Nathan's Tree, Year 6

Nathan and his tree have both grown this year. Where Nathan has become a leggy Kindergartner, his tree has grown wider and thicker. It really does make a great secret fort now!

Probably the biggest development for Nathan since his last tree picture is that he can read now! He has discovered the power of the story, and also has discovered just how useful it is to be able to read all sorts of signs and labels! :)

Three!

Last weekend was Natalie's third birthday! She is so much fun these days. Smart, funny, stubborn, fearless, snuggly, nurturing... this girl is the whole package! 

Current interests: Frozen (naturally), playing with babies, playgrounds, puzzles, her friends at school, reading, coloring, monster trucks, swim class, ballet, legos

Talking: Natalie talks a mile a minute, and is extremely articulate. There are only a few words she does not pronounce correctly: lellow (yellow), mazagine (magazine), and loshcloth (washcloth)

Reading and writing: Natalie is starting to recognize some letters of the alphabet and can recite them all. She can count to ten and throws in an "eleventeen" here and there. :)  She loves being read to. Coloring is a favorite activity, and it seems like she is going to be a leftie!

It is impossible to capture in a blog post how magnetic Nat's personality is. She is so engaging and funny. She loves playing with Nathan and her friends from school. She fearlessly climbs the ladders and goes down the big slide on the playground. She would listen to you read books all day. Jumping into the pool and making a "big, GINORMOUS splash" is her favorite thing about swim class. She loves music--every night I sing her Twinkle Twinkle, ABCs, and Baa Baa Black Sheep. Oh how I love this girl!

For her birthday party, both sets of grandparents, the great-grandparents, and Aunt Erin came into town.  Natalie selected the menu of her favorites: hummus and pretzel chips, grilled Italian sausage, corn on the cob, macaroni and cheese, and ice cream cake "with sprinkles on it."

First Day of Kindergarten!

Nathan started Kindergarten on the Wednesday after Labor Day! On that Tuesday, Natalie had her first day of preschool, and I took Danielle to daycare so Nay and I could spend the day together. We went out to breakfast, stopped in at his school for a meet and greet with his teacher Ms. Cardillo, went to Battle Creek for lunch with Todd, and spent the afternoon at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. It was a completely awesome day for both of us.

The morning of the first day of school was beautiful, and Nathan was so excited! Both Todd and I brought him, and he walked in with a huge smile on his face and not a moment's hesitation. A new era has officially begun!

6 Months Old

August 19th was Danielle's half birthday! Wow, six months flew by, and marks the entrance into my favorite stage of babyhood--6-9 months is when personality really starts to shine.  Danielle continues to be such a happy, smiley, round, delightful baby. She lights up when she sees any member of her family enter the room, and has started babbling "ba, ba, ba, da, da, da, ya, ya." She still gets up at least once a night. I am trying to focus on all the extra snuggles that gives me in the middle of the night. :)  She sits reliably and loves banging toys on the table, which reminds me of her brother at this age.

Danielle passed her six month check-up with flying colors, and was a champ with her immunizations.

6 Month Stats

26" long (48th percentile)

19lbs 2oz (90th percentile)

17.01" head circumference (74th percentile)

First Day of Preschool!

One of the most exciting parts of our vacation in Sturgeon Bay was that Natalie decided that she was ready for potty training!!  After a super dramatic experience with Nathan and taking a super laid back approach with Natalie, I am definitely a fan of the latter strategy. :)  Her timing was perfect, as Natalie started Preschool the day after Labor Day!

She was SO excited to be one of the big kids--since she learned how to walk, Nat has been visiting the preschool and pre-K rooms every chance she got. Notable awesomeness of the preschool room: her own cubby, a hook to hang her backpack on, nap mats, and an owl on the floor with her name on it to mark her place on the storytime rug. :)

Labor Day Weekend

The best way to say farewell to summer is to spend Labor Day weekend in Northport! It was a bit of a cool weekend, but that didn't keep us from the beach.  On principle, I swam in Lake Michigan on Saturday.  The frigid winter and late spring meant that the big lake never really warmed up, but I couldn't let the entire summer go by without swimming at least once! The rest of the time we played in the sand and at the cottage.  

Natalie loves playing with her baby dolls--all of whom are named Danielle. :)

"How big is Danielle? SOOOOO big!!!" Such an awesome big brother.