{getting to be a big boy}

Gerard's leg and psyche are healed, and he's back to his usual self. He had swimming lessons last night and we all went to watch (and take pictures of course). I'm really surprised at how well he's doing, and how eagerly he gets into the pool without Mommy or Daddy with him. He has definitely made progress and he's very excited about the prospect of swimming with Grandpa in Florida next week.









Today was Gerard's first field trip of the year. We went to an apple orchard and went on a hay ride, picked apples, did a hay maze, had apple cider and donuts, and picked out pumpkins. It was Morgan's first field trip, too, and we had perfect weather for it -- cool and sunny.








And finally, we've been working on writing numbers -- here's Gerard's calendar for October. Not bad for a first attempt, huh??? Tonight after dinner he actually asked to practice writing his 2's and 3's. Isn't this the boy who, just a few weeks ago, hated to write his name? The boy who'd write GER and then say "I'm tired. I'll write ARD later"????

{doctors and dentists and school, oh my!}

Yet another busy week for us. Gerard had his shots on Tuesday, and it was not a pleasant experience. He screamed bloody murder during the FOUR shots (two in each leg) and then was miserable for the rest of the day. His left leg is still sore and a bit swollen, but they say that's normal from the DTaP vaccine. Taking off the bandaids was almost worse than getting the shots -- I pulled two of them off without telling him and I thought he was going to pass out from the screaming! The only good part of the whole experience was peeing in a cup. He thought that was pretty cool.

Today he went to the dentist, and luckily that was MUCH better than the doctor. No peeing in a cup, unfortunately, but no shots either. Plus he got to pick out his own toothpaste and help hold the instruments. His exam went so well that he got to pick out a toothbrush, a toy, AND a sticker. What fun!!!

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The other day we made a graph like they did at school, only this time we used m&ms. I'm not sure he's my son, though, because when I told him he could eat the m&ms he said he only wanted ONE so he could save the rest. Huh???? He was concentrating pretty hard, as evidenced by the tongue sticking out:

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Morgan wore one of the sweaters that Aunt Debbie made. Doesn't she look cute?

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And here is Gerard's latest masterpiece; more apples and more sequencing events (now apparently we have to work on gluing them on right-side up!):

{miscellaneous}

The other night we were reading Angela's Airplane by Robert Munsch. In it, Angela accidentally takes off in an airplane, then promises never to fly an airplane again, only to become a pilot when she grows up. To this, Gerard said "I think I want to be a pilot when I grow up." Logically, his next question was when could he learn how to fly. He wondered if he had to be 16, because he knows he has to be 16 to learn to drive a car. I said I didn't know how old you had to be to learn to fly an airplane, but maybe in October when we fly to Florida he could ask the pilot. He thought that was a good idea. I then said that maybe you have to be 21 to learn to fly. He said "Oh, I hope not. I don't want to have that many birthday parties before I can fly!"

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Morgan had her first taste of cereal yesterday. It went exactly as expected -- she spit most of it out. She made such funny faces and Gerard thought it was hysterical. He even tried feeding her. We fed her again today and it went a little better. I think she's slowly getting the hang of it. Maybe tomorrow she'll eat more than she ends up wearing.

you've got to be kidding me






incoming!
you mean the spoon doesn't go in this way?






I think I'll do this my way

In other news, I have a folder of Gerard's artwork from preschool last year, and I've started saving stuff from this year already. At this rate, I'll need a bigger house just for his schoolwork. So, I've decided to start scanning in or taking pictures of some of the things he makes so I can then get rid of the originals. Since I'm doing that, I thought I'd show you some of his work from this year:

Oh, and here are a few cute ones of Morgan. She's developed this new habit of sucking in her lower lip when she smiles. It's cute, but since she has no teeth she looks like an old lady when she does it!

That's about it for now. Gerard has his 4 year doctor's appointment tomorrow and he's getting shots. Wish us luck!

{milestones}

Lots of new stuff to report here...

...Morgan slept through the night two nights ago (from 11:30 until 6, but close enough). Unfortunately, she was up last night from 2 until 3:30. Payback's a b*tch, I guess. Keep your fingers crossed for me tonight.

...Morgan is sitting on her own, and I'm confident enough in her ability to balance to be able to stand back and take some pictures.





...She rolled from her back to her tummy yesterday. She hasn't done it again though. And so begins the "didn't I put her there?" phase.

...Gerard had swimming class tonight. It was the first time he's had lessons without Daddy in the pool with him. He even went in without any floaties or swimmies or noodles or whatever! He was so proud of himself, as were Mommy and Daddy!

...We went back to the gym! That's a milestone for all of us. It's the first time Gerard and I have been back in 5 months. It was also the first time I've left Morgan with anyone other than family (or Darci). It went well the first day, but the second day they had to page me because Morgan was crying and wouldn't take the bottle from Miss Amy. At least I got 45 minutes in. Better than nothing, I guess, and Morgan was fine once I went in to feed her.

...Gerard is becoming quite the little photographer. Just like Mommy, he walks around with his camera all day long. Unfortunately, the camera isn't the greatest (why am I surprised that a $40 camera from Toys-R-Us isn't wonderful?) and he has to hold it perfectly still for a good 2-3 seconds AFTER he depresses the shutter button. Not very practical for a 4 year old. It's nearly impossible even for adults. Oh well. He's more interested in taking the pictures than viewing them, so I guess he's happy for now.




...Gerard is also volunteering to draw pictures of actual objects. Not just scribbles. Today he wanted to draw the sun. And he did. And it actually looked like the sun (if the sun had blue rays) or maybe a paramecium. He also wrote "SUN" and then wrote his name. It was a beautiful day today, but a bit too hot to be out in the sun so he colored outside on the porch: