He likes Cheerios, but they always end up on his chin. He's not a fan of green beans!
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
First Grade Bound (hopefully...)!
As part of the early entrance process, we took Sydney to her elementary school this morning so she could participate in both Kindergarten and first grade classes and have the teachers observe her both academically and socially. Though she was a bit shy at first, she was telling the Reading Coordinator all about her two lost teeth and favorite movie (Frozen) by the time they were halfway down the hallway (I stayed in the office while she went to the classrooms). We still have to formally apply (sometime this summer), so there are still no guarantees, but both of the teachers who observed her were recommending placement in first grade, so we'll see what happens. What matters, though, is that she was comfortable and had a good time. I'm so glad that she enjoys school and reading so much.
She loves reading so much that her teachers at her current school gave her a chapter book to borrow to read to herself. We've been reading it at bedtime and she just told me tonight that she's already read it cover to cover several times. That's my girl! We're driving to Charlotte later this week (yay!) and I bought her two of my favorite books from childhood (The Phantom Tollbooth and Bridge to Terabithia) in hopes that she'll want to read them to me and Connor as we drive.
She had soccer again tonight and is doing really well. She finally "gets" it and really goes after the ball. Her coach is the same as she had in the fall and he's really great with the kids. He doesn't take any crap from them, but teaches them skills and teamwork. I've been really happy with the soccer program in general, especially now that she's out of the youngest age bracket. We'll keep doing soccer through the summer and fall and will probably try gymnastics this summer possibly with a session of swimming sprinkled in there. Two activities is about the max we can handle with our schedule. Every single weekend is booked between now and almost October (crazy, huh?), so we have to do at least one activity during the week and that is HARD to do with a commute / Brad's travel schedule / 2 daycare / school pickups. One more month of them being in different school's, then we at least have a few weeks of having them together. That will simplify life immensely.
She loves reading so much that her teachers at her current school gave her a chapter book to borrow to read to herself. We've been reading it at bedtime and she just told me tonight that she's already read it cover to cover several times. That's my girl! We're driving to Charlotte later this week (yay!) and I bought her two of my favorite books from childhood (The Phantom Tollbooth and Bridge to Terabithia) in hopes that she'll want to read them to me and Connor as we drive.
She had soccer again tonight and is doing really well. She finally "gets" it and really goes after the ball. Her coach is the same as she had in the fall and he's really great with the kids. He doesn't take any crap from them, but teaches them skills and teamwork. I've been really happy with the soccer program in general, especially now that she's out of the youngest age bracket. We'll keep doing soccer through the summer and fall and will probably try gymnastics this summer possibly with a session of swimming sprinkled in there. Two activities is about the max we can handle with our schedule. Every single weekend is booked between now and almost October (crazy, huh?), so we have to do at least one activity during the week and that is HARD to do with a commute / Brad's travel schedule / 2 daycare / school pickups. One more month of them being in different school's, then we at least have a few weeks of having them together. That will simplify life immensely.
I love these tables at school. Connor LOVES to play with his friends.
She was TIRED on the way to pick up Connor the other day! She insisted that she wasn't, but I beg to differ...
Swinging on a nice spring day!
First time in a "big boy" swing! He's ALWAYS smiling (except when he's angry and crying, that is).
It's going to be a very busy couple of weeks. We're going to Charlotte this week to visit Aunt Jenny and Grandma Speicher. Then we have Sydney's graduation from Kindergarten and dance recital. Thinking of how crazy it's going to be gives me anxiety, but we'll figure it out - it always works out somehow!!!
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Race Day!
Sydney ran a 1K race this morning and LOVED it! It was her first run "by herself" without either Brad or I running with her. She did great and was the second girl to finish!
We went to the DC United game tonight. The weather was perfect and we had a great time with friends and family of friends!
Sydney and Arabelle were DC United ninjas :)
Connor has moved on to peas. He wasn't so sure about them the first night, but now likes them.
Sydney chose his next food - carrots! We made him some yesterday and he LOVES them! I think we'll try either green beans or butternut squash next. We have to do a new food for at least 3 days, so it's kind of slow going at this point. He's done pretty well with food, though - I'm really glad we waited as long as we did.
We'll have a short week next week - the kids and I are driving to Charlotte to visit with Jenny and Great Grandma - we're all really excited! I just hope the drive isn't too daunting and hope we don't hit too much traffic. I'm going to take a day off on either end of the long weekend to hopefully avoid some of it.
We're also taking Sydney to her elementary school next week so she can participate in a Kindergarten class. That should start the process of early entrance to first grade in the fall. We had her teacher conferences last week and she's definitely ready. So we just need to figure out the logistics. Thank goodness we were connected with the principal who is working with us to make it an easy transition for us all.
