Soon after my parents gave me an iPad for my birthday, Sacha got an app for it called Stack the States. It's a geography game where you can answer questions about different states, like naming their capitals or states that border them. When you answer the question correctly, the state falls onto a platform, and you stack them up towards a line (like you would stack blocks). Unlike blocks, though, the states have a tendency to fall because they are not square.
When you stack enough states so they reach the line, you "earn" a state for your map of the US. Basically, the game goes over and over until you have earned all 50 states. In the beginning, Mateo would ask us the answer to every single question (not surprisingly.) Now I would say that he knows more than I (Sacha) do about US geography. He almost never asks us a question.
He is on his second time of earning all of the states. We have also gotten the game stacking countries. That game is a bit more complex, but I'm sure he will grow into it with time.
We have been so impressed with his ability to absorb the information in the Stack the States game. I (Alayna) remember being very confused about cities, states, and countries when I was a kid, but Mateo has no such confusion. It's pretty neat to have seen him start with no knowledge at all and just set out to master the information by practicing over and over and over.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
So much better
I am finally noticing some improvement in my lower back situation. The past couple of days, I've been able to be drug-free during the day and have felt about how I felt with lots of ibuprofen on board over the weekend. I still get pretty sore in the evening, after a long day with the kids, but I think I've made a lot of progress. It's a relief to be feeling better, although it is driving me nuts not to be able to exercise! Even with all the improvement, it still hurts to walk, so running is probably out of the question :) I'm glad to be on the path to recovery, though!
I went to an all-day meeting today and the kids were with a babysitter. I really don't leave the kids very often, with the exception of dropping them off for preschool, but I periodically have day-long meetings that are related to my family's business. The last time they had this babysitter, a couple of months ago, Mateo was awful with her and nearly drove her away in the middle of the day. Luckily, she hung on until I was able to come and take over, but it was bad and we weren't sure if we should have her come again or not.
As circumstances worked out, she was available for today and so we booked her. We then had lots of talks with Mateo about behaving for the babysitter, and this morning I sat down with him and we made a schedule for the day together. I'm thrilled to report that he did great, Tali did great, and Rosa did great! Sacha and I did come home to find the baby dressed in a sleeveless jumper (in the middle of December! in our somewhat cold house!), so that was a bizarre clothing choice on the part of the sitter, but other than that, things went fine.
The kids can be a handful sometimes, but I am still so glad that I am able to be home with them. We are so lucky that we are able to have one of us at home, and days like today remind me of that. I'll just be glad when I'm back at full strength and am more able to be my normal picking-them-up-and-spinning-them-around self!
I went to an all-day meeting today and the kids were with a babysitter. I really don't leave the kids very often, with the exception of dropping them off for preschool, but I periodically have day-long meetings that are related to my family's business. The last time they had this babysitter, a couple of months ago, Mateo was awful with her and nearly drove her away in the middle of the day. Luckily, she hung on until I was able to come and take over, but it was bad and we weren't sure if we should have her come again or not.
As circumstances worked out, she was available for today and so we booked her. We then had lots of talks with Mateo about behaving for the babysitter, and this morning I sat down with him and we made a schedule for the day together. I'm thrilled to report that he did great, Tali did great, and Rosa did great! Sacha and I did come home to find the baby dressed in a sleeveless jumper (in the middle of December! in our somewhat cold house!), so that was a bizarre clothing choice on the part of the sitter, but other than that, things went fine.
The kids can be a handful sometimes, but I am still so glad that I am able to be home with them. We are so lucky that we are able to have one of us at home, and days like today remind me of that. I'll just be glad when I'm back at full strength and am more able to be my normal picking-them-up-and-spinning-them-around self!
Sunday, December 4, 2011
The house: living room and kitchen
Here are some more photos of the house. I took them without a flash, so they're a bit blurry, but I think they give a good sense of what the rooms are actually like.
First, we have the living room, complete with our new Christmas tree, chopped down this morning by my lovely wife. As well, note the gorgeous curtains that Apa just put in for us.
