First spoonful--movie

Well, I've always been a fan of skipping the rice cereal and going with first foods like sweet potato or avocado (the boys always liked sweet potato best) but I happened to have some rice cereal that I picked up for later on and didn't have any of the other ready, and it just seemed like a fun day to let Eden try a bite...she was in a fun mood and starting to stare at us eating more than in the past.  I had so far let her suck on a slice of peach, and on an Italian chicken sausage :P  So I wasn't sure if rice cereal would appeal after those real flavors.  But she was very excited about it, and after her few bites, she was cooing and squealing and clearly feeling big in her britches and quite grown up.  So cute!  Now I've done it.  Whereas before she was perfectly content to watch from a distance I think she'll have a bit more urgent interest in joining in before too long :}  Might pretend this didn't happen for a few more weeks since she doesn't really *have* to be eating yet and is clearly porking out just fine on milk.  She is getting the familiar michelin man physique I recognize from former nearing-6-months-old children in this family.

https://vimeo.com/43150089

Asher moments

Whenever I vacuum, Owen makes a joke of lying on the ground near me and 'pretending to be some dirt.'  Asher is both fascinated and slightly horrified by the thought of being vacuumed.  Today the boys and I were cleaning the car together while Eden napped, and Owen promptly rolled into a ball on the floor of the van.  Asher excitedly yelled, "I'm not a boy-crumb!  I'm not a boy-crumb!  I'm just a boy!!!", and then ran away.

Asher's getting wiser by the minute.  His wisdom usually comes out as odd, seemingly random and funny phrases with meanings that perhaps only his family fully appreciates.  Tonight at bath I had replaced my smallish hair-rinsing cup with a big tupperware bowl that happened to be nearby.  Asher was not a fan of the rinsing-by-deluge.  Instead of whining, squealing or shouting no like his brother would have done Asher shouts, "This is going to wake up Eden!  This is going to wake up Eden!"  He's come to associate that phrase with undesirable activities I guess :}  Other random utterances are less interpretable.  The other day the boys were getting a treat at the grocery store checkout and Asher was giggling uproariously in excitement and exclaimed, "HAHAHA!!!  RADISHES!!  HAHA!"   Who knows.  He does this sort of thing all the time...just picks some words that he's heard in the last week and yells them out in excitement.  Another one I remember from this week was, "Pirate pinata!!" shouted at some completely unrelated moment.  Sort of like a cute version of Tourette's syndrome.

Graduation 2012

After-bath party

A sad day...

Today was Owen's last day of preschool!  What a lovely experience it has been.  I am so pleased with the school, the lovely teachers, the friends he made, and it was a good, good first experience of 'school'.  (The concern with how nice it was is that kindergarten will be a serious letdown!!)  At the start of the year, I was sort of concerned/bummed that he'd gotten put in the small class with only 4 kids in it...but now at the end of the year I have grown to absolutely love that he had a tiny class, and thus plenty of time to build close relationships with his teacher and classmates.  And I don't think he brought home a single virus from school.  They really had fun together!  Miss Kathy was teary and so was I at pickup today.  Owen was:  What's the big deal???  But by the end of the day, he was actually quite sad.  I think it hit him tonight as I was talking to him before bed.  Will I never go back to that school except for graduation [next week]?  Will I never have Miss Kathy for my teacher again?  I don't want to go to kindergarten.  I want to go back to preschool for one more year.  [But there will only be 4 year olds there next year and you've already learned everything that Miss Kathy will be teaching!]  Well, Miss Kathy can just have me as a 5 year old and make new things to teach me.  [I agree.  I think it would be better than the local public school.  Maybe I should ask Miss Kathy ;) ]

Miss Kathy gave me his portfolio of work.  There were lots of goodies that a mom loves to study, like the progression of his coloring, cutting, writing, creativity in crafts, etc.  Here are a few gems I just had to scan, though.

Owen's self-portrait on first day of school last fall:

Drawn in response to "Draw something you like to help your mom do at your house."  Check out my hair!!!  I know it's a *little* big, but now I know how my child sees me.  Ha!  Owen saw this today and broke out in a belly laugh.  He remembered drawing it long ago now ;)

I didn't know I liked spaghetti so much!  Did we bypass the age where they think their moms are 15?  Sheesh!

I'm not too sentimental, but this poem gets me close.  Check out the inkprint of the giant wart on Owen's right hand.  Things we'd probably rather forget but now never will!  :)

Eden=yum yum

Eden is a little sugar punkin' munchie sweet delicious snuggly pink squishum bit of honey chub giggly cuteness.  I just told my mom on the phone that this is the perfect baby age.

-napping on her own
-lots of stares, giggles, smiles and coos
-loves to get in her carseat and go for a ride
-loves her brothers no matter what they're doing
-no prepping baby food
-no separation anxiety
-no stranger fears
-limited lack-of-mobility frustration (it's starting to brew)
-a bath will cure any bad mood
-wears whatever I like best
-no shoes to find strewn about the house
-sleeps more than she's awake
-no teeth to brush!  the perfect gummy smile!

Does it get any better than this?!  If I weren't so advanced in childbearing years I might be crazy enough to do this again.  Then again....eh, no.

Same age compare-5 months