Homeschool Preschool

In September, we started preschool at home. Isabella has soaked up so much information, it has been quite amazing to watch! She is really good at memorizing information when it is put to a song. She now knows our address, phone number, days of the week, and months of the year. We are using a letter of the week curriculum that I found on a blog and we really love it. There are lots of activities to go with each letter and the whole curriculum was only $10 (you can download each individual item for free but I wanted to speed the process up and have everything at once). We are not 100% consistent yet with our homeschooling but I think this is the benefit of starting with preschool... you figure out what works and what doesn't before you really get into the serious stuff.

Family Fun Night @ the zoo

(This is a little out of order!) We went to the zoo's family fun night in September. The kids had a fun time and Isabella got to pet a few different animals including a lizard and a snake!

Slow Food Picnic

For the third year in a row, we attended the Slow Food's local food picnic the first part of October. This year, my sister, Laura & her husband, Miguel joined us & it was lots of fun! The food was really good (and yay for all of it coming from local farms & cooked by local chefs!) and the weather was perfect. The kids enjoyed the children's activities: pony rides (Jackson rode his first pony!), petting zoo (although this has been better in years past), and face painting. Isabella did not want to leave! We look forward to going again next year.

The Great State Fair of Oklahoma

I'm really behind on updating the blog... so here are our pictures from our visit to the fair in September. Isabella LOVES the fair, the rides are her favorite! We had a really fun day and even took Jackson on the ferris wheel (he wasn't too sure about it!). Isabella rode ride after ride & wasn't afraid of a single one! She especially liked the little roller coaster she went on by herself.

Jackson is 16 months!

 

Behind, once again... Jackson is now 16 months & nearly 2 weeks.  Ah well... that's life I suppose!  He had his 15 month well baby visit mid August and he weighed in at 23lb 10oz (25-50%) and 32" (50-75%).  Dr. Morrow was happy to see how well his burns have healed (just a little red scarring on his wrist) and we were happy to be there under better circumstances!  Jackson has also pushed through a couple more teeth in the past month so now he has 10... 4 on top & 6 on bottom.  

It seems like every day Jackson has learned something new or we realize he can do or understand more than we thought he could!  He is saying more and more words... some of the more recent words he has learned are bubble, side (for outside), thanks, and grape.  He said dinosaur a couple times but won't say it anymore.  He is learning all the sounds animals make and does the cow, dog, and dinosaur really well.  He is learning so many other ways to communicate too!  Tonight he effectively communicated to me that he wanted water in the watering can by pointing & grunting!  (And what a funny sight it was to see Jackson carrying around a watering can about 1/2 the size of him... & he wouldn't put it down, just kept toting it around everywhere he went!)

Jackson has mastered walking (although he still has the stiff bow legged walk!) and now runs (well, as fast as his little legs will allow) and tries to jump (bending his knees & raising his arms but his little feet stay planted).  He can successfully climb up our slide all the way to the top and then slide down.  He climbs up to stand on his little car like a skateboard, loves to climb on stools, and is very close to figuring out how to climb up onto the sofas.  What a mobile little guy!  Apparently he is in to a bit too much and is told "no" a lot becauseevery time we ask him a question, he says "no" even if it is something he wants.  :)

Jackson's comprehension of his little world is probably a bit more advanced than we give him credit for... sometimes I ask him to do something (like to close the door) not expecting him to understand and then he does it!  How fast they learn!

In the last few months we've discovered that Jackson has a bit of a temper... possibly taking after Mike a bit (ha ha!).  If he doesn't get what he wants he gets physical and will either hit something (the floor, an object) or someone (usually me) or he will bang his head on something (the floor, an object) or someone (usually me).  It is kinda funny in an astonishing kind of way... Isabella had more of the throw yourself down on the floor type of fits, so this is a bit new an interesting.  My dad says he's a boy.  :)

We just recently put Jackson's new big boy car seat (rear facing of course) in the Prius and he looks so grown up sitting in it!  Isabella exclaims, "You're a big boy Jackson!" when she saw him in it the first time. :)  And speaking of Isabella, she continues to torment her brother on a daily basis but I would like to believe that they are starting to play together a bit too... they both have fun playing chase or bouncing on Isabella's bed.  Jackson is also starting to become a bit pushy with Isabella as well.  There is a stool that Jackson is fond of and if Isabella is standing on it, he will try to push or pull her off.  He isn't very effective but he is pretty determined and gets pretty aggravated at her.  

Lastly, probably our biggest news this update has to do with Jackson & sleep!  A few weeks ago I decided it was probably about time (& I was ready) to night wean Jackson (he still nurses 3x a day & I don't plan for him to wean completely until he's at least 2).  He had been waking somewhere around 4am every night to nurse & then would go back to sleep til close to 8a.  So on a Thursday night, when Mike was off for the following 3 days, I decided to stop nursing him when he woke in the middle of the night.  It went better than I feared with him only crying a little & he was able to be comforted back to sleep after the first night (he was just mad the first night!).  Thanks to Mike & him helping, it was really pretty easy.  I think it took about 4-5 days of him still waking (where we'd go in & rock/sing to him) before he just stopped all together.  So now he's been sleeping through the night for the past couple weeks & it's pretty nice!  I think he is even sleeping better than Isabella at this point!  He surely goes to sleep a lot quicker/easier than she does & Isabella actually wakes up in the middle of the night a few times a week (either bad dreams or her needing to be covered up).  But I'm sure we'll have more bumps in the road... we'll just enjoy this for now. :)

Isabella turns 4!

It's hard to believe that 4 years have gone by since Isabella was born. Time flies & she has grown up so fast! We celebrated her actual birthday on the 6th by going to our summer movie and then having lunch in Bricktown followed by a visit to the candy store. We were joined by the Polliards (Isabella says all the time how she "loves" Cameron & he is her best friend!) & had a nice day. Unfortunately we were called to show our house directly after that so it was hussle & bussle to get the house clean before that showing. We then had dinner at home that night (with Isabella's requested corn on the cob), had cupcakes, & family presents.

The following day we had Isabella's birthday party at Jump Zone. She LOVES this place! It is a big space with air filled slides & things to jump on as well as play ground type equipment. The kids had lots of fun and we followed up the party with lady bug cupcakes (which were made by Grandma & super yummy!), presents, & lady bug favor cookies that Isabella helped to make. I think it was a success!

It seems like just yesterday that we welcomed our 8lb 10oz (& 21") little girl into this world and now she is 40lbs & 41.5"! She amazes us everyday with all that she can do and we have so much fun enjoying all the unique things that makes her Isabella.

Happy Birthday big girl!

Elmo @ Tinker AFB

My parents invited us out to go see an Elmo live show that was on Tinker AFB. Can I just say that Jackson was sooooo excited to see Elmo! He squealed, he laughed... he LOVED it! It was so fun to see his reaction to it all. Isabella had fun too but not quite the excitement level shown by Jackson. :) My nephew Cameron & neice Taelyn w/ sister Jessica were also present & enjoyed it as well. They also gave away lots of free goodies including an Elmo spinning/light up toy that is pretty cool. Isabella got to touch Abby Cadabby but was highly upset when Grover passed her by. :) But all in all, it was a good time! Thanks, M&D!