D'arcy Graduated

June 3rd was D'arcy's last day of kindergarten. Her school put together a full graduation complete with hats, a processional, balloons, songs, cake, and Capri Suns. I brought my camera, but I've expressed before and I'll express again that I hate to wrestle for a spot to photograph my child during an event. Is it possible whatsoever to even get a halfway decent shot? I much prefer to sit back and enjoy the program and preserve it in my memory. I did take just a couple of shots immediately following the program.
D'arcy, of course, will be changing schools in the fall due to our move. I've been really pleased with her experience this year, though. Sending her to the local public school has really allowed our family to become incorporated in our community. We met loads of our neighbors as we walked to school each day. She shared a teacher with kids of all different personalities, colors, and learning capabilities. One of her classmates, Maritsa, has down syndrome. D'arcy came home early in the year telling me of a girl who "spoke like a baby". Maritsa learned to really like D'arcy and would follow her around during recess. D'arcy has come to understand Maritsa's disabilities and her compassion for her has grown.
All I remember doing in kindergarten is coloring letter men, stringing beads in a pattern, and playing with a blue phone. Among other things, D'arcy spent her year learning to read and is gladly using her skill to read to herself and her little brothers. She'll read to you, too, if you come over to the house or take a ride in our car.

First Tooth Lost....Check!

D'arcy lost her first tooth last week. It was loose, then she bumped into a girl at church and it became really loose. I took her to school on Monday morning knowing she wouldn't come home the same. I told the teacher that her tooth was on the verge of coming out. I realized, though, that I was speaking to a kindergarten teacher who has probably handled more than one lost tooth. I didn't need to give him any instructions.
When I picked D'arcy up from school, she was proudly wearing a tooth necklace with her tiny little tooth inside. She had been told by her fellow classmates that a lost tooth might inspire the tooth fairy to come and give her a present. We discussed that the tooth fairy was just me and daddy, but that we might decide to bring her something that night. She put her tooth in the pillow GG had given her that hangs from her doorknob, and mommy decided to put $5 in there. I know, I know, $5 is a ridiculous amount for a tooth, but she had mentioned a week or two ago that she wanted us to go to Whataburger to get a strawberry shake like we did the day before she started school and Whataburger is expensive! That was a run on sentence and these are pictures of her smile sans tiny tooth.

First Steps

I knew it was coming. All of my babies have taken first steps sometime between 10 and 12 months. For the last month, though, Schroeder has been resistant to the idea of letting go. He would grab your finger like his life depended on it, and if you pried his little hands off yours, he would slowly lower himself to the ground.

I knew his confidence had grown, when today, I turned around to find him standing independently in the hallway with a toy in his hand. I called Stephen and began with, "Guess what your son did!"

"Which son?" is usually his reply as many of our conversations begin with this phrase and could follow with something disgusting, something infuriating, something hilarious, or in this case, something exciting from either or both of our sons.

Then, tonight, as I was putting his pajamas on, I stood him up, and he decided to show off his new found confidence and take his first "official" steps towards me. After two or three steps, he fell which was followed by a big smile which showed off all four fangs (as Stephen put it) and one big dimple.

I've neglected to post all his little milestones over the last couple months including cutting more teeth, being weaned, standing on his own, using a sippy cup, eating meat and lots of table food, and saying his first word. His first word is "Hi" and after debating for a week whether he was saying it intentionally, I was finally convinced that he was when Stephen and I picked the kids up from Esther's house after a date night. We walked in, he got a big smile on his face and said "Hi!". Everyone in the room agreed that it was intentional. I couldn't neglect posting his first steps, though.

