On Teething...

Do you see it?
A little tiny white beginning of a tooth has finally emerged!
(Summer's top right tooth started to come in on Sept. 2nd)
I'll admit - it doesn't look like much - but it put Summer through an awful lot. She was drooling and slobbering like CRAZY (I was changing her clothes multiple times each day!). She was cranky and whiny. She was tired but would NOT sleep for two days.
And then... voila! This little gem appeared and we have returned to the happy, cooing, smiling, dry, normal sleeping land of Summer. :)

I'm a little scared of what will happen when she is actually teething a REAL tooth.
How many more teeth have to come in?
YIKES.

She has him wrapped around her finger...

Isaac LOVES his little sister.

Look at this picture. What stands out?
Summer is TOUCHING Isaac's binkie!

His response? He cuddles her!

That my friends - in Isaac's book - is SERIOUS love.

Now - as you may know - Isaac is a binkie boy. He LOVES loves LoVeS his binkie. It is reserved for nap time, bedtime, and sick days. And whenever we leave his room he has to "throw" his binkie back into his crib. If I ever try to pull it out for him - I get a sharp screaming "NO" and a mean scowl and kicking and screaming. He is VERY protective of his binkie...
and here's Summer... innocently hanging on to his binkie for fun. He will even SHARE his binkie with her sometimes!

Oh how tender is that!!

But just to be fair... Summer is equally adoring of Isaac. She lights up when he enters the room and kicks and giggles and shrieks in excitement. Yay for sibling love!

Over the Hill

Here's a quick glimpse of Isaac at play.

He lines up the cars on his playmat and asks me to make a "hill." Then he drives each car individually over the hill and lines them up again.

Make another hill and repeat.

It's fun to see him enjoying playing and pretending on his own.

Good driving Isaac.

Don't mind if I do...

Look at how proud he is.
For the first time...
he got a snack ALL BY HIMSELF.

Here's the story:

The other day I was finishing up a phone call and I kept telling poor little Isaac to "wait a minute" as he begged and pleaded for more crackers. The cracker box was still out on the counter and the empty bowl was in his hand. While my back was turned he successfully managed to pour himself a whole HEAPING bowl of crackers. And he didn't even drop a single one! Then he carried his overflowing bowl to the couch and climbed up to sit down and enjoy his spoils. Ha! Usually I give him just enough crackers to cover the bottom of his bowl... so this was a BIG upgrade.

Little clever independent goober. I love him.

Shades

Dressed and ready to go to a party.
Don't they look so cute in their sunglasses??? Isaac is obsessed with sunglasses - so he was stoked that he and Summer both had sunglasses on.

Too bad Isaac broke Summer's sunglasses that night. :)
Oh well, they were fun while they lasted.
And he is really too cute to get frustrated at...
(at least most of the time).

Eating Bananas...

On August 10th I decided that it was time to bust out our "Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder" and let Summer give it a try. (I didn't know what to call the device! So I looked it up and apparently it is officially called a Fresh Food Feeder - random.) Isaac had used these a lot - and even though they are a pain to clean - we had loved it. So I was excited to get it out and see what Summer thought of it.

I cut up some fresh bananas and gave it to her to give it a try. At first she was just interested in playing with it. She thought that was fun.

Then I showed her how to put it in her mouth and taste it. She wasn't so sure about that...

But Isaac was sure interested. He was right there watching everything and begging for bananas. So, I just gave him some in a Fresh Food Feeder too.

Turns out... I'm glad that when I bought these they came in a two pack. :)

Anyway, Summer tried to enjoy eating this way... but she had a hard time not dropping the device and she also had a hard time manipulating it to really get to the food, so she didn't end up LOVING the experience. But we will try again. I'm sure that she will figure it out before we know it!

Introduction to Marshmallows

The other day I decided to introduce Isaac to marshmallows. I don't think he had ever seen a marshmallow before this day. So I got out a paint brush, a paper plate, and three small bowls. I put milk in each bowl and mixed in some food coloring. Then I went to get the marshmallows for Isaac to paint them. When I came back - he was happily painting the plate. So... first we painted plates for a little while. Why not?

Then I showed him how to paint the mini-marshmallows. (I think I was supposed to use regular sized marshmallows for this activity - and that probably would have been easier - but I only had the mini ones... so that's what we used.) He was so focused and interested in the activity. He never even tried to eat one.

When we were done I told him that they were marshmallows and that he could eat them. He seemed hesitant at first but trusted me enough to give it a try...

And they were a big hit!!!

Marshmallow painting made for a fun diversion in the middle of a normal day - and a yummy snack.

And the child has been begging for marshmallows ever since. :)

I love days when I actually try to do fun and unique things with my kids. Sometimes I feel too exhausted to do anything extra... or I can't think of anything fun to do! But when I take the time to plan and do little activities during the day it ends up keeping us all happier and more content with life. Little Life Reminder: I should definitely do it more often.

Play School

Isaac is in a fun little playgroup this year. I'm so excited about it. It's a low structure, low stress way for Isaac to socialize with friends. We call it "Play School."

In the group there is Isaac and two of his little friends... Wyatt and Preston. One morning a week, for two hours, these three boys get together to play. We rotate which mom "hosts" the group... and the other moms just drop their boys off.

The host mom organizes some group play, reads some stories, does a quick little craft, offers a snack... and just makes sure that they are learning to share and interact and cooperate.

But there is no curriculum, no guidelines, no expectations or stress. Just a social joyful time for Isaac to play with his friends independently (without his mom watching over his shoulder the whole time).

I hosted for the first time on August 24th.
We played with cars, played with play dough, danced & sang to music, explored all the toys in the playroom, read stories, ate animal crackers, colored happy faces on paper and sang about them, and then built train tracks and played with trains.

Although you may not be able to tell from this photo,
Isaac was pretty stoked to have his friends over.
And he even did a pretty good job of sharing with them... at least he was trying. :)

It is fun to see Isaac growing up! He is a social little boy,
so I am very grateful that he has found some good friends here.
And his friends are such good, sweet boys. They say please and thank you, and listen, and cooperate. They are just happy to hang out and play together!

Yay for Play School!! It's going to be a great year.

The Story of a Diaper Box

Summer is doing really well at sitting up... but I still don't like to walk away from her when she is sitting and doesn't have any support. So the other day (August 23rd), while I was folding laundry - I put her in her diaper box with some toys to play with. She loved it.

Isaac was very interested... and, of course, had to join the fun.
So I put him in the laundry basket with some toys of his own. He wanted to be right beside Summer. So cute, I thought. Then I looked over to catch him stealing her toys...
one at a time...

...until she had no toys left!
(But look... she's still smiling! I love her content little personality)

As I took photos I said to Isaac, "Remember you need to share the toys with Summer. Give some of the toys back to her please."
He gasped in horror.

And then said, "No" like any self-respecting 2 year old would.

And I said, "Yes. And please put on your happy face."
And so he did!
(and that was no small miracle)
And here he is happily sharing a toy with Summer...

...and sharing with Summer some more...

Until he had given her all the toys!

And then he was all smiles. He was so proud of himself as he said, "Isaac share Summer. Good job Isaac."

And then... Summer started crying because she couldn't move!