Here's the kitchen/dining area. It's one long room and we're still trying to figure out what to do with it. Right now, we have the table at one end and a big open space between it and the kitchen. Options on the table include a better seating area for the fireplace, which is bizarrely right next to the kitchen, and possibly a big farmhouse table going lengthwise in the eating area.
First, we have the living room, complete with our new Christmas tree, chopped down this morning by my lovely wife. As well, note the gorgeous curtains that Apa just put in for us.
Here's the kitchen/dining area. It's one long room and we're still trying to figure out what to do with it. Right now, we have the table at one end and a big open space between it and the kitchen. Options on the table include a better seating area for the fireplace, which is bizarrely right next to the kitchen, and possibly a big farmhouse table going lengthwise in the eating area.
Finally, here are the kids with Apa! They were all on the big chair by the fire (love having a fireplace at last!) and I thought this came out about as well as I could hope for with three wiggly children all in one place.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Rosa's eight-month letter
Dear Rosa,
You are eight months old! You turned eight months old last weekend, when we were in the midst of our move to our brand new (to us) house. It's a bit crazy to think that this is the first house you will remember, despite spending all of your life, up until now, in our old one. So it goes. Here's what you're up to now, having started a new month in a new place!
First, you marked your new age by getting a new tooth. You had three and now you have four: two on the bottom and two on the top. You are quite balanced. The teething was pretty rough on you this time around, but you are back to your happy self now that #4 has come all the way through. We love your little toothy grin!
You are crawling like a maniac now, and still with your own trademarked version of the crawl. You have shown us what a true army crawl looks like. You drag yourself forward with your forearms while your feet sort of hippity hop along the floor behind you. You do this very much on your belly and the whole routine is quite entertaining to watch. You're just so earnest about it, and always focused on the thing you want to get to, somewhere across the room. We used to think that you would army crawl and then you would crawl the regular way, but we're starting to think that maybe this is your version of crawling the regular way!
In the food department, you are eating us out of house and home. Every day, you put away more food than your older brother and sister would have eaten in a week at the same age. You eat with gusto and have started to recognize certain foods, such as yogurt, a bowl of baby oatmeal, bananas, and so on. We can tell that you recognize them as food because you make the same "heh-HEH!" noise that you make when you see a bottle or know that you're about to get Mommy's milk.
Speaking of noises, you're a communicative little girl even though you don't have words yet. You let us know when you're hungry with the sounds I mentioned above, you babble, and you even seem to sing sometimes. And, of course, you cry when you're upset or tired. That doesn't happen much, though. Your evolving personality is still a happy one. People comment a lot on what a happy baby you are, and we heartily agree. You're a pleasure to be around.
We'll close with a couple of your favorite things in the whole world: your brother and sister! You look at them with big eyes and laugh for them like for no one else. You think they are absolutely hilarious, and they, in turn, will do all sorts of things to make you laugh. Today, you were in the Jumperoo and they both slid underneath you, so they could pull on your feet or get you to jump on top of them. They and you both thought this was the funniest game ever created and there was a lot of laughing going on. We hope you three still laugh together when you are much older, so the fact that you do it now is a great first step!
Oh, one final thing, which I can't remember if I mentioned last month but will just repeat again: you know your name. You will turn your head much of the time when someone says "Rosie!" or "Rosa!" You don't do it all the time, but much of the time, you do. Also, you have shown us that you can play a give and take game. Recently, you were playing with Grammy and she leaned in and rubbed your nose with her own. She did this several more times, and then you started to get it. She would lean her face close to yours and you would reach out your nose to hers, basically asking for her to nuzzle you. It was a magical moment and heartbreakingly cute.
Rosie, we love you so much that you probably won't understand it until you have kids of your own! You are the best, the cherry on top, the icing on the cake. We wish we could save you up at just this age and enjoy you this way forever. At the same time, we can't wait to see what the next month will bring. We love you!
love,
Mama and Mommy
You are eight months old! You turned eight months old last weekend, when we were in the midst of our move to our brand new (to us) house. It's a bit crazy to think that this is the first house you will remember, despite spending all of your life, up until now, in our old one. So it goes. Here's what you're up to now, having started a new month in a new place!
