Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

4.5 Years with Palmer

Our sweet boy is 4.5 years old.  This morning we completely surprised him with his half birthday milestone.  Palmer was excited to come down to an unexpected birthday treat, despite a little bit of an overnight tummy ache. :(

Birthday photo with Mr. Elephant:

Stats: 
Height: 42.5 inches
Weight: 45 lb
Teeth: All the baby teeth are in and despite regular checking on Palmer's part, no teeth seem to be loose at this moment!

I've seen such a huge leap of growth in Palmer over the last month.  Palmer started a new school for Pre-K and it has been such a beautiful fit.

He goes four days a week and I am blown away by the development we've seen.  I really feel like this year has been different than the preschool years and it's truly "PRE-KINDERGARTEN" as opposed to preschool.  Palmer has been coming home talking about "rhyming" and "patterns" and "subtraction".

And let's be honest- Palmer's drawing skills have never been totally amazing.  His lack of interest generated scribbles on a paper that he would describe as "a roller coaster".  Not this year.  There is a Handwriting Without Tears teacher who is inspiring Palmer to draw (and also write) much more detailed than I have ever seen.

Palmer said this drawing was "my dad and a space ship".  I'm not so sure that's what I see, but you can be the judge...

(Palmer also said the drawing was of his favorite things.  I asked about his mom and got a polite, "No, thank you!"  Ummmm....)

Speaking of favorite things, Palmer is into pirates, space, army stuff, camo and sporty-type clothing, and riding his bike.

He also loves to play with legos and most creations are some type of rocket or a boat or an airplane.

There still isn't a lick of fear in this kid and he's already declared that when it's winter time, Palmer plans to ski "the whole ski mountain" with Rick and me.  (I'm planning on a few more lessons for him, in case anyone is wondering!)

In the summer, you can find Palmer loving life on a tube behind the boat or enjoying rides on the jet ski or practicing flips off of the diving board or bike riding up and down the street.

Yes, you see the line and then you see Palmer trying to cross the line.  He pushes limits (both good and bad) and we wouldn't know him any other way.

I'm always amazed that this energetic personality also has such a contrasting sweet side.  He's almost always extremely gentle with his sister and regularly professes his love for Grace.

He is very sweet to me and I enjoy watching him try to work out problems with other friends when there is conflict.  ("Matthew, I was frustrated when you walked away and that didn't make me feel happy.  Can you please not do that again?" etc)

Imaginary friends, Johnson and YoYo, are still regular parts of our life and usually mimic a parallel existence: they ride their own shuttle next to our car, go to Palmer's school (they are in a different class), and travel with us when we leave town.

Palmer, congrats on turning 4.5.  I know you are itching to turn 5 so you can be "as big as (your cousin) Elle".  I have bad news.  When you turn 5, she will already be 6.  Stay little, stop growing, and don't be in such a hurry to catch up.  We love you just the way you are.

And don't ever let your voice get lower than this:

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Wordless Thursday

-Bethany

Look Who's Talking, Too

In our family, we often group certain members in the family as "the people in the family who can talk" aka Rick, Palmer, and me versus Grace.  Well, those days are about to be over because Miss Grace is really exploding in her vocabulary.

Between babbling a lot of different sounds in a somewhat monologue fashion and making deliberate words, Grace is becoming quite chatty.

See this video that we sent to Aunt Samantha the other day:

One of Grace's first words?

"Agua."

Grace has had a wonderful nanny, Damaris, take care of her a few mornings a week since Grace was itty bitty.  Damaris and another wonderful sitter we often use only speak to Grace in Spanish.  It looks like the dual-language immersion is working and we are thrilled to see Spanish come up so early in Grace's life.  (Now, if Grace's daddy could learn a few words in Spanish...)

Grace is so fun and really developing a silly personality much like her entertainer-loving brother.

 

(Lord, help me.)

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Back To School

Hallelujah! The kids are back in school! (Oops.  Did I just say that??)

We had such a fun summer, but are happy to get back into a routine for the fall.

Palmer has moved to a new school that is closer to our neighborhood in hopes of meeting new friends who will join him next year in his Kindergarten(?!) class.  Palmer will do PreK four days a week this year.

Grace will join along at the same school for one day a week.

Proud brother watching his sister walk in...

I'm excited for Grace to start getting some structured play as she develops this fall. Grace and I are also going to start attending a weekly music class for the first time.  (Don't tell her I took Palmer to all of this kind of stuff at a MUCH younger age!  Yay for the second child.)

Happy fall, everyone!  Now, if the temps could drop that would be nice...

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany