Goodbye summer!

Gerritt, Anna & Kate making the most of the small pool in the back yard


Gerritt sharing his stuffed animals with the girls


Having fun at the swing

As usual, summer went by so quickly. It is hard to believe that fall weather is upon us, but is impossible to deny the air chill in early mornings & earlier sunsets. We've finally painted our office (both my Mom & I), finished the window & floor trim (my husband), & painted the outside of the house recently (no more orange). I have already accomplished one of my garden goals for this fall - I planted hundreds of tulip, daffodil, grape hyacinth, & hyacinth bulbs! I left a beautiful garden behind when we moved from our Mountlake Terrace house, so I've been meaning to plant spring flowers for almost 2 years now. Gerritt has even helped me with digging & putting the bulbs in the ground.
Sophia is walking, walking, walking! She loves to be independent & get around on her own. She'll check out every room in the house: bedrooms, bathrooms, living room, & even garage. It's easy to tell which room she visited, since its floor is usually littered with things she found interesting. I just had to repair my 1st set of ripped books recently thanks to her (Gerritt never found book ripping that exciting). Sophia is still always hungry & eats about anything you put in her mouth (pizza, banana, soup, yogurt, toast, tomatoes, etc., no matter the sequence). She is starting to learn about letters (our lessons take place in the tub while bathing) & already knows letters E, O, & K. She & Gerritt love to watch Dora the Explorer series (no more Caillou, Curious George, & Word World).


Sophia loves to play with flags & even fell asleep once while holding the flags of South Korea & Russia (What a coincidence!)


The kids with their nanny Irina

Gerritt has made big strides with the potty training & has been pooping exclusively in the potty for the past week (he even takes off his pants all by himself). We taught him to do the downward dog yoga pose right after pooping to make clean up more convenient. So funny to watch! Gerritt is so proud of his progress that after the deed we always have to find daddy to show him the "goods," even if he is in the back yard, shower or still sleeping. :-) The pee-pees are harder to catch, but Gerritt is starting to ask when he needs to go. He has perfected his Cars movie floor puzzles & can do 4 in a row with an amazing speed (they are for children 5+ years of age, by the way). If one of the puzzle pieces falls on the floor, he can, somehow, tell which of the 4 puzzle boxes it came from! Gerritt started the Spectrum Academy last week & fell in love with it. We've decided to take him there in the mornings only (9 am - 12 pm) 3 times a week (on my work days) to socialize & learn new things. He feels secure enough not to take his comfort toy (brown stuffed dog) with him to classes even though he still sleeps with it & a multitude of other stuffed animals (2 bears, rabbit, dalmatian, & his "old doggie").


Puzzle master at work

He is one of the oldest & biggest boys in the class again, but there isn't much we can do about it. He could go to the older group if only he was born 2 months later (the curse of October/December-born children). My friend is so determined for her daughter not to start school with a class of much younger children, she's doing everything she can to get her into the gifted child program & skip the 1st grade all together. Of course, her daughter can already read & write in English & Russian & do additions & subtractions at the age of 5. I want Gerritt to enjoy his childhood & be carefree for as long as possible, so I don't allow myself get obsessed with getting him into the best school & with the best teacher as well as busying him with a multitude of extracuriccular activites. This wise article "What should a 4 year old know?" sums it up perfectly:

- Your child is not a trophy & childhood is not a race.
- Every child will eventually learn everything he needs to know at his own pace.
- The most important things your child should know are that he is loved unconditionally; to trust his instincts about people & how to keep himself safe; not be afraid to follow his interests & imagination; & to laugh & act silly.
- Being the smartest or most accomplished kid in the class doesn't have any bearing on being the happiest.
- One of the biggest gifts we can give to our children is a simple, carefree childhood.
- The children need more of their parents (not toys, after school activities, lessons, play groups, etc.) & deserve to know they are a priority & we truly love being with them.

I totally agree! However, it's soooo difficult not to be competitive. Just recently, after watching a video of a 3-year-old girl pointing to various countries on a world map with such ease (a daughter of a Facebook friend), Gerritt & I made a trip to the store to buy a large world map. 3 evenings later he is able to find Russia, South Korea, Greenland, & USA. No pressure whatsoever! :-)