Watching Our Children Grown

For not knowing anyone, we seem to keep extremely busy in Kansas City.

It has been relatively cool for this area this summer so we haven’t hit the pool as much as we thought we might. Blake doesn’t care for it much and prefers to play in the wading pool but Samantha loves the pool and the fountain which she can stomp on to start. She especially loves it when her dad can come and play with her. She has even started to jump into his arms in the “deep” end.

We decided that Travis needed new pictures in his office so a couple of weeks ago we had them taken. Samantha is at the age where she really enjoys it so we got some great shots of her but poor Blake was scared and only wanted me to hold him. The idea was to get a picture of the two of them but it just didn’t work out so we got a shot of each of them individually.

We’ve been trying to explore the parks in the area and have found some pretty nice ones. Both kids can really maneuver quite well all over the playgrounds and love the slides. It seems Blake especially likes the swings and could sit in them for quite a while.

We found a new babysitter. The kids love Alex and she’s stayed with them a couple of times. Alex is a daughter of one of Travis’ employee’s and we are so happy to have her babysit for us. Samantha generally cries when I leave, even if I leave her with Travis but she didn’t cry at all for Alex. Blake cried for a bit until Alex distracted him and then he was just fine. I wish we had started using her sooner because now she’s going to start school and we won’t be able to use her as much.

*Samantha has become extremely friendly to people and very polite. She often talks to kids at the playground and uses her manners (please, thank-you, etc.).

*She looks out for her brother. While at the pool the other day she asked a little girl if her brother could play with a pony to.

*She’s mastered the “L” sound all by herself and quite proud of it.

*Blake loves bubbles, either on the computer’s screen saver, in the pool or the ones that Samantha is blowing.

*He’s begun to call his blanket’s “night night” and continues to be super attached to them.

*As hard as it is to admit, Blake’s still been on the bottle. I think we’ve pretty much got that stopped and he’ll finally drink milk out of a sippy cup.

*Blake is understanding practically everything we say. It fun to see those little minds working.

*Samantha loves to learn. Right now she’s learning the sounds of every letter and a little addition. She thinks it’s fun so we’re going to work with it while she still thinks that.

*Samantha continues to ask why and questions about every single thing. Why is he parked there? Why is her car on the side of the road? Is he going to press the crosswalk button? Where are they going? Admittedly, some days it seems the questions will never end.

*Travis has been putting in some crazy hours at work lately and the kids have noticed it and have asked for him quite a bit. Everyone looks forward to the weekend when daddy is around and he can play with the kids.

*Samantha has discovered that she doesn’t mind taking a shower. She took her first shower with me a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it.

*The kids copy each other like crazy. What one is doing the other is sure to start doing.

We had our first play date this week. We were invited to Gianna and Alexa’s house. Their mom and I went to the same college at the same time so we have a base to go on. They live close to a playground and took advantage of it. Blake was a little timid, which is usual for him but Samantha really enjoyed herself and all of Gianna’s toys. I enjoyed the adult mom conversation and look forward to doing it again sometime.

Travis invited us to picnic with him one evening. He was working late so we took a little picnic and ate at a park near his work. The kids love to picnic and the playground was a bonus. We all enjoyed being outside together and doing something different.

We continue to go to Barnes and Noble for story time and I’m not sure how much they really enjoy the story, I think they like playing with the trains more which is just fine. I still feel it’s a great activity for us to get out and interact with other kids.

Random pictures...