I found this page in one of Bren’s workbooks. He loved it so I am putting a copy here for Andy. He especially liked that he could participate in the reading by saying the numbers and also anticipating some of the words by looking at the pictures. He doesn’t seem to hear the rhymes yet- for example, despite me explaining that a “hen” is a girl rooster, when we get to the end he calls it a “roost”. 😉

I think I’ll try teaching him this fingerplay next:
Five Fat Peas
A counting fingerplay especially
useful in the spring and summer.
Five fat peas in a pea pod pressed
(children hold hand in a fist)
One grew, two grew, so did all the rest.
(put thumb and fingers up one by one)
They grew and grew
(raise hand in the air very slowly)
And did not stop,
Until one day
The pod went POP!
(children clap hands together)
*****
I have started reading the “My Sound Box” series by Jane Belk Moncure to Brendan. Each letter of the alphabet has it’s own book. I am skipping the vowels for now. We’ve read B and C so far. I like them because it gives him practice hearing and seeing the letter sounds in words and it also boosts his vocabulary.
Here is a list of word families, much like my earlier lists of 3 letter word families.
*****
Andy can now get on his ride-on truck by himself. He only moves backwards so far but he loves to push the buttons and listen to the truck sounds it makes!
He also loves to touch your eyes (ears, mouth, nose) and have you touch them back and say its name.

Andy just said his first phrase (and his first complete sentence)!!!
DH walked in the door, home from work, and Bren got to him first for a hug. Andy rose to his knees pumping his hands in the air and was saying “Hi!” repeatedly. When DH managed to pull him into the group hug Andy said, “Hi, Dada!”
Awwwww.

The party at MaeMae’s house went great. Andy adored his cake and Brendan had a blast with his cousin Meghan. They are both equally enjoying the gifts- namely the baby Ipod Darrell picked out and Aunt Cathy’s ride-on dump truck. The truck has a weight limit of 50 pounds. I was thinking “uh-oh- how to keep Bren off” but the bathroom scale says he is only 46 pounds. He probably lost everything he had gained since he turned 4 with the yakking sickness that we all got the other week.

Happy Birthday Andy!
From this…

To this!

Brendan had no problems drawing a T, C and A on blank paper this morning. He has really improved his control of the pencil. I bet the mazes have helped. I chose T first because it seemed an easy letter to try initially. Then I asked for a C. He was really thrown for a loop when I asked for a Z next and was thoughtful for a bit. I think he was trying to figure out what word I was having him spell, lol. He then decided he had to draw an A because that is what he needed to spell CAT. He often thinks of words in terms of their letters as a whole and not of them in any order. I’m thinking of trying him on handwriting paper soon.

On this maze he got caught up in the upper circle and when he got stuck again in the middle of the lower circle he gave up. He literally said, “Jump over this wall to reach the star.” LOL. It has been awhile since we’ve done any mazes and I think he has forgotten to look ahead so I had him trace the next one with his finger first and he did much better.

I’m starting to have him watch “Between the Lions” again. Before, he watched it because he liked it. Now I think it is right at the level where he needs help.

*****
Yup- DH and Bren got the Ick too. We’ve been a family of yakkers. Despite DH still in bed I think the worst is behind us.

Andy started the day off by vomiting all over the front room floor (Brendan: “That is DEE-SCUST-ING Andy!”). Then all over the living room carpet, right outside his bedroom, at a restaurant (we *had* to go it was a rare family reunion & baby shower- we sat far away) and then bright yellow in the car.
Naturally, he finally kept down some pedialyte and perked up as we were waiting to see the Med-Clinic dr. Of course. “Waste” of $80.
Yup. Good times.
Riddle me this- why do my kids ALWAYS get hurt or sick on the weekend???
On a good note, while we were in triage, Brendan pointed to a sign above a door and said “That says exit.” 🙂 Also, Andy weighs 21 lbs 10 oz. 🙂
Bren is currently having a blast with a N64 Tom & Jerry game that I won off of ebay for some obscenely cheap amount while Andy is chugging bottle after bottle.
Andy has already moved on to the “I’m trying to be brave” stage and can be spotted a couple times daily standing for a bit without holding on to anything. He cruises pretty darn good now.
His first birthday party is tentatively planned for my grandparents’ house next Sunday at 2 pm. The baby shower was a great place to go to see everyone to invite them.
I MUST order a cake. I must follow up with email invites.

If I make a pot of pot roast (I love Kraft’s recipe with Catalina dressing) with potatoes and carrots we have a great supper and I usually have some leftovers the next day for lunch and end up tossing the rest. But I’ve noticed that if I instead stuff a loaf of french bread with shredded pot roast mixed with gravy, we not only use half the amount of meat but the meal is now deemed to be “mana of the Gods” and more sandwiches the next day are not greeted with frowns. It’s just a loaf of bread…. 1 meal for 4 + 1 lunch = $11 or 2 meals for 4 for $6.50 each. To put this in perspective, Hamburger Helper without any coupons costs me $5.50 to make plus the cost of a veggie. I’d much rather have pot roast.

stood up without pulling up on anything or even holding on to anything!

I gave Andy a stack of these cards to mess with while Brendan did his worksheets today. Brendan later helped me pick them up. Of course, he was telling me what everything was as he did so. I had no clue that he knows what a diamond and oval (well, “obal”) are nor that he knows right and left! :O Wow. In fact, the only 2 things he missed were pentagon and hexagon!
We also worked on patterns for the first time. His worksheet had pictures of beads on a string with alternating colors (say: red, blue, red, blue, red, blue, ___). You had to color the last bead the correct color. That took no explanantion at all, he picked up on it right away.
A couple weeks ago, we got this little activity in the mail from Tide. Brendan LOVED it. I thought I’d pass it on.

*****
Andy has been the Whine Monster!!! Ack! He is driving me insane. He thinks he can and must do everything Bren is doing and perhaps isn’t getting enough stimulation. Yesterday I introduced him to Starfall and he LOVED it. Of course, Brendan discovered us and joined in too. Starfall has added some stuff to their ABC videos too. 😀 Love that site.
Andy has not been sleeping well. Somewhere between 2:30 and 5:30 am he wakes up wailing and I pull him into the guest bed with me. But I’m not really comfortable in that bed and roll around a lot and end up waking him up early. Sigh.