Kindergarten = germs

For the last two weeks, I've been hearing about all the sickness going through the kindergarten classes.  First, a fever virus, now strep.  And just yesterday, I was thinking how lucky we've been to stay well.  Well, I "thought" too soon. 

The girls started sharing a room Monday night and for two nights, they went to bed without too many problems and both slept until a reasonable time in the morning.  Claire had been consistently coming into our bedroom in the middle of the night because she was scared of ghosts/monsters, so we thought sleeping with Grace might help, and fortunately it has.  Well, this morning, both girls were up too early, at 6am.  Grace seemed more lethargic than normal, but she's been fighting a cold and did not complain about anything, so off to the bus stop we went.  Within 45 minutes of being at school, I got the call that Grace was in the clinic with a temperature of 101.  So after picking up Grace from school, taking Claire to preschool, and stopping by Mike's office for him to check Grace's throat, we headed home and Grace slept over 3 hours.  She actually probably would have slept longer if we did not have to go to the pediatrician.  But the doctor's visit confirmed what we thought. . . Grace has her first (and hopefully last) case of strep throat.  She was a real trooper at the doctor and did not complain about getting the penicillin shot, so she should be able to return to school on Friday, the last day before fall break next week!  And hopefully no one else in this house will get sick!

Soccer

Grace started her second season of soccer one month ago.  Last year Grace barely touched the ball during games and ran aimlessly all over the field (usually in the opposite direction of the ball).  So needlesstosay, at the start of this season, we weren't expecting much.  But from the first practice, it was clear that Grace was going to be a different soccer player this year.  Grace is on one of our neighborhood league's developmental soccer teams (includes mainly 4 year olds and some 5 year olds).  She is the best player on her team and scores multiple goals each game, the most goals being 6. . . Grace loves to keep count!  Fortunately, each opponent we have played has one or two good boys who give her a run for her money, so she is still learning and having fun. 

I've been enjoying watching and cheering at the games this year.  Tonight's game was rained out and our next game is not until 2 weeks from now because of fall break next week.  Maybe I'll snap some pictures of Grace during an actual game (or even bring the video camera), but for now here's some pictures from one of our first practices one month ago (on August 28).

The end of the week

Friday afternoons are always interesting.  After a full week of school, I'm always prepared for the worst when we pick Grace up at the bus stop.  Last Friday, Grace was in good humor, happy for the upcoming weekend because she was getting to go to 3 birthday parties.  She and her friend (and neighbor) Ashley enjoyed coloring with chalk outside.  Grace nicely asked for a picture with her masterpiece. . .



With Claire, on the other hand, it was melt down central around here.  She could not play nicely with the girls, so she ended up in timeout on the freezer in the garage.  I think the entire street could hear her.  . .

Here's to hoping for a better tomorrow afternoon :)

The perfect outfit

. . . when it's September and 95 degrees outside.

A new face

Tyler starting sporting a new look last week.  The first few times we saw this face, we finger swiped him only to find nothing in his mouth.  Finally, we realized our little man is teething big time. Two, maybe four, should be arriving any day.  I, for one, am grateful Tyler has discovered that sucking on his lip, tongue, or whatever helps with the pain.  He was quite irritable when his first two teeth came in. . . this time, he's actually quite pleasant (and cute with his new face)!

10 (and 1/2) months old

Tyler turned 10 months old on Thursday, August 26, almost 3 weeks ago!  Yes, once again, I'm quite behind :)  Here is how Tyler has changed since my last post about him.  

• Tyler still has two teeth.  He constantly keeps two fingers in his month, so I keep expecting another tooth to pop through, but as of today, I have not seen one. 
• Tyler is crawling all over the place.  He still "army crawls," but a couple of weeks ago, he finally figured out how to get his belly off the ground and use his knees, so he alternates between both.  He definitely keeps me on my toes as he gets into everything. . . so different from his sisters.  With the girls, I put covers over the outlets, but they never touched them.  He's already found them and keeps pulling the nightlights out.  He also loves to open kitchen cabinet doors and drawers, so for the first time ever, we'll be putting latches on those.   Tyler's other favorite household toy is the door stops.  He can lie there, hit them and listen to them go 'bong' for minutes.  In general, he just seems to have figured things out faster than his sisters did.  Maybe I'm forgeting, but I felt like it took Grace forever to figure out how toys worked (e.g., how to open the window and flip the light switch on the Fisher Price house). Tyler, on the other hand, seems to just know what to do.   
• Tyler has been consistently taking two naps and sleeping from around 7pm to 6-6:30am.  He loves my company so much that he usually cries for a little while everytime I put him down :)
• This last month we have moved away from baby food and now Tyler is eating the same food we are.  Most of the time he eats what I give him, but if not, mixing it with yogurt works beautifully.  He loves most fruit, bread and crackers, but is not crazy about meat and veggies anymore.  He still nurses 3 times a day.  As he's never had a bottle other than his time in the NICU, he's still working on mastering the sippy cup.
• Tyler has been babbling more this last month, saying 'Ma Ma, Ba Ba, Da Da, and Hi.'
• Tyler pulls up on everything now and is trying to walk while holding on to things. 
• When I took Tyler's 10 month picture (okay, really 10 1/2 months) on September 8, he weighed 19lb. 15oz and measured 27 3/4 inches, so he gained 1lb. 10oz. in 1 1/2 months!  He's wearing 12 month clothing and still wearing size 4 diapers. 

Here's Tyler in his onesie at 10 1/2 months old.  As I learned last month, he's way too mobile to be put on the ottoman anymore, so we're now using a blanket. 

All smiles this morning. . .

Check back with us after the ND - Michigan game to see what faces we're wearing then :)

Our pool

We had a wonderful summer at our neighborhood pool!  Grace took swim lessons the middle of June and within a few days learned how to swim.  A few weeks after that, she made it from one end of the pool to the other (25 meters) without stopping!  She then figured out how to dive to the bottom for toys.  In general, she just loved going to the pool. 

I thought Labor Day weekend was going to be our last chance to go to the pool this season, but it turns out our neighborhood pool will be open through September without lifeguards.  So I'm hoping we can find some time (in between football games) to make it back to the pool at some point. 

Three Saturdays ago, I took the girls to the pool and brought my camera along.  Ever since we had a cryptosporidium outbreak at the pool in July, Mike has refused to go back.  The pool is not his favorite place, so I love how he always seems to find an excuse why he should not go :)  And for those of you who do not know what cryptosporidium is, I can tell you from experience that it is something you never want to have.  That's what Claire and I ended up having when we were so sick in July.  Fortunately, our pool was closed by the health department the end of July to disinfect the pool.  Unfortunately, the infection had been there for two weeks prior to that, so a lot of people got sick. 

Okay, enough of that.  Here are the pictures.  Sorry there are so many. 

Here is Grace's usual routine when we first get to the pool. . . playing on the steps and swimming by the side.

Claire's my scaredy-cat when it comes to most things, including the pool.  She does not want to wear the vest anymore so she's either holding on to the side or the ladder at first.

Since Mike thought he was going to get sick with cryptosporidium, he stayed home with Tyler and Grandma joined us at the pool.  Claire was just slightly excited to see her.

That is, until she decided to brave the water with Grandma and got water up her nose :)

So she decided it might be more fun to make a friend and play with that girl's teacups for a while.  

Time for Grace to swim across the pool. 

And then back.

Then it's time to dive.

And go down the slide. . . oops, I guess we were at the pool too early for the lifeguards to turn on the water :)

Until next year. . .

Saturday smiles

Saturdays are enjoyed so much more now that we've entered the world of full day Kindergarten!