AJ - with the Power to Spell!

AJ has been watching a lot of Word World and Super Why lately, both shows primarily about words and spelling. I thought they were just entertaining to him (and maybe they are), but recently he has been showing a lot of interest in spelling words. He asks me how to spell things a lot, sometimes tries to write letters and words, and last week brought home a coloring sheet from school that had his "b's" all the way down the side.

So, I was surprised and excited to come into the kitchen yesterday when he said he wanted to show me something...only to find that he had spelled his whole name (well, OK, not "Andrew") on the refrigerator with Lizzy's letter magnets! He had the U and the B switched, but then fixed the problem and was so proud of himself! Awesome. Then as I got the camera, he proceeded to add more and more letters and laugh as I tried to pronounce his new "word". :)

AJ's First Assembly

In September, AJ's school was celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month and it culminated in a school assembly. This was AJ's first time at an assembly and also his first (scheduled) appearance on the school stage since his class learned a song in Spanish and were the first to perform. For a couple of weeks AJ walked around the house singing his song in Spanish. He knew it really well and even knew all the hand movements that went with each verse, so I was really excited to see his performance! They all filed onto the stage, the curtain was drawn, and the music started...but apparently AJ forgot that the point of being up there was to SING! lol

(AJ is second to the left)

So at least he was not the kid who cried and had to leave the stage, right? That's the silver lining. But it was still pretty cute...and he doesn't seem to remember anything wrong about that day and will fondly tell me how he sang at his assembly. Well, maybe next time!

Garfield Park's County Fair

At the end of September, I took AJ to the County Fair at the Garfield Park Conservatory. I had rained a lot beforehand, so I wasn't sure we were going until the last minute but I'm so glad we did. AJ had so much fun! We saw a huge pumpkin being carved by one of the professional carvers, visited chickens, ate yummy food, and jumped around in the requisite moon walks. OK, maybe only AJ jumped around in the moon walk. But we both had a great time!

One of the big deal attractions for AJ was the pony rides. I think this was his first time ever riding a pony, so he actually stood relatively still and waited with me on the line. Anyone who has ever seen me trying to get him to wait on a line before can attest that this was no small miracle. He named his pony Pepper and was VERY happy and proud to be riding Pepper around. And around. And around. :)

Isn't he cute? (Pepper's cute too, I guess...)

This was the coolest thing. Inside a little mobile home, a whole "3 Little Pigs" environment was there to interact with.

They had an area to build a straw house, build a house with sticks (below) and then a whole brick house to play in.

There were also bellows with wolf faces that the kids could pump to try to blow down small maquettes of each type of house, a face painting area that AJ loved (another first!)...

...and this really neat conveyor belt that held AJ's attention for a LONG time. There was a tree off to the right that you could stick the apples on, then pick them and put them in a basket, and then unload the basket onto the conveyor belt and crank them off into another basket to bring them back to the tree. All these jobs kept a bunch of kids busy and working together until one little girl decided she would not put them back on the tree...so we finally left the mobile home and went back out to eat lunch from the Wishbone booth with our friends the Byerly's and head home. For a nap. Whew!

Glitter Girl

Elizabeth has learned how to unscrew caps. This is a cool milestone, but unfortunately I found out about her new skill when she opened one of my glittery loose eyeshadow containers. I was in the bathroom getting ready one morning and she was quiet and doing her own thing on the floor in my room just outside the bathroom door. When I finished up and peeked around the corner I saw what had kept her so busy! Most of the glittery powder was in a little pile on my champagne-colored bedroom carpet (which Andy had to work on to get out) but the rest was all over HER! Luckily she was just wearing a diaper...the pictures don't do justice to her sheen, but you get the idea!

Discovery Center in Rockford!

Now that AJ is 3.5, we've finally made it to Rockford's famed Discovery Center. Grandma Cheri and Aunt Melissa met us there and it was so much fun. Both kids had a fabulous time and we didn't even see all there was, so we'll definitely be back!

Here is AJ trying out his great gear line-up that if working correctly would make a propeller spin at the top.

This movie shows how hard he was working on it. The only issue was that one or two of the gears had weaker magnets so they would start to slide down by the time he'd finished checking all the others! But AJ really loved this area, what a shock! ;)

This video is of a cool interactive light exploration station. As you can see, AJ was showing off his moves and check out how Lizzy is kicking her little legs happily as Andy swings her around.