First, you marked your new age by getting a new tooth. You had three and now you have four: two on the bottom and two on the top. You are quite balanced. The teething was pretty rough on you this time around, but you are back to your happy self now that #4 has come all the way through. We love your little toothy grin!
You are crawling like a maniac now, and still with your own trademarked version of the crawl. You have shown us what a true army crawl looks like. You drag yourself forward with your forearms while your feet sort of hippity hop along the floor behind you. You do this very much on your belly and the whole routine is quite entertaining to watch. You're just so earnest about it, and always focused on the thing you want to get to, somewhere across the room. We used to think that you would army crawl and then you would crawl the regular way, but we're starting to think that maybe this is your version of crawling the regular way!
In the food department, you are eating us out of house and home. Every day, you put away more food than your older brother and sister would have eaten in a week at the same age. You eat with gusto and have started to recognize certain foods, such as yogurt, a bowl of baby oatmeal, bananas, and so on. We can tell that you recognize them as food because you make the same "heh-HEH!" noise that you make when you see a bottle or know that you're about to get Mommy's milk.
Speaking of noises, you're a communicative little girl even though you don't have words yet. You let us know when you're hungry with the sounds I mentioned above, you babble, and you even seem to sing sometimes. And, of course, you cry when you're upset or tired. That doesn't happen much, though. Your evolving personality is still a happy one. People comment a lot on what a happy baby you are, and we heartily agree. You're a pleasure to be around.
We'll close with a couple of your favorite things in the whole world: your brother and sister! You look at them with big eyes and laugh for them like for no one else. You think they are absolutely hilarious, and they, in turn, will do all sorts of things to make you laugh. Today, you were in the Jumperoo and they both slid underneath you, so they could pull on your feet or get you to jump on top of them. They and you both thought this was the funniest game ever created and there was a lot of laughing going on. We hope you three still laugh together when you are much older, so the fact that you do it now is a great first step!
Oh, one final thing, which I can't remember if I mentioned last month but will just repeat again: you know your name. You will turn your head much of the time when someone says "Rosie!" or "Rosa!" You don't do it all the time, but much of the time, you do. Also, you have shown us that you can play a give and take game. Recently, you were playing with Grammy and she leaned in and rubbed your nose with her own. She did this several more times, and then you started to get it. She would lean her face close to yours and you would reach out your nose to hers, basically asking for her to nuzzle you. It was a magical moment and heartbreakingly cute.
Rosie, we love you so much that you probably won't understand it until you have kids of your own! You are the best, the cherry on top, the icing on the cake. We wish we could save you up at just this age and enjoy you this way forever. At the same time, we can't wait to see what the next month will bring. We love you!
love,
Mama and Mommy
Update
Well, I seem to have really done a number on myself. Despite three days of taking it mostly easy (as easy as one can when one is the mother of three children ages five and under), I still feel pretty banged up. I was feeling quite hopeful yesterday, when I took only ibuprofen and could move around without too much pain even at the end of the day. However, I woke up this morning feeling like my rear end had been in some kind of a fight and got the message that this may be a two steps forward, one step back sort of recovery. Slow and steady wins the race, I guess. Hopefully, things are healing and I'll be back to myself sometime soon. In the meantime, on with the icing and heating and hobbling around! I'm getting quite good at finding innovative ways to pick things up when bending over isn't much of an option.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
House photos, part 1
Sacha took the kids outside at some point today and I decided to photograph them through the glass doors. I came out with a couple of photos of the back yard that qualify as "before" pictures. We'd like to do some landscaping and replace the fence as finances permit, but for right now it's a fine space for the kids to run around and such. Our lot backs up to the very large, parklike back yard of the house behind us, so we look out through our yard at beautiful big trees and grass.
Owie
The kids and I were having a good day yesterday until I took a big fall. We had gone to my grandma's hosue for a visit and it became clear that the older two needed to blow off some steam, so we went to our favorite park, which is now just minutes from our new house. It has a little lake with ducks, in addition to a great play structure and swings and such.
The ducks are really the main attraction, so we spent much of our time there by the water. As it turned out, the water in the lake was down lower than usual, so there was a little beachy area between the grass and the water. Mateo climbed over a log to get down to the water and Tali asked me for some help to get down there, too. So, I took her hand, and, carrying Rosa in the Ergo, stepped on the log to help her down. That turned out to be a big mistake!
