first (official) day of school

"i'm going to school today!" that was how matt and i were greeted this morning when madelyn woke up. the day that she had waited to come for two long weeks was finally here and she was going back to school. she didn't even want to eat breakfast, she just wanted to go to school. thankfully, it didn't take too much conversation to convince her that it would be best to eat breakfast and get dressed before leaving for school.

then - oops - mommy forgot to make lunch. i quickly got together her lunch and put it into her backpack. thankfully, i then remembered that we weren't supposed to send any peanut products to school on the first day in case of allergies in her class. out came the pb&j and in went baloney and cheese (thank goodness we had some!).

madelyn had asked to wear braids to school for the first day when i braided it last time. she was trying to keep the braids in until school started so i had to promise that i would redo them for her. here is some video of her ready to head out the door.

when i dropped her off she was almost the only child not crying. i think that all the crying scared her a little bit. she has become very sensitive to other kids crying and often wants to know why they are crying. it was a little funny walking down the hall towards the exit and hearing crying from almost every room. i was thankful that madelyn wasn't one of them (but not surprised). according to mrs. w madelyn did a great job today. mrs. w complemented her on her potty skills saying that she knew just what to do. she also commented on how meticulous madelyn is when painting. apparently she paints very straight lines - as i could see in the watercolor painting she brought home today.

i think madelyn is the only girl in a class of six. while we were talking about her day on the way home she was telling me that the boys are very funny! we were also talking about the leaves changing color and pointing out the red trees. she told me that it would be snowing next. i explained, yes, it would be snowing soon but first the leaves needed to change and fall, then we would have halloween and wear costumes before it might start to snow. her response to the mention of halloween? "i'll get some chocolate! yummy! chocolate will go in my tummy!" this was maybe her most surprising association yet! she didn't really get any candy last year that i can remember and she very rarely gets any chocolate. while laughing, i promised that, yes, she could have come chocolate on halloween.

the last picture is from before school this morning and even though she isn't supposed to sit on the coffee table she just looked too cute not to take a picture. love.

another thumb sucker!

mason has been sucking his thumb several times a day for the past two days. this morning was the first time i was around him to take a picture of it. we weren't too surprised because he spends a lot of time trying to suck on it.

he slept almost 9 hours last night before waking at 5:30am to eat. i was able to put him back down until 7 but i don't think that he ever went back to sleep. he just lay there quietly and cooed to himself until i came back in.

he has had 2-3 limbs out of the miracle blanket by morning for almost a week so matt thinks we should move him into the sleep sac. i am considering it because of the thumb sucking. at least i know that he can get it and sooth himself. my only hesitation is that he slept 9 hours last night and i have had a stomach bug for the past few days. i just don't want to mess with my sleep yet. especially since madelyn had some upset stomach tonight too... more to come. love.

playdate

yesterday morning we went to have a playdate with madelyn's friends jack and claire. their mom was borrowing a cake pan from me so i suggested we plan to play when i dropped it off.

mason loved, loved claire (who is almost one)! he was smiling and laughing at her as soon as he saw her. i think that madelyn is a little too loud and quick moving for mason to appreciate yet, but claire was just his speed. mason has laughed at madelyn before, but i could see that he was happy to see someone quiet and smiley that was his size.

madelyn was happy to play with jack too. it is always fun to play with someone else's toys. and jack has a really cool train table too. i was glad that we were able to get everyone together and it was nice to see their mom, amy, too.

jack and madelyn quickly found some wet outside fun. it was such a nice day outside that we just let them have fun and get wet. after they were adequately soaked, they had a snack before we stripped them down to come inside. since they were only wearing underwear amy suggested that they paint which of course madelyn loved.

we were extra lucky because amy invited us to stay for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches - madelyn's favorite. i think it was just about the perfect playdate as far as madelyn was concerned.

i was not prepared for madelyn to get wet and did not have a change of clothes. the funny thing was that i had considered it before leaving - oh well. fortunately jack is in the starting phases of potty training and had an extra pair of underwear for madelyn to borrow. i tried to get a picture of them because it was kind of cute to see her running around in little boy underwear. when she woke up from her nap she was asking me about where they came from because she knew that they weren't hers and hadn't really taken the time to look at what i had put on her at jack's house.

(she is holding a panda bear in the picture because i had shown her the panda cam at the san diego zoo when she was talking to me about pandas and she remembered that she had a panda bear from that zoo in her room.) love.

photo summary

it has been busy for me the past few days with madelyn's preschool open house, matt's fantasy football drafts (yes, that is plural - as in three), and a neighborhood movie night while matt went to a brewers game. to try and share i am just going to post pictures with captions.
it seems like madelyn always asks to hold mason in the morning. here is the best picture taken at her request. she has also been telling mason that she loves him very much ("mason, i love you very much!") with a big hug and kiss without any prompting - it is just out of the blue. i am so thankful that she has so much love for her brother.

mason taking a little catnap. he is falling into a pattern of a two catnaps (around 45 minutes each) in the morning, a 3-4 hour nap starting between 12 and 1, and then two more catnaps before going down for the night around 8. he sleeps until 2 or 4am before needing to eat. he will sleep about 3 more hours after that. it seems to be working for him so that is nice.

madelyn has taken to playing toddler games on our phones. her favorite is this one that is a series of shape puzzles of letter, foods, instruments, trucks, and animals. it has been really nice for doctor appointments and other times when we need her to play quietly.

