Special Day

One of my best friends from college got married last weekend, and she asked Hannah to be her Flower Bear.  Not really, she was her flower girl. :)  So we ventured up to Clarksville and enjoyed a mini vacation as a family.  Hannah had her hair professionally styled on Saturday morning, and we enjoyed the extra time at the salon with Anna before the wedding.

I took a bunch of photos, here are a few:

Making Strides

Both kids are making progress in their respective areas of concentration, so to speak.  Buddy is basically potty trained for daytime and most nights, but I still put him in a pull up at night just in case. Of course there are still days with 2 or 3 leaks, but the lure of candy as a reward seems to be pretty effective. (Yesterday morning was an example of "in case.")  He is adjusting to Preschool, and according to his teacher he is sweet and really making progress.  He's learning those basic social skills like listening to an adult other than a parent, learning how to stand in line, practicing all sorts of pincer grasp activities, and toileting without assistance because the teacher would be in there all day if she helped the kid.  He knows his body parts on himself and his basic colors, by the end of the year she hopes that he will draw body parts in the correct place on pictures and spell his own name.  (He recognizes many of his letters already.  And he's watching "Word World" as I type this for reinforcement.)  The days he does not go, he asks to, and the days he does go, he asks to stay home with me.  It's sweet.  He also misses his sissy.  We often have a little picnic at a park after I pick him up from school and before we go get Bear.

Bear is adjusting well to Kindergarten, except for the early waking.  (I wonder where she gets that from.)  There is no way we would get her to the bus in time as most days she is still waking up, so I drive her in.  We use that time to listen to her kids' choir CD in preparation for the upcoming Christmas program.  Her favorite subjects are lunch and recess, followed by art and music.  So far she has said that one boy asked her to be his girlfriend, but she told him she is not old enough.  Last night she said another boy asked to kiss her, so she told her teacher and the teacher told him that is not allowed.  So apparently the boy/girl relational distractions start early these days. It really doesn't bother me yet, I think it's cute. In spite of that, she is finally starting to show some interest in reading and making progress in that direction.  She can sound out 2, 3, and some 4-letter words with short vowel sounds if she is focused, but after 10-15 minutes of reading with me she tends to get tired.  She loves the songs that her teacher uses to help her remember things, and she has begun to make up more of her own songs. While she resists handwriting because she gets frustrated that she can't do it perfectly, yesterday she copied the titles of some of the books she would like from the book order form onto a sheet of paper.  That is a huge accomplishment for her.

I am so proud of both of my little people!