september

It's been a while since I've posted updates on the kids, so I'll take this opportunity to do so.  Reggie is about 36 lbs and 40 inches tall - 90th percentile, and following the same growth pattern as Brett.  His latest stunt is doing handstands and cart wheels.  He uses most of his afternoon "quiet time" to practice these!  Reggie loves sports and loves, loves, loves football.  He has three footballs, and he has one with him wherever he goes.  In his play, he is naturally competitive and aggressive.  Reggie knows most of his colors and is learning his shapes and picking up on some letters and numbers.  He is starting to have more interest in coloring, cutting and gluing, although any activity that requires him to sit still is brief and he is quickly off in another room throwing a ball around.

Lydia loves to wear dresses and draw princesses and her favorite colors are pink and purple and she lingers a little too long in front of the mirror when we brush her teeth.  She also likes to play basketball, wrestle with her brothers, and is usually my dirtiest child when we come in from playing outside.  Lydia loves puzzles and I will often catch her looking at books by nightlight or flashlight long after lights out.  Lydia is such an eager learner.  She can write and make the sounds of A-F and often recognizes words that start with those letters.  She also writes her name.  I knew she had been watching too much Dora when she was rough-housing with her brothers and started yelling, "Ayuda me! Ayuda me!"

"BLRDM"-Brett Lydia Reggie Dad Mom

Brett is our fine arts child, completely out of our realm of experience.  He loves music and creating...well, we usually don't know what it is he's creating until he tells us.  Lately, he has become fascinated with mailing his creations to various family members.  Despite numerous discussions on how envelops need an address and stamp on them, I keep finding his creations in the mailbox, with some scribbles for an "address" and a lion ink stamp in place of a postage stamp.  I'm thankful so far the mail carrier has graciously ignored my son's "mail" and not left any mean notes.  Brett is working hard in speech therapy and almost has the /sh/ sound down after months of focus (slow progress is much better than no progress).  He's loving school this year, and we have received great feedback from his teachers.  On school days, he's usually up and dressed for school before I'm even awake - and he doesn't go to school until after lunch.  But two days a week, we go to his speech right away in the morning.  A few days ago, he and Reggie were up, and I heard Brett helping Reggie get dressed.  After we were all up, I fed them breakfast, made sure their hair was brushed, shoes on the right feet, etc, and rushed out the door.  When we got to therapy, I noticed Reggie's bottom looked a little extra...poochy.  A little more investigation revealed Reggie still had his soaked pullup and pajama pants on under his pants he had chosen for the day!

We've settled in to a good routine this fall.  Up until the last few days the weather has been blissful, perfect for lingering in the sun and playing in the leaves.