Hope everyone is having a nice weekend!
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
6 Months Old!
I can't believe that Connor is 6 months old already! Seriously, where has the time gone? I didn't have time to take a photo with his month sticker today (Tuesdays are crazy busy with soccer), so we'll have to do that this weekend.
We started our day at 4am (he almost always wakes up at 4 and about half the time he stays up for the day, the other half I can get him back to sleep). Ended up being ok because I had an INSANELY busy day at work, so I just started working. He had his 6 month check up today with our favorite pediatrician in the practice. I say this every time I go there (which has been often lately), but I'm SO thankful that we've found the perfect pediatric practice to take the kids to. I feel so comfortable with all of the doctors and they all take such good care of us.
He fell asleep in the car on the way there. That's always how it goes - he falls asleep just in time to have to get out of the car seat and have his clothes stripped off :( What a rude awakening! Anyway, he's a whopping 13lbs 6.5oz, which is only the 1st percentile for weight. He's gaining perfectly according to his own curve, though, and his doctor is very happy with his growth. He's meeting or exceeding all of his developmental milestones, he's just small! He even showed off his fondness for standing and jumping while we were there - the doctor laughed about that.
Connor had allergy testing done last week since we can't figure out why he keeps getting hives. Testing didn't show anything overwhelmingly positive, but showed a possible peanut allergy. They don't do a full panel on a baby so small (his back is pretty small!), so they only tested for 6 major food allergens. He didn't have a strong reaction to dairy, which is good, but he could still be intolerant, just not allergic. They're having me eliminate peanuts and obvious sources of soy (tofu, edamame, soy sauce) from my diet (and stay dairy free), keep a detailed food log of what I eat, what he eats, and what his reactions are, and we have to re-test in a month. He was a trooper for the testing and it was really no big deal. I hope we can figure out what's bugging him!
Food wise, he's had rice cereal (for a few days), oatmeal, bananas, and avocado. We introduced sweet potatoes when we got home on Sunday night and it really hurt his poor tummy :( He threw up for the next 8 hours and was just generally miserable. He didn't fall asleep until 3am, which was rough for all of us. His doctor told us to wait a few months before giving sweet potatoes again. Strange since that's usually a pretty safe food, but I don't want a repeat of that! We tried peas tonight and he wasn't a fan. They stayed down, but he made the classic baby icky face.
We had a great weekend! We drove to Fredericksburg to celebrate Christine's graduation from Mary Washington! The whole family was able to be there, which was awesome. Terry and Laurie figured out that the last time we were ALL together was 8 years ago. And of course, there are 2 new additions to the family since then, so it was Grammy and Grampy's first time with all 6 grandkids at the same time! It was Connor's first stay in a hotel and thankfully he did pretty well! We kept him up REALLY late Friday night to visit with everyone, but he slept the whole night in his pack and play. Saturday night was not as good, so I ended up bringing him to bed with us (after spending a lot of time getting him used to his crib sleeping on his own, I really, really hesitated to do this, but we all would have woken up otherwise). At least I was able to get a little sleep that way.
Graduation was really nice, but it unfortunately started raining :( Thankfully the weather held out long enough for us to see Christine receive her diploma and walk across the stage. The kids and I headed back to the car when the rain started. We still got wet, but at least weren't soaked. We met everyone for lunch after the ceremony and had some yummy BBQ!!! After lunch, we went back to the hotel and all took a nap! I was pleasantly surprised, but we managed to get both kids to sleep for 2 hours! Granted it was in a double bed with me and both kids, but I'll take what I can get. When we got up, we went swimming. Grammy was already down in the pool, so she helped Sydney a lot. Connor just floated around with me and had a blast. He really loves the water. I let Sydney get in the hot tub when we were done to warm up a bit and she enjoyed that (it wasn't too hot, don't worry). After a quick shower, we headed out to dinner with the family.
It was really nice to visit with everyone at dinner and the food was DELICIOUS! I had tuna, which was to die for, and I ate far more than I needed to. I'm really proud of how well Sydney behaved - it was a LONG day and she was a champ through dinner, even though it was pretty late for her.
Sunday morning, we woke up early and drove to campus to get some family photos taken. I'm so glad we were able to arrange for that.
Thank you, Laurie for the iPhone snap shots from our photo session. Here are a few.
We started our day at 4am (he almost always wakes up at 4 and about half the time he stays up for the day, the other half I can get him back to sleep). Ended up being ok because I had an INSANELY busy day at work, so I just started working. He had his 6 month check up today with our favorite pediatrician in the practice. I say this every time I go there (which has been often lately), but I'm SO thankful that we've found the perfect pediatric practice to take the kids to. I feel so comfortable with all of the doctors and they all take such good care of us.
