Spring!

Spring has definitely been creeping in over the last few days. We had over 80 inches of snow this winter, and it is all but gone from the ground. Today it is raining. Soon the buds will start swelling on the tree branches and tiny leaves will sprout. The sunlight is stronger and longer each day - its hard to believe we are at the vernal equinox already! All I have to say about all this is 'Bout Time! I am ready to start hanging out at the park! Or maybe digging around in a garden box at our new HOUSE!

That's right, we bought a house! We will be closing in May, doing a little work, then moving in June. We absolutely CANNOT wait, we are so thrilled! The new house is on a cul-de-sac street in a lovely quiet neighborhood in a first ring suburb, so its minutes from all the things we like to do in the city. We will have a lovely guest room, so come visit us!

The boys have both been doing a lot of growing over the winter. Gregory is around 37 inches tall now, which means he is big enough to go in the IKEA ball pit play area, something he has been dying to do for the last couple of years! He's coming up on the 30 lbs mark too! Another milestone was his first emergency room visit for an injury. Twice in two weeks, actually. First a finger smashed in the hinge of a huge door, then a split lip from a fall on the concrete. Thankfully, neither required medical treatment and he has recovered nicely. We're pretty sure those won't be the last times we have to take a boy to the ER, but hopefully we can keep it to a minimum!

Recently Greg has had a lot of cognitive development too. He is a pro at complex puzzles, patterns, and block building. He can write all his letters and draws fairly identifiable pictures with lots of different colors. He can sound out basic 3 and 4 letter words and reads the first level of the Bob Books at preschool. He has been asking how to spell things all the time. He started asking a lot of questions about outer space and physics, so we have been explaining how the rotation of the Earth on its axis causes night and day, etc. He has a lot of imagination about outer space - its pretty funny! His balance and coordination have also been growing, especially through his Saturday dance class, which he loves. This summer he will do a sports class and swimming, and maybe gymnastics too, through community ed.


Asher turned 9 months old yesterday, and is slowly becoming mobile. He rolls all over the place now, and scoots backwards. He will surely be crawling forwards within a week or two. We can tell that he is quite pleased with himself! He is a cuddly little guy, with a pretty cheerful and laid back personality. He really loves playing with Gregory, who is a fantastic big brother! I think they really truly like each other, which is, of course, one of my greatest hopes as their mom!



Despite lacking any teeth, Asher has been trying out eating some foods. We follow the child-led approach, which means we don't use pureed baby food, and we look for the baby's individual signs of readiness. Basically, we let them tell us when they are ready to eat. Asher really enjoys playing with and tasting foods, but so far, he still has a fairly strong tongue-thrust reflex, so the bits that go into his mouth often pop right back out again. He does manage to swallow a little, though, and we see food as just for fun at this point anyway. So far he has tried bananas, butternut squash, apples, pears, green beans, broccoli, cucumbers, carrots, cauliflower, rice, quinoa, and egg yolk. He seems to like squash really well - maybe its the mushiness?


Well that's pretty much the update from us for now. The next couple of months will be really busy with the new house and moving preparations, and I'm sure especially Asher will just be changing so quickly this summer too. We'll try to keep up!