Just like slipping on a banana peel, the log turned out to be VERY slippery and my feet went right out from under me. I involuntarily flung my arms out, which, in turn, flipped Tali onto the ground and she hit her head on a rock just as Roas and I came slamming down on the log. It was quite the scene, with Tali screaming and reaching for me as I grabbed my butt and tried not to cry. At least the baby was completely unscathed. Good times!
Eventually, Tali calmed down and convinced me that she was okay. I was pretty worried about her, because I had heard a crack when we both hit the ground and I thought it might have been her head. Or my butt! Either way, she turned out to be just fine and some ibuprofen at home helped her feel a lot better. Back at the park, I convinced Mateo that we really needed to go. I thought that I had broken my tailbone because of all the pain I was having, but was surprised to find that I could sit comfortably once we got to the car. Still, I was in a lot of pain and couldn't bend over or really move at all without aggravating it.
Ultimately, I took the kids to urgent care on the other side of town and Sacha met us there. The doctor looked me over and pronounced nothing to be broken, which was a relief! However, I definitely did something muscularly to my sacrum, which I now know is just above the tailbone. I must have come down on that and just narrowly avoided my tailbone, which is why I can sit, but why doing anything else hurts. Needless to say, it's not very fun to move around and picking up the kids or getting them things is difficult.
Thankfully, Sacha took today off of work so that I can recuperate a little. I'm hoping that today will make a big difference and that I'll be more functional tomorrow!
Meanwhile, Mateo is giving poor Sacha a run for her money. I don't know if the accident scared him and he's acting out or if he's just being difficult, or maybe it's all the change we've had lately, but he's had several major meltdowns since I fell.
Anyway, I'm hoping to be on the mend soon and am SO grateful to Sacha for taking today off. Even though my butt hurts, it feels rather luxurious to get a day to rest when I'm not actually sick!
The ducks are really the main attraction, so we spent much of our time there by the water. As it turned out, the water in the lake was down lower than usual, so there was a little beachy area between the grass and the water. Mateo climbed over a log to get down to the water and Tali asked me for some help to get down there, too. So, I took her hand, and, carrying Rosa in the Ergo, stepped on the log to help her down. That turned out to be a big mistake!
Just like slipping on a banana peel, the log turned out to be VERY slippery and my feet went right out from under me. I involuntarily flung my arms out, which, in turn, flipped Tali onto the ground and she hit her head on a rock just as Roas and I came slamming down on the log. It was quite the scene, with Tali screaming and reaching for me as I grabbed my butt and tried not to cry. At least the baby was completely unscathed. Good times!
Eventually, Tali calmed down and convinced me that she was okay. I was pretty worried about her, because I had heard a crack when we both hit the ground and I thought it might have been her head. Or my butt! Either way, she turned out to be just fine and some ibuprofen at home helped her feel a lot better. Back at the park, I convinced Mateo that we really needed to go. I thought that I had broken my tailbone because of all the pain I was having, but was surprised to find that I could sit comfortably once we got to the car. Still, I was in a lot of pain and couldn't bend over or really move at all without aggravating it.
Ultimately, I took the kids to urgent care on the other side of town and Sacha met us there. The doctor looked me over and pronounced nothing to be broken, which was a relief! However, I definitely did something muscularly to my sacrum, which I now know is just above the tailbone. I must have come down on that and just narrowly avoided my tailbone, which is why I can sit, but why doing anything else hurts. Needless to say, it's not very fun to move around and picking up the kids or getting them things is difficult.
Thankfully, Sacha took today off of work so that I can recuperate a little. I'm hoping that today will make a big difference and that I'll be more functional tomorrow!
Meanwhile, Mateo is giving poor Sacha a run for her money. I don't know if the accident scared him and he's acting out or if he's just being difficult, or maybe it's all the change we've had lately, but he's had several major meltdowns since I fell.
Anyway, I'm hoping to be on the mend soon and am SO grateful to Sacha for taking today off. Even though my butt hurts, it feels rather luxurious to get a day to rest when I'm not actually sick!
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