Updates

The summer has really flown by for us! It's already the second week of August, and soon Oliver and Buttercup will be going on a long road trip with their daddy to visit Grandma and Grandpa. In some ways I'm looking forward to it (a week of baby time! and a quiet house!), but I know I will miss them so much. I have no doubt that the week will drag by!

We've been pretty busy since the last update, here's what we're up to these days:

Oliver:
He seems to be getting over his Star Wars obsession, much to the chagrin of his buddy Nathan, ha ha. Oliver doesn't seem to have too many favorites right now -- he kind of likes a little bit of everything, but mainly sharks and sea creatures, army guys, policemen, and pirates. He's also really getting interested in reading, but he prefers to memorize the words (sight reading, I guess?) instead of actually sounding out the letters and figuring them out for himself, ha ha.

He's in a different swim class now, which seems to be a better fit for him. In the new class, there are only two other kids (at the most) in his class with him, so he gets to spend more time working on the strokes instead of hanging onto the side of the pool most of the time. At the pool over the weekend, he had the chance to do the swim test so he could slide down the big water slide, but he opted out since he didn't have a friend with him. He said he would wait until Buttercup could do it with him, so sweet!

Oliver is also looking forward to "preschool" (Mother's Day Out) starting next month. He talks about it almost every day and I know he's looking forward to seeing his school friends again. Not to mention getting to create things without having a little sister go behind him and destroy them. :-P

Buttercup:
She is continuing to be quite a stinker most days, but she is just so sweet and funny. She also has the most beautiful smile, and her laugh is so infectious and I love hearing it!! I love the way she dives headfirst and gives her all to everything she does -- whether it's playing "sunday school," swinging herself outside, coloring, getting her big brother in trouble, or being defiant, ha ha. She is so much fun, and I know God has awesome plans for her.

She desperately wants to do everything Oliver can do, especially take swim lessons. I think she feels like she's been waiting forever to be 3 years old! She's also very interested in letters and words, and she's working on learning how to spell her name. So far, she has the first 3 letters down. :-)

Like Oliver, she is very much excited about starting preschool next month. She wants to start NOW, so I've had to fill up our calendar with playdates, outings, and fun activities just to get us through the rest of this month! :-)

Theodore:
He is such a fun little baby! He loves to smile and coo at us, and it just warms our hearts when he looks at us and gives us a big, gummy grin. LOVE it! And, he's always been a good sleeper, but last week he surprised us by sleeping from 7:30pm to 4:30am three nights in a row! Since then, he's pretty much kept the same schedule, except he's been waking up closer to 3:30 instead of 4:30.

Both Buttercup and Oliver are my big helpers with him. I can always count on one of them to help out and bring me something for him if I ask. They also like to lie next to him on the floor and hold out their fingers for him to grab, or talk to him. Theodore likes to wave his arms and move his legs like he's running -- we call it "riding his bicycle" -- and the other day Oliver laid next to him on the bed and moved his legs the way Theodore was. It was very cute. :-D