Princess Baby Is Wigging me OUT!

I've written many times about how Mr. Boy loves letters and words and sounding things out. And how we have the Leapfrog ABC magnet set.

Mr. Boy has loved to bring us the letters for months telling us what they are and what they sound like.

A couple weeks ago, when Princess Baby started talking a lot, she started carrying around letter magnets and calling them all "D's" because that is a letter she apparently liked.

Tonight after work I was distractedly talking to the sitter before she left and Princess Baby came up to me and handed me a letter and said K. It was a K! So I think, must be a fluke, or Mr. Boy told her. But no, in the course of the next hour, she brought me over a dozen different letters, all with the correct designation. Then I tested her further and sent her to find the N or the O and she brought back the right ones!

Princess Baby isn't just a pretty face, ya'll!

Mr. Boy on Animal Diets

Mr. Boy has a new library book with baby animals in it and on the last page there is a tiger cub and the final line says something about him playing hard and needing a snack. The following conversation ensued:

Mama: "What snacks does the tiger eat?"
Mr. Boy: "Tiger eats peanuts."
Mr. Boy then takes the book from me and starts paging back through to the other animals.
Mama: "What does the goat eat?" (The picture is of a lamb but Mr. Boy is obsessed with goats, so he has declared this particular goat-ish looking lamb a goat.)
Mr. Boy: "Goat eats smarshmallows (sic)."
Mama: "What does the Duck eat?"
Mr. Boy: "Duck eats duck food."
Mama: "What does the bunny eat?"
Mr. Boy: "Vegetables and pops. Bunny says pop."
Mama: "What does Mr. Boy eat?"
Mr. Boy: "Mr. Boy eats smarshmallows, peanuts, goldfish, and Mr. Boy no like vegetables."

Maybe Mr. Boy should change his name to Mr. Healthy??

Proud and a little sad

Today we took Mr. Boy to visit his new preschool. I'm so excited that he's nearly 3 and ready for 2 afternoons a week of big boy school. It's really great.

But I'm sad. My first little baby is growing so fast. He's so tall and smart and talks a blue streak. I cannot believe he's old enough for school. I know it is only pre-school, but here it is. I'm now a mom who has a class list. A mom who will have a kid invited to birthday parties or play dates (assuming he learns to socialize like I hope!). A mom who will talk about spring break and back to school clothes. A mom on the list to help with classroom parties.

This is the beginning of an era in parenting that will last in one form or another for 15 more years. And I thought the baby stage was lasting forever, but I am coming to terms with the fact that everybody saying 'they're only babies for a minute' is so true and suddenly I'm going to be sharing my sweet Mr. Boy with people from all over the place. First it'll be these few half days a month and the next thing I know he'll be borrowing my keys to drive himself to his own school and begging me NOT to attend a class party or social event.

For now I'm choosing to be very excited that Mr. Boy is a strong, healthy kid who is getting a great opportunity to go to a nice Christian pre-school where he'll meet more adults who teach him about love and respect and venture into the wonderful world of friends and learning.

And I'm also going to be secretly rejoicing that Princess Baby is an end-of-spring Birthday girl and won't be old enough for this particular pre-school for another year and a half!!

Raising Bookworms

As a mom who loves books, it is my hope that Mr. Boy and Princess Baby also learn to really love to read. I never hesitate to buy them books and taking them to story time is a favorite for me as well as the kids.

Story time is especially fun because of all the cool songs and rhymes. We read a couple books and then we get to do "Grand Old Duke of York," and "Head/Shoulders/Knees and Toes," "I Have a Blue Balloon," and the special clapping, hugging, waving bye song we do every week at the end. What has been neat is the fact that when Mr. Boy or Princess B are sad, we can cheer them up easily with a little Duke of York or Clapping song here at home, too.

Books the kids really love the most include: Skippyjon Jones board books, of course the Princess Baby and Princess Baby Night Night stories, one called Duck Dunks about duckies at the beach, Mr. Boy's Wonder Pets animal seek and find book, and our set of books featuring baby Sesame Street characters. We also have a great book of prayers for kids and three awesome picture Bibles.

For Christmas I have stowed away some books about farm animals and some Sandra Boynton specialties like The Belly Button Book and her ABC's book. Wouldn't be Christmas morning without some new books, right?

Belated Happy Halloween!

The kids enjoyed their first Kansas Halloween very much. They wore a cool pumpkin costume to their respective story times and then on the big day we went Trick-or Treating in Grammy and Papa's neighborhood with our special visitor from Western KS. It was so great to have Great-Granny R. here for a couple days so the kids could get to know her. The fact that it coincided with Halloween fun was just an added bonus. Our church also had a great fall festival night so after T or T-ing, we hit the church where the kids played games and got candy and had a blast.