Toddling at 9 months

Holly is a little champion! She took her first steps at the PHSCC Pig Roast on Saturday! It was incredible! She's so tiny, and yet so confident. As you can probably imagine, it didn't take long and she's now taking 3-4 steps at a time! She can clap her hands and loves to make raspberries or just outright spit at you.

Megan is our little musician. She loves to shake the toys that rattle and bang on the toy drum and piano. If you start cheering, "Yeay, Megan!" she'll look at you with a big smile and clap. She's so pretty! Megan is a fast crawler, and can pull herself up with ease.

Liam is not only a mama's boy, but a little trouble-maker. He likes to climb up on the base of the end table and pull on the lamp cord. Otherwise, he will crawl into the base of the exersaucer. Liam is still crawling like an inchworm, though I've witnessed him crawl in the traditional manner. He is also pulling himself up at will. Liam likes to play Peek-a-Boo, and will pull things over his face and wait for you to catch on to his game.

Bridget, oh Bridget! She's loving preschool and playing with her friends. I'm disappointed that it seems to be 90% socializing 10% educational. For that reason, I really miss Chesterbrook. If we could afford it, I would send her there in a heart beat. Bridget is trying to read words, and when she's in the mood, she'll show you how she reads. We're still having LOTS of tantrums with her, and she's starting to get sneaky. For instance, she asked if she could have a snack 20 minutes after we finished dinner (and she DIDN'T finish her meal.) I said "no" and she went in the kitchen pantry and took a granola bar. (I could hear what she was up to.) So she walks out of the kitchen backwards with the granola bar behind her back and starts heading toward her room.

"Where are you going?"

"To my room."

"What's behind your back?"

"Nothing."

"What's in your hands?"

"Nothing."

(Insert disbelieving, stern, mom face)

"a granola bar." B says in a small voice.

I can't wait till her threes are over with. Four has to be better!

On a lighter note, Bridget's Pre-Ballet class started this week and she loved it. They are learning one routine before Halloween and a second routine before Christmas. She's thrilled.

As for me, school is going well. I'm hanging in there, though terribly busy. I'm teaching the boy across the street, the girl three doors down, and the boy four doors down, and a girl two blocks away. What fun! It was quite odd seeing neighborhood parents in my classroom. So far, it seems like I have good classes. My honors geometry kids are smart and hard-working. My precalculus kids are typical and fun.

Shawn's keeping busy at work and at home. He's going away for another billion days, but I guess if you compare his job to the circus, he doesn't travel much.

Finally, the baby boom has begun. Congratulations to:

Matt & Kristen and baby Benjamin,

Derek, Rene, Sophia, Emily and baby Elizabeth

Sandy, Kurt, Morgan and baby Owen,

Kim, Josh, Christian and baby Charlotte,

Brenda, Paul, Madalin and baby Lauren

I believe we're now just waiting to meet one more little Goode baby.

Back to School

Well, everyone has their Back-To-School routines down now. My day starts at about 5 am, I'm out the door by no later than 6:30, and school is officially done at 2:31. Mondays & Thursdays I stay after school to do work and/or help students. Tuesdays & Fridays I pick Bridget up from preschool. And Wednesdays we have school meetings after hours. Busy, busy, busy. Add to that, I'm trying to get to the gym 3-4 times a week, grading papers, taking care of the kids and my day is never done.

Bridget is doing great now that she's in preschool! She's still throwing tantrums with babysitter Beth almost daily, but hasn't thrown but a few with Shawn or I since school started up. Bridget seems to really enjoy school, and keeps asking me when it's going to end. Not that she wants it to end, but just the opposite. She doesn't want it to end. I'm not sure she's learning anything at all, and I'm a bit disappointed about that. So far, all I've seen is one paper where she wrote her own name 3 times. (Chesterbrook Academy taught Bridget so much more.) When I ask her what she did, she says "play" and "storytime with Miss Patty". She seems to like playing with the dress up stuff, kitchen and blocks. She also likes painting. Her best friend at school is Kayla and her second best friend (that is what B called her) is Hope. The only other student she has mentioned is Connor who according to B, doesn't have any hair.

Pick-up and Drop-off time is really well coordinated. They have a pretty efficient way of getting all the students where they need to be in a very short period of time. After watching the pick-up routine for 2 weeks now, I've noticed that the last parent picks up her kid at 12 minutes past dismissal time. I've also noticed that no matter what time I leave school to pick her up, I'm always buckling B up at 3:11. Half the school dismisses from one side of the building, and the other half dismisses from the opposite side, and walkers leave from the front.

Holly, Liam and Megan are doing wonderfully. Megan has changed a TON since her 6 month dr. visit. She's now sitting up and crawling. She can clap her hands, and she loves anything musical. She'll sit on the floor and beat the toy drum. She'll lay on her back and shake the shaker things. She crawls over to the little piano and bangs on the keys. I'm thinking we have a little musician on our hands! Liam is still Mama's boy. From the minute I walk in the door until the minute he goes to bed, he's hanging on me. He'll pull himself up to standing by using my shirt, then completely smother me while trying to crawl to the top of my head. He's our laugher and Bridget is the one who keeps him laughing. Whether she's running around the living room or playing Peek-a-Boo, Liam will squeal with joy and laugh the cutest laugh. Holly has been on hiatus lately. Nothing new to report. I guess since she was crawling and standing so early, she's now letting the others catch up with her. She did finally cut her first tooth-yeay! That seemed to cut down on her fussiness.

I've been trying some table foods with them, and that's been going well. Of course it is a mess (times three) but it's fun to watch them grow and learn to feed themselves. So far they've tried mashed potatoes, pasta, crackers, and bread. Megan eats the most, Holly eats the least. Liam steals food from the other's trays. Nothing new there either!

I'm also happy to report that Shawn has been Mr. Clean lately. He's taken it upon himself to be responsible for the cleaning of the kitchen, and is faithfully doing dishes and sweeping & mopping the floors! It's been very nice!

I must get to grading my first set of quizzes for the year. Oh yah, I forgot to mention, I'm teaching both the girl three doors down and the boy who lives across the street from me. Both are very smart, pleasant students. Whew!