My State of the Union Address

Chris

Chris has another busy summer planned including a return trip to Nicaragua. He does a lot of reading and plays a lot of four-square (quad-square if you're cool) these days. When he's at home, he stays busy wrestling and reading much simpler books. He tried reading a chapter book to Flora and Scout, but they just weren't into it yet.

Stefanie

Stefanie is not pregnant! I smile every time I think about the fact that I'm not pregnant. I am working on my 30x30 list and keeping things under control here at the house. My summer plans include a couple trips to Arkansas while Chris is traveling across the world/country/state.

Flora

Flora doesn't know it yet, but there are some exciting changes in her future! Chris and I have decided that she would benefit from a once-a-week preschool or PDO (parents day out) program. I think she will love going to her own "school" and it will be good for her to have something exciting that she gets to do and Scout doesn't. There should be SOME advantages to being the oldest, after all! We are also in the process of joining a playgroup so hopefully she will have some new little friends to play with once we get officially involved.

In the next week or two, Flora is going to get her first real haircut! We've decided to make it a special Mommy-Daughter date and take her to Shear Madness. I think she'll love it. Afterward, we may walk around Zona Rosa for a bit. I still have a Gap Kids gift card that I need to use.....

And finally, I have started planning Flora's new super-girly princess pink room! I think it will be her birthday present in October so I've got plenty of time to figure out what I want to do. I'm excited. I hope she gets excited about it too!

Scout

Scout says his planets now, as you've seen. I didn't intentionally teach him the planets (although it DOES make a good party trick) but he asked me to repeat them often enough that I guess I'm not surprised he ended up memorizing them. He is also amazing at puzzles. I hate bragging on my kids (unless I'm talking to Mother or Sara!) but I decided that if I'm going to archive this blog to look back on then I will want to know all the amazing things the kids are doing. So.....I guess this may become a braggier blog than it has been. You've been warned! Scout can also recite his multiplication tables, run a four minute mile, and is quickly becoming fluent in German. Maybe.

Potty training seems to be on Scout's horizon. I finally bought him some Pull-Ups a few days ago so we could make a serious effort. He prefers his real underwear to the diaper pull-ups but I am SO not ready to deal with accidents right now. I don't know if he's really ready or if he's just excited that he can do what Flora does but he always goes when I put him on the potty. He's only asked to go on the potty a few times so right now it's more like I am being trained to take him to the potty at regular intervals than him actually being potty trained. But whatever. He's had a dry pull-up since this morning so I am cautiously optimistic that he may be a quick learner. We'll see.

And last night, Scout was twirling around the room saying, "I'm a ballerina, Mommy!"

Timber

Timber just had his 4-month check-up so I have some real data to report on him! He is 16lbs 8oz and 26 1/2 inches long, which puts him somewhere between the 75th and 90th percentiles for both height and weight. That's a bit easier to stomach than hearing that he is in the 97th percentile! His head had the doctors baffled however. He has what is either a persistent case of cradle cap or eczema on his head so his doc loaded me up with prescriptions to try. I am hoping that it is cradle cap because I don't want him to have to deal with eczema for the rest of his life. The poor little guy is always scratching his head, so, regardless of what it is, I hope that one of the treatments starts to work soon! In the meantime, I am gooping up his head with Aquaphor (like Vaseline) and gooping up his eyes with an antibiotic ointment to treat an eye infection. Chris came home from work and bent to kiss Timber but had to stop short. "There's not a dry place to kiss him!" he said. Hopefully, Goopy Timber will be a short phase.

Timber is more than goop though! He has rolled over twice now and he was so mad after getting his shots that he said, "Mamamama!" He also looooooooves his daddy. He gets so excited when he hears Chris come home. He will crane his neck around looking for the Daddy to go with the Daddy voice and give Chris the biggest smiles when he finds him. I'm sure Flora and Scout got excited to see Chris too, but I don't remember them being SO excited like Timber is. And, obviously, Timber loves watching Flora and Scout too. He watches them so intently and flails his arms and legs like he's trying so hard to run around with them. He'll be on the move soon -- he's got motivation!