The boys meet their cousin

How is this for timing, the weekend before Lydia is born Elliot came down with hand, foot and mouth. Pretty much delaying and making it impossible to meet his new niece until he had time to recover. They were so excited and we kept seeing Uncle Glenn, but they couldn't see Lydia. Elliot would blurt things out randomly like "I love my baby cousin" or "I don't like babies, but I love my baby cousin" and mention that he wanted his rash to go away so he could see her. Erik predictably wasn't very interested, but Elliot was obsessed. He really wanted to meet his first cousin.

So last Sunday between activities we stopped by for a very quick visit. On the way there each boy decided they wanted to sign Lydia a song. Elliot sang "Lullabye" and Erik chose "Twinkle, Twinkle." Erik pretty much got bored with Lydia and moved on to find his toys or play outside and Elliot stayed obsessed watching her almost every single second. Very interesting that I have two boys with two very different reactions. I think Elliot is realizing he isn't the youngest anymore and has made several comments about that.

"Elliot Two Years Old"

I am a broken record because I have mentioned this book several times already, but its a very exciting time when a new book arrives. My kids both independently jumped up and down for joy when they found out it came in the mail and keep taking it out of the book shelf to look at it. Although this book is all about Elliot, it means so much more than, that its about memories. By spending so much effort to make these books I am keeping their childhood memories strong. Also to be honest it is worth it because I take so many pictures and high quality pictures, what else am I going to do with them? They get lost in a blog, a photo album isn't that personal or good for display, so these books are a perfect compromise. In my mind they are worth every single second I spend on them and can't wait to create more. I have already started on Erik's 4 year old book.

Here are the kids reading the book.

I love that Elliot has a smile when looking at a picture and a memory.

If you are curious what the final result looked like and can't come visit my house to see it on the nice professional paper printed out in gorgeous book format, here is a good alternative. I swear, the book version is so much better though so come over and check it out!!

Elliot Ivar by Heather Gotlieb Johnson | Make Your Own Book

Erik graduates from mommy & me school

Today was a special, but bittersweet day for me and Erik. For almost 4 years now, with the exception of a few months we took off when I was pregnant with Elliot, we have been going to mommy & me school together. The act of spending special one-on-one time with Erik at school has meant so much to me and is not something I can ever replace or get back again. I paid for sitters, asked Carl to stay home from work, brought Elliot with me, all so I could have this special time with Erik because it meant a lot to me to be able to do these classes with him. He was so young when Elliot was born I really feel like we missed out on a lot of special time together. I thought Elliot would be the one who missed out on that time, but since Erik is in preschool so much Elliot and I get a lot of time together, its really Erik who missed out on this one-on-one time with me.

Well today its over, after 4 years of having these moments once a week our class graduated from mommy & me school. My hormones are on overdrive these days so I pretty much lost it the entire time the kids were graduating. As each mom stood up and said their speech about their child I cried in the background with them so when it came time for me to talk to Erik I was a total mess. And in typical Heather style I was unprepared and hadn't written anything down. I have video but think due to the embarrassing nature of me not being able to speak I will refrain from watching it for a long time.

So its sad to say good-bye. Erik has been in class with most of these kids since he was a baby and I can't believe he is old enough to no longer be in the program. How did I get to have an almost 5 year old? I love that he had this opportunity to grow with the same group of kids, to know so many of them in preschool independent of me and then get a chance to see him with them out of preschool. This was also a place for him to choose who were his friends independent of me. He choose the children who he preferred to play with, and it wasn't because I knew the mom and was friends with her. He has surprised me with some of his choices, but I love that he had this opportunity to develop social skills in such a safe environment.

Sadly none of the children will be heading to kindergarten in the same school as us. As a matter of fact so many kids are taking so many different path. Some are starting kindergarten like Erik, some are staying in our preschool and some are taking a bonus year and some are doing nothing. It really shows you how the individual needs of each child and parent are so very different.

So sadly I say good-bye to Erik and me time, but still have several more years to finish the program with Elliot. Its just so bittersweet when its your first and go through something the very first time.

Here are some pictures from today. All the children coming into the classroom for the graduation ceremony.

Talking about how much I love Erik and our special time together. (I had a friend take the pictures and put my camera on automatic setting. I was pretty disappointed with the results of what the camera choose. I'll have to remember that for the future and program it myself.)

Here is Erik with two of his special friends. Ben and Erik are in the same preschool class so they have bonded and become good friends through that. I love that I knew Ben's mom but we weren't very close and Erik and Ben just became good friends on their own. Its very special to see that happen naturally. In the background in the pink is another preschool friend Autry and Erik and Autry have a special "wrestling" relationship every time after class and have become good friends.

