Big Boy

My little baby Dawson is already 2 months old. He is growing so unbelievably fast! He went on Monday to his 2 month appointment. I was lucky enough to take both children. Ollie behaved very well and just got a little worried when the doctor had to dig a stitch (left my the NICU) out of Dawson's belly button.

Dawson is growing quite well. Here are his stats:

Weight-

Birth: 6lbs 14oz 3 weeks: 7lbs 11oz - 15% 2 months: 11lbs 13oz - 52%

Length-

Birth: 19.25 inches 3 weeks: 21inches-48% 2 months: 23.5 inches- 70%

He is smiling cooing and throws out and occasional laugh. He is sweet and wonderful. I didn't realize my heart could love two people like this!

C is for...

Last week, Ollie and I had a blast learning about the letter C. And encouragingly he is now able to tell me the letter's name and sound for A,B & C. This week, we decorated a C with Cheerios. Many of them got eaten and it was quite enjoyable.

We also made two camels. We started with one but Ollie wanted the "Mama" to have a baby so we made another. He was able to put the neck, head and humps in the correct places. I think the camel was his favorite project this week.

Finally, he made a caterpillar by painting half of an egg carton and adding a piece of pipe cleaner for antennas.

It's really exciting watching him learn. I love this time together. It's great to see him run to his Daddy each night and drag him over to the window to show him his new artwork and talk about it. Right now, learning is fun and I hope it stays that way!

They grow a little too fast

Last night, I did my nightly ritual of checking on my Ollie bear before bed. I noticed he didn't have sleep dog, only a slew of other stuffed animals. I went to get sleep dog and brought it back to his room so he'd have it if he woke up in the night. On my way, I started thinking about how one day he won't want sleep dog anymore. One day I won't get to hold him. One day he'll leave home and I'll be left with only sleep dog to remind me of what a wonderfully sweet little boy I have. I love him so much. Even though my days are tough sometimes, I don't want either of my babies to grow up and leave me. I want to hug them, hold them and play with them forever. I praise God every day for them. They are truly a gift.

B!

Ollie and I did the letter B last week. He loves his learning time. We started the week by talking about B and finding things that started with the "b" sound. He & I went around and taped letter bs on everything from his backhoe to my butt! This activity was somewhat short lived as his attention span is short but we still enjoyed it.

We also made a boat using a half circle, a triangle and a pipe cleaner. We not only talked about the sound the B made but we also discussed the shapes we used to create our boat. Ollie decorated the boat after.

Ollie's favorite activity was making the butterfly. Ollie first used his watercolor paints to paint a coffee filter. Then we cut a pipe cleaner in half and used it to wrap around the middle of the coffee filter.

Finally, Ollie decorated a letter B with band-aids. Kids love band-aids so this was quite the treat.

Fun Facial Expressions

Here's sweet baby Dawson and some of his first smiles as well as some funny expressions!

Back to Letters

After a long break from learning letters, we are finally back at it! We took a look at A last week. Ollie loves learning and enjoys doing the crafts. He isn't quite getting what each letter says but that's ok with me. It's just about exposure right now. He has plenty of time to learn letters. he is too busy learning about Okapis, Kentrosaurus, and a strange bird called Cock-of-the-Rock (don't laugh!). Here is what we learned this week.

The first day we created an A-eating Alligator. He loved this. We even made the jaw movable. and created letter squares. Ollie had to pick which were A's for the alligator to eat. He did great.

We made a snack called an apple smile. To make this snack I took two apple slices, some peanut butter and a few small marshmallows. Ollie mostly picked the marshmallows off. For some reason I can't get the picture to come in right! Sorry!

We also made paper airplanes and flew them around the house. It was a stitch to watch Ollie learn to fly it. He thought the airplane was the best thing since...since..Dinosaur Train! LOL

Finally we made an A and Ollie put animal stickers on it.

All in all, A was a lot of fun. He can identify the letter both lower case and uppercase but still struggles with the sound. Like I said, it's about having fun and exposure!

Fall Fun!

Here is a video of all the fun we had in October! It sure was a great month. Everything from hay rides to pumpkin carving...even a little brother who came home. He is worthy of my praise!