Thank You, Curious George

We don't watch a lot of TV at our house, but we do enjoy borrowing different DVDs from the library and Reiley watches an episode during Ainsley's nap. Lately, she's been liking the Curious George DVDs. The show is cute - it has an animated story, and then kids doing some sort of activity that is a take off of one of the show's themes. Reiley watched an episode where George breaks his leg, and after the show, some kids trace around their bodies, guess what their bones look like by feeling them, and draw them in the body outline. Reiley thought this looked like a cool activity, so she told me she wanted try it too. She was really proud of it and exclaimed, "I can't believe that this is what my bones look like!"

I knew I could look like one of those supermoms who actually has these kind of enriching activities all planned out and claim that this was my doing. But I won't lie - Curious George gives me a 30 minute break during Ainsley's nap, since most days Reiley doesn't nap anymore. So thank you, Curious George, for the break and for the fun with bones. Here's a video of Reiley talking about her "skeleton drawing". She really wanted me to put it on the blog.

Elmo Nunu

This exciting name was chosen by Reiley for our...

NEW BABY BOY!

We had our ultrasound last Friday and our new little boy is growing well. Reiley thought it was very interesting to see the ultrasound picture with an arrow pointing to his "private area". She declared in the ultrasound room that his name would be Elmo Nunu, to which Ainsley outstreched her arms and exclaimed "NuNu!". Despite the cute display, we will not be entering that into our list of name options. We're trying to find a way to let Reiley down easy. We're super ecited and I've already started stocking up on cute boy clothes!

Tiny Dancer

Last weekend, Reiley started her first dance class. She's always enjoyed dancing, and has become more comfortable with separation, so we thought we'd give it a go. We're sending her to COCA, which is a multidisciplinary community arts school that has a reputation for being not a supper-snotty "train my child to star in the Nutcracker at age 6", which was the attitude I was looking for. I think I had way too much fun going to the dance store and having Reiley try on little leotards and tights and teeny-tiny ballet shoes. (Well, as much fun as an excitable almost 4 year old and on-the-go 18 month old will let you have in a store the size of a family room).

The class dress code called for a bun, which is a hilarious task with Reiley's hair. Like mine, it's incredibly thin, and currently cut in a chin-length bob. Here we are, trying to accomplish the task.
Armed with bobby pins and lots of hairspray, we succeeded in creating a makeshift bun. Reiley, posing as a "shy dancer" for you all. The Angelina Ballerina book series has become one of her favorites, so during this photo shoot, she wanted to pretend that she was Angelina, and I was the dance teacher taking pictures of everyone. I was honestly a little nervous, because this is the the first "no-parent-with-you" class that she's asked to do. Every other class-type separation we've attempted in the past has required a lot of preparation, and she just hasn't been ready for it. It was amazing to see what six months will do! We got there and she said "bye, Mom," and didn't look back! The dance studio has a two-way mirror where all of the parents can watch (which was nice, but also seemed kind of creepy). The class is her every dream, complete with tutu time, princess-crown wearing, dancing with ribbons, and this week, a reading of Angelina Ballerina. It's been fun to see her serious and concentrated look during warm-up, and the careless abandon with which she pretends to be a butterfly emerging from her cocoon. Here's a video. Don't be confused with the near-twin girl who is also dancing nearby. Reiley's the one on the far left, who comes toward the middle during the clip.

Ainsley's Summer Menu

Now that Summer is officially here, we've been spending a lot of time outside, which has introduced Ainsley to some new tastes. It all started in late spring when we were planting our front yard flower garden. The brightly-colored gardening tools, topping her bucket with soil...it was all a little too tempting:
Though she actually appears to be choking, she was just showing us the evidence. It didn't seem to phase her too much - a few heaping mouthfuls, and she was convinced it wasn't actually chocolate cake. She was calling it "choca", her word for chocolate.

Fast forward a week later, when we filled up the sandbox for summer. Once again, the digging, measuring, and scooping dug up memories of baking, and the sand was sampled. I caught the shot, mid-gritty-chew.
That weekend, Kevin and the girls were baking bread to distract Ainsley from Mommy being gone. Ainsley had her own flour to scoop and measure while Kevin and Reiley were tackling the real bread. This ghost lady is the product of flour play, and Kevin claims that she may have eaten about 6 tablespoons of flour - with no water to wash it down.
She makes up for that with the amount of water she guzzles at the pool:-).