Last but not least I make a book for our class every year with pictures that the parents provide and honestly I bring in my camera a couple days and shoot a lot of the pictures myself so the parents can have good quality images of their children in the book. So here is a book all about our year. It was fun and I am really going to miss going to this program with Erik.

Tuesday 4s - Softcover by Heather Gotlieb Johnson | Make Your Own Book

Gymnastics and Soccer

I have sworn I am not going to be one of those moms who keeps my kids so busy with activities they can't play at home imaginatively and develop those important critical thinking skills. So most afternoons we don't go anywhere and just enjoy our time to ourselves. BUT on Saturday morning I have two things scheduled back to back and I don't like it. First the boys do gymnastics and next soccer. It was a complete accident why this happened.

Ever since Erik did soccer last spring I couldn't wait to get Elliot in. He was ready to play when he was two, but was just too young. Finally he turned three last month and was ready. The only time the class was offered was right after gymnastics. By accident I realized Erik should be doing this class with Elliot since everyone in the class was really Erik's age. We tried to do it with Erik last fall, but he lost interest in soccer and we didn't sign him up. With Elliot in his class and as luck would have it, his friend Eli from preschool, Erik is now much more into it than last time. He is actually competitive and has a great time with it. I have thought of switching gymnastics several times, but both Erik and Elliot LOVE their teachers and I like them taking their classes at the same time. I just can't bear to switch them so for now we do gymnastics and soccer Saturday morning and soon we'll whittle it down to one or no activities for that day.

At our gymnastics class there are about 4 classes going on at the same time and they switch an activity every 15 minutes. Erik is in Level 1 and Elliot is in a progressive class for 3 year olds that gets them ready for Level 1. I basically watch them enjoy themselves for 45 minutes.

Here is Erik in his class. First they warm up. This first picture is amazing because you can see how much he admires his teacher and likes him. This is why I can't take him out and find another class, just loves working with Shawn too much and it shows in all his language.

 

Today Erik became very aware of me taking pictures and started showing off by proving how fast and strong he was. He was so excited about them so his pictures are slanted towards that. Here are his first moments without him knowing. Probably my favorite moment of the day. He worked for about 3 minutes to get both feet on the bars, it wasn't easy for him. He never gave up until he accomplished it. Such a great trait. Also I had no idea he could flip on these bars already. How he changes in just the few shorts weeks since I had been there.

The moment Erik realized I was taking pictures.

 

He got yelled at for acting like a super hero the second time.

   

They are learning to do cartwheels.

 

 

Elliot is equally in love with his gymnastics teacher and repeatedly asked if she could come to his birthday party.

He isn't good at hanging on yet, but one of these days he will be. He does have amazing balance.

The reason he is in the progressive class, he has a hard time listening and following directions. Hoping that changes once he starts preschool.

 

He loves running out of the pit after swinging on the rope and giving me a big hug. He is proud of himself everytime he does it now.

 

We have about 30 minutes before we start soccer and its a 5 minute drive so we have a snack, rest in the car and go to activity number two. During this time both Erik and Elliot are in the class together. Its definitely an age group geared more towards Erik's age. Its interesting watching Elliot. He is obviously younger and not grasping it as well as the other kids. He does participate and engages constantly, but he needs more practice to learn the rules and many concepts are above his head. It sweet watching Erik and Elliot play together and looking out for each other while soccer is happening.

 

I love watching these little kids run for nap reasons and because it is really adorable.

Although at times I did feel a bit schizophrenic not sure who to photograph and when. Both Erik and Elliot are both adorable I couldn't figure out who to get in what moment. I think Elliot won out today because there is nothing cuter than a 3 year old trying to hang with 4 year olds and 5 year olds doing soccer.

 

 

I got caught up in a conversation about kindergarten and preschools with two moms there so this was the last moment I caught before my attention was elsewhere. Although the conversation was worth it because it was so nice talking these two ladies today. Without me even voicing it, these moms were worried about the same critical thinking, sitting still, what is going to happen in academic kindergarten that I am worried about. It was so refreshing to have this conversation with like minded friends.

Elliot needed a lot of help with this game. He just didn't understand that he needed to guard his goal and just kept kicking soccer balls. A little boy was trying to help, but Elliot was just going with the flow and not paying attention. I laughed at the adorable nature of the problem.

Erik and Elliot playing goalie and scorer. Pretty adorable and I was in heaven.

 

 

So definitely an active morning for us on Saturdays but I take solace in knowing that throughout the weeks I schedule lots of downtime the boys really need. Also a side note about today's pictures. The quantity was too large and I wanted to write this blog quickly so I went for quantity over quality in my editing today. You can more than tell. Mostly I wanted these pictures today so I can use them for Erik and Elliot's book next year.