End of the school year

The past few times I've posted about Tobias, I feel compelled to share a little about Miss Lydie Lew too. Here are some snapshots from her life...

Here are some photos from the end-of-the-year party for Mother's Day Out.
Lydia and her friend, Owen. They have been buds since their beginnings and have gone to school together for the past 2 years. They see each other multiple times a week and almost act like brother & sister. (Like "arguing" over the silliest things, "That's MY mommy." "No, that's MY mommy.")
Lydia wasn't quite sure what to do on the stage at first...

But she warmed up quickly.



Doing the train


I was amazed at how well she followed instructions. It was so encouraging for me to see her in that type of environment - listening AND having fun!

Being "crocodiles"


I think school this year has really facilitated Lydia's interest in "crafts". Almost every day we do a coloring/cutting/gluing activity. Currently we're going through the letters making people out of them (pasting eyes, nose, mouth, hair, etc.) She's finally interested in it and although her attention span is brief, it's MUCH improved. Her cutting skills are amazing (I wish I could say the same for her gross motor skills - the girl can't catch a ball for anything!). This was taken as she was stickering a crown at her cousin Gabby's 3rd birthday party.

I told them to roar like a lion. :)

Catching fish at the party.

Such a little girl. Legs crossed, fixing her hair. Ugh, she cracks me up sometimes!

She "adopted" this baby for the day while at Gabby's house. She would hold it, rock it, and put it for a nap.

And of course, she jumps at any chance she can to "hold" her baby cousin Rachel, who she ADORES!



We took a mini-Memorial Day hike to the waterfall at Longpine Resivoir.
She couldn't wait to get to the waterfall!

And yes, daddy carried them like this most of the way. Whew!

Squinting!

My girl.

More Memorial Day - Picnic with her pals.
BUBBLES!



This is classic Lydia. She took off her pants and decided the bucket was an appropriate place to "take a bath." She knows she's being a silly goose, just look at that smile! Love you, Lydie!

Tobias is 10 months old!

A whole new world…
During this month a whole new world has opened for Tobias. After 4 months of being satisfied sitting and flapping like a beached whale when on his tummy, he FINALLY put it together and is crawling! A couple days after he really started using crawling for mobility, he pulled up to standing for the first time. He hasn’t truly got the hang of that yet, but boy, does he want to stand! He’s getting to his knees on practically anything – from bookshelves to chairs to the changing table…
Determined to get those bubbles

And getting into everything from the vacuum...

To the boxes of dining room flooring...


Tobias LOVES to be outside. He is simply mesmerized by the sights and sounds of God's great earth. Here he's hiking with daddy. He couldn't keep his eyes off of the waterfall.



He has become quite fond of Peek-a-Boo books. They have textures on the animal pictures and he uses his left hand to turn the pages of the book and his right hand to open the page-sized flaps to reveal the “hiding” animal. He’ll crawl after them if he sees them on the shelf or lying on the floor. If we’re reading in his room on the glider, as soon as the book closes, he puts his thumb in his mouth – knows a nap is next.

Toby’s communication has also exploded. He does baby sign “more”, “so big”, claps,




and waves bye-bye (sometimes ;). He also has given Guinness a “name”. When he sees him, he’ll reach out his hand toward him and say, “Dah” (for dog). He calls Mark “Da,Dee” or just “Daee” but we’re still working on putting “Mama” with the person, Mommy. ;)



He now has 2 bottom teeth and the beginnings of a top one. He really isn’t into trying table foods yet. We attempt, but he’d rather us feed him purées from a spoon (totally opposite of our Lydia). He still adores eating.

Tobias is also “into” putting “in”. He loves putting blocks into cans or balls into baskets. It’s almost as if he wants to help clean up. I definitely want to encourage this behavior.
Putting spongy balls in the bucket of water at Mimi’s house on Memorial Day.



Here he is “playing” with his cousin, Ally (she’s 3 weeks younger)




and his friend Cooper (he’s 1 week younger).


Toby certainly has his "moments" particularly since he's had a chronic sinus infection & cough. I finally filled the antibiotic prescription so hopefully this will knock it out. Through the fussiness he continues to bring us JOY! We are so thankful for this healthy, happy boy.

Lydie Lew's world

I feel like I’m neglecting coverage on my dear Lydia on the blog so here goes!

The many faces of Lydia



She does actually SMILE too!)


Life with Lydia is certainly an adventure. As of late she has taken to having what I call “rages” – amplified temper tantrums. She kicks, screams, and otherwise loses all control including her bladder which makes her even MORE upset (just when you thought it wasn’t possible!) We are still working on how to deal with these outbursts: isolation, calm voices, distraction, time… No one thing works every time. Go figure. Of course, giving her what WOULD stop the tantrum, what she wants, is not an option. She also has become fiercly independent. Her most frequently used phrase is, “NO, I do it!” I suppose this is the “terrible two’s.”

As her vocabulary expands so does the intricacy of her pretend world. She will spend a good portion of an hour setting up her doll houses. Each person and item has a specific place (but each time it’s different so there is no ‘helping’ her!) And she’s using the props in different ways. For example, she put all the people in the Little People Noah’s Ark (a boat) and they sailed to the Little People farm where they had a picnic in the barn. She has a very difficult time terminating this activity. If you ask her to do something else (like come to dinner) she’ll reply, “I just have to finish this.”

Here she’s putting on a puppet show for her dolls.


She also takes them outside. They all pile in the shopping cart. She sets up pillows for them to lean against, and “teaches” them. They sing and talk and clap their hands.


She certainly has figured out how to be a “rock star”. Note she has created an audience for herself.


And that IN the toy chest is just as good a place as any to read.


Lydia loves to be outside. This day we made a picnic by the creek at Wilson and then visited the horses. She could have spent all day there and has already outlined detailed plans for another picnic in the future. (We will go in the car. We will eat by the water. Uncle John and Aunt Leslie and Rachel will be there...)



Last week, Lydia was sitting at the table dining with the family. She turned to daddy, home on his lunch break, and said, “Daddy, take your clothes off.” He said, “excuse me?!!” She explained, “Take your work clothes off.” She figured if he wasn’t all dressed up, he wouldn’t have to return to work and he could play with her. Cute.

This morning on the way to school, Lydia prayed the whole way. Here’s how it went, “Thank you, God, that mommy is a good eater. Thank you. Thank you, God, that you make her salad. Thank you, God for Toby. Thank you God, for Guinness. Thank you that you made Lydia. God made me! Thank you, that you made me. Thank you. Thank you that you made cars. Thank you, God for the sun. Thank you. God made everything, Mommy.”


I had to include this video. Mark and I would read “the names” of the newborns out of the newspaper for fun. Lydia is doing the same thing, “Ready for the names, mommy?” If you can’t tell, at points she is saying the names of her dolls which include, “Blooper, Tada (both of the Cabbage Patch dolls are named Tada), Sally, Sleeky, Moses, Ariel, Tinker Bell (Tinker for short)”. I love how she describes us as “teacher mommy & teacher daddy” and “Toby baby”. She also declares that Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader is the Bible which she throws on the floor and then starts naming everything that “God made.” At the end she’s asking me to get her Little People Animals so she can line them up. These are the moments to cherish.


We love you, Lydie Boogs!