September 2007

It's September!! This is my favorite month of the year.

Nick is scooting backwards and forwards now. He's really mobile,
which is both exciting and sad. I'm sad because once he starts moving
I'll never see him again... he'll be off exploring the world and I'm
going to miss my little snuggly boy. He found his voice and has been
using different sounds. His favorite games right now are peek-a-boo,
patty-cake and this little piggy, and BANG BANG SMASH DESTROY. I've
heard this is a popular theme among boys. I know Marlee was never
into it. He likes to bang on things, smash his toys together, and
throw things around the room. It's too cute.
He is hopelessly in love with his big crazy sister. I wish I could
just stop time.

Marlee didn't end up getting into a dance class this year which is
disappointing. There just isn't anything in our area available or
affordable. I couldn't see putting a 4 year old into a rigidly
scheduled, year long school for serious dancers at $300 a semester.
So now she will be taking a preschool tumbling class at the Civic
Center in Baraboo. It starts Wednesday, September 5th at 5p-5:30p and
runs for 8 weeks. I think tumbling is a little below her level right
now, but it will be a fun learning experience for her. She'll be in
the class with 3 and 4 year olds.

Marlee's been having a rough time lately - getting in lots of trouble
at daycare. It's becoming an issue. Yesterday she kicked another kid.
I can understand hitting is somewhat instinctual for a kid when
frustrated - but kicking actually takes some thought and is very
deliberate. She's also been very "mouthy" and backtalking a lot and
just being generally unpleasant. It really bothers me because Marlee
is such a sweet kid. Part of it is her age, part of it is all the
upheaval in her life lately (new brother, less attention, being sick
and picked at for a month). Also, even though I hate to blame other
kids, I do put a lot of the blame on the fact that she goes to
daycare with a 7 year old terror. She's Sheila's granddaughter and
she gets away with MURDER and is issued idle threats. She's rude and
thoughtless and Marlee just idolizes her. Tim and I are being very
patient waiting for her to go back to school next week and hopefully
things will turn around. I'm not sure what else we can do. If you
have any words of wisdom I'm eager to hear it.


News for us: We are getting ready for Marlee's party. It's the one
time of year we rush around trying to fix up the house and make it
presentable. We're decorating the kids' rooms and the family room.
We'll be getting new carpet in the family room, not in time for the
party, but in about a month. I am SUPER excited about this. Our
insurance finally cut us a check for the flood damage so instead of
just pocketing in the cash, we're going to replace it with this:
I love it!

Tim's car is unfortunately out of commission and has been most of the
summer. It has not been a good summer for the car :(