He's going to be a big brother soon. It's exciting to me to think that he really won't be an infant in August when this new baby arrives. He'll be walking and talking and becoming a full blown toddler. And I'm confident he'll be a great big brother. At playgroup recently, our friend brought her three month old daughter who Schroeder was very enthralled with. He kept trying to hold her hand, and touch her face. Eventually, our friend pulled out the baby's pacifier that looked very much like his. At first, he tried to take it from her since his was put away. To prevent thieving, I pulled his out. He was happily playing when baby Diana spit her pacifier out. When someone put it back into her mouth, he got the bright idea to share his with her. He crawled his way over, and excitedly tried to push his pacifier in her mouth. I think he really thought he was being helpful. Isn't that what he just saw happen? Baby Diana wasn't very pleased, though. I hope he remembers some of the loving torture he's received from his own brother and sister and be more gentle once this new baby comes. I'll keep my fingers crossed for that one.

Look, No Training Wheels!

It was 80 degrees here on Friday so we spent much of the afternoon playing in our front yard. After about an hour, D'arcy asked if I would take her training wheels off her bike so that she could learn to ride like Jayden and Keagan, two first grade girls in our neighborhood. I can't believe I so willingly said yes since I haven't had motivation to do much of anything in the last couple of weeks. It took just a few twists of the wrench to get the training wheels off, and we headed down to the sidewalk to start.

D'arcy wanted to put both feet on the pedals before pushing off, and was quickly falling over. I showed her the best way to push off with one foot on the pedal and one on the ground. After a couple of tries, she had gotten the hang of it, but still needed some practice with balance. But thanks to much scooter riding, her balance was already pretty good, and after about an hour, a couple of falls, and one scooby-doo Bandaid, she was riding a bike like the big girls.

Stephen came home and amazed him with her new skills. I don't know how long these things usually take, but what I've discovered with D'arcy is that when she desires to learn something, she is persistent to practice until she gets it. She proved that with her scooter, and with her jump rope, and now with her bike. I had seen this quality come out early in Julian with his puzzles when at 1 1/2 he would work and rework this very basic Curious George puzzle until he could fit the pieces into the right spot. One day he spent over an hour doing that. It's great to see this quality coming out in D'arcy as well.

Reading

D'arcy is learning to read. She has about 15 sight words that she learned in her first nine weeks, and is now working on being able to spell them. Last night, I used her sight words list to make her a little note. It read,

"I like D'arcy. D'arcy is a good girl. I can read. So can D'arcy."

I, like, is, good, and can are all on her sight word list so she just had to sound out girl and read. I brought it in to her and told her to read it. She immediately told me that she didn't know how to read, but I insisted that she could read this note. She was able to read it pretty quickly, and looked up at me with a big smile. She ran to read it to her dad, read it to herself before she went to bed, and brought it to church in her purse to show everyone how much she has learned.

Schroeder's Official Six Month Photos

Schroeder: Milestone Mania

Schroeder is nearly six months old. As expected, he is managing to grow fast and furious. He's still a squishy, little guy, though, especially compared to his enormous and heavy siblings. Over the last couple of months he's tried oatmeal cereal (8.10.2009)and vegetables (green beans 9.12.2009), has successfully learned to army crawl and sit up (beginning of September), has mastered his Johnny Jumper, and can grab all sorts of things including his pacifier which he can plop out and back in with ease. I thought his first tooth had come through. I know I saw the tip top of it, but now it's hiding again. Oh, and I didn't mention, that we dedicated Schroeder to the Lord on September 13th while my parents were in town. No pictures of that, though, because I neglected to bring my camera.

I'm a little concerned about if he's getting enough to eat. I'm still nursing him, but it's always hard to gauge how much he's getting. It's not like the first few months when I know he's getting enough because I can feel every ounce. I spent several minutes this morning comparing him with pictures of his sister and brother when they were babies. He's fitting in 6-9 months clothes, though, so I guess I shouldn't be too concerned. We go to the doctor early next month so we'll get to see what percentile he's in. He's also suffering through some allergic reactions particularly on his face and head. It could be related to the oatmeal cereal or to contact with his sheets and car seat. He has his sister's skin for sure, fair, fair, fair.

Here's a few pictures of our little (kind of red headed) little guy.