So, since at her four month appointment our pediatrician continued to show a little concern over Madison's slow growth, we decided to start a little bit of solids early. Turns out it didn't make too much difference in her weight, sleeping habits, or really much of anything, but she didn't mind eating and it has since become a part of our day. She enjoys many foods as of 6.5 months and prefers to feed herself despite lacking the proper coordination.
Here are some photos of her first experiences with food!
"Hey guys, why am I naked in a chair?"
"What's this?"
"Eh, that's okay." (Per usual, Madsion wasn't upset. Just went with it all)
And, per usual, we had a big helper. Who has since been asked not to feed Madison considering she leaves the food on the tray for Maddie to spill and tends to gag her with the long spoon...
Since I am filling in all of the gaps of the blog that I have missed the past few months, I am going to add in some phone posts! We rarely use the big camera these days, despite the fact that I drag it around to many places. Turns out, it is hard to use a large camera when you also tend to be carrying a baby. We do, on the other hand, take lots of pictures during our day on my phone. Because I cannot resist how adorable these girls are and I want to have all of the photos I possibly can!
There are a lot of Madison smiles on my phone for September..
I mean, who can resist? On the right, her Magic Sleep Suit. Because that is just plain adorable.
I just love how AK is sitting here, leaning over to M, obviously in love.
Enjoying the lake views over Labor day. And the cute babe.
Giving Madison a bottle. Anna Kate will tell you she is very good at this. You maybe shouldn't believe her.
Fun in the playroom!
Twirling by the fountains. Our favorite Saturday evening? Salty Caper pizza and the fountains.
Reading Madison her bedtime story.
Learning how to make rice pudding with her Great Nanny.
The. Cuteness.
We now have a "baby jail" in our kitchen/living room. Before Madison could move around too much she would get stuck and just push her face on the mesh.
Baby in a box! If you know Anna Kate, you know she loves playing in a box, so she obviously had to give her sister a turn!
One of our favorite afternoon activities, going to the little library in our neighborhood! This time, Anna Kate was a big helper and pushed sister.
Around the end of September, we met up with Anna Kate's favorite cousins for a trip to the Lazy Five Ranch! The pictures will tell enough of the story, but hopefully we will someday get the footage off of Mark's GoPro of the trip. We had a blast riding the wagon and seeing and feeding all of the animals. Madison was mostly indifferent to the whole thing, but she appreciated the rocking wagon to put her to sleep!
There is an animal back there, I think.
They're the cutest!
Carter had no fear. We have video where his hand is literally inside the animal's mouth.
So, while I do not update on how Anna Kate is doing monthly... I would like to continue to update how she is doing every six months or so. Especially since I have seen so much growth over the summer!
The video below will show how fast Anna is learning. While Madison was very tiny, AK got some extra iPad time, and we chose to introduce a letter/word app, Endless Reader. Through this, she really solidified knowing her letters and recognizing them in lower case and capital form. She also picked up on many sight words- she will now get mail or cards and pick out words like "and, is, & the". She has been writing her name now for a while, and even tries to write other words with some success like, "mom". In the past month, She is also reading words through memorization and/or with help from the pictures. Khan Academy came out with an app called Duck, Duck, Moose. It involves elementary math concepts and has really gotten Anna excited about "doing math". She can now count to twenty and enjoys adding and subtracting (though she obviously doesn't call it this), comparing more and less, and organizing things by size. We also have a few preschool workbooks that she loves to do that we have been practicing in since Maddie's arrival. Lastly, she has been really working on her scissor skills since Nanny gave her a pair. The playroom can almost always be found littered with oddly shaped cut paper, which she then asks me to identify the shape.
AK is now in preschool and for the most part seems to enjoy going! She comes home and tells me about the books, activities, science centers, and what she ate out of her lunch. She is working on making friends and talking to them and we are excited to see how she grows this year. She even comes home and wants to play teacher. When she does, she tells me to "put on my listening ears and stop talking." The teacher poses questions for them during their circle time, and some favorites of mine have been:
What did God create? My baby sister.
What sea creature would you be? A Clown fish.
I feel scared when: I am not scared of anything. (Except her shadow. The dark. Deer. Everything.)
What are you thankful for? My Mommy and Daddy. :)
Here are some photos of just Anna Kate to show what she is really like at 3.5!
So the Tuesday after Labor Day, Anna Kate went to her very first day of preschool. She was very excited and we didn't experience any tears- which is surprising for our emotional sweetheart. Daddy even stepped out of work for a few minutes to walk her in for her very first day which was, of course, very special!
Ready to go for her first day of school!
Actually smiling :)
And with sister, of course.
The face of pure excitement!
Or is this the face of pure excitement?
Checking in and putting her name up next to the letter "A"