Here are Daddy and Liz watching the little yellow ball in its orbit.

AJ was building things at the light table.

AJ LOVED this crane! It was a "magnet crane" just like in the junk yard episode of Curious George (on of his favorite and most-requested episodes), so he was so excited to work the "real thing" all by himself. It was a very good thing that the place was not very crowded, if ya know what I mean!

The face of concentration on the cutest little crane operator.

AJ's Commentary and Liz' words

Me: What did you do today in Art class?

AJ: I art-classed

AJ: I'm a vampire!

Me: Oh! What do vampires do?

AJ: They help people and stuff.

When I broke my toe and was trying not to cry,

AJ (in a slightly panicked voice): Take a deep breath, Mom! It's going to be a happy day!

The kids' Dr. is Jennifer Berquist but we call her Dr. Jenny. Here's what he asked me yesterday:

AJ: Is Dr. Jenny-Quist my doctor?

Lizzy now is able to say some words! It's so fun that she can communicate with us more and more lately. Here's the list as of today:

Verbal words:

Mama

Dada

Aya (AJ)

Bye Bye

Me

Cup

Upee

Ball

Baby

Pa

(and I swear she said Bagel this am, but it was probably wishful thinking since she would not repeat it...)

Signs:

Milk

waves hello and goodbye

Brush Teeth

Take Bath

Lights

Stars

Quiet

Rat (because of my Halloween decor)

All Done

More

Sleep

Friends and Fun

In September, we got to meet up with our good friends the Paynes! Since I had Liz and Erin had the triplets, it was a lot harder to get together as often as we had been. The babies were always sleeping, eating, or sleeping again, and their schedules did not really mesh. Now that they are all about 15 months old, there is a lot more awake time in the day to play! It's nice that the older Payne kids have the same school schedule as AJ, so now we can still get together in the mornings once in a while. Here are some fun pics from our time together in Humboldt Park.

Violet, Jack and AJ sat like this together on their own! They said it was a train.

SO CUTE!

The usual Lizzy look...with the schnulli in place. we're trying to only allow it in the crib nowadays, since I feel like we need to phase it out before she's 2.

We have also been having random fun moments around the house. Lizzy loves to wear the masks from one of AJ's games and make the animal sounds. She's so funny!

Both the kids LOVE bathtime, and AJ has become a really good tooth-brusher. Lizzy just likes to chew on her toothbrush and imitate him, but AJ really actually does a good job (when he tries)! He graduated to "real" toothpaste and it's funny to see him spit into the sink.

Here are AJ and Lizzy looking at the train going under the Art Institute. It is SO cute to see them doing things together more and more.

Here they are acting silly in the front seat, pretending to be Mom and Dad.

And here they are both totally sleeping in the backseat on the way home...

So sweet.

Mighty Machines!

AJ's latest obsession is building what he calls "mighty machines" out of his Lego Duplo sets. It all started when he went along with Andy to pick up our vegetables one Sat morning and the people who live at the drop site (who happen to be my friend Jason and his family) were having a little yard sale. AJ saw a little box of construction-themed legos and wanted them. Jason sold them to him for 50 cents! What a steal. Especially since they have kept him busy and engaged in imaginative play (You be the front loader crane and I'll be the bulldozer tower...) and honing his engineering skills ("this is a cantilever", or "we need a counter-balance") since the end of July. And his "plain old" duplos are the perfect compliment to making the set big enough for MIGHTY machines! lol

Here are some of his construction highlights. I thought I took a movie of him describing one of these, but I couldn't find it, and it's completely possible that I just intended to shoot one, but they are very involved descriptions and just about every part has a purpose!

AJ is Mighty pleased with his Mighty Machine!

Posing with it again after a few finishing touches were added. We have to keep them off the floor or they become smash and bash practice for Lizzy.

AJ took this picture himself.

Here's another one. With tracks, a rain shield, a grabber,

a ladder and other items I cannot recall...

He sometimes looks away from the Legos long enough to play with

some of his other toys...like WALL-E.

And then it's back to the Mighty Machines again...this one has a mighty pusher.

