Monday, October 22, 2007

Fall

We have spent the last two weekends enjoying this amazingly unseasonal weather, taking advantage of the many "Fall Festivals" that the DC-metro area has to offer. Two weekends ago, Lily and I met our friends Jenn and "baby Justin" at Butler's Orchard in the Maryland burbs. This past weekend all three of us met up with Merri, David and Jackson at Cox Farms in the VA burbs.

For those keeping score, in the "battle of the Fall Festivals" I've got to say that Cox Farms wins, hands down (although the caramel apples at Butler's are amazing!). While our blueberry picking experience at Butler's this past summer was the best ever, I can now say with confidence, having attended both festivals, that Butler's pales in comparison (mainly because it's about half the size). Still, as you can see, GREAT FUN was had a both!

COX FARMS (Centerville, VA)



(For Jackson's play-by-play from Cox Farms, check out his blog entry at http://fauvrewebster.com/!)


BUTLER'S ORCHARD (Gaithersburg, MD)

Monday, October 15, 2007

Space

After studying "transportation" last week, Lily and her classmates were treated to a Friday field trip to the Air & Space Museum. One of the parent chaperones just sent these photos along, so I thought that I would share.

Lily absolutely loved the outing. As you can see from the pics, so did her buddies (although not her buddies for long -- starting November 1 Lily will be an official member of the Huckleberry classroom with kids ages 3 to 5...yikes!).


Lily with Zoe and Zoe's mom....bless her heart for chaperoning!

(I'm totally grossed out by the fact that my kid appears to be LICKING the glass display in a public museum...one of the most highly trafficked ones in all of DC. I'll Purell her tongue when we get home!)

The Strawberries having a picnic lunch outside the museum afterwards (Lily is the one in red, turned away from the camera in what is now her most favorite "pose.")


Lily says -- PEACE OUT!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

News


Being the overly superstitious person that I am, I keep pretty quiet (who me? yes, sometimes!) about news like this....but it's finally time to share.

It seemed to me that Lily is the only one of her friends without a younger sibling, so we've jumped on the baby bandwagon and are expecting our addition on April 20, 2008.

Lily knows and couldn't be more excited. In fact, apparently, we're going through the pregnancy together. Yes, she's pregnant too (again); this time she's got "five babies in my belly." She's already put us on notice that we're going to have be very gentle and quiet once her babies are born.

Turnabout is fair play, so I'll relish in reminding her of the same once our baby is born. In the meantime, we're now trying to figure out where this new baby will live (sadly coming to the realization that we're going to lose the office)....trying to figure out how we're going to adapt to life with two kids...and enjoying this absolutely amazing time of anticipation!

Ultrasounds to date show that we're having a -- baby. Sorry, gender isn't apparent at 12 weeks. We'll find out (hopefully) if we'll be painting the new room pink or blue on December 5th!

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Do Not Disturb

Somewhere along the lines Lily has gone from calling me "mommy" to calling me "mom," which gives me flash-forward visions of what life is going to be like when she's a teenager (yikes!). I still get the occasional "mommy" when she's particularly tired, cranky or if she really, really wants something, but more often than not I'm now "mom."

Along with this development has come another new, and somewhat shocking, one...her need for privacy (or practicy as she calls it).

This morning, just as we were about to head out back to the car, she came running through the kitchen on her way to the bathroom. As is the current practice, I high-tailed it behind her to make sure she was situated on the toilet in time. Once I had her perched on the potty, undies and skirt around her ankles, she turned to me and asked me to leave.

"Mom, I need practicy now. Can you please leave....and shut the door behind you."

Um....hello....what happened to my toddler? Privacy? Close the door? What??

I asked if closing my eyes would suffice. It wouldn't. I had to leave.

I know it's cliche, but holy cow they grow up so fast!!

She's also learning a ton in school. Last week it was pets. This week transportation. For your reading pleasure, here's the most recent Huck newsletter...

Dear Strawberry Parents,

This week couldn't have been more purrrrfect! We really enjoyed talking about all the different kind of pets people have living in their homes. We got started with some pet friendly reads such as, Birds, Your Pet Iguana, A Kid's Best Friend, Pet Show, You're Not My Cat, Not Norman: A Goldfish Story, and Bark George!

Earlier this week we talked about a very common household pet, our feline friends, CATS! Around the circle we discussed the anatomy (whiskers, paws, claws and fur) of a cat, what they feel like and what cats like doing. Our hands-on experience with "Marcella," Ms. Christina's cat, paved the way for quick learning. We compared a cat's tongue to sandpaper and explained why a cat's tongue is rough. Many were shocked to learn that cats clean, or preen, themselves with their tongues. We practiced using gentle hands and taking turns petting "Marcella." Petters and pettee were thrilled to be engaged with one another. We played a number recognition game using silhouettes of cats with numbers 1-15, drawing a number from the grab bag and matching it.

Man's best friend, the dog, came into play next. Check out our fun and cute doggie ear headbands! We learned a lot about what it's like at the pet store through our classroom version of "pet store." Our "pet store" was a doggone good time complete with pets, leashes, brushes and bones to purchase. The Strawberries were great at identifying stripe and spot patterns on cutout dog shapes in circle.

A very popular first pet is the goldfish. We took a dive into the life of a fish and created an underwater art scene for our "pet" fish. We checked out all its cool attributes like the fins, scales and tail. We even demonstrated how fish breathe and used straws to blow bubbles like fish. The science concepts, sink and float, were demonstrated by using different sizes of fish and other objects. Another concept introduced was alike and different. We demonstrated this by picking the odd fish out among a row of others that were the same.

That concludes another week of learning fun. Put on your seat belts for next week when we learn all about modes of transportation! Have long and wonderful weekend!

All the best,
The Strawberry Teachers

Friday, October 5, 2007

Innocence

A few months ago (yes, I'm totally tardy in getting these posted, but I just found the disk that we got from the studio!) I took Lily to CLIX, a little photo studio in our neighborhood, to have her pictures taken. On the one hand I think she looks so old in these pictures (where did my baby go?), and on the other hand I'm stunned by the innocence that shines through. Either way, I loved the images that we got. Here are a few; enjoy!





 
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