are so sweet.