Jellyfish, Moving Up

We’re back from another busy weekend. I have a feeling that we are only at the beginning of busy weekends for this fall. I got to watch Tyler for the first time at his swimming lessons on Saturday morning. He did such a great job and is probably the most water-adapted in his class (of 4 kids). He listened to the instructor really well and followed directions well, too. Tyler seems so natural in the water! While I was watching his lessons, Mike took Mason in the shallow end of the pool where Mason could stand. They were having a good time, too. Mason LOVES the water, and I’m glad we have this pool membership through VCU so we can take the boys every week even in the fall and winter so they get more and more comfortable/confident in the water.

After the pool, Mike picked up his books for his fall classes, and then we all headed out to Yorktown Beach. What a lovely place! Everyone there was really nice and the town is so cute and quaint. Even though the water was full of jellyfish, we spent a good 4 hours at the beach building sand “castles” (more like sand piles), digging holes, watching boats and jet skis, and tossing jellyfish into the rocks. After we packed up our stuff and dropped everything off at the car, we walked back to a Ben and Jerry’s restaurant along the main strip. The four of us sat outside eating ice cream and mooching off of Mike’s Strawberry Lemonade Smoothie and were able to catch a bride and her bridal party on their way to her wedding!

The boys fell asleep in the car on the way back, and they miraculously both stayed asleep as we transferred them into their beds an hour and a half later. They both slept through the night and didn’t wake up until about 7am or so on Sunday.

I forced the boys to take baths on Sunday morning, before church, and we all went to the early service. Mason didn’t cry at all when I left him in the daycare! Another miracle! :)

On Monday, we found out that Tyler is moving up to the Pre-K class next week!! I’m a little surprised, actually, because he’s only been in his current classroom for about 3 months. The Pre-K classes go on field trips and work more on learning things that will get the kids ready for Kindergarten (obviously). I’m excited for him, because I think he will finally feel challenged. He always seems to be ahead of what they are teaching at his preschool. I’m really hoping that this class will get him more excited about reading, which he does try to do at home, but he doesn’t usually have the patience to sit for a long time to figure words out. He just wants to hear the story already!

Mason is 20 months old!

Dear Mason,

Today you are 20 months and 5 days old! You are definitely a toddler now, and growing more and more into a little boy each day.

We recently moved you into a toddler bed, and there was almost no transition time! You loved it right away, and are able to sleep in it all night. I think you like the independence of being able to get in and out by yourself, and you might have remembered it from when Tyler had it in his room…so it wasn’t completely new and unfamiliar.
You’ve learned so much in just the past month, and lots of things have changed. You’re not clingy when I leave you with your Aunt Michelle or at the church daycare anymore. In fact, the last time I left you with Aunt Michelle, you smiled and waved goodbye to me!

You can jump up and down with two feet and keep your balance (i.e., not fall over when you land), and you can kick a ball with your right foot very well! You can walk up and down stairs while holding on to a railing or someone’s hand. You can stack blocks on top of one another, and you enjoy knocking them over afterwards.

You can imitate complicated physical moves that you see someone demonstrating. Daddy was teaching Tyler how to underhand pass a volleyball, and you held your arms out just like Tyler and Daddy, and you were able to pass a ball like that! A few days ago, Mommy was teaching Tyler some yoga poses, and you copied Downward Dog, Cobra, and Warrior 1! And you were able to touch your toes while standing up.

You use so many words now, and you are beginning to speak in 2-word sentences. Yesterday, we pulled into the driveway and you saw Daddy’s car, so you told me, “Daddy home.” This morning, as we pulled into your daycare’s neighborhood, you said, “All done car,” I think mainly because you wanted to get out of the car, not because you knew where we were. You say “bye-bye” to things as we drive past them every morning (“Bye-bye twee,” “bye-bye caah,” “bye-bye owse,” for tree, car and house). You know many of your body parts (head, ears, hair, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, neck, arms, hands, fingers, elbow, legs, feet, toes, belly) and can point to them on yourself and on other people when asked.

You can recognize some letters (A, B, C, K, O, P) already, and you can count to 10 with some help. You say the last word in each line of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” and you can sing “Happy birthday to you.” You LOVE the Little Einsteins, in fact you like to start your day by watching a show, which you ask for by saying, “Eintein?” to either Daddy or me. Luckily, Tyler has a newfound interest in the Little Einsteins, too, so you both watch the shows together.

It has been a crazy, wonderful month! Summer is coming to an end, and I am looking forward to watching you and Tyler experience all that comes with the fall season!

Love you so much!
Mommy