Nov. '11

Alice loves sorting things by colors... from plates, cups, and utensils....

to her pegboard.

 

I've started having 'craft time' with Alice once in awhile. Here she is 

working on her first painting project... a Thanksgiving countdown.

 Here is the finished project. She used a glue stick for the first time to put glue on the feathers. Each morning (that I remembered) we wrote something on the feather that she was thankful for. I'm not sure she ever figured out what 'thankful for' meant, but since most of the words she knows are people, toys, or food, it worked ok.

Alice LOVES her dollies! She enjoys carrying them around, 

carefully setting them on chairs, and caring for them. 

 When I lay Anna on the floor, Alice likes to do whatever Anna is doing. 

 Anna loves her baths these days!

We spent one Saturday morning racking all our leaves. Alice supervised our raking from the yard and then from the top of the pick-up cap while we loaded them. I was very proud of her for hanging out with us the whole time!

 Daddy did most of the loading and I did most of the 'stomping'. 

Anna is 4 months! She is growing great and such a sweetie. One of my best friends from collage just had a baby and takes pictures each month of her son next to a stuffed animal to show growth. I liked that idea so I plan to start doing that now with this dolly for Anna. 

Jameson smoked a turkey for the Roose Thanksgiving supper. Here is the before....

... and the after. 

 Cousins playing together over Thanksgiving break at Jordan and Joys. 

Ver Meer Thanksgiving. The four older kids sat down in these chairs on their own, all we had to do was place Anna and Peter in arms and take the picture!

While visiting my parents over Thanksgiving we went to the John Deere Pavilion downtown Moline and saw a combine made out of cans and bags of beans.

Alice enjoyed climbing in all the tractors and machinery they had on display!

 Jameson enjoyed driving the excavator simulator. 

 Alice and I at my parents for Thanksgiving. I don't have a lot 

of pictures with my girls so I really like this one. 

Other noteworthy memories:

Alice...

Milk- One day she went to refrigerator, got her milk cup and the gallon of milk, and brought them into the living room to daddy and asked for 'mi'. Jameson then went to return the gallon of milk since she could barely carry it and the refrigerator door was wide open. This happened several times following that. 

'Ba'... Alice holds up her first finger and gives a certain look which means 'Be right back'. This is said when she's going to her bedroom to get a toy, to Anna's room to get her a toy, etc. One time she said it at church, after fellowship meal, when she was pushing the 'shopping cart' out of the fellowship hall. When I asked her where she was going she said 'Hobby Lobby'. This seems to be her favorite store, though maybe only because it's the only one she can say.

Anna ...

Anna LOVES to be held and wants to be where the action is! She likes bouncing, not rocking, and doesn't like to be left alone in a room. During cranky evening times she insists on facing out while you stand up and bounce her.

Anna LOVES to be warm, cuddled, and to have something over her face when she sleeps. It took me almost four months to figure this out and to finally get her to sleep decent in her bed. Since the day we brought her home from the hospital she's preferred sleeping in her car seat over her crib. We battled it for the first few nights at home, which were seemingly sleepless nights for me (Jameson sleeps very soundly) and then decided to let her sleep in her car seat for several weeks so that I could get some sleep in order to have energy to take care of her and Alice all day. Since then it's continued to be a battle to get her to sleep in her bed- both during naps if I want her to sleep more than 45 minutes and at night. I had thought that she liked her car seat better because she wanted to be upright. I finally decided to let her have a tiny blanket (tiny so she can't suffocate since she likes it over her face) and this helped. Then I realized maybe she didn't like laying in the middle of her open bed. So I started sticking her head in the corner with her bumper touching her head and so that her hands hit the bumper when she sticks them out or puts them over her head. Now she sleeps much better... AMAZING!

I think part of the reason it's taken me so long to 'figure Anna out' is because she is so different from Alice. Alice loved to lay flat on the floor while playing. I could leave the room to get laundry, run outside and get the mail, etc and come back and she'd still be happy. Anna gets sad and starts fussy/crying if I leave her sight for more than a minute. Alice laid right in the middle of her crib and now sleeps in her bed without any sheets over her. Anna likes to be cuddly and warm. I'm amazed at how different the girls are already.

Well, that's it for this month!