Checkups for the Boys

Jude Dude turned 4 months just two weeks ago, and I just had T-Max's 2 year check up. Here are their stats:

Jude Dude: 4 months
Weight: 17 lbs 3.5 oz 90th percentile
Height 26 in 90th
Head: 16 1/2 in 50th

T-Max: 2 years
Weight: 24 lbs 11 oz 10th percentile
Height: 33 3/4 in 25th
Head: 19 in 25th

It's amazing to me the contrast between my two boys. I think the little one will soon catch up to the older one. They can wear the same size diaper!

Jude Dude started rolling over at 3 months, so this milestone has been disrupting his naps and sleep. He's also got itchy/painful gums, so that's been disturbing his sleep as well. But he's perfected the grabbing thing, so he always wants a toy in hand that he can suck and slobber all over. He really enjoys being on his playmat with the hanging toys. He's been able to sit tripod style for a while, and he's gotten really steady. We know all the secret tickle spots to make him giggle! We love his little giggle :) He's starting to be interested in what we're eating. He'll follow my spoon from my bowl to mouth. I will probably start him on solids in the new year after he turns 5 months.

It's been a lot of fun watching T-Max learn language. He's been putting together new phrases and sentences each day. His vocabulary seems to expand daily. He loves reading books and naming the different things and saying "Dat, Umma" = What's that Umma? when he doesn't know the word for something. The other day he pointed to our lawn bag that had been knocked over in the wind and said, "Who do dat, Umma?" He's gotten really into mimicking the different sports, often found carrying a bat around swinging it or shooting the basketball or pretending to dribble the soccer ball with his feet. He loves helping me by bring wipes or diapers for Jude Dude or pulling up a chair to the kitchen counter to help me make smoothies or bake. We're working on learning his colors. He's really good at remember each of our favorite colors, so if there is ever a toy or food in our respective favorite colors, he quickly gives it to us. It appears that he likes red and orange the best.

Girlie has been really wanting to speak more Korean. She's picked up different phrases and words from us, and she's been speaking it more regularly. At night instead of our usual bedtime lullaby, we are singing Christmas carols, and so I decided to teach her "Silent Night" in Korean. In just a couple of days she learned it, and sings it at random times during the day. I checked out some books to read to her in Korean as well. It's good for me to because I'm so rusty at reading Korean. Next song to teach her - "Jingle Bells" in Korean. But her favorite carol is "Angels We have Heard on High", so she wants to learn that in Korean too! Perhaps I can get her on video singing them!

Will try to get some more pics of the kiddos soon!

Flashback: October Ballet Bring a Friend Day

Every fall for Halloween, N's ballet company has a bring a friend to ballet class and wear a costume day. Her good friend, S, has been able to come for the past two years. N was Cinderella this year (more pics to come from my hubby from Halloween day, and our homeschool halloween day with all of her friends).

I don't like spending a lot of money on costumes, so I try to borrow or buy on ebay/craigslist. This year, N asked to be Cinderella, so I had the idea of taking her blue satin dress and adding some princess *poof*. So I bought some fabric, and with the help of my mom, embellished the dress. I made a choker out of a bag handle, the headband we already had, so the only other thing I had to buy were some satin gloves (we forgot to wear the gloves and choker for ballet). I thought she made a great Cinderella. The best part was that T-Max was her pumpkin, and little Jude Dude was Gus from the Disney version!

Here are some pics from the day that I took.

Thanksgiving School Activities

We've had a busy November with school, my father's unexpected surgery (I'm glad to say that he is recovering well), T-day with family, visiting with out of town family, and starting our Christmas traditions.

Some of my mommy friends and I are doing a once a month homeschool activity. A couple of moms take turns planning a themed morning filled with lessons and activities for our oldest kids. My friend Dienny and I hosted November's homeschool day themed around Thanksgiving. We read T-Day poems and stories, made leaf rubbings, classified our leaves, and made an edible turkey craft out of Oreos and various candies. Here are some pics to document our day!












We were supposed to use candy corn, but I couldn't find any, so I substituted Mike and Ike's instead. I found the idea on Kaboodle.











I hope to be blogging more about what I'm doing with N in school, but it's hard to find the time to do that. We'll see what I get around to. There are already several pics I have not posted from September. Oh well!


A picture of a banner I had made her for her first day of school!

And here are some of the T-Day crafts that we did for homeschool with my kiddos:

Last year, we wrote what we were thankful for on colored slips of paper and put it in our "I'm thankful for...jar". This year I saw something online to make a thankful turkey. So this is how it turned out. N drew all of her own pictures, and then I helped her break down the sounds, but she came up with the letters. Since we're not working on spelling yet, you might see some strange (but phonetic!) spellings.



We were most thankful for the cross and my dad recovering from his surgery. And notice, our family is thankful for Nutella! Our new T-Day tradition may be Nutella filled croissants for breakfast, while watching the Macy's T-Day parade (which the kids REALLY enjoyed!). Notice the orange feather at the bottom left. Those are the three crosses on Calvary. We've talked about two other people being crucified with Jesus, so that is what she depicted. When I asked her who the people were and why they were so sad, she said that it was Jesus' mom and dad.


T-Max's hands made into turkeys. I had to help him a lot! But he did glue the beaks and the wattle himself.


N's hands made into turkeys.


A pinecone turkey - N did a great job!

Just a few more pics on my flickr.