October - Picture and Video Time!

I don't have a lot of commentary, so I'll just get on with the pictures. I also didn't take the time to deal with red eye on these, so I apologize in advance for any demonic-looking children!

You know you're a redneck when you forgo the pumpkin patch and, instead, take a snapshot of your kids on a bale of hay outside Lowe's.

I can't for the life of me get this picture rotated. It's not in the master list of files. Weird. Anyway, this is an extreme close up.

We took family pictures on Sunday. Nolan was great for the first 10 minutes. THIS, however, is what he did for the remaining hour.

Again, stealing props from Dental Depot to take pictures of my kids. Bailey DID have a dentist appointment....we didn't just go there to play on the train. Smile.

Starfall.com.....the best website for a kid in kindergarten. Bailey spends a good amount of time learning to read on my computer.

Nolan was so excited to eat a blue sucker....and thought the pictures of himself with a blue tongue were "funny, funny, funny."

Finally, I shot this video at my office. Bailey was pretending to be the boss, and I was her Assistant. My team said they were glad to work for me and not her!

What's Bailey Doing?

In the world of Bailey Celeste, there are a couple of big updates.

The first is that she has a loose tooth. I forgot how all-consuming the losing teeth thing is for kids. Apparently her teacher has a whole bulletin board dedicated to documenting lost teeth. Bailey tells us every day how "wiggly" the tooth is that day and has started to be bothered by it when she eats certain foods. I'm not sure how long it will take to actually lose it. I seem to recall some of my teeth hanging on by threads but maybe I was just too wimpy to go ahead and pull them. I sort of want her to keep her teeth as long as possible, as I've seen some kids look so awkward when they essentially have no teeth in their mouth for an extended period of time. But, I'm sure I'll think MY kid looks precious when she's toothless. :-)

The other big deal in her little 5 year-old world is the introduction of sight words. I don't remember much about learning to read except teary sessions in our kitchen on 14th street reading "Spot the Dog" books with my mom. I remember one instance when I threw the book and stormed off to bed because I was so frustrated with a certain page. Perhaps we had sight words to learn and I don't remember, or perhaps times have changed. (Don't get me started on the brief period of time when the experts thought teaching kids math through the "dot method" was brilliant. I happened to be one of the guinea pigs during this time of brilliance, and the result is that, to this day, I don't know how to add 2 numbers together without counting magical dots. But, I digress.) All I know is that the teacher is sending home 5 words at a time for the kids to learn by sight. Thus far, she knows "a", "is", "it", "go", and "but". I looked online and there are over 50 total so I went ahead and made flash cards for all of them. This has become our evening activity. Jason is far better at giving her thought associations to go with the words she's learning, although some of them have been a little less "clean" than I would want her to repeat in the presence of her teacher or classmates!

I'm sure the kindergarten experience will yield many blog-worthy stories in the months to come. Stay tuned!

What is Nolan Doing? 22 Months Edition

Actually, Nolan is 22 1/2 months now.....the birthday invitations are ordered and will go out in a mere 3 weeks or so. Wow - can't believe it.

Nolan is at a really fun stage of his development. He is learning how to express himself, which obviously has some high and low points. On the low side, he now knows that he can object to things he doesn't like. This sounds simple, but those parents out there can all think back to the good ole days when their kids didn't REALIZE they had any choice in various matters. We've now crossed the threshold of disagreement. However, it's still pretty minor at this point.....not wanting to put on his clothes, having "mine...no, mine...no, mine" yelling matches with Bailey, and refusing to eat certain foods (the food aversion isn't new, but the flailing arms and scowl that accompany his "no" are new). The worst thing, however, is that he's developed this bark-like noise that he makes when he's really upset with us. I can't even describe it better than that, but it's quite an offensive sound! :-) If only I could get it on video....

