Yoder Visit

First Balloon

Aerial view... the balloon's perspective. :)

Father's Day Fun

Lucas picked this outing to a county fair for Laith's Father's Day celebration. Namely for the surprise gift both of us knew he would love... no, it's not a carousel ride...
Or a wild gator coaster ride...
It's a helicopter ride!!!

For a really reasonable price, all 3 of us were flown around beautiful Albemarle county for about 5 minutes. LOVED it!!




Happy Father's Day, Laith, to the kindest, most patient, and most fun Daddy!

Sophie Sessions: Eight Months

This month, Sophie....

* Has learned how to get into the crawling position. No movement yet, but she's at the starting gate! :)

* Gets stopped by strangers everywhere we go who want to comment on or touch her hair. It's been growing upwards- as if she's a mad scientist or electrically charged!

* Went swimming for the first time at the local wading pool. She was ecstatic! This girl loves water in every way- drinking it out of a cup, splashing in the bath, and kicking in the pool!

Sophie's Favorites:

TOYS: alligator xylophone and yellow smiley face rattle

FOODS: pickles, chevre (fancy french goat cheese!), cheerios, Aunt Connie's Salmon, and gingered carrots (we've got another high-flavor eater!)

ACTIVITIES: peekaboo with Lucas, flirting with herself in the mirror, working on picking up small objects

Peach Pickin' with Uncle Max!

Laith's brother Max came to visit in mid June for a long weekend and we had a great time eating out, relaxing around the house, and going peach-picking! The kids took to Max instantly- Lucas loved playing with him and was so sad when he left; and Sophie didn't have any stranger-anxiety at all when he held her! At one point, Laith and I needed to meet with our realtor for 30 minutes and Max volunteered to hold down the fort while we were gone. Sophie was napping so we figured it would be totally fine. Max is only 20 yrs old and has never babysat such young kids before so while we trust him completely, we didn't want to put him in a challenging situation. Well, challenge is what Max got while we were gone. Sophie woke up just 5 min after we drove off, clingy and crying, during which Lucas had a messy poop accident. Gotta love how the kids coordinate their personal emergencies like that- it's a well-honed and frequently utilized skill. Max did great, remaining his cool laid-back self while soothing Sophie and cleaning up Lucas. Max, you get extra brownie points times 100 for that! Thanks for coming out to visit and we all look forward to seeing you again soon!

Last Day of Preschool

This was such a sad day for us as we said goodbye to our teachers and friends not just for the summer but forever. The Montessori School of Charlottesville decided to close Lucas' classroom at the Elder Care Center for budget reasons and Laith and I don't think their other 2 campuses are a good fit for him (too quiet and creativity-stifling for an active, social boy). If the school had remained open, he would have returned to the same teachers and same students (minus the kindergardeners) for the next 2 years. We were really looking forward to the continuity of that and enjoying all the amazing skills he learns in an environment that encourages kids to learn what interests them and at their own pace. Lucas was already starting pre-reading activities and also identifing the 50 states when he left! We'll also miss the fact that his school and teachers emphasize courtesy and manners and good social skills above all else. It's amazing to see how Montessori kids are so friendly and thoughtful. Playground time looks completely different there.

Next year, Lucas will be attending a well-regarded 3-days-a-week program at a church.

Here are some photos from our last day at Montessori:

Saying goodbye to his teachers, Ms. Marchenka (above) and Ms. Crystal (below)
Lucas' "mentor" Ava, who took Lucas under her wing when he first started school and showed him how to do many of the activities there.
Last "Music with Ben" singalong with the Elders

And now we're ready for summer! Wading pool and Discovery Museum, here we come!

May Misc

Poor sick Sophie. The spit-up on my shirt was not even half of what came out of that tiny little body. These pictures were taken during an illness where she was the most lethargic I had seen her, and I was just fed up with all the apnea episodes and continuous coughing and thought that maybe a different doctor would be able to give me better information (rather than that her brother was just bringing viruses home from preschool or that she had "junk" in her lungs that her immune system needed to handle). I felt like this had to be symptoms of something more than the previously diagnosed reflux or food allergies. She's usually a happy sick baby (crazy, huh?) so the photos on this blog belie her constant illness since January- she's usually healthy for a week or so leading up to a well-child check at the pediatrician and then sick for 2-3 weeks straight. Repeat). We finally got relief when this doctor diagnosed her wheezing as Respiratory Distress Syndrome (essentially infant asthma). After a nebulizer breathing treatment in the office, Sophie was doing 100 times better and we were given a machine to use at home as well. That night, after months of waking anywhere from every 30 min to 3 hours, usually with coughing fits, Sophie slept 8 hours straight. Whew!

Playing duck-duck-goose

I totally forgot about Virginia's spring rainy season. Usually April showers bring May flowers, but this year we had some rain and chilly jacket weather clear into the middle of the month. Here's a fun shaving cream art activity we played for almost an hour! Now Laith won't be able to shave until he gets a new can. :)

May is also filled with butterflies. I have no idea why this one was being so still for so long but Lucas was enthralled. It flew away right after this photo.

Sophie borrows Lucas' jacket when the temperature drops suddenly after preschool pick-up.

Our neighbor Andy is always decorating his body. He often has painted nails, marker and paint drawings on his skin, etc. And got Lucas involved with this chalk-in-a-puddle body art.

Sophie's full-on into the phase where small-sized things are of great interest. She finds the tiniest crumb or paper scrap embedded in our carpet and of course it goes in her mouth. This bowl of Cheerios was a very interesting and tasty(!) activity for her.