Happy October

I feel like I am finally coming up for air. 

I worked too much in the last 2 weeks while Jan and Dean were here. Granted, that's why they chose to come now, but I missed out on time with them and the kids. Now I've got more time, but they're gone and we're trying to get back to our normal routine. 

The kids had a great time with Jan and Dean. Jan patiently played bear, or bird or Ma or whatever other role she was given. Dean played with Nora, wrestled with Erin and fetched us treats at a moments notice. Matt and I were relieved of almost all parenting duties and appreciated all of the cooking, cleaning, playing, laundry and entertainment that happened without us while they were here. We are very lucky.

Nora is learning new words almost every day. This weekend she mastered "Nora" and "baby." Her favorite word is "wow," and we wake up daily to her saying, "Wow, wow, wow. Dada. Mama. Wow!" I'm pretty sure her vocabulary is bigger than Erin's was at this age, which worries me. We may never have another quiet moment in this house once she really gets going.

We're also in the painful transition from two to one naps with Nora. She still could use two, but won't take both. Last week we gave up and had her go to just one afternoon nap. Some days she does ok, but lots of days it just a really short nap which leaves her rather short tempered by the end of the day. Today we got only 45 minutes in the afternoon. Early to bed for this one today. 

Erin is starting to really love Zoom. She babbles in Spanish day and night. The other night at 2:30am she started counting in Spanish. She started at uno and got to treinta y neuve, but didn't know cuarenta. So she just started back at viente and kept on counting. She got from treinta y neuve to viente about 6 times before I finally went out to quiet her down. She seems to like the other kids at school, but I feel a little out of the loop since the teachers don't spend much time talking to the parents. Oh, and Jan and Dean were on drop-off and pick-up duty for the last 2 weeks so I was even more out of it. 

Erin is also doing swimming lessons and gymnastics this fall. The swimming is less of a hit than it was last winter, but she's warming up to it. She spends a lot of time negotiating with her teacher about what she'll do (no to face in the water, maybe to jumping into the pool). She loves gymnastics and is very enthusiastic (sometimes too enthusiastic) about participating. Her favorite is the foam pit that they jump in. 

Reading herself is finally on the radar. They've been doing a lot of letters and numbers at school and  Erin told me last week that she'd like to learn to read a chapter book. Trouble is she doesn't seem to want to do the little steps needed to learn to read a chapter book, but we're making progress.

Erin is still enjoying the little house books and is adopting some of the language she hears in the books. When Jan was combing her hair last week she must have hit a snarl and Erin told her "it hurts dreadfully."

We were in Portland last weekend for the Portland Marathon. Matt ran a great race and finished 30 minutes faster than his last marathon (and only a few minutes off his PR). It was a fun whirlwind visit and we reveled in the sunshine and the warm weather. I feel like our days of sun are limited so we'd better enjoy every last minute.