Milestones

Jonah missed the deadline for kindergarten by 4 days. I felt he needed a little more than a two-day a week mom's preschool like we did last year so I got up very early the morning of President Obama's inauguration back in January to get him registered at a great preschool. I'd heard that there was always a line to get the registrations in so if I wanted in, I'd better get there early. I did. I was first in line...got to listen to 45 minutes of NPR's coverage of the inauguration preparations before another parent even showed up...and can mothers go to extreme lengths to get what they want for their children? Yes, we can!

Here he is on his first day.

Wyatt still has this year and next before starting kindergarten so I decided to do a mom's group this year with him and hopefully a preschool next year wherever we move.

This is at our first field trip to a local petting zoo.

And this is our second field trip to a local apple orchard.

Wyatt loves his preschool friends and talks about them a lot. Just the other day he thought for a moment and told me, "There isn't anyone in my preschool whose name starts with an E." Which reminds me that I should record for my own memory that Wyatt is already reading! I started a Hooked on Phonics book with Jonah during the summer because it seemed he was really ready. Since I don't feel there is any pressing need for him to be able to read before he starts school we worked on it every once in a while, only for as long as he wanted, which some days meant about 2 minutes. He's now started the next grade level and is doing really well. Just when he was about to finish the first workbook, I realized that Wyatt was sounding out the word "mop" in a little game we have, so I started the workbook with him and he is about 1/3 of the way through. Wyatt often surprises me like this. I don't know if it is because I'm more focused on the developmental steps of Jonah because they are all firsts for me as a mother or because Wyatt is often so silly and goofy that I don't expect it, but he is one smart cookie mixed with a lot of playfulness.

Here's a cute photo of Emmett taken around the same time the boys started preschool. His milestone was rolling over just before he turned 3 months old. This is much earlier than either of his brothers and it made me nervous because the doctors always tell you to put your baby on his back. Emmett became a stomach sleeper on his own at 3 months and there was nothing I could do about it. And yes, I kiss those lips as often as I can.