Early Reading and Late Waving

Bug is keeping us all entertained this summer. She's always saying something crazy and funny. The twins are getting old enough to "get" that she doesn't "get" some things. Lately, she's been really into noticing the alphabet. She doesn't know names or sounds for letters but she does know "who" goes with each letter. For example, she knows her letter, Teency's letter, Bear's letter, etc. When she sees any letters, she points them out to me and says, "Mama, here's some ABCDs." Sometimes she tries to read what it says.

At Vacation Bible School, they had pudding cups. The top said something like Jello Vanilla Pudding. After Bug pulled off the top, she asked me if I wanted her to read it. I told her I did, and she said as she pointed to each word, "I am pudding!"

While the twins are in swimming lessons, the baby girls and I sometimes get in the pool. The first time we ever got in this year, Bug walked over to the depth marker that said "2 Ft". She again asked me if I wanted her to read it to me. When I said yes, she said, again pointing and emphasizing each part, "Get Wet!"

Birdie has been a solid thumbsucker since maybe four months. As of the last two months, she has started pulling on her ear with one hand while she sucks her thumb on the other hand. In the last week, she has discovered her belly button. She has a herniated belly button which juts out a bit. While sucking her thumb, she pushes her belly button in and out.

I've noticed that she doesn't wave bye-bye often at all. The ladies at the daycare said that she did wave there from time to time. I really don't worry about it much, because she seems developmentally fine. This week, I thought to myself, "No wonder she doesn't wave bye-bye more often. She has no free hand to wave with, what with the thumb, the ear, and the belly button duties!"

Birdie is all over the place. She still does the army man crawl, but has started pulling up to her knees at the bottom of the stairs and in her crib. She, unlike the older three children, puts everything in her mouth. Last week she ate a piece of paper that I could never seem to get out of her mouth once she got it in there. She is still very happy, and mostly eats fruit, yogurt, bagels, Cheerio's, sweet potatoes, and mac and cheese. I keep offering vegetables, but no such luck yet.

Birdie and Bug are both easygoing and laid back. The terrible twos for Bug are not all that terrible. After going through the true terrible twos with the twins, just doing it with one two year old who has such a laid back personality is less exhausting for me.

I try to get a lot of work done in the morning before any children get up. For the first part of the summer, each time Bug would get up, she would come find me and say, "Mama, I wake Birdie up for you!" with this beaming "I'm so proud of myself" look on her face. After talking to her about this, she has snuck out the last three days without waking up Birdie. Yay!

Last week, my sister YaYa came with her three girls. The children had a large time. We did all sorts of things...ate spaghetti, played in the sprinkler, went to a cool new park, went to BK for some greasy nasty food, watched YaYa play her trumpet, and took turns holding the Karate Kid. It was fun and good times for the kids!