He fell asleep in the car on the way there. That's always how it goes - he falls asleep just in time to have to get out of the car seat and have his clothes stripped off :( What a rude awakening! Anyway, he's a whopping 13lbs 6.5oz, which is only the 1st percentile for weight. He's gaining perfectly according to his own curve, though, and his doctor is very happy with his growth. He's meeting or exceeding all of his developmental milestones, he's just small! He even showed off his fondness for standing and jumping while we were there - the doctor laughed about that.
Connor had allergy testing done last week since we can't figure out why he keeps getting hives. Testing didn't show anything overwhelmingly positive, but showed a possible peanut allergy. They don't do a full panel on a baby so small (his back is pretty small!), so they only tested for 6 major food allergens. He didn't have a strong reaction to dairy, which is good, but he could still be intolerant, just not allergic. They're having me eliminate peanuts and obvious sources of soy (tofu, edamame, soy sauce) from my diet (and stay dairy free), keep a detailed food log of what I eat, what he eats, and what his reactions are, and we have to re-test in a month. He was a trooper for the testing and it was really no big deal. I hope we can figure out what's bugging him!
Food wise, he's had rice cereal (for a few days), oatmeal, bananas, and avocado. We introduced sweet potatoes when we got home on Sunday night and it really hurt his poor tummy :( He threw up for the next 8 hours and was just generally miserable. He didn't fall asleep until 3am, which was rough for all of us. His doctor told us to wait a few months before giving sweet potatoes again. Strange since that's usually a pretty safe food, but I don't want a repeat of that! We tried peas tonight and he wasn't a fan. They stayed down, but he made the classic baby icky face.
We had a great weekend! We drove to Fredericksburg to celebrate Christine's graduation from Mary Washington! The whole family was able to be there, which was awesome. Terry and Laurie figured out that the last time we were ALL together was 8 years ago. And of course, there are 2 new additions to the family since then, so it was Grammy and Grampy's first time with all 6 grandkids at the same time! It was Connor's first stay in a hotel and thankfully he did pretty well! We kept him up REALLY late Friday night to visit with everyone, but he slept the whole night in his pack and play. Saturday night was not as good, so I ended up bringing him to bed with us (after spending a lot of time getting him used to his crib sleeping on his own, I really, really hesitated to do this, but we all would have woken up otherwise). At least I was able to get a little sleep that way.
Graduation was really nice, but it unfortunately started raining :( Thankfully the weather held out long enough for us to see Christine receive her diploma and walk across the stage. The kids and I headed back to the car when the rain started. We still got wet, but at least weren't soaked. We met everyone for lunch after the ceremony and had some yummy BBQ!!! After lunch, we went back to the hotel and all took a nap! I was pleasantly surprised, but we managed to get both kids to sleep for 2 hours! Granted it was in a double bed with me and both kids, but I'll take what I can get. When we got up, we went swimming. Grammy was already down in the pool, so she helped Sydney a lot. Connor just floated around with me and had a blast. He really loves the water. I let Sydney get in the hot tub when we were done to warm up a bit and she enjoyed that (it wasn't too hot, don't worry). After a quick shower, we headed out to dinner with the family.
It was really nice to visit with everyone at dinner and the food was DELICIOUS! I had tuna, which was to die for, and I ate far more than I needed to. I'm really proud of how well Sydney behaved - it was a LONG day and she was a champ through dinner, even though it was pretty late for her.
Sunday morning, we woke up early and drove to campus to get some family photos taken. I'm so glad we were able to arrange for that.
Thank you, Laurie for the iPhone snap shots from our photo session. Here are a few.
Grammy and Grampy with all 6 grandkids
Grammy and Grampy
Terry and Michael
Three generations of Clements men
Jennifer and Christine
Girl Cousins
Courtney and Kaylee
All of the Cousins
Here are a few more from the past few weeks...
Hi mom! What are you looking at??? I'm 6 months old today - no big deal!
Sleepy boy on the way to the doctor.
Enjoying a nice evening watching Sydney playing soccer. Ignore the pj's. It's what he came home from daycare in and I didn't have anything else to change him in to!
He actually held a crayon and colored an apple for us :)
Sydney's Mother's Day gift to me. A Mother's Day journal where she and Connor can write / draw a letter or picture for me every year. It will all be in one place and nothing will ever get lost. She obviously wrote the letter entirely on her own and I could not be more proud!
The only photo we have of the three of us. I love it!
Sydney's school participated in a Community Parade. One of the teachers in her school painted this and the kids love it!
Connor's teachers kept asking for a picture of me with him for Mother's Day. Sydney took this one with my phone :)
Enjoying an afternoon in the sun.
More to come. Hope everyone is doing well!
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Catching Up
It's been a busy few weeks and I've started a few posts and just haven't finished. Let's see...what's new in the past few weeks?
