James Speak Today (or was it 10 years from now?)

This morning...

Taylor: You need to get up and get ready for preschool.
James: Let me wake up slow.
Taylor: You don't have time.
James: Just five more minutes.



Our new cell phones arrived in the mail today...

James: When we're like 13 or 14 can we have our own little phones?

Hannah's First Word (proceeded by a looong explanation)

Baby signing is such an amazing thing I have been really trying with Hannah to start her early. We did a very small amount of signing with Matthias and it was wonderful to be able to communicate with him very simply at 9-10 months old. Especially after James did not speak a word until age two...signing would have been very useful with him, but I was as yet unfamiliar with current baby/parenting trends so we were just frustrated for two years.

Anyway, I took a Signing Smart class when Hannah was 7 weeks old and was all ready to have her signing by age 6 months. But when I finally pulled out the book yesterday to figure out why she still couldn't sign at 8 months I found out I had been doing everything wrong. Guess I should have read the book a few months ago...

What I realized a couple weeks ago though was that I sign to Hannah, yet when she wants something she looks me in the eye and says "AHHHHH!". But she makes sure she has my attention, concentration can be seen in her eye, and then "AHHH!". I observed to Taylor, "It's like she can't figure out what I'm doing with my hands. She can tell we communicate with sound so she attempts to do the same, completely ignoring whatever the heck Mom is doing with her hands all the time."

Well within the first 5 pages of reading I find out I have to do specific things for my baby to realize that signing has meaning and power in her world. Oops. Guess that's why she ignores my signing and copies my talking. So we are starting anew this week following all instructions and hoping to get some signing.

But being more tuned into Hannah and her communication led me to discover she can talk! Ok, so she only says one word, but she has for a couple weeks now and I just noticed it. (for those of you rolling your eyes, I really think babies understand way more than we think. way more. and they can indeed communicate at very early ages.)

Soooo, the story is Hannah LOVES taking a bath. Loves it. Whenever I take her to the bath I always say "Bath time!" while signing bath. She always gets really excited, but today I was looking (and hoping) for a sign and instead I got, "ba, ba, ba!" What? Then thinking back I realize she has been doing this the last several baths, maybe 5 or 6. She says "ba, ba, ba" when we walk in the bathroom and then when she is in the tub. I know it is a fairly regular baby sound, she does say it occasionally at other times (mostly she just screeches at other times though...as anyone who has had a 6-13 month old can attest), but she always says it when it's bath time. She knows.

So it's official. Hannah's first word is bath! She may not be as physically advanced as the boys were at her age, but she understands the communication thing and can say one word. I guess that's boys versus girls, huh?

The Challenge Is Met

Hannah can inchworm. Backwards. About 1/2 a foot.

Technically fulfilling the requirements set for the challenge...

Fall Celebration

Today James had no preschool (P/T conferences this week??) so we planned a huge Fall Celebration. Started off preparing some applesauce for the crock pot...it's stewing away and smells wonderful.

Next up, spiders. For Halloween of course. We sang Itsy Bitsy, read Anansi the Spider, and made paper spiders which we hung from the ceiling in the basement. Which led to the great idea of making a Haunted House, but that was later.

After spiders we made cinnamon muffins in Halloween muffin papers for snack time. Delicious. Mmmm.

Then off to the pond (don't want my boys getting nature deficit disorder). Today is a lovely fall day. Lovely. 61 degrees out, sunny, beautiful. Watched ducks for 15 minutes. Collected sticks, feathers. Found the 'river' that empties into the pond, raced sticks down the river, built a damn. Followed the river to it's origins. Collected rocks, large branches. Headed home.



After lunch the Haunted House was put into action. Ghosts and spider hanging from the ceiling, glowing pumpkins, lego monsters, spooky bats. Very terrifying. All set for when Dad arrives home to scare him silly.

Boys get in wrestling match over Matt pulling down a ghost. When finished and both are crying Mom set one on the couch, one on the floor with pillows and blankets. "Now don't go to sleep, but rest just for 5 minutes so you're ready for the movie." 2 minutes later everyone is sleeping peacefully. Mom is picking out her new phone.

One hour until we eat that yummy applesauce and then leave to meet friends for Where The Wild Things Are.

A perfect Fall Celebration.


(no, Hannah cannot crawl. or move.)

My Job Replacement

James: Mom, how could you grow up and not be anything?

(long pause)

Me: What? You think I don't do anything?
James: Like a submarine driver or something.
Me: I'm a mom. I stay home with you. What would you do if I was gone all day?
James: I would wash Matt. And Hannah's bed would be full of water.
Me: What would you eat? Who would feed you?
James: Sugar. I would give Hannah a pile of sugar.


Nice to know if I ever leave the house my younger children would be in James' capable hands.

'Tis the Season

The boys and I have been singing Primary Christmas songs together for weeks learning the words and tunes. A few days ago the boys requested the Little People Nativity come out.

But this morning we listened to Little Drummer Boy by Josh Groban. Shhh, don't tell Taylor.

Amazing Grace

Check out my sister in law's newly released cd.

You could really help her out by posting her widget to your side bar for a couple days! You can just click "SHARE" on my widget or find it on her home page with really easy copy instructions for adding it to your sidebar. Thanks!