And this one is actually enhanced by some super-old duplos from my mom's set. That red cab in the center is from her set. And the little "operator" who is sitting inside. :)

AJ's 1st Day of Pre-School 2010

AJ started school at Jonathan Burr Elementary this year. We were really excited to get him into Burr since it was one of our top picks in the area. It's a CPS (Chicago public school) World Language Magnet so that means that he is exposed to Japanese language and culture every week. His first week, he told his Gooma (Cheri) that Konichiwa (hello) meant excavator in Spanish...but we're hoping he'll get it all straight later. ;)

The first few weeks were really rough while he (and the rest of us) dealt with the adjustment to no longer napping the the afternoons, since he's in the pm class. One day he even fell asleep during library time! But now he's gotten into the swing of things. He goes to bed earlier nowadays, and can still nap on weekends sometimes and his disposition has greatly improved.

Here he is ready to head out the door to his first day ever of Pre-K! He was so excited!

This is AJ getting his picture taken by his new teacher, Mr. Gillespie. This picture was posted above AJ's hook where he hangs his backpack and such.

He got to play in the room for a while and had great fun. But it was HOT in August and there was no A/C. As you can see from his sweaty head!

Wearing the safety goggles and hoarding all the tools...

which he eventually let go of in favor of these buttons and some cool weight scales.

Yay, AJ! Congrats on a great first day! :)

Boating (or just hanging in the harbor)

This August the kids and I met my parents at their boat and had so much fun. It was their first time really spending time there so I took a bunch of pictures!

Lizzy looking cute and wanting to be picked up (very unusual!).

A fun lunch "down-under". Notice AJ's still wearing his life jacket. So cute.

Lizzy loved playing with a bucket of water and some bath toys. Fun!

AJ loved walking around on top of the boat with Pa and peeked in from above.

He's such a cutie pie!

And Liz did a little peeking of her own. She loved all the little windows.

Here's AJ and Pa walking the boat from the outside.

Looks like such a little sailor!

Omi and Liz checking out the water, other boats, and ducks!

After a while, AJ decided he would in fact try swimming with Pa. He got suited up and went into the FREEZING water. Check out his paddling! And way to go Dad (Pa), braving the frigid harbor for AJ's sake. He had so much fun!

Our 10th Anniversary

For our 10th anniversary this year (technically, it was Aug 19th), Andy and I decided to take a vacation, sans children. We started out thinking about Aruba. Then I got my heart set on Nicaragua. But when it boiled down to when my parents could take the kids and that I didn't think it was right to spend more than what I had whined about possibly spending for a year of preschool, we opted for Puerto Vallarta. And it was wonderful. What a great way to celebrate our marriage and each other. We had a fabulous and fun time and thank my mom and dad for taking good care of the kids so we could just kick back and relax for the week (after I got there on my brand new passport of course...)

My handsome husband of 10 years!

Fun (and weak!) shots...rainbow ones, flaming ones, all kind of silly gimmicks!

The view of our hotel pools and the beach from our room.

Lunch and a break from lounging at the pool.

A pic from when I joined Andy...you can see that he'd gotten some sun and me, not so much.

So we headed down to the pool and took care of that!

Fun in July

Our family had a really fun summer. Some of the highlights include visiting our friend's the Logli's lake house, the kids starting to get along (!), and a family trip to the Brookfield Zoo.

AJ absolutely LOVED playing in the sand at the Logli's. He also really had a great time SWIMMING in the water! He did have on a life-preserver, but that said, he was NOT afraid, and jumped repeatedly from the end of their pier into the water, and paddled and kicked all by himself! It was so fun, wonderful and amazing. I was so proud of him!

Lizzy loved riding on the boat around the lake. So did I! How relaxing!

Gorgeous clouds.

Yes, she's crabby! But I had to include this shot because it showed her nice new bottom teeth so nicely! She has 4 teeth now...way less than most of her little friends, but she can still chew her food just fine.

The kids have finally started to play with and enjoy each other...once in a while! While I know they love each other, I have to have the camera handy if I want to really capture any of their short-lived displays!

At the end of the month, we got to visit the Brookfield Zoo all together with some guest passes from my sister. Thanks Kim! It was a really fun outing. I'm so used to taking the kids out by myself or with friends, it's always really nice when we get to do things as a family. :)

AJ was happy to pose by the "Daddy Tiger"!

He also got to touch a real lion skull!

And the HUGE TEETH! It was pretty cool.

AJ on the "Olga" statue. She couldn't have really been THAT big, right?

I remember her from when I was a kid, but I was smaller then...

My little Leemur and I.

AJ was so excited to ride the gorilla on the carousel with Daddy!

What a perfect end to the day at the Zoo.