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October 2010
October 14, 2010
One of the few foods Anastasia can always be counted on to eat:black olives.
Left: Admiring ride on toys in a catalog. Right: The kiddos cuddling on the couch.
In three days, Zane will be two years old. He's really made some leaps and bounds over the past month. Most notably, he's adjusted to our new school schedule - and he's talking much more. And is proud of it! One of his favorite phrases right now is "Bee boy!" ("big boy"). He especially says this when he climbs into his crib every night. (Thankfully it hasn't occurred to him to climb out of the crib...yet.)
Almost time to move to a toddler bed!
He sometimes says "I peek-boo!" (i.e., "I peek-a-boo") and he names most of his favorite foods. He's also taken a huge liking to tidying up. He even picks up Anastasia's room. (His own idea!) And without my asking him to, he picks up the toys in his room each night before bed.
Zane's also going through a huge shyness phase. He melds into Mommy or Daddy when he's around strangers, clinging fiercely, hiding his head and squeezing his eyes shut.
Anastasia is still doing well in school, although she's really struggling with fatigue. She just can't seem to get enough sleep. Sadly, this makes school so much more difficult. For example, last week she couldn't write a "d" in cursive during school. Even though the teacher gave her lots of one-on-one time, Anastasia was just too "out of it" to get the job done. The next time we tried, at home, she was better rested, and writing a "d" was as easy as could be. It makes me sad that she's not reaching her full potential because she's so sleep deprived.
Worse, her fatigue makes her act out. She disobeys and back talks. She even back talks me in the classroom. (Parents are encouraged to stay during classes.) It brings me to tears - not so much because she hurts my feelings, but because it makes me feel like a failure as a parent. What am I doing wrong that my kid is the only one in the classroom acting this way? As a family, we really struggle with this. Most days, I'm totally drained by evening; the constant fighting with Anastasia (to get her to do what she should, to discipline her, etc.) is exhausting. If only we could figure out how to get Anastasia more rested.
Left: Excited for her first dance class. Right: Ride 'em!
Yet despite the sleep deprivation, Anastasia is a bright girl. She's made so much progress in school already, and has learned so much. (How many 5 year olds know all the oceans and continents, the original 13 colonies, and what a noun and verb are?) And today, she had her first dance class. As you can see from the photo, taken just before class, she was thrilled to have a "real ballerina outfit." The class is really more about following directions and moving in a basic way, but I think Anastasia thought she was going to be en point right away. She came home saying, "We didn't really dance much." But she loved the class anyway.
October 17, 2010
My baby boy is 2 today.
Left: October 17, 2008. Right: October 17, 2010.
To make it possible for local family to celebrate with us, we're having his party, cake, and presents next Saturday. Still, we celebrated in a small way today by having breakfast at a restaurant (we almost never do that), then going to the pumpkin patch. We were pretty disappointed the pumpkin patch we've gone to since Anastasia was a toddler is now out of business. But we found a small local place that, while not a real pumpkin patch, had pumpkins, a hay maze, and other fun stuff for the kids. They both really enjoyed it.
Here we are in October 2008, just before Zane was born. I remember it was an uncomfortable trip for me because I was so big, my pants kept falling down...And look how little Anastasia was!
The kids looking for pumpkins - and pretending to be a cow - today.
Zane thought these blow up ghosts were the neatest thing ever.
Anastasia liked them pretty well, too, and together, the kids pretended to be ghosts.
Picking a pumpkin. Zane wasn't the least bit interested in choosing one for himself.
More fun.
Left: Zane, so proud of his new trick. Right: Anastasia in her first dance class.
Zane loves to climb up into the swing set fort. He throws things like chalk down the slide, then zooms down the slide himself.
Zane, playing in his first pile of leaves.