fall photos

I have posted some photos of Thomas's birthday party, plus a few "here and there" snapshots. To see the album, click here. 

this and that

The beginning of the transition to England will be putting our house on the market. We cannot imagine what it will be like for Anna, Thomas and Iain to go through the process of getting the house ready, keeping it tidy (!!), and--eventually--moving out. Fortunately, they are all pretty resilient, and I expect that they will find it easier than their parents will. As of now, we expect to list the house after Christmas. I just can't imagine doing it before that; there is too much to do.

Anna has recovered fully from her dental procedure. She is quite curious about the silver crowns on a few of her teeth, and seems more receptive to brushing. So we are making progress on that aspect of self-care. Her progress in potty training is slow, but steady. We plan to focus on it over the Christmas break and see how much farther we can get! In other areas, she is growing by leaps and bounds, talking in complete sentences and expressing more complex ideas. She recognizes more than half of the letters of the alphabet and enjoys doing word puzzles. (We have the Melissa and Doug version, and she has become very good at putting them together!) With all the language, self-help and cognitive development, Anna has also begun to press the boundaries in terms of behavior, and has landed herself in time-out a couple of times this weekend. Insofar as that indicates a new level of awareness of rules and consequences for breaking rules, I am all for it! Anna needs to develop in this area also, and testing the limits is an important step in that process.

Anna isn't the only one moving in that direction. Iain will tell you he's 'big two!'--and has the occasional temper tantrum to prove it. Although he does fall apart sometimes from frustration, or being tired or hungry (just before dinner can be a tough time for him), for the most part he is quite distractible, and so the tears can be dried and we move on quickly. Iain is much less stormy than Thomas and much less stubborn than Anna. He plays happily by himself, and loves for us to join him. He will bring me a book and ask me to read it, or come to me and say, 'sit mommy couch', when he wants to sit on my lap to watch a video. This phase of his life, like his babyhood, is a delight. 

Thomas, the last one to have his birthday and accompanying check-up, has grown to 41 inches and 39 pounds. That puts him below average in terms of size, but what he lacks in that area, he fully makes up for in imagination and speaking ability. For a few minutes after he first wakes up, he will often be quite quiet. Then, his imagination seems to kick in, and he's off--telling us about all the events, places and people in his make-believe world. Thomas loves to draw, and will create all sorts of things on paper, explaining what he's made in detail. That accompanying narrative makes drawing a less suitable occupation for church than it is for most kids. Thomas has begun attending Mass with Lewis and me, and his first Sunday, when asked what he had learned at church, replied, "I learned you don't talk in church." So he has grasped the basic rule, now is it a matter of following it a bit more. Of course, part of the problem is that Thomas is an incredibly curious kid, and so questions like, "What do the bells mean?" just have to be asked! I enjoy having him with us, and look forward to the time when Anna and Iain will join us as well. 

Things are pretty busy: between teaching and writing and spending time with the kids, there isn't a lot of time left. Yesterday was the last of three Saturdays I have been teaching in the Course of Study (part-time seminary education for Methodist pastors who are already serving churches). I love the teaching, but being away from home all days Saturday is tiring for everyone! So I am glad not to have more Saturday teaching until May. 

Thanks to a bout of insomnia, I have been getting a bit done in the middle of the night. I could use the sleep, but I will take advantage of the quiet to do things like keep up with the blog and keep up with friends on the internet. I will post a link in the next couple of days to a new photo album, which I mean to create tomorrow or Monday. So don't give up on me! I am working on it!

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Anna goes to the dentist

That is, Anna had several teeth that needed fixing, and the only way to do what had to be done was under general anesthesia. Our pediatric dentist is very good, and yet Anna will barely allow him to look at her teeth, let alone take x-rays or fill cavities. So we headed up to the specialist, who sees mainly kids with special needs, and he recommended that the dental procedure (which involved crowns) be done at the children's hospital, where the anesthesia could be administered. Everything went well on Monday, and Anna came home with some silver teeth! Fortunately, these are primary molars; hopefully she will develop more of an interest in taking care of her teeth as she grows up. At the moment, just getting her to let me help her brush can be something of a battle. 

And in the fuss over Anna and her teeth, I almost forgot: Thomas had a great birthday! He enjoyed his party, and was ecstatic over his presents. There will be pictures as soon as I can get new batteries in the camera. Thomas's was the biggest party we've had, and it was fun to finish the birthday season with a big bash. Although I love birthdays, I am glad to be through with the parties for this year. We have a lot going on in the 2008-2009 academic year, and the to-do list seems impossible. 

Still, I hope to update the blog more frequently as we get closer to the move date. Next year at this time, there will be many more people with whom we'll be keeping in touch over the internet!  So I have to get my act together. Look me up on facebook, too, where I comment briefly but often about what we're up to!

Fall photos

To see a few photos of Iain's birthday party, as well as a variety of other late-summer and early-fall photos, click here.

Iain's birthday

Iain thoroughly enjoyed his second birthday. His response to being greeted with 'it's your birthday' was 'chocolate cake!' This is a boy who has clear priorities. Being the center of attention didn't worry him at all--he just took it all in. I should have a whole CD of photos, soon, from our star photographer, Catherine. Here's a teaser: 

Thomas celebrates his birthday this Sunday, for which there has been as much hype as precedes a Disney movie. I have no idea how I am going to pull off a pirate theme birthday party for a dozen pre-kindergarteners during one of the busier weeks of the semester! Somehow it will happen, though, and I hope Thomas can enjoy his day as much as Iain did.