First day back to school and some updates

Well, this week marked Noah's first day back to school! He had a fabulous time! We posed for a family picture, and then headed off to school! He already knew his teacher from last year, and was very excited to start back. He will have one friend in his class, one boy who is known as a bit of a troublemaker, and one other boy. The rest are girls, some of whom he knows, and one of whom is, I believe, his first CRUSH (or maybe just a good friend? Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions)! This summer, he came back from camp one day very excited to say he had a new friend, whose name was Tally. After a day or so, she started playing with the other girls, and he was sad that she didn't play with him anymore.

We first went into the classroom to figure out where his cubby was, where Noah sat down to show the teacher his new Thomas backpack, about which he was quite excited. She took us to the cubbies, and he put his stuff away. Then, I walked him back into the classroom, and he happily went to play with some toys. Gone are the days of sadness upon my leaving! It's hard to believe the same little boy who would cling to me like glue gladly goes to play with the toys without a second thought! It's amazing the difference a few years will make. :)

The report after he got back was that he had had a great time, was very happy with all of his teachers, and only said good things about being back at his wonderful school. The next day, I brought Simon with us to drop him off, and he had a great time going down the slide in the back. I'm sure he'll love it once he starts going; it will be a very familiar place to him!

Noah spent the summer going to camp from 9-1 each day, and spending the rest of the day with our wonderful babysitter. Then, the whole month of August was off. However, it turned out to be a huge learning opportunity for Noah! One of the benefits of having an overqualified caregiver who is almost done with her MA in early childhood education and certified in Montessori education is that she has no lack of ideas for how to keep the kids occupied!

I spent many days working from home, and very rarely heard crazy screaming or fighting coming from the kids (something I am accustomed to hearing when I'm the one in charge!). Jill kept them both busy, learning, and working together most of the time. She brought her Montessori sand letters, and taught Noah to spell some simple words. She worked with Noah on writing letters on white boards and other media. I have been very excited to see these changes! He is learning so quickly, and is gaining more and more control over his fine motor so that he is less frustrated with writing now.

Simon now knows all of his letters, and often counts by himself. When he is distracted, he usually skips number 6, number 14, and maybe one other number, but he usually gets to 20, and from there, counts, "21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29...ONE HUNDRED!" It is the cutest thing. I think he got the idea of blurting out one hundred dramatically from Noah, who has done this from time to time (skipping a bunch of numbers, of course!). When he is not distracted, he really can count to 29 without skipping any numbers (though fourteen and fifteen sound pretty much the same).

Simon is using a lot of language now. One fun phrase is, "Mama, say it!", which he'll say when he wants me to repeat what he is saying. He often catches on to things we are saying, and makes associations. Last week we went to Briar Bush, a local nature center, where we saw a turtle and a frog, along with other small animals. While we were there, we ran into my friend's children (who were with their sitter). Later that day, I was talking to Simon, and I said, "remember the animals we saw today? We saw a frog, and a turtle. Remember?" Simon then immediately said, "Mason!" (the name of our friend's older child). I was so impressed that he was really catching on to the idea of the past, and it brought up this obvious association for him, which clued me in to know that he knew exactly what I was talking about.

Of course, Noah and Simon often have a ton of fun together. Lately, they have both been pretending they are kitty cats, crawling around saying, "Meow!" around the house, and laughing hysterically. I happen to love this play, because, as it turns out, kitty cats don't hit each other or steal toys from each other, which makes for very harmonious play! And, when I remind the kitties that "kitty cats don't whine," the tone of the meow is quickly revised! It is so cute to watch them play with one another and build upon their sibling love.

Noah is spending less time playing with trains now, and is more interested in games and interactive activities. Simon loves playing with puzzles, often pulling them off the shelf for us to do together.

Simon pee trained at around 22 months. He still has accidents from time to time, and needs our help to get there when he needs to go, but he stays dry as long as we remember. Of course, he has only pooped in the potty for a long, long time! Of course, there was the trip to my boss' lake house where he dropped a brown one on the floor unbeknownst to me until the other house guests cleaned it up, but that was the one (very embarrassing) exception!

Life is good! These ages are a really great combination! Noah is beyond the defiant stage and follows most instructions, and Simon has not hit that stage yet!