Summer Romp Retrospective

I've got time, so I'm going to show you my favorite Rock n Romp pics of the summer. I let Mer use the camera at the last one, so if you notice some interesting camera angles, that's my girl.

Thanks to all the Rock n Romp organizers. You help make life good.

Wee vans.

Adam and Walt. We are men. We gather sticks.

Happy dance.

Rockers rocking.

Miles hop scotching.

Madison mugging.

Chloe crying. Poor duck.

Gus hooping.

Walt's harbingers of fall.

Insane Arsenal fans and a baby.

The Cool Kids.

Mer.

Zee Artiste

Mer is coming into her creativity these days. I don't know what the developmental stages are in relation to creativity, but for Meredith it has seemed as though the ability to create things that are truly hers has strengthened as her ability to spend time alone has developed. More and more often these days, I find her painting, or tying things together with yards of ribbon, or dancing. I guess, before kids, I would have expected this to come earlier, but now I see that it's happened at just the right time for Meredith. Funny how that works...

I will say, however, that the dancing has always been there. She's enjoyed that since she could walk. She dances to everything--and surprises us when she comes up with different moves that are appropriate to the music. One night we were listening to swing music, and she was suddenly doing something that looked strangely like the Charleston. Put on jazz and she suddenly develops these very flowing, stretching, modern moves. Put on the Bonnaroo dvd and she starts grooving as though she spent her womb-time at Grateful Dead shows (like her dad). All this aside, her first love--because of the costumes and pink that are involved--is ballet. And last week she started ballet classes.


It was one of those moments that re-initiates you into parenthood; a moment when you say "I can't believe I get to watch this happen." She loved it. She was glowing the entire time. She didn't stop grinning for the entire 45 minutes. I know that, regardless of what extra-curricular activities Mer chooses, there will be times that it will frustrate her, or me, or times when I won't want to drop her off and wait for her to finish, or times that the cost seems exorbitant. But for now, ballet classes are nothing but joy--for both of us.

A Little Extra Love

Meredith has struggled a bit with the transition to big sisterhood. Sometimes she's great. Sometimes not. I googled older sibling adjustment, and one theme that came up continually was this: your "older" child is still so very, very young. And that's easy to forget, especially when the older child, as in Mer's case, has a pretty strong vocabulary and is good at expressing her emotions. I guess part of me expects her to say, "wow, I'm feeling jealous and left out right now," rather than to express that emotion by screeching in an ear-drum damaging way, or worse, squeezing Madeline's arm until she starts to cry.


But then there are times when she sits in the back seat between her cousin Hadley and her sister and sings "these are my girls and I take care of my girls and I love my girls" with a serious, sweet voice.


So I invited Keddi and Papa to come visit this weekend. I figured a little more love in the house wouldn't hurt anyone. And the extra attention did help Mer--they knew just when to pick her up, when to shift the focus to her...and I got a little break, too.


Mer was noticably more peaceful with more hands on deck. So now I'll just try to keep this good thing going...

FYI

I know that you've seen several pics like this over the last year, so this isn't so exciting. But since I haven't posted in awhile, I just thought I'd let yall know that Mer is headed to Canada this morning.

Madeline at Four Months

Today was the big four month check up. We passed. Actually, she's exactly the size her big sister was at that point...90% for length, 50% for weight. Does anyone know what kind of indicator these are for future measurements? Hmmm...that would have probably been a good question for the pediatrician.

Madeline's tricks at four months are not numerous, but they keep her entertained most of the time. The turning over is still pretty constant, but she's gotten a little less obsessive about it, so now she usually stops doing it before it makes her cry. She started laughing this week. Of course we often ruin the moment by freaking out that she's laughing and startling her. She'll get used to that. Madeline has started school--three days a week for a few hours with Ms. Madie, who also kept Meredith. That's going well, though naps are certainly shorter than when she's home. But she'll get her routine down soon, and in the meantime, it doesn't seem to upset her.

Though I always miss the girls, I'm loving being back at work. Being able to think in increments of greater than 10 minutes is a blessing. Plus I work at an amazing place. God is good. And lest we leave Meredith out of her namesake blog, here's another edition of "You Might be a Little Sister If..." sister tucks you in for a nap (under a pillowcase, 'cause it's "just the right size") and then slides herself in there between you and froggie, who's also taking a nap. And all of you have to fit on the activity mat.

All is Well...

Nothing too earth shattering to report. My dad -- the girls' Papa -- says that Madeline smiles with her whole body. Very true. You can kind of see it here.

Mer has noticed that Madeline has started to use her hands and Meredith is determined to move that process along as quickly as possible. Madeline likes to sit in her Bumbo for a few minutes every day -- it's hard work. But sitting up isn't enough for her big sister. We must also work on our gross motor skills. Good luck, little girl...your older sister is going to be quite the taskmaster.

Learning

Mer started pre-K yesterday. A day late, 'cause when the Lareau family travels, we like to live on the edge, fly stand-by, miss flights, and stay an extra day wherever we are. Oh wait, that's right, those tickets were full price. And we were there in plenty of time. With the kids. And the car seats. And the luggage. Anyhoo.

Mer started pre-K yesterday. We had some preperatory discussions.

Mommy: So, are you ready to start working on your letters and numbers again?
Mer: We're not going to work on letters anymore.
Mommy: Oh really? Why is that?
Mer: We worked really hard on letters for a long time--until we got to Z. And Grace said that when we got to Z, we would be done with letters. I'm done with letters, Mom. I learned them already.

Colorado Again

We wanted to spend some more time with Chris' grandmother, and no one minds another trip to Colorado. Good times.

With Poo.

Aunt Erin took us to the America the Beautiful Park, right near downtown Colorado Springs. This has to be one of the most amazing fountains I've ever seen. It's enormous, turns slowly, has a wading river all around it, and the mountains are the backdrop.


For an early birthday present, Mer got a new leotard and tights (oh, and a crown). She and Marme practiced their moves together. Mer regularly uses a chair for her barre. Whatever works, right?