November-Elena

Elena has been doing so well in preschool I cant believe we ever considered letting he ride out the year at home. She sings songs, plays pretend, relates stories and games, draws pictures, and is having a wonderful time learning all of that important three year old socialization stuff.

She is, of course, still headstrong and opinionated. She will not hesitate to tell you that "you were wrong, I was right" and if she is disciplined for something she thinks isnt her fault, she will fight you to the end "No, I'm not going to say sorry, I'll sit on the stairs forever and ever and ever." She is quick, though, to own up to things she has done "Yup, I did it. Sorry mom. Its OK, it was an accident." And, though its hard to live with in the moment, in hindsight her propensity to be so matter of fact in the midst of a meltdown is nothing short of remarkable. "I'm crying. I will say sorry after I'm done crying." Like, duh, woman.

She has cut out 90% of her naps but somedays, especially ones that are physically draining, we will come home and she will have fallen asleep in the van or, more rarely, like this, in the middle of a meltdown:

November-Jacob news

I cant believe that it is November. We have had an incredibly mild fall and the snow began to drift the day after Halloween. It was excellent! Halloween is done and now we can get down to the business of winter. Jacob is doing so well. He crawls like a maniac, is even-tempered and gobbles all food put in front of him. Just after Halloween, he began eyeing the table food, eschewing mushy baby food and, really, who could blame him? So we have been gradually introducing the food we have for dinner. He is a bit sensitive to meat--tried both a teeny bit of ground beef and a nibble of chicken, both resulting in yucky consequences--but otherwise tolerates all textures and tastes remarkably well. He is fond of feeding himself so if I am trying to spoon feed him, we need to use two spoons, one to dish up the food, give it to him to grab close to his mouth and then retrieve the one he dropped in order to take the aforementioned spoon. It is a bit like a carnival ride! Never a dull moment at mealtimes, that's for sure.

In October Jacob had sprouted two new teeth. I felt one on the bottom one day as we were nursing. Yeah he was drooling but all my kids have perpetual drooling as infants adn with the girls all that drooling never amounted to a hill of beans (or in this case, teeth) for a long long time. Jacob is a rather happy teether, as far as teethers go,I think. He drools but isnt screaming in pain, he is a bit clingy but will also let his sisters entertain him. So I figured we were safe, at least for awhile. But then he had a ridge, and then, as I was letting him chew on my finger, I began to think that the ridge was rather long-ish for one tooth. So I took a look and lo and behold, there were two teeth coming up at the same time! So he has two bottom teeth and close to the end of November, he sprouted one more. This time it is only one, but it is on the top and in a funny place. It isnt the two front teeth, nor the eye teeth but the one next to it. Right now he looks like he has one fang hanging out on the side of his mouth. It's brilliant.

To curb his wandering when I need a shower or a break to do a chore, and also for some peace of mind somedays, I set up his crib in our room. We try every once in awhile to let him sleep in it, but mostly we still co-sleep. Still, it is cute to see him sleeping where I am not afraid he will roll out of bed when I am not around.

Also in October, we had an exciting visit from Auntie Rachel! The girls still talk about it! Jacob was this close to being a ATCO stage superstar but then, alas, it was time to go pick up Julia. Maybe next time!

Both of the girls remain his favourite toys--Julia perhaps more so, since she will play with him for longer periods of time and tries to make him laugh. Elena will come around but her attention will get caught on something else and she wanders away from him, leaving him trailing behind her. 6 months has flown by and I cant believe how far he has come.