Forward movement

Last Thursday ec moved himself from lying on his tummy to a sitting position, a first!  He hasn't done it again, though he has come close.  He can make forward progress on his tummy, getting up on his knees and lunging, and sometime he seems to make one "step" crawling, but there's no consistent pattern yet.  He loves to stand...by the couch, behind his walker, at the activity table, by my side.  I believe he is becoming more stable on his feet, but he still wobbles and is not nearly ready to walk.

Yesterday I moved the pack'n'play into the guest room so ec would have a quiet place to nap.  After I saw him yawn several times I took him in there and sat rocking him and singing.  Alas, James came in and ec's eyes followed him around the room, twisting and turning to watch the cat explore.  He didn't nap just then, but later he slept for two hours.  Trying to get him to sleep when his sister is around can be difficult.  He watches her as carefully as he did James.  And, of course, she is often chattering away.  I could take him upstairs to his crib, but there's no baby monitor in EK's room where his crib is right now, and it might be hard to hear him from downstairs.

Crash! Roar!

The other day, when both children came to our house, es was in bed for her quiet time.  And she was quite for an hour, maybe ninety minutes.  Then I heard shrieking from her room.  Not fearful or angry sounds, just loud noise.  So I went up to see if she needed help.  I opened the door to see her smiling. "I'm a thunderstorm," she informed me.  What a girl!

For many years we have had a book about the human body, with some full-size illustrations and pages that fold out.  A while back the word "skeleton" came up as I talked with es, so we googled some pictures then I brought this book over to show her drawings of bones, the heart, digestive system, etc.  When she and ec spent the night, I brought out the Magic Schoolbus book about the body, which intrigued her.  The next day we looked at the Magic Schoolbus at the Waterworks, another winner.  She is curious and can listen very attentively to books like this.  I don't read all the sidebars, but she gets the gist of the story and likes the pictures.  I think we kept six books in this series, so we have some still in reserve.

Recently I pulled out a book of songs, many with actions, geared toward young children, and es and I are working our way through it.  For instance, she likes "Alice the Camel."  Today we tried a new song, "Homes," which mentions a robin, bees, and a bunny.  We've sung one about the bunny and one about bees, so I looked to see if the book also included one about robins.  I didn't see one, but es reminded me we had sung one in the big red book (nursery rhyme songs).  Sure enough, "The north wind doth blow, and we shall have snow, and what will poor robin do then, poor thing?  He'll sit in a barn, and keep himself warm, and hide his head under his wing, poor thing!"  Granted there is a picture of the anthropomorphic wind and a robin, which may have helped her remember it, but I think she just has a wonderful memory for music.

Here comes the bride!

What a lovely weekend we had with our family and Erik's as months of planning and preparations led to a beautiful bride marrying her handsome groom under a huge tree in the outskirts of San Diego, surrounded by family and friends.

We arrived Saturday mid-day and met Dena and Alan at a cafe inside the airport.  They had arrived earlier and picked up a rental car which we shared with them.  Our hotel rooms were not yet available, so we went to a brew pub where Sean and Liz were relaxing and enjoyed visiting with them.  For dinner we treated these four plus Erik's mom and his sister and her husband at Seasons 52, where we had a delicious meal.  We were seated at the chef's table in a glass-walled room, very cozy.

Sunday we joined some of the wedding party at a brewery for lunch and chat.  The rehearsal dinner, hosted by Barbara, was held at the Airbnb where Sarah and her attendants were staying.  I enjoyed chatting with people who had known Erik a long time, and also some of Sarah's friends from high school, as well as newer friends.

The wedding day was sunny and warm.  We met the bride and her attendants at Erin's house to help them dress, then headed to Stelzer Park for the ceremony.  It was so personal!  Little es made it down the aisle with her bubble gun, though I think it may have produced more bubbles at the rehearsal than at the park.  Then our lovely princess Sarah walked in, face glowing, with eyes for only Erik.  I loved sitting on the front row, hearing comments from bride and groom to each other and to the officiant.  The reception also was personal, at a brewery they like.  Pictures, a trivia game (which eleven states have Sarah and Erik visited together?), board games, cupcakes, an event highlighting what the couple likes to do.

The next day we flew home.

Back home again!

These long breaks from blogging are a challenge.  When I don't write every day or two, things pile up.  For instance, last Thursday, both children spent the night with us while their parents attended a wedding at Lake Tahoe.  That morning E called me to make sure we were OK with keeping ec while he had a low- to medium-grade fever.  Of course we were.  But he needed extra holding and attention.    As I gave him Motrin, I remembered giving es her medication each day when she was an infant.  Bedtime went smoothly for the baby, and he woke just once for a bottle.  On the other hand, his sister stalled until finally I put her in the crib.  Weeping and wailing ensued for about ten minutes, at which point I picked her up and sat in the chair holding her close.  She fell asleep almost immediately.  The next morning I got her to school on time, without any problems.

E and K returned early Friday afternoon and faced the decision of whether to travel to San Diego with a sick child.  Since there were no other symptoms and his behavior was more or less normal, they decided to follow their plans.  But it was uncertain for a while.  His fever did disappear sometime Sunday, I think, and we were all glad to have them with us for the Big Event.

Now we are getting back in the routine of daycare, work, laundry, etc.  Yesterday es went to her bed for quiet time, taking six books with her.  After about ninety minutes of quiet she began shrieking.  I went up to see what the problem was.  She informed me she was a thunderstorm!

More about the wedding tomorrow.

Irony

Today, Labor Day, was a day off for me.  Since neither K nor E had to work, they watched the children, and I had free time.  So I took a walk, did a load of laundry, then went shopping at Macy's.  I wanted a new pair of shoes, perhaps dressy sandals that would enhance the dress I plan to wear to Sarah's wedding.  I tried on several pairs, but none of them excited me.  I even looked for a different dress, but nothing suited me.  So I went to DSW, a shoe store located next door to Macy's, and looked at lots of shoes, trying on a few pairs.  As I was about to leave, I saw some flats that looked almost perfect.  They had my size, and these came home with me.  I put on the dress, shoes, jewelry...yes!

After lunch I read a bit, practiced choir music, and worked on a sock (it's almost done).  Then I made supper.  Tomorrow it's back to work.

Heat wave!

Boy, it's hot!  We don't often get temps in the 90's, but we have them now.  Yesterday we even broke 100!   We put the fan in an upstairs window at night to draw in cool(-er) air, then close up everything in the morning.  It's been probably 15-20 degrees cooler inside than out these past couple of days.  Since es's school was closed Friday for staff development training, E took the day off.  She had a slower wake-up with the children but brought them over here by 10 or so.  She took es swimming at our neighborhood pool, then spent the rest of the day here.  Afraid their house would be too hot for comfort, she and the children slept here.  K came over after work.  They had supper while Randy and I went out with our A.S.S. Group.  K's softball team had late games, so he left to play ball then went home to open windows and cool off the house a bit.  They all spent Saturday morning here, but went home after lunch.

While I don't enjoy the heat, I'm thankful we have electricity to run the refrigerator and make ice.  And we don't have to stay upstairs or even leave the house because water is coming in on the ground floor.  And I don't have to put on a suit and go to work.