April Happenings

In the past month Isaac has just been learning so fast. He is dying to keep up with Anna and our family. He learned the signs for “more” and “all done” for eating time. More is touching your bunched finger tips together from both hands. He bunches up his fingers on his right hand and stares at his left thumb and touches them together. The focus and determination is impressive, he just wants to communicate so badly!

He laughs so much. We’ve been trying to teach him how to drink from a cup now that he is such a big kid. Water makes him giggle so much. I also love how much Isaac laughs when watching this video of himself laughing.

He sings to us. La la la, Jacob will sing into the microphone then say “Isaac’s turn.” We dance along to his awesome baby songs.

He loves to play with us. He knocks down our lego creations and tries to help build them again. He loves chase and wrestle. He has learned a lot of our tricks and squeals with joy as we are chasing or being chased by him. He is the funniest little guy.

And just last week we met up with our friends to ride rides at our local kiddie park. I was only planning on letting Anna ride but Isaac was rattling the fence from the outside while we watched. He was ready to go. So I got him some tickets too and he went on everything with the others. He and Anna were on the boat together and the carriages. Anna and her friend were Cinderella and Belle on the way to the ball to meet up with their brothers Prince Charming and the Beast. He seemed to have a pile of fun! Anna was a bit of a bossy pants but our friends are so patient and kind. Here’s hoping it rubbed off on her a bit!

Anna is great at helping out. She wants to help Isaac do everything from climbing to praying. I realy appreciate her grabbing me a diaper when I’m filling my day bag or letting me know where I left that snack cup Isaac needs. She does complain a lot when she would rather be lounging on the couch than setting the table or baking with me. (I have no idea where she got that from…) But one night she was supposed to be in bed and I was picking up the kitchen before I myself soon crashed. She crept out for water then asked for a chore. She kept on asking for more work to get out of going to bed but I really didn’t mind having someone to put away my cutting boards and silverware, wipe down the table and cabinets, fill the water bottles and put the dirty towels in the laundry baskets.

She impresses me often with how quickly she’ll listen. But it means I’m even more surprised (and without a clue what to do with her) when she shows her independance and crosses the street or mall without permission. Sure she looks both ways, and reaches her desired destination fine but I’ll be gray by the time she is eight with her streaks of determination!

But we’ve had so much fun this month. Anna took an introduction to fishing at our local state park. I was too scared for her eyeballs to let her cast but she did all the reeling and caught herself a sunfish! It was a blast. She loves our field trips to the zoo and the children’s museum. She made friends quite quick at the latter and I didn’t see her for over an hour while her and two friends ran around pretending. It was awesome. She also started swim lessons and is figuring out how to bob, and grab rings, climb out of the pool, and float on her back. She loves being in the water.

Anna’s biggest accomplishment this month is reading!! She reads this Dick and Jane set my mother bought her. We’ve been trying to get through these reading lessons I found but she was bored and uninterested since the sounds are introduced slowly (maybe I need to skip a few lessons…). So one day, after seeing her have some success with words around her, I asked her to read me a book. I love being read to too, I tried to sell. And she bought it. My natural helper, she read me a book, well most of the first book. The words are simple and repeat a lot but in a way that helps the pictures tell the story. It is great for her level and within a week of trying she finished one book and is confident enough to grab any of them and read most of the book. But we love sitting on the couch and reading to each other. The board books for babies she picks up and will tell the whole story, from memory not from reading.

An affinity for books is no foreign thing to this family and in this house but I love seeing it develop in her! Go girl! Read girl! Tell me all about that picture, that story, that character. Read all about that hungry caterpillar to your brother again! She walked by a sign in the parking lot at the state park, “that says ‘open’. Why do they have that sign?” It was a random wooden sign by the parking lot, zero context for reading or previous knowledge. Just casual word reading and I’m just so happy for her that she is figuring out another way to interpret the world around her.

I love this front row seat to my kids growing up and showing me the world, through their eyes.