Sydney and I had her "Kindergarten" Orientation on Monday. I was foolish and scheduled it during Brad's weekly team call, so he couldn't go :( She misses the county cut off date wise and should technically be going to Kindergarten in the fall. We've had her in a private Kindergarten this year in anticipation of applying for early entrance to first grade in the fall. Despite the goal of having her go into first grade, we have to register her for Kindergarten and go through the orientation process. The official process is to have her start in a Kindergarten class in the fall for up to 6 weeks, make the necessary observations, then decide if she's appropriately placed. If she's "ready" for first grade, they'll move her. We knew that was the process when we decided to send her to a private Kindergarten this year, but it still seems rather disruptive, not only to Sydney, but to the teachers and the rest of the class as well.
Anyway, the orientation was good. Sydney got to meet some of the teachers and didn't hesitate to leave me at all (once we got in the building, at least). After the parents presentation, I stuck around to talk to the assistant principal and the principal. Just wanted to be sure we were all on the same page in terms of the whole early entry thing. We've agreed on a plan that may allow her to bypass starting the year in a Kindergarten class and start right in first grade, so that made me happy. They're very willing to work with us and thankfully, the academic director at her current school used to teach 2nd grade at her elementary school, so her evaluation of Sydney's ability will go a long way :)
After the orientation, we got to go on a bus ride around the neighborhood! Sydney was SO excited! And it made me feel better to get to be on a bus with her and see her sit still and know how to behave. I'm VERY passionate about car seat safety, so putting her on a bus (without a car seat) gives me great anxiety. The fact that one of my clients is a school bus company doesn't help...when you're in insurance, you tend to see the really bad accidents... But anyway, she behaved really well and had a BLAST. When we got off the bus and were walking back to the car, she told me it was the best day of her life!
Sydney and I had her "Kindergarten" Orientation on Monday. I was foolish and scheduled it during Brad's weekly team call, so he couldn't go :( She misses the county cut off date wise and should technically be going to Kindergarten in the fall. We've had her in a private Kindergarten this year in anticipation of applying for early entrance to first grade in the fall. Despite the goal of having her go into first grade, we have to register her for Kindergarten and go through the orientation process. The official process is to have her start in a Kindergarten class in the fall for up to 6 weeks, make the necessary observations, then decide if she's appropriately placed. If she's "ready" for first grade, they'll move her. We knew that was the process when we decided to send her to a private Kindergarten this year, but it still seems rather disruptive, not only to Sydney, but to the teachers and the rest of the class as well.
Anyway, the orientation was good. Sydney got to meet some of the teachers and didn't hesitate to leave me at all (once we got in the building, at least). After the parents presentation, I stuck around to talk to the assistant principal and the principal. Just wanted to be sure we were all on the same page in terms of the whole early entry thing. We've agreed on a plan that may allow her to bypass starting the year in a Kindergarten class and start right in first grade, so that made me happy. They're very willing to work with us and thankfully, the academic director at her current school used to teach 2nd grade at her elementary school, so her evaluation of Sydney's ability will go a long way :)
After the orientation, we got to go on a bus ride around the neighborhood! Sydney was SO excited! And it made me feel better to get to be on a bus with her and see her sit still and know how to behave. I'm VERY passionate about car seat safety, so putting her on a bus (without a car seat) gives me great anxiety. The fact that one of my clients is a school bus company doesn't help...when you're in insurance, you tend to see the really bad accidents... But anyway, she behaved really well and had a BLAST. When we got off the bus and were walking back to the car, she told me it was the best day of her life!
Connor's a happy boy at school!
He made an umbrella this week!
Waiting at the eye doctor for his follow up. He was a trooper and his eyes look great for now!
Saturday night was ROUGH. Connor was up literally all night and I was beat on Sunday. I had to get out of the house, or I would have been super frustrated at his lack of napping (he hates naps, too). So we headed to the zoo. It was Connor's first time sitting in the stroller without the car seat and Sydney had a great time. We got her face painted like a kitty and she got to ride the carousel all by herself.
Sydney read to Connor at bedtime on Saturday night. So glad they get along so well (for now). He still laughs at her like crazy and she adores him.
Silly bedtime selfie.
Last week was Take Your Sons and Daughters to Work Day! I took Sydney with me to work in the morning and she had a lot of fun. She got to learn about fire insurance and they had lots of activities planned for the kids. They did a really nice job and I didn't even have to stay with her (in fact, she told me to leave). Then we met Brad for lunch and he took her to the Museum of Natural History in the afternoon to see the Dinosaur Exhibit before it closes for the next 5 years. She really enjoyed that too!
Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday. It's been a long, busy, and sleepless week. Hope everyone is doing well!
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