Summer Update

Obviously I've been completely unmotivated to blog lately! I make no excuses for myself, just that if I don't feel like it, I'm not gonna do it :) Hope you don't mind...

Our lives have been packed full of activities this summer, including:

- We took a quick trip to Oregon early in the summer to visit Spud's extended family before I was too far along in the pregnancy to travel that far.

- We had our own little Pirate Week! We kicked it off by attending a pirate festival in my hometown - and got another use out of PBug's Halloween costume, always good! Then PBug attended a week long preschool camp that had a pirate theme. (She had a blast and I learned #1, it is clear that PBug has NO problem saying goodbye to us when we drop her off so we shouldn't have a problem in fall, and #2, kids get REALLY dirty at preschool and I need to invest in some cheap school clothes.) We topped off the week with a pirate birthday party for PBug's fourth birthday. She is still thanking me for the "best four year old birthday party ever."

- Spud overhauled the side yard to prepare for the play set that we got PBug for her birthday. Needless to say, she loves it and wants to play on it every day! Yay!



- PBug has been attending private swim lessons that focus on survival floating. She's completed three weeks and has at least one more week left. We didn't see a whole lot of progress for the first two weeks, but last week it seemed to click and I think she's well on her way to water safety!

- To say PBug has been enjoying her weekly gymnastics classes would be an understatement! We have definitely found a niche for her!

- We've been keeping a very modest garden this summer and have been enjoying tomatoes, bell peppers, and zucchini. I didn't plant too much this year because with a baby on the way I didn't want to be overwhelmed.

- We've started getting ready for baby... Spud painted the baby's room and then PBug and I surprised him and put the crib together while he was gone. We decided to go with a star theme for the baby's room...



...because a friend gave us her son's old crib bedding that has stars on the quilt. I love stars (they're all over my house) and my mother-in-law made it her project to find stars for his wall which Spud painted to match. My next project is making a mobile for his crib with the tiny little tin stars that I have left over from the wall.

As for our Montessori activities, we have been very casual about them. We pull them out when we're in the mood and work as much or a little as we feel like. Right now PBug seems more interested in counting and numbers so I've been adding more math activities to the shelf. She has mastered the Number Rods, Spindles, and Numbers & Counters activities. We have always talked about adding casually in our day-to-day routine, but I think my next step will be to add some formal adding activities to her shelf.

PBug used to count correctly, but lately I've noticed she's started counting like this: "seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, ten-teen, eleven-teen..." At first I thought it was so strange because she's been counting for a really long time the correct way. But then I thought maybe she's just starting to pick up on the pattern that numbers make and she's trying to make sense of it all in her head... Regardless of why she's doing that, today I pulled out the Hundred Board and introduced it to her. She was totally focused! Funny how something that seems like such a mind-numbingly boring activity to me could hold her attention for a good, long while :)

I must confess that PBug has been watching more tv lately than she would normally be allowed. The kid just gets up way too early for a pregnant mom and a dad on summer vacation who loves his sleep! The reason I bring it up though is because we've recently discovered the cartoon Toot & Puddle. I couldn't tell you too much about it since I'm dozing while she watches, but there's one distinct reason I love it: in every episode, one of the main characters travels somewhere and visits a foreign place. Since world travel is something that Spud and I are very interested in and we plan on traveling extensively with our children when we have two incomes again someday, I'm digging this show. It's a cool way for lazy parents like us to introduce kids to new places. Then we can find them on the maps that we have lining our hallways and look them up in books.

Speaking of books, here's a cool one that is one of PBugs favorites right now that's so great I have to mention it: How To Make An Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman. Perfect for three and four year olds and totally worth checking out!

The behavior chart we were using has been abandoned for a few weeks now. It seems that it served it's purpose and we no longer need it... we moved on from it seamlessly. I suspect that the behavior improvement I've seen in PBug can be attributed in part to the chart, and in part to the increased maturity that just comes with being four. I LOVE FOUR!!!!!! I've put three behind me and I'm never looking back! Suddenly PBug seems to have internalized her responsibilities, she doesn't argue with me constantly, and she has much more control of her emotions. Suddenly I have this sweet, kind, mature, responsible KID. Don't get me wrong, we still have plenty of moments, but I feel like we've reached the promised land! Four must be the reward for allowing your child to survive three.

We still have three weeks until our due date and are hoping to make the most of the summer vacation we have left. I'm trying to motivate myself to do a lot of things around here, so blogging may not be my first priority, but I'll certainly try :)