August

Lem started back with tennis the week of Sycely's birthday and headed back to school full-time the following week. Almost a whole week later he finally had students back to school. And Lem's getting back into the swing of school meant we girls got back to our regular schedule and routine, which is such a welcome thing sometimes! we've been trying to soak up as much of the last of summer's sunshine as possible,swinging, harvesting from the garden, playing outdoor pattycake, and having the occasional picnic.

August also meant getting ready for some exciting new things in Sycely's life. She'll be starting a part-day pre-school program toward the end of September so there was the usual school shopping to be done (while taking advantage of all the great sales, of course!) We also got her signed up for ballet school for the next session (fall-spring). She'll be going on Saturday mornings since she has pre-school on the weekdays her ballet class is offered. Plus, going on Saturdays will allow Lem to attend ballet class with her or stay home with Ella so I can go without having a one year old in tow! Sycely has reached some exciting milestones in the last month or so. Over the summer she's really been mastering independence with alot of her self-help skills and is finally over her fear or falling in while using a public toilet. She's also wearing panties to bed at night now, an achievement she instantaneously insisted on (with much resolution and yelling!) one night, so that was that. She can pump on the swings now and is really developing careful attention to detail in her artwork. She's working on a sunflower project right now. My favorite Sycely vignette this month was her rejecting a pair of shoes I suggested we get her for pre-school with the following statement: "Mommy, I don't like those. Those are for space." What's a mother to do when her child feels shoes are too astronomic for her to wear?! Apparently she felt the illustration on the box resembled an astronaut rather that the super hero cheerleader character it was supposed to be. Turns out she also doesn't like daisies on her shoes; only tulips are acceptable shoe flowers. Apparently, she's developed some very discriminating tastes since turning 4. She also got her first bee sting which she handled remarkably well and had her 4 year check-up. To no surprise at all, she's still way on the low end for weight and toward the top of the middle range for height, so it looks like her dainty, girly, body type is going to be permanent (also no surprise.) She handled her three shots like a trooper, not even a single tear (that WAS a surprise) but did face 60 hours of not being able to move her leg or walk at all afterwards thanks to the swelling. It was a weekend of couch lounging, fever reducer and ice packs :(

Ella also had a check-up the same day. She's even lower on the chart for weight but on her own little gradual curve so no worries there, just a tiny little pixie :) Her third tooth came in this month and she's got another one that's following not too far behind. She's still eating up a storm (and somehow is still only weighing it at 17 pounds) and is rarely still, unless of course she's in the need of a little snuggle. She's generous with her cuddles and accompanied by thumb and blanket she's often a little snugglebug. She says more words that I could possibly keep track of though I still try. She started saying "Nanny" finally and said it the first time for on the phone with my mom. She says snack (...nnnnnack) exactly the way Sycely did at that age and she's recently picked up "ready, set...goooo!" Some of my other favorites include "peach" and of course all her animal sounds, her elephant in particular. She LOVES patty cake and playing peek and has a super infectious giggle almost all the time. She's really into turning the pages of books and she'll even fill in some of the words or sounds if you leave them out when reading aloud to her. She definitely got charisma and a bright-eyed little smile. Ella (and me) reached a milestone this month as well. We're officially done nursing (see previous blog entry). It was bittersweet for me, but she hasn't really taken notice from what we can tell and Daddy loves being able to have books and snuggling at bedtime, he's missed out on being able to put her bed the whole last year so he's loving that he can have that special quiet time with her now.

I'm keeping busy with all my regular activities at home and away from home as well. In addition to my regular skating lessons and the start of Special Olympics coming up, I'm going to be co-leading a new Mom's group at church next month. I've been turning a decent profit via craigslist unloading more of my way too big wardrobe, as well as maternity and baby items. I'm also working getting things lined up to officially kick-off my early childhood consulting business. I'll be offering all my trainings and other services (mentoring, observations, etc) as a contractor now which is going to enable me to be able to do trainings for all those schools that keep asking me to, and to be making way more money doing it. So, hopefully in the next couple weeks I will get everything prepped to official launch into another venue of the self-employment business world.

Lem and I are working (gradually) on some home improvement projects. We have our energy audit folks coming next weekend so we're looking forward to hearing some tips on what can help alleviate some of our moisture and other winter weather problems with our house. We're also working our way through painting the whole interior of our house, including the ceilings. Last weekend we finished phase 1, the Kitchen/dining room. Sycely was a tremendous "help" with the painting and was pretty thrilled we chose green-her-favorite-color. It looks a million times better now that it's a fresh, warm, green color with clean, white ceilings! Over the next couple months we'll tackle the living room, hall, both bathrooms, our bedroom and Ella's room. We're looking toward doing a bathtub/shower remodel this fall/winter as well. Our plan is to get everything a fresh, clean coat of paint, update our decorating/style a little, clear out some of the accumulated clutter and move toward being ready to get our house on the market before too much longer, but we're looking forward to the perks of getting to enjoy a "nicer" cleaner house in the meantime.