Take me out to the ballgame

Micah's up to bat!

laying down on the job

This week was Micah's first t-ball game. We all decided to go to support him. Dan is the assistant coach, and I think he ended up needing more support by the end of it than Micah did. Running around after 5- & 6-year-olds is not an easy task. Especially when they are asking questions like "Which hand do I wear my glove on?" and stooping down to dig in the dirt when the ball is sailing past them! It is part sport and part comedy, watching these little players :-) His team name is the Blue Sea Monkeys so we all wore blue. The parents were very lively, shouting encouragement form the stands. One of us was wiping up chocolate pudding and bananas that her toddler had wiped on her. I'm not going to say who that was ;-) Micah's level only plays 4 games in the fall season, so we wanted to at least make it to the first one. I won't say how they did, but the coaches made a unanimous decision that the team would add a practice session on Thursdays for the next two weeks of the season :-) I asked Micah if he enjoyed himself, and he said he did, although he "got out a couple of times." That's what really matters anyway. His best friend Tyler is also on the team, so I'm pretty sure he'd still have a good time if they never won a game at all.

We're having a busy semester, but we still have time for relaxing, even if only on the weekends. Micah and Jacob like snuggling together under the blanket on the couch while watching morning cartoons in their PJs. This past weekend, Micah and I went to the OBU children's show, "A Year With Frog and Toad". Micah loved it, especially the part where they handed cookies down every aisle. Dan did costumes for this show so he was glad that everything went off well. It's always a challenge to come up with ideas for dressing a frog, a toad, a snail, a turtle, a lizard, and 2 squirrels! Maybe next year Jacob will be able to sit through a whole show.

Music to our ears

Jacob is a singer. He loves to regale us with his favorites, EIEIO, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and the Oompa Loompa Song from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Here is are some selections of his regular repertoire to brighten your Tuesday! He is playing with shaving cream in the tub!

Jacob's reading spot

Jacob's reading spot

The guys, playing a game

"Mmmm, should I read the one about the trains or the one about the kangaroo?"

Chubby Bunny

One small step for Jacob, one big step for mom and dad

It's been a while since I've posted, but we've had plenty going on. Jacob and Micah endured a weeklong fever virus and missed much of the second week of school. The good news is that we were able to secure a very sweet babysitter for them, a former student of Dan's who was living in town but still looking for work. She allowed us to not miss too much work and handle the whole work/home juggle which is what we live every day. Although Jacob is still not sleeping well (we don't really know why), we've recovered from that and this past week was a good one.

We signed Micah up for tee-ball since the fall season is only a month-long warm-up for the spring season. This will be his first organized experience with the game, so hopefully he will enjoy it. He started AWANA last week and is excited about being a Sparky this year! He is looking forward to his first field trip of the year to the Clark County Fair petting zoo on Friday. He's been talking about this fair all year since he got to ride the rides last year, so I'm sure he'll have lots of stories to tell when he gets home, not the least of which will be "why getting to ride the bus is so cool." :-) Anyone who knows Micah knows he is an unending questioner and his current topic of interest is dinosaurs, particularly T-Rex. Micah's always had a hard time relaxing for bed and that hasn't changed. But for the past week I've been letting him listen to a song on the iPod before bed, something lullaby-like. He listens through one ear bud, and I take the other, and we just do that right before I say goodnight. It is working like a charm! I think we will be getting him a music player of his own for his birthday this year since he loves that so much.

We set up a new reading nook in Jacob's room since he loves books. Micah lent his beanbag chair to Jacob so he could have a cozy spot in the corner. Jacob is learning new words everyday and often points things out in a book or in the room, saying things like, "Mama...cat," just to double check with me that he is saying the right thing. Since he's been waking up at the crack of dawn this week, I've been putting in a video for him to watch while I catch my bearings. His most frequent request is for "E-I-E-I-O," otherwise known as the farm animals Baby Einstein DVD. He still loves anything farm. We spent last Saturday afternoon at the grocery store while he serenaded all of the other patrons with "Old MacDonald" and "Twinkle, Twinkle" We got a lot of smiles and a few dark looks :-)