speaking of playing quietly, she has been wonderful about playing quietly when i need her to do so. this has really been new this week. she has always been willing to play by herself, but would come over to ask me questions or something along those lines. this week it changed. i have been working on ignoring her when i am on the phone and explaining that i was going to be on the phone before making the call or going to a web conference meeting. she has been wonderful!! she even tattles on herself after i hang up the phone if she tried to talk to me during my call. on thursday morning i was in meetings for about two hours. the only time she spoke to me was when she asked if it would be okay to play in the office with me because she wanted to paint. she even whispered her question. i was so proud of her! it has also worked for when i am nursing mason down for his nap. i just explain that it is time for me to feed mason in his room and put him down for his nap before i go back to his room. she waits for me to come back out before declaring happily that "i was quiet!" you've got to love her.

i thought that mason was cute in his blue and brown stripes so i took a few pictures. this one with the "o" mouth was my favorite. this picture had two purposes. mason can sit up in the stroller now (with a slight recline) and he is wearing his first jacket.
madelyn was very happy about her french braids. this was the first time madelyn has ever had braids and the first time i have french braided hair in a very, very long time - like at least 10 years. we were both pleased with the results. madelyn did a great job of holding still and loves them so much that we are one day two of them. she just doesn't want to take them down yet. her head looks like a huge mess after sleeping on them twice her head has a lot of fly-aways.

here is the best picture of all the neighborhood kids watching nemo last night. we were going to watch it outside but the mosquitoes were too bad. (they are really, really bad here this summer. i grew up in florida and have never had so many mosquito bites in such a short amount of time.) most of my pictures were really blurry because i was holding mason and trying to take pictures without being able to see in the dark room well enough to frame up the picture. you can get the idea though. madelyn is in a white shirt on the couch sitting on one of the older kid's lap.

on wednesday night we went to open house at madelyn's preschool. she was so excited to be going to school and see her teacher from the summer mrs. t. i had explained that mrs. t may not be her teacher, but i don't think it sunk in until we got there and mrs. t was not there and we took madelyn to a different room in the building to meet her new teacher mrs. w. it took us three tries to leave because madelyn wanted to go back to her room twice and once to check her old room for mrs. t. she was also very sad to be leaving at all because she wanted to go to school and have us leave. over the past few days she has come to terms with mrs. t not being there. she tells us in a sad voice that "mrs. t isn't there any more." and then in an excited voice, " my new teacher is mrs. w!" her first day back is this wednesday and she can hardly stand the wait! love.

kids workshop

after a divide and conquer approach to this morning's errands, i saw that home depot was having their kids workshop today. we went to pick matt up from his eye checkup and asked if he would mind checking out that the "kids workshop" was all about. we have heard about it from several people but have never taken madelyn - boy have we been missing out! unfortunately i didn't have my camera with me so all the pictures are from my phone which doesn't have the shutter speed for taking pictures of children in motion but i don't think these are too blurry to share.

for anyone who doesn't know, they give the kids an apron, a project kit (today's was a bean bag toss), and a pin of the project once you're done to stick on the apron - all for free. madelyn was really excited to be using tools and glue with daddy. she also liked wearing the safety goggles and watching the other kids work. although she was a little annoyed that their hammering made the table jump.

here are some pictures of madelyn and daddy hard at work...

this is definitely something we are going to put on our calendar from now on. it is going to be a great morning out with daddy once a month. next month's project is a firehouse bank. love.

madelyn says

quick post of some of madelyn's comments from last night that kept us laughing (okay giggling).

1. for some reason we have been out and about after dark recently (maybe because it is getting dark earlier) and madelyn likes to check out the moon. we are approaching a full moon and last night madelyn said that "the moon is all fixed". since matt and i weren't aware it had been broken we asked her about it. she said "the moon is all fixed now. it's whole." of course.

2. madelyn has been interested in what is going on behind her when we are riding in the car. i think this comes from the grandparents following us in their cars when they visited. she also knows that the stroller is in the trunk. anyway, we were getting gas and madelyn told me that daddy was "putting grass [gas] in the trunk."

3. she is starting to have a little anxiety around strangers. she will talk to them and behave in a friendly manner, but she needs to be holding my hand. she is particularly uncertain about strange men. even at the park if she doesn't know the father pushing his child in a swing she will hang her head as we walk over so that she can swing. the vocalization is "that man is looking at me" while pointing at them. sometimes the man isn't even looking at her, she just doesn't want him to look at her.

it is so much fun to have long conversations with her. it is my favorite part of riding in the car. love.

better check the birth certificate

the "miracle blanket" is just that, a miracle! mason slept 8 hours last night. and then another three after i fed him. i guess we will be getting him in it for a while longer. at least until he can suck his thumb to comfort himself. i will be shocked if he is not a thumb sucker. he works really, really hard trying to get his left thumb into his mouth. he gets so excited when he gets a suck or two that he clenches his fist tighter pulling his thumb back out. he will be glad when that reflex wears off and so will i. this picture is from today to show off his spit bubbles.

we took mason for his 2-month check-up this morning. the doctor said that she should check his birth certificate because he is like a 4-month-old in every sense! not only is it his size, but the way he can roll over stomach to back (which he did twice for her), 'talk', mimic, lift his head, blow bubbles, drool, and the feedback we gave about his eating and sleeping habits.

here were his stats today:

height - 25-3/4 inches (98/99 percentile)
- i think he is a little taller having watched her measure him though; more like 26 inches
weight - 14 lbs., 2 oz. (88 percentile)
head circumference - 41.7 cm (82 percentile)
height/weight combo (bmi) - 4 percentile

by comparison, madelyn was 25 inches, 12 lbs., 5 oz. at two months. i had a really strong feeling that mason was larger than she was at this age. we don't have to overlap his diaper closures like we did with madelyn and he just feels bigger to me when i am nursing him. mason is wearing most of his 6 month sized clothes and almost 9 month sleepers. he has been in a size three diaper for around a month now.

i think that covers it for mason. he is healthy, strong, and happy and we couldn't be happier about that! love.