Month: August 2016

At 2 1/2, Ruby is weighing in at 23.9 pounds (4%) and is 35.6 inches (44%). This gal is small, but mighty. Ruby is a little ray of sunshine and is seriously a light in our family. I am so super proud of the little girl she is becoming. She cracks us up everyday, and she is super fun to be around. Ruby follows Theo around and emulates everything he does, good and bad. She idolizes that older brother of hers.

The pediatrician actually referred Ruby to see a cardiologist for a heart murmur. A little worrisome, but he seems to think it’s innocent enough. He just wants us to be certain. The appointment is in early September.

Ruby has made so many strides recently. She officially weaned about two months ago, and it was a pretty flawless process. She is fully potty trained and doing amazingly well (diapers at sleepy time). When we are in the car she shouts, “I’m holding it!”. Ruby also recently transitioned to her big girl bed, AKA the bottom of the bunk bed. The plus side is that she really was ready for these milestones on her own and we did not push anything because of our own agenda (since I secretly wanted to try and get her in the bunk a while ago). She is just ready now.

Her language ability is absolutely amazing to me. The girl is wise beyond her years. She is generally a happy camper and an easy-going gal. She can certainly be persistent and demanding at times. Lately we hear a lot of, “I want it right noooow! I want it right this instant!”. As well as phrases such as, “I really, really, really want to ice skate/insert whatever other activity is sort of out of the question at the moment”.

Ruby is sleeping great, despite the fact that she has not been napping consistently. She kind of seems on the verge of not napping anymore. Theo stopped at age 3. She goes to sleep much more easily at night when she hasn’t napped, so frankly that’s easier on me. And since the summer has brought many adventures, it’s really worked out all the way around. She sleeps about 8ish – at least 8/8:30ish in the morning, if not 9 some days! Our schedule is going to need to change real soon, but boy has this summer been lax!

Girl loves her cereal in the morning and her “funny tricks”, as she calls them. She is tiny and fierce and I think she may just be some sort of gymnast!

We love you so much sweet girl. Can’t see what is in store for you next!

We have moved out of Kindergarten, and are preparing to enter the big bad world of 1st grade. I’m finally reflecting on his past year. It has been a year of tremendous growth for Theo. He did exceptionally well in Kindergarten. He is a reader, he is a writer, sounding out words to write on his own without us telling him the letters and he continues to be curious beyond words. We still have our challenges, boy do we, but Theo has grown and is such a wonderful and sweet little boy. Summer is tough. Getting out of his routine of school, missing his day-to-day studies and his beloved teacher has been hard. Not having a structured day that he can depend on is challenging. I’ve tried my best to set that up for him, but it is not easy to always be go, go, go, especially when I need to also consider Ruby and her needs, naptime, etc. We opted to do no camp this summer. It may have been good for him to have some sort of camp, but honestly I wanted to just have SUMMER. The kind of summer that does not require being places at a certain time, forcing your child to do something they may or may not want to do on any given day and just getting to hang with each other everyday. I figured how much longer will we be able to do this? I never went to camp. Well, maybe a week or something each summer. My summer consisted of going to the pool, beach and Geauga Lake basically every single day. It was awesome. So, that’s what we have been doing. I feel mixed about school beginning again next month. I know it’s needed, and I’m excited for what’s to come for Theo. Ruby will start preschool for the first time, and it’s just back to the grind of the daily running from here to there. And I’m balancing two part-time jobs!

Here is the final report card summary from Theo’s Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Laura.

“I am so very proud of Theo’s hard work and growth this year in Kindergarten! This year he grew as a reader, writer, mathematician and artist. He worked so hard especially in readers workshop and writing this year. He learned a lot of new strategies to figure out tricky words, and can use them when he is reading over the summer. He demonstrated a commitment to showing his thinking on paper through detailed pictures and expressive writing. He became such an outspoken learner and leader, which showed in his group work. Theo developed a maturity and independence throughout the year that showed in the way he immersed himself in and embraced his learning. I have loved watching his creativity flourish in his work and self-expression. Over the summer, I encourage Theo to continue visiting the library. The summer reading program is a fun and engaging resource. I also encourage Theo to continue reading, drawing and writing about all of these explorations! Theo can also play our math games, such as Double Compare with a deck of cards or make combinations of numbers using Dominoes. He can also practice writing his own math number stories. It has been a pleasure to get to know and work with Theo this year! Theo’s sweet nature and warm smile always brightened my day. His enthusiasm and curiosity motivated the students as learners and me as a teacher. I loved being his teacher. I thank him for sharing so many fascinating stories with the class. I’ll miss his curiosity, creativity, playfulness, imaginative spirit, sense of humor and love of learning. Have a wonderful summer!”

What lovely words about our boy. We loved Ms. Laura very much. As his class sang at their stepping up ceremony, “I want to be a part of it… first grade, first grade!” Here’s to another successful year!