Preschool Starts Again

Today was Brad's 1st day of his 2nd year of preschool. He's in the same class as last year, with the same teachers (his class has 23 students and 4 teachers and Ms. Emi, in the photo, is the "head teacher").

The class is 3 and 4 year olds combined, with the theory that the younger kids learn from the older kids, and the older kids learn by teaching the younger ones. Brad enjoys going to preschool and it's cute to see him greeting all his friends in the parking lot.

Back in Berkeley

We went to the Bay Area this weekend to meet our friends from Portland who were visiting Berkeley. We ate hot dogs (the kids LOVE hot dogs and they even had a veggie dog for me... only in Berkeley!) and then went to a local playground.

4 Going On 14

Brad got a new Spiderman shirt for his birthday and he wants to wear it everyday now. He is becoming more and more grown-up (really like a teenager!) saying things like, "Aw, man!" and "Awesome!" I got him a new Superhero book from the library and he was looking at it in the car. When he finished, he said, "Man, that was an awesome story!"

He no longer wants to hold my hand in the parking lot. The other day we got out of the car, and I told him to hold my hand because there were cars. He replied, "Don't worry about it." When I said that I didn't want him to get hit by a car, he said, "You need to relax!"

Monkeys

Tannis loves to jump on the bed while shouting "2 little monkeys jumping on bed... 1 fell off... bumped head!!!"

Being a Girl

Tannis is looking more and more like a little girl (instead of a baby) every day. She loves playing dress-up, taking care of her dolls, and pretending to go shopping... we don't encourage this kind of girlish behavior so it must be in her genes!

Growing Up Fast

Brad now likes to call us "Mom" and "Dad" instead of "Mommy" and "Daddy." I thought this wasn't supposed to happen for years...

Superman Sleeps

Brad has new Superman pajamas (complete with cape) which he loves. In fact, he insists on wearing them to bed EVERY night. He told us that when The Sandman visits him at night "to put sand in my eyes," he thinks he's visiting a real superhero.

Tannis the Daredevil

Tannis loves to climb and is pretty fearless... in fact, more fearless than Brad. She's always scaling up playground structures and doing things that she looks too little to be doing. Here she's hanging out on a counter (which is about 4 feet above the ground) just relaxing...

Inside a Bubble

Today we had more than 50 people (!) at our house for a bubble party. This was a MOMS Club event where a "bubble man" put on a show for the kids, including putting each of them inside their own bubble! He was a big hit, of course, and after the kids played with big bubble wands in several wading pools in our backyard. They then made their own ice cream sundaes at an "ice cream sundae building station"... the M&Ms and sprinkles were just as popular as the bubbles!

Tannis Can Count!

Tannis counted to 4 all by herself today! She was stacking up books, and Colin "caught" her counting them as she put them in a pile, saying "One, Two, Three, Four..." Who knew?!

Getting Dressed

Brad now likes to dress himself in the morning. When he wakes up in the morning, he comes into our bedroom, and he suprised me about a week ago, appearing fully dressed in his "morning clothes." Now every morning, he gets dressed by himself.... and so I lay out his clothes for him the night before (otherwise he'll decide on his own what to wear). If he had his way, he's wear his Spiderman shirt every day, but if I convince him it's dirty, he'll settle for "pocket shorts" (these are shorts with "super many pockets") and a shirt with a pocket as well. Pockets are very important... lots of places to put things!

Following Brad's lead, Tannis now wants to dress herself as well. This morning she took off her pajamas and diaper herself and came out of Brad's room wearing a pair of his underwear. She's VERY picky about what she wears everyday and insists on picking out her own outfit (I have to hide her winter clothes... the other day she had a FIT when I wouldn't let her wear her winter ski cap outside in 100 degree weather.) If she can't dress herself... she'll often let Brad help her... not me...

A Bad Dream

Every afternoon, Tannis naps in our bed... sometimes with Colin, sometimes without. (She will ONLY nap in the "big bed"... and will wake up if we put her in her crib.) Usually when she wakes up she just climbs down, opens the door, and walks out. Today however, she woke up with a scream, flung open the door, and sprinted down the hallway. I asked her what was wrong and she said she had a bad dream about dinosours chasing her and trying to lick her. What she actually said was... "Bad Dream!" "Dinosaurs chase me!" "Two Dinosaurs!" "Big tongue!" "Lick me!" "Scary!"

Bath Time

Sometimes Brad likes taking baths... other times, he'd rather not. Tonight he spent a long time in the bathtub... I was in the room outside cleaning up. When I came in, I saw why he was so occupied... he was arranging all of his bath cars and building a road for them.

Brad's an Artist

Brad was drawing on his etch-a-sketch today and surprised me with how good his drawings were!

After he finished this second one below, he explained that it was a picture of him and his friends standing under the sun and that he had made up a song to go along with the picture, singing, "Oh let the Sun, Sun, Sun shine down on me..."

3 Important Words

Tannis started putting 3 words together for the first time today. Of course, her first 3 words in a row were, "Don't like that!" (referring to something we had put on her plate!) I think she's been wanting to say that for some time... this picture was taken several months ago, after I put a piece of (OH NOOOO!) salami on her plate...

Always a Superhero

When people asked what Brad wanted for his birthday, we told them, "Anything to do with Superheros!" He got it. Here's one of his presents... a Batman costume (and he's wearing his favorite shirt under it... a Spiderman shirt... I guess you can never be too many Superheros!) He likes to wear his Batman and Superhero masks in the car... that way when we stop at red lights, people can look over and see that a Superhero is in the car!

Tannis likes dressing up and pretending to be a princess. I'm sure if she could talk better, she would tell us that she actually IS a princess!