As for the positive developments, he's saying a ton of things. My favorite is that he's learned to point himself out in pictures using his name. He used to say only "baby." Now, he'll point out Bailey and then say, "there's Nolan." Again, I can't quite describe his pronunciation of Nolan, but it's quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever heard. We talk a lot about being a big boy, and sometimes he'll argue that he's a baby instead. This is a running conversation we have. This morning, I asked, "Are you a big boy or a baby?" He looked at me with a perplexed expression and said, "No, I Nolan!" He pointed at his chest as he said it. I melted!

He also says: I love you, walk home (Bailey sometimes walks home from grandma's while I drive right beside her....well, wouldn't you know that little guy would want to do the same. I don't let him, by the way!), want plate, chocky (chocolate milk), that's cute (when looking at pictures), and more that I can't think of right now. He watches a Barney DVD constantly and laughs like crazy. I think he's close to attempting to sing the ending song (I love you, you love me, we're a happy family.....) but I know it will just be gibberish at first.

He's still not doing well with strangers or people he hasn't seen in a little while (sometimes this applies even to my brothers or parents). When people are around, he tends to 1) want to be held, 2) plants a look of utter disdain on his face, and 3) leans as far away from those people as is possible, often causing me or Jason to have to contort our body to avoid dropping him. I hope he gets over it a bit. A healthy dose of stranger danger is good, but I don't want him to be anti-social.....especially since he's such a happy child when he's in what he feels is a safe environment.

As always, I'm looking forward to his 2 year well child appointment to see how much he's grown. Some days I think he looks chubby and other days he looks really little. He is eating much better, however, so I'm confident that he's healthy. I do know that we've had to take back all the 24 mos. and 2T pants anyone has bought him as he can still only wear 18 mos. Actually, 12 months would fit the best, but they aren't long enough. Shirts seem to be a little easier, because who cares how long they are (and they SHRINK) and you can roll the sleeves. So, I've been buying 24 mos. in those. Plus, even with his small size, he still has the tell-tale toddler tummy that looks like a little frog belly. :-)

We're looking forward to Halloween, as the costumes have now arrived. Nolan will be super cute as a future golfer. We took him over to show Jeanne and Phil the night the costume arrived, and they couldn't quit laughing....it's that cute. Bailey chose to be Minnie Mouse, which wasn't my preference but I'm trying to let her be in charge of some low-risk decisions, and the costume seemed to fit into that category. Of course, she'll look cute regardless!

We're also taking our first outdoor family pictures on the 25th. We're meeting the photographer at the Myriad Gardens, and I'm already nervous about putting together our outfits. I am just not very good at coordinating our attire. Anyway, looking forward to our first quality pics!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy.....

It's amazing to me how quickly our life has become full to the brim with school and life activities, homework and projects! Once Bailey started school, we entered into a whole new world....I know it will just get even more hectic from here! However, I love the sense of community that develops during the school years. I wonder how long before Jason and I have some "Millers" attire in our wardrobes? Bailey now has a school sweatshirt and I think it's pretty fun!

Given the busy nature of our world, I haven't taken as many pictures lately as I would like. However, here are a few to keep you going.

Nolan got his official Steelers coat and decided to model it a few nights ago. Yes, he is naked underneath!

Bailey had a short bout of sickness last week and, despite our best efforts, we could not keep Nolan from practically lying on top of her while she rested in the playroom.

I don't remember what they were doing (waiting for someone I'm guessing) or why Nolan is in his pajamas when it appears to be light outside. But, cute picture nonetheless.

Nolan has been very sweet to his daddy lately. Here they are cuddling on the coach after bath time. (While Nolan spends a lot of his time naked, I can tell this was after his bath because of the discarded towel in the picture. There's also our huge blanket that travels around to different locations in the house, but that's a different story. It's funny what you notice in the background of your pictures when you start posting them for the world to see!)

Bailey has discovered the whirlpool jets in my bathtub. Apparently, you can make mega bubbles when you but the bubble bath in and then turn on the jets. This is amazing fun for my kids!